From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology David Leeming OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS From Olympus to Camelot From Olympus to Camelot the world of european mythology David Leeming 1 2003 3 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2003by David Leeming Published by Oxford University Press,Inc. 198 Madison Avenue,New York,New York,10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark ofOxford University Press All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without the prior permission ofOxford University Press. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leeming,David Adams,1937– From Olympus to Camelot:the world ofEuropean mythology / David Leeming. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN0-19-514361-2 1.Mythology,European. I.Title. BL689.L44 2003 291.1’3’094—dc21 2002011740 Book design and composition by Susan Day 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper Preface This book will treat the great mythological traditions of the European continent in a historical, cultural, and compara- tive context. The subject has particular appeal not only because of the tumultuous history of European tribal warfare which con- tinues to this day, but because of the current attempt of many Europeans to see themselves as a single—albeit multicultural— entity. There are, of course, built-in limitations when a study is restricted by borders that are the result of wars, arbitrary assign- ment, or even geographical factors such as rivers or mountains. Although there are sometimes clear geographic reasons for the concept of nations and continents,myths do not necessarily rec- ognize such reasons. When we speak of European, Asian, African, or Middle Eastern mythology, we are to some extent simply taking advantage of a convenient but,from the mytholog- ical perspective,arbitrary arrangement provided for us.This is es- pecially so when we consider the possible nature of the myths of early Homo sapiens,for whom Ice Age life in what is now northern Germany, for example, would in all likelihood not have differed significantly from life at the same time in what is now Iraq. And while it is possible to see certain patterns in Asian or Middle v vi Preface Eastern mythology,for instance,it is just as easy to find connec- tions between myths of the land we now call India and those we now call Ireland or Germany or Greece. Still,given the geopolitical existence of Europe,particularly as a modern concept, it makes sense to study the myths that have found their way to the continent over the centuries and have quite obviously affected the lifestyles and actions of the peoples who have settled there. To understand what it is to be European, it is helpful to examine the cultural dreams of the people who have settled in Europe. My approach takes us first to a definition of terms,beginning with “myth”itself,and to a historical overview of cultural devel- opment on the continent from the time of so-called Neanderthal man to the more recognizable, predominantly Indo-European cultures, such as the various expressions of what we now call the Germanic,Celtic,Baltic,Slavic,Greek,and Roman. The first myths, those of the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods are,in the absence of written evidence,locked in mystery and can only be approached in a suppositional manner by way of archeology and comparison with later cultural expressions. Turning to the high Neolithic era and the development of Indo- European myth, we can be more specific. And as we move into later periods,we are on still more familiar ground,even as we re- member that myths are often, in part, the inventions of story- tellers whose individual and cultural priorities color the great sagas that are their storytelling vehicles. Although this is not a comprehensive handbook of all the myths of Europe, central to the book are specific European myths—some familiar, some not so familiar—that I have treated first in relation to particular cultures and then in a com- parative context as examples of creation stories,deity types,and heroes. The assumption here is that there are significant differ- ences between the mythologies of various cultural groups, but that something approximating a European mythology emerges Preface vii from the substructure of those different understandings, most noticeably when the mythology associated with Christianity be- comes prominent. My assumption is that the reader who examines all of the myths contained here will have experienced a significant element of the European psyche and the mythological process by which it has developed into its present form. This page intentionally left blank Contents introduction Myths and Mythologies xi part 1 The Background 1 The Mythology of Prehistoric Europe 3 2 The Indo-Europeans:A Common Mythology? 25 part 2 The European Cultures and Their Pantheons 3 Greek Mythology 39 4 Roman Mythology 61 5 Celtic Mythology 73 6 Germanic Mythology 101 7 Baltic,Slavic,and Balkan Mythology 123 8 Finnic and Other Non-Indo-European Mythologies 133