Foundations of Western Culture Exam 1- Wielfaert (no Quiz answers)

The Rape of Europa (story of Zeus and Europa)

Europa had a bad dream so she went for a walk on the beach. Zeus transformed himself into a magnificent white bull and transported himself to Tyre. Europa and her attendants were down by the shore gathering flowers when the white bull wandered up to them. Zeus made sure that the bull appeared totally tame, and he laid down at the feet of Europa

She gives birth to his son- King Minos

King Minos and the Minotaur

Posideon casts a spell on Pasiphae and sheer falls in love with the Bull gives birth to a minotaur


Minos wants to assert power over his brothers, asks Uncle Posideon for a sign, gives him a white bull, and says to kill it but he doesn't.

a fabulous monster of Crete that had the body of a man and the head of a bull. It was the offspring of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a snow-white bull sent to Minos by the god Poseidon for sacrifice.

The Origins of the Greek Gods (from Hesiod's Theogony)

Chaos (feminine deity- emerges 3 more- darkness, stryfe, and Gaia

Gaia (Earth) who gives birth to the Heavens (Ouranos) Chronos and castration of Ouranos Balls fly through the air and his blood and semen create monsters, land in sea and create Aphrodite- desire in the Mediterranean Sea

Chronos marries his sister Rhea (Titans) and becomes jealous of them and eats them

Zeus- Chronos' son, doesn't want to get eaten and plots to kill him. Titanomachy- the plot to kill Chronos? Marries his sister Hera

Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, etc. are
Zeus' children These are the olympians along with Zeus and Hera. They live on mount Olympus

The Judgment of Paris

Thetis- Achilles' mother, goddess, invites everyone to wedding except Eris (strife),

Eris has FOMO and makes a golden apple & it says to the most beautiful over it & Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite fight over it. They appeal to Zeus and ask who's the most beautiful. Zeus picks a prince named Paris, Prince of Troy to decide who is the most beautiful women. He chooses Aphrodite because he promises her the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen.

Greeks want Helen and agree that if anyone tries to take her away from her husband, all the Greeks will fight them. Helen marries Menelaus. Menelaus (King of Sparta, younger) and Agamemnon (King of Mycenae, older) are the sons of Atreus.

The Abduction of Helen
Aphrodite promises Paris Helen. He goes to Sparta and takes her to Troy. This is why the Greeks are fighting, over Helen

Leda and the Swan (birth of Helen of Sparta, later of Troy)

Zeus likes Leda and becomes swan. Leda becomes pregnant and gives birth to Helen who is now the most beautiful woman in the world.

The Myth of Pandora

Pandora= "Gift of all the Gods"
The gods make the most beautiful and seductive woman possible to terrorize man.

Creation of Woman as Theodicy:
The gods put all the evil in to a box and tell her not to open it. Pandora is curious and opens it anyway and it lets out all of the evil. She closes it, and the only thing left in the box is hope.

Gilgamesh

2/3 god- views himself above others
King of Uruk
Selfish- hero wants to be remembered- in ancient times they are selfish
Sexual exploitation
Treats his people as slaves
Tyrant
Does not view his people as human but objects
Kinda gross
Old and bored

Enkidu

From the wild
Protector
Hairy
Ignorant of oldness
naieve

Diomedes

This Greek warrior is the son of Tydeus, who is granted "courage and greatness" in Bk. 5 by a goddess who had once favored his father. Bk. 5 may be read as his extended "aristeia." He can also be observed in a key scene with Glaucus in Bk. 6 and was an important voice in convincing Agamemnon to return Briseis to Achilles in Bk. 9.

Ajax

Parent's- Telamon and Periobea

This Greek warrior is frequently called by the epithet (nickname) "telemonian," which means "the wall," in order to distinguish him from another warrior by the same name. He is the largest and strongest warrior fighting on the side of the Greeks, though not usually called "the best of the Achaans" - this is the epithet reserved most often for Achilles and one other character (mentioned in the next question).

Zeus

The king of the gods, who presides over the world from Mt. Olympus. He is associated with thunder and lightening, is the guarantor of justice, yet, somewhat paradoxically, he is often found violating his own marital vows through his sexually predatory interactions with human women.

