Classical Myth

CLA204 Lecture 1 Notes
What is myth?
- mûthos (ancient Greek) – “story”, “plot” of a narrative
- myth – “a traditional story of collective (social) importance” – character, plot, temporal and special setting
- mûthos (story) + logos (account) = “study of myth”, mythology
- set in distant past or time so long ago when humans did not exist
- mythical place – ie. garden paradise, world of the dead, etc.
Circulation of Myth:
oral (Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod)
literary (Ovid, Euripides)
artistic
media (sculptures, paint)
dance versions (ballet, tragedy, musical/opera)
- storytellers vs. authors
•Orpheus (traditional, mythical)
•Homer (Greek, 8th c. BCE)
•Hesiod (~700 BCE)
•Euripides (Athenian, 5th c. BCE) – changes the emphasis of myths to speak to audience
•Ovid (Roman, 43 BCE - 17 CE) – universe story is very different from
Hesiod’s
•Apollodorus (Greek, 1st or 2nd c. CE)
•Hyginus (Roman, 2nd c. CE)
- catasterism – transformation into a star – become a constellation (heroes, etc.) - theodicy – “divine justice”
Ovid (March, 43 BCE)
- aristocrat – father wanted him to become a politician
- wanted to be a poet – served as judge, retired at 20
- Metamorphoses – autumn of 8 CE
- banished to edge of Roman Empire due to witness of/involvement in scandal involving Augustus
- over 250 myths in Metamorphoses – most involving some form of transformation - human transformation into god – apotheosis
- god transformation to human (disguise)
- human transformation into animals, plants, features of the land/sea/sky
- transformation to stars, constellation – catasterism
Apollodorus (1st, 2nd c. CE)
- Greek scholar
- wrote the Library in attempt to systemize all Greek myth
- summarizes (uncritically) all myth
Hyginus (2nd c. CE)
- Roman author
- handbook of myth – written in Latin but from Greek sources
- traditional storied by Greeks
- many myths show “divine justice”, theodicy
- punishments, by gods
- Hesiod and Ovid have very different views on the justice of the gods
- wide range of approaches to the myth
Types of Myth
divine myths
- about the gods , “myths proper”
- anthropomorphic vs. personifications
- anthropomorphic – Zeus, Hades, etc.
- personifications – victory (Nike), Eos (discord), etc.
- often etiological – explain cause, origin
- “scientific myths” – divine
- why gods are worthy of worship
- wide array of gods in divine myth
- often occur outside of human time, in a time humanity cannot grasp, and in locations too far away or too hard to get to (Underworld, Mt.
Olympos)
heroic myths/legends
- about heroes
- Achilles, Menelaus, Hector (Trojan War), Daedalus, Jason, Theseus
- analogous to history to the Greeks
- “historical myths” – legend
- seem to have records of what happened in human past – central characters are human beings (opposed to divine)
- heroes, heroines – often of aristocracy
- by definition, important to human time frame – said to be ancestors of
Greek people, long lineages
- set in distant past of history
- slay beasts, fearsome creatures, waged wars, founded cities – early human history
- modern archaeology proves – legends may have distant base to truth –
Mediterranean cities in Greek myth were very central cities – excavations as proof
- Troy is sometimes believed to be true city – excavations of wealthy city destroyed ~1250 BCE – legendary Trojan War has truth in it
- linear B tablet – associated with Bronze Age – brought to light names of
Trojan War, Greek myth (Achilles, Hector, Daedalus, Theseus, etc.)
folktales
- ordinary folk
- mostly concerned with ordinary people as central characters
- fairy tales, fables, folktale types
- may be ordinary character to begin with, often go through reversal – in which they discover talent, wealth, fortune, etc. – in order to triumph
- scholars of classical myth identify folktale motifs/types, which are pervasive in myth
- motifs: abused younger son/daughter, fairy godmother helper, marriage to prince/princess, cap of invisibility, magic flight, far away land, dragon guarding fountain/garden
- most famous in Greek myth – quest
- quest: male must go in search of treasure, and overcome monster, etc., with help of a god or special token, monster is at first seen to defeat her, but hero prevails, escapes with prize (gold, princess, etc.)
- Greek heroes – Jason, Perseus, Herakles (Latin, Hercules)
Italy, Greek Peninsulas
- connect through water and land
- dry, barren
- mountains dominate landscape
Attica (Athens)
- hero Theseus
Boeotia (Thebes)
- Oedipus
Corinth
- located on the isthmus connecting Peloponnese to mainland
Mycenae
- Agamemnon
Argos
- Herakles
- Perseus
Laconia (Sparta)
- Menelaus (brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen – Trojan War)
Historical Periods
Old Stone Age (Paleolithic), before 6000 BCE
- almost no material survived
New Stone Age (Neolithic), 6000 - 3000 BCE
- pottery, stone tools
- grave burials
Bronze Age (3000 - 1150 BCE)
- Early Bronze Age (3000 - 2100 BCE)
- Middle Bronze Age ( 2100 - 1600 BCE)
- Late Bronze Age/Mycenaean Period (1600 - 1150 BCE)
Minoan Culture (2200 - 1400 BCE)
- Crete
- named after King Minos
- Cnossos
- labrys = double axe (“labyrinth” comes from Greek word – double axe) - worshipped fertility goddess (perhaps)
Mycenaean Period (1600 - 1100 BCE)
- worshipped fertility goddess (unknown for certain, if true identity unknown) - Mycenae, Pylos, Thebes
- linear B tablets (earliest known writings)
- Mycenae taken over by Greek speakers in ~1600 BCE
- Michael B Ventris (deciphered linear B)
- Martin P Nilsson, The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology (1932) – postulated that most Greek myth originated in Mycenaean age
- area destroyed, linear B lost (writing culture vanished) in 1150, Dark
Age began
Dark Age (1150 - 800 BCE)
- Dorians invaded (considered to be “children of Herakles” - descendants) - Athens only city that survived invasion – westward migration
- re-established culture in Ionia, western coast of Asia Minor, Aeolis
- island of Euboea retained Near Eastern connections – kept Mycenaean culture intact – crucial to formation of Greek myth
Archaic Age (800 - 480 BCE)
- invention of Greek alphabet, ~800 BCE
- colonization
- Euboea sent colonies westward
- polis – city state
- commerce and competition, trade revived, expanded (new sea routes)
- coinage invented
- interstate warfare
- plays, tragedies - theatre
- stories spread around Mediterranean
- culture revival
- Homer, Iliad and Odyssey
- Hesiod, Theogony, Mt. Helicon in Boeotia (in Works and Days, tells of life during time period, of father’s life)
Hesiod’s encounter with the Muses
- encounter with the divine = epiphany
- face to face
- Mt. Helicon – Muses appear, call him by name, infuse him with power of song (in beginning of Theogony)
Class Stratification
- slave labour
- aristocracy
- traders (despised by aristocracy)
- sea farers (also despised by aristocracy)
- upstarts – Tyrants – single strong man that took over – especially hated by the aristocrats (gave the word “tyrant” its negative connotation)
Age of Tyrants (650 - 500 BCE)
- democracy in Athens (508 BCE)
- rise of Persia – kings shaped Persia into power, absorbed Greek areas, eventually travelled to mainland Greece
- Athens and Sparta joined (all Greece) to push Persia back
- Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
- Battle of Salamis (480 BCE)
- gave way to classical period
Classical Age (480 - 323 BCE)
- Athens (democracy) vs. Sparta (oligarchy)
- at beginning of Persia War, Athens had become democracy
- Sparta had no central city state (polis)
- Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE)
- Athens and Sparta competed for cultural hegemony and turned to war, result in Sparta’s defeat of Athens and allies
- classical age is golden age of Greece
- Athens – arts (especially literary arts) thrived
- tragedy: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
- history: Herodotus, Thucydides
- oratory: Demosthenes
- philosophy: Plato, Aristotle
- architecture, painting, culture, etc.
