Myth is fundamental to the life of a community. It is the essential symbolic narrative that tells a people who they are, where they come from, and why they stay together.

It is said that the Holy Grail is the quintessential western myth; that within it we can find everything we need to know about how our culture, for better or worse, has developed into what it is today. However, a major obstacle to understanding the Grail "myth" is the confusion that arises when trying to sort through sometimes contadictory elements related to the Grail "story." This is because the myth, as such, has generated not one, but a multitude of stories that work with, alter, or expand upon the basic material--themes, symbols, characters--intrinsic to the myth. It is important then to understand the origins and influences of the various Grail stories in order to begin to unravel the significance of the myth as a whole.