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L I S T OFFIGURESEgyptian Mythology, T h e Mythology of All Races,Vol. XII, Boston, Marshall Jones Company,1918, p. 4 4 . )26315. Khnemu Shapes Pharaoh's Son on the Potter's Wheel,While Thoth Marks His Span of Life. From a pa pyrus of the Ptolemaic period. (E. A. Wallis Budge,The Gods of the Egyptians, London, Methuen andCo., 1904, Vol. II, p. 50.)27016. Nut (the Sky) Gives Birth to the Sun; Its Rays Fall onHathor in the Horizon (Love and Life). The sphereat the mouth of the goddess represents the sun atevening, about to be swallowed and born anew.(E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians,London, Methuen and Co., 1904, Vol. I, p. 101.)27617. Paleolithic Petroglyph (Algiers). From a prehistoricsite in the neighborhood of Tiout. T h e catlike ani mal between the hunter and the ostrich is perhapssome variety of trained hunting panther, and thehorned beast left behind with the hunter's mother,a domesticated animal at pasture. (Leo Frobeniusand Hugo Obermaier, Hâdschra Mâktuba, Munich,K. Wolff, 1925, Vol. II, Plate 78.)31018. King Ten (Egypt, First Dynasty,ca. 3200B.c.)Smashes the Head of a Prisoner of War. From anivory plaque found at Abydos. "Immediately be hind the captive is a standard surmounted by afigure of a jackal, which represents a god, eitherAnubis or Apuat, and thus it is clear that thesacrifice is being made to a god by the king."(E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Res urrection, London, Philip Lee Warner; N e w York,G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1911, Vol. I, p. 197; line cut,p. 207.)31519. Osiris, Judge of the Dead. Behind the god stand thegoddesses Isis and Nephthys. Before him is alotus, or lily, supporting his grandchildren, thexiv

L I S T OFFIGURESfour sons of Horus. Beneath (or beside) him is alake of sacred water, the divine source of the Nileupon earth (the ultimate origin of which is inheaven). T h e god holds in his left hand the flail orwhip, and in his right the crook. T h e corniceabove is ornamented with a row of twenty-eightsacred uraei, each of which supports a disk.—From the Papyrus of Hunefer. (E. A. Wallis Budge,Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection,London,.Philip Lee Warner; N e w York, G. P. Putnam'sSons, 1911, Vol. I, p. 20.)3412 0 . The Serpent Kheti in the Underworld,Consumingwith Fire an Enemy of Osiris. T h e arms of the vic tim are tied behind him. Seven gods preside. Thisis a detail from a scene representing an area of theUnderworld traversed by the Solar Boat in theeighth hour of the night.—From the so-called"Book of Pylons." (E. A. Wallis Budge, The Godsof the Egyptians, London, Methuen and Co., 1904,Vol. I, p. 193.)34221. The Doubles of Ani and His Wife Drinking Water inthe Other World. From the Papyrus of Ani. (E. A.Wallis Budge, Osiris and the EgyptianResurrec tion, London, Philip Lee Warner; N e w York,G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1911, Vol. II, p. 130.)344xv

LIST OF PLATESFOLLOWINGPAGE84I. The Monster Tamer (Sumer). Shell inlay (perhaps orna menting a harp) from a royal tomb at Ur, ca. 3 2 0 0 B . c .T h e central figure is probably Gilgamesh. (Courtesy ofT h e University Museum, Philadelphia.)II. The Captive Unicorn (France). Detail from tapestry, "TheHunt of the Unicorn," probably made for Francis I ofFrance, ca. 1514 A.D. (Courtesy of The Metropolitan Mu seum of Art, N e w York City.)III. The Mother of the Gods (Nigeria). Odudua, with the infantOgun, god of war and iron, on her knee. The dog is sa cred to Ogun. An attendant, of human stature, plays thedrum. Painted wood. Lagos, Nigeria. Egba-Yoruba tribe.(Horniman Museum, London. Photo from Michael E.Sadler, Arts of West Africa, International Institute ofAfrican Languages and Cultures, Oxford Press, London:Humphrey Milford, 1935.)IV. The Deity in War Dress (Bali). The Lord Krishna in his terrify ing manifestation. (Compare infra, pp. 215-220.) Poly chromatic wooden statue. (Photo from C. M. Pleyte,Indonesian Art, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1901.)V. Sekhmet, The Goddess (Egypt). Diorite statue. Empire Pe riod. Karnak. (Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, N e w York City.)VI. Medusa (Ancient Rome). Marble, high relief; from the Rondanini Palace, Rome. Date uncertain. (Collection ofthe Glyptothek, Munich. Photo from H. Brunn andF. Bruckmann, Denkmàler griechischer und rômischerSculptur, Verlagsan-stalt fur Kunst und Wissenschaft,Munich, 1 8 8 8 - 1 9 3 2 . )xvi

