Exam 3
Trojans/Dardanians (characters in the Iliad)
- Hector - Priam - Hecuba - Paris/Alexander - Andromache - Astyanax - Aeneas
Scylla
A beautiful nymph pursued by many lovers, all of which she rejected - In Metamorphoses (p. 475-484), a recently transformed Glaucus fell in love with her, & after she ran up a seaside cliff he told her his story of transformation, after which she fled once again - Upon wading in her favorite pool, her lower half was replaced with the heads of dogs by Circe dumping some of Hecate's herbs in the water - As revenge against Circe, she plundered some of Odysseus/Ulysses' men & would have done the same to the Trojan ships had she not been transformed once again into a rock
Iris
Goddess of the Rainbow - Messenger of the Gods
Other Characters from the Iliad
- Helen - Chryses - Chryseis - Briseis - Peleus
Visual representations of Myth
- Vase paintings (e.g., funerary/marriage vases, drinking ware, & packaging ware) - Sculpture - Home decoration/wall mosaics - Clothing/mirrors/personal items
Gods (from the Iliad)
- Zeus - Hera - Athena - Thetis - Aphrodite - Poseidon - Hephaestus - Artemis - Ares - Hermes - Iris
Hellenistic Period
323 - 30 BCE (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica) - Written copies of the Iliad & Odyssey are collected, & the librarians at Alexandria begin to create standard editions
Euripides
480 - 406 BCE - One of the great tragedians of Greece, along with Aeschylus & Sophocles, for whom any plays have survived in full - He was the author of Medea & the Bacchae - He was the most revisionary of the tragic poets
Classical Period
490 - 323 BCE (Aeschylus, Euripides composing tragedies) - Classical Athens of Socrates, Plato, & Greek tragic poets like Aeschylus & Euripides retell stories associated with Homeric epic
Aeschylus
525 - 456 BCE - Often described as the "father of tragedy" - An ancient Greek tragedian who wrote the Oresteia - He is the earliest playwright whose works have survived to this day & age
Agamemnon
Mortal King of Mycenae/Argos - Son of Atreus - Husband to Clytemnestra - Father of Orestes, Electra, & Iphigenia - Murdered by Clytemnestra with the help of Aegisthus in the Oresteia - He was the leader/commander of the Archaean army in the Iliad during the Trojan War - He sacrificed Iphigenia to Artemis so that his fleet could sail to Ilion to fight the Trojans - In the Odyssey, he advises Odysseus to keep secrets from Penelope & not to trust women in general
Oral performance of Myth
- Civic & Pan-Hellenic festivals - Weddings & funerals - Symposium - Storytelling by family members & nannies
Pan-Hellenic festivals
- Competitive performances of epic poetry by bards - Choral performances of song & dance - Victory songs to praise victorious athletes
Hecuba
Queen of Troy - Wife of Priam - Mother of Hector & Paris
menis
Wrath - The first word of the Iliad in Greek - A particularly destructive anger usually only attributed to the gods - Achilles is 1 of the only mortals, albeit with divine lineage, throughout Greek myth & literature who possesses this
Archaic Period
800 - 490 BCE (Iliad, Odyssey, Theogony, Homeric Hymns composed & begun to be written down; later, Sappho at work) - Epic poems such as the Iliad & Odyssey in wide oral circulation begin to be written down - If Homer existed, some imagine him to represent the apex of oral epic culture as it enters the age of literacy & written documents; thus, we have these ancient poems
Zeus
King of the Gods - God of the Sky & Weather - Claims neutrality during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Homeric Hymns
Addressed to a single god - Thought to have preceding performances of Homeric epics at civic & panhellenic festivals: thus, called this; but this is a bit of a misnomer, since they are by various anonymous poets - Collected from the Hellenistic era, with new texts discovered up until the 16th century CE
Augustus
Adopted son of Julius Caesar - He became the Roman Emperor after his father's assassination - He oversaw the greatest period of peace & prosperity in Roman history - He exiled Ovid - In Metamorphoses (p. 548-553), Ovid attributes his power to that of famous Greek heroes (i.e., Agamemnon, Theseus, & Achilles) as well as to the power of Zeus/Jupiter himself - Ovid also wrote that he hopes the day of this emperor's death & subsequent transformation into a star is far off
Chryseis
Agamemnon's concubine he had to return to her Father
Callisto
An Arcadian nymph & one of Artemis/Diana's soldiers - Daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia (who was transformed into a werewolf) - In Metamorphoses (p. 67-73), Zeus/Jove made himself look like Artemis/Diana, then proceeded to rape & subsequently impregnate her - She attempted to hide her pregnancy from Artemis/Diana & the rest of her nymph soldiers, but was eventually discovered & banished from the virtuous cult - After giving birth to her son, Arcas, Hera/Juno transformed her into a bear in a fit of jealousy/anger - While on a hunt, a 15-year-old Arcas came upon her bear form & attempted to kill her with his spear when she tried to approach him - Zeus/Jove transformed both her & her son into constellations: the Big Bear/Ursa Major & the Little Bear/Ursa Minor - She underwent 2 (technically 4 if you include her pregnancy & how she went from a virgin to a nonvirgin) transformations in Ovid's Metamorphoses
Epic Distance
Awareness of the past at 2 levels - In the original performances of these epic poems, the original audience would have felt themselves to be in a far different time than heroes like Achilles & Hector; this is on display when heroes throw rocks (Iliad 12. 445-450) - But even in the age described, the heroes seem to be aware of great men & their deeds in the past - Phoenix says, "Thus it was in the old days also, the deeds that we hear of / from the great men, when the swelling anger descended on them" (9.524-5) - Achilles himself sings "of men's fame" (9.189)
Europa
Daughter of Agenor, King of Sidon - Sister of Cadmus, founder of Thebes - Europe is named after her - In Metamorphoses (p. 85-91), Zeus/Jove took the form of a handsome white bull & hid amongst the royal cattle of Sidon - She is immediately entranced by this majestic bull & she proceeds to feed him & decorate his horns with flowers as she lays on him - She eventually sits on his back & Zeus/Jove then carries her across the sea, kidnapping her - He brings her to the isle of Crete where he defiles her in his true form - Cadmus is ordered to find her but turns up empty & decides to form Thebes
Agave
