Greek and Roman Mythology Classics 102 PDF

CLASSICS 102 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY C. Myles Chykerda Sessional Instructor, Department of Humanities WEEK 4.2 Hermes NOT the Disney kind NOT Hermès Hermes Ingenui, Vatican...

CLASSICS 102 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY C. Myles Chykerda Sessional Instructor, Department of Humanities WEEK 4.2 Hermes NOT the Disney kind NOT Hermès Hermes Ingenui, Vatican 2nd C AD copy of 5th C BC original Ermou Street Major road of new axial plan for city formulated by Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert in 1833 Area previously a busy centre of trade Shift from everyday goods to capital’s aristocracy Pedestrianized in the 1996 Hermes – god of trade Kleanthis escaped after a battle with the Turks to Vienna. He became an engineer and along with Schaubert was appointed public engineers of Greece (among other things) by Kapodistrias. New plan was deemed too expensive and he resigned MONASTIRAKI LINE 3 Eriadnos riverbed, turned into a sewer during the reign of Hadrian (117-138 CE) Assortment of buildings, workshops, graves, water supply and sewage systems Covers 8th C BCE to 18th C CE SUMMARY OF HERMES Family - Son of Zeus and Maia (Pleiad) Born on Mt. Cyllene. Precocious child! Character Cleverness – A trickster. Associated with thieves Steals Apollo’s cattle first day of his life Anthropomorphism / Liberalism Overlap with Apollo: Music (lyre invention), pastoralism; looks similar to Apollo, but more boyish Slayer of Argus God of messengers, boundaries, psychopompos Attributes: traveler’s hat (petasos), winged sandals, caduceus Herms: boundary markers, symbols of good luck and fertility Father of Hermaphroditus (with Aphrodite) Berlin F2160 BRIEF SIDE QUEST(S)… CERAMIC PRODUCTION 3 stages of firing Heat to 950 C, all vents open to bring in oxygen. Everything turns reddish-brown Vents closed and green wood introduced. Released CO turns everything black Kiln opened again and oxygen reintroduction turns the unslipped clay back to red. Potter and painter usually different people Exekias is a notable exception Berlin F2160 Amphora BERLIN PAINTER Rival: Kleophrades Painter SIR JOHN BEAZLEY Notable British classical archaeologist and art historian Oxford 1925 – 1956 Used Morelli’s art-historical method to develop his own classification system of attributing paintings to specific “hands” Hands can be individual artists or workshops Used style to identify painters of pots and to relatively date vessels  Vatican 16757 Met 27.16 EXEKIAS Active 545 – 530 BC Exekias made [me] ΕΧΣΕΚΙΑΣΕΠΟΙΕΣΕ WRAPPING UP POTS The OTHER side of 16757 Dipylon Amphora Family of the Dioskouri Mid-8th C BCE  Tethys Oceanus Pleione also Oceanids BACK TO HERMES! mothered Calypso (Pleione) Potamoi Another pretty easy family tree Atlas Maia – nymph and one of the Maia is one of 7 Pleiades Maia daughters – Pleione – an Oceanid Pleiades. Atlas – son of Iapetus and Clymene Zeus Hermes HOMERIC HYMNS “Major” hymns: complete epic LROTHEOP narrative poems Four extant: Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, and Aphrodite We looked at Aphrodite’s (Anchises) and Apollo’s (birth story). Demeter soon. Some gods have multipole HHs. Hermes has one major (4) and one minor (18) Image from Apotheon Wiki, but whoever made the header image should be locked up EPIC 40 MINUTE READING OF HH 4 HOMERIC HYMN 18 – THE TL:DR TEXT I sing about Hermes, the Cyllenian slayer of Argus, lord of Mt. Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, the messenger of the gods and bringer of luck, whom Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore, after uniting in love with Zeus. She in her modesty shunned the company of the blessed gods and lived in a shadowy cave; here the son of Cronus used to make love to this nymph of the beautiful hair in the dark of night, without the knowledge of immortal gods and mortal humans, when sweet sleep held white- armed Hera fast. So hail to you, son of Zeus and Maia. After beginning with you, I shall turn to another hymn. Hail, Hermes, guide and giver of grace and other good things. καὶ σὺ μὲν οὕτω χαῖρε, Διὸς καὶ Μαιάδος υἱέ: | – u u | – – | – u u | – – | – u u | – u POETRY! Recall: Dactylic Hexameter HH 18: 12 lines VS HH 4: 580 LINES What it might sound like? Reading done by Ancient Literature Dude on YouTube “ It’s really long Student comment on Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes ” Let’s walk through it! Think about things that are different than other hymns we’ve seen Complete translation is in Morford, pp. 277-88 Far more detail in commentaries such as Rayor, D. 2014. The Homeric Hymns: A Translation with Introduction and Notes Step 1: Birth of Hermes on Mt. Cyllene (Arcadia) Born to Maia and Zeus in a cave on the 4th day of the month at dawn Lines 1-24 HERMES, YOU SCAMP! But when the will of