Juschka/Contours, 2. Mythic Caesura, Pain and the Boundary

In Chapter 2 I identify, examine and compare the separation of human and non-human animals in the Classic Maya myth the Popul Vuh and the Iliad of ancient Greece through the use of pain. In both locations anthropogonic myths record the effort to establish human animals as different from, and necessarily superior to (in greater and lesser degrees), non-human animals via the indexical sign of pain. My intention, beyond showing similarities and differences between these myths with regard to this separation, is to demonstrate how systems of belief and practice are central, and in some instances foundational, to how we determine the boundaries and borders of existence.