理性、人性和美--希腊神话拟人特征剖析

在希腊神话中,神人同形同性是其突出特色,首先表现在神人外貌的相似,其次是心理、性格和行为的相似.神的社会组织和生活起居实为人类社会的翻版.希腊神话中虽然残留着自然和兽形的遗迹,但社会属性较高的大神都实现了完全的拟人化.希腊人将兽形的、怪诞的、恐怖的形象留给了代表原始的、无序的、未开化的、非理性的、象征自然蛮力的自然界精怪和老一辈神祗,而将美好的人类形象留给了象征理性、文明、和谐和宇宙新秩序的奥林波斯天神以及象征自然界温和力量的自然神女们,两者形成鲜明对比.希腊神话明显排斥人格化的图腾动物.希腊神话的拟人特征可能有其近东渊源,但希腊人将之推向登峰造极的地步,这是希腊人的理性、人性和审美情趣决定的,是希腊宗教世俗化的产物.

Rationalism, Humanism and Aesthetic Taste:An Analysis on the Anthropomorphism of Greek Mythology

Anthropomorphism, a distinct feature of Greek Mythology, is characterized as the similarity between gods and men, not only in appearance, but also in psychology, temperament and behavior. Gods' society and their daily life are reproductions of human ones. Even though there are remains of nature and animal in Greek myths, the highly socialized great deities are completely anthropomorphized. It is a great contrast that Greeks visualized the wild spirits and old gods as theriomorphic, grotesque and terrific figures symbolizing barbarism, disorder, uncivilizedness, irrationalism and the violent natural forces, while endowed the Olympian gods with human figures symbolizing rationality, civilization, harmony and the new order of universe, or nymphs with maiden figures symbolizing the mild natural forces. Generally, the hominine totemic animals are excluded from Greek mythology. The anthropomorphism of Greek mythology, of which the source is perhaps the Near East, was brought to perfection by the Greeks because of their rationalism, humanism, aesthetic taste and their secularized religion.