Myth Quiz 3 Terms

Neoptolemus

• Son of Achilles

• Aka Pyrrhus (because Achilles had called himself Pyrrha, the female version of the name, while disguides as a woman to avoid the Trojan War

• In Philoctetes: tasked by Odysseus with tricking Philoctetes into returning to Troy

• Represents internal conflict between Nomos (Odysseus' urging him to use trickery) and Physis (his nature and nature of Achilles of honor), ultimately rejects deceit

Philoctetes

• Wounded hero who has Heracles’ bow and arrows

  • He was the only one willing to light the pyre of Heracles

• Leading group of men on outward voyage to Troy

• Abandoned on Lemnos for 10 years due to snake bite

• Ultimately, healed and killed Paris

Herakles

• Greatest hero of Greek Myth

• Son of Zeus and mortal queen

• Deus ex machina at the end of the Play

• His death on the pyre ended the suffering caused by his poisoned shirt and allowed his immortal part to ascend to Olympus while his mortal part went down to the underworld

• Bow and arrows gifted to Philoctetes

Judgement of Paris

• At wedding of Peleus and Thetis

• Goddess of strife threw golden apple into wedding, said “for the fairest”

• Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite argue over it

• Zeus is asked to settle the debate, but passes the duty off to Paris of Troy

• Hera offers Power, Athena offers Wisdom, Aphrodite offers Beauty (in the form of Helen)

• Paris chooses beauty, but Helen is already married to Menelaus

• Suitors oath said that all suitors of Helen would protect the marriage (Helen and Menelaus)

• All suitors go to Troy to fight Paris and bring back Helen to Menelaus

The Iliad

• One of the epics of the Trojan Cycle

• Described the wrath of Achilles, a short episode near the end of the Trojan War

  • Insulted by Agamemnon stealing his war prize, Achilles withdraws from fighting for a period of time

• Homeric

Achilles

• Son of Thetis and Peleus

• Greatest Greek hero of the Trojan War

• Due to his immortal mother, he was invulnerable except for his heel

• Killed Hector, the greatest Trojan hero/warrior

• his wrath is told in the Iliad

• father of Neoptolemus

Logos

• “word”

• In opposition to Ergos “deed”

• Theme present in Philoctetes

  • actions speak louder than words

  • Neoptolemus wants his words to be strong and stay true to them

  • Which do you want to speak louder, your words or your actions?

  • Follow through on your words

  • Honesty, nobility, deceit, trickery

Ergon

• “deed”

• In opposition to Logos “word”

• Themes present in Philoctetes

  • word vs. deed

  • following up on your word

  • actions speak louder than words

Nomos

• “nurture/civilization”

• in opposition to Physis “nature”

• Odysseus tries to get Neoptolemus to be deceitful (nurture) even though it goes against his nature of honesty

• Philoctetes rejects civilization to some extent, but seeks to return to other parts (such as desiring healing)

Physis

• “nature”

• in opposition with Nomos (nurture/civilization)

• Neoptolemus, like father Achilles, has nature of honesty

• Philoctetes outside civilization for 10 years, embraces nature, rejects civilization to some extent

• Neoptolemus, acting as therapist, tells Philoctetes he is savage and can no longer accept advice

Artemis

• protectress of wild places and wild animals, especially when young

• evoked as protectress of women in trouble:

  • Clytemnestra

  • Deianira

  • Electra

  • Antigone

• Associated with virginity

• demands sacrifice of Iphigenia

Tantalus

• Anatolian King

• Tested omniscience of gods by serving them flesh of his son, Pelops

• Punished in the underworld

• Where we get the word tantalize

• Start of the curse on the house of Atreus

Pelops

• Son of Tantalus

• Fed to the gods, but brought back to life

• Father of Atreus, Thyestes, and Chrysippus

  • curses Atreus and Thyestes for murdering their brother, Chrysippus

Thyestean feast

• meal where human flesh is served

• Recalling when Atreus, in revenge for Thyestes sleeping with his wife Aerope, served Thyestes the flesh of his sons

Prometheus’ Prophecy

• Thetis’ son will be greater than his father

• Dangerous to Zeus

• Causes Zeus to marry thetis off to mortal Peleus

  • wedding of Thetis and Peleus leads to the Trojan War

Eris

• goddess of strife

• not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis

• throws a golden apple into the wedding, “for the fairest”

  • leading to the judgement of Paris and ultimately, the Trojan War

Leda

• Spartan Queen

• Wife of King Tyndareus

• Zeus took the form of the swan to impregnate Leda (who was already pregnant by Tyndareus, her husband)

  • Gave birth to children fathered by both Zeus and Tyndareus

    • Castor and Clytemnestra (mortal)

    • Polydeukes and Helen (at least somewhat immortal)

    • Therefore, Helen and Clytemnestra are sisters!

