Title : Myth and Epic I. II. III. - Georges Dumézil - book

Summary :

Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, migrating horsemen, perhaps from southern Russia, swept through most of the European continent in successive waves and pushed as far as the borders of India. These conquerors, who spoke roughly the same language, have conventionally been called Indo-Europeans. They shared a tripartite worldview—the system of three functions—in which the following were articulated, in a hierarchical order: magical and legal sovereignty (the first function); physical, and primarily warlike, strength (the second function); and tranquil and fertile wealth (the third function). Thus, these very distant ancestors were based on a conception of society that distinguished priests, warriors, and pastoralist-farmers in a hierarchical manner. Myth and Epic is devoted to the literary, not theological or religious, uses that the principal Indo-European peoples made of their common heritage. For if the structure of the three functions presents itself first as a machine for making gods, it also reveals itself to be a formidable instrument for the creation of stories. Not only myths, but secular tales, legends, epics, tales where gods and men go off in threes.

• EAN : 9782070736560
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