Review For Exam #1

    1.    Legend

• Heroic main characters
• historical functions and time
• moral and ethical behavior

    2.    Divine/True myth- Story word of mouth passed down

• Primordial/fantastical time
• supernatural characters
• presents model of behavior

    3.    Folktale

• anti-heroic characters
• "once upon a time…" motif
• happy endings, entertain/educational

    4.    Aetiology- explains natural phenomenon

    5.    Euhemerist Theory (from Euhemerus, 3rd cent. BC)

• famous people who become legendary characters
• eventually were regarded as gods/goddesses

    6.    4 basic approaches of myth:

• recording by literatures and pictures
• function in society (highest rank tells)
• universal truths,
• traces relationship of myths of differ cultures (comparative myth)

    7.    Time line of Greek history

pre-2000 BC ca. 2000 BC 2000 BC - 1100 BC 2000 BC - 1450 BC 1200 BC 1100 BC 1100 BC - 800 BC 480 BC - 323 BC 323 BC - 31 BC

Indigenous Greeks Achaeans (Indo-European) begin taking over Greece Mycenean Age (formed by Indigenous and Achaean culture) Minoan Civilization on Crete Fall of Troy (traditional date) Dark Age - myths passed on orally Archaic Period  - Homer and Hesiod Classical Period - Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato Hellenistic Period - Roman Legend, Vergil, Ovid

8.    Differences between Indigenous Greeks and Acheans

• Indigenous: Matriarchal society, mother earth goddess, peaceful
• Achaean Greeks: Patriarchal society, Pantheon (anthropomorphic diety), warlike

9.    Creators of types of writing

• Cuneiform -1st and earliest myths recorded (Sumerians 3000bc),
• Linear A- Indigenous (we cannot read),
• Linear B-Mycenaeans (pictoral)

10.    Animism vs. anthropomorphism

• Animism-attributing god qualities to inanimate objects and forces of nature
• Anthropomorphism-animism but with human-like qualities and forms

11.    Positives and negatives of anthropomorphism

• humanlike for ability to bribe -too humanlike to believe
• human lust -other beliefs/philosophy ideas
• easy understanding of universe

12.    Creation of the universe

• Cosmology-belief that earth was created with purpose by Deity
• Theogony - birth of the Gods in Ancient Greek
• Hesiod’s theory of universal creation from Chaos (cosmic void)
• Gaia - Earth
• Tartarus - underworld (boundary)
• Eros - desire/love
• Erebus -darkness under earth
• Night - darkness above earth

13.    Gaia’s children by herself (animism)

• Uranus (Sky)
• Pontus (Ocean)
• Mountains

14.    Gaia with Uranus = Titans, Hecatonchires, Cyclopes

• Themis (tradition) and Mnemosyne (Memory)
• Hyperion & Theia, parents of Helios (drives sun chariot), Selene (moon), & Eos (Dawn)
• Cronus & Rhea, parents of Zeus and his siblings
• Hecatonchires (hundred handers) banished to underworld-makes Zeus’ weapons
• Cyclopes - 1 eye each, also banished

15.    Uranus and deception

• Uranus-1^st evil, grossed by Hecatonchires and Cyclopes; banishes them to Tartarus
• Gaia angry and formulates plan.
• Cronus castrates him when he comes to "visit"

16.    Uranus's castration brings forth-

• Aphrodite, sexual desire, from genitals falling into the ocean
• Furies (Erinyes) 3 sisters in underworld punishing those who kill parents, blood dripped on earth

17.    New king and deception

• Cronus and Rhea have 6 sons, afraid of being overthrown by prophesy, he swallows kids
• Cronus = human stupidity, jealousy; Rhea = protective, maternal
• Rhea gets advice from Gaia, tricks Cronus eating rock and has son
• Zeus raised on Crete by Amalthea, goat nurse.

18.    Titanomachy

• Old Gods (Titans) v. new gods (olympians-cronus children who have been vomited up)
• Zeus has aid from Themis(Right and Justice)
• Prometheus - foresight (sided w/ Zeus),
• Epimetheus - hindsight  (sided w/ Cronus)- banished to Tartarus

19.    Zeus swallows 1^st wife Metis (Cleverness), to gain "knowledge"

20.   "HITTITE CRONUS MYTH"   Parallel from Hittite civilization in Turkey (around 1500 BC)

• Uranus = Alalush Sky
• Cronus = Anu castrated by son
• Zeus = Kumarbi
• ??? = Teshub storm God/Anarchy

