Review For Exam #2
1. Rulers of the underworld
- Hades (Pluto) - rich in souls
- Persephone (Proserpina) - unwilling underworld queen
- Charon - ferryman
- Cerberus - 3 headed hound of hell, keep people in
- Judges (formerly influential kings) Aeacus, Minos, Rhadamanthus
- Furies (punish those who kill parents) - Allecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone
2. The five rivers of Hades
- Phlegethon - fire
- Cocytus - wailing
- Acheron - woe
- Lethe - forgetfulness*
- Styx - hatred**
3. Elysian fields = Paradise in the realm of Hades
- Trojan war heroes and semi-divine heroes go here
- Ordinary schmucks go to Hades
4. KATABASIS: story of a person's round trip voyage to the underworld
- visits with wisdom figures; learns about the afterlife
- often shares story of his near death experience upon returning
- Odyssey by Homer (750 BC)
- Republic of Plato (375 BC)
- Aeneid of Vergil (25 BC)
5. 3 fates/Daughters of Zeus threads of life
- Lachesis - measures past
- Clotho - weaves present
- Atropos - cuts future
6. Top 53 sinners
- Ixion - tried to rape cloud form of Hera, burns in turning ring of fire
- Tantalus - chopped son in soup for god’s and goddesses dinner (gods saved him). Stands in receding water when stoops to drink, branch pulls away when tries to eat fruit or donut J --Tantalyzing
- Sisyphus - cheats death by having wife not sacrifice, going up to live. Ever pushing boulder up mountain
- Tityus - tries to rape Leto. Staked down for bird to eat liver daily.
- 49 Danaids - Egyptian wives who killed husbands. Carrying leaky buckets
7. Odyssey by Homer (Olympian view)
- sails west from Mediterranean, thru pillars of Heracles, then right to land on shore.
- digs trench, pours blood for ghosts to feast but not until he gets to see him.
- meets Achilles-rather be sharecropper slave alive than be king of underworld.
- his mother Anticleia tells relationship of body to soul after death
- body perishes, soul condemned to dull afterlife- no pleasures experienced w/o body
- Negative Weltanschauung. Does not matter if good or bad
8. Plato’s Republic (philosophical view)
- Socrates called wisest Greek by Delphic Oracle - he alone knows he is totally ignorant
- Asks questions of common people and then ridicules their ignorance.
- Executed by Athens 399 BC for "corrupting youth"
- Ariston, friend, (better known as Plato) wrote down Socrates's dialogues.
- "Myth of Er" (10th book of Plato's Republic)
- Er, soldier who died in battle, lay on funeral pyre for 10 days,
- before lighting, he revives telling that you are rewarded/punished 10 times over 1000 years.
- You then have an opportunity to pick new life.
- Positive Weltanschauung
9. Vergil’s Aeneid-Roman
- Physical features recall Homer's version (Olympian view)
- punishments and rebirths recall Plato's version (philosophical view)
10. Evaluating conceptions of the afterlife
Homer Plato Vergil Is there hope for a positive afterlife? None Some Some Is the body more important or is the soul? Body Soul Soul Do people bear responsibility for their actions? No Yes Yes
- No hope, no purpose for human existence, no compulsion to live moral life
11. Why does mystery religions have so much popularity?
- Provide hope for eternal afterlife and suggest some reconciliation with divinity
- Emotional satisfaction
- Reason for human existence
12. Three major mystery religions of Ancient Greece
- Eleusinian (Demeter in the town of Eleusis)
- Bacchic mystery (Dionysus, God of wine)
- Orphic (Orpheus, famous musician)
13. Eleusinian-Homeric hymn to Demeter
- Zeus allowed Hades to steal Persephone, daughter of Demeter/Ceres (Grain/Earth Goddess).
- Two divinities see, Hecate hears screams(goddess of underworld) and Helios sees act.
- After 10 days Demeter is still morning and Hecate tells what she heard and Demeter confronts Helios.
- Disguised as bag lady Doso, offered babysitting job by princesses of Celeus and Metaneira.
- They offer her drink, but she asks for mint, barley and water mixture called kykean drink.
