Mythology for all audiences. With a lot of humor. And rigor. From the strength of Hercules to the wisdom of Athena, from the Trojan War to the universal deluge of Greek mythology, in which only Deucalion and Pyrrha were saved… by building an ark and bringing pairs of animals. Myths without which, says Emilio del Río in Pequeña historia de la mitología clásica (Espasa), “you cannot understand the cultural history of the West, music, literature, art”. “And if Tom Jones’ song said that love is in the air, the myth is in the air. The days of the week are gods of mythology, and the planets, the stars”.
Friday comes from Venus; Tuesday and March, of Mars, god of war, who also gives his name to the most Martian planet. “And a lot of expressions come from this mythology: it is said that this country is in a labyrinthine situation. And aphrodisiac products win. And sometimes they tell you that you have to be careful with certain emails because a Trojan can enter your computer. It has to do with the Trojan horse. Although the virus should be a Greek, because they are the ones who enter the city”, points out the professor of Latin Philology at Complutense and Director of Libraries, Archives and Museums of Madrid City Council.
And he says that his is “a travel book, an adventure book, a culture book and also a self-help book, because myths convey messages, life lessons. For the classics, mythology was a religion, their way of explaining the origin of the world, of things, and of projecting the human condition. Myths talk about good and evil, generosity and avarice. The Phoenix bird is the myth of resilience”.
“We need to tell each other stories from the caves. And classical mythology is the first we told each other in the West and it is magical that we continue to tell these stories in the same way. But they have also been transformed: the heroes of Marvel are those of classical mythology. Superman is Perseus. Andromeda is Superman’s girlfriend. Hulk is Hercules. Now Oppenheimer has succeeded. The subtitle of the work on which it is based is Prometheus, as in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” explains Del Río. And he emphasizes that “it is a religion that is not revealed truth, they incorporate gods from other places, they bring Cybele from Asia. It is a religion created by poets, historians, philosophers, Plato, dramatists, and give variants to myths. You don’t kill in the name of classical mythology.”
And despite the fact that the one who occupies the most pages in the book is Hercules, “the hero par excellence, who later had various interpretations, because for centuries he was assimilated to Jesus Christ for having sacrificed himself for others, but he has also been a symbol of the ability to overcome for his famous twelve works”, Del Río is left with other myths for today. Narcís takes the first selfie in history and we live in an era of narcissism. It is one of the myths that defines our age, there is a certain inability to love others. From the principles of the French Revolution, liberty has been assumed, although it is in retreat in many places, and equality, but not fraternity. And a myth we need more than ever is that of Athena. The goddess of wisdom, intelligence. And from Athens. She is the goddess of civilization in the cities, you have to live together, dialogue, reach agreements. And the goddess of strategy in war. Mars is the god of war, but of brute force. We need more Athena: more day-to-day strategy, long-term view, wisdom, dialogue. More civilization”.