Daughter of Cadmus - Mother of Pentheus - The first to attack Pentheus in the Bacchae - She brings Pentheus' head to Cadmus in Thebes, believing it to be that of a lion - She & the rest of her sisters spread the rumor that Semele attempted to conceal that she had unmarried sex with a mortal man by pretending that Zeus was the father of her child, & that her destruction was a just punishment for lying about being a God's lover - Dionysus gets revenge against her & her sisters for the injustice against Semele by possessing them (making them Bacchants/Maenads) & forcing them to go insane/into a frenzy - In the Metamorphoses (p. 111-119), she was the first to spot, pursue, & wound Pentheus, who she had mistaken for a boar - She ripped Pentheus' head off after he tried to make her remember him while gesturing to his limbless torso
Hector
Eldest son of Priam - Brother of Paris - Chief warrior of the Trojan army - Husband of Andromache & father of Astyanax - He killed Patroclus - He was in turn killed by Achilles, who proceeded to drag his body around Patroclus' tomb
kleos
Fame - The driving force of epic - To be remembered, to be a hero
Daedalus & Icarus
Father & Son - The father built the Minotaur's Labyrinth for King Minos in Crete - Since he was the only one who knew how to escape the Labyrinth, King Minos imprisoned him & his son in a tower - In Metamorphoses (p.270-272), the father thought that they could escape by air, so he built 2 sets of wings using feathers, panpipes, thread, & wax - The father flies ahead to lead his son safely on the right path - His son began to play &, driven by desire for the sky, he flew upwards to the sun, melting the wax holding his wings together, causing him to fall into the sea, which is named after him - Upon seeing the feathers among the waves, the father curses his talent in the arts - The son's fall symbolizes the excessive ambition that leads to one's undoing/demise - This myth is eerily similar to that of Apollo & Phaethon
Hermes
God of Messengers, Trade, & Thieves - Messenger of the Gods - Slayer of Argos
Hephaestus
God of Metalworking & Fire
Apollo
God of Music, Prophecy, & Healing - Tells Orestes to avenge Agamemnon by killing Clytemnestra in the Oresteia - He is on Orestes' side during the trial against the Erinyes; he acts as Orestes' lawyer; he defends Orestes - He argues that men can give birth without a womb, as shown by the creation of Athena, which helps Orestes win the trial - In the Metamorphoses (p. 33-38), he said Eros/Cupid was too feminine to be an archer, causing him to get shot with an arrow that engendered love, while a nearby nymph named Daphne got shot with an arrow that engendered flight - Daphne unwillingly became his first love; he chased her until she begged her father, the river god Peneus, to transform her into something & destroy her beauty - Daphne is transformed into a laurel tree & this god symbolically possessed her by wearing her as an accessory in his hair, his lyre, & his arrow case
Ares
God of War & Battle-lust - Favors the Trojans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Dionysus/Bacchus/Liber
God of Wine & Festivity - The patron god of theatre - The Great Dionysia is held in honor of him - He is associated with satyrs (lascivious half-men half-goats usually portrayed with enormous phalluses) - Son of Semele & Zeus - Born premature due to his mother's death, Zeus sowed him into his thigh to be born again (hence why he symbolizes rebirth; he was born twice) - He is a later god: Euripides' Bacchae shows this as he travels from the east, spreading his cult - He goes by many names: Bromius, Bacchus, Dithyrambus, Iacchus, Thunderer, & the epithet Lusios "The Loosener, the Liberator"; this functions literally in our texts, because he can make bindings fall off, but also "loosen"/"liberate" people through wine - He puts the women of Thebes into a frenzy & sends them to Mt. Kithairon as revenge for refusing to worship him & to avenge the injustice done to his mother in the Bacchae - He dresses up as a follower of Dionysus known as "the Stranger" - He is imprisoned by Pentheus, but easily breaks free - He convinced Pentheus to dress up as a Maenad & go to Mt. Kithairon to spy on the Bacchants; he possesses Pentheus with his power - He leads Pentheus to the Maenads & watches as he's ripped apart limb from limb before disappearing - In Ovid's Metamorphoses (p. 111-119), he was kidnapped by pirates who meant to sell him off as a slave, for he was a feminine male, but only Acoetes saw him for what he truly was: a god - He made ivy vines entangle the ship & crew, save for Acoetes, & turns them into dolphins - He also freed Alcoetes, who was about to be tortured & killed by Pentheus
Poseidon/Neptune
God of the Sea, Earthquakes, & Horses - Father of Polyphemus - He curses Odysseus to make it home late, alone, & on another man's ship, only to find that Penelope's suitors have taken over his house in the Odyssey - In Metamorphoses (p. 377-378), Apollo & him built the walls of Troy, then destroyed the city when King Laomedon refused to pay them the gold he promised
Poseidon
God of the Sea, Earthquakes, & Horses - Favors the Achaeans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Artemis
Goddess of Hunting, Animals, & Children - Twin sister of Apollo - Favors the Trojans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Aphrodite/Venus
Goddess of Love & Beauty - Mother of Eros/Cupid - Won the Golden Apple & gifted Helen to Paris, starting the Trojan War - She persecutes Psyche, a maiden revered as a goddess, & demands that Cupid shoot her with one of his arrows, forcing her to fall in love with the most hideous creature known to man - She appears in front of Anchises as a Phrygian princess & seduces him, leading to the conception of Aeneas, all of which she is deeply ashamed of - She has an adulterous affair with Ares, but Hephaestus traps them both in a net while some of the male gods watch - She also lets Hera borrow her belt (which grants Love, Desire, dalliance, & persuasiveness to the wearer) so that she can distract Zeus from the Trojan War by sleeping with him - Sappho wrote a lyric poem to her - She fell in love with Adonis in the Metamorphoses (p. 359-366)
Aphrodite
Goddess of Love & Beauty - Paris chose her to receive the Golden Apple, so she gifted Helen to him - Favors the Trojans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Hera
Goddess of Marriage - Favors the Achaeans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
Athena/Minerva
Goddess of Wisdom, War, & Craft - Born out of Zeus' head; she is motherless - Acts as the judge in the Oresteia - Presides over the trial between Orestes & the Erinyes - She breaks the tie by finding Orestes innocent & acquitting him of his crimes - In the Metamorphoses (p. 189-195), Arachne challenges her to a weaving contest that will decide who is the better weaver - She weaves a tapestry depicting how she won Athens during the Areopagus against Poseidon/Neptune; in the 4 corners she depicts scenes in which mortals challenged the gods & were punished through transformation, while olive leaves bordered the tapestry; she is displaying the great power & status held by the gods while promoting the idea that mortals should humble themselves towards & maintain peace between them & the gods - She loses & in a fit of rage tears Arachne's tapestry then beats her, before transforming her into a spider with Hecate's herbs
