The Martyr (n.) undermine myth because they are innocent and the persecutors' perspective does not prevail; they would have to be glorified and their crimes accepted for sacredness to appear.
The Martyr (n.) is singular because his sacralisation fails even under the most favourable conditions, the crowd's emotion and its religious passion for persecution.
The Martyr (n.) let historians see crowds at their mythopoetic work for the first time, and it is not as pretty as theorists of myth imagine.
Martyr (n.) meant witness in Greek, and Christian influence made it mean an innocent person persecuted, a heroic victim.
The Martyr (n.) witness not to a belief but to man's terrible propensity, in a group, to spill innocent blood to restore community; the more of them die, the weaker the persecutors' representation grows.
The Martyr (n.) is any innocent victim, regardless of doctrine; popular usage, as with "scapegoat," runs ahead of scholars and hints at things theology does not know.