BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The dictionary definition of mythology is “an allegorical narrative or a body of myths such as myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people.” In a 2018 essay, Joshua J. Mark, a scholar in the filed defines mythology as “part of every culture in the world and is used to explain natural phenomena, where a people came from and how their civilization developed, and why things happen as they do.” He further noted that, “At their most basic level, myths comfort by giving a sense of order and meaning to what can sometimes seem a chaotic world.”
The term Mythology is derived from the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos for word or speech. So the spoken story of a people is the study and interpretation of often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths or the collection of such stories which deal with various aspects of the human condition.
Myths tell the stories of ancestors and the origin of humans and the world, the gods, supernatural beings (satyrs, nymphs, mermaids) and heroes with super-human, usually god-given, powers (as in the case of the Greek myth of Heracles or Perseus). Myths also describe origins or nuances of long-held customs or explain natural events such as the sunrise and sunset, the cycle of the moon and the seasons, or thunder and lightning storms.
There are various types of myth according to students of mythology. Scholar Joseph Campbell, who famously advocated for the study of myths, notes how mythology is “the underlying form of every civilization and the underpinning of each individual’s consciousness.”
Other scholars in the field also agree that “The most famous historical myth in the west is Homer’s epic 8th century BC tale of the Iliad which tells the story of the siege and fall of the city of Troy. Helen, the wife of the Achaean king Menelaus, runs off with the Trojan prince Paris and Menelaus, swearing to bring her back home, enlists the aid of his brother Agamemnon who then calls on the kings and princes of the various city-states for aid and they sail off to attack Troy.”
Western mythology is based on Greece or Roman myths and their significance and transported to the European milieu in order to give the Western reality some form of explanation or significance. However, Western mythology is not the be all and end all of mythology in general because every continent and every people have their own mythologies that reflect their respective realities and their ideas about these realities. Thus, Indo-Chinese mythology is different from American myths or African mythology is different from European mythology although they share some common factors.
According to writers on the subject of similarities between or among mythologies, “The same types of stories, and often the very same story, can be found in myths from different parts of the world. African myth, Native American myth, Chinese, or European all serve the same function of explaining, comforting, and providing meaning. The creation story as related in the biblical Book of Genesis, for example, where a great god speaks existence into creation is quite similar to creation stories from ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Phoenicia and China.”
A comparison of Western and African mythology for instance would suggest that “African myths are not recounted as a single narrative story, nor is there any established corpus of myth. Instead, myths are embedded and transmitted in ritual practice. African mythology commonly depicts the cosmos anthropomorphically.
In African oral cultures, myths embody philosophical reflections, express values, and identify moral standards. Unlike Western mythology, African myths are not recounted as a single narrative story, nor is there any established corpus of myth. Instead, myths are embedded and transmitted in ritual practice.”
Africa is a vast and geographically varied continent. It is home to a great many cultures and to a thousand or more languages. Although no single set of myths and legends unites this diverse population, different culture groups and regions share some common elements.
African mythology is filled with spirits, invisible beings with powers for good or evil. Spirits are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions. Many spirits are associated with physical features such as mountains, rivers, wells, trees, and springs. Nations, peoples, and even small communities may honor local spirits unknown outside their borders.
By the way this is typical of Ethiopian mythology as articulated by ancestral spirits who consider human soul as immortal, only undergoing transmigrations and transformations after death and being reborn as a different human being. This kind of Ethiopian mythology which is popular at the grassroots levels, i.e. among ordinary people, is however shunned by the so-called educated elites and thus remains unstudied and obscure.
Ethiopia being the product of an ancient civilization, anything that touches on mythology, legends and spirits also concern this land of complex cultures and traditions. Unlike mythology in other cultures, Ethiopian mythology has never enjoyed systematic analysis, scholarly concern or popular appreciation. Mythology in the Ethiopian context is often conceived as a portrayal of something that did not exist in reality like fiction or tall tales. This concept is better captured by the Amharic term, teret teret (tale tale) and deserved less attention than its counterparts in other African countries.
