CLCIV 385 - Midterm 1

In a provisional way, how can we define myth?

(1) as a body of traditional stories (2) as stories a society tells itself (3) as stories that encode a society's worldview (4) as stories that represent a society's beliefs (5) as stories that represent and encode a society's fears (6) as stories that contain the moral principles of a society

Which of the following is not an example of a trickster figure? 1) The hundred handers in Apollodorus' Library 2) Kintu in the Ganda myth of creation 3) Prometheus 4) The lizard in Yoruba myth on the origin of death

1) The hundred-handers in Apollodurs' Library

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the Priestly author of the Book of Genesis: 1) an immanent God 2) focus on rituals and genealogies 3) wet landscape 4) rejection of babylonian polytheism

1) an immanent God.

What is a trickster?

1. A trickster is a creature that displays cleverness, generosity, and flexibility. 2. A trickster is a creature whose cleverness may create the world. 3. A trickster is a creature whose generosity is crucial to human survival.

If myth somehow equals science, how can that be?

1. Because traditional stories are handed down unchanged from generation to generation. 2. Because false or outmoded science contained in myth is not intrinsic to the points made. 3. Because both myth and science seek some kind of truth.

What are the 3 interconnected myths?

1. Creation of humans (anthropogony) 2. Myth of ages 3. Flood (destruction)

Which authors discuss the Trojan war?

1. Euripides 2. Apollodorus 3. Homer

How does truth travel in a culture that knows no writing?

1. From mouth to mouth 2. From ear to mouth 3. From mouth to ear

What do we mean when we say that a traditional story has a multivalent symbology?

1. That it can help explain many things 2. that in spite of the obscurity of its symbols, it can still teach us something about the world 3. that a traditional story always has more that one message.

What are the insights into myth?

1. aetiological 2. anthropological 3. cosmological 4. historical 5. metaphysical 6. psychological 7. sociological

What is mythology?

1. the study of myth 2. the body of myths told by a particular culture

An example of why historians might study myth is:

1. to get a perspective on past events. 2. to reconstruct what happened to a particular people, country, period, or person. 3. to get a sense of the mindset of the people or period they are studying.

When do we date the earliest written version of the Epic of Gilgamesh

2100-2000 BCE

When was Homer alive?

9th/8th century BCE

What is a covenant?

A contract between two parties.

What is the meaning of the word 'chaos' in Ovid's Metamorphoses

A mess, a chaotic mess of scumbled elements

What feature is shared by the Biblical Genesis and the Enuma Elish?

A single creator

What does Lykaeon serve up to Zeus

A stew made of human flesh

What type of traditional story is a legend?

A story rooted in historical fact whose characters may be people who actually lived.

what is a daimon?

An intermediate being between gods and humans.

When was Enuma Elish performed?

At the Babylonian New Year's festival

The Greek goddess of wisdom is

Athena

Greek mache means:

Battle

According to the Bura myth, why can throwing mush at a corpse revive it?

Because humans are made of water and earth

How do Deucalion and Pyrrha repopulate the earth?

By casting stones behind them in order to seed the earth.

What is the main theme of Ovid's Metamorphoses

Change

Name the 9 muses

Clio (history), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Thalia (comedy), Melpomene (tragedy), Terpsichore (music & dance), Erato (erotic poetry), Calliope (epic poetry & rhetoric), Urania (astronomy), Polymnia (sacred hymns & harmony)

Enuma Elish was first performed: 1) Around the same time as Hesiod's poetry 2) Later than Hesiod's poetry 3) Earlier than Hesiod's poetry 4) In the Medieval period

Earlier than Hesiod's poetry

What is the title we use for the Mesopotamian epic that honors Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon?

Enuma Elish

Who thought that the gods had originally been mortal humans?

Euhemerus

Ovid wrote in collaboration with another author

False

T or F: Oral cultures have no literature

False

T/F: Enuma Elish is preserved in one copy

False

T or F: The texts in which we read the Greek myths are an example of religious "revelation."

False.

What are Hesiod's 5 ages?

Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, Iron

What are Ovid's 4 ages?

Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron

_____________ often use information provided by archaeologists to reconstruct the past.

Historians

In the Jehovist-Elohist narrative of creation in the Book of Genesis, what does God create first and why?

Humans, because they are the greatest of God's creation

In the Priestly narrative of creation in the Book of Genesis, what does God create last and why?

Humans, because they are the greatest of God's creation

What is the main characteristic of a transcendent god?

Indirect interaction with humans

What does 'hermeneutic' mean?

Interpretive

What does Mesopotamia mean?

Land between rivers.

What is the difference between a myth and a legend?

Legends concern people and have historical basis, while myths concern the gods.

What do we mean by 'Revelation' in the modern religious sense? Note the capitalization.

