The Myth as a Tool for Human Behavior Setting

Abstract

For different reasons, the psychoanalytical and structuralist models of analysis of the Myths fail to provide satisfactory explanations of methods by which the ancient myths have managed to remain in time and spread in space, although not possessed any organizations specially designed for this purpose. Discussing the literature most salient on this topic, the present work identifies the conceiving and enjoying features that may help to explain this phenomenon, including the production of numerous variations which characterizes the myths in time and space without substantially altering their identity, at the same time making the production and use of Myths an extraordinary instrument of psychosocial adjustment of the Community to which they relate. The analysis of the Prometheus/Origin of Mankind Myth is then proposed, within a model that attempts to furnish explanations more satisfying.