Greek Mythology II

Sisyphus

First king of corinth and known trickster - he decided the gods and humans alike. He was condemned to Tarturus where he fooled Th'natos. By tricking Th'natos, he was secured in chains and mortals could no longer die. Ares intervened because he did not like war without men dying. Sisyphus was sentenced to eternally rolling a boulder up a hill

Mt. Othrys

Fort opposite of Mt. Olympus during the fight against the Titans. Used by the Titans. Most notably Cronos

Woodruff, Hale

painter of "The Art of the Negro: Muses" 1950- inspired by Raphael's "Parnassus," shows important artists of color on the bottom; demonstrates that mythology is still imp to a variety of diff ppl of diff backgrounds

Maenad

the female followers of Dionysus. portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pinecone.

Orchestra

the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus

Styx

river upon which gods swear; river of hate in the underworld

Metis

the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, Metis is an oceanid and of the Titan generation. She is the first wife of Zeus. He ate her to avoid being overthrown by his children. Her name means wisdom, so it is often associated with Zeus gaining wisdom.

Omophagy

the eating of raw flesh of a sacrificial animal in ritual communion, part of Dionysiac religion

Themis

titan, represents divine justice- ally of the gods in Titanomachy, consort of zeus' with oracular powers

Lucretia

her rape by the Etruscan king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the monarchy and established the roman republic

Myrrha

"Myrrh Tree," daughter and mate of Cinyras and mother of Adonis, she fell in love with her father, Cinyras, her nurse rescued her from committing suicide, the nurse helped her come up with a plan to seduce her father until Cinyras found out, she fled from her father and prayed to be taken away so she was turned into a myrrh tree, because she was pregnant by her father, she bore Adonis

Xenophanes

(570-475BC) Greek poet and philosopher of pre-Socratic period, attacked the conventional anthropomorphic depictions of the gods, argued against conceiving deities as human beings and insisted that there's one supreme nonanthropomorphic god

Mesomedes

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Parry, Milmann

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Pylades

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Sedna

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Sir Arthur Evans

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Trickster

An archetypal trickster is a character that is seen throughout myths who has an alternative motive in mind and is of dubious authenticity. The example given in the book is Hermes. Other examples of divine or heroic tricksters are Odysseus and Prometheus.

Orion

Ancient sources tell several different stories about Orion; there are two major versions of his birth and several versions of his death. The most important recorded episodes are his birth somewhere in Boeotia, his visit to Chios where he met Merope and was blinded by her father, Oenopion, the recovery of his sight at Lemnos, his hunting with Artemis on Crete, his death by the bow of Artemis or the sting of the giant scorpion which became Scorpio, and his elevation to the heavens. Most ancient sources omit some of these episodes and several tell only one. These various incidents may originally have been independent, unrelated stories and it is impossible to tell whether omissions are simple brevity or represent a real disagreement. I cant find much about him other than odysseus finds him in the underworld.

Lyre

Apollo's instrument of choice. a string instrument created by Hermes from the entrails of the cows he stole from Apollo (but claimed he didnt because "he was born yesterday". associated with control (compared to the Aulos)

Winged sandals

A gift Perseus received from the nymphs. They helped Perseus complete his tasks. He eventually returned them to Hermes who gave them to the nymphs. Hermes also wears winged sandals.

Telesterion

A great hall in Eluisis, that was one of the primary centers of the Eleusinian mysteries. Devoted to Demeter and Persephone, these initiation ceremonies were the most sacred and ancient of all the religious rites celebrated in Greece

Thyrsus

A pole, wreathed with ivy or vine leaves with a pine cone atop its sharpened tip, and used in Bachic rituals for miracles and murder. It is usually carried by the maenads, or the bacchae, who are mortal women that become obsessed. They are more nymph like than mere humans.

Tripod (no not the stand for your Nikon, Randy)

A three legged piece of religious furniture used for sacrificial worship to the gods. It is heavily associated with Apollo and the oracle at Delphi.

Oceanus

A titan that is goddess of the stream water encircling the earth. She is married to Tethys and birthed the oceanids. A female god that represents the water of earth.

Superordinate personality

According to Jung: everything a woman is; he also described Anima, which is the female element in every man; the conscious mind cannot grasp everything that we are, and symbols from unconscious reveal parts of personality that conscious does not express

Nausicaa

Alcinous' daughter in Phaecia who helps Odysseus, she meets Odysseus near the sea shore and gives him protection to the palace

Niobe

Amphion's wife; hubris against Apollo and Artemis to kill her seven sons and seven daughters

Pindar

An anchient Greek poet from Thebes. DONT KNOW MUCH ELSE

Lévi-Strauss

An anthropologist who analyzes human behavior through structuralism, and in particular binary oppositions. Good vs. Evil, Youth vs. Age, etc. His theory can be applied to Greek myths (Structuralism is essentially the search for patterns or recurring events; looking at the structure or elements of the myth for analysis)

Antigone

Antigone mourns over her dead brothers. She wants to bury one brother, Polyneices, but is not allowed to do so by Creon. There are different endings to the play, but the one that we went to had this rough storyline if I remember correctly. Help me out here if I don't. Antigone buries the body, and gets caught. Creon seals her in a tomb and leaves her to die. Then Creon listens to the prophet and tries to allow Antigone to bury the brother. He opens the tomb to see that she hung herself. Then Antigone's husband (he's the son of Creon) tries to kill Creon when he sees Antigone's dead body, but he accidentally kills himself. Then Creon's wife kills herself when she hears that.

