Midterm 1

Oral tradition

Stories passed via word of mouth. Greek mythology was a living ___ ______ - therefore there is no "true" version because different versions work together and elements are added as times change to compensate and explain current societal norms

Comparative approach (to myth)

myths address common human concerns; comparison of myths from different societies reveals these shared human concerns (Doniger)

Contextual approach (to myth)

myths closely tied to their social context; scholars must immerse themselves in the culture before attempting interpretation (Malinowski)

Autochthony

"Springing from the earth" - Born from the Earth - Important factor in political claims (common ancestry) - territory -racial purity - democratic equality - Autochthony of the founder establishes autochthony of next generations - Growing out of the earth (Gaea): human race (Deucalion and Pyrrha), Athens, Thebes - Being in close contact with the earth: snake - immigrant founders often have to fight snake to claim new territory - First kings of Athens were born out of the Earth, then Erichthonius: Semen of Hephaestus, piece of wool from Athena, Earth. Athens is not really the mother, but it's a connection - Athenians believed they were autochthonous, and so came from the land

Metamorphoses

- "Books of transformation" -- talks about bodies changed so looking at all those stories of Greek mythology in which a character changes from A to B. - Daphne: Nymph being chased by Apollo because he wanted to have her but she didn't want to be had by him so she fled and prayed and then she turned into a tree - Lycaon: bad guy, king, tries to feed Zeus a human so he is punished by being turned into a wolf -- this is where werewolves come from

Theogony

- "Collection of different types of oral poems" - Written by Hesiod - Includes Hymns (praise poems) to muses and Hecate - Known most for the catalogs and dramatic tales (chartering Zeus' rise to power, referencing other myths), lists many names (catalogs) - No systematic order

Furies / Eumenides

- (Erinyes) Come about from the blood of Uranus' balls after being cut off by Cronus. - These hunt a person who kills a member of his own bloodline. - Go after Orestes after he kills his mother Clytemnestra - she killed her husband Agamemnon because he sacrificed their daughter to get to Troy. Furies don't go after Clytemnestra because she didn't kill her own flesh and blood.

Persephone

- AKA Kore - Daughter of Demeter and Zeus - Wife of Hades, thus queen of the underworld - See Hymn to Demeter - Could be a variation of ancient fertility goddess created to adapt mythology

Underworld

- An actual space - Entrance was thought to be north or west of Greece, need a guide to get there - Has subdivisions - Tartarus, Elysinian fields, fields of lamentation - Has inhabitants, rulers, a palace - Hades, Persephone, Hermes, Charon, Souls - Five rivers as barriers - converge into a marsh. - Styx (hatred), Acheron (sorrow), Lethe (forgetfulness), Pyriphelgethon (fire), Cocytus (wailing) - Cerberus is watch dog keeping people in - Hermes brings people to Charon (psychopompos) - Have to be buried if you don't get buried you don't get to cross the river - Aeneas goes to the underworld to see his dad, Anchises

Adonia

- An all-female ritual in honor of Adonis. - Might have been a "mock-funeral". - Involved plants quickly sprouting and withering, representing the "gardens of Adonis". - There was a lot of laughing going on -- could've been for relief or anxiety. Could have been a reference to sexual functioning: "it's up and down real fast" Ritual of Adonia = allegory for men's sexual activity

Catasterism

- Astral works: organized per constellation, gathering all stories that are known to explain what this constellation is - Catasterism is "the translation of a being or object from earth to a station among the stars, so that the being or object becomes a star or a star cluster" - Divine agency - you need a god to do this - Honor for the being/object - Result is unclear - materially the same but immortal and ageless, or transformation into something else? - Usually occur at the conclusion of myth or legend, to give the character and story some closure

Judgement of Paris

- At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis - Everyone was invited to the wedding except for Eris (she is the god of discord/fighting) - Eris gets annoyed, throws a golden apple into the wedding, which says "for the most beautiful" - Three goddesses claim the apple: Hera, Athena, Aphrodite. Each offer something if they win. Hera offers royal power, Athena offers victory in war, Aphrodite offers the most beautiful woman in the world - Paris, prince of Troy, is the judge of the apple - Paris awards the apple to Aphrodite Paris gets Helen, even though she's married to Menelaus. The Greeks gather to get her back starts Trojan War