- authors able to reflect on inherited stock of stories (myth) – most famous versions are of this period
- Corinth, Thebes, Argos, strong competition
- states fought among themselves until Macedon (high power) took over
Hellenistic Age (323 - 30 BCE)
- rise of Macedon – Philip II
- after death, son took over – Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE)
- huge expanse of land broken up, Hellenistic Age
- Hellenistic Kingdoms – Macedon, Egypt, Seleucia, Pergamum
- rise of Rome in western Mediterranean, defeat of Carthage
- Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, became Roman provinces
- turned to East – Greek civilization
- Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt (2nd c. BCE)
- mainland Greece into province of Rome (146 BCE)
- two cultures merged
- Battle of Actium (31 BCE)
- the last Hellenistic Kingdoms became part of Roman Empire with the suicide of Cleopatra VII of Egypt (d. 31 BCE)
- Romans loved Greek culture – much transferred to Rome
- Greece ransacked (books, art, and commissioned copies to put on display in Roman homes) – Pompeii has copies of famous Greek paintings - Roman Empire – absorbed Greek culture – conduit through which
Greek myth is preserved – especially Greek theatre, poetry
- recognized Greek gods, transferred Greek myth, synthesized Roman and Greek
- Ovid – Metamorphoses
Cosmogonic Tradition of the Near East
- before Mycenaeans
- Theogony (Hesiod) – much influence by Near East
- Babylonian Enuma Elish – “when on high”
- Marduk, god of cosmic order
- Tiamat, goddess of cosmic disorder/chaos
- creation of heaven and earth, formation of ordered universe from chaos, beginning of Marduk’s creativity
- Enuma Elish – creation story – recorded on clay tablets, recited annually on the 4th day of New Year’s festival
- oral tale written down (preserved)
Egypt and Israel
- watery chaos, goddess Nun
- Genesis 1, light/darkness separated
- from heaven/earth to land/sea, to animals, to humankind (Egypt)
- transferred to Genesis – probably similar origin as Egyptian and Babylonian creation stories
- Hesiod’s creation of universe story has similarities (Theogony, 116-9, 126-8)
- beginning of Hesiod’s creation story, void and chaos, precedes heaven and earth - while polytheism was ingrained in culture, Genesis (Hebrew) – single god creator - theogony – “birth of the gods” – genealogy of deities
- cosmogony – “birth of the world” – genealogy of nature, birth of universe/world - Genesis 1-11 – “mythology”
- Genesis 12-50 – “legends”
Hesiod
- from Theogony to Catalogue of Women
- Theogony (mythologies)
- Catalogue of Women (genealogies)
- Catalogue of Women
- origin of aristocratic lineages
- succession myth
- succession of great divinity
- Theogony
- Ouranos (Greek; Latin, Uranus)
- Kronos
- Titans
- Zeus (Greek; Latin, Jupiter/Jove)
- succession of myths vs. genealogies
- Hymning the Muses (Theog. 1-115)
- usually poems begin with hymns to the gods
- Hesiod’s Theogony begins with hymn to Muses
- Musses – Mt. Helicon in Boeotia where Hesiod encounters them
- Hesiod speaks of their activities
- gives way to story of their births, what they did since then
- as hymn ends, takes leave of Muses
- Muses give Hesiod the materials to sing
- beginning of universe, theogony – birth of gods
- not too interested in cosmogony – birth of universe, world (Hesiod
“hurries” over it)
Succession Myth
- Titans, Cyclopes, Hundred-Handers
- Ouranos + Gaia = 18 children
- continuous intercourse with Gaia – did not allow children to be born
- Kronos – called upon to free children of Gaia
- castration of Ouranos by Kronos with adamantine sickle
- adamantine – legendary metal – extremely hard and impossible to break
- separation of heaven and earth – Ouranos separated from Gaia and sent to proper place in sky – before, heaven and earth joined
- separation enables birth of children
- Aphrodite (“foam-born”, from Greek word aphros) – born from blood and genitals that fall to the sea – foam that surrounds genitals
- Cyprus – birthplace of Aphrodite
- long genealogical passage
- story of Kronos and Titans
Titanomachy
- Kronos + Rhea = 6 children
- swallows children as they are born
- Rhea hides youngest (Zeus) on Crete – gives Kronos stone to swallow
- folktale motif – stupid ogre must be defeated by intelligent hero
- Zeus forces Kronos to throw up stone and children – ambiguous potion used
(Metis)
- Titanomachy – “war of Titans”
- Kronos vs. Zeus
- Kronos rallies titans
- Gaia, Hundred-Handers – help Zeus
- Styx, etc. – Zeus
CLA204 Lecture 2 Notes
Cosmogony and Theogony
Near Eastern antecedents – Hittites, Hurrians, Babylonians, Sumerians
the master plot – fathers and daughters
genealogies
Near Eastern Parallels – Hittite/Acadian text
- Hittite texts
- cuneiform
- Boghazkale
- Hatussas
- late 13th c. BCE – when palace was destroyed
- originally Hurrian, southeast Asia Minor, 16-15 c. BCE
- annexed by Hittites, 14th c. BCE
- story of Kingship in Heaven
Story of Kingship in Heaven
- similar to Hesiod’s Theogony
- Alalu, king in heaven
- Anu (An – Babylonian sky god)
- Kumarbi – bites off Anu’s genitals, swallows them
- by swallowing genitals – “swallows” three gods – born from genitals
- Tasmisu
- Tigris (river)
- Teshub – weather god
- wants to kill Teshub – swallows poison to kill him – spits up Tasmisu, Tigris – reference to stone
- Seri – sacred bull
- fight – Teshub wins
- song of Kumarbi
Song of Ullikummi
- Kumarbi vs. Teshub
- stone child, Ullikummi
- Ullikummi – huge/giant size – head reaching the clouds – nothing can beat him – use of “copper cutter” to cut off feet – symbolic of separating heaven from earth
- parallel to adamantine sickle in Theogony
- four generations of rulers vs. three in Hesiod’s Theogony
- Alalu – Anu – Kumarbi – Teshub
- Ouranos – Kronos – Zeus
- perhaps Chaos = Alalu in a sense
- Anu = Ouranos, therefore one extra generation before in Sumerian myth
Similarities/Differences
- Alalu – non entity – perhaps like Chaos (debatable)
- Anu, Akkadian form of Sumerian An (sky) – similar to Ouranos (heaven)
- Kumarbi – parallel to Kronos
- Teshub – like Zeus – victorious
Enûma Elish
- similarities to other myths as well
- Babylonian epic
- Sumerian mythological background
- Akkadian epic dialect
- composition ~1895-1595 BCE
- Apsû (sweet male waters), Tiâmat (bitter female waters)
- waters mingled in single body – from this, gods came into being
- Lahmu + Lahâmu – Anshar + Kishar – Anu (sky) – Ea
- the noise of all the gods disturb Apsû + Tiâmat
- Apsû wants to destroy gods, Tiâmat protests
- Ea casts magic sleep on Apsû, strips him of symbols of power (strips him of strength) - Ea kills Apsû
- begets Marduk – powerful – weather god
- gods want Tiâmat to incite war with younger gods – Marduk defeats Tiâmat on the condition that he will be proclaimed king of the gods
- Tiâmat opens her monstrous mouth – Marduk fills her with wind, strikes with arrow, splits her in two – heaven and earth
- story ends with many ceremonial names for Marduk
War of Old vs. Young Gods
- pair of primeval elemental parents
- Apsû and Tiâmat/Ouranos and Gaia – father hates, mother loves
- Ea/Kronos – overcome oppressive father through trick, robs father of symbol of strength
- Divergence
- Anshar, then Ea’s son Marduk become king – Marduk fights serpentine opponent (Tiâmat)
- Zeus – fights not Gaia, but her serpentine son Typhoeus (Typhon)
Gaia’s Role in the Theogony
- wise helper (folktale motif) – benevolent
- Gaia + Tartarus = Typhoeus (as if on purpose to overthrow her son)
- role of Tiâmat in Enuma Elish, possible explanation for what Gaia is up to – her reasons for her actions – moment where she is like Tiâmat
- Theogony organised around progression of power from Gaia to Zeus