Pythian Games

Apollo had committed a crime by killing Typhon and, according to the laws of Mount Olympus, he needed to be purified. Therefore, Zeus ordered from Apollo to institute the Pythian Games at Delphi so that athletic and musical competitions could be hosted every 4 years.

Theseus

Athenian king, son of Poseidon and Aethra, father of Hippolytus and slayer of the Minotaur. An example of a hero that parallels Heracles. He was separated from his father Aegeus and needed to pull a sword from a rock so he would know who he was. He had to complete 6 labors on his way from Troezen to Athens. He killed a bunch of bad men. Also, he caught the bull of marathon, went to Amazon with Heracles, and is considered a champion of the people.

Solon

Athenian philosopher and statesman and poet of the 6th century

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Author of Prometheus Unbound. This version is different from Aeschylus because Prometheus and Zeus to not reconcile with each other in Prometheus Unbound.

Phoenix, Order of the (lolllzzzz)

Bird that dies and is reborn.

Priests and Priestesses

Caste devotees to the Gods, important to not be harmed, were harmed in Trojan war

Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus aka Oedipus the king

Creon returns from a visit to the oracle which states that the plague will continue in thebes until the true murderer of King Laius is discovered. Oedipus, the king, swears to this even though he doesn't know he killed King Laius. As the play continues, he finds out he killed King Lauis and blinds himself. He then asks for exile from Creon. He says goodbye to Antigone, his daughter.

Mystery Cult

Eleusinian mysteries, ritual myth practices that people performed, had to be initiated into the cult to know the secret

Silenus

Famous Satyr. Companion and tutor to Dionysus. When intoxicated, Silenus was known to possess prophetic powers. One story involves King midas recusing him and then silenus granted him the power to turn anything into gold.

Unconscious=subconscious

Freud, myths, like dreams, reveal the subconscious (your underlying hopes and desires)

Symbiosis

Freudian idea, in the beginning with chaos, everything was undifferentiated; then with Ge, you get separation-individuation when you realize my mom isn't me, therefore i'm lacking something

Rilke

German Poet in the 20th century who wrote the poem "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes."

Xenophon

Greek historian, soldier, and student of Socrates, wrote the Symposium

Satyr

Half-men, half-goats who were wild and lustful. The god Pan was one of these. As companions of Dionysos they were usually shown drinking, dancing, playing tambourines and flutes

Malinowski, Bronislav

He got stuck in the Trobriand Islands during WWI. He studied the people there and realized that they had a lot of myths explaining social phenomina. Coined the term "charter myths" which were myths that justify things that we do. A charter is a document that justifies something. Overall idea is that practices are already there and myths justify them. behavior → myths.

Laocoon

He was a Trojan who realized that Sinon was lying when he said the huge wooden horse the Greeks had left outside the walls of Troy was an offering to Athena that would make the Trojans invincible if it was brought into the city. He uttered the famous words, "I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts." But two snakes swam to shore from the open sea and strangled Laocoön and his two sons. The Trojans mistakenly interpreted this as Laocoön's punishment for desecrating something that was holy to Athena

Laius

He was a king of Thebes who, while a guest in the home of Pelops, fell in love with and abducted Chrysippus, the son of Pelops. His punishment was to have a son who would kill him. Later, when Jocasta, his wife, gave birth to a son, Laius drove a spike through the infant's ankles and ordered a servant to expose the child; the baby was given to a shepherd from Corinth and he was raised there as Oedipus. Oedipus later killed Laius without realizing he was committing parricide

Marsyas

He was a satyr who had the temerity to challenge Apollo to a contest of musical skill after picking up the flute that Athena had fashioned and then discarded. Apollo agreed to the contest on the condition that the victor be allowed to do with the loser as he wished. Apollo won and flayed Marsyas alive; his blood formed the river that bears his name

Stymphalian Birds

Heracles shot them in his 6th labor (still on Peloponnese)

Works and Days

Hesiod 700 BCE, farmer's almanac, has etiologies of toil and pain that define the human condition: Prometheus and Pandora, as well as the five ages of man

Song of Ullikummis

Hurrian/Hittite myth of divine succession, found on cunneiform tablets.

Thetis

Nereid (sea goddess), wife of Peleus, and mother of Achilles. Zeus avoided Thetis because of the myth that her son would be greater than his father. She ended up marrying the mortal Peleus instead. She was interrupted by Peleus while she was making Achilles immortal. Held Achilles in the river Styx by his heel, hence the Achilles heel.

