quiz 4 mythology

the concept of liminality

a time of reflection, which does not lead to acceptance all the time, but critique

not only rites of initiation

performance - theater, film, festivals

temporarlity projected outside of social world - freedom to examine what you were immersed in

time of the emergence of deepest values - but can lead to skepticism, criticism

He argued that during this stage initiates are no longer their former selves but have not yet achieved their new status and thus “are at once no longer classified and not yet classified.”

Turner emphasized how the liminal stage of initiation, or liminality, encouraged initiates to see the provisional nature of all social identities and thereby to develop a critical perspective on their social world.

reflection

rites of passage

arnold van gennep

brauronia and hyacinthia

separation, transition, return / incorporation

sense of release from social barriers and distinctions so that people can participate as equals

traits of hero/herione

1. human being who died

   1. originally minor deities (demigods) Enter islands of the blessed in Hades

   2. venerated at gravesites

2. perform extraordinary deeds that may (not) be moral

   1. strength / endurance - not always serving greater good

3. die prematurely, violently, mysteriously

   1. they are thus special: sould might be angry

   2. mysterious disappearance of body - sentient after death, able to help men (apotheosis - rises to heaven to help gods)

4. venerated at gravesites

   1. heroes could act on behalf of those who worshipped them or harm

   2. shrines at center of community, marked as sacred

      1. heroines often worshipped alongside husband/father/son

5. immortality through cult and song

   1. sacrifices, dedications, festivals

   2. epics and tragedies performed

Homeric question

what do you want to remember

what we dont know:

-when the homeric poems were composed

-whether they were composed by a single poet or were instead originally shorter, independent poems that circulated and were transmitted orally for a long period before being unified into the long poems we have

-if this poet existed: who he was, when he lived, and what he was called

in medias res

in the midst of things

into the middle of a narrative; without preamble

the iliad: key point and events

book 1: quarrels among humans and quarrels among gods. gods take sides

-hera, poseidon, athena —> pro greeks

-apollo, artemis, athena —> pro trojans

-zeus —> neutral

book 1: quarrel of agamemnon and achilles; the gods on olympus

book 9: embassy to achilles and achilles’ reply

book 16: death of patrolcus by hector

book 22: death of hector by achilles

book 24: achilles and priam; funeral of hector

aristeia

moment of excellence

successful use of force against enemy - excellence does not need to be (nor often is) moral excellence

timē

honor

the most important value for a homeric hero. the honor and status others give to the hero

kleos

glory / reputation

the means through which the timē of a hero becomes visible to the others. associated with a hero’s death

geras

prize

gifts and spoils

aidos

shame

the hero mist avoid it at any cost

agamemnon and menelaus

agamemnon (mycenae), arrogant and self centered

menelaus (sparta)

heroes not because of moral goodness

house of atreus

atreus and thyestes - brothers and ancestors of menelaus and agamemnon

achilles

son of peleus and thetis

died at the hands of paris

greatest warrior in greek history

killed hector and then began feeling empathy and sorrow for priam

he refused to fight because agamemnon took his war prize

he wanted people to know they wouldnt win without him

thetis tried burning away the mortal parts of achilles but she hold him above fire/water by his heels (achilles heel)

hector killed patroclus which sends achilles into a rage and kills hector

chose to be a hero and to die

sees beyond the code of war: he shares feelings and mourns together with priam

has the ability to go beyond the heroic ideal and code of war

accepts that his fate is to die

achilles’ dilemma

fight and die (a hero) or go home and live a life (not a hero)

chryseis and Briseis

Chryseis was agamemnon’s war prize that he looses (she is trojan daughter of priest to apollo)

