Symbolism and Mythology of the Ancients: An Outline of Georg Friedrich Creuzer's Argument

Abstract

This paper seeks to establish German Romanticism as the foundation for the process of formation of the humanities as a discipline. The research aims to enquire into the ideas that were crucial for the formation of mythology into discipline. The research explores the role of the romantic philosopher and philologist Friedrich Creuzer’s arguments in relation to the history of science of mythology. The findings of the research illustrate the impact of the different positions in the debates surrounding mythology in the age of German Romanticism and German Idealism on the development of the humanities as a discipline. At the same time as he was studying the symbolism and mythology of the ancients he was acutely influenced by romantic ideas. We suggest that this fact is crucial for the interpretation of the history of mythology as a subject and as a discipline along with the complex interactions between historical, philological and philosophical arguments in Creuzer’s work.