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Claude Lévi-Strauss’s theory entails that all myths are speculative, or problemreflecting,
when properly understood. Proper understanding requires
concentration on an underlying structure of relationships, rather than on their
overt content or any narrowly allegorical interpretation. 83
Kirk suggests that Lévi-Strauss attempts to create a universal interpretation of myth,
which is the greatest flaw of his theory. 84 Even if “structuralism” fails to account for the
interpretation of all myths, I do believe that we can profit from Lévi-Strauss’ scholarship in
several ways. The first is his notion that myths help to mitigate contradictions. In the case of
theriomorphic and therianthropic deities, we may observe a dualistic system symbolized by the
mingling of human and animal forms and in the often contradictory and opposite facets of their
nature. I believe that the iconography of such gods lends itself to the process of mediation
between opposites using a visual method much in the way mythology accomplishes this effect
through narrative. This leads to the second idea that can help us, that animals are “good to
think;” Lévi-Strauss makes this deduction based on the notion that the choice of animals as
symbol is based on empirical data that is then related to man’s attempt to express ideas and
relationships. 85 I believe the iconography used in the representation of theriomorphic and
therianthropic gods demonstrates this theory.
Following the notion that animals are good to think with, the process of myth-making
should not be separated from the creation of iconography. Images and textual narratives are both
critical in understanding the complex nature of ancient deities. Greco-Roman mythology is
somewhat unusual due to its highly literary nature; 86 yet we have little preserved writing which
features theriomorphic and therianthropic deities. Even so it remains important to examine the
impact that scholarly opinions concerning “originality” in myth have had on the reception of
Etruscan and Roman mythology because the same biases which dominate the study of literature
are also present in the study of iconography and visual narratives. Feeney sums up the largest
problem facing the scholar of Etruscan and Roman myth in Literature and Religion At Rome:
Cultures, Contexts, and Beliefs.
“…in myth more than any other cultural sphere the primacy and energy of the
Greeks' activity appears automatically to weaken any Roman counterpart. 'Myth'
simply is 'Greek myth', not only to contemporary classicists but to the first
83 Kirk 1970, 7.
84 Kirk 1970, 7.
85 Lévi-Strauss 1962, 89.
86 Kirk 1974, 112.
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