What people have achieved a mythical status?

Giuseppe Garibaldi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi
This is a long but interesting read..



Meeting between Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II on the bridge of Teano on 26 October 1860
I've no clue who did the painting.. oops, found it - Pietro Aldi, 1852-1888.

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Another useful read - in today's The Guardian - but my computer is acting up and I can't cut and paste right now.
The article is titled "My Brother Che".

The Chuckle Brothers.

Not quite so much now, but George Washington held mythical status. Schoolteachers and others invented great feats of strength and honesty, like chopping down the cherry tree and then admitting it, (never happened), and throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac, (also didn't happen). For one thing, the Potomac River was a mile across. Plus the silver dollar didn't come into existence until Washington was over 60.

There is some evidence that Washington threw, as a young man, a small piece of slate about the size of the dollar across a river. The Rappahannock River was near Washington's boyhood home, and is about 250 feet across. At 6 foot 2 inches and over 200 lbs as an adult, even as a young man Washington was likely quite a physical specimen and throwing that small piece of slate 250 feet is certainly possible. Outfielders can frequently throw a baseball 300 feet to home plate.

At any rate, Washington was revered since his time and is only slightly less revered now. The Constitutional Amendment about limiting the President to two terms only came in apparently recently-the fact that Washington set the precedent of only serving two terms was enough to keep the tradition going until FDR got elected four times, (he stayed in office because of WWII).

Yes, I see your point about Washington. I think of him as a military hero and as the father of our country. He hardly even seems to be a real person.
All of those political people who formed our country seem that way. They have achieved sort of a mythological status manifest in the Constitution.

Leonardo Da Vinci is bestowed with so many claims to mythic status when , actually,most of his thoughts were really of his time, were often plagiarized, and really, were not that particularly impressive.(Read the Leicester codex for example)

However, One really important thing I give him, besides his talent as a great artist, was that Leonardo really is the father of "Engineering blue prints"

Some folks claim that the Egyptians had plans shown on their structures but the obvious answer to that was that Egyptian plans were recorded on a "finished structure" and were really not to be used for construction purposes like Leonardos

In Australia, Ned Kelly. From bank robber, horse thief, and cop killer to national icon.

When It comes to religious figures it's pretty easy: there's the Buddha and Jesus. The Buddha glorified in the book, "the light of Asia," and Jesus become synonymous with the "Tree of Life," that is, the crucifix. I mean, Jesus has a whole book dedicated to him, to mythologize him.

The Buddha sits under the Bodhi tree for a number of days and nights and becomes enlightened. In a burrow under the tree lives Mucalinda, a giant multi-headed and multi-hooded cobra. It emerges from the burrow, spreads it's hoods, and lowers them over the Buddha as protection from the elements, animals, etc. Nature's homage to wisdom.

More recently Winny has a mythical aura of his own, symbolising defiance in the face of overwhelming odds.

At a personal level I believe none did. At a social perceptual level, only the unlucky ones.

Mythical is a very lonely place to be.

Elvis

JFK

Betsy Ross

That points up that everything about the US is propaganda and myth.

Another country of myth and propaganda and the stiff upper lip crap.

Ronald Reagan.

Republican candidates are supposed to compare themselves to him, and none may criticize him.

***

In China, Sun Yat-sen.

Totally undeserved. The idiots who idolize Reagan, the Butcher of Nicaragua, simply illustrate that they are at least as stupid as he was.

Not Even a Hedgehog
The stupidity of Ronald Reagan.

By Christopher Hitchens

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2004/06/not_even_a_hedgehog.html

Many that are above reproach in the minds of many of their constituency of fans. Name a venue/genre, and there are some with mythical status, in my opinion. If one has a biography written about oneself, there are those that feel a mythical status has been achieved, in my opinion.

Can't you see one right here?
Y'all blinder than me. Look at my hat, look at my posture, smirky cynical laughter, cigarette n all...Epic !

Here is a case in point, a coin showing Beethoven's profile, quite ugly and looking like a bulldog. This is probably what he really looked like.



Now, here's another coin, a West German 5 deuschmark silver coin. Notice how beautiful the profile is. This is not realism; this is an idealized personification of Beethoven's music. Beethoven has become a myth.

wax

Here is the 5 deucshemark Beethoven coin.