- Doso secretly dips baby Demopheon into fire to make immortal, but caught by Metaneira.
- Demeter reveals herself and does not finish making him immortal.
- He becomes priest of religion, but Demeter still will not let corops go.
- Finally to save humans Zeus has Hades give Persephone back
- But she has Pomegranate seed (meaning she must split time between Hades and Olympus
- thus creating etiology for seasons for growth
- (all blooms when she’s up, planting or nothing can grow when she is down).
- Shows patriarchal society (father gives child), and emotions towards humans.
14. Eleusinian ritual
- Ritual held in Elusis and Athens.
- Anyone can join: once initiated, one is always a part of the religion.
- Brought profit and positive publicity to city of Athens
- ceremonies/plays performed towards end of festival.
15. Bacchic legends
- Semele tricked and burned to ashes by Hera after conceiving child w/ Zeus and shown his full glory.
- Zeus pulls child out of ashes, sews up in thigh, and carries to term.
- Dionysus born and raised by satyrs and nymphs.
- God of wine-he is the feeling of when you are drunk .
- Maenads (also known as Bacchants) female followers
16. "Rejected god" myths
- Dolphin aetiology-pirates kidnap Dionysus from beach. All but one pirate took him. Mass turns into vine, bowl appears, Dio turns into a lion, pirates jump ship and turn to dolphins
- Argos- daughters of king Proetus women denied belief, driven mad and follow
- Orchomenus - daughters of king Minyas deny, driven mad, join line
- Thrace - King Lycurgus denies god, Zeus strikes down
- Midas - King of Phygia-grants him a wish, everything he touches turns to gold. Bathed in river of Pactolus, gold washes off into sand
17. Bacchae and Zagreus
- Bacchae of Euripides-in Thebes, king Pentheus does not like religion.
- Dio, stranger, put in jail. Tricks him into wanting to see what religion is like.
- Disguises himself as crossdresser, climbs in tree sits on branch, breaks and he falls into middle of women
- Sacrilegious (for him to be there. (arti manthano!)
- Killed by women and appendages are thrown about.
- Idea = if grasp life too strongly, can make you go crazy-so live.
18. Bacchic ritual
- enthousiasmos - having the god inside you (drunkenness)
- ekstasis - standing outside of your body (drunkenness)
- sparagmos - tearing apart live animals
- omophagia - eating the animals' raw flesh
- Resurrection- Zagreus, child of Zeus and Persephone torn apart by Titans and Hera,
- Athena feeds heart to Zeus, causing Zagreus to live in Dionysus
19. Pan
- Goat-legged god, always hot to trot. Falls in love w/ Syrinx (sea nymph).
- Syrinx reaches bank of river and prays for dad (a local river god) to turn her into reeds.
- He does and Pan cuts down binding them with wax-Pan Pipe
20. Echo
- Version 1: Chases sea nymph. Gets upset and plays horrible song. Killed by farmers and voice remains.
- Version 2: Echo left to cover for Zeus on one of his affairs, babbles to Hera, she makes her only able to repeat last words. Runs off to woods, sees Narcyssus (vain man). Echo falls in love and wastes away. Narcissus falls for reflection in lake and dies
21. Orpheus and Orphic Bible
- Orpheus and Eurydice wed. Right after wedding snake bites her and she dies.
- Orpheus goes to underworld and plays lyre for Hades.
- He can have Eurydice back as long as he does not look back at her until they reach the living.
- Looks back at edge of underworld to see her fade away.
- So sad creates pederasty-love for boys. Bacchic women come and tear him up.
- Orphic bible are collected teachings on how to live by him.
- No ritual or emotional satisfaction; much closer to philosophy
22. Comparison of Greek mystery religions
Eleus. Bacch. Orph. Established ritual yes no no High emotional content yes yes no Standards of morality optional amoral high Rebirth/katabasis myth yes yes yes Acceptable to government? yes no yes Hope for satisfactory afterlife? yes yes? yes?
