Classical Mythology Midterm Notes PDF

Theogony: written by Hesiod Allegorical ○ Myths are extended metaphors, and key aspects of a given myths stand for something else Natural: Eg. gods are natural forces like Poseidon v Apollo = Water v fire Historical (Euhemerism): Eg....

Theogony: written by Hesiod Allegorical ○ Myths are extended metaphors, and key aspects of a given myths stand for something else Natural: Eg. gods are natural forces like Poseidon v Apollo = Water v fire Historical (Euhemerism): Eg. gods and goddesses are deified people of the historical past Moral: Eg. gods and goddesses are abstract qualities or principles Anthropological ○ Myths reflect aspects of human society Fraser: Myths serve as explanations of religious rituals Malinowski: Myths serve as justifications for historical, societal, or cultural realities Psychological ○ Myths reflect aspects of the human psyche on an individual or collective level Freud: Myths resemble dreams that reflect the repressed (sexual) wishes of an individual/society Jung: Myths are expressions of the collective unconscious and are built from archetypes & motifs Structuralist ○ Myths are stories whose meaning is based on structure instead of content Strauss: Myths arise of and seek to reconcile binary pairs that make up reality- hot and cold, raw and cooked, life and death Feminist ○ Myths reflect aspects of women's lives and their places in society Most Greek myths are set during the Bronze age ○ Greece, Crete, Islands 3000-2000 BC: early bronze age Early Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic 2000-1600 BC: Middle bronze age Middle M, C, H 1600-1100 BC: Late bronze age Late M, C, H- also Mycenaean age BRONZE AGE: 3000—1100 BC Minoan & Mycenean, Trojan war. Linear B writing, not used to record literature (used to record receipts wtf) ○ Mount Olympus: Olympians Chthonian gods everywhere else- land underworld sea etc ○ Olympian Worship of Olympian gods “do ut des” - “I give in order that you may give” Greek mortal performs a ritual act towards a specific god in order for the god to return the favor Named after Mount Olympus ○ Chthonic Worship of supernatural entities on or under the earth Heroes, ghosts, underworld gods/spirits Takes its name from Greek word “chthon” (earth) ○ Mystery 3 main features: Voluntary initiation Secret rites Specific teachings and doctrines Required acceptance of specific doctrine Certain texts w/ rules Name from Greek word “mystes” (initiate) 3 major cults: Eleusinian mysteries Dionysian mysteries Orphism Appealed to Greeks who wants more personal connection Hesiod: Greek, Archaic ○ Farmer/shepherd ○ Poet after being visited by the Muses on Mt Helicon (his own account) ○ Quarreled with brother Perses over family inheritance and lost after Perses bribed the judges  ○ Competed in a poetry competition, won first prize ○ Theogony - Birth of the Gods Epic - Creation of the world (Divine succession, Prometheus, Pandora) Pandora - first woman in Greek mythology ○ Works and Days Didactic - Advice on farming and life (Pandora, Prometheus, the five ages) Chaos: void/emptiness - first primordial deity ○ Gaia: Earth, fertility ○ Tartarus: Underworld - depths of earth Gaia: parthenogenically birthed Uranus (Sky) ○ First, female, mother deitiy of fertility/earth ○ Bore 12 titans w/ Uranus Marriage: Hieros gamos (”sacred marriage” - sexual relation of two fertility deities) Castration of Uranus - G & Cronos w/ scythe ○ Blood of castration birthed giants, nymphs, Erinyes Made white foam, birthed Aphrodite Cronos & Rhea - Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus ○ Swallowed all but Zeus - fated to be overcome by children ○ Rhea: another mother goddess of fertility Divine succession: Rise of power to Zeus and Olympian gods ○ Uranus starts pushing Heca and Cycl into Gaia’s womb again ○ Starts being hated by Uranus and Gaia She wants titans