greek mythology midterm

"Mythos"

"Greek word meaning 'word

"True myth (myth proper)"

"A story primarily concerned with the gods

"Saga/Legend"

"A traditional story with roots in real historical events

"Folk tale"

"An adventure story meant primarily for entertainment

"Fairy tale"

"A subtype of folk tale; short

"Aitia"

"Greek word meaning 'cause'"

"Etiological myth"

"A myth that explains why something (a natural phenomenon

"Euhemerism"

"Theory (founded by Euhemerus) that the gods were originally great human beings later worshipped as gods"

"Allegory"

"A sustained metaphor in which an entire story symbolizes a deeper meaning"

"Max Muller"

"19th-century scholar who theorized that most myths are nature myths explaining weather

"Claude Levi-Strauss"

"Structuralist theorist who argued myth helps humans organize binary opposites (life/death

"Vladimir Propp"

"Scholar who identified 31 recurring narrative functions (motifemes) in Russian folktales

"Motifeme"

"A recurring narrative function or structural unit found in many traditional stories"

"Walter Burkert"

"Theorist who argued myths developed from ancient religious rituals

"Sigmund Freud"

"Believed myths function like dreams

"Dream-work"

"Freud's term for the unconscious process that transforms hidden wishes into symbolic dream images"

"Oedipus complex"

"Freud's theory of a son's unconscious desire for his mother and rivalry with his father"

"Carl Jung"

"Theorized myth expresses universal patterns (archetypes) shared by all humans via the collective unconscious"

"Archetypes"

"Jung's term for inherited

"Collective unconscious"

"Jung's term for the shared

"Anima"

"The archetypal feminine aspect of the male psyche (Jung)"

"Animus"

"The archetypal masculine aspect of the female psyche (Jung)"

"Mircea Eliade"

"Emphasized that myths connect humans to sacred time and satisfy spiritual/religious needs"

"James Frazer"

"Ritualist theorist; author of The Golden Bough

"Jane Harrison"

"Ritualist theorist; author of Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion and Themis"

"Robert Graves"

"Defined 'true myth' as narrative shorthand for ritual mime performed at festivals"

"Bronislaw Malinowski"

"Anthropologist who studied the Trobriand Islanders; developed the idea of myth as a 'social charter'"

"Myth as social charter"

"Malinowski's concept that myths validate and justify existing customs and institutions"

"Quest"

"The specific type of Russian folktale Propp used as the basis for his 31-function structural analysis"

"Callimachus"

"Hellenistic (Alexandrian) poet known for the Hymns; limited value as a myth source despite his literary importance"

"Homer"

"Traditionally credited with the Iliad and Odyssey; most influential Greek mythological source"

"Hesiod"

"Late 8th century B.C. poet; author of the Theogony

"Apollodorus"

"Author of the Bibliotheca

"Pausanias"

"Author of Description of Greece

"Ovid"

"Roman poet; author of the Metamorphoses

"Vergil"

"Roman poet; author of the Aeneid

"Bronze Age"

"Period ca. 3000-1100 B.C. in the Aegean; the historical backdrop for the Greek 'Age of Heroes'"

"Thera"

"Volcanic island (modern Santorini) whose Late Bronze Age eruption may have contributed to Minoan decline"

"Minos"

"Legendary king of Crete; namesake of the modern term 'Minoan'"

"Cnossus"

"The major Minoan palace on Crete

"Evans"

"British archaeologist who excavated Cnossus and named the Minoan civilization"

"Labyrinth"

"The mythical maze housing the Minotaur; linked to the maze-like architecture of Cnossus"

"Labrys"

"The double-headed axe symbol found in Minoan art; possible root of the word 'labyrinth'"

"Mycenae"

"The richest mainland Mycenaean citadel; legendary home of King Agamemnon"

"Schliemann"

"Archaeologist who excavated Troy and Mycenae

"Shaft graves"

"Rich early burial pits at Mycenae (Grave Circle A)

"Tholos tombs"

"Later 'beehive'-shaped domed Mycenaean tombs

"Cyclopean"

"Massive mainland Mycenaean fortification walls

"Megaron"

"The central hall of a Mycenaean palace

"Pylos"

"Mycenaean palace site associated with legendary King Nestor; major Linear B tablet archive"

"Linear B"