Athena
Goddess of Wisdom, War, & Craft - Favors the Achaeans during the Trojan War in the Iliad
The Erinyes (or Furies)
Goddesses of Revenge, torturing those who commit heinous crimes - They were born from the blood of the castrated Kronos; they were born from an act of kin-slaying - Thus, they avenge those slain by their own kin - At the end of the Oresteia, they become the Eumenides of Athens
Myths present in Landscape
Knowledge/rumors of what happened where - The Symplegades, "The Clashing Rocks," where Jason & the Argonauts sailed through with Hera's help - Local lore: shrines to mark certain places Hercules or other heroes might have been - The location where Nephele's daughter, Helle, fell & drowned is now called the Hellespont (more commonly known now as Dardanelles)
Theomachy
The war between gods - In the Iliad, the Gods & Goddesses went head-to-head with each other while Achilles rampaged against the Trojans after the death of Patroclus
Actaeon
Grandson of Cadmus, founder/King of Thebes - Son of Aristaeus & Autonoe - In Metamorphoses (p. 95-100), this mortal man accidentally stumbled upon Artemis/Diana & her nymphs while bathing after a hunt with his friends - Enraged, Artemis/Diana keeps him from telling anyone he saw her naked by transforming him into a stag - He was killed by his own hunting dogs while his friends watched & cheered, oblivious to his inner torment & outward agony
Orestes
Son of Agamemnon & Clytemnestra - He avenges Agamemnon by killing Clytemnestra in the Oresteia - Clytemnestra's Erinyes are sent after him after she dies - He is eventually found innocent of his crime during Athena's trial once she broke the tie
Phoenix
Son of Amyntor, who cursed him with childlessness/infertility - He slept with his father's concubine to please his mother - He escaped to the kingdom of Peleus & was tasked with raising Achilles - He tried to convince Achilles to return to battle by recounting his history & telling the story of Meleagros, slayer of the Kalydonian bear
Aeneas (in the Iliad)
Son of Aphrodite & Anchises - Cousin of Hector - He is rescued from Diomedes' deadly blow by Aphrodite - When fighting Achilles, Poseidon whisked him away, because he was fated to live & become the next Trojan King
Aeneas
Son of Aphrodite & Anchises - In Metamorphoses (p. 506-507), he was transformed into the god known as Jupiter Indiges - Founder of Alba Longa in Italy - Father of Ascanius/Julus, the first King of Latium & second King of Alba - He is thought to be the ancestor of Romulus & Remus - Julius Caesar & Augustus claimed to be descended from him
Patroclus
The most trusted & loyal companion of Achilles - Son of Menoetius - He donned Achilles' armor to help the Achaeans fight against the Trojans - He was slayed by Hector after Apollo knocked Achilles' helmet off his head
Peleus
Achilles' mortal Father - King of the Myrmidons - He is the grandson of Zeus - He is repeatedly used in speeches made to Achilles to convince him to give up his menis
Achaeans/Argives/Danaans/Greeks (characters in the Iliad)
- Achilles - Agamemnon - Patroclus - Odysseus - Menelaus - Phoenix
The omphalos
- Navel stone - It was originally housed in the Temple of Apollo in the Adyton, the inner chamber of the oracle, where the Pythia was supposedly consulting the gods & voicing her prophecies - It represented Delphi as the center or "navel", of the world - The present replica of it is located next to the Treasury of the Beotians - A Hellenistic/Roman copy of the original sacred one, now found in the Delphi Museum, shows a surface sculptured with the agrenon, the woolen weave which covered the sacred stone - Such effigies/statues of the Delphic symbol were positioned in several spots of the Sanctuary - The Pythia "saw a man polluted before the gods sitting the way a suppliant would sit on the naval stone" in the Oresteia (p. 150); it was Orestes covered in Clytemnestra's blood
The variety of ways in which Myth is Circulated in Antiquity
- Oral performance - Symposia - Civic & Pan-Hellenic festivals - Storytelling - Visual representation - Landscapes
Dark Age
1150 - 800 BCE - Epic poems like the Iliad developing & circulating through the culture of oral poetry
Bronze Age
1600 - 1150 BCE - Societies similar to those we see in the Iliad exist & the EVENTS of something like the Trojan war happen in about the 1200s BCE (thirteenth century BCE)
Scylla & Charybdis
2 famous monsters from Greek mythology, who worked in tandem on the opposite sides of a narrow strait of water - Personification of being "between a rock & a hard place"/choosing the lesser of 2 evils - One is a deadly, gigantic whirlpool that would draw in & push out large amounts of water 3 times a day, with such force that ships might be sunk in it (it also creates the tides) - The other is described as having 12 feet & 6 long necks, with each head full of sharp teeth that would plucks sailors from their vessel to be eaten should they sail closer to her side of the strait; can also be imagined as a rocky outcrop/coral reef dangerous to ships; also said to have been a beautiful water nymph transformed into a monster - Odysseus & his crew must sail between these 2 monsters on their journey home in the Odyssey
Tiresias
A famous blind seer of Apollo who has the power of clairvoyance - "the Theban" - He foretold Oedipus' future - Visited by Odysseus in the Underworld - He advises Odysseus not to harm the cattle of Helios or else Poseidon's curse will come true, & he will have to sail to a distant land to appease the sea-god before dying of old age - He appears in the Odyssey as well as the Bacchae - In Metamorphoses (p. 103-104), he was transformed into a woman for 7 years after kicking a couple of snake's mating - Since he has lived through the experiences of both sexes, Jove & Juno ask him to settle their argument of who gets more pleasure out of sex (Jove says women do while Juno says it's men) - He agreed with Jove, causing Juno to curse him with eternal blindness, wherein Jove gave him the gift of foresight to replace his lost vision - Also, in the Metamorphoses (p. 104), he foretold that, should Narcissus know himself, he will not live to an old age
Arachne
A famous mortal weaver woman - In the Metamorphoses (p. 189-195), she challenged Athena/Minerva to a weaving contest - She wove a tapestry depicting multiple scenarios in which the gods used transformation to trick/seduce humans/animals; the tapestry was bordered by ivy, which symbolizes fidelity, a characteristic the gods seem to lack, to show how the gods are weak/controlled by their desires - She wins the contest & Athena/Minerva angrily ruins her tapestry then proceeds to beat her - Unable to endure anymore pain, she attempted to hang herself, but Athena/Minerva instead transformed her into a spider using some of Hecate's herbs