21.    Zeus’ two challenges- Gigantonomachy & Typhonomachy

• Gaia births 2 giants who bld up mt. to Zeus-defeated
• Gaia and Tartarus births Typhon, storm diety-defeated

22.    Hieros Gamos

• Sacred marriage between sky god and earth goddess
• Gaia & Uranus-animism (just Gaia) and semi-anthropomorphism
• Cronus and Rhea - mostly anthropomorphic
• Zeus and Hera - totally anthromopomorphic

23.    Hesiod (ca. 750 BC) vs Ovid (ca 1 AD)

• H-750bc Greek negative weltanschauung (view on whole aspect of civilization)
• O-43 bc to 17ad Roman, copied ideas, positive weltanschauung

24.    Selene and Endymion

• Endymion sleeping shepherd, given eternal sleep and beauty for Selene
• supposedly chooses eternal rest

25.    Eos and Tithonus (aetiology)

• Shepherd married Eos by Zeus, blissful til old,
• locked in room; becomes grasshopper

26.    Versions of Creation: Prometheus and Mankind

• Humans created from earth and water, Pro teaches how to sacrifice to Gods deceitfully
• Zeus angry and takes away fire, Pro stills back and bound to boulde w/ eagle eating liver everyday
• Knows he will get off: knows who will overthrow Zeus (Heracles rescues later)
• Revenge on Humans: Pandora (all-gifts) woman made by Hephaestus from clay and wate.
• Given box containing hate and despair, hope, doom, disease, etc.
• Pandora welcomedby Epimetheus (after-thinker)
• Pandora repesents life, attractive and pleasureful, but also evil

27.    Prometheus Trilogy

• Aeschylus’ Play (450 BC; kinder Weltanschauung).
• People talk to Prometheus on rock so Zeus can find out sea nymph's name
• Zeus's henchmen = Force & Strength,
• Hephaestus, Io (cow horns)

28.    Hesiod’s ages of Humankind

Golden Silver Bronze Heroic Iron

Garden of Eden made of gold. Lived next to Gods, eternal youth, all abundant Created/destroyed by Zeus. No repect for the gods and killed one another (Hubris) Humans used bronze tools killing themselves and caused war (Mycenean) an up blip in a drastic downturn (Hesiod lives in this one) soon to be destroyed

29.    Terms

• Misogyny - hatred of women
• Pandora’s box-duh
• Hubris- crime of thinking you are  equal to or greater than a god or goddess
• In flagrante delicto- makin’ luuuuuuvvvv

30.    Syncretism of Greek and Roman parallels

• Zeus = Jupiter
• Hera = Juno
• Athena = Minerva
• Hermes = Mercury
• Poseidon = Neptune

31.    Ovid’s Metamorphoses =  the FLOOD

• King Lycaon tried to kill the disguised Jupiter
• Jupiter and Mercury angry, went to ask God council to kill humans and create wonderful race
• OK—Flood—spared Deucalion (Prometheus’ son) and Pyrrha (Epimetheus’ daughter) to start race
• Since too old, Gaia said to throw bones of your mother over shoulder
• (throw dirt and rocks creating humans in Earth age)

32.    Zeus and Hera's offspring

• Ares- war
• Hebe-youthful beauty
• Eilethyia-childbirth
• Hephaestus-metal shop (Hera had by herself)

33.    Hephaestus wife

• Aphrodite given by Zeus. Ares and Aphro have affair.
• H told by Helios and
• H catches throwing invisible chain over for all gods to see in flagrante delicto

34.    Offspring of Pontus

• Nereus & Doris- 50 nereids
  *Amphitrite-(bears tritan merman who blows trumpet to announce )
  *Galatea-"Milky"
  *Thetus-bears son greater than Zeus
  *other 47
• Thaimas (monster) & Electra
• *Iris-rainbow and Hera’s messenger
• *Harpies-woman head w/ bird body steals picnics
• Phorcys and Ceto (brother and sister of Pontus)
• *3 Graeae - goddesses of old age
• *3 Gorgons - live in underworld-Medusa is one( bears Poseidon two children: Pegasus
• and Chrysaor (Amphitite made her ugly)
• Ladon-dragon
• Eurybie

35.    Children of Poseidon

• Triton (merman)
• Polyphemus (Cyclops)
• with Demeter (horsie style) Arion (horse) and Charybdis (whirlpool)
• with Medusa (three-bagger) = Pegasus and Chrysaor
• Poseidon and Gaia- Antaeus the Giant

36.    Animism to anthropomorphism

• Gaia to Zeus
• Pontus-ocean-began to birth, Poseidon began to reign