The Myth of the Birth of the Hero is a book by Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank in which he applies the psychoanalytic method to comparative mythology. Rank was one of the first scholars to explore the convergence between classical mythology and the mysteries of the human psyche. In this early visionary work, Rank anticipates the research of C.G. Jung and Joseph Campbell. His work deconstructs motifs in mythology such as the heroic quest, the flood myth, and birth-tales of the hero.