Abstract
Three years ago, we initiated a programme of research in which ideas and tools from statistical physics and network theory were applied to the field of comparative mythology. The eclecticism of the work, together with the perspectives it delivered, led to widespread media coverage and academic discussion. Here we review some aspects of the project, contextualised with a brief history of the long relationship between science and the humanities. We focus in particular on an Irish epic, summarising some of the outcomes of our quantitative investigation. We also describe the emergence of a new sub-discipline and our hopes for its future.
Highlights
In 2012 and 2013 we published two papers [1, 2] which generated significant amounts of interest within and beyond academia
Mythology entails a plethora of characters and timeless narratives outside documented history
There is little material evidence to support the historicity of the society or events depicted in the Tain Bo Cuailnge, but there is no definite evidence to the contrary either [22]
Summary
In 2012 and 2013 we published two papers [1, 2] which generated significant amounts of interest within and beyond academia. We found that each of the fictional networks we analysed were small world, just like real social networks None of their degree distributions appeared to follow a clear power law and they were all disassortative. The anomalous six data points on the right pull the line upwards in that region of the plot This hints that the network structure of the Tain may be similar to that of Beowulf , but for the six anomalous characters in the Irish narrative. This might be an indication of where the artificiality of the Tain, is located. In terms of the narrative, this means that the number of interactions they have with other characters would
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