to help her Kronos steps forward, youngest (parallel to Zeus being youngest as well) Cuts off Uranus’s genitals From blood: Nymphs, furies, giants, and sea foam (aphros) is Aphrodite ○ Kronos: Titan, God of the harvest Rhea: Titan, mother goddess, his sibling/wife Marriage represents a hieros gamos Sets a pattern of brother-sister marriage among Greek gods Six kids: “elder” Olympians Kronos eats his kids and becomes hateful to Rhea and his children Rhea had him eat a stone instead of Zeus and had Zeus be raised on Crete with Gaia Zeus: war against Cronos w/ siblings ○ Titans w Cronos except Themis and Prometheus ○ War called Titanomachy - 10 years, Z @ Mt Olympus and C @ Mt Othrys Zeus recieves prophecy he will be overthrown by SECOND child with Metis ○ Zeus swallows Metis and unborn child Athena ○ But Metis can’t have a second child Divine succession interpretation: ○ Psych: Highlights the subconscious motivations of human society Eg battles of sons and fathers for love of mothers) ○ Structuralist: Derives its meaning from the series of binary pairs that give it structure Eg order v chaos ○ Feminist: Reflects the patriarchal nature of ancient Greek society Creation of mortals ○ Different stories Often creation of Zeus Dominant: Prometheus created man, Zeus made women later Ovid, Metamorphoses: Either Creator of universe (Jupiter) or Prometheus mixed Earth’s seeds and rain water Hesiod: five ages of man ○ Gold: Mortals lived when Cronos was king No pain or evils Sleep-like death Covered by the earth for no specific reason ○ Silver: Second race of humans Worse physically/mentally, arrogance, impiety Long childhood of 100 years but short adulthood  Didn’t worship gods to Zeus covered then w/ anger ○ Bronze Strong, mighty Strength, violence, diet without bread, weapons tools and homes of bronze Destroyed by their own hands, violence and sent down to Hades ○ Heroes Demigods, battles Ends by dying in the famous wars of Greek mythology Cronos rules over them when he was released - Afterlife on the Isles of the Blessed ○ Iron Typical humans - Hesiod’s age Evil and good Constant work and misery Zeus will destroy this age too When evil of every sort has taken over mankind Concept of human deterioration is big in literature Prometheus (”Forethought”) ○ Titan ○ Epimetheus (”Afterthought”) ○ Ally of Zeus in Titanomachy Prometheus vs Zeus ○ Mecone: Gods assemble at small town, perform a sacrifice - implications for future P gives Z a choice between two sacrificial parts of the animal: meat covered by tripe (good that looks bad) or bones covered by fat (bad looks good) Z chooses bones & fat Hesiod: Knows its bad but wants to justify his punishment of human kind Genuinely deceived by Prometheus Thanks to this sacrifice, mankind enjoys the better part of a sacrifice afterwards ○ After this, Z takes fire away from mortals P steals it back, hides in a fennel stalk, gives to mortals against Z’s will ○ Z bound P w/ bonds and drove a shaft through; made an eagle eat his immortal liver daily Prometheus becomes in essence a martyr for mankind ○ Zeus punishes humankind with Pandora Pandora opened gift and gave evils to humans but closed it before hope could escape Women being responsible for harm: prejudices in social structures ○ Allegory for the womb - source of all woes Io: Priestess of Hera, loved by Zeus Turned into a white cow and guard new possession Argus guarded her - “all-seeing” - had 100 eyes Hermes killed Argus Hera put Argus’s eyes in a peacock, send a gadfly to madden Io until she went to Egypt Zeus turned her back and touched her- gave her a son Purpose story: Show Zeus’s ultimate wisdom, justice, mercy ○ Ovid Metamorphoses: Great flood of Zeus Punishes mortals Deucalion (son Prom.) and Pyrrha (Daughter of E & Pand.) - Greek Noah’s arc Were cousins Survived the flood on a raft When Zeus saw them he stopped the flood, Triton pulls