BY DR. OTTO RANK of Vienna Authorized Translation by DRS. F. ROBBINS and SMITH ELY JELLIFFE NEW YORK THE JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914...

Edited by Drs. SMITH ELY JELLIFFE and WM. A. WHITE Numbers Issued Copyright, 1914, by The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company, New York Press of The New Era Printing Company Lancaster, Pa....

The prominent civilized nations, such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Hindoos, the inhabitants of Iran and of Persia, the Greeks and the Romans as well as the Teutons and others, all began at an early stage to glorify their heroes, mythical princes and kings, founders of religions, dynasties, empires or cities, in brief their national heroes, in a number of poetic tales and legends. The history of the birth and of the early life of these personalities came to be especially invested w

Probably the oldest transmitted hero myth in our possession is derived from the period of the foundation of Babylon (about 2800 B.C.), and concerns the birth history of its founder, Sargon the First. The literal translation of the report—which according to the mode of rendering appears to be an original inscription by King Sargon himself—is as follows: [27] “Sargon, the mighty king, King of Agade, am I. My mother was a vestal, my father I knew not , while my father’s brother dwelt in the mountai

The biblical birth history of Moses, which is told in Exodus, chapter 2, presents the greatest similarity to the Sargon legend, even an almost literal correspondence of individual traits. [28] Already the first chapter (22) relates that Pharaoh commanded his people to throw into the water all sons which were born to Hebrews, while the daughters were permitted to live; the reason for this order being referred to the overfertility of the Israelites. The second chapter continues as follows: “And th

A close relationship with the Sargon legend is also shown in certain features of the ancient Hindu epic [32] Mahâbháràta, of the birth of the hero Karna. The contents of the legend are briefly rendered by Lassen (“Indische Altertumskunde,” I, p. 63). [33] The princess Pritha, also known as Kunti, bore as a virgin the boy Karna, whose father was the sun god Surya. The young Karna was born with the golden ear ornaments of his father and with an unbreakable coat of mail. The mother in her distress

The parents of Œdipus, King Laios and his queen, Jocaste, lived for a long time in childless wedlock. Laios, who is longing for an heir, asks the Delphic Apollo for advice. The oracle answers that he may have a son if he so desires; but fate has ordained that his own son will kill him. Fearing the fulfilment of the oracle, Laios refrains from conjugal relations, but being intoxicated one day, he nevertheless procreates a son, whom he causes to be exposed in the river Kithairon, barely three days

Apollodorus relates of the birth of Paris: King Priamos had with his wife Hekabe a son, named Hektor. When Hekabe was about to bear another child, she dreamed that she brought forth a burning log of wood, which set fire to the entire city. Priamos asked the advice of Aisakos, who was his son with his first wife Arisbe, and an expert in the interpretation of dreams. Aisakos declared that the child would bring trouble upon the city, and advised that it be exposed. Priamos gave the little boy to a

Aleos, King of Tegea, was informed by the oracle that his sons would perish through a descendant of his daughter. He therefore made his daughter Auge a priestess of the goddess Athene, and threatened her with death should she mate with a man. But when Herakles dwelt as a guest in the sanctuary of Athene, on his expedition against Augias, he saw the maiden, and when intoxicated he raped her. When Aleos became aware of her pregnancy, he delivered her to Nauplios, a rough sailor, with the command t

Akrisios, the king of Argos, had already reached an advanced age without having male progeny. As he desired a son, he consulted the Delphian oracle, but this warned him against male descendants, and informed him that his daughter Danae would bear a son through whose hand he would perish. In order to prevent this, his daughter was locked up by him in an iron cham ber, which he caused to be carefully guarded. But Zeus penetrated through the roof, in the guise of a golden rain, and Danae became the

Aelian, who lived about 200 A.D, relates in his “Animal Stories” the history of a boy who was saved by an eagle . [42] “Animals have a characteristic fondness for man. An eagle is known to have nourished a child. I shall tell the entire story, in proof of my assertion. When Senechoros reigned over the Babylonians, the Chaldean fortune-tellers foretold that the son of the king’s daughter would take the kingdom from his grandfather; this verdict was a prophecy of the Chaldeans. The king was afraid

The myth of Kyros, which the majority of investigators place in the center of this entire mythical circle, without entirely sufficient grounds, it would appear—has been transmitted to us in several versions. According to the report of Herodotus (about 450 B.C.), who states (I, 95) that among four renderings known to him, he selected the least “glorifying” version, the story of the birth and youth of Kyros is as follows, I, 107 et seq. [44] . Royal sway over the Medes was held, after Kyaxares, by

The argument of the Feridun story is pursued in the Tristan saga, as related in the epic poem by Gottfried of Strassburg. This is especially evident in the prologue of the Tristan-saga, which is repeated later on in the adventures of the hero himself (duplication). Riwalin, king in the land of the Parmenians, in an expedition to the court of Marke, king of Kurnewal and England, had become acquainted with the latter’s beautiful sister, Blancheflure, and his heart was aflame with love for her. Whi

The original version of the story of Romulus and Remus, as told by the most ancient Roman annalist, Fabius Pictor, is rendered as follows by Mommsen. [55] “ The twins borne by Ilia, daughter of the preceding king Numitor, from the embrace of the war god Mars were condemned by King Amulius, the present ruler of Alba, to be cast into the river . The king’s servants took the children and carried them from Alba as far as the Tiber on the Palatine Hill; but when they tried to descend the hill to the

After the loss of his numerous sons, Elektryon betroths his daughter, Alkmene, to Amphitryon, the son of his brother, Alkäos. However, Amphitryon, through an unfortunate accident, causes the death of Elektryon, and escapes to Thebes with his affianced bride. He has not enjoyed her love, for she has solemnly pledged him not to touch her until he has avenged her brothers on the Thebans. An expedition is therefore started by him, from Thebes, and he conquers the king of the hostile people, Pterelao

The Gospel according to Luke (1, 26 to 35) relates the prophecy of the birth of Jesus, as follows: “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph , of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail! thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women! And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast

The old Norse Thidreksaga , as registered about the year 1250 by an Icelander, according to oral traditions and ancient songs, relates the history of the birth and youth of Siegfried, as follows: [68] King Sigmund of Tarlungaland, on his return from an expedition, banishes his wife Sisibe, the daughter of King Nidung of Hispania, who is accused by Count Hartvin, whose advances she has spurned, of having had illicit relations with a menial . The king’s counsellors advise him to mutilate instead o

The widely distributed group of sagas which have been woven around the mythic knight with the swan (the old French Chevalier au cigne) can be traced back to very ancient Keltic traditions. The following is the version which has been made familiar by Wagner’s dramatisation of this theme. The story of Lohengrin, the knight with the swan, as transmitted by the medieval German epic [modernized by Junghaus, Reclam] and briefly rendered by the Grimm brothers, in their “German Sagas” (Part II, Berlin,