Calchas

• famous Greek seer

• Reveals that Artemis demands sacrifice of Iphigenia for fair winds to Troy

• Reveals that Polyxena and Astyanax must die at the end of the Trojan War

Polyxena

• Virgin Daughter of King Priam of Troy

• Sacrificed at the end of Trojan War to be the bride of Achilles in the underworld

  • her sacrifice is foretold by Calchas

• Virgin sacrifices bookend the Trojan War (Iphigenia and Polyxena)

Nostoi

• “returns”

• an epic in the Trojan Cycle describing the return home of Greek Heroes and events upon arrival

• ends with return of Agamemnon and Menelaus

Oresteia

• Tetralogy of Aeschylus

• Agamemnon, Choephori, Eumenides, Proteus

Choephori

• Aesychlus’ 2nd book in Trilogy

• Aka Libation Bearers aka Women at the Graveside

• Grieving Electra

• Return of Orestes

• Murder

Electra

• Daughter of Agamemnon

• Plots with brother Orestes to avenge their father by killing their mother

Proteus

• “first”

• shape-shifting sea god

  • where we get the word protean (able to change easily)

  • son of Poseidon

  • will provide prophecy, only if captured

• Aeschylus’ Proteus

  • Satyr play of the Oresteia Tetralogy

  • Maybe inspired by Odyssey IV

  • Menelaus trapped in Egypt after fall of Troy

  • Captures Proteus to learn how to get home

  • Prophecies

    • Agamemnon dead

    • Ajax Oileus dead

    • Odysseys captive of Calypso

Satyr Play

• Joking tragedy or tragedy at play

• Involved mythical heroes

• Chorus of Satyrs

  • often bawdy, boisterous

• Happy ending

• Followed tragedies to provide emotion relief

  • Aeschylus might have inserted them between tragedies

• Took traditional heroic myths and inserted the disruptive chorus, resulting in parody, slapstick humor, and happy endings

Pathei Mathos

• Greek for “learning from suffering”

• quote from Chorus in Agememnon:

  • Zeus fixed this truth that learning comes from suffering

  • the scales of justice weigh out gain to those who’ve learned from pain (after describing sacrifice of Iphigenia)

Diké

• Daughter of Zeus and Themis

• Justice, fairness, righteousness

• Revenge, retaliation, punishment

  • associated with Erinyes

• In the Oresteia

  • a supernatural entity that strives to restore balance in the world and human relationships

    • that balance means punishing evil and rewarding virtue

Aegisthus

• Son of Thyestes, born to be at rivalry with Agamemnon, son of Atreus

• Cousin of Agamemnon

• lover of Clytemnestra

• Assists Clytemnestra in murder of Agamemnon

• Viewed (at least by Chorus) as cowardly, effeminate for having Clytemnestra do the killing

Pylades

• Cousin and devoted friend of Orestes

• Mostly silent in Choephori until he pushes his hesitating friend to kill Clytemnestra

Nemesis

• Greek Goddess of divine retribution, vengeance, and inescapable justice

• Often depicted with a torch for shedding light on injustice

• Depicted in the Oresteia, holding torch, along with Themis holding sword and scales

Xenia

• Sacred hospitality

• Often translated as “guest friendship”

• Mandated generosity and courtesy between host and guest, even when strangers

• Obligation requiring hosts to provide food, baths, gifts to guests who in turn owe respect to host

• Zeus Xenia as protector of Xenia

• Violated by Paris when he seeks to take the wife of Menelaus (Helen) in the land of Menelaus

Zeus Xenios

• Zeus as the protector/enforcer of this obligation of host to provide food, baths, gifts, to guests, where in return guests owe hosts respect

• Zeus Xenios sends Agamemnon and Menelaus as plaintiffs to seek justice after Paris violates Xenia

  • In turn, entire city of Troy burns, men killed, women and children enslaved

  • Sack of Troy is justified by violation of Xenia by Paris

    • Chorus approves Sack of Troy for this reason

Erinyes

• Aka Eumenides aka Furies

• “kindly ones”

