classics45C final terms

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

transformations

Giants

according to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Giants were created from blood + earth. In Apollodorus’ Library, Giants have serpent feet

Gigantomachy

• battle between Giants & Olympians (Zeus)

• Giants are Zeus’ uncles

• Zeus defeats Giants with his thunderbolts

• blood of slain Giants soak into Earth —> creation of humans

  • humans as bloodthirsty

Jupiter

• Roman name for Zeus

• spheres of influence: xenia, sky, lightning

xenia

• “hospitality”

• one of Jupiter’s spheres of influence

xenos

• “guest/host/stranger”

• you want to be a good xenos, because you never know who you’re talking to, it may be a god!

Lycaon

• Lycaon is king of Arcadia

• Jupiter tests Lycaon’s xenia (“hospitality”)

• Jupiter reveals that he is a god to Lycaon, but Lycaon doesn’t believe him

• Lycaon attempts to trick Jupiter by killing a hostage and serving him human flesh

  • very bad xenos (“host”)

• Jupiter isn’t fooled: takes thunderbolt and destroys Lycaon’s house (it catches on fire)

• as Lycaon flees to the mountains, he transforms into a wolf (lukos)

• story of Lycaon told to divine counsel by Jupiter because he is angry at how wicked humans are —> leads to flood myth

Arcadia

• where Lycaon is from and is king of

lukos

• “wolf”

lycanthrope

• someone who turns into a werewolf

• lycan (“wolf”) anthropos (“human”)

apocalyptic myth

• myth about the end of the world, usually because a god is offended by human

• flood myth is a type of apocalyptic myth

Stoic philosophy

• doctrines of stoic philosophy

  • cyclical destructions of universe

  • ekpyrosis

  • kataklysmos

kataklysmos

• “flood”

ekpyrosis

“conflagration”

• = large, uncontrolled, and destructive fire

Neptune

• Roman name for Greek Poseidon

• brother of Jupiter (Greek Zeus)

adynaton

“impossible”

• used to describe the flood that Jupiter sends

• topsy-turvy world: everything turned on its head—fish in trees, lion walking in water

Deucalion

• son of Prometheus (before-thought)

• flood hero of flood myth in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Mt. Parnassus

• mountain where Deucalion & Pyrrha’s boat land

  • remember, they were not warned, so they didn’t bring any animals, no bird tests

• on mt., temple of Themis

• after getting off their boat, they pray to mountain gods, nymphs, and Themis

Mt. Parnassus

• mountain where Deucalion & Pyrrha’s boat land

  • remember, they were not warned, so they didn’t bring any animals, no bird tests, no sacrifice

• on mt., temple of Themis

• after getting off their boat, they pray to mountain gods, nymphs, and Themis

Themis

• goddess of justice, divine order

• sees the good Deucalion and devout Pyrrha

• Deucalion & Pyrrha ask Themis how to repopulate earth

• Themis says to throw bones of mother behind their back

mythic hero

• hero/heroine in myths

• hero/heroine: individual in whom the gods take special interest

  • these types of heroes don’t need to be good people

Lord Raglan (1885-1964)

• British aristocrat

• list of typical hero traits

Joseph Campbell (1914-1987)

• famous book: he Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

• hero monomyth: all hero myths follow the same narrative pattern

• problem with Campbell’s approach: irons out the differences that make heroes interesting

Gilgamesh

• Sumerian king (ca. 2800-2500 BCE)

• Sumerian name: Bilgamesh (Akkadian Gilgamesh)

• 2/3 divine, 1/3 human

  • son of goddess Ninsun (cow) and mortal father Lugalbanda (king of Akkadian Uruk/Sumerian Unug)

  • at death, Lugalbanda was deified

• creator goddess Belit-ili forms Gilgamesh’s body & gives him extra. stature and beauty

• Gilgamesh very strong & a very bad person, citizens scared of him

Epic of Gilgamesh

• very popular work in Ancient Near East (even Hattusha)

• 12 cuneiform tablets

  • tablet 11: flood myth

  • tablet 12: added after?