The Tragic Chorus
A group of characters who have a collective character/personality, & comment onstage on the action of the play, while rarely contributing to the plot - They unitedly act as a single character in plays - They also sing songs as interludes which can include many things from background information to moral & philosophical contemplation
Epic Simile
A long comparison, often comparing what's happening in the text to the natural world or elements of human life outside of the events being described - It's developed over several lines of verse - "Often her heart fluttered wildly in her breast. As when a sunbeam, which is reflected out of water that has just been poured into a bowl or a bucket, dances inside a house and darts this way and that as it is shaken in the rapid swirl, so did the young girl's heart quiver in her breast" (p. 84, Book 3 of Jason and the Golden Fleece: the Argonautica)
Glaucus
A mortal fisherman who ate a magical herb that transformed him into a prophetic sea-god - In Metamorphoses (p. 475-484), he fell in love with the nymph Scylla at first sight & chased after her - When Scylla situated herself on a cliff near the sea to keep her distance from him, he told her the story of his transformation, afterwards she fled for a second time - Enraged at her rejection, he seeks the help of Circe & asks her to give him a love charm that will make Scylla fall in love with him - Circe professed her love to him &, after he rejected her, she transformed Scylla into a half-woman half-monster - In his despair, he ran away from Scylla & severed his relationship with Circe
Echo
A mountain nymph who fell in love with Narcissus - She would distract Hera/Juno with long-winded conversations so Zeus/Jove could rendezvous with his many mistresses without Hera/Juno knowing - Hera/Juno eventually caught on to what this Oread was doing & cursed her to only be able to repeat the last words that a person just said - In Metamorphoses (p. 104-106), after being cursed, she came across Narcissus & fell in love with him - She continuously repeated what Narcissus said on a day that he got separated from his friends - When asked to reveal herself, she throws herself at Narcissus who flees from & rejects her affections - Dejected, she resigns herself to live in caves until she withered away, her bones turning to stone & her voice being the only thing left of her, still repeating the last words a person speaks - When Narcissus died in the Metamorphoses (p. 106-111), she mourned him by repeating the lamentations of the water & wood nymphs; she also repeated his words & actions while he lay dying
Circe
A powerful enchantress/witch-goddess, talented with herbs/potions & capable of turning humans into animals (specifically men) - Advises Odysseus to sail closer to Scylla - Daughter of Helios - Aunt to Medea - She purifies Jason & Medea from the sin of murder - Turns Odysseus' men into pigs in the Odyssey & was Odysseus' lover for a year - In Metamorphoses (p. 481-484), she was in love with Glaucus, who was in love with the nymph Scylla, & when he denied her advances, in a jealous rage she transformed Scylla into a hybrid version of the infamous monster featured in the Odyssey
The Pythia
A priestess of Apollo at Delphi in the Oresteia - She is terrified by the scene of a blood-covered Orestes hanging on to the omphalos surrounded by sleeping Furies (put to sleep by Apollo)
Pygmalion
A sculptor who, after witnessing the Propoetides prostituting, swore off women in horror at the flaws Nature gave to the female sex - In Metamorphoses (p. 350-352), he created an ivory statue of a beautiful woman & named her Galatea - He fell in love with Galatea & would speak with, touch, kiss, & lay with her - He treated her as a living human woman & attempted to woo her with girlish gifts that he would decorate/dress her with - During the holiday celebrating Aphrodite/Venus, he internally prayed to take Galatea as his wife while externally asking for a wife like his statue - Aphrodite/Venus granted his true wish & made Galatea human - So, the sculpture-made-woman & him got married, later conceiving their daughter, Paphos
Byblis & Caunus
A sister & brother - The children of Miletus & Cyanea, daughter of the river god Meander - Grandchildren of Apollo - In the Metamorphoses (p. 322-331), the sister fell in love with her own brother - The sister wrote a signed love letter to her brother on a wax tablet & ordered a male servant to deliver it to him for her - The male servant hurriedly told her of her brother's fierce rejection, yet she continuously courted him, only to be rejected every time - The brother fled his homeland with his sister following close behind, so he founded his own city - The sister lost her mind due to his unrequited love & travelled the world in her despair - The Lelegeian nymphs attempted to cure the sister of her lovesickness, but she just lay unresponsive on the grass that she feeds with her tears - The Naiads transform the sister into a fountain of the same name
Frame Narrative
A story told within a story - The story of Cupid & Psyche found in Apuleius' The Golden Ass - In Metamorphoses (p. 43-44), Hermes/Mercury sings a song about Pan & Syrinx to the hundred-eyed Argus, explaining the etiology of the creation of Panpipes, to make him fall asleep so he could retrieve Io - Also, in the Metamorphoses (p. 361-365), Aphrodite/Venus tells Adonis the story of Atalanta & Hippomenes to prove to him that courage leads to recklessness
Ransom
A sum of money/other payment demanded/paid for the release of a prisoner - In the Iliad, the priest Chryses brings countless gifts for the Achaeans in exchange for the release of his daughter, Chryseis (1. 11-16)
Iphis & Ianthe
A transexual husband & his wife - One was (originally) the daughter of Ligdus & Telethusa, while the other was the daughter of Telestes the Cretan - In the Metamorphoses (p. 331-337), when both of them were 13 years old they were arranged to be married & both fell in love with each other - The only problem was that one of them was a girl who was treated & dressed like a boy, while the other thought their relationship was heterosexual from the start - The transgender girl desperately wanted to marry her lover, but homosexual relations were forbidden & considered unnatural by society - The transgender girl's mother, Telethusa, prayed to the goddess Isis for help - Isis transformed the transgender girl into a young man/transexual; him & his mother brought gifts to the goddess in thanks - Both of these characters were happily married, with Aphrodite/Venus, Hera/Juno, & the god Hymen all gathered at their wedding, proving that their love was accepted/recognized by the Gods &, in return, by society