Hymn to Hermes

- Attributed to Homer - Written ca. 700 BCE - He is born at dawn, by lunch he has made a lyre, then by evening he has stolen 50 cattle from Apollo completely silently (which is impossible) and had a barbecue. So then Apollo accuses him and then Zeus comes over to judge who's right and laughs because this infant is so sneaky. He decides that Hermes needs to give back the cattle and give Apollo the tortoise lyre he made. Then Hermes makes a flute for himself - Comparing him to Prometheus - Challenges to gods either work out or don't - worked for Hermes, not for Prometheus

Near East (ancient)

- Borrowings from Ancient Near East - Influence from neighboring region - Flood myths (Epic of Gilgamesh, Story of the Flood; Noah's Ark) Greek Flood Myth - Near Eastern cultures (Mesopotamian/Sumerian, Hittite, Semitic myth) - Mesopotamian Myths - Enuma Elish (Myth of Creation) - Epic of Gilgamesh - Descent of Ishtar (forerunner of Greek god Aphrodite)

Mycenaeans

- Bronze Age civilization - Dominant power of Bronze Age - great king Agamemnon of Mycenae

Pandora

- Created by Hephaestus by the order of Zeus as punishment to humans because Prometheus gave them fire - Athena and Aphrodite put things in as did Hermes (put bad things in). Said to be man's destruction - Basically brings women to the world

Demeter

- Daughter of Cronus and Rhea sister of Zeus, Poseidon, etc. - Goddess of fruits of the earth, harvest, agriculture - Attributes: wheat stalk, Cornucopia - horn shaped container, Triptolemus - wheelchair thing, occasionally royal staff and crown - There are agricultural rituals for Demeter: Proerosia - sacrifice before plowing. Haloa: In December linked to fertility - Mother to Persephone - Upset that Persephone had been taken to Underworld, goes and looks for her. Eventually finds her, and agrees to let her go back to Underworld for part of the year. When she's in the underworld, Demeter is sad and this is winter on earth

Callisto

- Daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia (Lycaon turned into a wolf - bad king, killed by Zeus) - Callisto was a hunting companion of Artemis, vows to remain a virgin - But Zeus fell in love with her and forced himself on her, then changed Callisto into a bear. Hera persuaded Artemis so shoot the bear with an arrow. Some say Artemis killed her because she didn't protect her virginity, even though it wasn't her fault - Catasterized when killed (became big bear constellation) - This story is similar to the story of Io the cow - Different version: Callisto devoted to Artemis, raped by Zeus, doesn't tell Artemis, pregnancy discovered, Artemis changes her into a bear as punishment. Callisto the bear gives birth to baby Arkas (human). Arkas grows up and hunts the bear, about to be killed, but both are catasterized by Zeus

Hera

- Daughter of Rhea and Cronus, Married to Zeus - Goddess of marriage and women's fertility - She knows that Zeus has many affairs, and she tries to prevent him from doing so - She chases Zeus' out-of-marriage children around. - Io: priestess of Hera. As Zeus and Io are trying to be together, Hera shows up and Zeus changes Io into a cow so that Hera won't know. But Hera knows, and creates a fly to chase Io the cow around. - Zeus and Hera's children: Ares god of war, Hebe ("youth"), Eileithuia goddess of childbirth - Her own son: Hephaestus. He's born lame, she throws him down to earth because he is not perfect. - In specific regions of Greece, she was very important and was independently worshipped - The only one powerful enough to stand up against Zeus in the decision of the Trojan war

Deucalion and Pyrrha

- Deucalion was the son of Prometheus - Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora - "no one more fond of right" than Deucalion, no one more reverent than Pyrrha ("scrupulously reverent"); very morally good people - Prometheus warns Deucalion of Bronze Age ending flood that Zeus was sending to punish mankind for its wickedness. - Deucalion builds an ark. Deucalion and Pyrrha survived 9 days before landing at Mt. Parnassus. - Themis tells them to throw the bones of their mother behind them (stones are the bones of mother earth) So they threw stones over their shoulders and the ones Deucalion threw turned into men, and Pyrrha, women.