L I S T OFPLATESVII. The Sorcerer (Paleolithic Cave Painting, French Pyrenees).The earliest known portrait of a medicine man, ca. 10,000B.C. Rock engraving with black paint fill-in, 29.5 incheshigh, dominating a series of several hundred mural engravings of animals; in the Aurignacian-Magdaleniancave known as the "Trois Frères," Ariège, France. (Froma photo by the discoverer, Count Bégouen.)VIII. The Universal Father, Viracocha, Weeping(Argen-tina).Plaque found at Andalgalâ, Catamarca, in northwestArgentina, tentatively identified as the pre-Incan deityViracocha. The head is surmounted by the rayed solardisk, the hands hold thunderbolts, tears descend fromthe eyes. The creatures at the shoulders are perhapsImaymana and Tacapu, the two sons and messengers ofViracocha, in animal form. (Photo from the Proceedingsof the International Congress of Americanists, Vol. XII,Paris, 1902.)FOLLOWINGPAGE180IX. Shiva, Lord of the Cosmic Dance (South India). See discussion, infra, p. 118, note 4 6 . Bronze, 10th-12th cent A . D .(Madras Museum. Photo from Auguste Rodin, AnandaCoomaraswamy, E. B. Havell, Victor Goloubeu, Sculptures Çivaïtes de Vlnde, Ars Asiatica III, Brussels andParis: G. van Oest et Cie., 1921.)X. Androgynous Ancestor (Sudan). W o o d carving from the region of Bandiagara, French Sudan. (Collection of LauraHarden, N e w York City. Photo by Walker Evans, courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, N e w York City.)XI. Bodhisattva (China). Kwan Yin. Painted wood. Late SungDynasty ( 9 6 0 - 1 2 7 9 A.D.). (Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N e w York City).XII. Bodhisattva (Tibet). The Bodhisattva known as Ushnïshasitâtapatrâ, surrounded by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,xvii

L I S T OFPLATESand having one hundred and seventeen heads, symboliz ing her influence in the various spheres of being. The lefthand holds the World Umbrella (axis mundi) and theright the Wheel of the Law. Beneath the numerousblessed feet of the Bodhisattva stand the people of theworld who have prayed for Enlightenment, while be neath the feet of the three "furious" powers at the bottomof the picture lie those still tortured by lust, resentment,and delusion. The sun and moon in the upper cornerssymbolize the miracle of the marriage, or identity, ofeternity and time, Nirvana and the world (see pp. 156157 ff.). The lamas at the top center represent the ortho dox line of Tibetan teachers of the doctrine symbolizedin this religious banner-painting. (Courtesy of TheAmerican Museum of Natural History, N e w York City.)XIII. The Branch of Immortal Life (Assyria). Winged being offer ing a branch with pomegranates. Alabaster wall panelfrom the Palace of Ashur-nasir-apal II ( 8 8 5 - 8 6 0 B . C . ) ,King of Assyria, at Kalhu (modern Nimrud). (Courtesyof T h e Metropolitan Museum of Art, N e w York City.)XIV. Bodhisattva(Cambodia).Fragment from the ruins ofAngkor. 12th cent. A . D . The Buddha figure crowningthe head is a characteristic sign of the Bodhisattva(compare Plates XI and XII; in the latter the Buddhafigure sits atop the pyramid of heads). (Musée Guimet,Paris. Photo from Angkor, éditions "Tel," Paris, 1935.)XV. The Return (Ancient Rome). Marble relief found (1887)in a piece of ground formerly belonging to the VillaLudovisi. Perhaps of early Greek workmanship.(Museo délie Terme, Rome. Photo Antike Denkmàler,herausgegeben vom Kaiserlich Deutschen Archaeologischen Institut, Berlin: Georg Reimer, Vol. II, 1908.)XVI. The Cosmic Lion Goddess, Holding the Sun (North India).From a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century single-leafmanuscript, from Delhi. (Courtesy of The PierpontMorgan Library, N e w York City.)xviii