- seems that stories come from East – Greece looked east for technology, stories, trade (Asia Minor)
Birth/Succession/Power in Theogony
- Ouranos – equal to Gaia (mother)
- covers her “all over”
- parthenogenesis – birth from female alone (asexual)
- female generates male
- last lines of poem – last major birth – Athena – springs from father’s head
- male generates female
- female counterpart of Zeus – equal in wisdom
Themes of Birth Sequences
- subordination female to male
- primitive violence (Ouranos – hubris) to moral justice (Zeus)
- Ouranos – hubris (violence)
- Zeus – dikê (justice)
- primitive self-help – symbolic retribution
- voluntary arbitration – gift exchange, distribution of honours offices
- retribution = Gaia wants children to be born
- arbitration = Rhea goes to Gaia for help
- family – cosmos (universe)
- sex as power – pattern of the poem
- congruence on sexual and political spheres
Goals
- patriarchal family order
- justice of Zeus
- sex as power
- struggle of male vs. female
- power
- justice
- control of procreation
- Ouranos/Kronos/Zeus vs. Gaia/Rhea/Metis over power and justice
- naked justice/violence (progression from Ouranos) – retributive self-help
- voluntary arbitration – symbolic retribution
- balanced reciprocity – gift exchange
- reproduction displaced onto human level – Zeus’ interest in human women
- Theogony progresses to list of mortal women (with Zeus) and their powerful/heroic children (sons)
- gift exchange – historical processes – daughters (marriage, dowry) – patriarchal society – seen in treatment of women
Ouranos’ Violence and Gaia’s Revenge
- concealment – keeps children in Gaia
- male control of generation/reproduction
- act of outrage – demands retribution
- Gaia hides son in ambush – Kronos’ violence – castration of father
- son’s evil deed – mother’s evil deed
- demands exact reciprocity – primitive revenge
- triumph of craft, persuasion, violence
- delight in castration (Gaia) – claims right to revenge, Kronos accepts this
- two kinds of offspring – blood, genitals of father
Aphrodite
- primal daughter of primal father – born from genitals
- Aphrodite vs. Athena
- extremely different in birth
- from male alone – genitals vs. head
- token of defeat, not victory
- opposite of father, not equal in character
- embodiment of sexual attraction vs. wisdom and martial skill
- nourished in sea – gestational, “womb of male”
- female force which lays men low – Eros survives in female, tends to goddess
– tamed by her
Female Force (Aphrodite)
- phenomenon of nature (like Gaia)
- deceit, concealment – masters male
- charming speech (like Muses) – “honey sweet words”
- natural and artificial birth (like first woman Pandora)
- from male along (like Athena)
- female sexuality as desire
- the only of first generation of gods to find a place in Hesiod’s Pantheon
Kronos’s Rule
- three stories
- hymn to Hekate
- birth of Zeus, Olympians
- Prometheus and first woman (Pandora)
- bond between mother and child ruptured, children allowed to be born – eaten by father
- Gaia assumed central maternal role – not Rhea
- Rhea follows Gaia’s advice
- nature (bearing children) vs. nurture (rearing children)
- Rhea vs. Gaia
- male as begetter, male “womb”, male as deliverer – hides children in womb
- father vs. son
- withholding child = withholding power
- Zeus – agent in his own right – not serving mother’s interests – serving his own - Kronos – power of reproduction taken from Rhea
- Rhea may have given birth by Kronos re-appropriates
- Zeus’ right to rule – stone – symbolic resolution of father-son struggle
From Violence to Justice
- stone – symbol of resolution/revenge
- cycle of reciprocity vs. cycle of revenge
- gift exchange
- Kronos forced to give back what he has taken – symbol or recompense
Kronos has given
- internal order is stabilized – stone as symbol of Zeus’ right to power
- symbolic marker is characteristic of Zeus’ reign – many symbolic exchanges
- Hekate/Styx – exchange
- Styx honoured in exchange for children
- Hekate honoured in exchange for heritage of Titans
- Hekate – paradigm got the way Zeus’ rule works
- is an only daughter – of old and new generation (as is Aphrodite)
- displacement and condescension – threaten aspects of female distribution/sublimation - confirmed the established world order – Zeus
Hekate
- born in wedlock
- Asteria (legitimate wife) and Perses
- prefigures beneficence of Zeus’ reign
- like Athena in that only daughter born in wedlock
- positive role of female power
- symbol of female – kindly
- precursor to Athena – daughter of Zeus
- antitype of Gaia, Aphrodite, Pandora
- virgin
- “…victory, glory to any side she wishes…” – sign of Zeus’ reign – Theogony
- like Muses in a way – pole of female power
- opposite of Aphrodite who seduces male through sexual power
- first woman – “evil of which there is no healing” – opposite
- Hekate – holy, positive light – poses no threat to male power – akin to Zeus’ daughter - elsewhere in Greek myth, is actually legitimate daughter of Zeus
- sweet, gentle love
- does not give up children (as is the case with Styx) but the power she wields
- female power – sponsorship of activities of life – sustains life – “protector of these children” – protector – offspring
- conception of female order, Olympian, reign of Zeus
Male vs. Female Power
- powers are redistributed
- male violence gets stronger, redistributed, consolidated in one god
- male replaces male
- escapes cycle event – stone (symbol of this resolution, stabilization, cunning, permanent victory)
- female cunning, female fertility – displaces and redistributed among goddesses - daughters replace mothers in Zeus’ realm (not many divine mothers)
- mothers displaced into human realm – first woman (Pandora)
- displacement of succession to human plane
- heterosexual reproduction amongst humans
- no male child to take Zeus’ place (most of his children are mortal)
- control of children yielded to Zeus (Styx)
- control expressed in sublimated form, nurturance under Zeus’ sponsorship
(Hekate)
- cooperation of maternal support (Gaia)
- appropriation of female fecundity (Metis)
Zeus Outdoes Ouranos and Kronos
- suppresses child in womb
- swallows child (in Metis)
- female is born from male – role reversal
- from head rather than from below
- child belongs to father
- gains female reproductive ability
- Athena – ideal paradigm – social structure in Greece
- patriarchal social order
- wisdom belongs to father
- double defeat – Metis, Hera
- Athena is superior to Hera’s son Hephaistos
- belly – redefined – prophecy – Metis remains inside as prophetic voice of Zeus
- control future through prophecy
- escaped cycle
- father to virginal daughters – no sons to replace Zeus
- Athena – final stage in succession – subordination of female to male – daughter serves father
- timelessness of generation – virginity
- paradox – generation without succession – Zeus will not be replaced – transcends predicament – temporal succession
- will not be succeeded – daughters will not produce sons to replace his rule
- Muses – perfect daughters to Zeus – sing his praises – 9 Muses
- first 35 lines of proem – virginal goddesses of Mt. Helicon
- world of loveliness – refined beauty – delicate
- homage to Zeus
- mother of the Muses – Mnemosyne (Memory)
- insignificance suggests Muses’ allegiance to Zeus
- disappears after giving birth
- Muses proceed to his house – allegiance to Zeus – father-daughter community Hesiod’s Gods
- gods of cult – worshipped in ritual, myths
- gods of myth – in Theogony, no cult however
- divine guilds – families
- natural elements
- personified abstractions
Thetis
- Nereid
- admired by Zeus, but destined to have son by Zeus more powerful than his father - prophecy explained by Prometheus – warns Zeus
