Greek & Roman Myth: Midterm 1 Study Guide

Critical Thinking

Not having the answer before asking the question

Thesis

says something about a collection of facts that someone can disagree with

Observation

A statement about more than one fact that every reasonable person will agree with

Textualism

The belief that reality is wholly constructed by means of language

Historicism

The ideas that human beings had fundamentally different ideas of how the world worked in the past and their motives cannot always be understood

Humanism

The assertion that human beings are the same now as in the ancient world and therefore understandable

Intertextuality

a literary device that creates an ‘interrelationship between texts’ and generates meaning by inviting comparison between these texts, e.g., The Odyssey movie, alls wells that ends well - shakespeare

Persephone

daughter of Zeus and the goddess of grain, Demeter

Zeus

Areas of Concern: The sky, kingship

Zeus

Attributes: Beard, Eagle, Thunderbolt

Zeus

Based on the same root as Roman Iu- in Iupiter (Jove) and Sanskrit Dyaush pita (both “sky father”)

Zeus

Associated with Egyptian Amun and Persian Ahura-Mazda

Thebes

Place; Legendary home of Cadmus, Heracles, Oedipus and Dionysos (Among Others)

Thebes

Setting of Antigone

Thebes

Traditional Enemy of Athens and something of an anti-Athens

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Author of The Metamorphoses, poem in 15 Books about mythology

Ovid

Born March 20, 43 BCE, Sulmo, Italy

Ovid

Died ca 17 CE, Tomis now in modern Romania

Cadmus

Brother of Europa

Cadmus

Founder of the Greek city of Thebes

Cadmus

Sometimes said to be the one who brought the alphabet to the Greeks

Achilles

Son of Peleus and the sea Nymph Thetis

Achilles

Invulnerable except for his heel

Achilles

“Best of the Achaeans” in the Iliad

Hissarlik

An archaeological site in modern Turkey

Hissarlik

Location of Roman Ilium

Hissarlik

Excavated by Heinrich Schliemann who claimed he found the lost city of Troy

Heinrich Schliemann

German businessman (1822-1890)

Heinrich Schliemann

Excavated Hissarlik (maintained he found Troy) and excavated Mycenae (made

spectacular discoveries in tombs)

Athena

Attributes: Helmet, Owl

Athena

Areas of Concern: Crafts and War (i.e. of Cities and Civilization)

Athena

Patron goddess of Athens

Athena

Virgin Goddess born from the head of Zeus

Idealism

The belief that categories exits “out there” independent of language and human beings. Sometimes these categories are referred to as “natural”

Typhoeus

Son of Gaia and Tartaros

Typhoeus

Challenged the Rule of Zeus and is defeated

Hephaestus

Son of Hera

Hephaestus

Attributes: Hammer, Tongs, Donkey

Hephaestus

Areas of Concern: Metal Working, Fire

Hephaestus

Associated with Roman Vulcan

Hesiod

Believed to be the poet of the Theogony and Works and Days

Hesiod

Supposedly lived in Boeotia

Hesiod

Supposedly defeated Homer in a poetic contest

Mount Olympus

Highest mountain in modern Greece and second highest in the Balkan range

Mount Olympus

Mythical home of some of the twelve Greek gods known as Olympians

(Pseudo-)Apollodorus

• Author of the Library of Greek Mythology

• Lived sometime in the 2nd c CE

Argos

A Greek city state located in central Greece famous for its temple of Hera

Argos

Continually occupied since the stone age through the Mycenaean to the historical period

Argos

Extremely powerful in the seventh century BCE but eclipsed by Sparta and Athens by the sixth century BCE

Hera

Sister and Wife of Zeus

Hera

Attributes: Crown, Peacock

Hera

Areas of Concern: Marriage, Family

Heracles

Attributes: Lion skin, club

Heracles

Areas of Concern: Strength, Spreading Culture

Heracles

Associated with Phoenician Melqart and borrowed by Romans as Hercules

Milman Parry

• Put forth the thesis that Homeric poetry is part of an older oral tradition

• 1902-1935

• Studied under Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne

Stolac, Bosnia

Location of a tradition of Oral poetry that existed in the 20th c and compared to Homer

Stolac, Bosnia

Area of Bosnia that has been settled for at least 15,000 years

Stolac, Bosnia

Located near the ancient site if Daorson, eventually a city in the Roman empire

Diomedes

Son of Tydeus

Diomedes

Frequent companion of Odysseus in the Iliad

Diomedes

Fierce fighter who actually attacks Ares and Aphrodite

Ares

Concern: War

Ares

Attributes: Sword, Shield

Ares

“Roman name”: Mars

George Bernard Shaw

• Author of Pygmalion, Caesar and Cleopatra and Saint Joan

• 1856-1950

• Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925

Aphrodite

Attributes: Cupids, Doves

Aphrodite

Areas of Concern: Love, Desire, Fertility

Aphrodite

Associated with Roman Venus

Cyprus

An Island in the Mediterranean south of modern Turkey rich in copper ore (hence Latin cuprum and English “copper”)

Cyprus

A crossroads between Greek and Phoenician civilization

Cyprus

The legendary home of Myrrha, Pygmalion and a favorite place of Aphrodite who is often called “the Cypriote” (Cypria)

Adonis

Son and Brother of Myrrha and son and grandson of Cinyras

Adonis

Mortal Lover of Aphrodite

Adonis

Perhaps related to Akkadian Tammuz lover of Ishtar

Mount Parnassus

A mountain in central Greece sacred to Apollo and Dionysus

Mount Parnassus

Also sacred to the Muses and a place of inspiration for some poets to this day

Dionysus

(Bacchus, Mr. D)

• God of Wine

Dionysus

Son of Zeus and Semele

Dionysus

Honored at the Great Dionysia festival in Athens where tragedies were performed

Orpheus

Son of Oleagrus and Calliope,the muse

Orpheus

Tried and failed to bring his wife, Eurydice, back from the dead

Orpheus

Died when the followers of Dionysus ripped him limb from limb

Vergil Georgics

• Author of the Aeneid, the Georgics, and the Eclogues

• wrote a series of shorter poems

• use it to predict the future

• Publius Vergilius Maro

• (Vergil/Virgil)

• Born Mantua, Italy October 15 70 BCE

• Died September 21 19 BCE

Myrrha

After her mother boasted that her beauty rivaled that of Aphrodite, the goddess punished her by cursing her with an unnatural, burning lust for her own father, King Cinyra

Pygmalion

• disgusted by women who live “their lives in wickedness”

• marriage to his nameless statue ends with the birth of their son Papho