23. Aphrodite/Venus affairs & other acts
- Born from Uranus’ blood foaming in water
- Married to Hephaestus (metal shop)
- Caught with Ares in flagrante delicto
- Anchises-shepherd-bore Aeneas
- Paris judge most beautiful of Goddesses because of Eris (strife) "for the fairest" apple.
- Picks Aphro so he gets most beautiful woman in world (starting Trojan War)
- Pygmalion-sculps perfect statue of woman. Falls in love w/ it, prays, comes to life as Galatea=bore Paphos
24. Artemis and Apollo
- Twins of Zeus and Leto. Artemis assists at birth of brother Apollo.
- Born in Delos-floating county exempt from Hera’s judgement that no land permitted to accept Leto)—becomes secured to ground
25. Artemis/Diana
- Goddess of Childbirth, Virgin, Huntress
- Niobe - thought of herself greater than Leto (hubris). Punished by having her 14 children killed in front of her-becomes weeping rock
- Orion - he and his dog were turned into constellation at attempted rape
- Actaeon - saw Artemis in the buff-turns him into deer
- Jupiter, Callisto and Arcas (Ursa Major)-Jupiter likes Callisto of Artemis sacred huntresses, she doesn’t, he turns into Artemis. She gets pregnant, driven out by Artemis of Huntresses. Births Arcas-turned into bear by Hera. Arcas, 15, goes out to hunt and recognizes bear, about to shoot, then he is turned into little bear and became constellations. Poseidon and Hera will not allow them to touch waters.
26. Hippolytus
- Father Theseus is in exile; son Hippolytus left with stepmother Phaedra.
- Hippo rejects Aphrodite to follow Artemis (can’t follow 2 goddesses).
- Revenge: Phaedra falls in love w/ stepson, he rejects,
- She kills herself leaving note accusing him-he’s killed by father.
- As Hippo dies, he reveals the truth - arti manthano!
27. Apollo
- Delphic Oracle-center of world- apollo establishes after killing dragon/ snake Python. Cleansed of miasma and now can cleanse others. Appears as dolphin to Cretan sailors who become priests of temple. He communicates through Pythia, prophetess who sits in tripod. Travelers sacrifice/bring gifts, have priests write down question, Pythia goes into trnace, priest records the message…ALWAYS RIGHT
- Hyathcinthus-sparton throwing discus w/ Apollo, hits him in head and dies
- Croesus-King threatened by Persians. Seeks oracle. "if make war, mightly empire shall fall"-he goes to war and destroys his - arti manthano!
- Euripides’ Admetus and Alcestis-Apollo serves for one year. Admetus finds out he will die from Oracle Apollo says he will be spared if he can get someone to die for him. Wife Alcestis will (he says he will never remarry and make a statue of her ). Thantos-god of death-comes Deus x Machina (machine made by crane for roman drama plays to decide the final outcome)Heracles saves her.
- Daphne-Shot with lead arrow and not love anyone. Prays to river god to change into laurel tree. Apollo, in love, takes branches and makes wreath for head-prize for pythian games
- Coronis-affair-white raven sees en flagrante delicto. Has Asclepius, God of Machine, raised by Hippolytus from dead. Zeus throws thunderbolt for disrupting nature.
28. Athena (Minerva)
- Zeus eats Metis (thought) after finding out she will bear child greater than he.
- Athena born from Zeus dressed fully as warrior. Zeus’ favorite, Hubris if not prayed to
- goddess of Athens, defensive war, household work
- won contest with Poseidon for patronage of Athens
- Invented double flute-threw it away.
- Arachne- challenged Athena to weaving contest, did well, Athena got mad-turned her into spider for hubris
29. Hermes
- God of thieves
- Son of Zeus and Maia, circumcised at birth
- Hermes steals Apollo sheep, he finds out. They Argue, Zeus intervenes, Hermes gives Apollo lyre, Apollo makes him god of shepherds
- Guides people to underworld
- Messenger of Zeus
- Animism to Anthropomorphism-Herm-pebbles pile of rocks known as herm,
- Hermes known as pebble god, evolved to anthro by Hermes being on trial for killing Argus
- Each juror given stones (gulty v. nongulty), verdict-stones thrown into jar. Instead thrown at Hermes