Birth of Aphrodite

- Either the daughter of Zeus and Dione (Homer) OR - Born from Uranus' genitals falling into the sea (Hesiod) - Clothing represents and contains power

Elysium

- Eternal spring in underworld - Nice fields for nice people in Underworld - Usually just has heroes in it

Greek marriage

- Father and husband negotiate it, women (daughter and mother) have no voice - Daughter moves into husband's house but can acquire power and authority by moving there

Charon

- Ferryman to take dead into underworld. Doesn't like living people - Hermes brings souls to the underworld, brings them to Charon who crosses the marsh/river Styx in a boat and brings souls over

Cerberus

- Guard dog of the underworld, 3 heads, serpent tail, captured by Hercules as one of Twelve Labors for King Eurystheus - kept spirits from leaving the Underworld and heroes from entering

Trickster

- Hermes is a prime example of this - Originally applied by scholars analyzing Native American stories - More universal figure of deceit and wiliness - always ambiguous, smartness in a bad way (doing sneaky things, can be bad but also can be good) - ______ stories involve the figure and the one being deceived but roles change - An archetype in psychology - Social dimensions: known for mockery of laws/authority, disruptive, creative and energetic, "culture heroes". Outsiders trying to become insiders - Divine tricksters: Hermes, Prometheus - Human tricksters: Sisyphus (when death comes to get him, he traps him and suddenly no one dies and so Ares frees Death who then carries Sisyphus to the underworld but his wife didn't bury him so Hades sends him to go have her do that but he stays up there via trickery and then finally dies of old age and then ends up perpetually pushing a boulder up a hill in the underworld)

Helen

- Married to Menelaus - Is won by Paris in the judgment of the apple. Paris wins the most beautiful woman from Aphrodite

Hermes

- Messenger of the gods and gets souls to the underworld (as psychopompos); Delivers messages from Olympus to earth and Underworld, escorts souls to the Underworld; winged sandals - God of travel, tricks, commerce, and thievery - Parents are Zeus and Maia (daughter of Atlas, a Titan) - Lives on Olympus - Has to do with everyone outside of main society: travelers, thieves, merchants (those in movement) - Beardless Hermes represents him in adolescents. Transition to adulthood -- contests (athletic contests: people might pray to Hermes prior to participation in an athletic contest), and cattle raiding (only Greek god involved in this because of the Hymn to Hermes where he steals 50 cattle from Apollo without anyone noticing

Minoans

- Minoans of Crete (Middle Bronze AGe, 1600 BCE) - Huge ruins (studied by later Greeks who made stories of them) - Labyrinth, Minotaur, Theseus - Minoans didn't speak Greek; written text (Linear A) has not been deciphered by scholars yet - Minoan Snake Goddess - Fertility Goddess? Early form of Artemis? (lives in wild, associates with animals) - Artemis Potnia Theron ("lady of the beasts")

Zeus

- Most important and powerful divine being/god in all of Greek mythology - Leader/lord of all mortals and immortals - Sky/weather god - God of sovereignty Zeus holds a scepter - God of justice and custom. Hospitality - Son of Rhea and Cronus - only one not eaten. Rhea tricks Cronus into swallowing stone - Married to Hera - Has many many affairs and so many children (Ares, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, Athena) many of his children included in the Olympians - Zeus swallowed Metis - cleverness will always be a part of him. Athena is born from his head. - Has roughly 115 sexual encounters with goddesses and mortals - Has many mortal affairs has to transform himself into something else. These mortal affairs introduce direct relation with Zeus for many Greek heroes - Zeus is the most powerful of all the gods, but Hera says I am a god too. Everybody else on Mt. Olympus can make that claim. So that makes it very important for Zeus to give and take - he can't always get his way or else all of the other gods will get annoyed. If Zeus rules all of the gods, there should also be some power for the female.

Transfer of myths between cultures

- Myths are adapted between cultures to better fit and explain societal norms and natural occurrences in said culture - Possible points of contact: trade, conquest - Problems involved: translation, misinterpretation, writing - Modern example: Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus

Definition of myth

- Myths: *traditional stories with collective importance* (Form, function, Content) - Myths always exist in context - Stories in many possible forms - oral story, written document, painted image - The content of the stories is not clearly stated - composed of the religious, political and cultural values and meanings about self, society and cosmos - Myths offer ways of understanding and integrating one's experience in a broader framework - Myths are believed to be facts, deal with the remote past - Tell you why the world is how it is - Main actors are supernatural beings - Myths are not static, adjust to changing social circumstances - different versions of same myth - Myths should always be analyzed by form, content, and function - Form: myths may be in words or pictures; rich in symbols or metaphors; meaning is not explicit - Content: expresses religious, political or cultural values and meanings that connect the individual to the society and the cosmos - Function: offers ways of understanding one's experiences within the broader framework of society and the cosmos - Legends - fact, humans, recent past. Folktale - set outside of time and space, ordinary people, fiction

Earth (Gaia/Gaea)

- One of the first generation of gods - Reproduces without partner Uranus. - Brings forth mountains and sea. - Those born of Earth and Uranus were the most fearful children - When you start creation, you need something to put your beings on, so this is Earth - Related to autochthony - see autochthony

Typhoeus

- Parents are Earth and Tartarus - Battles with Zeus over rule of the cosmos - Monster storm giant defeated and imprisoned by Zeus in the pit of Tartarus - Serpent footed, has wings, man shaped down to waist, hands and fingers are serpent heads, has a beard

Europa

- Phoenician princess; sister of Cadmus - She is abducted by Zeus, who takes the form of a bull. He takes her from Eastern side of the Mediterranean and takes her to Crete - Europa and Zeus have three children: Minos, Sarpedon, Rhadamanthys

Contest for Athens

- Poseidon arrived first, struck the ground with trident, produced a salt-water spring - Athena arrives second, but she brought a witness (Cecrops), she plants an olive tree - Have to decide who will oversee Athens - Two versions of who decided. Gods and Athenians - Gods: the 12 Olympian gods act as judges. Country was adjudged to Athena, because Cecrops was there to witness it. Poseidon got mad and flooded Attica - Second version is the people decided: vote (men and women) - all of the men vote for Poseidon and all of the women vote for Athena. More women than men so Athena wins. Poseidon gets mad, and punishes Athenian women. They no longer have a vote in the assembly, none of their children are named after the mothers, women should not be called Athenians Charter myth?

Hymn to Demeter

- Probably composed ca. 650-550 BCE - Attributed to Homer - Survives only in one manuscript - Begins with Hades grabbing Persephone as she picks flowers in a meadow and drags her to the underworld with the permission of her father, Zeus. - Demeter finds out what happened nine days later and wanders the earth searching until Helios tells her. - Pissed that Zeus was involved, she becomes an old woman traveling among men. Arrive at Eleusis and is received by Keleos, the king. Tries to make his son immortal puts him in fire, the mother catches her, Demeter throws the child on the ground and dies. Gets mad, reveals herself, demands a temple be built and then withdraws fertility from earth out of anger. People are deprived of food, which means gods are deprived of sacrifices. - After Demeter refuses to let anything grow for a year, Zeus tells Hades he needs to give Persephone back. He first either tricks, forces, or she takes willingly a pomegranate seed and if you eat anything in the underworld you cannot leave so then what happens is Persephone can be up with her mom for 2/3 of the year and with Hades in underworld for 1/3 (winter). - Ultimately this myth is about agriculture (only being possible 2/3 of the year), life and death (separation felt by Demeter and Persephone is like mortals' separation feeling with death, although it is not final), matriarchal core (men decide marriage), separation in marriage, loss, love, acceptance

"Battle of the Wits"

- Prometheus vs. Zeus - Prometheus laid out two meals, one for the gods and one for the men and covered one up to look good, which Zeus chose, but was actually the worse option. - Zeus is now annoyed at humans, takes fire away from them, but Prometheus outwitted Zeus and hid fire in a tube of fennel so that men could have fire - Now men have both meat and fire - Now Zeus wants to punish them - gives them a woman, Pandora. Not a good view of women. Epimetheus (in some versions) accepts Pandora. - So it's a trickery contest with Zeus. - Mecone: division of sacrifice - Prometheus gave Zeus the choice, Zeus willingly chose the bones. - Fire - Zeus takes fire away from men, Prometheus takes it, hides it in a fennel stalk, gives it to men - Woman - Zeus gives woman to Epimetheus, Epimetheus accepts her