- Prometheus is set free from punishment (for fire) as reward
- Zeus marries her to Peleus, king
- mother of Achilles
Muses (Mneai) – “Rememberers”
- three original Muses of Helicon
- Melete (“care”, “attention”)
- Mneme (“memory”)
- Aoide (“song”)
- nine Muses (Hesiod) – Zeus was with Memory for nine nights
- single Muse (Homer) – Iliad, Odyssey
- Calliope – trainer of kings – leader of Muses
- Apollo is also associated as the leader of the Muses
- Hesiod’ Muses
- Clio (Greek – Kleio) – “renown”, “fame”
- Euterpe – “well-delighting”
- Thaleia – “flourishing”
- Melpomene – “songstress”
- Terpsichore – “delighting in the dance”
- Erato – “lovely”
- Polyhymnia – “she of many hymns_
- Ourania – “heavenly”
- Kalliope (Latin – Calliope) – “she of the beautiful voice” – leader
Three Graces (Charites)
- associated with Muses
The Beginning
- Chaos – “chasm”, “gap”
- Erebos and Night – children of Chaos
- stoic genealogy begins with Erebos and Night
- Night (Greek – Nyx, Latin – Nox) – daughter of Chaos, has children by Erebos
- region of darkness (Erebos) – associated with Hades, Tartarus
- children – Aither (Air), Hemera (Day)
- Night gives birth to Day – similarity to Genesis
Descendants of Heaven and Earth
- Earth ( Greek – Gaia, Latin – Tellus)
- mother of Heaven (Greek – Ouranos, Latin – Uranus), Hills, Sea (Greek –
Pontos)
- parthenogenesis
- Ouranos – solid roof to the world
- Earth bears Heaven (Ouranos), 12 Titans, Cyclopes, Hundred-Handers
Titans
- once collective group of gods (perhaps)
- Oceanus – encourages Styx to help Zeus
- Kronos, Iapetos (father of Prometheus) – dangerous ogres
- Koios, Kreios, Hyperion, Theia, Rhea
- Themis, Mnemosyne
- Muses, Nereids, Oceanids – collective body
- the former gods
- Hesiod – takes over Titans from Near Eastern myth? Near Easterners take over primitive Greek myth? – unknown
- Kronos comes last – but sons born first, then daughters
Ocean (Ogenos, Oceanos)
- freshwater spring
- distinct from the sea
- in Homer, Ocean is the origin of all things
- Ogenos – meaning ancient (very old)
- perhaps Minoan word – Cretan river called Ocean
- perhaps Near Eastern – Egyptian, Akkadian, Babylonian – all myths start with water Koios
- obscure figure
- father of Leto
Kreios
- nothing known about identity/nature
Hyperion
- sun’s father
- elsewhere is one of the names for the sun
Iapetos
- father of Epimetheus, Prometheus – non-Greek
- perhaps parallel to Japheth (biblical – Genesis)
- castration of Ouranos by Kronos vs. Noah’s nudity by Japheth’s brother Ham
- connections to flood – Deucalion vs. Noah
- son of Prometheus – Deucalion, daughter of Epimetheus – Pyrrha
Daughters of Heaven and Earth
- rhyming pairs of gods
- Theia and Rhea
- Themis, Mnemosyne
- Phoibe – mother of Leto (Latin – Latona)
- Phoibos Apollo (Latin – Phoebus Apollo) – son of Leto
- Tethys – marries Oceanos
Kronos/Saturn
- “older god”
- Zeus’ father
- Golden Age – Titan age
- Isles of the Blest – ruler
- Hesiod’s Works and Days – internally inconsistent
- Ovid – Metamorphosis 1
- seen as benevolent ruler – Golden Age – usurpation of role by Zeus – opposed to cruel tyrant overthrown by Zeus
- different view on Kronos
- Kronos was king before Zeus
- life was better in early period
Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers
- imprisoned until Zeus releases them
- Cyclopes – lightning weapon (bolt) – created for Zeus in gratitude
- Cyclopes – Brontes (“thunder”), Steropes (“lightning”), Argesm (“shining”)
- Hundred-Handers – necessary for Zeus to overthrow Kronos
- Hundred-Handers – Briareos/Obriareos (Thracian name), Gyges/Ogyges
(“very ancient”)
Night’s Family
- bears Moros (“death”), Ker (“death”), Death, Sleep, Dreams, Momos
(“blame”), Oizus (“woe”)
- Hesperides
- Atalanta and Hippomenes
- Moirai (Fates), Keres
- Nemesis (“retribution”), Deception, Affection, Old Age, Discord (Greek – Eris)
Offspring of Eris
- Eris – “strife”, “discord”
- children – Hardship, Forgetfulness, Starvation, Pains, Battles, Quarrels,
Murders, Manslaughters, Grievances, Lying Stories, Disputations,
Lawlessness, Ruin, False Oath
Sons of Pontos
- Nereus, Nereids (“daughters of Nereus)
- Old Man of the Sea (Old Gentleman), Proteus, Glaucus
- Thaumas – father of Iris (rainbow)
- Phorkys – husband of Keto (“sea monster”), father of Graiai (“grey ones”, also known as Phorkides – “daughters of Phorkys”), Gorgons, Echidna, Ladon
(Snake)
Nereids
- daughters of Nereus and Oceanid Doris
- 50 daughters of Nereus
- Nereids’ names shared by Oceanids – Doris, Eudore, Thöe
- famous Nereids
- Cassiopeia – Andromeda’s mother (Perseus)
- Thetis – wife of Peleus, mother of Achilles
- Amphitrite – wife of Poseidon
- Galateia – loved by Cyclops Polyphemus (Odysseus)
- power over wind and wave
- prophetic abilities
- fickle, like the sea
Family of Thaumas
- wife Elektra (Oceanid – “shining”)
- daughter Iris
- Harpies (“snatchers”), Aello (“storm-wind”), Okypete (“swift-flying”)
- Celaeno (“murky”)
Family of Phorkys and Keto
- children – 6 daughters and a snake (Ladon)
- daughters - Graiai (2), Gorgons (3), Echidna
- Medusa bears Pegasus and Chrysaor
- Echidna marries Typhon and bears Orthos, Cerberus, Hydra
- Chrysaor marries Kallirhoë and begets Geryoneus
- Chimaera marries Orthos and bears Sphynx and Nemean Lion
CLA204 Lecture 3 Notes
Myths of Human Creation
- Zeus vs. all gods vs. Prometheus
- Prometheus – “forelearner”, son of Iapetus
- Epimetheus – “afterlearner”, “dummy”
- Prometheus – fashioned people out of earth and water – Gaia still had some seed left in her (some of Ouranos’ sperm still left – Prometheus added water)
- man (humans) – upright, two legs – can see the sky, are not facing the ground like animals
- Ovid – perhaps Zeus created mortal men, perhaps Prometheus did (unclear)
- Ovid – of the opinion that humans are better because of difference from animals - Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound – favours by Prometheus – reason for his demise - irony – “till I fired their wits” – play on words – Prometheus stole fire from
Zeus and gave it back to mortal man
- cooking with fire – eating raw meat, uncivilized
Zeus and Prometheus – Rivalry
- Zeus is wary of Prometheus
- Prometheus is as intelligent as Zeus is (because of Metis)
- several incidents/reasons for wariness of Prometheus, which eventually result in his demise
Mecone incident – Zeus takes fire from mortals
- at feast – job of Prometheus to hand out food
- in attempt to trick Zeus, hides bone inside a large piece of meat with lots of fat – Zeus naturally chooses large piece
- explains the origin of sacrifice – bone/fat of animals sacrificed to gods – to appease the angered gods, to symbolize the trickery of Prometheus
- Zeus is angered, wants retribution
- takes mortal ability to eat meat (through fire – cooking) – used to have trees on fire, readily available
- symbolic – reversion to earlier time of civilization
Prometheus steals back fire, Zeus punishes
- fennel stalk – used for storing fire, smouldering torches
- Prometheus hides fire and take it back to mortals
- Zeus punishes Prometheus (Caucasus) and humankind (Pandora)
- chained to Mt. Caucasus – liver eaten by Zeus’ eagle – grows back every night and every morning cycle begins anew
- vengeance on mortals directly – woman (Works and Days) – Pandora story Hesiod’s Works and Days
- didactic epic – teaches
- addressed to brother Perses
- teaches about agriculture – agricultural work – subject of poem
- the correct way to gain bios (line 31)
- Zeus’s injustice for righteousness vs. unjust men
- Perses does not appreciate the value of agricultural work as does
Hesiod
- Zeus gives to those deserving – work the land – not work the courts, lawsuits, etc.
