Autolycus and Sisyphus – Some Words about the Category of Trickster in Ancient Mythology

Konrad  Dominas

Titles

Abstract

The goal of this article is to juxtapose the trickster model suggested by William J. Hynes in the text Mapping the Characteristics of Mythic Tricksters: A Heuristic Guide with the stories of Sisyphus and Autolycus. A philological method proposed in this article is based on a way of understanding a myth narrowly, as a narrative with a specific meaning, which can be expressed in any literary genre. According to this definition, every mythology which is available today is an attempt at presenting a story of particular mythical events and the fortunes of gods and heroes. Therefore, stories about Sisyphus and Autolycus are myths that have been transformed and which in their essence may have multiple meanings and cannot be attributed to one artist. The philological method is, in this way, based on isolating all fragments of the myth relating to the above protagonists and subsequently presenting them as a coherent narrative.

Keywords

kategoria trickstera, mitologia antyczna, Autolykos, Syzyf, literatura antyczna; category of trickster, ancient mythology, Autolycus, Sisyphus, ancient literature

category of trickster, ancient mythology, Autolycus, Sisyphus, ancient literature

References

Primary Sources

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Information

Information: Studia Religiologica, 2020, Volume 53, Issue 3, pp. 203 - 212

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.20.014.12754

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Autolycus and Sisyphus – Some Words about the Category of Trickster in Ancient Mythology

English:

Autolycus and Sisyphus – Some Words about the Category of Trickster in Ancient Mythology

Authors

Konrad Dominas

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5120-4159

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Published at: 28.12.2020

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Konrad Dominas (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English

View count: 1091

Number of downloads: 1323

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