The notions of "myth" and "mythology" acquired a new meaning at the end of the 18th century. This "invention" of myth has given birth to the field of comparative mythology. As the cradle for the Romantic dreams of a "new mythology", it became a constant reference for the theories and philosophies of art in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, it has become the vade mecum of Nazi politics. The course explores this modern concept of myth through a number of texts where the same questions are broached from different perspectives. It also aims to examine how the philological invention of myth presides over the self-invention of ''ethnographic'' nations and nationalisms.