A Short History of Myth

by Armstrong, Karen

• ISBN13: 9781841956442
• ISBN10: 1841956449
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-21
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd

Summary

Human beings have always been mythmakers. Theologian Armstrong here investigates myth: what it is, how it has evolved, and why we still so desperately need it. She takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters, up to the Great Western Transformation of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other.--From publisher description.

Table of Contents

What is a myth?	p. 1
The Palaeolithic period : the mythology of the hunters (c. 20000 to 8000 B.C.E.)	p. 12
The Neolithic period : the mythology of the farmers (c. 8000 to 4000 B.C.E.)	p. 41
The early civilisations (c. 4000 to 800 B.C.E.)	p. 58
The Axial age (c. 800 to 200 B.C.E.)	p. 79
The post-Axial period (c. 200 B.C.E. to c. 1500 C.E.)	p. 104
The great Western transformation (c. 1500 to 2000)	p. 119
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