Struck, Peter T2023-05-222023-05-222009-01-012017-12-21Struck, P.T. (2009). The Invention of Mythic Truth in Antiquity. in Dill, U. & Walde, C. (Eds.), Antike Mythen - Medien, Transformationen und Konstruktionen, 25-37. DeGruyter.https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/8061It is commonly understood that the Greek term mythos means something entirely different from the modern definitions of 'myth'. Liddell and Scott tells the most authoritative version of the story: in Homer the term is a rather generic word for speech, and by the classical period it comes to mean something like a tall tale, usually a false and absurd one. Plato in the Gorgias opposes a mythos to a logos (a rational account) and to speaking truthfully: "Listen, then, as they say, to a beautiful story, which you will consider a myth, I think, but which I consider an actual accont (logon); for the things which I am about to tell, I will tell as the truth" (Plat. Gorg. 523a). Aristotle later coins it to mean the plot of a tragedy, and there the story seems to end. Though I have of course streamlined a bit, there are no other major developments. The ancient traditions of mythography do very little to challenge this narrative, since they display mostly antiquarian interest, where the concern for any truth-value is bracketed.Originally published in Antike Mythen - Medien, Transformationen und Konstruktionen © 2009 DeGruyter (https://www.degruyter.com/).Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late AntiquityAncient PhilosophyArts and HumanitiesClassical Literature and PhilologyClassicsFolkloreBook Chapter