Polyphemus

is the giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Odyssey.

Omphale

In Greek mythology, Omphale (Ancient Greek: Ὀμφάλη) was a daughter of Iardanus, either a king of Lydia, or a river-god. Omphale was queen of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor; according to Bibliotheke[1] she was the wife of Tmolus, the oak-clad mountain king of Lydia; after he was gored to death by a bull, she continued to reign on her own. Hercules was her slave for a year.

Penates

In ancient Roman religion were among the dii familiares, or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. They were thus associated with Vesta, the Lares, and the Genius of the paterfamilias in the "little universe" of the domus

Prometheus Bound

Is a play written by Aeschylus. It is about Prometheus stealing fire from the gods for humans and his punishment from Zeus. The story depicts Prometheus as the great benefactor of humans and presents his punishment as cruel and unfair treatment from Zeus. It also shows that even gods can suffer and act in immoral ways.

Tityus

Killed by Apollo for his attempt to rape Leto, and is punished in the underworld by vultures devouring his liver forever. He is in the part of Hades known as Tartarus, which is considered the hell of the underworld. His punishment is similar to that of Prometheus'. He is a son of Zeus.

Pirithous

King of Lapiths, his wedding was the battle of centaurs, good friend of Theseus

Pentheus

King of Thebes, was torn apart by his own mother in bacchic rage. Recall the dionysus reading.

Priam

King of Troy

Lethe

Lethe was the river of "forgetfulness" in the Underworld. From it souls would drink and forget their experiences upon being reincarnated. Letherefers today to a state of oblivion or forgetfulness; lethargy andlethargic denote a state of persistent drowsiness or sluggishness; Lethean characterizes anything that causes forgetfulness of the past.

Plato, Symposium

Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. Each man must deliver an encomium, a speech in praise of Love (Eros). The party takes place at the house of the tragedian Agathon in Athens. Socrates in his speech asserts that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of wisdom. The dialogue has been used as a source by social historians seeking to throw light on life in ancient Athens, in particular upon sexual behavior, and the symposium as an institution.

Rubens, Peter Paul

painted the fall of icarus and the drunkenness of Heracles

Trobriand Islands

Malinowski studied the islanders here (in Papua New Guinea), used their myths as examples of charter myths- had a bunch of myths to justify social practices like use of canoes

Mt. Ida

Mountain where baby Zeus was nursed

Sumeria

Near Eastern civilization, region of city states in mesopotamia

Lotus Eaters

Odysseus was driven to North Africa and the land of the Lotus Eaters, who consumed the fruit of the lotus and lived in a continual state of dreamy forgetfulness and happy irresponsibility. Today a lotus-eater is anyone who succumbs to indolent pleasure. The lotus, a small tree of the Mediterranean, produces the fruit supposedly consumed by the Lotus Eaters; it is also an aquatic plant indigenous to southern Asia.

Penelope

Odysseus wife, who tricked suitors to hold out until she finished sewing but she undid the sewings at night, then she forces an archory contest when odysseus arrives

Sophocles

Oedipus at Colonus Occurs after Oedipus the king and before antigone. Describes the end of Oedipus' tragic life. Oedipus becomes a wanderer, pursued by Creon and his men. He finally finds refuge at the holy wilderness right outside of Athens, where it is said that Theseus took care of the two of them, Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone. Creon eventually catches up to Oedipus. He asks Oedipus to come back from Colonus to bless his son, Eteocles. Angry that his son did not love him enough to take care of him, he curses both Eteocles and his brother, condemning them both kill each other in battle. Oedipus dies a peaceful death; his grave is said to be sacred to the gods.

Mnemosyne

Of the Titan generation, offspring of Uranus and Gaia. Her name means memory and she mated with Zeus and produced the Muses. It's befitting because the muses recall the history of the gods.

Minoan

The Minoan people of Crete were Aegeans that predated the Greeks in Greece. They were significant in class because they had a heavily matriarchal religion. It is possible that the misogynistic views of the Greeks were in contrast to previous minoan views. The positive views of women in Theogony may be reminiscent of Minoan views.

Tydeus

One of the seven against Thebes, leader of the Argive army and and father of Diomedes. He went to Thebes as an ambassador to demand the abdication of Eteocles and won an athletic contest, humiliating the Thebans. He was ambushed on his way back, and killed 50 men. Tydeus would have been made mortal by Athena, but she saw him eating the brains of the man that fatally wounded him.

