Criminal Profiling and Archaeology

Investigating Myth and Ritual - Ideas

Fundamental Nature of Myths

“Myths are the result of the working of naïve imagination upon the facts of experience.”

For thousands of years humans have created myths to explain, interpret and justify complex aspects of the world. Myths were, and still are, used to explain how humans and the world came about. Myths were used to explain and interpret weather and other natural phenomena. For instance, in ancient Greece it was believed that the seasons changed each year because Persephone went down to Hades. Also, because of several myths recounting Poseidon's angry tidal waves, ancient Greeks feared his wrath from that quarter if they did not please him with sacrifices. Myths were also used to explain and justify atrocities committed by people. For example, many Classicists believe that the story surrounding of the ferocious battle at Troy as described in Homer’s Iliad was an elaborate myth created to justify and glorify the Greeks’ selfish expansion effort. Additionally, myths were used to teach social values. Two fundamental values of ancient Greek culture were arete (dignity/honour) and hubris (over exaggerated pride). It is crucial to Greeks that they maintain their pride and honour but it is equally crucial that they do not become immodest. Many Greek myths inculcate this lesson, carrying the values into present day Greek society. Because they contain so much information in an easy-to-digest form, myths were the mainstay of ancient Greek education and still influence education in modern Greece. The gods and heros in Greek myth were often models of perfection. Ancient Greeks were encouraged to take on the characteristics of the positive mythological role models - to act heroically or godlike.

Though much of the information in myths might seem naïve or simply incorrect, there is enough information about what people did and thought to make myths useful when understanding fundamental aspects of human behaviour. In many cases, descriptions of brutal human behaviour are shamelessly detailed, shameless because they were justified in their own time and context. For example, there are two vivid descriptions of mutilation and anger-retaliatory behaviour in Homer’s work. In the Odyssey, Odysseus mutilates and kills the treacherous goatheard Melanthios.

“From the storeroom to the court they brought Melanthios,

chopped with swords to cut his nose and ears off,

pulled off his genitals to feed the dogs

and raging hacked his hands and feet away.”

Homer, The Odyssey, trans. R. Fitzgerald (New York, 1963)

In the Iliad, Achilles was so enraged that Hector had killed Patroclus that, after killing him, Achilles subjected Hector to

“… shameful outrage. He slit the tendons at the back of both his feet from heel to ankle, inserted leather straps, and made them fast to his chariot, leaving the head to drag. Then he lifted the famous armour into his car, got in himself, and with a touch of his whip started the horses, who flew off with a will. Dragged behind him, Hector raised a cloud of dust, his black locks streamed on either side, and dust fell thick upon his head so comely once, which Zeus now let his enemies defile on his own native soil.”

Homer, The Iliad, trans. E. V. Rieu (Suffolk,

1963)

In full view of Hectors father, mother and wife, Achilles dragged Hector’s body from in front of the ramparts of Troy to the Achaean camp and threw him face down at the foot of Patroclus’ bier.

In summary, ancient myths document primitive human behavior. Though many of the acts described in ancient myths are illegal today, they still occur. If our goal is to understand these criminal acts, ancient mythology is a good place to start. It is easier to objectively observe heinous human behaviour when we are distanced from it by time and culture.

Myth and Ritual

Rituals accompanied the earliest known myths in ancient Greece. Consider, for instance, Odysseus’sacrifice to communicate with the dead.

"Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sharp sword from beside my thigh, and dug a pit of a cubit's length this way and that, and around it poured a libation to all the dead, first with milk and honey, thereafter with sweet wine, and in the third place with water, and I sprinkled thereon white barley meal. ... But when with vows and prayers I had made supplication to the tribes of the dead, I took the sheep and cut their throats over the pit, and the dark blood ran forth. Then there gathered from out of Erebus the spirits of those that are dead, brides, and unwedded youths, and toil-worn old men, and tender maidens with hearts yet new to sorrow, and many, too, that had been wounded with bronze-tipped spears, men slain in fight, wearing their blood-stained armour. These came thronging in crowds about the pit from every side, with a wondrous cry; and pale fear seized me. Then I called to my comrades and bade them flay and burn the sheep that lay there slain with the pitiless bronze, and to make prayer to the gods, to mighty Hades and dread Persephone. And I myself drew my sharp sword from beside my thigh and sat there, and would not suffer the powerless heads of the dead to draw near to the blood until I had enquired of Teiresias."