In Nigeria for instance, spiritualism in the form of legends and mythologies is far advanced than in any other country on the continent. The Yoruba, the Igbo, the Fula and the Fausa-Fulani people or ethnic groups have their respective myths of creation that are seriously studied and categorized as cultural manifestations of the people of the respective ethnic groups while this is not so in Ethiopia where more than 80 ethnic groups cultures and languages coexist in an environment mutual anonymity. The Yoruba gods and cults and rituals are systematically studied and the findings are published and distributed throughout the world while in Ethiopia, these practices are considered primitive, anti-God, fanatical perversions or works of the devil that are discouraged or considered sinful.
This is however less so when it comes to Ethiopian legends that have clerical or historical origins and are officially endorsed. One example is the legend about the encounter between Israel’s King Solomon and Ethiopia queen Sheba. “Once upon a time in a country far, far away, there lived a beautiful queen. She reigned over a kingdom that was prosperous and covered an area that forms part of modern day northern Ethiopia. She was known as the Queen of Sheba… Her subjects were renowned for their distinct craftsmanship and skills. Evidence of this fine workmanship can still be seen today … the Stelae of Axum … monolithic madness! The obelisks were carved out of one piece of rock and stands 82 feet tall…. The Queen of Sheba thought her Axumite Kingdom was rich and powerful. However, one day a merchant called Tamrin told her about the wisdom of King Solomon of Israel. He also described the beautiful great Temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem.
Queen of Sheba decided to visit King Solomon and arrived with an abundance of gifts. Her purpose was to try and corner him with difficult questions all of which Solomon answered to her satisfaction. She stayed a while before returning to her kingdom. Upon her return she discovered that she was pregnant with Solomon’s child. A handsome boy was born and she named him Menelik.” This is of course officially endorsed myth or legend that is readily accepted by the people while myths about the human soul, creation, death and spirits remain ignored.
Another myth or legend concerns King Lalibela. In the 12th century another Ethiopian prince was born. He was named Lalibela. As he was born amidst a swarm of bees, but not stung by one, it was seen as a sign that he will one day become King. As a boy he visited the Holy Land and followed the footsteps of Jesus. His elder brother was jealous of him forging a plot with a servant to poison Lalibela. The poison was weak and did not kill him; instead he fell into a deep sleep while his spirit was whisked to heaven.
Ethiopians were very much known by Greeks and mentioned in Greek mythology. Scholars say that there is a common themes running through both Greek and Ethiopian mythology. “The two major themes are the theme of certain aspects of human life and the theme of praise (appreciation) and criticism. Poems that deal with aspects of human life that reflect issues like death, laments for the dead, love, hope, and hopelessness.”
Another scholar on the subject maintains that, “Several notable personalities in Greek and medieval literature were identified as Ethiopian, including several rulers, male and female. One of them was Memnon, who may have been the King of Persia and Ethiopia in Africa, whose capital was Susa, and his brother Emathion, King of Arabia.”
Greek historian Herodotus wrote that, “Aethiopia” is all of the inhabited land found to the south of Egypt, beginning at Elephantine. He described a capital at Meroë, adding that the only deities worshipped there were Zeus (Amun) and Dionysus (Osiris). He relates that in the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik I.
According to Teodros Kiros in a book published by Cambridge University Press, “Ethiopian literature falls into three broad categories: classical literature, including historical narratives, heroic poetry, and works of philosophical reflection cast in an imaginative mode; romantic and political literature in Amharic, and, since the Second World War, the new literature in English.”
Many people may question the relevance of myths and mythology to modern literature. However, “The use of myths in Modernist literature highlighted the classical tone of the age. Myth has a symbolic value; it condenses emotions and experiences. TS Eliot’s The Waste Land is perhaps the most representative of Modernist works with a profusion of mythical usage.”
A student of British novelist Margaret Atwood’s “The Penelpiad” and Lord Byron’s “Prometheus”, two literary classic of world literature say that “Without a doubt the universality of the substance of myth tales or mythology, has made it –in fact- timeless. “Myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless pattern, the religious formula to which life shapes itself…” (Mann 1936); focusing on modern day works of literature, the mythological echoes found in literary works, especially in works that are considered as world literature, have absolutely contributed in these works’ distinction.”
In this sense, modern Ethiopian literature will have to go a long way before producing works worthy of the status of world literature by using ancient Ethiopian myths and legends that unfortunately remain unstudied and unknown at present.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 17 AUGUST 2022
