Karl Otfried Müller

Karl Otfried Müller (28 August 1797 – 1 August 1840) was a German professor, scholar of classical Greek studies and philodorian. Quotes Separation, therefore, is one main business of the mythologist. K.O. Müller, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal While Kekrops’ Egyptian origin is merely historical sophism, that of Danaos is genuine myth. K.O. Müller, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal the entire book is opposed to the theory which would make the majority of myths importations from the East. K.O. Müller, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal In order to assume this just for one [myth] even, distinct proof is required either of so great internal agreement as only to be explained by transplantation or, secondly, that the mythos is absolutely without root in the soil of local tradition, or, lastly, that transplantation is expressed in the legend itself. K.O. Müller, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal About Nearly all this, however, has stayed within the bounds set in the 1820s by the man who destroyed the Ancient Model, Karl Otfried Müller. Müller urged scholars to study Greek mythology in relation to human culture as a whole, but was adamantly opposed to recognizing any specific borrowings from the East. When it comes to higher culture, there has been an even greater reluctance to see any precise parallels. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal Most later historians, and some of his contemporaries, have regarded Müller as essentially Romantic in maintaining a categorical distinction between Greek and other cultures. In Orchomenos he denied the charge and, after apologizing for having treated Greek mythology as if it were all mythology, he claimed that Greece was part of the world, and that therefore Greek mythology had the same basis as that of the rest of mankind. What he objected to was the belief in colonial bonds and the wholesale borrowing of Greek religion and mythology from the East. He was convinced that he had shown these to be unhistorical, though illusions about them had led all previous research astray. In Prolegomena, Müller made an eloquent appeal for scholars to do what he had failed to do, and investigate all mythologies for insights into the Greek one. The ‘anthropological’ school of the Cambridge Classicists James Frazer and Jane Harrison, which flourished at the beginning of the 20th century, in no way overstepped these bounds. What Müller outlawed was any special relationship between Greek and Eastern myth. Indeed, as he put it, ‘the entire book is opposed to the theory which would make the majority of myths importations from the East.’ Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization Vol. I, published in 1987, by Martin Bernal External links Category:1797 births Category:1840 deaths Category:Archaeologists from Germany Category:Classical scholars Category:Academics from Germany