Briseis is achilles war prize that agamemnon takes away

this leads to achilles refusing to fight

patroclus

achilles best friend / possible lover

was killed by hector in battle wearing achilles armor

achilles began a rage of killing after learning of his death

hector and paris

hector - killed my achilles after killing patroclus, his body was returned to priam, great trojan warrior, son of king priam and hecuba, knows he is the best hope to save troy, knows he will die, losses courage and flees with achilles chasing him while they battled, athena convinces hector to stop running and achilles kills hector, his death foreshadows the demise of troy

paris - prince of troy, abducts helen after the judgement of paris and choosing aphrodite, killed achilles with apollos aid, son of king priam and queen hecuba, instigator of trojan war: violation of xenia, not aristeia, rescued by aphrodite

aeneas

founder of rome

son of aphrodite and anchises

escaped the fall of troy with his son and father

quest hero (odysseus) - wrath of hera keeps aeneas from his goal

7 years after fall of troy, aeneas arrives at carthage

aeneas and trojans at war with italians

community over the individual

communal good over individual desires

not motivated by eage

motivated by duty

moved by sadness (troy destroyed)

aeneid begins with sadness of aeneas and the rage of hera

reaches italy, alliances with king latinus,, marries lavinia

stirs up war between aeneas, his italian allies, and king turnus and the rutulians

-turnus was a suitor for lavinia

evander - king of arcadians - aeneas’ ally

pallas (companion of aeneas) killed by turnus - aeneas enraged

aeneas kills turnus despite pleas for mercy

priam

father of hector and paris

king of troy

mourned over hector and had achilles give him his body back

causes empathy for achilles

shame culture vs guilt culture

shame culture - one seeks to avoid shame for himself, highest good is the enjoyment of public esteem —> honor, result culture, one seeks success through glory and prize, the individual is everything, competitive values

guilt culture - one seeks to avoid sense of guilt, highest good is the enjoyment of a quiet conscience —> moral standards, intention culture, notion of the greater good —> community is more important than individual, cooperative values

the aeneid

written by vergil

20s BCE

aeneas, from troy to italy

-foreshadowing great role of julian clan

dido (carthage)

-foreshadowing rivarly between rome and carthage

-1st, 2nd, and 3rd punic wars in third century BCE

books 1-6: odyssean

• Aeneas is a quest hero (odysseus)

  • Odyssey - wrath of poseidon keeps odysseus from his goal

  • Aeneid - wrath of hera keepys aeneas from his goal 

• Mission: to found a new city, a new troy

• Encounters helpers and villains along the way 

• Book 1: 7 years after the fall of troy, aeneas arrives at carthage

• Books 2 and 3 - tells the stories of his journey at a banquet (in medias res)

• Book 4: aeneas lingers at carthage - dido - departs at carthage

• Book 6: journey into underworld 

books 7-12: iliadic

• Aeneas and trojans at war with the italians (achilles and trojan war)

• Turnus

key points of the Aeneid

The Aeneid by Virgil tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan prince, who, after the fall of Troy, journeys to Italy to fulfill his destiny and found Rome. Key points include Aeneas's wanderings, his romantic entanglement with Queen Dido of Carthage, his descent into the Underworld, and his eventual struggle to establish a new city in Latium

• In the underworld

• Aeneas’ dead father guides him

• Visits souls of the dead

  • Dido (queen of carthage)

• Sees souls of great men of the future

  • Caesar, augustus and family 

• Allecto (a fury) represents juno’s anger

• Aeneas reaches italy

  • Alliances with king latinus, marries lavinia

• Stirs up war between aeneas, his italian allies, and king turnus and the rutulians

  • Turnus was a suitor for lavinia

• Evander - king of arcadians - aeneas’ ally

  • Pallas son of evander and companion of aeneas (like achilles and patroclus)

• Pallas killed by turnus - aeneas enraged

  • Drive to found rome linked to vengeance 

    • Before - just a sense of duty

  • Aeneas kills turnus despite pleas for mercy

anchises

father of aeneas

aphrodite fell in love with him

left troy with his son and grandson

turnus

was a suitor for lavinia

pallas was killed by turnus

aeneas kills turnus in revenge despite pleas for mercy

dido

carthage

queen of carthage

causes aeneas to linger at carthage

pallas

son of evander

companion of aeneas

killed by turnus

hera (her role)

causes annoyance and harm to the women and their children zeus cheat on her with

sends madness (lyssa) to herakles which makes him kill his family

her jealousy destroys many

characteristics of a quest hero

• Primary task is a journey; pursuit of a precious person or object (golden fleece)