Briseis
Achilles' concubine, taken to Agamemnon's camp
Baucis & Philemon
An elderly couple that lived in a region of Tyana in Phrygia - They were poor & lived in a humble hut - In Metamorphoses (p. 288-293), they were the only ones who accepted Hermes/Mercury & Zeus/Jove, disguised as peasants, into their loving home - They offered the disguised gods the best hospitality they could with their simple means; they made a simple/small feast - Once they noticed that the mixing bowl filled up every time it was emptied, they realized they were the hosts to gods - The elderly woman attempted to catch the goose guarding their home, but it always sought refuge with the gods who revealed that they were going to purge the irreligious region & told the couple to climb a steep mountain with them - The gods submerged everything, barring the couple's hut, in water from the nearby swamp - Their humble hut was transformed into a glorious temple - Afterwards, Hermes/Mercury asked the couple what they could do for them, to which the couple replied that they wanted to guard their temple as priests & that they wish to die together at the same exact time - They eventually transformed into 2 trees sprung from the same trunk
Philomela
Another daughter of King Pandion - Princess of Athens - Sister of Procne - In the Metamorphoses (p. 206-218), Tereus was expected to bring her to Thrace to visit Procne - Instead Tereus takes her to an isolated hut in the woods, where he viciously rapes her - After threatening to tell everyone what he did, Tereus cuts her tongue off then locks her in the hut with a guard to stand watch - She weaves a tapestry depicting her rape & gives it to a slave to deliver to Procne - Procne dresses her up as a Bacchante during the night of the Bacchic rites & sneaks her into the palace - She & Procne dismembered Itys & made him into a stew that they fed to Tereus in a brutal act of vengeance - She is transformed into a nightingale
Myrrha
Daughter of Cenchreїs & Cinyras, King & Queen of Cyprus - Granddaughter of Paphos - Mother of Adonis - In Metamorphoses (p. 352-359), she was in love with her father & asks that she marry someone just like him - In despair over her forbidden desires, she attempted to hang herself, but her Nurse stopped her - Her Nurse is determined to help her with whatever is wrong &, after many attempts, she eventually reveals her hidden incestuous desires for her father - During the feast days of Ceres, her Nurse tells a drunk Cinyras about a beautiful virgin, the same age as his daughter, with a fake name who desired him - In the dark, with many omens speaking of the bad luck that this union will bring, the Nurse led her, who was hesitant, to her father's chambers, where they had sex 3 nights in a row, calling each other "father" & "daughter" - Impatient to see the beauty of his lover, on the 4th night Cyniras brought a light into the dark room, revealing his actual daughter - Enraged he retrieved his sword & chased her out - She wandered around the world, pregnant with her father's son/nephew - Tired of living yet scared of dying, she begs for the Gods to transform her into something not of life nor death - She is transformed into a myrrh-tree, her tears becoming myrrh - While still a tree, she gave birth to Adonis, conceived from that first night with Cinyras
Medea
Daughter of King Aeetes - Granddaughter of Helios - Niece to Circe - Princess of Colchis - Wife of Jason; made to fall in love with him by Hera's orders - Mother of 2 sons (whom she killed as revenge against Jason in Medea) - A mortal woman versatile in the art of herbs/poisons/potions - She helped Jason harness the fire-breathing oxen & sow the dragon teeth by giving him a fire-retardant ointment & telling him to throw a rock at the warriors that sprang up from the ground - She put the dragon to sleep so Jason could slay it & retrieve the Golden Fleece - A murderess responsible for tricking Pelias' daughters into killing him, killing her brother Apsyrtus to slow down the Colchians chasing the Argo, killing Jason's new wife, killing King Creon, as well as slaying her own children - Helios helps her escape after she kills her children, implying that the Gods agree with her actions
Procne
Daughter of King Pandion - Princess of Athens & Queen of Thrace - Sister of Philomela - Wife of Tereus - Mother of Itys - In the Metamorphoses (p. 206-218), after being married to Tereus for 5 years, she asks him to bring Philomela over for a visit - Upon his return from Athens, she asks Tereus where her sister is & he tells her the story of how she "died" - After seeing the tapestry depicting Philomela's assault, she dresses up as a Bacchante during the one time the Thracian women perform the Bacchic rites (done every 3 years) - She makes her way to the hut holding her sister & dresses up Philomela as a Bacchante as well, then sneaks her into the palace - Bent on revenge, she & Philomela cut Itys up & make him into a stew, of which they serve to Tereus - She transforms into a swallow after Tereus begins to chase them with the intention to kill
Galatea (the Nymph)
Daughter of Nereus, the "Old Man of the Sea," & the Oceanid Doris - One of the 50 Nereids & the Goddess of Calm Seas - She loved the shepherd Acis, son of Pan/Faunus & the river-nymph Symaithos - In Metamorphoses (p. 468-475), the Cyclops Polyphemus fell in love with her &, in a jealous rage after attempting to serenade/woo her, killed her beloved Acis by throwing a boulder at him - She transforms Acis into a river of the same name (i.e., a river-god)
Cassandra
Daughter of Priam & Hecuba - A Trojan princess - Taken as Agamemnon's concubine/war slave in the Oresteia - She was gifted the power of prophecy/foresight by Apollo, who loved her & asked her to sleep with him in return - After refusing his advances, Apollo cursed her so that any prophecy she tells will never be believed - She foresaw Agamemnon's, as well as her own, death - Killed by Clytemnestra
Io
Daughter of the river god Inachus in the Metamorphoses (p. 38-46) - Zeus/Jove desired her at first sight &, fearing Hera/Juno's wrath, chased her & blanketed the land with clouds while he assaulted her - Upon noticing the clouds & her husband's absence, Hera/Juno made her way down from Olympus - Before Hera/Juno could catch him in the act, Zeus/Jove transformed this mortal woman into a beautiful white cow that he said was born from the earth - Hera/Juno knew better & asked Zeus/Jove for the cow as a present then sent it away to be watched by Argus, a monster with a hundred eyes - Feeling guilty, Zeus/Jove tasks Hermes/Mercury with rescuing the cow, leading to the etiology of the "eyes" found on peacock feathers & the messenger god's epithet "Slayer of Argos" - Angered that she was freed, Hera/Juno sent a horsefly to sting her bovine form endlessly around the world - When she awkwardly supplicated Zeus/Jove, he persuaded Hera/Juno that she need not worry about this specific mortal maiden & the cow was transformed back into a human female hesitant to speak lest she moo - She gave birth to Epaphus, who is believed to be the son of Zeus/Jove - She is also known as the Egyptian goddess Isis, Goddess of Healing & Magic, as well as the protector of women & children
