Campbell Joseph

JOSEPH

CAMPBELL

MASKS OF GOD: PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY
LONDON : SECKER & WARBURG : 1960

THE

OCR by Angel (Christian Library) realnost-2005@yandex.ru Version 1.0

COPYRIGHT © 1959 BY JOSEPH CAMPBELL

The author wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the generous support of his researches by the Bollingen Foundation

Printed in England by The Pitman Press Ltd., Bath and first published1960 by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd. 7 John Street, London W.C.I

CONTENTS

Prologue: Toward a Natural History of the Gods and Heroes
I. II. III. The Lineaments of a New Science The Well of the Past The Dialogue of Scholarship and Romance

3
3 5 8

PART ONE:

T H E PSYCHOLOGY OF M Y T H

Introduction: The Lesson of the Mask Chapter I. The Enigma of the Inherited Image
I. II. TheInnate Releasing Mechanism The Supernormal Sign Stimulus

21 30
30 38

Chapter 2. The Imprints of Experience
I. Suffering and Rapture II. The Structuring Force of Life on Earth III. The Imprints of Early Infancy IV. The Spontaneous Animism of Childhood V. VI. The System of Sentiments of the Local Group The Impact of Old Age

50
50 57 61 78 88 118

PART T W O :

T H E MYTHOLOGY OFTHE PRIMITIVE PLANTERS

Chapter 3. The Culture Province of the High Civilizations
I. The Proto-Neolithic: c. 7500-5500 B.C.

135
136

vi

CONTENTS II. The Basal Neolithic: c. 5500-4500 B.c. III. The High Neolithic: c. 4500-3500 B.c. IV. The Hieratic City-State: c. 3500-2500 B.C. 138 140 144

Chapter 4. The Province of the Immolated Kings 151
I. The Legend of the Destruction of Kash II.A Night of Shehrzad III. The King, and the Virgin of the Vestal Fire 151 161 165

Chapter 5. The Ritual Love-Death
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. The Descent and Return of the Maiden The Mythological Event Persephone The Monster Eel Parallelism or Diffusion? The Ritual Love-Death in Pre-Columbian America

170
170 176 183 190 202 216

PART

THREE: THE

THE

MYTHOLOGY HUNTERS

OFPRIMITIVE

Chapter 6. Shamanism I. The Shaman and the Priest II. Shamanistic Magic III. The Shamanistic Vision IV. The Fire-Bringer Chapter 7. The Animal Master I. The Legend of the Buffalo Dance II. Paleolithic Mythology III. The Ritual of the Returned Blood Chapter 8. I. II. The Paleolithic Caves

229 229 242 251 267 282 282 286 295 299 299 313

The Shamans of the Great Hunt Our Lady of theMammoths

CONTENTS III. The Master Bear IV. The Mythologies of the Two Worlds

vii

334 347

PART FOUR:

T H E ARCHAEOLOGY OF M Y T H

Chapter 9. Mythological Thresholds of I. II. III. IV. V. the Paleolithic The Stage of Plesianthropus () The Stage of Pithecanthropus () The Stage of Neanderthal Man (c. 200,00075,000/25,000 B.c.) The Stage of Crô-Magnon Man (c. 30,00010,000 B.C.) TheCapsian-Microlithic Style (c. 30,000/10,0004000 B.C.) 357 357 360 365 374 379

Chapter 10. Mythological Thresholds of the Neolithic I. 384 The Great Serpent of the Earliest Planters (c. 7500 B.C.?) 384 II. The Birth of Civilization in the Near East (c. 75002500 B.C.) 391 III. The Great Diffusion 418

Conclusion: The Functioning of Myth I. The Local Images and the Universal Way II. The Bondages ofLove, Power, and Virtue III. The Release from Bondage Reference Notes Index

461 461 464 469 473 489

ILLUSTRATIONS

Sign stimuli releasing parental reactions in man A child's drawing of his dream of the devil Pottery designs, c. 4000 B.C. Prevalence of ritual regicide (map) Designs from shell gorgets, Spiro Mound, Oklahoma Figures in the sanctuary of Trois Frères The Venus of Laussel Thewizard-beast of Lascaux Figures in the crypt of Lascaux Ceremonial mask with horns (pointing sticks) Australians with pointing-stick horns The "Sorcerer of Trois Frères" The Venus of Lespugue The bear cult (map) Capsian hunting scene, Castellón Three women, Castellón Man with a dart, Castellón The "White Lady," Rhodesia

47 79 142 167 233 287 288 300 301 302 303 309 326 340 380 380 381 382...