all back Made humans again by Themis’s (goddess of Delphi at the time) suggestion - tossing stones behind them ○ Men - D’s stones, Women - Pyr’s stones Zeus/Jupiter: lord of gods/men, still shares his powers with brothers ○ Many children ○ Male was dominate ○ Husband and father, also lover ○ Depicted as immoral, sometimes acts in harmony with gods, sometimes Hera punishes him ○ Justice and virtues, law and order god ○ Name: “bright” ○ Thunder, lightning, mature, aegis (shielf), eagle, oak tree ○ Patriarchy Zeus not always absolute or supreme  Aphrodite can control godly love, Demeter with Persephone, bound in chains in Iliad by goddesses Zeus + Hera - sacred marriage ○ Discordant ○ Sky god, earth goddess, third divine ruling couple Hera/Juno: Little myths of own, mostly Zeus’s consort, but very powerful ○ Punishes sexual escapades of Zeus ○ Iris: depicted as servant of Hera Hermes - messenger of Zeus ○ Regal and matronly ○ Peacock ○ Mostly worshipped as goddess of marriage and childbirth ○ Olympia - Sanctuary Peloponnese Site of Olympic Games - honored Zeus Location of Pheidias’s famous statue of Zeus One of the seven wonders ○ Dodona - Epirus Site of Zeus’s oracle Bronze age Priests/Priestesses: Selloi, Peleiades Oak trees, wind chimes - Divination Trojan prince Ganymede also cupbearer, sometimes replaces Hebe Homosexual desire v bisexual Zeus Zeus: muses, daughters of Z and Mnemosyne (Memory) the titan ○ Usually 9 in myth but not consistent ○ Represent different types of creativity ○ Home: Pieria or Mt. Helicon ○ Often associated with Apollo 3 fates - Zeus and Themis ○ Sometimes, or Nyx and Erebus are the parents ○ Or singular “Fate” ○ Clotho spins thread of life, Lachesis measures and Atropos (”smallest, most terrible”) cuts and ends life Can sometimes be influenced to change fate but usually not - power over gods as well Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter ○ Author: Anonymous ○ Date: Archaic period, late 7th/early 6th century BC ○ Part of 33 poems dedicated to Greek gods Persephone playing w Oceanus daughters ○ Earth split and Hades took her ○ She was afraid, kidnapped Hecate & Helius heard, then Demeter ○ Nobody told her what happened - 9 days trying to find (MYSTERIES) Hecate told her she heard P Helius told her what happened D more angry, kept away from Olympus ○ Nobody recognized her - resembled old woman ○ Acted as a mortal to girls who hired her ○ Went to house of Celeus Sat in grief until Iambe cheered her up with jokes ○ Metaneiria asked her to raise and nurse Demophoon Nursed D to make him immortal by placing him in fire at night M was alarmed when she saw D put him in the fire and she got mad Demanded Eleusinians build her a temple and reveals herself as D D’s sadness caused winter, threatens to destroy humans with famine ○ Zeus summoned D, sent all gods w/ gifts and promises but D refused all ○ Z sent Hermes to Hades to fetch Persephone Hades agreed to let her go Made her eat a Pomegranate seed - not spend all days w/ D but with him 1/3 of the year Against will according to Persephone Reunion ○ P tells D about this story ○ Rhea asked by Z to ask D to return to immortals  D returned spring, allowed crops to grow again Interpretations: ○ Spiritual resurrection ○ Mother/daughter binary pair ○ P and D invoked together ○ Salvation, death/resurrection ○ Hades: fertility god? ○ Suggests belief in afterlife ○ Variation of matriarch and patriarch - matriarch triumphs Dominance in ancient world? ○ Allegorical: Natural allegory for seasons and the life and death of crops ○ Anthropological: Explains the reasons for the religious rituals for the Eleusinian mysteries ○ Feminist: Reflects women’s experiences of marriage in ancient Greek society Eleusinian mysteries: Demeter ○ Sworn to absolute secrecy ○ Even slaves could partake - universal admission ○ Transmitted orally what was thought to be taught by D ○ Some ideas of ritual by text: fasting, torches, Kykeon drink, veil of Demeter, etc 9 day ritual - reflects D’s 9-day grief period as mentioned previously ○ No church bodies for D followers and no sacred texts ○ Promise of a happy afterlife ○ Lesser mysteries Athens Season: Spring ○ Greater mysteries Athens and Eleusis Season: fall 9 day ritual 1-4: Preliminary rituals in Athens 5: Athens → Eleusis 6-8: Initiation rituals in the Telesterion at Eleusis 9: Eleusis → Athens Hades: no major site of worship ○ D & P: Eleusis Town in Attica & part of Athens Underworld ○ Realm of torment: Tartarus/Erebus ○ Realm of mystery: Elysium/Elysian fields Poseidon/Neptune ○ Sea, horses, earthquakes ○ Spouse: Amphitrite ○ Trident, horse, dolphins Athena/Minerva ○ Wisdom, war, arts/crafts ○ No spouse or children ○ Helmet, spear, aegis, owl, snake, olive tree Birth of Athena ○ Zeus mates with Metis (“Cleverness”); Metis conceives Athena ○ Zeus swallows Metis to avert prophecy that she will give birth to a son who will overthrow him ○ Zeus develops a headache; Hephaestus splits open Zeus’ head with an ax ○ Athena emerges from Zeus’ head fully grown and armed Pallas ○ Athena raised by Triton, god of a body of water called Triton or Tritonis (Boeotia or Libya) ○ Athena befriends Pallas, daughter of Triton ○ Athena accidentally kills Pallas while the two are practicing war ○ Athena takes the epithet “Pallas” and creates statue called Palladium in her memory ○ Zeus sends the Palladium to the Trojans ○ Explain the origin of three facets of Athena’s mythology: Athena’s epithet “Tritogeneia” Athena’s epithet “Pallas” Palladium  The contest of Athena and Poseidon ○ Athena and Poseidon participate in a contest to determine control of the city of Athens ○ Athena offer an olive tree; Poseidon offers a saltwater spring or horse ○ Athena proclaimed victor by the gods, the Athenians, or Cecrops (king of Athens) ○ Athena gives her name to Athens; Poseidon floods Attica in anger but is ultimately placated ○ Explains why Athena was the patron deity of Athens. Arachne ○ Arachne challenges Athena to a weaving contest ○ Athena and Arachne both produce marvelous tapestries Athena: The Contest of Athena and Poseidon + myths of mortals punished for challenging the gods Arachne: Myths of gods seducing goddesses and mortals ○ Athena destroys Arachne’s tapestry out of “jealousy” ○ Arachne hangs herself out of shame; Athena turns her into a spider (Greek arachnē = “spider”) Poseidon worship site ○ Isthmia ○ Northeastern Peloponnese ○ Isthmian Games in honor of Poseidon Free Greek males Foot races, chariot race, boxing, wrestling, javelin throw Est. 6th century BC Athena worship site ○ Athens ○ The site of the Parthenon, temple of Athena located on the acropolis. Parthenos (“Maiden”) (447-438 B.C.). The Parthenon constituted part of Pericles’ Building Program. The Parthenon was designed by Ictinus, and the statue of Athena was designed by Pheidias. The Parthenon features an artistic program that celebrates Athena, Athens, and the forces of civilization over barbarism. West Pediment: Contest of Athena and Poseidon East Pediment: Birth of Athena Frieze: Panathenaic Procession Metopes North Side: Sack of Troy East Side: Gigantomachy South Side: Centauromachy West Side: Amazonomachy Hestia/Vesta - goddess of the hearth ○ Home, hearth, family ○ No spouses or children ○ Characteristics: august, reserved, virginal ○ Fire Dionysus/Bacchus ○ Wine, vegetation, fertility, madness, theater ○ Parents: Zeus and Semele ○ Spouse: Ariadne ○ No children ○ Grapevine, ivy, thyrsus, leopard, maenads (female worshippers), satyrs (male worshippers) Hestia and Dionysus both known as 12th Olympian ○ Hestia yielded her place in Olympian pantheon to Dionysus Maenads ○ Female devotees ○ Fawn skin, ivy crown, snakes, Thyrsus ○ AKA Bacchae Satyrs - half men half goat ○ Male devotees ○ Man body, got beard