Indo-Europeans

- Related linguistically - Word for father is very similar in many languages: father, vader, Vater, pater, padre. Etc. - Probably sharing stories - Indo-European tri-functional myths have three divisions: war, sovereignty, and abundance and fecundity - Culture that all languages are related - languages all trace back to central node. Culture sharing one particular language, the proto-Indo-European language. We have no real evidence of it existing. - All came from culture that was related and that got separated and spread

Eros

- Roman name: Cupid - Son of Aphrodite and Ares and assists her - Shoots arrow that causes feelings of attraction. - Even worse for Gods than humans - In the Hesiod: God of sexual love. Fourth element in creation (intercourse and reproduction)

Phaedra

- See Hippolytus - Daughter of king Minos of Crete - sexually cursed family line - Theseus divorces Amazon for Phaedra - Phaedra falls in love with stepson Hippolytus, asks him to sleep with her. He hates women, refuses. She accuses him of rape, Theseus believes her and asks Poseidon to destroy Hippolytus. Hippolytus dragged to his death by a bull. - Phaedra ends up killing herself - takes the high road so that her husband and children are not disgraced.

Poseidon

- Son of Cronus and Rhea (swallowed and thrown up) - Brother of Zeus, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia - Natural world: sea (trident), earthquakes, horses - Zeus takes heaven, Hades underworld, Poseidon gets the sea - Like Zeus, has lots of children - Heroes: Theseus (king of Athens), Bellerophon - Giants: one-eyed giant Polyphemus - He was the first to arrive in Attica - the area where Athens is now - Involved in contest of Athens with Athena

Hades

- Son of Cronus and Rhea brother of Zeus, Poseidon, etc. - God of the underworld - King of underworld not really involved with inhabitants - Married to Persephone - Fell in love with Persephone, wanted to take her to the underworld, and does. But Persephone's mom, Demeter, wants Persephone back. So deal is Persephone spends part of the time with Demeter and part with Hades

Hephaestus

- Son of Hera in one version or son of Zeus and Hera - Just Hera: he is born lame, she gets angry because he isn't perfect (but Zeus' children are - Athena is perfect and comes from just Zeus) and she throws him to the ground - Lame - Either by birth (female only procreation) - Or thrown down by Zeus for helping Hera - Only not completely perfect divine being on Mount Olympus - God of metallurgy (fire and volcanoes) - Gets angry after Hera throws him away. Makes a throne, Hera sits on it and she's stuck. No one can get her loose. Zeus said whoever frees Hera gets to marry Aphrodite. Dionysus gets Hephaestus drunk and brings him to Mount Olympus and he frees Hera he gets to marry Aphrodite - No children with Aphrodite; lame, can't have children - Finds out about Aphrodite and Ares, puts a net above his bed and catches them. Shows other gods. They don't care, say good for Ares

Prometheus

- Son of Iapetus and Themis, who were Titans - "Subtle, shifting-scheming" - Brother to Epimetheus - In some versions is creator of men - See Battle of wits with Zeus - Humans getting caught up in divine power struggles - Humans punished, Prometheus punished - Punishment - eternal punishment is that he is chained up and has his liver eaten from crows

Epimetheus

- Son of Iapetus and Themis, who were Titans - Dumb*** brother to Prometheus - Accepts Pandora as wife

Hippolytus

- Son of Theseus (from Athens) and the queen of the Amazons - Son of an Amazon would indicate something weird is going to happen - Theseus divorces Amazon for Phaedra (daughter of king Minos of Crete - sexually cursed family line) - Phaedra fell in love with ____, son of her husband and asked him to sleep with her but he hated all women so he said no. Fearing he might accuse her, she accused him of rape so then Theseus prayed to Poseidon for the destruction of _______ and so when _______ is riding his chariot he drives it along the shore and a Poseidon makes a bull emerge and drags ___ to his death. Phaedra's truth comes to light and then she hangs herself ("noble" thing to do - protects her family). - This general story line has happened before, but the odd part of this is that Hippolytus hates all women. This doesn't happen. - "Horse-unleasher" or "destroyed by horses" - Liminal figure: adolescent, hunter - adolescent in the Greek world and a hunter (link with Artemis, devoted to her). After death, Artemis asks Asclepius (son of Apollo and mortal woman) to resurrect _____ but then Asclepius is killed by Zeus for setting up his own immortalization - cult hero: localized hero rather than worshiped by the whole of Greece. In Athens there's a tomb for him and they've found a temple for him in Troezen because in a version Theseus removes him from Athens thinking he could be king in Troezen - Rituals involving Hippolytus - girls dedicated their hair before marriage to and wept for Hippolytus. Transition from childhood to adulthood - ***READ THIS - lecture 11 - women don't approach men - his refusal to sex in Athens is seen as refusal to become a productive citizen

