The Flood and Theories of Archetype
The two different cultures discussed in the textbook reading of floods and theories of archetypes that I will be discussing and analyzing include the myth of the Roman poet Ovid in his work The Metamorphosis detailing a visit from Zeus where he recognizes the evils of mankind, and the myth of Mesoamerica, Tata and Nena. These myths have several similarities, including that both myths have a deity involved to cleanse the world of evil or bad caused by human kind. While in the myth of the Roman poet Ovid he discovers the true evil of humanity and creates a great flood to destroy humanity. This is similar to the myth of Mesoamerica and the tale of Tata and Nena, as in this myth the gods were angered by the disobedience and unruliness of the people, and the only two to be spared were a morally good couple: Tata and Nena. This is similar to the Roman myth where Deucalion and Pyrrha survive, to repopulate the earth, like Tata and Nena.
There are also a few differences present between the two myths. One of the differences is that in the myth of Tata and Nena, they disobey the gods by catching fish and are turned into wolves, and the gods create other humans to repopulate the world, while in the Roman myth, Deucalion and Pyrrha throw down the bones of mother Earth on their journey, and continue on to create two sons. While the ending of these myths are vastly different, the deities present in the stories are also different, where the deity in the Roman myth Zeus was disgusted by humanity and the evil they showed him on his visit, while the deities present in the mesoamerican myth of Tata and Nena were angered by the lack of worship being conducted by the human population, which caused them to decide to create a great flood.
Dispersion theory and the idea that myths and archetypes were created early on to influence different cultures as they dispersed can be applied to these two myths because the similarities within these myths are substantial, given a few changes depending on location and culture. The overall ideas presented within the two myths are overtly similar, that humanity created an evil that higher beings needed to get rid of, which is further compared and similar to the christian myth of the great flood.
There could have been a time early on when the Mayans of Mesoamerica and the Greeks and Romans interacted early on within their cultures which could explain why the myths within their individual cultures are so similar. Geographically, the Mayans of Mesoamerica were generally located in Central America, while “Beginning in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands (History 1).”
The mayan culture continues to prove this day that it was more advanced than previously taken into account, detailing that new technology detected that, “The researchers detected the vast site within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin of northern Guatemala by using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a laser mapping system that allows for structures to be detected below the thick tree canopies. The resulting map showed an area composed of 964 settlements broken down into 417 interconnected Mayan cities, towns and villages (Nicioli 1).”
While these locations are not geographically close, it is possible that in earlier civilizations individuals could have been taught the same or similar myths and stories of religious context, which would make sense given the many similarities that are present between cultures in the Flood and theories of Archetypes myths.
The collective unconscious can also be applied to these myths by recognizing common patterns of how people think, and lessons of obedience and reasoning to do good will throughout human history. Mythology involves flooding to clear the world for better furthers the thinking that you can start fresh, and also provides a reason to be morally good so that you are not punished in a similar way again. These ideas are present in our collective unconscious, and that is why there are similar ideas present throughout the different cultures that these myths were told in.
Humans endure many experiences that can be encoded in our unconscious, and specifically in the context of floods washing out evil, I believe that this can derive from unconscious feelings of shame for the humanity that resides within us. This could also be shown unconsciously as feeling guilty for causing the planet to decline, as it is a collective idea in our lives that the planet needs to be conserved and protected.
Works Cited
HISTORY.COM EDITORS. “Ancient Rome.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 15 Apr. 2019, www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/ancient-rome.
Nicioli, Taylor. “Discovery of “Superhighways” Suggests Early Mayan Civilization Was More Advanced than Previously Thought.” CNN, 16 Feb. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/world/maya-civilization-causeways-lidar-discovery-scn/index.html.