Lares

Originally, these agricultural spirits brought prosperity and well-being to Roman farmers and their families; they were later seen as household spirits that protected the home. Each family had its own Lar (singular of Lares), called a Lar familiaris, to whom it made offerings. Rome itself had Lares, called guardian Lares, who were worshiped on May 1

Thyestes

Pelops' son, brother of Atreus, persuaded Atreus' wife, Aerope, to bring golden ram (which meant he'd become king of Mycenae) to him through adultery, when Atreus took throne back, he was sent into exile, invited back for a banquet in which he ate his sons, cursed Atreus and went into exile again, slept with his own daughter, Pelopia to have Aegisthus

Seven against Thebes

Precursor to Antigone. Produced by Aeschylus. Oedipus realizes he married his own mother and curses his son to divide the kingdom by the sword. Two sons decide to rule in alternate years. The first son that rules then renegs and refuses to step down. The other son raises an army and ultimately, the two sons meet in a one on one clash. Both are killed in original play.

Triptolemus

Prince in Eleusis and Demeter's messenger when she restored fertility to the ground. He is the one who taught and spread Demeter's arts of agriculture to new lands.

Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry. They arrange to meet under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. When Pyramus arrives he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil, assuming that a wild beast has killed her. Pyramus kills himself. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, seems the dead Pyramus and kills herself. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love.

Rhea Silvia, Romulus, Remus, and Sabin Women

Rhea Silvia is the daughter of King Numitor and mother of Remus and Romulus. Before their conception, Numitor's brother Amulius seizes power, kills Numitor's male heirs and forces Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, sworn to chastity. Rhea Silvia conceives the twins by the god Mars, or by the demi-god Hercules. Once the twins are born, Amulius has them abandoned to die in the river Tiber. A she wolf nursed them and eventually a Shepard finds them and raises them. When they found out about their origins, they rebeled and killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne. Rather than wait to inherit being king, they decided to found a new city. They disagreed, quarreled, and Remus died. Romulus then founded Rome. Romulus arranges the abduction of women from the neighboring Sabines. The ensuing war ends with the joining of Sabines and Romans as one Roman people. Thanks to divine favour and Romulus's inspired leadership, Rome becomes a dominant force, but Romulus himself becomes increasingly autocratic, and disappears or dies in mysterious circumstances.

Propp, Vladimir

Russian scholar who studied Russian fairy tales, and looked for common themes and ideas, which he called "functions." This is a form of structuralism, and can be compared to the "binary oppositions" that were studied by Claude Levi-Strauss. Examples of functions: the hero has elements of the extraordinary linked to his birth, death is the ultimate conquest, hero's success is rewarded with marriage/wealth/power, etc.

Semele

She is a mortal person but is still the mother of the god Dionysis (Zeus is the father). Hera tricked her, and the result was her death by Zeus's lightning bolts. Her son Dionysis was recovered from her womb, and upon reaching adulthood he descended to the underworld to fetch her to join the company of the gods of Olympos.

Medea

She was the daughter of Aeëtes. As a priestess of Hecate and a niece of Circe, she was skilled in the arts of magic; she used these skills to help Jason perform the tasks Aeëtes had imposed on him as a condition for obtaining the Golden Fleece. As she and Jason fled from Colchis, she killed her brother, Apsyrtus, cut up his body, and threw the pieces one at a time into the sea so that Aeëtes would have to stop many times to retrieve the dismembered corpse (Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.213-250; Apollodorus 1.9.23-24; Hyginus, Fabulae 22-23). In Iolcus, Medea arranged the death of Pelias by tricking his daughters into boiling him alive (Apollodorus 1.9.27; Ovid,Metamorphoses 7.238-349; Hyginus, Fabulae 24); for this crime Jason and Medea had to go into exile. In Corinth, Jason fell in love with Glauce, daughter of King Creon; Medea killed her, Creon, and the two sons she (Medea) had had with Jason (Euripides, Medea; Apollodorus 1.9.28; Ovid, Metamorphoses7.391-403; Hyginus, Fabulae 25). She then went to live in Athens, where she married Aegeus, father of Theseus, and became the mother of Medus. She tried to trick Aegeus into poisoning Theseus so that her son would eventually become king of Athens, but Aegeus discovered the plot. She then fled from Athens with her son, who later gave his name to the people known as Medes

Telemachus

Son of Odysseus and Penelope. He helped Odysseus kill the suitors upon his return. He greets Athena in their household and is worthy to be the son of his heroic father. He goes to Pylos and Sparta to find out news of Odysseus from Nestor and Menelaus and Helen. He almost is able to string his fathers bow before they kick out the suitors but his father prohibits him having a 4th try.

Triton

Son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, merman, trumpeter of the sea. He is human above the waist and fish-shaped below. He is often depicted blowing a conch shell and can change form at will. Artwork about Poseidon often depicts him with Triton.

Parthenon

Temple of Gods, remake in Tennessee, real one in Athens

Persian Wars

The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars; Ancient Greek: τὰ Μηδικά) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC.

