Humanities

Today people often use the word “myth” to mean an untrue story or false rumor. For example, if one person asked, “Is Friday the 13th an unlucky day?” another person might answer, “No, that is just a myth.” But the ancient Greeks did not use the word mythos (μῦθος) in this way. For the Greeks, a mythos was simply a story. It was not important whether the story was true or false; what was important was the fact that the mode of speech was that of a story. The Greek word logos (λόγος), on the other hand, means a rational explanation or analytical statement. These two words, mythos and logos, point to two different kinds of speech, corresponding to two different ways of thinking. One was not considered more important than the other; they were just different. If you put the two words together: mythos + logos = mythology. And “mythology” is the explanation or the analytical study of myths.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Egyptian art.

A free and open-source introduction to the art and science of moving pictures, offering in-depth exploration of how cinema communicates, and what, exactly, it is trying to say.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Aegean, including Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean art.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Etruscan art.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Greek art.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Roman art

Music is a mobile art. When people move to faraway places, whether by choice or by force, they bring their music along. Music creates a meaningful point of contact for individuals and for groups; it can encourage curiosity and foster understanding; and it can preserve a sense of identity and comfort in an unfamiliar or hostile environment. As music crosses cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries, it continually changes. While human mobility and mediation have always shaped music-making, our current era of digital connectedness introduces new creative opportunities and inspiration even as it extends concerns about issues such as copyright infringement and cultural appropriation.
With its innovative multimodal approach, Music on the Move invites readers to listen and engage with many different types of music as they read. The text introduces a variety of concepts related to music's travels—with or without its makers—including colonialism, migration, diaspora, mediation, propaganda, copyright, and hybridity. The case studies represent a variety of musical genres and styles, Western and non-Western, concert music, traditional music, and popular music. Highly accessible, jargon-free, and media-rich, Music on the Move is suitable for students as well as general-interest readers.

Citable link: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9853855

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Italian art in the 1300s.

This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Italian art in the 1400s.