• Encounters others who either obstruct or sid his quest; undergoes trials

• Story revolving around the euro is primarily devoted to describing a journey to achieve a goal or obtain an object/person 

villians and helpers

villians - uncivilized or frightening behavior that threaten society

• Not human (giants, dragons, monsters) or hybrids (i.e. Medusa)

• Found in wild spaces (not city) mountains, caves, sea (foreigners)

• Exhibit wild behavior; act outside of social norms (female)

helpers - represent cultural ideals

• The female helper (princess, queen) - ideal feminine traits - help hero 

• But…

  • Often the hero abandons the female helper

  • Often the female helper turns out to be just as dangerous as the villain

    • Fear of the uncontrolled female (medusa)

  • Ambivalence - an aid but also a threat

    • Threat of delay

    • Threat of harm 

heracles

(glory of hera)

son of zeus and alcmene

rage of hera

-hera sent a snake to hill him, but he kills the snake

-she makes him go mad and kill his family

-has to go through 12 labors to cleanse self of miasma

nemean Lion

heracles kills the lion

it has impenetrable skin

he wrestles lion and kills it but cant get though skin, athena tells him to use the lions claw to penetrate the skin and it works

he uses the skin as armor

lernaean hydra

female monster (daughter of typhoeus)

unruly female reproduction, resistance to zeus’ (male) rule and marriage

athena’s strategy: cauterize the necks so no more heads grow

lolaüs: helper

augean stables

clean an ungodly amount of cow poop

solution.- divert rivers to run through the stables

cerberus

captured by herakles

enter the underworld

three headed dog that guards the underworld

eurystheus

a king of Tiryns and Mycenae, known for his role in the Twelve Labors of Heracles

He was the son of Sthenelus and Nicippe, grandson of Perseus, and a mortal rival to Heracles, who was the illegitimate son of Zeus. Hera, Zeus' wife, intervened to ensure Eurystheus became king instead of Heracles, leading to a long-standing feud. 

Eurystheus is primarily known for setting Heracles his Twelve Labors as a form of penance for Heracles' murder of his family, under Hera's influence

nessos

abducts deianira

heracles kills nessos with a poison arrow

nessos, dying said “my blood is a love potion”

heracles drenches his clothes but its poison

heracles suffers and he dies but is the escorted to olympus to become a god

centaur

deianira

a Calydonian princess and the second wife of the hero Heracles (Hercules)

abducted by nessos

she told heracles to drench his clothing in nessos blood but it was poison and this killed heracles

theseus

father of hippolytus and curses him which causes his death

he had six labors and the killing of the minotaur in the maze

son of aegeus / poseidon and aethra

delphi (to childless aegeus): “do not open the swelling mouht of the wineskin until you come to the height of the athenians”

• Aegeus at troezen to meet king pittheus

  • Impregnates aethra (daughter) (gets drunk and impregnates her)

  • Departs for athens but leaves sword and sandals under a rock

• Theseus born and raised in troezen 

  • Grows strong enough to life rock, retrieve objects 

• Theseus’ quest #1: travel to athens from troezen

  • Reunite with father king aegeus

    • Travels to athens with sword and sandals

    • Become part of his royal family in athens

    • But first - perform 6 labors 

6 labors

• The 6 labors to athens

  • Kills periphetes (“clubber”)

  • Kills sinus (pinebender) (son of poseidon) 

  • Kills the crommyonian sow

  • Kills sciron

  • Crushes cercyon

  • Kills procrustes - killer innkeeper

procrustes

killer innkeeper

birth of theseus

born and raised in trozen

gros strong enough to lift rock, retrieve objects

aegeus

father of theseus

• Delphi (to childless aegeus):

  • “Do not open the swelling mouth of the wineskin until you come to the height of the athenians”

• Aegeus at troezen to meet king pittheus

  • Impregnates aethra (daughter) (gets drunk and impregnates her)