Daphne
Daughter of the river god Peneus in the Metamorphoses (p. 33-38) - A Naiad nymph who became the unwilling first love of Apollo in the Metamorphoses - She was shot with an arrow that engendered flight, while Apollo was shot with one that engendered love - Apollo chased her & when he was about to catch her, she asked Peneus to change her into something new, thereby destroying the beauty that caught Apollo's eye - She was transformed into a laurel tree & adorns Apollo's hair, lyre, & arrow case - Her laurel form also symbolically represents victory
Iphigenia
Deceased daughter of Clytemnestra & Agamemnon - Sacrificed to Artemis by her father so that the winds would allow his ship to sail to Ilion in the Oresteia - Clytemnestra avenges her by murdering Agamemnon
Symposium (plural: symposia)
Dinner/drinking parties of aristocrats - Also, the title of a work by Plato
philia
Friendship; tenderness between 2 friends - A "platonic" friendship is one without erotic desire involved because Plato's texts discussed this type of love as superior to eros (Aristotle further developed this idea)
Ovid
His full name is Publius Ovidius Naso - Born: March 20, 43 BCE, Sulmo, Roman Empire - Died: November 30, 16 CE, Tomis, Moesia - A rebellious poet, in behavior & in his verse - Wrote erotic elegy, sequences of poems called the Amores & Ars Amatoria, The Heroides (revisionary retellings of myth from female perspectives!) as well as mythological retellings of the Roman calendar - Exiled by the Emperor Augustus in 8 CE, for what we do not know: he mysteriously calls it an error - In exile he wrote the Tristia (literally, "sad things," poems & letters of exile); includes a reference to the Metamorphoses: "There are also fifteen books on changing forms, songs saved just now from my funeral rites. Tell them the face of my own fortunes can be reckoned among those Metamorphoses. Now that face is suddenly altered from before, a cause of weeping now, though, once, of joy."
timē
Honor in the form of prizes - Usually material wealth, but also extends to the distribution of prizes as ransom or after a siege - Includes animals & women
Astyanax
Infant son of Hector & Andromache
The Golden Fleece
Its backstory starts with the marriage of Athamas & Nephele - Spurned, Nephele sends their children away in fear of their new stepmother - Hermes gives her a flying ram with this to convey them to safety - As they are flying east, the girl Helle falls & drowns; this location is now called the Hellespont (more commonly known now as Dardanelles) - Phryxus, the boy, arrives at Colchis, where he sacrifices the golden ram and is taken in by king Aietes, who keeps this as a symbol of wealth & prosperity for his kingdom - Most accounts agree that a generation later, Jason comes to regain the throne of his father from his uncle Pelias - Pelias says he will give him the throne if he brings him this from Colchis
Creon
King of Corinth, where Medea, Jason, & their sons were exiled - Father of the unnamed Princess in Medea - He asks Medea to taker her sons & leave for fear of her attempting to kill/harm him, his daughter, & Jason - He instead gives her 1 more day to get her affairs in order - He is killed by touching the poisoned dress his daughter was given from Medea, both of them bursting into flames
Odysseus
King of Ithaca - Son of Laertes & Anticleia - He is described as cunning, wise, & resourceful - He tries to persuade Achilles to give up his menis by stating the gifts Agamemnon will give him if he returns to battle & reminding him of his father
Agamemnon (in the Iliad)
King of Mycenae - Older brother of Menelaus - Commander-in-chief of the Achaean army - He stole Briseis from Achilles & previously refused to give Chryseis back to her father
Menelaus
King of Sparta - Younger brother of Agamemnon - Formerly the husband of Helen - He fights Paris, who was whisked away by Aphrodite to be with Helen
Pentheus
King of Thebes (since Cadmus stepped down) - Cousin of Dionysus - Son of Echion (one of the Spartoi born from the earth sown with dragon's teeth) & Agave - He banned the worship of Dionysus (Bacchism) in the Bacchae - He imprisons the Stranger, continuing to refuse Dionysus & his power - He dresses up as a Maenad & goes to Mt. Kithairon to spy on the possessed women participating in intercourse, some of which being his aunts & mother - He is torn/ripped apart by the Bacchants, his head being brought back to Thebes by his own mother - In the Metamorphoses (p. 111-119), he mocked the gods & Tiresias' power of prophecy - After listening to Alcoetes' story about Bacchus/Liber, he intended to have the man tortured & killed had Acloetes not been set free by Bacchus/Liber - He made his way to where the Bacchantes were on Cithaeron & witnessed their secret rituals - Being mistaken as a boar by his own mother, he pleads with his possessed aunt & mother while they rip him apart
Priam
King of Troy - Husband of Hecuba - Father of Hector & Paris
Jason
Leader of the Argonauts & their quest to find the Golden Fleece - Was sent by Pelias to retrieve the Golden Fleece in order to regain his rightful place as King of Iolcus - Husband of Medea - Father to 2 sons - Greek hero favored by Athena & Hera - He asks for Medea's help with completing her father's tasks & promises to marry her (as well as give her kleos/fame) in return - He married the Princess of Corinth so as to increase the status of his current family in Medea (he really just cheated on Medea so that he could become King) - He dies when a piece of the Argo crushes him
Electra
Living daughter of Agamemnon & Clytemnestra - She encourages her brother, Orestes, to kill their mother in the Oresteia - She brings libations to Agamemnon's tomb
eros
Lust; erotic desire - The third element in existence, ever, according to Hesiod's Theogony - Its intensity can be dangerous - Depicted in early Greek myth as (parentless, in Hesiod) a primeval God
Odysseus/Ulysses
Mortal king of Ithaca - Main protagonist of Homer's epic, the Odyssey; endures a long journey home after the Trojan War - Son of Laertes - Father of Telemachus & husband to Penelope - Cursed by Poseidon, at Polyphemus' asking, to make it home late, alone, & on another man's ship, only to find his house overrun by Penelope's suitors - In Metamorphoses (p. 437-454), he would have taken Hector's mother, Hecuba, as a war slave/timē had she not turned into a dog - He won Achilles' armor from Ajax in Ovid's Metamorphoses (p. 454-461)
Thetis