Ares

- Son of Zeus and Hera - God of aggressive war and slaughter - Not involved in courage or strategy - Not a nice god - Sleeps with Aphrodite - Children with Aphrodite: Demis (Terror), Phobus (Fear), Harmonia (Harmony)

Trojan War

- Started from Paris abducting Helen due the golden apple - 10 year siege - Greeks vs. Trojans, at Troy - Heroes on both sides - Gods take sides, except for Zeus - Athena, Hera, Poseidon, Hermes root for Greeks - Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Leto root for Trojans - Hard for Zeus to choose sides because he has investments (and children) on both sides of the conflict - Thetis goes to Zeus and asks that her son, Achilles, will be an important person in the war. To do this, the Trojans would have to win. Zeus has the power. He nods his head, and things start happening

Herms

- Stone pillar with bearded male (typically Hermes) head and erect phallus. - Found anywhere really - Sign of fertility (works well because he is responsible for flocks of goats, sheep, and swine, and also "lucky finds" in fertility) - Sign of protection (warding off evil)

Uranus

- The "heavens" created from Earth without partner - Castrated by his son Cronus - Genitals thrown in the sea, could be the birth of Aphrodite

Titans / Titanomachy

- The first generation of ______ were descendants of Gaea and Uranus who originally gave birth to Twelve ________, six males and six females - Males were Coeus, Cronus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Oceanus, while females were Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, Tethys - Titanomachy was a ten-year series of battles fought in Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (an older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Olympians (the younger generations, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus) and their allies

Orestes

- The first murder trial - Apollo is the defender, Athena is the judge - Agamemnon, to get to Troy, had to sacrifice his daughter. Married to Clytemnestra, when he returns, she kills him. Orestes finds out and kills his mom. Furies go after Orestes because he killed a blood relative. - Claims that an oracle of Apollo told him to kill his mom and avenge his father. - Apollo argues that Orestes didn't really kill his own blood relative because the father is the only true parent. Says he can prove it - points to Athena, who says that she is entirely her father's child - Athena sides with Orestes, saying that him killing his mom is not more important than the mom killing the father - He wins when it is ruled that only the father counts as the true parent and the mother is a vessel

Aphrodite

- The goddess of love/desire - Assisted by Harmonia (Harmony) and Peitho ("agreeable persuasion") for desire - Daughter of Zeus and Dione (in Homer) OR born from Uranus' genitals falling into the sea (Hesiod) - Desire can be potentially beneficial, or potentially destructive - Married to Hephaestus - Has affair with Ares - Children with Ares: Deimus (Terror), Phobus (Fear), Harmonia (Harmony) - Falls in love with Anchises, has Aeneas (see Hymn to Aphrodite)

Tartarus

- The space below the earth - like a god but a space - Third part of creation - needed somewhere after earth - The place where punishments are doled out in the underworld - Zeus sends the Titans here - Tityus - stole Zeus' lover Leto, liver eaten by vultures - Tantalus - tried to feed gods his children, can't eat or drink even though they are almost in reach - Sisyphus -forced to push boulder - Punishments are for those who did something significantly bad to the gods

Olympians

- Third and fourth generation of gods. - Third includes Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, Hestia, and sort of Aphrodite. - Fourth includes Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Ares, and Hephaestus

Potiphar's Wife

- This is a type of folktale story: Lustful female (wife/mother) unsuccessfully tries to seduce handsome man (husband's brother/slave/guest/friend/son) - The result is that the man suffers (either dies, is imprisoned, becomes a hero, is cursed, or killed) - So basically a lustful woman seduces someone she shouldn't and bad things happen - The specific story of _____ ___ occurred in 5th century BCE. Genesis 39. P buys Joseph. P's wife proposes over and over again and Joseph refuses. Wife accuses Joseph and he is then imprisoned (later rescued by Yahweh). - Greek versions include the story of Bellerophon and queen of Corinth as well as the story of Hippolytus