• tablets discovered in the library of Assyrian King Ashurbanibal in Nineveh

• influenced early Greek literature

Enkidu

• citizens of Unug/Uruk pray to Anu for relief from the terrible Gilgamesh

• Belit-ili creates Enkidu to be equal to Gilgamesh

  • hero’s second self

• Aruru/Belit-ili takes a lump of clay and drops it into the wilderness = Enkidu

• Enkidu is wild, hair, uncivilized, and also strong

• friends with animals, frees animals from hunter traps

• hunter tells father about freed animals, father says to go to Gilgamesh and get a harimtu

harimtu

• either a sacred temple prostitute or a single unmarried woman

• Gilgamesh lends a Shammhat (harimtu) to hunter

• hunter leaves Shammhat at watering place

• Enkidu sees Shammhat and sleeps with her for 6 days and 7 nights

• animals reject Enkidu, but Enkidu is now wise and civilized

Ishtar

• goddess of sexual desire and war

Humbaba

• sent by Ellil to protect Cedar/Pine forest

• Sumerian Huwawa

• when slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, utters a death bed prophecy that they will both die soon

  • only half true: Enkidu dies

heroic quest myth

• how a hero makes a journey to gain experience and achieve fame (especially through battle)

• after Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends, they embark on a journey together

• journey to kill Humbaba

New Gilgamesh Fragment

• more info about Humbaba

  • regaled by animal “musicians” (crickets, birds, monkeys)

    • like a king, kings are entertained by musicians

  • Humbaba and Enkidu are old friends

• Enkidu calls the forest after battle with Humbaba a “wasteland”

Bull of Heaven

• Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar’s sexual advances and lists the unfortunate men she has slept with

• Ishtar complains to father Anu and asks to borrow Bull of Heaven

  • or else she will raise the dead to eat the living

• Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Bull of Heaven

  • Enkidu grabs bull by tail, Gilgamesh plunges sword into back of bull’s neck

• killing Humbaba + Bull of Heaven = gods think this is too far

  • divine counsel to discuss punishment

  • one of them must die, Enkidu

Shamash

• Enkidu falls ill and curses that Shammhat (if it weren’t for Shammhat, I would be with the animals instead of dying)

• Shamash (Mesopotamian sun god): you shall not curse my Shammhat!

• Enkidu takes back curse and dies

Utnapishtim

• Gilgamesh inconsolable at Enkidu’s death

• wants immortality, heard that one man managed to achieve immortality: Utnapishtim

• embarks on journey

• Utnapishtim lives at Mouth of Rivers, edges of earth

  • underworld-type place

Scorpion-Man

• in search of Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh first comes to Mashu (“twin peaks”) where sun (Shamash) rises

• guarded by Scorpion-men

  • they tell Gilgamesh to go under Mashu (katabasis)

• scorpions associated with death

Siduri

• alewife & owner of tavern

• Gilgamesh runs into Siduri on his journey

• Siduri tells him to find Urshanabi to get to Utnapishtim

Urshanabi

• ferryman across sea at edges of earth

• Gilgamesh finally reaches Utnapishtim

• Utnapishtim tells of flood myth & says Gilgamesh cannot achieve immortality

  • but maybe sleep test?