Loeb Classical Library

Odysseus speaking with the dead

Also consider the sacrifices described in the Odyssey when Telémakhos and his crew sailed into Pylos to ask Nestor if he knew anything about Odysseus’ whereabouts.

“And facing sunrise

the voyagers now lay off Pylos town,

compact stronghold of Neleus. On the shore

black bulls were being offered by the people

to the blue-maned god who makes the islands tremble:

nine congregations, each five hundred strong,

led out nine bulls apiece to sacrifice,

taking the tripes to eat, while on their altars

thighbones in fat lay burning for the god.”

Homer, The Odyssey trans. R. Fitzgerald (Suffolk, 1963)

Without the associated mythology of Poseidon, sacrificing animals in the specific, formulaic way that is described by Homer would make little sense. Imagine yourself sailing into the beach with Telémakhos and witnessing the mass slaughter. If you did not have some sense of the mythology that surrounds this act you would probably be very perplexed and might even decide to turn away from the beach despite your mission. In essence, myths act as an interface between rituals and the world.

Myth as Interface between Ritual and the World

Myths explain the need and purpose of rituals in terms that make sense in the context of human experience. Without myths, rituals are meaningless.

Criminal as Mythmaker

It is useful to think of a criminal’s personal myth as an interface between his actions and the world around him. A criminal does not create his personal myths to justify what he does to others, he creates his myth to reconcile his abnormal behaviour with the world. Without his personal myth, his behaviour would be nonsensical even to him. Think back to the ritualistic vampire case mentioned at the beginning of this work. Try to imagine the perpetrator eviscerating his victims and drinking their blood without having some personal explanation for what he was doing. It is not possible. He had to have a personal myth to carry him to and through his crimes. Even a deranged and violent serial criminal like Jeffery Dahmer had complex reasons for committing bizarre and brutal crimes that seemed sensible to him. Also keep in mind that criminals are the center of their personal myths. By living in and acting out their personal myths, criminals feel more powerful and important. It is entirely possible that criminals see themselves as mythical in the context of their personal myths.

Though fictitious, the movie Manhunter (adapted from Harris' book Red Dragon) gives an instructive example of a criminal as mythmaker. The killer gets inspiration from William Blake’s work and has an elaborate personal myth to accompany his ritualistic crimes. It is interesting to note that Blake himself created a rich and comprehensive personal mythology that inspired his later poems and engravings (see the William Blake Archive).

Red Dragon by William Blake

Thinking of criminals as mythmakers encourages us to accept that they have created their own compelling rationale for what they are doing and encourages us to make the necessary effort to understand this rationale. Reconstructing a criminal's personal myth can lead to a greater understanding of that criminal's behavior and acts and can help us understand his mythical view of himself. Additionally, realising that criminals have personal myths discourages us from making flash judgements when presented with a shocking and confusing crime. If an investigator claims to know the criminal’s personal myth immediately after encountering a case, the investigator is either wrong or is the criminal

Criminal Profiler and Archaeologist as Myth Reconstructors

There are many similarities between criminal investigation and the investigation of ancient civilisations. Both involve examining evidence and attempting to reconstruct a scene (and events associated with the scene). Both attempt to understand human behaviour that is quite different from the modern norm. Both are ideally objective but in reality are influenced by mishaps, personalities and politics. Finally, the similarity that is the focus of this work is that both try to understand rituals and myths. Rituals are what people do and myths are what people are thinking when they do the things they do. By looking at a crime scene or ancient site (and reconstructing the events surrounding that scene/site) one can get a better idea of what people did but it is necessary to look at their actions through the myth to understand why they did it.

Read the Practices section of this work to better understand the importance of mythology in education and both types of investigation.

QFK | Investigating Myth and Ritual - Main Page | Practices | Artifacts