Anchises

- Trojan prince that Aphrodite falls in love with immediately because of Zeus messing with her emotions. She goes to him disguised as a "maiden untamed" and he is like "no thanks, you a goddess" but she was like" no I got here by means of Hermes who told me to be your wife and birth your children" which he accepts. - So they have sex, ____ falls asleep, Aphrodite gets up and he sees she is in fine attire and realizes she is a goddess. - He becomes fearful because mortal men who engage with goddesses do not typically end up too well. Aphrodite says she'll be in eternal shame because of this because she used to boast about never engaging with mortals and so she tells him never to speak of it. - Nothing bad happens to him. Fathers Aeneas with Aphrodite

Hesiod

- Two great poems were Theogony and Works and Days - Unknown if he was a real person, because stories were told orally and there is no written evidence that he existed

Leda

- Wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. They had children: Clytemnestra, Castor - Zeus wants to have an affair with her but can't be a god, has to transform himself into something else to be with mortal women. Turned into a swan to be with her. In one version, there's an aspect of violent swan getting its way. - Children with Zeus: Helen, Pollux

Hymn to Aphrodite

- Written ca. 700 BCE - Attributed to Homer - This is where Anchises comes in (see his section) -- she falls in love with him because of Zeus, convinces him she's mortal sent by Hermes to wed him, has sex with him, gets up and he sees her clothes and realizes she's a goddess and then he freaks out because goddess-man relationships always end poorly, she is embarrassed AF, and so she tells him not to tell anyone. Nothing bad happens except she can no longer brag about being mortal-sex free - Anchises feared ending up like - Ganymedes (Zeus): pours drinks for the gods - Tithonos (Dawn): immortal but not unaging - Stories about goddesses and mortals: - Men hear: dangerous female powers, fear of impotence and castration - Women hear: women relatively independent from men in basic life processes, marginal and subordinate role of men

Homer

- Wrote the Iliad - Describes brief episode in 10 year war, not beginning or end. But includes lots of references to what led to the war and what happens after. - Shows that Zeus is obligated to other gods/goddesses to earn their allegiance so he can maintain sovereignty. - Zeus has to make decision about the war - grants Thetis' wish for Trojans to win, but this would go against Hera - The only one powerful enough to stand up to Zeus is Hera - Hymn to Aphrodite, Hymn to Demeter - In the Iliad - story of Bellerophon: Proetus' wife makes advances, Bellerophon declines, wife accuses, Proteus sends Bellerophon away

Birth of Athena

- Zeus and Metis (cleverness) had sex - Zeus swallowed Metis, who was pregnant - Athena came out of Zeus' head - Born when Zeus swallowed Metis, had a headache, Hephaestus cracked open his head and she popped out

Structuralism

- a method of interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition, behavior, culture, and experience that focuses on relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system that reflect patterns underlying a superficial diversity. - Example: life vs death, order vs. chaos, new vs. old - Jean-Pierre Vernant says - Hermes and Hestia represent opposing ideas - Fixity vs mobility, stability vs change, internal vs external, insider vs outsider, female vs male - Structures space, enables transitions (rites of passage), articulates social values

Minos

- son of Zeus and Phoenician princess, Europa - first king of Crete - Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by the Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld. - By his wife, Pasiphaë (or some say Crete), he fathered Ariadne, Androgeus, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis and Xenodice

Bronze Age

3000-1200 BCE : Minoan and Mycenaean Civilization - Where Greek Gods are first mentioned - Linear A and B - Mentions of the great kings like Agamemnon, Nestor, and Menelaus - All heavily mentioned in Homer's stories

Charter myth

A myth that explains social norms, expectations, institutions. Some sort of example please? (malinowski), Often used to justify the patriarchy (see contest for Athens) - Hesiod's Theogony (explains social norms, indicates how people should behave) - Example: Demeter and Persephone - Greek society is pretty patriarchal, women just have to deal with it - Women's compensation: you get a better life after you die lmao