Utnapishtim

Atra-hasis ="extra wise" (p.72)
Ut-napsihtim= "the far distant"
(Uta) na' ish (tim) = abbreviated Naish (noah)
The worldwide flood "I have nothing to give you that can save you."
The plant of immortality
Return to Uruk

Individual mortals perish, but humankind collectively lives on through the institutions of "the city"

Hector

A son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, He is the mightiest warrior in the Trojan army. He mirrors Achilles in some of his flaws, but his bloodlust is not so great as that of Achilles. He is devoted to his wife, Andromache, and son, Astyanax, but resents his brother Paris for bringing war upon their family and city

Aeneas

A Trojan nobleman, the son of Aphrodite, and a mighty warrior. The Romans believed that he later founded their city (he is the protagonist of Virgil's masterpiece the Aeneid).

Priam

King of Troy, father of Hector and Paris

Married to Hecuba

Parent's - Laomedon and Placia

Andromache

She is the wife of Hector, mother of Astyanax, from the royal family of Eetion, whose near and dear ones were all murdered "in a single blinding sprint" by the warrior Achilles. In Bk. 6, she speaks a moving lament, begging Hector to stay inside the walls of Troy, but he claims his "shame is too great.

Aphrodite

The goddess of beauty and erotic desire who won the "Judgment of Paris," after promising Paris the bed of the most beautiful woman in the world. According to Hesiod she was born from the sperm of the castrated Ouranos mixed with Mediterranean Sea foam, though Homer in Bk. 5 of the Iliad calls her the daughter of Dione, when she is wounded in battle and goes, bleeding "ichor," to Mt. Olympus for convalescence. She can frequently be found intervening in battle on behalf of Paris (as, for example, in Bk. 3., when she saves him from Menelaus, by breaking the strap of his chin and spiriting him away to sleep with Helen, safely behind the walls of Troy.

Hecuba

Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, and mother of Hector and Paris.

Achilles

son of Peleus, king of Phthia and Thetis, a sea goddess. leader of the myrmidons, the contingent form phthia, and their fifty ships, central character whose actions determine course of epic. great warrior but can not control his rage or pride. abandons troops and prays trojans will win bc his girl got taken away. thirsty for glory

Paris

A son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. his abduction of the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, sparked the Trojan War. he is self-centered and often unmanly. He fights effectively with a bow and arrow (never with the more manly sword or spear) but often lacks the spirit for battle and prefers to sit in his room making love to Helen while others fight for him, thus earning both Hector's and Helen's scorn.

Athena

The goddess of war, who, together with Hera, lost the "Judgment of Paris" to Aphrodite. In the Iliad, she frequently intervenes on the side of the Greeks -- in Bk. 1 to hold back an enraged Achilles at the theft of Briseis, in Bk. to reinstigate the fighting between Greeks and Trojans by whispering in the ear of Pandarus, in Bk. 5 by granting a famous warrior his aristeia. Perhaps most devastatingly to the Trojans, she appears alongside Hector in Bk. 22 in the form of his brother Deiphorbus.

Odysseus

This silver-tongued orator, the son of Laertes, king of Ithaca, is frequently found making speeches and devising battle strategies on behalf of the Greeks. We meet him in Bk. 2 humiliating the hunchback Thersites and urging the Greeks to return to the beach to fight. Helen speaks favorably of him from the walls of Troy in the presence of Priam in Bk. 3, and evidence from Bk. 9 might be used to argue that he was a philos of Achilles.

Ares

God of bloody war

lover of Aphrodite, he generally supports the Trojans in the war

Agamemnon

son of atreus and aerope; bother of menelaus; husband of Clytemnestra. command in chief of the greek forces and leader of the contingent from Argos and Mycenae and their husband ships. his quarrel with Achilles sets the plot in motion. king of Mycenae and commander-in-chief of achaean army. hot temper and has a prideful streak. more arrogant than achilles. thinks everything belongs to him. leads the army even though it should be his brother bc that's who is fighting for helen.

Nestor

King of Pylos and the oldest Achaean commander. Although age has taken much of his physical strength, it has left him with great wisdom. He often acts as an advisor to the military commanders, especially Agamemnon. Him and Odysseus are the Achaeans' most deft and persuasive orators, although his speeches are sometimes long-winded.

Hera

Queen of the gods and Zeus's wife, she is a conniving, headstrong woman. She often goes behind Zeus's back in matters on which they disagree, working with Athena to crush the Trojans, whom she passionately hates.