- good men – duty – livelihood (bios) – means of life
Pandora
- “gifted by all the gods”, “a gift from all the gods”
- first woman
- punishment Zeus gives to man (because of Prometheus)
- before Pandora – man lived in golden age – did not need to work hard, earth provided
- created by Hephaestus out of lump of clay
- beauty = Aphrodite
- trickery = Hermes
- lies = Argos
- skill = Athena
- delivered by Hermes as a gift to Epimetheus – ignored Prometheus’ warning not to accept any gifts from Zeus
- crown – given my Aphrodite (perhaps)
- Pandora – given a jar to give to Epimetheus in marriage
- jar – holds all the evil not yet in the world (torment, pain, etc.) –
Pandora opens jar – escapes, except for hope
Interpretations
- ambiguous – Pandora – evil (punishment), charming, talented, beautiful
- “dog’s mind” – no shame (dog) – literal translation from Greeks
- gift by Hermes – promiscuity – ie. Helen, bitch dog (promiscuity)
- Epimetheus receives Pandora – desirable – a gift made up of gifts
- adorned with gifts – beauty, resources, riches – asset to household – augment through children
- dog’s mind analogy – willing to cross boundaries – shameless
- opens jar – takes away bios – now man must work (let out toil, suffering, plague) - jar – not a box – pithos (commonly used as food storage vessel in ancient
Greece)
- perhaps looking for food, bios, within jar
- not expecting to let loose evil, just looking for bios – ruins for all of mankind
- Pandora – “sorrow to all man who eat bread”(81-82, Works and Days)
- taken bios from mortal men – same intention of Zeus in his initial removal of fire (45-48, Works and Days)
- in attempt to take one man’s bios – unknowingly took bios from all men
- attitude widely held against women (by men)
- “it’s your barn she’s after” – food, wheat, cows, etc.
- from Pandora comes women – great sorrow to man
- suitable revenge – Zeus’ trickery
- woman is like fire – sustains men – also gets them into trouble
- provides offspring but seeks man’s bios – as with female children
- etiological myth – explains origin of women, marriage, suffering
Women in Ancient Myth
- women – ambiguous
- ambiguity of character – Eve in Genesis, Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden =
Pandora myth
- the kinds of women – Semonides 7 – women are ambiguous – clearly hates them - women described – “no greater plague”
- war fought for women’s sake – Helen, Trojan War
- ambiguity in the figure of Gaia – helps Zeus to defeat Titans – feels guilty afterwards – produces Typhon – Zeus’ greatest enemy, most formidable foe –
Gaia gave, also took away
- women as containers – equated with vessels in which to put things, earth, containers – Gaia – seed of life and death
- man has to plow earth for new life – sow his wild oats analogy – plowing land
– plow the fields of women for reproduction
- pregnant woman – analogous to closed jar – ambiguity, can also consume
(jars) – women give children – consume too much (bios, food)
- give and take – women – give bios and take away (children – also eat too much – take away livelihood)
The Five Races of Man
- Hesiod’s Works and Days
- five races – Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, Iron (Hesiod’s time)
- progression
- genos – “people”, “race” – generation derived from this
Hesiod’s Time and Five Races
- ever deteriorating conditions – inspired by conditions of his time – many changes - land ownership from group to single ownership
- families without land – become slaves or forced to emigrate and start new life
- growth of international trade
- dawn of coinage
- before Hesiod’s age, four ages
- Ovid – four ages of men in Metamorphoses
Ages of Mankind
Golden Race
- reign of Kronos
- men were like gods – no troubles, hardships, lived like gods
- similar to the state of mankind before Prometheus stole fire
- did not need to work to survive – food provided spontaneously
- partied, feasted – never grew old
- vanished when the earth covered them
- still present as benevolent spirits – look over later races
Silver Race
- created by the Olympians
- inferior to Gold Race
- dull-witted – reared by mothers
- takes ~100 years to maturity, die a few year later
- fought
- did not honor gods
- die
- buried as a generation
- refused to honor gods (Zeus) – honored as spirits by subsequent races
Bronze Race
- born from ash tree
- warriors carried spears made from ash wood (clue as to what they were like)
- war, armor, weaponry – fought amongst themselves
- died and went to realm of Hades
- did not become immortal spirits
- not to be confused with Bronze Age of Greece
Age of Heroes – Heroic Race
- Zeus
- better than Bronze Race – more brave
- half mortal, half immortal
- age of legend, Troy, etc.
- go to Hades after death – select number go to Isles of Blest
- Isles of the Blest – Kronos takes care of heroes who have dies – equated to Fields of Elysium (Roman myth)
Iron Race
- Hesiod’s time – constant lamenting
- after Pandora
- work, warfare, destruction, quarrels
- good things mixed in, but difficult life
- continue to degenerate
- Zeus will eventually destroy Iron Race (106-201 Works and Days)
- Ovid – Metamorphoses – Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron – mortality – Roman attitude - similarity to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Book of Daniel
- Babylonian king
- dreamt about statue – head gold, body silver, bronze, iron, feet of clay
- paid to have dream interpreted
- false prophets – died
- Daniel – could interpret dream
- gold stood for the current empire – each subsequent stood for the empires to come – less than that of Babylonian empire
- Near Eastern stories – different metals represent different ages/races
Flood – Pyrrha and Deucalion (Met. 1.211-421)
- Lycaon – wicked king of Arcadia
- Pyrrha – daughter of Pandora and Epimetheus
- Deucalion – son of Prometheus
- mortals – King Lycaon – wicked – Zeus visited him, Lycaon violates laws of hospitality, killed and ate neighbor
- Lycaon turned into a wolf by Zeus
- in order to cleanse earth Zeus sends a flood
- all humans but Deucalion and Pyrrha perish
- saved – blameless human beings – good people – Zeus sees them on mountaintop – lets the earth dry
- only two people left – pray to Themis to save human race
- are told to toss bones of “mighty mother” over their shoulders
- Pyrrha scandalizes – Deucalion understands – mother earth, bones = stones
- stones turn into human beings – thrown my Pyrrha become women – thrown by Deucalion become men
- explanation by Ovid – why humans are so sturdy, hard, enduring – come from rocks/stones The Universal Flood
- Sumerian myth – tablets discovered by George Smith – cuneiform tablets
- Enki – Ziusudra (good man) – told about flood by Enki, builds a boat – is saved, waits out flood – when he leaves mortality, becomes a god, inhabits place similar to Isles of the Blest
- Akkadian version (~1700 BCE) – Atrahasis (man) – storm god Enlil – man was made out of mud to serve gods but grew to be too many, much screaming and shouting – storm god unable to sleep – decided to destroy human race, sends flood over all the earth – Ea (like Enki) – tells Atrahasis to take family and animals – gods starve (no sacrifice) – stop flood (sacrifice resumes) – Enlil angry that human survives – appeasement in form of infant death, celibacy, inability to have children (population control)
- Hebrew/Christian – Genesis – God sends flood to purge humans from earth –
Noah is saved – builds ark – wife, sons and their wives, animals saved