  • Gilgamesh fails

• Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of magical plant that will restore youth

• snake eats it

Ring Composition

• end of tablet 11

• concludes that human beings cannot become immortal

• but you can achieve metaphorical immortality through cultural achievements

• Gilgamesh’s walls around Uruk

• ring composition: begins and ends with walls of Uruk

Perseus

• Akrisios, king of Argos, is the father of Danae

• Akrisios hears a prophecy that Danae’s son (his grandson) will kill him

• to prevent Danae from having a child, he locks her in an underground chamber

• Zeus, in the form of golden rain, impregnates Danae

• Danae gives birth to Perseus

• Akrisios locks Danae and Perseus in chest and set to sea

• chest lands on Seriphos & Dictys takes them in

Polydectes

• Dicty’s brother & king of Seriphos

• Polydectes falls in love with Danae

  • wants to get rid of Perseus

• sends Perseus to get Gorgon’s head as bridal gift

• Hermes and Athena help Perseus

Graiai

• Perseus needs to make 2 stops before he gets to Gorgon

  • Graiai and Naiades

• Graiai are the 3 sisters of the 3 Gorgons

• old and grey haired from birth

• share one tooth and one eye

• Perseus steals the one tooth and one eye and says he won’t give them back until the Graiai tell him how to get to Gorgons

• Graiai reveal location of the Naiades

Naiades

• nymphs

• provide Perseus with magical objects to help him defeat Gorgon

  • cap of invisibility (cap of Hades)

  • winged sandals

  • kibisis (pouch)

• according to Apollodorus, Hermes gives Perseus an adamantine sickle

  • remember Kronos, Gaia, and Ouranos

Medusa & Poseidon

• the only mortal gorgon, 2 other immortal gorgons

• anyone looks at gorgon gets turned to stone

• Perseus looks away from sleeping Medusa

  • according to Apollodorus, he looks into shield

• beheads Medusa and puts the head into kibisis

  • out of Medusa’s neck come 2 children

  • hero Chrysaor

  • winged horse Pegasus

• Poseidon father of both

• immortal gorgon sisters try to find and kill Perseus, but Perseus uses cape of invisibility/cap of Hades and gets away

Medusa in art

common characteristics:

• winged

• snakey hair

• boar’s tusks

• tongue out

• round, “humanoid lion” face

gorgoneion

• beheaded gorgon motif

• strike fear/petrify enemies

Humbaba (gorgoneion)

• perhaps Greek got the motif of the gorgoneion being a large scary head and putting it on things to scare enemies from Babylonian clay head

• clay head depicts Humbaba with entrails, divinity

apotropaic

• the gorgoneion head was used as an apotropaic device

  • to scare away enemies

Alfred E. Neuman

• MAD comics

• perhaps inspired by Humbaba clay head and gorgoneion

Homer’s Iliad

• 750-700 BCE

• Iliad = poem about “Ilion/Ilium (=Troy)”

• 24 books

Trojan War

• 10 year war, Greeks vs. Trojans

• Iliad doesn’t tell of fall of Troy

• Iliad set in 9th year of Trojan War

• gods can choose sides

Paris/Alexander

• Paris/Alexander breached xenia by sending Helen, queen of Sparta and Menelaus’ wife

• Menelaus asks brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead Greek force against Troy to get Helen back

Achilles

• son of Peleus, king of Phthia, and sea nymph Thetis

• greatest Greek warrior

menis

= “rage/anger” [of Achilles]

• during one of the raids, they captured Chryseis, daughter of Chryses

• Chryseis is given to Agamemnon

• Chryses tries to ransom his daughter back, but Agamemnon refuses

• but Chryses is priest of Apollo, and prays to Apollo

• Apollo brings plague to Greeks

• Achilles tells Agamemnon to give up Chryses

• Agamemnon says he won’t unless he’s immediately given another prize (geras), threatens to steal Achilles’ prize Briseis

• Achilles and his men withdraw from battle, and asks mother Thetis to ask Zeus to make Greeks suffer in battle without him

time

• Homeric warriors

  • while alive: fight for time (honor) = based on number of gera

  • when dead: for kleos = based on deeds

kleos

metaphorical immortality

Embassy to Achilles

• Trojans have pushed Greeks to the Trojan shore & threatening to burn their ships

• Agamemnon realizing they need Achilles, sends Embassy with gifts to ask Achilles to come back and fight

