CULTURAL HERO. — This is a figure encountered in the mythology of many primitive peoples and has a secondary and subordinate function vis-à-vis the Supreme Being. It is closer than the latter to humanity, to which it generally procures immediate advantages; it is not, however, always beneficial. It is also a creator wherever creation, considered as work, is attributed to a being subordinate to the Supreme Being: in such a case it may also be the ancestor in its capacity as demiurge. It is generally the craftsman of the present ordering of the world, without for the most part possessing an ethical character; it intervenes directly, by very human methods, in the affairs of this earth.
This figure has attracted the attention of historians of religions both for the analysis of its characteristics and for the position it occupies in the controversies surrounding the formation of the concept of divinity. This controversy is summarized in an article published in 1906 by P. Ehrenreich (cf. bibliography). In it the author criticizes the theory of K. Breysig, as well as those of other authors belonging to the evolutionist school who dealt directly or indirectly with the subject, such as Max Müller, E. B. Tylor, D. Brinton, and J. Frazer, up to Andrew Lang, who discusses it in his Making of religions (London 1901). In particular, he notes a clear contradiction in Breysig’s ideas,
according to which the formation of the concept and figure of God among primitive peoples derives from that of a heroic, strong, and wise man. Such a man, however, according to Breysig, is not an earthly individual from the distant prehistoric past, a being belonging to the human race, but an ideal figure, in whom the human need for spirituality is carried to its highest sensible expression, and humanity ultimately bows before the ideal it has itself created. More coherent, on the other hand, is E. Durkheim (according to P. Ehrenreich), who, although interpreting the ethnological documentation without a critical spirit, holds that the idea of the great gods among primitive peoples arose from the totemic ancestors and had a basis in the figure of the c. h. Finally, for W. Wundt, the gods were conceived at first as heroes and only later as spiritual beings. Ehrenreich’s opinion is the opposite. In agreement with the theory of the Vienna historical-cultural school concerning the original monotheism of primitive peoples, he maintains that it is from the Supreme Being that the figure of the c. h. gradually becomes detached and takes shape; this figure gains life and vigor in inverse proportion to the weakening of the idea of the Supreme Being among cultures that depart from the original form. The figure of the c. h. is in fact absent among the Pienei, among whom the concept and worship of the Supreme Being have their purest manifestation. We find it, however, among populations that are themselves very primitive, such as those of north-central California. The demiurge in the cosmogonic traditions of the Algonquins is Nanabosho (also known as Manabush, Messou, Michabo, etc. among a large number of tribes). For the Una of Tierra del Fuego, Teumale, the Supreme Being, He Who is in heaven, takes little interest in human affairs, except to inflict punishments upon human beings, such as death, and leaves Kenos, the first man, in charge of attending to the affairs of this world. Indeed, he also entrusts him with the task of giving form to the universe and establishing the social and religious rules that human beings must observe. The most important figure in Hottentot mythology after Tsui Goab, the Supreme Being, is Heitsi Eibib, a demiurgic hero born of a virgin, author of marvelous deeds, who died and was reborn several times and assimilated many features of the old Supreme Being. In Africa we also find the figure of the c. h. in the beliefs of the Herero, the Kaffirs, and the Sudanic peoples of the interior.
Belief in c. h. is extremely widespread and perhaps universal in Australia: the details of the deeds performed by them vary from tribe to tribe, but the background of these narratives is almost identical. One of the most characteristic figures is Putiaputia, the protector of the Aranda. They did not, according to A. W. Howitt, create human beings, but merely perfected them through their teachings. Among the Warungeri, however, the creation of human beings is attributed to the c. h. The c. h. of the Maori was Tane, son of Heaven and Earth. He also possessed the character of a creator. Maoi, on the other hand, the hero of many Polynesian myths, does not participate in the events of creation; rather, he is the one who forces the sun into a regular course, procures fire for human beings, and performs many deeds on their behalf. But the figure of the c. h. is most fully developed among the indigenous peoples of the Americas, not only among the more primitive populations, such as those mentioned above, but also among populations with a more advanced culture. Such is Bochica of the Chibcha, who constitutes one of the clearest examples of a civilizing hero. Subordinate to the Supreme Being Chiini-ni-gagua, he taught human beings agriculture, the arts, and piety, and then withdrew from the affairs of this world, intervening in them only once more to prevent a flooding of the Bogotá valley. It is strange, however, that some traditions relate that he in turn made use of another being to complete his work among human beings, a second c. h., Nemquetara Sagigua. This may perhaps be attributed to a confusion of traditions, or rather to a repetition of an identical figure through the overlapping of different versions of the same myth, which subsequently come to constitute a single narrative.
Bau: A. W. Howitt, The native tribes of South East Australia, London 1904, passim; P. Ehrenreich, Götter und Heilbringer, in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 38 (1906); W. Hodge, Handbook of
American Indians North of Mexico, Washington 1907-18 (Bull. of Bureau of Amer. Ethnol., Smithsonian Institution, 20); A. L. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California, Washington 1925 (Bull. of Bureau of American Ethnol., Smithsonian Institution, 78); W. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, I-VI, Münster 1920-1940, passim; W. Wundt, La philologie dei popoli, Torino 1920; H. Baumann, Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im Mythos der Africanischen Völker, Berlino 1936, passim; Handbook of South American Indians, I-V, Washington 1940-49, passim (Bull. of Bureau of American Ethnol., Smithsonian Institution, 143); M. Pettazzoni, Miti e leggende, I, Torino 1948, passim. Tullio Tentori