and horns ○ Horse’s ears and tail ○ Erect penis ○ AKA Sileni Birth of Dionysus ○ Semele (Theban princess) and Zeus affair  ○ Hera finds out and convinces Semele to ask Zeus to prove his divinity ○ Zeus does so and incinerates her ○ Zeus saves Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh; Dionysus is born 3 months later ○ Highlights the god’s liminal nature - Part divine, part mortal Dionysus and Pentheus ○ Dionysus returns to Thebes as mortal man ○ Dionysus’s female relatives question Dionysus’s godhead, and he turns all women in Thebes into Bacchae ○ Pentheus, king of Thebes, arrests Dionysus and he magically escapes ○ Pentheus resolves to attack the Bacchae, but Dionysus persuades Pentheus to spy on the Bacchae instead ○ Bacchae discover him (Dionysus points him out to them?) while he is spying on them ad tear him limb from limb ○ Highlights the danger of opposing Dionysus and his cult Euripides ○ Greek tragedian of Classical period ○ Born in Athens ○ 3rd of three canonical Greek tragedians ○ Won first place in City Dionysia three times ○ Left Athens for the court of Archelaus of Macedon ○ Died in Macedonia 406 BC Ariadne ○ God married Cretan princess Ariadne Theseus slays minotaur and escapes with Ariadne’s help Ariadne departs expecting to become Theseus wife Abandons her on Naxos Curses Theseus and despairs of life Dionysus arrives on Naxos and takes Aria as wife instead Highlight’s god’s redemptive power Dionysus: Worshipped in Mount Cithaeron ○ Mountain central Greece ○ Separates Attica and Boeotia ○ Site of Dionysus’s punishment of Pentheus ○ Most famous site of the Dionysian Mysteries Cult to Dionysus Promoted spiritual self-transcendence and communion with Dionysus Wine Sex Dance and music Sacrificial rending of a victim Eating raw flesh Open to everyone but popular with women Apollo: Prophecy, sun, archery, medicine, poetry, music Parents: Zeus and Leto Spouse: None, many love affairs ○ Children: Asclepius Lyre, raven, laurel tree, bow and arrows Origin of Apollo ○ Homeric Hymn to Apollo ○ Anonymous author ○ Archaic period ○ 2 parts - to Delian & Pythian Apollo ○ First part: Birth of Apollo Leto conceives Apollo and Artemis after mating Zeus Seeks place to give birth to Apollo for a long time - gave birth to Ortygia earlier Delos allows Leto to give birth on her land Hera prevents Eileityia from going to Delos for a long time Leto finally gives birth once Eileityia arrives Explains Apollo’s connection to Delos and epithet “Delian” ○ Foundation of Delphic Oracle Second part Founds oracle at Crisa Slays she-dragon at Crisa - rots, named Pytho Apollo appears to Cretan sailors as a dolphin  Apollo makes Cretan sailors the priests of oracle Crisa/Pytho is renamed Delphi Serves as myth to explain connection to Delphi and epithets “Pythian” and “Delphinius” Daphne Naiad - freshwater nymph beloved by Apollo ○ Boasts he is a greater archer than Cupid after killing Pytho ○ Cupid shoots Apollo with arrow of desire and Daphne with anti-desire to prove him wrong ○ Apollo pursues Daphne, she flees ○ D turns into a laurel tree to avoid being caught by Apollo ○ Declares he will love the laurel tree forever ○ Etiology for laurel tree status as Apollo’s sacred tree Coronis Greek maiden ○ Becomes lover and has son Asclepius ○ Saves Asclepius and hands him to centaur Chiron to be raised on Mt Pelion Asclepius is god of medicine Asclepius learns art of medicine from Chiron and becomes so skilled he begins to raise people from the dead Zeus kills him with a thunderbolt out of fear for cosmic order Raised from the dead himself and deified as god of medicine Worshipped at the sanctuary of Epidaurus and gives his name to the Asclepiad physicians’ guild Contest of Apollo and Marsyas ○ Myth about a musical context btween Apollo and a musically gifted satyr Athena invents the flute but gives it up Marsyas takes it up and Athena