• Associated with avenging familial blood

• Grove of Colonus is sacred to the Eumenides

• 3 goddesses of vengeance and retribution who punish men for crimes against natural order, especially, homicide, unfilial conduct, offenses against the gods, and perjury

• Orestes believed if he did not avenge his fathers blood, he would be punished by the Erinyes

Kommos

• formal, lyrical song of lamentation in Greek Tragedy sung jointly by dramatic character and the chorus

• Signals moment of extreme distress, grief, or horror

• In Choephori, Chorus calls for retribution in the Kommos

Code of Hammurabi

• well preserved Babylonian legal code from 1754 BC

• Featuring nearly 300 laws inscribed in a 7 foot basalt stele

• Contains the earliest written articulation of the principle of retaliation, an eye for an eye

Lex Talonis

• “law of retaliation”

• Latin legal principle of retributive/reciprocal justice

• Suggests that the perpetrator receives a penalty equivalent (not more or less than) the injury inflicted

Gender, Category of Analysis

• focus on the socially constructed rules, norms, attitudes and behaviors attributed to men and women in any given society

• In 5th century Athens, socially constructed roles were

  • Male participation in the public sphere through war and politics

  • Female marginal existence, duties to kin as wives and mothers

Binary/Paired Opposition

• Structuralist Theory

• the means by which units of language have meaning: each unit is defined in reciprocal determination with another term, as in binary code

• Because of human tendency to organize human thought and culture in pairs of opposites

• Examples:

  • Man and woman

  • Nomos and Physis

  • Logos and Ergon

  • Light and dark

  • White and black

  • hot and cold

  • good and evi'l

• Many such oppositions imply a hierarchy, such as Man > woman, or Nomos > Physis

• Myth can serve as a logical model mediating between opposites (for example, man becoming woman)

Deconstruction

• identifying the oppositions working in a text

• demonstrating how the text itself undermines the hierarchy implied by the opposition

• We can find pleasure in deconstructing misogyny, reclaiming texts for a more enlightened age

• Example:

  • Identify that Orestes is doing the same thing that Clytemnestra did, so if she was crazy and female, so was he!

Pandora

• The first woman

• Created by the gods to punish men after Prometheus gave them fire

  • A misogynistic tale like that of Eve

• Hesiod: Pandora is the source of all ills, created by gods to punish men

Amphisbaena

• “goes both ways”

• 2 headed, poisonous snake born from the blood of Medusa dripping on Libyan desert as Perseus flew by

  • Referenced by Rubens

• Cassandra refers to Clytemnestra as Amphisbaena

Scylla

• Once a beautiful nymph, she was transformed into a sea-snake with dogs’ heads growing out of her loins by Circe

• Features in the Odyssey

• Cassandra also refers to Clytemnestra as “snapping Scylla, a hellish mother-monster set on war with her own family”

Hydra

• Lernaean Hydra

  • Many headed serpent killed by Herakles

  • His labors symbollized Nomos > Physis (Civilization/Nurture > Nature)

Echidna

• Monstrous she-dragon

• Head and breast of woman, tail of serpent

• Mother of Monsters (think Percy Jackson)

  • Sphinx

  • Cerberus

  • Chimaera

  • Hydra

• Grandmother of Gorgons

• In Orestes’ prayer to Zeus, he refers to Clytemnestra not just as a viper, different than the rest of the family (eagles), but specifically as Echidna

  • This association implies that Orestes is a monster, as the child of Echida

Kourotrophos

• “Child-nurturer”

• a figurine showing a woman breast-feeding a baby

• Popular in Greece and Egypt from earliest times through CE

• Resonates with primary role of women as wives and mothers

Medusa

• Gorgon (granddaughter of Echidna)

• Known for having snakes for hair, gaze that turned men to stone

• Killed by Perseus

• Blood from Medusa created the Amphisbaena

• In the Choephori, the Chorus encourages Orestes to kill Clytemnestra saying “put Perseus in your heart to shear the Gorgon’s head” comparing Clytemnestra to Medusa

• Orestes hesitates when going to kill Clytemnestra, perhaps because he is “petrified” by his mother’s breast, similar to how men are frozen by the eye of Medusa

• Orestes sees his Mother’s Furies as Gorgon

  • Medusa’s sisters pursue Perseus, just like how Clytemnestra’s Furies pursue Orestes