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
- Hesiods 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. Gaias 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-1st 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 1st 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. Hesiods ages of Humankind
Golden
Silver
Bronze
Heroic
IronGarden 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
- Pandoras 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. Ovids 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
- OKFloodspared 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 Heras 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