Artemis

Goddess of the hunt, daughter of Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo. she supports the Trojans in the war.

Helen of Troy

Reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the ancient world, she was stolen from her husband, Menelaus, and taken to Troy by Paris. She loathes herself now for the misery that she has caused so many Trojan and Achaean men. Although her contempt extends to Paris as well, she continues to stay with him.

hero (from hora)

Propitious Moment (hora)
Demonstration Extreme Skill (arete)
Honor and Glory Ascending Scale of Honor Kudos- honor Time- honor Kleos- Everlasting Glory Kleos comes through aristeia
Hero=Kleos

arête

demonstration of extreme skill

berserk, berserking

A momentary loss of humanity
From "berserk" = Old Norse for "bare shirt"

kleos

everlasting glory- comes through aristeia

aristeia

Greek for when the narrative centres on one warrior and his deeds and killings for a while,

mēnis

"a cosmic sanction against behavior that violates the most basic rules of human society"

kudos, timê

glory but not Kleos level

philos, philtatos

nearest and dearest

therapon

Chariotteer- a close friend who drives the warriors chariots

Surogate- one who stands in place of another

lament

stylized, public song of grief Crying while singing,

singing while crying Performed solo, or in group

The term "hero" conveys highly specific meanings in Homeric and other Archaic Greek literature. In a thoughtful, well supported essay, describe the nature of the hero in a specifically Greek context and explore how the Greek conception of a hero might differ from our own popular notions of heroism. Then, based on the evidence of Books 1-6, 9, 16, 18, (20), 21-22, and 24 of the Iliad, argue for whom you believe to be the greater hero: Hector or Achilles. [In your essay, be sure to incorporate such relevant terms as Hora, kudos, timé, kleos, kleos aphthiton, arête, menis(anger), and aristeia. Provide as many specific examples as possible from the text of the Iliad.]

chauvet cave

cave paintings in southern france, more than twice as old as any other cave paintings

gobekli tepe

oldest known religious site in the world

fertile crescent

area in mesopotamia, between tigris and euphrates rivers, super fertile area, good for crops,

Mesopotamia

"land between two rivers" (tigris and euphrates)

sumer (sumerians)

major city states, big walls, lots of knowledge

ziggurat

temple complex, two major things about it: they have raised platforms and temple towers

cuneiform

wedge shaped writing, on clay tablets

pictograph

drawing pictures of meaning

anthropomorphism

taking human form, giving human qualities to other things

atrahasis

story about "the great flood"

nineveh

discovered by henry layard in 1850, 30,000 clay tablets, contained the epic of gilgamesh

library of ashurbanipal

contained thousands of old clay tablets

mycenaeans

known for walled cities, sophisticated engineering, government dominated by aristocrats, & in vast trade network

minoans

discovered by arthur evans, matriarchal society(disputed), passes through women, pacifism(disputed), sophisticated society

heinrich schliemann

discovered ancient troy, mother died, dad caught in affair, lived with uncle, learned greek, found gold, found priam's gold(disputed), excavation of mycenae

arthur evans

wealthy family, discovered minoans, discovered knossos

mask of agammemnon

the mona lisa of prehistory, discovered in mycenae

shaft graves

schliemann found them in mycenae

peer polity model

each city is its own state, own country, has its own government

knosses

discovered by arthur evans, home of king agenor

matriarchy

society run by women

hesiod

accounts for how gods came to be

theogony

origin of the gods

simonides

women were made and make no sense, they are dirty and lay around and becomes fat, attitudes are never the same, doesn't feel the cold can't be tamed by words or hitting, and have mood swings.

The Sumerian Pantheon

atrahasis: creation of man, the gods were tired of carrying burdens and wanted mami to create man to bear the load, killed weila and mixed blood with clay until there was a heart beat and called on anunnaki and igigi to cast their spittle on the clay

An (Sumerian)

god of heavens

Enlil (Sumerian)

god of wind and storm

Enki (Sumerian)

god of water and human culture

Ninhursag (sumerian)

goddess of fertility and earth

Utu (sumerian)

god of sun and justice

Nanna

god of the moon

Enlil

The god of the air and chief god of the Sumerian pantheon. Praise hymns to this god survive attributing to him characteristics not unlike Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible. His worship declined after the Babylonian conquest of Sumer.