Zeus had been accomplished and her tenth month was fixed in the heavens, she brought forth to the light a child, and a remarkable thing was accomplished; for the child whom she bore was devious, winning in his cleverness, a robber, a driver of cattle, a guide of dreams, a spy in the night, a watcher at the door, who soon was about to manifest renowned deeds among the immortal gods. Maia bore him on the fourth day of the month. He was born at dawn, by midday he was playing the lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of far shooting Apollo. After he leaped forth from the immortal limbs of his mother, he did not remain lying in his sacred cradle; but he sprang up and looked for the cattle of Apollo. When he crossed the threshold of the high-roofed cave, he found a tortoise and obtained boundless pleasure from it.  Berlin F 2278 STEP 2: START A BAND 25-67 “By midday was playing the lyre” But where did he get a lyre? “Already a very good omen for me; I shall not be scornful. Greetings; what a delight you appear to me, lovely in shape, graceful in movement and a good dinner companion. Where did you, a tortoise living in the mountains, get this speckled shell that you have on, a beautiful plaything? Come, I shall take you and bring you inside. You will be of some use to me, and I shall do you no dishonor. You will be the very first to be an advantage to me, but a better one inside, since the out-of-doors is dangerous for you. To be sure, while you are alive you will continue to be a charm against evil witchcraft, but if you were dead, then you would make very beautiful Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete. 1400 BC music.” Star Wars on lyre STEP 3: FOOD 68-144 “He craved for meat” – strange b/c gods shouldn’t be craving meat. They eat nectar and ambrosia. Hermes crossing boundaries into the human realm Heads north to Pieria – just a jaunt – and separates 50 cattle Uses his trickery to mask the direction the cattle are going Runs across an old man and basically says “Go home, you’re drunk” Waters and feeds the cattle, starts a fire and then: “bore down upon them”  STEP 4: PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY 145-83 Destroys evidence, slips back home Mom notices (they always do): “You devious rogue, in your cloak of shameless guile, where in the world have you come from in the nighttime? Now I am convinced that either Apollo, son of Leto, by his own hands will drag you with your sides bound fast right out the door, or you will prowl about the valleys, a robber and a cheat. Be gone then! Your father begat you as a great trouble for mortals and immortal gods!” Hermes responds with “Mom, I’m just a baby, I don’t know anything about evil. PS, love ya! ” STEP 5: RECKONING Louvre E702 184-304 Apollo notices 50 cows are missing and goes looking for them Comes across old man who says “I think I saw a baby last night, and he talked to me….” Apollo recognizes fake tracts, etc, pieces it together. Heads to Cyllene Hermes is all “I’m a cute baby with a lyre” and hides in bed Apollo rips the place apart and finds everything except the cows and then confronts the Bébé Hermes acts all innocent, Apollo doesn’t buy it and grabs the brat (no, we are not getting into sneezing atm)  STEP 6: GO TO DAD 305-396 Half-brothers appeal to Zeus, who is all “Why did you bring a baby before the court of the gods?” Apollo tells his side of the story and then Hermes tells his own “truth”, which comes down to, again, I’m just a baby and btw I do revere all the gods, of course Zeus sees right through things and directs Hermes to show what he did, so they head off to the cave Neck Amphora BM 1875,0818.5 STEP 7: SHARING IS CARING 397-580 Things aren’t going well, so Hermes busts out the tunes This is curious b/c everywhere else the lyre is Apollo’s signature instrument from the start The sweet soothing melodies strike at Apollo’s heart, and he makes a deal – guide of the gods and gifts Hermes counters and asks for a lot more stuff Apollo gifts Hermes a caduceus (herald’s staff) and allows him to be the lord of all birds of good omens, dogs, all flocks and herds on earth, but does not share oracular power Hermes swears not to steal anything from Apollo MET 25.78.2 Met 25.78.2 “ Το Τέλος The End ” And they were friends forever. Overview of Hermes: By Overly Sarcastic Productions (15 min) OTHER ELEMENTS Wow, that was a long hymn… Elements so far: God of lots of areas: heralds, thievery, bartering. He’s a Ferengi Caduceus (herald’s staff) Messenger with garb: Petasos (traveler's hat) Winged sandals (talaria) Psychopompos: guides people to Hades, which is shown on the Sarpedon Krater PS: huge connection between Hermes and Odysseus. Grandson! HERMS Boundary markers, symbols of fertility and prosperity. Good luck symbols Mutilated in Athens in 415 BC right before departure of Sicilian Expedition Met 96.18.57