Oresteia

The Oresteia (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. Efectively the final discussions we had in the class. It was centered around agamemnons return to Greece. then the second book, The Libation Bearers is the second play of the Oresteia. It deals with the reunion of Agamemnon's children, Electra and Orestes, and their revenge. Orestes kills Clytemnestra to avenge the death of Agamemnon, Orestes' father.The Eumenides is the final play of the Oresteia, in which Orestes, Apollo, and the Erinyes go before Athena and eleven other judges chosen by her from the Athenian citizenry at the Areopagus (Rock of Ares, a flat rocky hill by the Athenian agora where the homicide court of Athens later held its sessions), to decide whether Orestes's killing of his mother, Clytemnestra, makes him guilty of the crime of murder.

Panathenaia

The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece since 566 BC.[1] They continued into the 3rd century CE.[2] These Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony (including prize-giving), athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium.

Pergamon Altar

The Pergamon Altar is a monumental construction built during the reign of King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.

Python=Typhaon

The Python of Delphi was a creature with the body of a snake (dragon). This creature dwelled on Mount Parnassus, in central Greece.Python was once sent out by Hera in order to chase the pregnant Leto, a lover of Zeus, so that she couldn't settle anywhere to give birth. Apollo, son of Leto, decided to take revenge and kill Python. He killed the dragon and played a song in triumph. Right after he finished his song, Apollo took the creature and buried it under the slopes of Mount Parnassus. On its surface he built the oracle of Delphi, which is also known as the "Pythia".

Leto

The daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, she slept with Zeus and became the mother of Apollo and Artemis, who avenged and protected her from such adversaries as Niobe and Tityus

Megara

The daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, she was the first wife of Heracles. In a fit of madness, Heracles killed her and their children. Heracles then went to Delphi to ask where he should live. The Pythia told him he should serve Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, for twelve years; if he completed all the labors imposed on him, Heracles would become immortal (Apollodorus 2.4.12; Diodorus Siculus 4.11.1-2). Hyginus (Fabulae 32) says Heracles killed Megara after he had completed the twelve labors and that he was sold into slavery to Queen Omphale to expiate that crime.

Prologue

The importance, therefore, of the prologue in Greek drama was very great; it sometimes almost took the place of a romance, to which, or to an episode in which, the play itself succeeded.

Scylla

The man-eating beast that lived on the opposite side of the Strait of Messina from Charybdis (a whirlpool). Odysseus lost six of his men when passing by Scylla in The Odyssey. One for each head. Scylla wasn't always a monster though. Scylla was actually a beautiful sea nymph who the sea god Glaucus fell in love with. Circe became jealous of his love and instead cursed the sea nymph into becoming the ferocious sea monster we now know.

Mt. Helicon

The mountain that had two rivers important to the muses. Often frequented by Mesomedes.

Oceanids

The oceanids are the children of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. They are nymphs and number 3,000 girls and 3,000 boys. They represent the oceans, rivers, streams, and lakes. Hesiod said it's difficult to name them all but people know the oceanids that belong to their region.

Olympia, sanctuary and temple

The panhellenic sanctuary of Zeus, site of the olympic games. The temple and statue were one of the wodners of the ancient world. The temple had many myths carved into it and at the center was a 42 ft statue of Zeus depicting him as a glorious warrior seated on a throne. He combined the mythological and religious views of the Greeks and showed how important the gods were to them. It made Zeus the supreme god figure.

Phaeacians

The people of Nausicaa in the Odyssey, furthest of men

Plato, Republic

The philosophy novel by plato, had the cave story, dont know what he wanted other than that.

Tartarus

The region of Hades reserved for the punishment of sinners. Among these sinners are those who have committed the most heinous crimes and serve the harshest of punishments.

Telegonus

The son of Odysseus and Circe. He killed Odysseus years later when he was plundering Ithaca looking for Odysseus, not realizing it was his father.

Laertes

The son of Procris by Acrisius or Cephalus, and king of Ithaca, he married Anticlea and became the father of Odysseus, though some sources say Anticlea was pregnant with Odysseus by Sisyphus when Laërtes married her

Pelops

The son of Tantalus, got chopped up and served, medium rare, only demeter ate and she ate his shoulder, hence the ivory shoulder in the afterlife

Pediment

The triangular part above the entrance of the parthenon

Mecone (=Mekone) sacrifice

The trick at Mecone involves Prometheus tricking Zeus into choosing the pile of meat that was bad meat covered with good fat. The story serves to explain why Greek people are able to sacrifice the bones of animals to the gods but keep the meat for themselves. It also may portray Zeus as an all knowing god that purposely chose the wrong pile so he could punish mankind. Eventually this lead to humans obtaining fire.

Tiresias

Theban priest and prophet. He was blind and lived for seven generations, beginning with Cadmus. He was a prophet of Apollo. He was also turned into a women for 7 years. In the bacchae he warns Pentheus to not underestimate Dionysus. Is the person that continues to advise Oedipus to not investigate the murder of king Laius. He eventually tells Oedipus it was he who did it. He tells Creon that his actions have made Thebes a sick city.

