Image and meaning of history in the mythological picture of the world

Introduction . The purpose of the study is to analyze the content and structure of the image of history in the mythological picture of the world. In this research context, the problem of the meaning of history, occupies a special place. The novelty of the proposed solution to this problem is an attempt to combine its transcendental and immanent understanding using the example of a mythological worldview. Materials and methods . The material of the work was the images and plots of classical ancient mythology, as well, as the works of domestic mythologists devoted to the typological features of the myth. The article presents «Rose of the World» by Daniil Andreev as a picture of myth-like version of the image of history. The paper uses methods of system and structural-functional analysis, modeling, reconstruction, idealization, comparison and description, corresponding to the features of the subject of research. Results . The article highlights and analyzes three thematic blocks: the course of history in mythological plots about the past of mankind; mythological image of historical time and the principle of causality; the personal and extra personal basis of the mythological image of history. Based on the results of the analysis the following conclusions were made. Firstly, mythological representations of the «early times» are preserved only in the form of works corresponding to the culture of their era. Secondly, myths about the past of mankind serve the function of explaining the meaning of the order established in the world. Thirdly, one of the essential aspects of the image of history in the mythological picture of the world is the difference between empirical and mythological time. Fourth, the concept of objective law in the mythological worldview is replaced by a causal hierarchy of personalized forces and finite events. Fifth, the personal identity of the myth is both historical and anti-historical. Discussion and conclusions . The image of the past found in the reconstructions of the mythological picture of the world has a dual ‒ both historical and anti-historical essence, and therefore contains the ideological potential for a new ‒ religious and philosophical understanding of the meaning of history, in which there will be not only an appeal to the sacred past, but also a profane modernity and an aspiration for the future. Thus, the unity of the real and unreal, immanent and transcendent in mythological descriptions of the past helps to better understand the nature of dualism of objective and subjective history.