CLA204 Lecture 4 Notes
The Olympians
Zeus
Hera
Poseidon
Athena
Apollo
Artemis
Aphrodite
Hermes
Demeter
Dionysus
Hephaistos
Ares
- poetic authority
- Aphrodite from Ouranos (Hesiod) – but seen in Parthenon as if she is the daughter of Zeus
- Aphrodite by Zeus + Dione (Homer)
- homonyms – gods of the same name – 3 well known Zeus, 5 of Aphrodite
- epic cycles
- Homer – Trojan cycle
- Oedipus – Theban legendary cycle
- Argonauts epic cycle
- Herakles epic cycle
- hymns associated with Homer – Homeric Hymns
- short poems at beginning of religious festivals of Greeks – about the god – brief introduction to god
- longer hymns – Dionysus, Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite – 7th/6th c. BCE
- Hesiod – Theogony, Catalogue of Women
- Theogony – textbook of Greek mythology
- powers of the universe introduced
- genealogies
- birth of gods
Epic Epithets
- epithets – fixed description of gods and heroes
- in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry
- from Homer’s epic poem:
cloud-gathering Zeus
dark-haired Poseidon
white-armed Hera
cow-eyed Hera
golden Aphrodite
laughter-loving Aphrodite
Apollo of the silver bow
- visual responders used epithets in art, poetry
- Greeks – Homer/Hesiod
- genealogies of gods – gave their epithets
Zeus (Roman, Jupiter)
- Roman – Diespiter/Juppiter
- Germanic – Tues-day
- Latin – deus “god”, dies “day”
- Greek – eudia “fair weather”
- sky father – day – well lit sky – highest god
- common epithets – cloud gatherer, dark-clouded, thunderer on high, hurler of thunderbolts - actually storm god, god of clouds, weather god
- Near Eastern sky gods
- one of the most important Greek gods
- ancient Greek month was named after him
- associated particularly with mountain gods
- high mountains – Mt. Lycaon in Arcadia, Mt. Ida near Troy, Mt. Olympos in
Thessaly
- highest mountain in Thessaly – Mt. Olympos – where all the gods live
(because Zeus lives there in the clouds – by extension all the other gods live there with him)
- direct epiphany is lightning
- everywhere lightning strikes – temple built
- lightning, Zeus Kataibates – “Zeus Descending”
- thunderbolt – Semele – mother of Dionysus
- weapon of Zeus – thunderbolt – always wins over his enemies
- strongest of gods – nothing can seriously threaten him – despite scheming, disobedience - had to fight for power – ease of power/strength not always the case –
Titanomachy
- father of gods and men
- intimately connected with bull and bull sacrifice
- visual – enthroned – scepter in hand
- anax/basileus – “king”
- eagle is Zeus’ animal
- bull – abducts Europa in bull form
- Cretan theogony – Kouretes (“youth”) – hid infant Zeus from Kronos – loudly played to drown out infant’s cries
- Zeus as Kouros – “youth”
- Zeus – Kronos – ultimate warrior/youth
Threats to Zeus’ Rule
- wives
- Metis
- Thetis (fated to bear son more powerful than father) – married off to
Peleus – Achilles (son)
- monsters
- Typhoeus – threw into Tartarus, Mt. Etna (volcano – monstrous fire)
- Gigantes – “giants” – Gigantomachy fought in single combat (one giant vs. one god(
Zeus and Women
- 115 women counted
- deceptions to obtain goals
- Leda and swan
- Danaë and golden rain
- Europa and bull
- Io transformed into cow
- Callisto into she-bear
- Alcmena – Zeus disguises as her husband (Ampitryton)
Zeus’ Children
- great, powerful gods as children
- Apollo and Artemis by Leto
- Hermes by Maia
- Persephone by Demeter
- Dionysos by Semele
- Athena by Metis
- Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia by Hera
- immortal children born to mortal mothers – Helen, Polydeuces (Roman,
Pollux) by Leda
- generally – children born to mortal women are mortal
- Heracles by Alcmene
- Castor (twin of immortal Pollux) by Leda
- Perseus by Danaë
- Minos and Rhadamnthys by Europe
- Aiakos (Roman, Aeacus) by Aigina (Roman, Aegina)
- Arcas by Callisto
- Zethos and Amphion (founders of Thebes) by Antiope
- Epaphos (Roman, Epaphus) by Io
- can recognize children of Zeus – exceptional, beautiful, etc.
- Zeus – extreme patriarchal figure
- dominant male – all freedom
- sexual conquering – inexhaustible potency
- male abduction – Ganymede – abducts in form of eagle
- all gods rise in presence of Zeus
- nod shakes Mt. Olympos
- act of swallowing Metis – union of power and wisdom
- “planning mind of Zeus” – Iliad – plan stronger than that of any man – plans of men are used to fulfil Zeus’ master plans
- kings – in Homer – nourished by Zeus
- city, council – presence, guarantor – Zeus Polieus epithet
- all law comes from Zeus
- justice comes from Zeus – not to say that Zeus is just
- Themis – name means “that which is established by law”, “ordinance” – first wife of Zeus
- epithets
- Zeus Polieus – polis, “city”
- Zeus Boulaios – “counsellor”
- Dikê – “justice”
- Zeus Xenios – guardian of hospitality
- Hikesios – guardian of suppliants
- Horkios – guardian of oaths
- Panhellenes – “all Greeks” – Olympia
- Troy – Hera and Athena hated Troy – Zeus did not hate, but Trojans were always breaking oaths – therefore destruction of Troy warranted
Hera (Roman, Juno)
- queen of gods
- name not etymologically clear
- Hora – “season”
- sanctuary between Argos and Mycenae – Argeia – in the Argolid
- Hera Argeia – “Argive Hera” – reference to Hera of the sanctuary
- second sanctuary – temple – Samos – island in Aegean Sea – around 800 BCE
- associated with cow – parallel with Zeus/bull
- bo-opis – “cow-eyed”
- Meter – “mother” – great goddess (like Artemis)
- cult image – high crown of great goddess – polos – also great woven robe – peplos - earliest and most important temples to Hera – older than those of Zeus
- old temple surpassed by temple in 6 BCE – great temple
- Temple of Hera – Paestum – around 550 BCE – two of four temples at
Paestum were to Hera
- while worship very high (many temples) – role in myth is diminished – loss of status in myth
- plays the wounded, jealous wife – jealousy, strife in marriage – does not willingly submit to Zeus – in myth
- uniquely well matched to Zeus
- sleeps in the arms of the great Zeus – attribution of importance in myth
- goddess of weddings, marriage
- wedding month – Gamelion – sacrifices made to Hera
- month June – comes from Juno
- thought of as joiner, fulfiller
- Hippodameia and Pelops – huge festival for Hera to celebrate their marriage
(grandparents of Menelaus, Agamemnon)
- sees through all of Zeus’ escapades
- dangerous, malicious, implacable in rage
- greatest capacity for evil/violence
- violent toward son Hephaistos (no father) – so outraged by misshapenness that she hurls him to earth – Hephaistos gets back at her – ensnares her to throne - children
- Ares – “war”
- Hebe – blossom of “youth”
- Eileithyia – goddess of childbirth
- Hephaistos, Typhaon
- stepmother of Herakles
- Dionysus
- persecutes Semele, Ino
Poseidon (Roman, Neptune)
- grandfather of Nestor, father of Neleus
- worshipped as king in Poseidonia (modern Paestum)
- attributed father of Theseus
- battle between Eleusis and Athens – King Eumolpos backed by Poseidon
(Eleusis)
- Erechtheus – ancestral king of Athens
- Erechtheion – Erectheus’ temple
- god of the sea
- description of Poseidon – Homer’s Iliad
- earthshaker – Hesiod
- god of the earthquake
- shatters rocks with trident – hurls then to sea
- trident – symbol of power – weapon
- trident – Poseidon tries to destroy Odysseus – wave to smash raft to pieces and kill him
- popularity amongst sea-faring Greeks
- fish, dolphins, hippocamps (Poseidon’s horses)
- also bull god