"Script used by Mycenaean Greek scribes; deciphered by Michael Ventris as an early form of Greek"

"Troy VIIa"

"The layer of Troy most identified with the legendary Trojan War

"Dorians"

"Group traditionally linked to the fall of Mycenaean civilization ('Dorian invasion')"

"Chaos"

"The primordial void; the very first entity to exist in Hesiod's Theogony"

"Gaia (Ge

Gaea)"

"Eros (primordial)"

"In Hesiod

"Erebus"

"Primordial darkness

"Tartarus"

"A deep region beneath the earth; one of the first entities to exist; later prison of the Titans"

"Uranus"

"Sky; son and husband of Gaia; castrated by his son Cronus"

"Titans"

"The twelve children of Uranus and Gaia

"Cyclopes"

"One-eyed giant children of Uranus and Gaia; later forge Zeus's thunderbolt"

"Hieros gamos"

"'Sacred marriage' — the union of Sky (Uranus) and Earth (Gaia)

"Cronus"

"Youngest Titan; castrates Uranus; later swallows his own children to avoid being overthrown"

"Aphrodite (Hesiodic birth)"

"Born from sea-foam gathered around Uranus's severed genitals; drifts to Cythera and then Cyprus"

"Rhea"

"Wife of Cronus; saves infant Zeus by tricking Cronus with a stone wrapped in cloth"

"Curetes"

"Armed young warriors on Crete who clashed weapons to hide the infant Zeus's cries from Cronus"

"Amalthea"

"The goat that nursed and nourished the infant Zeus on Crete"

"Cybele"

"Anatolian/Phrygian mother-goddess

"Prometheus"

"Titan who tricked Zeus at Mecone (sacrifice origin) and stole fire for humanity"

"Pandora"

"The first woman

"Five Ages of Man"

"Hesiod's account of five successive human races: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Age of Heroes, and the Iron Age

"Golden Race"

"First race

"Iron Race"

"Current

"Deucalion and Pyrrha"

"Sole survivors of the great flood; repopulate the earth by throwing stones over their shoulders"

"Chiron"

"Wise centaur; exchanged his immortality for Prometheus's release from suffering"

"Hestia"

"Goddess of the hearth; eldest Olympian child of Cronus and Rhea; Roman: Vesta"

"Zeus"

"King of the gods; sky/weather god; Roman: Jupiter (Jove)"

"Hera"

"Zeus's wife and sister; goddess of marriage; Roman: Juno"

"Ixion"

"Lapith king who attempted to seduce Hera; deceived by a cloud-phantom; punished on a fiery wheel"

"Centaurus"

"Offspring of Ixion and the cloud-phantom Nephele"

"Caeneus (Caenis)"

"Lapith maiden raped by Poseidon

"Pelops"

"Hero honored at Olympia; won Hippodamia via a rigged chariot race against Oinomaus"

"Pheidias"

"5th-century B.C. sculptor; created the chryselephantine statues of Zeus at Olympia and Athena Parthenos"

"Olympia"

"Sanctuary of Zeus in Elis; site of the ancient Olympic Games"

"Dodona"

"Site of the oldest oracle of Zeus

"Trophonius"

"Hero/oracular figure associated with a famous chthonic oracle at Lebadea in Boeotia"

"Melampus"

"Legendary seer who gained the ability to understand animal speech; cured the madness of King Proetus's daughters"

"Eileithyia"

"Goddess of childbirth

"Hebe"

"Goddess of youth

"Hephaestus"

"God of fire and the forge; born lame and cast out from Olympus; Roman: Vulcan"

"Ares"

"God of war (chaotic bloodlust aspect); Roman: Mars"

"Muses"

"Nine goddesses of poetic/artistic inspiration

"Fates (Moirai)"

"Three goddesses (Clotho

"Anthropomorphism"

"The depiction of gods in human form

"Ambrosia"

"The food of the gods

"Nectar"

"The drink of the gods

"Ichor"

"The ethereal fluid that flows in the gods' veins instead of blood"

"Demigods"

"Heroes born of one divine and one mortal parent (e.g.

"Xenophanes"

"Pre-Socratic philosopher who criticized anthropomorphic depictions of the gods"

"Croesus"

"Wealthy king of Lydia; central figure in Herodotus's legendary history"