L I S T OFFOLLOWINGPLATESPAGE308XVII. The Fountain of Life (Flanders). Central panel of a trip tych by Jean Bellegambe (of Douai), ca. 1520. T h eassisting female figure at the right, with the littlegalleon on her head, is Hope; the corresponding figureat the left, Love. (Courtesy of the Palais des BeauxArts, Lille.)XVIII. The Moon King and His People (South Rhodesia). Prehis toric rock painting, at Diana V o w Farm, Rusapi Dis trict, South Rhodesia, perhaps associated with thelegend of Mwuetsi, the Moon Man (infra, pp.2 7 9 - 2 8 2 ) . The lifted right hand of the great recliningfigure holds a horn. Tentatively dated by its discov erer, Leo Frobenius, ca. 1500 B.C. (Courtesy of theFrobenius-Institut, Frankfurt-am-Main.)XIX. The Mother of the Gods (Mexico). Ixciuna, giving birth toa deity. Statuette of semi-precious stone (scapolite, 7.5inches high). (Photo, after Hamy, courtesy of T h eAmerican Museum of Natural History, N e w York City.)XX. Tangaroâ, Producing Gods and Men (RurutuIsland).Polynesian wood carving from the Tubuai (Austral)Group of Islands in the South Pacific. (Courtesy ofThe British Museum.)XXI. Chaos Monster and Sun God (Assyria). Alabaster wallpanel from the Palace of Ashur-nasir-apal II ( 8 8 5 8 6 0 B.C.), King of Assyria, at Kalhu (modern Nimrud).The god is perhaps the national deity, Assur, in therole played formerly by Marduk of Babylon (see pp.2 6 3 - 2 6 5 ) and still earlier by Enlil, a Sumerian stormgod. (Photo from an engraving in Austen Henry Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series, London:J. Murray, 1853. The original slab, now in The BritishMuseum, is so damaged that the forms can hardly bedistinguished in a photograph. The style is the sameas that of Plate XIII.)xix

L I S T OFPLATESXXII. The Young Corn God (Honduras). Fragment in lime stone, from the ancient Mayan city of Copan. (Cour tesy of T h e American Museum of Natural History,N e w York City.)XXIII. The Chariot of the Moon (Cambodia). Relief at AngkorVat. 12th cent. A.D. (Photo from Angkor, éditions "Tel,"Paris, 1935.)XXIV. Autumn (Alaska). Eskimo dance mask. Painted wood.From the Kuskokwim River district in southwestAlaska. (Courtesy of The American Indian Heye Foun dation, N e w York City.)XX

PREFACE TO THE 1949 EDITIONcontained in religious doctrines are after all sodistorted and systematically disguised," writes Sigmund Freud,"that the mass of humanity cannot recognize them as truth. T h ecase is similar to what happens when we tell a child that new born babies are brought by the stork. Here, too, we are tellingthe truth in symbolic clothing, for we know what the large birdsignifies. But the child does not know it. He hears only the dis torted part of what we say, and feels that he has been deceived;and we know how often his distrust of the grown-ups and his re fractoriness actually take their start from this impression. W ehave become convinced that it is better to avoid such symbolicdisguisings of the truth in what we tell children and not to with hold from them a knowledge of the true state of affairs commen surate with their intellectual level."It is the purpose of the present book to uncover some of thetruths disguised for us under the figures of religion and mythol ogy by bringing together a multitude of not-too-difficult exam ples and letting the ancient meaning become apparent of itself.The old teachers knew what they were saying. Once we havelearned to read again their symbolic language, it requires nomore than the talent of an anthologist to let their teaching beheard. But first we must learn the grammar of the symbols, andas a key to this mystery I know of no better modern tool thanpsychoanalysis. Without regarding this as the last word on thesubject, one can nevertheless permit it to serve as an approach.The second step will be then to bring together a host of myths andfolk tales from every corner of the world, and to let the symbols" T H E TRUTHS11Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion (translated by James Stracheyet al., Standard Edition, X X I ; London: T h e Hogarth Press, 1961), pp. 4 4 - 4 5(Orig. 1927.)xxi

P R E F A C E TO T H E 1949EDITIONspeak for themselves. The parallels will be immediately appar ent; and these will develop a vast and amazingly constant state ment of the basic truths by which man has lived throughout themillenniums of his residence on the planet.Perhaps it will be objected that in bringing out the correspon dences I have overlooked the differences between the variousOriental and Occidental, modern, ancient, and primitive tradi tions. T h e same objection might be brought, however, againstany textbook or chart of anatomy, where the physiological varia tions of race are disregarded in the interest of a basic generalunderstanding of the human physique. There are of coursedifferences between the numerous mythologies and religions ofmankind, but this is a book about the similarities; and oncethese are understood the differences will be found to be muchless great than is popularly (and politically) supposed. My hopeis that a comparative elucidation may contribute to the perhapsnot-quite-desperate cause of those forces that are working in thepresent world for unification, not in the name of some ecclesias tical or political empire, but in the sense of human mutual un derstanding. As we are told in the Vedas: "Truth is one, thesages speak of it by many names."For help in the long task of bringing my materials into read able form, I wish to thank Mr. Henry Morton Robinson, whoseadvice greatly assisted me in the first and final stages of thework, Mrs. Peter Geiger, Mrs. Margaret W i n g , and Mrs. HelenMcMaster, who went over the manuscripts many times andoffered invaluable suggestions, and my wife, who has workedwith me from first to last, listening, reading, and revising.J. C.New York CityJune 10, 1948xxii