- Taureos – “of the bull” – Theseus, Hippolytus
- Theseus – invoke Poseidon’s power – bull from sea
- tamer of horses, rescuer of ships
- Poseidon Hippios – “of the horse”
- “horsy” Poseidon – horseman
- chariot over sea – hippocamps – horses with fish feet/tails
- ancient myth – direct father of horse, spilled semen or rocks which horse sprang from – other myth – Poseidon + monster = horse
- Medusa – Pegasus sprang from head when beheaded by Perseus
- connected with power – energy of horses – unbridled raw power – earthquakes, sea storms
- spring at Lerna – Amymone (daughter of Danaos) turns into spring while escaping him
Athena (Roman, Minerva)
- Parthenon – “Maiden’s Apartment”
- Pallas Athene – Pallas of Athens
- Mistress of Athens – Atana potinija – modern scholars think she may be named after Athens
- pallas – maiden, weapon brandishing (perhaps)
- Hera Argeia – “Hera of Argos”
- hê theos – “the goddess”
- city goddess – Athene Polias – “of the city” – Athene Poliouchos – from Greek polis “city”
- armed maiden – valiant and untouchable
- similarity to battle goddess Ishtar – Near Eastern myth
- palladion – statuette of Athena
- aegis – emblem of Athena – breastplate with face of Gorgon and snaky hair – inspires terror – possibly made of goat skin – goat – monster – Gorgon –
Athena killed it – symbol of warrior power
- unsettling myths – Kos – skinned and killed giant Pallas – put on his skin – claimed also that Pallas was her father
- Athena Ergane – “worker of wool” – weaving – mostly battle scenes
- Panathenaia Festival – peplos – woven robe
- importance of goddess of war – planning and strategy
- invented ship – Argo – first ship
- Trojan War – Trojan Horse
- olive tree sacred to Athena – watched over olive trees in general
- patron of Greek heroes – close to protégés
- bridled horse – built chariot
- cunning intelligence – scheming – stands beside Odysseus
- owl – Athens’s animal
- Diomedes, Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus – enemy of Trojan Hector
- Metis – “cunning intelligence”, tricks, etc. – reinterpreted as Phronesis –
“morally responsible reason”
- unique bond with father – born from head of father – patricide (head is split open) – goes back to Pallas myth – there is a violence to Athena
- violence of virginity – no contact with womb – born not from mother but from father - almost becomes mother of ancestral king of Athens – Hephaistos tries to rape her – she wipes semen from leg – Erichthonios/Erechtheus born from ground
(Gaia)
Apollo
- most Greek of all gods
- two great centres associated with Apollo
- Delos – known as birthplace – Apollo Delios – “Delian Apollo”
- Dephi – oracle of gods – Apollo Pythios – “Pythian Apollo”
- iconographically – youthful god
- first temple in Delos – Artemis ~700 BCE
- temple at Delphi ~ 8 c. BCE, no earlier
- relatively new Greek god
- omphalos (Theogony 496-500) at Delphi
- Apollo Lykeios – “Lycian Apollo” – conjecture that Apollo was imported to
Greece from Asia Minor – Lycia Asia Minor
- on Trojan side in Trojan War – against Greeks
- regarded as ephebe – youth on threshold of manhood
- Apollo Akersekomas – “with unshorn hair” – youth – hair still long, no beard
- cult hymn – Paean – hymn of healing
- weapon – bow and arrow – not god of hunters, arrows signify plague/illness – god of sickness and health
- god of healing but also of plague/sickness
- singers/storytellers – musical instruments – phorminx, lyre, etc. – Muses
- often regarded as leader of the Muses – Apollo Mousagetes
- musician with gods
- god of poetry, song, music
- strikes from a distance – “striking from afar” – Apollo Hekatebolos – for example, the killing of Niobe
- birth is his first epiphany – mother roams world to find a place to give birth
- from 5th c. BCE onward – radiance, sun god
- Achilles – dies by Apollo’s arrow – Achilles’ son dies by Apollo as well
- hymns of Apollo – about young boys, teenage girls
- music competition – laurel wreath to winner
- laurel – Daphne turned into laurel tree
Artemis (Roman, Diana)
- seems to originate in Asia Minor as well
- Artemis of Ephesus – most widely known identity – Great Goddess of Asia
Minor
- Great Goddess – Kybele (Roman, Cybele)
- mistress of animals - key to her nature
- mistress of whole of wild nature – wild creature
- belongs in nature not culture
- goddess of the hunt
- huntress – triumphantly kills her prey – bow and arrow
- Apollo – on battlefield, plague/sickness – Artemis – huntress
- Homer – Artemis as young girl – no place in battlefield – humiliated
- wears chiton – short tunic
- goddess in company of nymphs – violent, virgin
- goddess of open countryside – beyond village and towns
- not virginity as asexuality of Athena – erotic, challenging virgin feature
- her arrows – kill women in childbirth – who are fulfilling womanly destiny
- comes to women in childbirth – relief, sometimes death
- most famous myth of Greek sacrifice – Iphigeneia
- Agamemnon kills stag in sacred grove – Artemis demands that Iphigeneia
(daughter) be sacrificed (opening of Trojan War) – at last moment, switched
- Iphigeneia – becomes “sacred” – Artemis – nymph
- like Achilles to Apollo – similarity
Aphrodite (Roman, Venus)
- Semitic goddess (Ishtar – Astarte)
- incense altars, dove sacrifices
- connection with garden and the sea – Near Eastern and Greek
- Homer alludes that Aphrodite outdid Hera, Athena – abduction of Helen – outbreak of Trojan War – Paris, apple of discord
- focus of early Homeric Hymn – sought out herdsman Anchises (Trojan prince and shepherd) in Troy
- Phrygian mother goddess – Anatolian Great Mother (Kybele/Cybele)
- slight similarity to Artemis and strong similarity to Phrygian mother – mistress of animals – under her power, the animals forget their fierceness – sexualism
- Hesiodic Aphrodite – daughter of Ouranos – more dangerous
- Homeric Aphrodite – daughter of Zeus and Dione – laughter loving, golden – tamed - philommeides – “laughter loving”
- philommedes – “to her belong male genitals”
- Aphrodite Ourania (from Ouranos) – celestial love
- Aphrodite Pandemos – responsible for physical sexuality, prostitution
- Venus Genetrix – “the Mother”, “ancestral mother” – in Rome
- Aphrodite of Knidos – getting ready to take a bath – semi-naked/naked
- unabashed sexuality
- sometimes sublimated to celestial kind of love
CLA204 Lecture 5
Hermes
- square pillar with erect phalus
- greek epic transformed, heap god int 'trickster', epic role of the messenger to the gods - immovable boundary stones is surrounded with tails about the transgression of boundaries, breaking of taboos, myth of the catlle fest
- percocious energy, lines 427-428
- invents fire and fire-sticks from which men take from, sacrifice as well
- Hermes is the antithesis of Prometheus
- furtivenes, deception, trickery
- the swift messenger of his father
- his epithet is Argeiphontes
- Hermes killed Argos
- Hermes is often associated with musical instruments, he transgresses the boundary between heaven and earth
- Hermes psycho-- leader of the souls
- Eurydice
- hermes is the patron of herdmens, thieves, graves & heraldness son of the nymph Maia-- sexually exuberant
- cattle wrestling or ship wrestling-- stole cattle and this is their daring feat-- outsmarted neighbour
- Hermes is the giver of the good-- lucky finds
- hermes was invoked in vibations to the dead and graves were unders his care & protection - carries the herald staff and is a messenger of the Gods-- herald's staff is kerykeion
-- caduceus-- what is the relationship here?