  • Odysseus: clever and best speaker

  • Phoenix: Achilles’ old tutor

  • Ajax: second best warrior next to Achilles

    • convinces Achilles as fellow warrior to not bring shame and leave men to die

• Achilles agrees to help but only once Trojans have reached the Greeks’ ships at Trojan shore

Patroclus

• Achilles’ best friend, sometimes depicted as a romantic partner, and hero’s second self

• Achilles’ cousin as well

Sarpedon

• once Trojans reach shore, Achilles is still angry at Agamemnon and doesn’t want to fight

• Patroclus takes Achilles’ armor and fights in his place

• Achilles warns to not go all the way to Troy’s walls

• Patroclus is successful in battle:

  • kills Sarpedon, son of Zeus

  • Zeus wants to save him, but Hera says that if he does, all gods will save their favorites

Hypnos & Thanatos

= “sleep”

• Zeus orders Apollo to give Sarpedon’s body to Hypnos (binatural god of sleep) and Thanatos (binatural god of Death)

• and carry his body to Lycia to be buried

death bed prophecy

• Patroclus continues to Troy’s walls

• at walls, Hector, greatest Trojan warrior, kills Patroclus

• Hector strips Patroclus of Achilles’ armor

• Patroclus utters death bed prophecy: Achilles will kill Hector

Achilles after Patroclus dies

• inconsolable, wants to get revenge

• Thetis tells him to wait and Hephaestus arms him

  • helmet, breastplate, and Shield of Achilles

  • Achilles’ heel myth not in Iliad, since he needs the armor

Achilles’ Heel

• as a baby, mother Thetis dipped Achilles in river Styx

• wherever the river touched him, he became invulnerable to all weapons

• except for his heel, which Thetis was holding him by

Scamander River

• Achilles back in war

• killing so many people, their corpses clog up Scamander river

• Scamander river is a binatural god and gets angry

• Scamander river tries to drown Achilles

• Athena and Poseidon save him

• Hephaestus shoots fire at Scamander, and he stops

Priam

• father of Hector

• mother of Hector is Hecuba

• brother is Paris

Iris

• messenger goddess in Iliad

• rainbow

• gods see how Achilles is desecrating Hector’s body

  • too much

• Apollo protect’s Hector’s body

• Zeus sends Iris to send message

  • telll Thetis to tell Achilles to return body to Priam

  • tell Priam to ransom body from Achilles

Homer’s Odyssey

• ca. 750-700 BCE

• story of Odysseus’ return from Trojan War to home island of Ithaca

nostos

“a return home”

Odysseus

• son of king Laertes and queen Anticleia

• 10 years away at Trojan War

• 10 years of traveling back home after war

• while Odysseus is away, his wife Penelope is pursued by suitors

• suitors have bad xenos

Calypso

• “concealer”

• nymph that has been keeping Odysseus on mythical island of Ogygia

• Calypso doesn’t want Odysseus to leave and essentially offers to make him a god

  • if he stays, Calypso will make him immortal and ageless

• Odysseus wants to go home to Penelope, Calypso lets him build a raft

Phaeacians

• leaving Calypso and island of Ogygia, Odysseus washes up on mythical island of Scheria, home of Phaeacians

• Phaeacians: descendants of Poseidon

  • have self-driving ships

  • very good xenoi (hosts), don’t ask Odysseus his name

Alcinous

• king of Phaeacians

• eventually asks Odysseus of his identity and stories

• Odysseus shares his journeys (Odysseus as narrator now)

Circe

• Odysseus and men arrive at island of Aeaea, home of Circe

• Circe is a goddess and witch, daughter of Helios (sun) and Perse (daughter of Okeanos)

• turns some of Odysseus’ men into pigs with magic potion

moly

• magical plant that Hermes gives Odysseus before seeing Circe

• allows him to resist magical potion and does not turn into pig

• Odysseus threatens Circe with sword and demands her to turn his men back into humans & how to get back home