Laestrygonians

These were cannibals with whom Odysseus had a disastrous experience on his way home from the Trojan War. When Odysseus reached the island home of the Laestrygonians, he was reluctant to dock in the harbor, but the captains of his other eleven ships anchored in the port. The Laestrygonians sank the ships in the harbor by throwing rocks at them from cliffs, then they speared the men floundering in the water for a later meal. Only Odysseus and the men on his ship were able to escape

Lapiths

Thessalanian tribe; Pirithous is their chieftain; The Lapiths fight the centaurs at Pirithous' wedding when the centaurs try to take all of the Lapith women away. Caenus was also a Lapith (Zeus had him/her killed in the battle); Caenus used to be a girl, changed to a boy when his/her lover Poseidon offered him/her any wish. He/she started making people worship a spear and this made Zeus mad (Caenus defied his power). The Lapith vs. Centaur battle was a common theme in Greek art (the battle mirrors Greek victory over "barbarians")

Lernaean Hydra

This huge, nine-headed poisonous snake haunted the swamps of Lerna, near Argos. Heracles killed the serpent as his second labor. Eight of the hydra's heads were mortal; one was immortal, but each time Heracles cut off one of the heads, two more grew in its place. While Heracles and Iolaus, his nephew, were grappling with the hydra's heads, a huge crab, sent by Hera, snapped at their feet. They killed the crab, and then Heracles had Iolaus use his torch to cauterize each neck from which Heracles had severed a head—new heads could not grow from the burned necks. Heracles chopped off the head that was immortal and buried it under a huge rock; he then dipped his arrows into the creature's poison, and this poison later caused his death

Sarpedon

Zeus wanted to save him and which was against what fate had decided for him. Hera convinced Zeus not to save him because then every god would save their favorites.

Olympian Gods (12)

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Demeter, Dionysus

Philoctetes

a hero known for archery was at troy, killed three people, was wounded by snakes and left to die. later survives and returns to greece.

Peloponnese

a large peninsula in southern Greece

Mt. Cithaeron

a mountain between Thebes and Corinth, where Bacchic revels were held and where the infant Oedipus was exposed and rescued, Laius was trying to avoid the fate foretold about Oedipus so he wanted the infant exposed with a spike driven through his ankles

Metope

a river nymph, daughter of the river Ladon, she married the river god Asophus. She was the mother of two songs and twenty daughters, including Aegina, who as carried off by Zeus (Probably more of the 92 panels on the outside of the Parthenon)

Ritual myth

a school of anthropologists who said theres a very close connection between ritual &myth. not a matter of direct relation or justification. ex) myth: demigods bang sheilds together to protect Zeus; ritual: curetes bang shields together at evnts

Ring composition

a structure used by Hesiod; involves progressing through but coming back to ideas, this was used because people were listening to the poet, not reading the text so it was probably quite helpful in keeping the listener up to speed.

Petasus

a sun hat of Thessalian origin worn by the ancient Greeks, often in combination with the chlamys cape. It was usually made of wool felt, leather or straw, with a broad, floppy brim. It was worn primarily by farmers and travellers, and was considered characteristic of rural people. As a winged hat, it became the symbol of Hermes, the Greek mythological messenger god

Mistress of Animals

a term first used (once) by Homer (Iliad 21. 470) and often used to describe female divinities associated with animals. thought to refer to Artemis. An Artemis type deity, a 'Mistress of the Animals', is often assumed to have existed in prehistorical religion and often referred to as Potnia Theron, with some scholars positing a relationship between Artemis and goddesses depicted in Minoan art and "Potnia Theron has become a generic term for any female associated with animals.

Saturn

a titan, AKA CRONUS. wow. that's a mean trick. coulda said Cronus. So Cronus castrated and overthrew Ouranos from inside his mother Ge, swallowed his chitlins, was overthrown by his own son Zeus (through a clever trick by Rhea and some helpers)

Nekuia

a word used to describe Homer's Odyssey Book XI, a rite used to summon and question ghosts

Neoptolemus

also called Pyrrhus, son of Achilles and Deidamia. Greek general, massive casualties but still won - pyrrhic victory

Raphael

an artist. depicted Parnassus (a mountain often associated with the Muses)

Sparagmos

ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs from the body. "Sparagmos" was frequently followed byomophagia (the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered). It is associated with the Maenads or Bacchantes, followers of Dionysus, and the Dionysian Mysteries

Stichomythia

ancient Greek arrangement of dialogue in drama, poetry, and disputation in which single lines of verse or parts of lines are spoken by alternate speakers.

Temple of Zeus at Olympia

built between 472 and 456 BC, was the very model of the fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order, statue of Zeus: made by Phidias, sculpted wreath on his head, holds figure of Nike (goddess of victory) in right hand and scepter in left, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world

Tithonus=Tithonos

beloved of Eos (dawn); Aphrodite made Eos (dawn) long perpetually for young mortals bc she caught her in bed with Ares, she asked Zeus to make Tithonus immortal, and he did but Tithonus grew old and decrepit instead of remaining young (some writers say he was turned into a grasshopper)

Pasiphae

birthed the minotaur after poseidon cursed minos, her husband.

