![Charles Ernest Butler - King Arthur](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Charles_Ernest_Butler_-_King_Arthur.jpg)
A mythological king is an
archetype
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...
in
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
. A king is considered a "mythological king" if he is included and described in the culture's
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
. Unlike a
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
al king, aspects of their lives may have been real and legendary, or that the culture (through legend and story telling) believed to be real. In the
myth
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
, the legends that surround any historical truth might have evolved into symbols of "kinship" and leadership, and expanded with descriptions of spiritual,
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
or magical chain of events. For example, in legend the king may have magical weapons and fight dragons or other mythological beasts. His
archetypical
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...
role is usually to protect and serve the people.
Archetypes of kings
One mythological
archetype
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...
is the "good king" (McConnel 1979), also sometimes called the "monarchical hero". The "good king" is often the
epic hero
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman strength, superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for t ...
who made his world safe for civilization. Two examples that scholars have identified as filling the roles and earning the reputation of "good kings" were
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
and
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
, above and beyond their legendary and historic lives.
Beowulf for example is a mythological king in training in the
epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
tradition, because he fights "a strenuous battle against the disorganization of the universe." (McConnel 1979:59) Another is the great king "Oxthar", a leopard headed man that journeyed to the mythical underworld of Palulu (which is the supposed place where the sun goes to rest at night) and stole glowing stones from the bed of the sun to give light and power to his people.
Mythemes of kings
Some
mytheme
In structuralism-influenced studies of mythology, a mytheme is a fundamental generic unit of narrative structure (typically involving a relationship between a character, an event, and a theme) from which myths are thought to be constructed—a mi ...
s and cultural belief systems that are explored through myths about kings include: what is the source of the king's power, what is the training he must go through, what tests of courage does he pass, what are the battles he must fight, and what are the effects of taking power.
In
epics
The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software tools and applications used to develop and implement distributed control systems to operate devices such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large sci ...
of war, source of power is often having physical skills above ordinary men, owning "magical" weapons and political alliances.
In spiritual mythologies the king's power may come from a spiritual source and also spiritual weapons. In romantic and contemplative myths his power and success may from internal personality traits, such as from courage, wisdom and self-restraint.
Another common theme is the king's wounds, sacrifice and (sometimes) death for the betterment of the people. The
Fisher King
The Fisher King is a figure in Arthurian legend, the last in a long line of British kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. The Fisher King is both the protector and physical embodiment of his lands, but a wound renders him incapable and hi ...
is an example of theme of the "wounded king."
One other theme to be aware of in
storytelling
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...
and mythology is that the king's health is often symbolic of the health of the kingdom or society: For example, a sick king means a weakened and vulnerable society, a healthy king means a healthy society, an emotionally or physically distant king means the society is in danger. Also, the installation of kings at the New Year was believed to renew the
cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
: "The king becomes in a manner responsible for the stability, the fecundity and the prosperity of the entire Cosmos." (Eliade 1963:41)
See also
*
List of legendary kings of Britain
The following list of legendary kings of Britain derives predominantly from Geoffrey of Monmouth's circa 1136 work ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ("the History of the Kings of Britain"). Geoffrey constructed a largely fictional history for the B ...
*
List of legendary kings of Denmark
The legendary kings of Denmark are the predecessors of Gorm the Old, a king who reigned ca. 930s to 950s and is the earliest reliably attested Danish ruler. Historicity of the earlier legendary kings are thus half legend and half history. The acc ...
*
List of legendary kings of Norway
The petty kingdoms of Norway ( nb, smårike) were the entities from which the later Kingdom of Norway was founded. Before the unification of Norway in 872 and during the period of fragmentation after King Harald I of Norway, Harald Fairhair's de ...
*
List of legendary kings of Scotland
The Scottish Renaissance humanist George Buchanan gave a long list of Scottish Kings in his history of Scotland—published in Latin as ''Rerum Scoticarum Historia'' in 1582—most of whom are now considered by historians to be figures of legend, ...
*
List of legendary kings of Sweden
The legendary kings of Sweden () according to legends were rulers of Sweden and the Swedes who preceded Eric the Victorious and Olof Skötkonung, the earliest reliably attested Swedish kings. Though the stories of some of the kings may be embell ...
*
Great King
Great king, and the equivalent in many languages, refers to historical titles of certain monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of kings and princes. This title is most usually associated with the ''shahanshah'' (shah of shahs, ...
*
Sacred king
In many historical societies, the position of kingship carries a sacral meaning; that is, it is identical with that of a high priest
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one ...
*
Great Catholic Monarch
Last Roman Emperor, also called Last World Emperor or Emperor of the Last Days, is a figure of medieval European legend, which developed as an aspect of Christian eschatology. The legend predicts that in the end times, a last emperor would appear o ...
*
Katechon
The ''katechon'' (from Greek: , "that which withholds", or , "the one who withholds") is a biblical concept which has subsequently developed into a notion of political philosophy.
The term is found in in an eschatological context: Christians must ...
- Eschatological King
*
Golden Bough
''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...
*
King in the Mountain
The king asleep in mountain (D 1960.2 in Stith Thompson's Motif (folkloristics), motif index system) is a prominent folklore Trope (literature), trope found in many folktales and legends. Thompson termed it as the Kyffhäuser type. Some other des ...
*
King Arthur's messianic return
King Arthur's messianic return is a mythological motif in the legend of King Arthur, which claims that he will one day return in the role of a messiah to save his people. It is an example of the king asleep in mountain motif. King Arthur was a ...
*
Kings' sagas
Kings' sagas ( is, konungasögur, nn, kongesoger, -sogor, nb, kongesagaer) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were compo ...
*
Saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
References
*
Eliade, Mircea (translated). ''Myths and Reality.'' Translated from French by Trask, William, edited by
Ruth Nanda Anshen
Ruth Nanda Anshen (June 14, 1900 – December 2, 2003) was an American philosopher, author and editor. She was the author of several books including ''The Anatomy of Evil'', ''Biography of An Idea'', ''Morals Equals Manners'' and ''The Mystery ...
. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. (esp. Section III "Myths and Rites of Renewal"; Section IX "Survivals and Camaflages of Myths - Eschatological Myths of the Middle Ages")
* McConnell, Frank. ''Storytelling and Mythmaking.'' New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979 . (Discusses the different types of mythological kings)
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King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Stock characters