• Circe says Odysseus has to travel by boat beyond Okeanos, dig pit, pour blood of 2 sacrificed sheep, and consult Tiresias

Tiresias

• famous prophet from city of Thebes

psyche

= “breath”

• in Greek thought, souls/spirits/ghosts were like to be a breath, shadowy and insubstantial

psychopompos

• Hermes as psychopompos

  • “soul escorter”

• Hermes crossing boundaries

  • makes sense, as god of travel and of thieves

Charon

• ferryman across river Acheron or Styx

• other side of river is Erebos (aka Hades)

Cerberus

• 3 headed dog with snake for tail

• reverse guard dog: lets you go in, doesn’t let you leave

Persephone

• queen of Erebos/Hades

• daughter of Zeus and Demeter

Tityus

• a cosmic sinner

• tried to rape goddess Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis (both ferocious and archers)

• Apollo and Artemis shoot Tityus down

• giant Tityus lies on ground while 2 vultures continuously eat his liver

  • Prometheus’ liver eaten by Zeus’ eagle

Tantalus

• a cosmic sinner

• chops up his son Pelops and feeds his body to gods

• punishment: “tantalized by fruit and water”

  • fruit tree above Tantalus, barely out of reach but when he gets close a gust of when blows it out of reach

  • water up to his chin but whenever he tries to drink it the water goes back down and out of reach

Sisyphus

• a cosmic sinner

• Zeus abducted Aegina, Asopus’ daughter

  • Asopus a binatural river god

• Sisyphus witnesses this and tells Asopus

• Zeus gets angry and sends god of death (Thanatos)

• Sisyphus cheats death by tying up Thanatos

  • but does eventually die

• punishment:

  • eternally rolling a boulder up hill

  • boulder rolls back

katabasis

descent into underworld-type place

• for Odysseus, when he digs a pit and pours the blood of 2 sacrificed sheep into it

• souls come up to see and talk to Odysseus

  • #1: Elpenor: Odysseus’ dead helmsman

    • begs Odysseus to find his body and cremate it because he is stuck in Limbo (which is why he was first to come up)

  • #2: Tiresias: drinks blood to prophesy

  • #3: Anticleia: Odysseus’ mother

    • Odysseus didn’t know she died since he’s been away so long

    • she died of grief thinking that Odysseus died

    • Odysseus tries to embrace her 3 times

souls of Greek heroes from Trojan War

• #1: Agamemnon

  • tells Odysseus that his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered him

  • don’t trust women!

• #2: Achilles

  • says he’d rather be poorest slave for the poorest man on earth than be king of the dead

  • Odysseus gives him goods news of his son Neoptolemus

  • so happy with news from Odysseus, Achilles strides away across fields of aphodel

• #3: Ajax

  • after Achilles died, his armor was given to Odysseus

  • Ajax killed himself for this, and doesn’t want to talk to Odysseus

Asphodel

• flowering plant with white blooms

• associated by Greeks with death and the underworld

Telemachus

• Odysseus and Penelope’s son

• helps Odysseus kill suitors at end

Antinous

• leader of suitors

• calls Odysseus a “miserable tramp” and shouldn’t be allowed to try Penelope’s test

homophrosune

“likeness of mind”

• belief that the more alike a couple is to one another, to better they are for each other

• Odysseus & Penelope are very alike: both clever, craft, tricky, and cautious

Eurycleia

• Odysseus’ old nurse/nanny

• Penelope orders her to wash Odysseus’ feet

• Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus’ scar from an old boar hunt

• Odysseus makes her swear not to reveal who he is to Penelope

Eumaeus

• the swineherd

• still loyal to Odysseus

• Eumaeus & Philoetius help Odysseus kill suitors

Philoetius

• the cowherd

• still loyal to Odysseus

• Philoetius & Eumaeus help Odysseus kill suitors