Manifestation of a deity

What does the Pandora myth tell us about Greek society?

Men were heavily prejudiced against women.

A synonym for 'polysemic' is:

Multivalent

Which of the following is an utterance? 1) Hello, my name is Gilgamesh! 2) Bleurghghghghg 3) Aetiological! 4) None of the above

None of the above: this is a trick question and all of these are merely written

Paratactic composition in oral storytelling is

OK, because the audience also thinks paratactically

Mythical figures who were NOT historical characters include

Odysseus

Who persuades Achilles to join the expedition to get Helen back?

Odysseus

How are the Giants born?

Out of the blood of Ouranus

The fact that Metamorphoses emphasizes abrupt, radical, irreversible change at the hands of strange, impetuous divinities could be the result of the uncertain times in which ____________ wrote.

Ovid

Changing shape is a motif in all of the stories in:

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Which Biblical author of Genesis emphasizes genealogies?

P

Which of the following is not a myth? 1) Creation story in Genesis 2) The story of Boreas and Oreithyia 3) Jason and the Argonauts 4) Plato's "Phaedrus."

Plato's Phaedrus

How would you describe the tone of Ugandan myth of Kintu?

Playful and magical

Who gets blamed for the war between Marduk and Tiamat?

Quingu

Ovid lived and wrote in ___.

Rome

The most complete perserved version of Enuma Elish dates from

The 7th century BCE

An ancient story that emphasizes the ongoing conflict of nature and civilization is

The Epic of Gilgamesh

What does Aphrodite offer Paris if he will declare her the winner of the beauty contest?

The most beautiful woman in the world.

Zeus ate Athena's mother because:

Their child would overthrow Zeus

In what sense is ancient myth analogous to modern science?

They both offer explanations and answer questions.

Why are urban legends important to students of mythology?

They emphasize themes and issues that concern humans

How many authors have biblical scholars detected for the creation myth found in the Book of Genesis

Three

According to the Bura myth, death could be beaten by:

Throwing mush at a corpse

What does TD stand for?

Thury and Devinney

T or F: Myth is always true

True.

What is paradoxical about our study of classical myth?

We access oral culture through written literature.

What does 'cuneiform' mean?

Wedge shaped

Which of the following is a translation of Enuma Elish

When on high

How were men punished for the knowledge of fire according to Hesiod?

With women

What is the title of the epic poem which we find the myth of the 5 ages?

Works and Days

Myths passed on orally would not include:

a completely and radically new story being created on the spot

The Native American story in which Raven creates the great rivers of the world by stealing fresh water from Petrel is an example of a(n) _______________ insight into myth.

aetiological

There is strong __________ evidence that the Trojan War was not merely a story.

archaeological

Upon completion of his labors, Hercules

becomes immortal

The story of Odysseus' encounter with Aeolus, the god or king of the winds, represents the ___.

cosmological insights of myth

Because of what happened to Enkidu, Gilgamesh is afraid of ____.

death

The Greek word for 'nostalgia' is related to the English word

homecoming and pain

What is Greek myth?

impossible to define

What does "hermeneutic" mean?

interpretative

What are the traditional story types?

myth, legend, folktale

Mircea Eliade's views show that archaic societies used _______ to master their universe, while we use science today.

mythology

How was Enuma Elish originally performed?

orally at formal ceremonies

What type of traditional story is a folktale?

primarily entertaining traditional stories; e.g., trickster stories, fairy tales

Which of the following elements or characteristics does not necessarily characterize an epic? 1) blend of myth and legend 2) tales of heroic deeds 3) remote antiquity 4) poetic style

remote antiquity

What does "aetiological" mean?

seeking to explain causation

Hesiod's explanation of the creation of the humans _____

shows that he sees women as a great evil

What does "polysemy" mean?

something that makes many signs, that signifies many things at once

The equation of Marduk with Elil in the Enuma Elish, or Venus and Aphrodite in Graeco-Roman myth are examples of ______

syncretism

What does "multivalent" mean?

that has many values

What do we mean by 'chronological gap' in the classical periods of Greece and Rome?

that the Greek classical period occurred centuries before the Roman classical period

One factor likely to influence a (written) literary myth is that

the author may shape characters and stories to fit artistic goals

Urban legends are related to myth insofar as they reflect ___.

the deepest concerns of human beings

The Iliad is a traditional poem that narrates

the last ten years of battle between Greeks and Trojans.

Provisional definition of a myth?

traditional stories a society tells itself that encode or represent its worldview, beliefs, principles, and often fears

What type of traditional story is a myth?

traditional story concerning the gods

Which element is the most important in Enuma Elish?

water

What is the meaning of the Greek word mythos?

word, speech, tale, story