英国文学与文化（高级英语选修课系列教材）

本书由上篇文化篇和下篇文学篇组成。上篇着重从圣经、希腊神话和英国社会的角度，来解读英国文学作品和文学史发展特征；下篇按文学的三大主要文类编排，旨在指导学生欣赏英国诗歌、英国小说和英国戏剧。
　　每章由导读、文本和思考题组成，既有总体引导，又有文本例释，配以练习题，以深化理解。教材内容丰富、选材广泛，可作为高校非英语专业选修课程的教材或外语学院英语专业英国文学课程的参考书，也是广大英语自学者和英国文学爱好者的可选读物。

Chapter Two Greek Mythology and British Literature
　　Introduction to Greek Mythology
　　II　Origins，Sources and Development of Greek Mythology
　　2.1　The Origin of Greek Mythology
　　Linguists have concluded that some names of Greek deities，including Zeus，can be traced back to gods worshiped by speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language，the common ancestor of the Greek，Latin，and Sanskrit languages。However，it would be misleading to regard the people who may have spoken this language as the only contributors to Greek mythology，for many other elements were added later.
　　Archaeologists have shown that many of the places where mythical events presumably took place correspond to sites that had historical importance during the Mycenaean period of Greek history （second half of the 2nd millennium BC）。
Scholars thus consider it likely that the Mycenaeans made a major contribution to the development of the stories，even if this contribution is hard to demonstrate in detail。Some scholars have argued that the Minoan civilization of Crete also had a formative influence on Greek myths。The myth of the Minotaur confined in a labyrinth in the palace of King Minos，for example，might be a memory of historical bull-worship in the labyrinthine palace at Knossos on Crete。However，there is little evidence that Cretan religion survived in Greece。Moreover，ancient inscriptions have not confirmed thatMinos ever existed outside of myth.
　　Scholars have shown that Middle Eastern influences were more influential to ancient Greek mythology than Cretan myths。Greek mythology owed much to cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia，especially in the realm of cosmogony （origin of the universe） and theogony （origin of the gods）。To take one example，a clear parallel exists in an early Middle Eastern myth for Greek poet Hesiod's story about the castration of Uranus by his son Cronus and the subsequent overthrow of Cronus by his son Zeus。
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