Seers

can see into the future and interpret dreams and signs and stuff.

Nessus

centaur killed by Hearcles for trying to rape Deianira

Pythia

commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, was the priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo, giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece. One common view has been that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.

Masks

crucial part of greek theatre. supposed to allow the actor to vanish into the role. had exaggerated features and expressions

Phaedra

daughter of minos and pasiphae, married to theseus but is cursed by aphrodite to fall in love with their son. She died and he did too

Sirens

eating beautiful women whose song compels men to them.

Psychopompos

epithet for Hermes, means "leader/guide of the soul". This refers to the fact that he brings dead people's souls to Hades.

Venus of Willendorf

figurine carved from limestone with enlarged breasts and a large stomach. It was found in Willendorf, Austria and by far predates Greek existence. It represents more fertility and childbirth.

Necklace of Harmonia

from Cadmus to Harmonia, made by Hephaestus, played an important role in the Theban Saga

Nemean games

games founded after Heracles defeated the lion; held in honor of Zeus; held in Nemea every two years

Mares of Diomedes

giant, man eating horses owned by the giant diomedes,Heracles' had to steal them as one of his tasks

Vegetation god

gods that are associated with growth and the idea of regrowth. Good example is Artemis and Aphrodite, Demeter and Persephone. Demeter and Persephone could represent a matriarchy as they represent vegetation gods without the need for fertilization.

Separation

individuation

Parodos

is a term used in the theater of ancient Greece, referring either to a side-entrance, or to the first song sung by the chorus after its entrance from the side wings.

Pan (peter?)

is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs.He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism

Midas

king of Phrygia, he said that Pan had outplayed Apollo in a musical contest even though Apollo had been declared the victor. Apollo turned his ears into donkey ears. Midas used a hat to hide them but a barber saw them. Barber couldnt keep a secret; whispered it into a hole in the ground and covered it. when the wind blew, everyone could hear the words that had been buried. He was given the Midas touch by Dionysis for returnign Silenus to Dionysus--everything he touched turned to gold

Proetus

king of Tiryns, he had 3 daughters who also refused to worship Dionysus. Dionysus made them go mad, leaving their homes and killing their children. Proetus gave half his kingdom to Melampus, in exchange for the seer introducing rituals of Dionysus to Greece, in order to appease the god. He also eventually cured the daughters' madness using herbs and therapeutic dances.

Vergil, Aeneid

legendary poem that discusses the traveling of Aeneas, a trojan hero, to Italy and the founding of Rome.

Pythagoras

made influential contributions to philosophy and religion in the late 6th century BC. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mystic, and scientist and is best known for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name. Most of the information about Pythagoras was written down centuries after he lived, so very little reliable information is known about him.

Mycenae

major center of Greece during the Bronze age

Typhoeus=Typhaon=Typhon

monster brought forth by Ge after the Titanomachy, Zeus defeats him

Maia

mother of Hermes, one of the Pleiaides. Maia refused to believe Apollo when he claimed Hermes was the thief and Zeus then sided with Apollo. Finally, Apollo exchanged the cattle for the lyre, which became one of his identifying attributes.

Parnassus

mountain overlooking delphi, home to the muses and nymphs

Polytheism

multiple gods to pray to.

Mithraism

mystery religion dedicated to Mithra ( a divinity from the east) lots of art depicting Mithras killing the bull. have levels of initiation.

Polynices

one of the brothers that died fighting each other for Thebes. Son of Oedipus and Jocasta.

Leucothoë

over of Helius; Clytie (Helius' other lover) told Leuc's dad about the affair; he buried her alive and Helius could not save her; he left drops of nectar on her corpse and this became the frankincense tree; this is a good example for myth interpreted through aetiology

Vestal Virgins

priestesses of Hestia, goddess of the hearth, watched her flame that was never supposed to go out

Lord, Albert

professor of Slavic and comparative lit at Harvard; continued study of epic literature; argued for seperation between the oral tradition and the written down version of the myths

Tellus the Athenian

said by Solon to be the happiest mortal man, fought in and won in battle against his neighbors

Mylonas, George

scholar whose conclusions affirmed the universal power of the matriarchal cult of Demeter

Nereids

sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus and Doris, three specific mermaids were Thetis, Galatea, and Amphitrite

Vergil, Georgics

set of poems by Vergil that concern agriculture and Greek myths. They represent a Roman view into Greek Mythology from a much later date.