- Hermes is a bearded god, but by the 5th century he begins to be portrayed as a youthful God, prefigures our discussion of Herakles-- who is a patron and model for athletes in ancient Greece
Mercury with his money bag
- God of trade and commodities
- roman equivalent of Hermes
- linked to God of Herald's messengers with
- herms have the beard and the phallus
Demeter/Damatar
- mater, her role in myth involves around being a mother, interpretation as a mother was certain in antiquity and corn was at the center of her power
- invents agriculture for men, appears in art with corn
- the 'blond goddess'
- Demeter and her daughter stand allegorically for corn
- her daughter is Kore and she is the roman persephone, her husband is Hades
- Kore or Persephone is on one hand the daughter of Demeter and on the other the mistress of Hades (death underground god)
- venerable and awesome
- Homeric hymn of Demeter -- lines 913-914 in the Theogony, it is a very old myth
- Persephone is a maiden and she is playing in choruses of Artemis
- Artemis mates -- plucking of the flowers -- among the daughter of oceans, at the edge of the world
- as she bends down to pick up a beautiful flower then the earth opens up and
Hades appears, abducts and rapes her
- sex and death always go together in myth
- Demeter is dangerous in her grief and anger-- the whole race of mankind is doomed to perish-- gods denied thier honour and sacrifice unless she can be placated or appeased
- Hermes and Hecate
- in the underworld-- because she tasted the promegranate she has to spend one third of the year int he underworld
- Persephone is the corn-- the grain that has to discern into earth so that from apparent death, new seed may germinate, her ascent is when the earth blooms with spring flowers
Katabasis
- inanna Ishtar
- telepinu
- greek combines these two middle eastern tales
- in antiquity to be carried off by Hades or to celebrate marriage with Hades became a common metaphor for death
- to be the bride of Hades is to have died before you celebrate a marriage with a man - establishes a kind of double existence between the upper world and the underworld - Demeter's festivals-- thesmophoria and Katagoge
- mysteries celebrated in ther honour
- the dead -- demetreioi-- athenians sowed korn on
- Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus
Dionysus/ Bacchus (roman liber)
- intoxication interpreted as the eruption of the divine
- madness means frenzy as an experience of intensified power-- you have access to some aspect of the world you didn't beforehand
- mass phenomenon spreads almost infectiously -- when you are doing what every one areound oyu is doing? -- this is the moment of dionysian ecstacy
- The god is always surrounded by a swarm of frenzied males and females
- becoming mad-- a stage that is both divine
- symbol of Dionysus is the mask-- you have lost your identity, you have become
God -- the actor
- Dio-- Zeus-- son of Zeus
- Semele-- also non-greek
- Bacchus-- also non-greek
- Thyrsus, thriambos, dithyramb-- associated with the near East (Phrygia, Lydia in
Axia Minor, associat Dionysius with Cybele)
- dithyramb and thriambos are performed in the context of the worship of Dionysius
- 5th century BCE Euripides' Bacchae-- Theban king Pentheus tries to supress the
Dionysias'
- menads Maenad carrying thyrsus and a cat which she is about to rip apart
- Maenads tear him apart -- death of Pentheus
- birth myth
- Zeus falls in love with Semele-- he come to her in the form in which he visits his wife - appears to her in thunderbolts, zeus rescues the child ,and he is born a second time from Zeus thigh
- nysa-- carries dionysis to nysa
- the birth from the thigh-- dionysius is born from part with erotic and homo-erotic associations, with the thigh wound, it looks like there is some symbolic represenation - the death of the infant -- torn to pieces and then had to be reconstituted
- after he is torn to pieces he vanishes to some distant place -- he returns to Thebes to demand worship and acknowledgment of his powers
- god of wine he is a delight to mortals
- Ikarios was killed by the other peasants
- she hangs herself when she finds her father by a fountain
- the blood of the vine-- widespread
- wine god became a popular subject of ancient art
- vine and ivy tendrals all around the God -- thyrsus, pine coin like tip
- wine cup-- greek kanthalos
- maenads and satyrs
- maenads are always clothed , satyrs have flat nosed face, beard, pointy goat ears, or goat feet, they ahve a tail and have erect thyloi-- primitve form of masking, as if they're all wearing masks in honour of the god
- God represented by mask and robe-- dressed up almost like a scarecrow
- old bearded man in early vase paintings, carries in his hand the kantharos
- in middle of the 5th century, dionysius undergoes a transformation, he is portrayed as youthful and usually naked
- wine and sex went together in antiquity -- Herakles would not have said no
- the gods get younger and younger
- Hephaistos-- tyrsenoi
- relationship from mythic material from Asia minor
- erichthonios-- might be the son of athena and Hephaistos
- Hephaistos is associated with fire, volcanoes, teh god has crippled feet in myth, he's lame, it makes him an outsider among the perfect Athenians
- special powers are marked by a special sign, if his in his smith, he doesn't need to be swift
- why his feet are crippled? Hera bore hephaistos and was so dissapointed that he was thrown off
- Aphrodite is the wife of Hephaistos and asks him to build weapons for her son
Aneid
Ares/Mars
- ares throng of battle or war
- personification of war
- war chariot drawn by fear
- Ares is incarnation of battle frenzy and Athena is the incarnation of battle tactics
- Ares sides with the Trojans-- when Ares and Athena meet in battle while Athena hits Ares
- Ares embodies everything that is hateful in war while Nike is reserved for Athena
- while athena lives in athens, Ares lives in Thrace
- Herakles defeats Ares' son foundation myth of Thebes-- Cadmus and Harmonia-- Ares is the father of this dreadful snake
- murderous war ends in harmonious order and city foundation
- temple to Ares in Athenian Agora
Herakles
- hero: a deity of mortal birth who after death, exercises power over a limited geographical area
- god: an immortal deity whose power is not limited geographically
- worship is very wide spread
- evoked in amazement-- "By Hercules"
- Hyginus and Apollodorus-- mising 5th centure or late 5th centuty epic
- as a hero he was mortal, born to a human mother and a god
- human mother is Alcmena and his dad was Zeus
- outside the cycle of the labours
- Herakles was pursued by Hera-- Hera managed to delay his birth
- Hera sent him snakes early on and he murdered them as a baby
- Hera drove him mad and he killed his Theban wife Megara
12 Labours
Nemean Lion: wrestles the Nameon Lion
Lernaean Hydra
Eryman and so on.
- the hero and the theme of the conquest of death
- on one occasion Herakles met Hades and defeated him -- and the myth ends with
Herakles becoming divine
- opotheosis is right after he is poisoned mortal deaths are burned away
- journey to the underworld-- the biggies of life and death
Par arga-- incidental feats distinguished from altha
- struggles with a centaur
- fights Apollo for delphic tripod
- rescues Hesione from the sea-monster (parergon)
- Herakles is mostly associated wtih Athena mortal herakles dies and he is divinized and it's Athena who introduces him to
Olympus
- word for becoming a god undergoing divinization is apotheosis
-recieves Hebe as a wife -- she is one of the legitimate children of Zeus and Hera
- club, lion belt, bow and quiver full of arrows , his club, his bow and arroes
- kallinikos-- incarnation of the beautiful victory
- Hercules fights: lion, Hydra and these stories are the earliest stories portrayed pictorially - materials from mesopotamia illustrate a hero overcoming bulls and lions and snakes - sumerian materials also portray a hero with lion, club and arrows- liberates someone who is attacked by bird-- Herakles rescues Prometheus
- in sumerian myth battles birds, multi-headed monsters
- Ninurta (Sumerian herakles)= herakles son of Zeus
- 3rd century Sumeria (800 BCE) -- vs archaic greece
- self-sacrifice on a pyre followed by divinization recalls near Eastern tradition for
Sandes
- Eurystheus
- Herakles and twin brother ethycleus
- Omphale-- is spinning and dressed in women's garments
- slaved by Lydian queen omphale to attone for murder
- burns his wife and children megare
- nocturnal fire festivals
- alcidae-- sons of the strong
- his epiphet
- derailing of his might, his brawn, Heracles exemplifies the extremies of heroic masculinity and debased bestiality
- the extreme turns into its opposite-- bestail and divine
- theophoric name: hera's glory or glorious gift of Hera (Appollodorus= greek of appollo) - he gets tasks from Hera, epic explains his name as Hera's implaccable antagonism to him
- Hera is Heracle's ritual antagonist
- Juno is the ritual antagonist of Anies
- seduced amphena and
- arete-- manly escellence- courage, battle worthiness, known as patron of aristocratic manly idea
- olbos-- lasting happiness through an extraordinary deed, pattern paradigm model for athletic success
- killed the eagle that plagued Permetheus
- Zeus want to honour his famous son
- Zeus' glorification of Herakles reflects back to Zeus
- Herakes establishes order as son of Zeus but Ares is this fighting force-- Hesiod's
Herakles
- portrayed as an ethical force, fights a personification of sacrilegious impaie or evil
- Zeus' affair with Alcmene
- Herakles' shield: reflect the myths of what he achieves
- he doesn't fight Kuknos to satisfy his ambition, but to save mankind
- shield symbolically represents his moral role
- athlos -- contest or labour-- get the english word athlete
- Herakles shows us how to behave in the world
- description of Apollo and the Musees, Herakles fights on the side of Apollo,
Herakles has an association with the Musees
- establishes a very positive picture of the hero
- warder of of evil -- alexikakos
- capture of beautiful victory
Bacchylides' Herakles
- Herakles committed his killings to be a savior to 'purify'
- get the title 'purifier'
- Hieron
- sacker of cities
Herakles Encounter with Meleager in Hades
- frightened when his opponent is just a shade
- Herakles and Meleager have a talk
- Meleager-- to turn aside the god's intent is difficult for men who live upon the earth - shows us a very human Herajkes
- Deianira (man- destroyer)-- marries his own mortal doom
- woman killed Maleager
Interpretation of herakles
- master of animals
-Geryon myth: Erydion-- land of the dead
- travelling in the sun's cup to get to the re island
- Vladimir Propp
- eating & herakles
- ancient comedy-- glutton bar excellence
- an aspect that aligns him with Hera-- cattle are raised for Hera
- Herakles doesn't share cattle and Hera wants equal distribution
- discuss the iconography