Mother of Achilles - A sea nymph/goddess - She was given to Peleus by Zeus (since he couldn't have her) - A prophecy stated that she would give birth to a son that would become greater than his father
Storytelling between friends & family/nannies
Myths were told as bedtime stories
The House of Atreus
One of the most famous houses of Greek mythology, known for ill fortune - Cursed with pride & violence - Infamous for the unending cycle of kin killing kin - The beginning of the misfortune can be traced to the family's progenitor, Tantalus, a son of Zeus who took divine foods from the Gods to give to his mortal friends; he stole the golden hound of Zeus & lied about it; the most blasphemous crime was when he served up his son, Pelops, as a feast for the gods, who recognized what was set before them & recoiled in horror; for these crimes Tantalus was sentenced to eternal torment in the netherworld where he remains forever famished & thirsty - Tantalus' daughter, Niobe, bragged that her family of 6 sons & 6 daughters was far superior than Leto's, who only had the twins, Artemis & Apollo; insulted, Leto had Apollo shoot down all of Niobe's sons while Artemis shot down her daughters; as further punishment, Zeus transformed her into a weeping statue - Pelops was restored with an ivory shoulder (Demeter ate that part) & he participated in a chariot race to marry King Oenomaus' daughter, Hippodamia, who bribed her father's charioteer to sabotage Oenomaus' chariot; Pelops won the race with the swift horses of Poseidon, killed Oenomaus, & married Hippodamia; when the charioteer tried to claim his reward for Oenomaus' undoing, Pelops killed him, & as the charioteer died he pronounced a curse on Pelops & his descendants - Pelops' 2 sons, Thyestes & Atreus, continuously fought over the throne, with Atreus serving Thyestes his own sons, & Thyestes sleeping with his own daughter, Pelopia, to ensure his revenge against Atreus through the conception of Aegisthus with her; Aegisthus slew Atreus, who raised him up thinking he was his son, & Thyestes was crowned King of Mycenae - Atreus had 2 sons of his own, Menelaus & Agamemnon; Agamemnon overthrew Thyestes with the help of the Spartans, becoming King of Mycenae; as the head of the Greek forces during the Trojan War, Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis to allow his fleet to sail; due to this heinous crime (along with his habit of taking many mistresses to bed), his wife, Clytemnestra, murdered Agamemnon when he returned from the Trojan War, with the help of his cousin & her lover, Aegisthus - In the Oresteia, Agamemnon's son, Orestes, (with the encouragement of Electra, his sister/Agamemnon's daughter) sought to avenge him by slaying his mother, Clytemnestra, as well as her lover & his uncle, Aegisthus; as punishment, Clytemnestra sent the Erinyes after him; after a trial in Athens (presided over by Athena), he was acquitted of his mother's murder, despite the Erinyes fury; the Erinyes become the Eumenides at Athena's request, officially breaking the familial cycle of violence
Deucalion & Pyrrha
One was the son of Prometheus/Forethought & the Oceanid Pronoia/Asia, while the other was the daughter of Epimetheus/Afterthought & Pandora - They were cousins made husband & wife - In the Metamorphoses (p. 27-32), they were the only 2 mortals left alive due to their devotion to the Gods after Zeus/Jove's Great Flood, which was meant to wipe out all of humanity & its many faults - Tortured by their shared loneliness, they sought the help of Themis/Justice, who was moved by their words, to restore humanity - Themis/Justice told them to leave her temple with their heads covered & robes untied as they tossed over their shoulders "the bones of [their] great mother" (p. 30) - It was the mortal man who figured out that Themis/Justice meant for them to throw stones behind their backs, their "great mother" being Gaia/Earth & her "bones" being stones - The stones thrown by the man recreated males, while those thrown by the woman recreated females - They revived humanity after the Great Flood
Ancient Greek concept of a Hero
Predicated on remembrance & shrines/cults where these figures received honors (timē) for centuries to come - Often have grievous flaws or faults (Oedipus; Achilles in all the terrible deaths he delivers) but are still heroes
Chryses
Priest who comes to the Achaeans asking for his daughter Chryseis back - When he was denied, he prayed for Apollo to punish the Achaeans & in turn the God rained arrows of plague onto them
Helen
Reportedly the most beautiful woman in the world - Previously the wife of Menelaus & Queen of Sparta - She was stolen by Paris, gifted to him by Aphrodite - Wife of Paris
Tereus
Son of Ares/Mars - King of Thrace - Husband to Procne - Father of Itys - In the Metamorphoses (p. 206-218), at the behest of Procne, he travels to Athens to bring her sister, Philomela, for a visit - Upon seeing Philomela, he is possessed by lust, & earnestly persuades King Pandion to allow him to bring Philomela to Procne, of which he succeeds - Once they make it back to Thrace, he drags Philomela to a hut deep in the woods & proceeds to savagely rape her - When Philomela threatens to tell everyone what he did, he cuts off her tongue & it's speculated that he continued to defile her mutilated body - Leaving Philomela trapped in the hut with a guard, he returns to Procne & tells her that her sister has died - He is fed his son, Itys, by Procne & Philomela as revenge - He is transformed into a hoopoe & chases after the women through the sky
Phaethon
Son of Clymene & Apollo in the Metamorphoses (p. 46-64) - His friend Epaphus said that he wasn't the son of Apollo, so he went & asked his mother for the truth, who sent him to see Apollo to ask the Sun God himself - He asks Apollo to give him a gift that proves he is the Sun God's son; he asks Apollo to drive the Golden/Sun Chariot for a day (a gift that Apollo begs him to rethink due to his horses' uncontrollable nature) - Once seated, he was not able to control the 4 flying horses of the Sun due to how much lighter he was than Apollo, causing the Earth to be set on fire - To prevent anymore damage, Zeus/Jove shot him down with a lightning bolt - After landing in the river Eridanus, his seething body was laid to rest in a tomb by Naiads in Italy - His death caused Apollo to refuse his duties as the Sun for one day to mourn
Paris/Alexander
Son of Priam & Hecuba - Brother of Hector - Aphrodite gifted Helen to him after he gave her the Golden Apple, naming her the most beautiful goddess - He stole Helen from Menelaus - He was an attractive but cowardly man
Achilles
Son of Thetis & Peleus - The strongest warrior of the Achaeans - Leader of the Myrmidons in the Achaean army - He withdraws from the battle due to his menis at having his timē taken from him by Agamemnon
Aegisthus