  • Departs for athens but leaves sword and sandals under a rock

reunited with son and identity was proven by sword and sandals

he saw a black flag and thought his son died, but he didnt

he commits suicide

ariadne

dionysus had three mortal sons with her

daughter of king minos and pasiphaë

falls in love with theseus

her loyalty to her family questioned

she is abandoned by theseus on naxos

saved by dionysus or kills herself

theseus becomes disgusted after her killing her half brother the minotaur

bethrothed to dionysus

minos

son of zeus (as a bull) and europa)

ariadne is daughter of minos

a bull rose from the sea to see if king minos is true king of crete

minos thinks bull is too beautiful to sacrifice to the gods

he breaks his promise to gods and this makes poseidon angry

he makes minos’ wife to fall in love with the divine bull and give birth to a minotaur that is then locked in a cage until theseus kills it.

minos cant kill it because it is apart of the family

he invades athens; athens capitulated

pasiphae

wife of minos

caused to fall in love with bull and give birth to minotaur

daedalus

greatest craftman the world has seen

crafted a hollow cow out of wood, stretches hide over it and lets pasiphae hid in it to get impregnated by the bull

amazons

ares and harmonia created amazons

women who fight like men, fearsome warriors, kill and capture men, uncivilized women)

antiope is queen of amazons

tolerated men as slaves or killed them

represented everything dangerous about a woman

perseus

danae and the golden rain

killed medusa with a mirror and cuts head off

may have killed ariadne

• Impressive family line

  • Son of zeus and danaë

  • Grandfather acrisius - oracle: grandson will kill him and take his throne (argos) 

locked in a trunk with danae and set out to sea

a pegasus was birthed from the neck or head of medusa after it was cut off by perseus

danaë

mother of perseus

imprisoned after oracles

was in a trunk with perseus and was set out to sea

rescued by king polydectes who wants to marry danae

medusa

beheaded by athena and perseus

created pegasus and chrysaor after her head was cut off

her head is protection in battle

villain

fear of the uncontrolled female

her head wards off evil

poseidon attacks medusa because he was enamoured by her and athena attacked medusa and turns her into a monster

graeae

gray haired woman

nymphs’ gift

cap of hades (invisibility)

winged sandals

leather pouch

andromeda

daughter of cepheus and cassopeä

nereids marries andromeda after killing her fiance

pegasus and chrysaor

pegasus - winged horse

chrysair - giant

both birthed from the neck or head of medusa after it was cut off by perseus

might have been birth from medusa with poseidon

characteristics of a monster

• Our fears, desires, anxieties create monsters that express our fears, desires; anxieties 

  • Centaur - anxieties about masculinity - man/horse hybrid

    • Horse body - inability to control appetites; possess strength and endurance of a horse

    • Male head: hope that reason will govern actions

  • Monsters escape - fears, desires, anxieties cannot be eradicated

• They are disturbing hybrids

  • Body forms are incoherent and beyond society - destroys distinctions

    • Relationship between humans and animals

    • Exist beyond structures of society and rules 

• Exaggerated bodies

  • Cultural, political, racial differences

    • Differ from greek male ideal, anxieties about differences

    • Native vs other - geryon has a red body

• Challenge us to understand / evaluate our cultural assumptions 

nostos

homecoming

odysseus

wrath of poseidon keeps odysseus from his goal

return from troy, suitors have set up at his home vying for penelope

• “Cunning intelligence”

  • Survives Trojan war and the return home 

• Trickster

  • Fakes insanity to avoid the war

  • Tricks to aid self and the other greeks

    • E.g.: the trojan horse

• Most eloquent and diplomatic (also deceitful)

  • Embassy to achilles

  • Convinces greeks to give him achilles’ armor

• Odysseus as quest hero (homer, odyssey)

  • Quest: return home to wife penelope and son Telemachus

  • Uses his cunning intelligence to accomplish

  • Hermes is grandfather (trickster):

    • Master of disguise, easily fools others, shapeshifter

  • Athena is patron (crafts/talents):