INTRODUCTION TO THE 2 0 0 4COMMEMORATIVE EDITIONWhat Does the Soul Want?. . . MYTH IS THE SECRET OPENING THROUGH WHICH THEINEXHAUSTIBLE ENERGIES OF THE COSMOS POUR INTOHUMAN CULTURAL MANIFESTATION. . . .—Joseph CampbellAPreambleI AM H O N O R E D to be invited to write this introduction to the workof a soul I have regarded in many ways for so long. The contextand substance of Joseph Campbell's lifework is one of the most re cent diamonds on a long, long necklace of other dazzling gemstones that have been mined by humanity—from the depths, andoften at great cost—since the beginning of time. There is no doubtthat there is strung across the eons—a strong and fiery-wroughtchain of lights, and that each glint and ray represents a greatwork, a great wisdom preserved. The lights on this infinite liga ture have been added to, and continue to be added to, link by link.A few of the names of those who have added such lights arestill remembered, but the names of those who ignited most ofthe lights have been lost in time. However, it can be said that weare descended from them all. This phenomenon of the necklaceof lights should not be understood as some mere trinket. Its real ity is that it has acted, since forever, as a swaying, glowing life line for human souls trying to find their ways through the dark.Joseph Campbell was born in 1904, and his work continues toattract the interested reader, the experienced seeker, and theneophyte as well, for it is written with serious-mindedness andxxiii

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO T H E 2004 E D I T I O Nsuch brio, and so little mire. The Hero with a Thousand Faces isabout the heroic journey, but it is not written, as some works onthe subject are, by a mere onlooker. It is not written by one sim ply hyper-fascinated with mythos, or by one who bowdlerizesthe mythic motifs so that they no longer have any electrical pulseto them.N o , this work is authored by a genuinely inspirited personwho himself was once a novice, that is, a beginner who openednot just the mind, but also the longing heart, all in order to be avessel for spiritual realities—ones greater than the conclusions ofthe ego alone. Over time, Campbell became to many people anexample of what it means to be a master teacher. While grantingmerit to the pragmatic, he also carried the sensibilities of a mod ern mystic—and even in old age, a time during which many mayfeel they have earned the right to be irritable and remote,Campbell continued to be intensely capable of awe and wonder.In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, via numerous myths, heshows how the heroic self seeks an exacting spiritual counte nance, that is, a higher way of holding and conducting oneself.This heroic way offers depth of insight and meaning. It is atten tive to guides along the way, and invigorates creative life. W esee that the journey of the hero and heroine are most often deep ened via ongoing perils. These include losing one's way innu merable times, refusing the first call, thinking it is only onething when it really is, in fact, quite another—as well as entangle ments and confrontations with something of great and oftenfrightening magnitude. Campbell points out that coming throughsuch struggles causes the person to be infused with more vision,and to be strengthened by the spiritual life principle—which,more than anything else, encourages one to take courage to livewith effrontery and mettle.Throughout his work too, time and again, he does not offerpap about the mediocre, timid, or tired ruts of spiritual life. In stead, he describes the frontiers of spiritual matters as he envi sions them. One can see in the tales he chooses to tell that heknows a heroic endeavor draws a person into timeless time.There, the intents and contents of spirit, soul, and psyche arexxiv

I N T R O D U C T I O N TO T H E 2 0 0 4EDITIONnot logged according to artificial stops normally assigned to mun dane time. N o w life is measured instead by the depth of longingto remember one's own wholeness, and by the crackle of efforts tofind and keep alive the most daring and undiminished heart.In the oldest myths from Babylonia, Assyria, and other ancientpopulations, the storytellers and poets, who pecked with styluseson stone or etched with pigment on hand-wrought paper orcloth, beautifully detailed a particular idea about psychic reso nance—one that modern psychoanalysts, mythologists, theolo gians, and artists also continue to take up with interest. Thisvery old idea about mythic reverberation was understood as onewhich takes place in a triad between Creator, individual humanbeing, and the larger culture. Each mysteriously and deeplyaffects and inspires the others.Thus, in a number of ancient Babylonian and Assyrian tales,the psychological, moral, and spiritual states of the heroic char acter, of the king or queen, were directly reflected in the healthof the people, the land, the creatures, and the weather. W h e nthe ruler was ethical and whole, the culture was also. W h e n theking or queen was ill from having broken taboos, or had becomesick with power, greed, hatred, sloth, envy, and other ailments,then the land fell into a famine. Insects and reptiles rained downfrom the skies. People weakened and died. Everyone turned onone another, and nothing new could be born.Campbell brings this ancient idea into his work too. Borrow ing the term monomyth, a word he identifies as on

THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES Commemorative Edition, with an Introduction by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best