Eleusis / Eleusinian Mysteries

Eleusis: - 12 miles from Athens. Demeter comes here and is accepted by King Celeus and becomes the nurse for his youngest son Demophoon. Tries to make him immortal by putting him in the fire every night but then his mom gets suspicious, watches her, catches her doing this and comes forward and then Demeter throws the baby (in some versions, he dies) and then reveals herself as being the goddess Demeter. Demands a temple be built for her in _____ and then withdraws fertility from earth in anger. Nothing grows for a year --> famine. Gods also deprived of sacrificial offerings so Zeus takes action sending Hermes to Hades to get Demeter's daughter back from underworld (more under Persephone) Eleusinian Mysteries: - A week-long initiation ceremony that began in Athens and concluded in Demeter's sanctuary in Eleusis, where initiates received secret knowledge. - The _____ ______ were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece

Adonis

Father was King Cinyras of Cypress. - Aphrodite punished Myrrha (Smyhra) with the sexual desire for her father. Tricks him into intercourse. He finds out and tries to kill her. She flees and ends up being changed into a Myrrh tree. - Gives birth to _____ in tree form. Extremely attractive. - Attracts the attention of Aphrodite who puts him in a chest which she leaves with Persephone in the underworld since it seems like the underworld is a safe place. Persephone opens the box and sees how hot he is and also falls in love with him. - So Zeus steps in and is like let's divide the boy and he will spend half the year with Aphrodite and half with Persephone in the underworld. - Ends up being killed by a wild pig. His blood mixes with the nectar of Aphrodite and sprouts anemone.

Athena

Goddess of war (the strategy), virgin, born from Zeus, approves of man, assists many heroes. Spear, helmet, shield(aegis), owl, olives, - Daughter of Zeus born from his head - Daughter of Zeus and Metis (but usually just Zeus) - Practical intelligence - Urban - no connection to nature or natural phenomena - Most manly of goddesses - came out of Zeus' head, no female connection - Usually depicted with helmet, shield, spear, aegis (animal skin harness) - Acts like a man. Men's activities: craftsmen (bridle, plough, ship-building, weavers), soldiers (martial arts) - Helper of heroes. Her favorites are Heracles and Odysseus. No division between the divine and human world, so Athena is right there helping them and making sure they are successful in their quests. - Virgin goddess (asexual), but has Erichtonius - some connection there - Erichthonius: Semen of Hephaestus, piece of wool from Athena, Earth. Athens is not really the mother, but it's a connection - She was the second to arrive in Athens after Poseidon, but she brought a witness (Cecrops). She planted an olive tree - Wins Athens - Involved in Orestes and Furies trial

Universal Human Experiences

Greek texts represent different attempts to understand the human condition, and especially human suffering (Wendy Doniger) Myths address common human concerns = universal questions: - Why are we here? - What happens when we die? - Is there a god? - Why are men different from women?

Five Races of Humankind

Hesiod: FIRST: Gold age - before Zeus. Men were content at home, had no towns with moats and walls around them, no alarms. People were un-aggressive, un-anxious living in peace, eternal Spring. Lived like gods -- no trouble or labor. SECOND: Silver - Under Zeus. Slightly worse than gold. Men built houses and plant seeds. This race of man is dumb, refuse to honor the gods with sacrifice and couldn't hold back violence. THIRD: Bronze - dispositions took on aggressive instincts, quick to arm, yet not entirely evil. FOURTH: Age of Heroes! "Race of heroes" in which people are god-like (where Oedipus, Cadmus, Trojan War people fit) - (in-between category added by Hesiod) FIFTH : Iron. Base vein let loose all evil. Modesty, truth, and righteousness fled earth and trickery, plotting, violence took over. Zeus caused the flood and FIFTH came about. Men separate from gods -> Age of Ovid (Ovid's people come from stones, sons of Deucalion and Pyrrha but not via conception but rather a link with the earth. People are born from and tied to the earth

Aeneas

Main Character in Virgil's Aeneid; Trojan hero who after the sack of Troy goes searching for a new home. He wants to see his deceased father and another dead person. The Sybil is his guide. Everyone needs a guide to the underworld. - Must first "pluck from the tree this golden-leaved fruit". So when he arrives at the underworld he panics and draws his sword at the bodiless forms and flitting images he sees but the Sybil stops him. He asks what's happening here? - And so Virgil describes that the crowd you see are the unburied dead and the ferryman is Charon and his passengers are the dead entombed. He may not carry any across until their bones are at rest. - Finally finds father who reveals the future of Rome --> Anchises (father) reveals the settling of a new civilization, the Roman Empire. - Important to note that Virgil wrote this "prophecy" knowing what happened already