What's your favorite Myth?

When I typically think about myths, I think about Gods, hero's, and other beings in primordial, ancient, or even an alternate worlds altogether. Usually, these myths seem to underline some type of popular conception of a particular societies view of the world as well as the values that society embraces. But what I find interesting is that myths in particular have an ontological quality to them. In other words, they establish the origins of the norms, rituals, and codes a society lives by and attempt to explain them to in the best and possibly the most plausible way possible. Think about "the founding fathers" in American revolutionary lore. Same thing.

But myths just aren't myths in themselves. Myths take on a wide degree of forms. I personally believe that ontological aspects of a myth (finding the primacy of a given trait in society like in the epic of Gilgamesh) are very prevalent. But myths work in other ways as well, like forming the foundations of social myths (like the roles of a "good" woman or a "dishonorable man like in the story of Cranae of Athens), exemplifying the dichotomy of good and evil in the form of warriors and villains (like Odysseus and the suitors), and even go so far as explain the ultimate destiny of the world (like the Norse conception of Ragnarok).

But anyway? what's your favorite myth? (preferably an old and established myth).

Mine is the story of Romulus and Remus, the supposed founders of Rome. In a nutshell, the King of Alba Longa (Tarchetius) observed the blessing of Vulcan in the fire of his hearth. The apparition of Vulcan was (excuse the naughty bits) a spectral phallus which Vulcan promised would give Tarchetius' daughters' sons abilities which would rival Mars himself. The daughter wouldn't have any of that though and ordered her servant to go in her place and thus were conceived the twins Romulus and Remus. Terchetius grew fearful of the potential these two twins had and ordered that they be killed. However, the consequence of killing the twins himself and angering the Gods was too much, and he instead put the twins in a small basket and sent them down the Tiber river. On the banks of the Tiber, the she-wolf (see pic below) found the twins and nursed them under the tree of Ruminalis. Faustulus and Acca Laurentia later found the twins suckling from the she-wolf (which is also the icon of Rome we know today [Bernini version with the twins, orginal sans the twins]) and raised them. The highpoint in the twin's pre-Rome career comes when the twins fight and kill Amulius (the usurper of Numitor) and gain the favor and status necessary to establish Rome. But this is not the best part of the myth of Romulus and Remus.

Romulus began to build the walls of Rome. After weeks of work, Romulus had constructed a very rough but sturdy wall (which was even in the myth just a few feet high). Remus, amused at Romulus' pitiful attempt to build a wall, jumped over the small few-foot high wall. Bad idea. Romulus killed Remus and said in so many words "...and this is what happens to anyone who violates the integrity of Rome!" That to me is an awesome myth. It has the content, the historical context, and a very interesting message to convey to those who hear it.

The myth goes on. Romulus "acquires" the Sabine women, and later becomes the God Quirinus. However, another account states that senators who were unhappy with the high demands of Romulus killed him and pretended to say he had ascended to Elysium during an eclipse. But that in itself says something, which is that the present would indeed inform the past... well... the mythological past. Imperial influence on one hand (precedence for the divine Augustus) and Republican sentiment on the other (Brutus?who incidentally is given the credit for the founding of a republican rome) both inform the conception of Rome's conception and the principles that became a part of the city itself.

But the neat thing is that the myth is told in a variety of ways. Romulus and Remus could also have been born by Rhea Silvia and Mars. Also, when the twins fight, they could have actually fought each other in a matched brawl rather than a hasty draw of the sword over a vertical wall leap. So basically, there are multiple version to the same story. But throughout the myth you can see the connection to history here, like the friction between the Latins and the Etruscans, etc. If you think about it, the way Romulus killed Remus shows that maybe there was some internal split between the two co-rulers which ended up in defeat of Remus (and possibly his faction). It makes sense? the Latins were a fractured group of clans to begin with, so maybe it was a pre-Rome civil war. Real events shape myths as well as the intangible virtues the myths want to impart to the listeners.