    • Shipbuilder, farmer, athlete 

• enter cave uninvited, eat food

• Polyphemus: eats some of odysseus’ men in revenge

• Solution: get polyphemus drunk, drive stake into his eye

  • Cling to wool of bellies of sheep to escape cave

• Odysseus not entirely civilized

• Polyphemus (and cyclopes) not entirely bruitish 

  • Cyclopes come to help neighbor

  • Polyphemus compassionate towards animals

• Odysseus in foreign land:: greek colonization 

  • Colonized (inferior) vs colonizers (superior)

• Polyphemus = greek fears about non-greeks 

  • Barbaric

• Odysseus = cunning bravery of greek colonizers

  • Civilized 

penelope

waited for odysseus to return

never remarried

ideal greek woman/wife

odysseus comes back as a beggar

calypso

a messenger said to release odysseus

nymph who kept odysseus and men for seven years

• Hoping to make odysseus her husband 

• Promises immortality

• She is a threat (delays his quest) - 

• Zeus sends hermes to calypso: release him and his men

• She is a helper - provides tools (raft) and food for departure

nausicaa

princess of scheria; father is king alcinous

a threat - delays odysseus, offers to marry him

a helper - helps him leave to return to Ithaca

delay with promise of kingly power

polyphemus

cyclops - untamed

• Clash of culture: threats of the foreign 

  • Cyclopes lack civilized pursuits

  • No agriculture! No ships! No city/government/social organization!

• eats some of odysseus’ men in revenge

• Solution: get polyphemus drunk, drive stake into his eye

  • Cling to wool of bellies of sheep to escape cave

becomes blind in one eye

compassionate towards animals

greek fears about non greeks

barbaric

scylla

one of odysseus adventures

hybrid - human/fish/dog

dog part eats humans

• Must avoid her on one side and Charybdis (whirlpool) on the other

• Eats 6 men, creates terror - less civilized than Polyphemus 

  • Terror of open seas and creatures

• Dangers of female creatures to delay, threaten

  • Calypso - delay w/ promise of immortality

  • Circê - delay w/ life of pleasure

  • Sirens - seduce with songs 

  • Nausicaä - delay with promist of kingly power

oedipus

an oracle said he would kill his father and marry his mother

son of laius and jocaste

he is the king of thebes

murders his father

•  He too received an oracle at delphi

  • “You will kill your father and marry your mother”

• 2. Left corinth to protect his “parents”

• 3. Killed an old man on the road to thebes

• 4. Answered the riddle of the Sphynx

• 5. Married the queen of thebes and becomes king

  • They have 4 offspring

• The oracle is fulfilled 

• oedipus and the sphinx, sphinx is a hybrid woman and has complete control over thebes, whoever can solve the riddle of the sphinx (aging) can undo this control and curse, oedipus solves it and the sphinx kills herself so now oedipus marries his mother, he realizes this and blinds himself, jocasta kills herself)

laius and jocasta

parents of oedipus

laius is killed by oedipus

jocasta marries and has children with him

when she finds out she kills herself and oedipus blinds himself

jason

journey like odysseus but with tragic homecoming

son of aeson

from lolcus

raised by centaur chiron

• Homecoming One - arrives with no sandal

  • Pelias (uncle) had received oracle: beware of man with one sandal

  • Sends him on quest (to kill him): retrieve Golden Fleece

    • Guarded by dragon on Colchis

• Argo: (speaking) ship. Argonauts: his men

• Arrive at colchis after several adventures

  • King aeëtes: labors to get the fleece

    • Yoke fire breathing oxen

    • Plant dragon’s teeth and fight men sprouting from them

    • Kill the dragon guarding the fleece 

cheats on his wife medea and she kills his sons

medea

companion (helper and villian)

daughter of Aeëtes)

herbs for protection from fire breathing oxen

battle strategy - fight for one another

herbs put dragons to sleep

kills brother and sons after jason cheats on her

golden fleece

theseus’ takes was to pursuit of a precious person or object

jason was sent to retrieve the golden fleece

guarded by dragon on colchis