Son of Thyestes (who was fed his own children by his brother Atreus) - Cousin of Agamemnon - Lover of Clytemnestra - He helps Clytemnestra kill Agamemnon in the Oresteia - Killed by Orestes
Narcissus
Son of the nymph Liriope & the river god Cephisus - Tiresias foretold that, should he know himself, he would not live to an old age - He was a very beautiful & prideful young man, as well as a hunter - Echo & many others fell in love with him, but he rejected them all, for no one could catch his eye; he wanted someone as beautiful as himself for a lover - In the Metamorphoses (p. 106-111), one of his male admirers prayed to Nemesis/Retribution to make this arrogant beauty fall in love with someone he could never have - Nemesis/Retribution led him to a pool & upon seeing his reflection, he fell in love with himself - Unknowing that his love was just an intangible reflection, he spent his days admiring his "lover," continuously trying to hold/kiss/touch it & neglecting his thirst/hunger - When he realized that what he fell in love with was his own reflection, he fell into despair & let himself waste away due to starvation & dehydration - During his ferry ride across Styx in the Underworld, his gaze never left his reflection, for now he could look upon his lover for eternity - His corpse transformed into a flower named after him
Exempla
Speakers using myth rhetorically to prove a point, persuade someone to do something, or to situate their own mythic ancestry - Thus, Homer's poem gives us myths within myth (e.g., Dione's speech to Aphrodite in the Iliad) - "Of all mortal men, those in [Anchises'] family always have been close to the gods in beauty and stature. Wise Zeus seized Ganymede for his blond beauty. Now he lives among the immortal gods and pours wine for them in Zeus' house...But unrelenting sorrow held father Tros...Every day, he grieved without end for his dear son...in payment for his son [Zeus] gave him spirited horses, the kind the gods ride...Tros...ceased grieving and his spirit rejoiced; he joyfully rode the wind-footed horses. And Eos on her golden throne stole Tithonos, a man like the gods...Dawn begged [Zeus] that Tithonos be immortal and live forever...But foolish Dawn did not think to ask him for youth, to erase deadly old age...when the grey hairs first rained down on his handsome head and noble chin, then Dawn completely avoided his bed...when hateful old age weighed him down and he could not move his limbs or raise up...she set him in a chamber and closed the shining doors. His voice flows on without ceasing and the strength in his supple limbs is gone." (p. 82-82, Hymn to Aphrodite 5); Aphrodite is using the myths of Anchises' family to explain why she refuses to make him immortal - "Once upon a time another kindly maiden, Ariadne daughter of Minos, rescued Theseus from terrible challenges; her mother was Pasiphae, daughter of Helios. When Minos' anger had soothed, she embarked upon Theseus' ship and left her homeland; the very immortals loved her, and as her sign in the middle of the sky a crown of stars, which men call 'Ariadne's Crown,' revolves all night long among the heavenly constellations" (p. 89, Book 3 of Jason and the Golden Fleece: the Argonautica); Jason tells Medea the myth of Ariadne, a family member of hers, but leaves out the part where Theseus abandons her on an island; this myth is eerily similar to that of Jason & Medea
Mythopoesis
The "making" of myth - Plato's Symposium incorporates a line from Hesiod's Theogony as well as the myths of Alcestis, Orpheus, & Achilles from Homer's Iliad
Supplication
The action of asking/begging for something earnestly/humbly - Thetis urges Zeus to do something about Achilles' stolen timē in the Iliad (1. 498-503) - Often involves kneeling down & holding one's arms out
The Elasticity of Myth
There is no knowable "original" version of any myth - Myths can be earlier (Jason & the Argonauts is referred in the Odyssey as a myth far older than the Trojan War) or later (the first recorded version of Cupid & Psyche appears in the second century CE), but they all come from a cultural, collective wellspring we cannot know - Myths have many versions; just as there is no original version, there is no one version - Myths change to adapt to & address the current cultural, social, & political atmosphere in which they are being retold, from Euripides' Medea to Carol Ann Duffy's Thetis - The new field of classical receptions positions itself against what used to be known as "The Classical Tradition" - Tracking dynamic adaptations & constant change rather than one-way transmission of a static myth
Romulus & Remus
Twin brothers - One is the founder of Rome - Sons of Rhea Silvia & Ares/Mars - One killed the other & named Rome after himself - In Metamorphoses (p. 514-516), the Sabines make a last effort to conquer Rome but at Aphrodite/Venus' asking the Italian nymphs create a flood, allowing the Roman army to win - The war between the Sabines & the Romans end, with the leader of the Sabines King Tatius sharing rule over Rome with the surviving brother - Also, in Ovid's Metamorphoses (p. 516-518), the surviving brother became the sole ruler of Rome after King Tatius died - At Ares/Mars' urging towards Zeus/Jove, the surviving brother was transformed into the god Quirinus - Hera/Juno sent Iris down to Quirinus' mourning mortal wife to tell her that she could see her husband again if she goes to a certain grove, where Hersilia became the goddess Hora & was reunited with Quirinus
The Homeric Question
Who was - was there a - Homer? - No true scholarly consensus on this - 1920s: Parry & Lord's research among Yugoslavian bards - The poet of the Iliad & Odyssey was steeped in a centuries-old-tradition, & likely trained from youth to remember & deliver epic poetry - However, the poems could always shift, adapt (like myth itself!): so, it is possible that there was one outstanding poet, gifted with an exceptional sense of poetic unity, arresting description & epic similes, that developed from the traditional tales of the Trojan war his own version which was recognized in archaic Greece as great & worth recording/remembering, & which we know as the Iliad
Clytemnestra
Wife of Agamemnon - Has an adulterous affair with Aegisthus - Mother of Orestes, Electra, & Iphigenia - Murders Agamemnon to avenge her slaughtered Iphigenia in the Oresteia - Killed by Orestes - Sends the Erinyes to torture Orestes
Andromache
Wife of Hector - Mother of Astyanax - Daughter of Eëtion, former king of Thebe - Her father & brothers were killed by Achilles, while her mother died shortly after
Maenads
Women who celebrated Dionysus by dancing themselves into a frenzy on a mountainside, out of the sight of men - The women celebrants of Dionysus; they were possessed by him - Also known as Bacchants - Known by outsiders as this term meaning "madwomen"
Threnody
Women's lament song - Thetis (18.52-64) & Briseis (19.282-300) perform this when Patroclus dies in the Iliad
