Founding myth

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A founding myth (Greek aition) is the etiological myth that explains the origins of a ritual or the founding of a city, group, belief, philosophy, discipline, idea or nation. A founding myth may serve as the primary exemplum, as the myth of Ixion was the original example of a murderer rendered unclean by his crime, who needed cleansing (catharsis) of his impurity.

Founding myths are prominent features of Greek mythology. "Ancient Greek rituals were bound to prominent local groups and hence to specific localities," Walter Burkert has observed.^[1] "i.e. the sanctuaries and altars that had been set up for all time." Thus Greek founding myths established the special relationship between a deity and local people, who traced their origins from a hero and authenticated their ancestral rights through the founding myth. Greek founding myths often embody a justification for the overturning of an older order.

An example of a Roman founding myth is Virgil's The Aeneid. David McCullough's 1776 details the development of a modern founding myth.