Anbotoko Dama eta infernua: Aurrez sartu eta aurrez irten

Abstract

In Basque mythology, Barandiaran highlighted the importance of a being: Mari, center of several myths and head of several geniuses or numens. Also in the interpretation of mythology, the character has received prominent attention, especially since the hermeneutics of the twentieth century joined it with the matri(arch)alist theory. However, the explanations given on Mari do not exhaust its subject. There have been collected stories that keep the formula come forward and go back to the headquarters of Mari, and they have been given a new context. That is the objective of this text is to show that Mari and its surroundings are pointers of the Underworld, with the help of a philosophical approach that takes the myths as works of art, and bearing in mind the Greek tradition.