Lascaux Caves

site of paleolithic cave paintings primarily of large animals

Myrtilus

son of Hermes, loved Hippodamia and was conviced by her fiance Pelops to sabotage the chariot race, in exchange for a night with Hippodamia, in which his master Oenamus lost his life and curse Myrtilus; Pelops killed

Narcissus

son of Lirope and Cephisus, he rejected the love of many (including Echo), died of unrequited love for his own reflection, and was turned into a flower, he drowned because he tried to get to himself at the bottom of a lake

Nestor

son of Neleus, king of pylos, wise orator in the Greek army during the Trojan War \

Meleager

son of Oeneus and Althaea, brother of Deianira, hero of Calydonian boar hunt

Pegasus

son of medusa and poseidan, was birthed upon medusa's beheading

Mithraeum

space holy to mithra ( a divinity from the East). It is chtonic aka underground. represents the cave in which mithra carried and then killed the bull

Stasimon

stationary song performed by the chorus in an orchestra

Venus of Melos

statue of Aphrodite carved in marble by Alexander of Antioch. It shows a beautiful Aphrodite posing have nude with no arms. Represents the inner sexualiy of women. One of the few female divinities portrayed as naked in Greek architecture.

Tympanon (I think he means tympanum)

tamborine like instrument or a hand drum that is commonly played by maenads and followers of Dionysus. It is heavily associated with Dionysus. It represents orgasmic music.

Orphism

the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices[1] originating in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world,[2] as well as by the Thracians,[3] associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned. Orphics also revered Persephone (who annually descended into Hades for a season and then returned) and Dionysus or Bacchus (who also descended into Hades and returned). Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus. Poetry containing distinctly Orphic beliefs has been traced back to the 6th century BC or at least 5th century BC, and graffiti of the 5th century BC apparently refers to "Orphics".

Palladium

the palladium or palladion was a cult image of great antiquity on which the safety of Troy and later Rome was said to depend, the wooden statue (xoanon) of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to the future site of Rome by Aeneas. The Roman story is related in Virgil's Aeneid and other works.

Mycenaean

the people of the city of Mycenae the city of Atreus. The Mycenaean people predated the Greeks and had a culture that contrasted the Greeks. Many of their stories, legends, and heroes appear in Greek myths or influence them at least.

Mt. Olympus

the sanctuary of the 12 olympic gods, most notably Zeus. Used as a "fort" during the battle against the Titans.

Libation Bearers

the second play of the Oresteia, it deals with the reunion of agammenmmonons children- electra and orestes-- and their revenge. Orestes kills Clytemnestra to avenge the death of agammemenon

Kykeon

traditional drink made of barley and water and pennywater. seen in the homeric hymn to demeter. significant in the Eleusian mysteries

Rationalization

treating myths as accounts of real life events. this strategy is attributed to Euhemerus (4th-3rd century BCE)

Schliemann, Heinrich

was a Germanbusinessman and a pioneer of field archaeology. He was an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator ofHissarlik, now presumed to be the site of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae andTiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that Homer'sIliad and Virgil's Aeneid reflect actual historical events. Schliemann's excavation of nine levels of archaeological remains with dynamite has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artifacts, including the level that is believed to be the historical Troy.

Pheidias

was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias designed the statues of the goddess Athena on the Athenian Acropolis, namely the Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon and the Athena Promachos, a colossal bronze statue of Athena which stood between it and the Propylaea

Socrates

was a classical Greek philosopher who is credited with laying the fundamentals of modern Western philosophy. He is best recognized for inventing the teaching practice of pedagogy, wherein a teacher questions a student in a manner that draws out the correct response. his students Plato and Aristole. There is no proof that Socrates ever wrote anything, philosophical or biographical. Whatever information we derive about Socrates is from the works of 4 scholars namely - Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, and Aristophanes. Socratic Method: If you have any problem, break it down to a series of questions and you find your required answer in those responses.

Pasolini, Pier Paolo

was a director who directed medea (1969)

Priapus

was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism

Salmacis

was an atypical naiad who rejected the ways of the virginal Greek goddess Artemis in favour of vanity and idleness. Her attempted rape of Hermaphroditus places her as the only nymph rapist in the Greek mythological canon

Sappho

was an influential women Greek lyric poet, born on the island of Lesbos around 610 BC. Sappho wrote odes to the goddesses, especially Aphrodite.

Pygmalion

was fed up and disgusted with women so he lived alone without a wife. Eventually, he made a very realistic and beautiful statue (named Galatea) and basically pretended she was a real person. He prayed to Aphrodite and she turned the statue into a real person. Pygmalion and Galatea had a child named Paphos, which is now the name of the place.

Selene

was the Titan goddess of the moon. Selene's great love was the shepherd prince Endymion. The beautiful boy was granted eternal youth and immortality by Zeus and placed in a state of eternal slumber in a cave near the peak of Lydian Mount Latmos.

Stheneboea

wife of Proetus. She tried to seduce Bellerophon and when he refused, she told Preotus that he had tried to rape her. Iobates (Stheneboea's dad) sent him on many dangerous expeditions, which he survived

Polyxena

youngest daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Was said to have been close to Achilles, found his weakness, then had paris kill him with an arrow steeped in poison guided by Apollo.