These heroic myths vary enormously in the details, but the more closely we examine them, the more we realize that they are structurally very similar. They have, so to speak, a universal structure, although in practice they are developing come in groups or individuals unrelated to any possible contact with each other, as, for example, African tribes, those of North American Indians, the Greeks or Incas of Peru. In all cases we are invariably faced with a story that describes the miraculous birth but humble hero, his first tests of superhuman power, the rapid rise to positions of prominence and authority, his triumphant battle against the forces of evil, his fallibility in front of the sin of pride (hubris), and his fall as a result of a betrayal or a "heroic" sacrifice that ends in death.
From "The Man and His Symbols", trans. Roberto dodgers.
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