thrashes M M persists and becomes skilled Challenges A to a musical contest and A wins, flays him alive in punishment for his hubris Highlights A’s darker side Worshipped at two sites ○ Delos Cycladic island - birthplace of Apollo Site of Delian games Priestesses: Deliades Established Archaic period Occurred quadrennially Athletic and musical contests Ionian Greeks - eg Athenians ○ Delphi Sanctuary in ancient Greece Site of Apollo’s oracle 9th century BC Priestess Pythia Consultants: City states and private indiv.s Divination via Pythia’s statements Site of Pythian Games Presidency: Phocis 6th century BC Quadrennially Athletic, literary, musical contests Artemis/Diana Goddess of hunting, wild animals, moon, virginity, childbirth Parents Zeus and Leto Moon, deer, cypress tree, bow and arrows Closely associated with Selene and Hecate ○ Manifestation of same goddess in 3 different realms A: Earth H: Underworld S: Heaven Niobe  ○ Theban queen ○ Theban women honor Leto and N boasts she’s more deserving of honor bcause she has 14 kids ○ Leto complains about to A and A ○ A and A slaughter all of N’s children ○ N is turned to stone and taken to Mountaintop in Phrygia to weep forever after ○ Illustration of dangers of hubris for mortals Actaeon ○ Theban hunter with a pack of hounds ○ Artemis bathes nearby and Actaeon sees her ○ Artemis is furious and turns Actaeon into a stag, thus causing hounds to pursue and kill ○ Artemis’s virginal purity and frightening severity Callisto ○ Zeus rapes and impregnates her by disguising himself as Artemis ○ Artemis discovers her pregnancy and banishes her ○ Gives birth to Arcas “Bear” ○ Hera turns Callisto into a bear out of jealousy of affair ○ Zeus transforms C and A into constellations when A nearly kills C while hunting years later ○ Etiology for Ursa Major (Great bear) and Ursa Minor (Little bear) constellations Aphrodite/Venus ○ Love, sex, beauty ○ Parents Z and Dione or Uranus genitals ○ Eros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, Priapus, Hermaphroditus, Aenas - children ○ Dove, swan, goose, rose, myrtle tree, seashell Eros ○ God love desire - erotic ○ Son Chaos or Aphro and Ares ○ Better known as Roman name Cupid Pygmalion - Cyprian sculptor falls in love with own statue ○ Cyprian women deny Aphro divinity - makes them first prostitutes ○ Pyg. lives celibately out of disgust ○ Makes female statue great beauty, falls in love Prays to A for it to come to life, grants Marries statue, son Paphos Inspiration for plays and musicals Cinyras and *Myrrha*- gives birth as myrrh tree to Adonis Aph falls in love and warns of dangers of hunting Ad disregards, killed by wild boar while hunting Aph grieves and transforms him into anemene flower, establishes annual mourning ritual for him Etiology for Adonia - festival name Aph and Anchises ○ Trojan prince ○ A constantly mocks gods for affairs with mortals ○ Z causes A to have desire for mortal ○ A visits Troad (Troy area) in disguise as mortal, sleeps with Anchises A reveals identity to Anch and foretells their son’s future good fortune Origin Roman hero Aeneas Hom Hymn Aphro ○ Archaic - 6th century BC Ares/Mars ○ War, courage, bloodlust ○ Zeus and Hera ○ Children: Eros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia ○ Helmet, shield, spear, dog, vulture Hephaestus/Vulcan ○ Fire, metalworking, technology, volcanoes ○ Hera OR Zeus and Hera ○ Spouse: Aphrodite, no kids ○ Hammer, anvil, tongs, skull cap Hermes/Mercury ○ Trade, travel, herds, thievery, athletics ○ Zeus and Maia parents ○ Pan, Hermaphroditus Pan - half human half goat God of wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music Son of Hermes and nymph Dryope Cause of “panic” in rustic and martial settings Invents panpipe - fastening the reeds that nymph Syrinx is turned into after fleeing the god’s amorous advances ○ Homeric Hymn to Hermes - Archaic period 6th century BC