classics midterm 1

Mycenean Bronze Age

-Mycenae large but NOT in control of Greece

-Greece = culturally distinct kingdoms & palace with feudal good distribution

-bronze: alloy of copper and tin - MAJOR tech innovation

-limited writing (Linear A and Linear B)

-age in which the Iliad, Odyssey take place

significance of tin

-rare good; generated robust trade connecting far regions

Linear A

-early Bronze age writing, undecipherable

Linear B

-early Bronze age writing, primary writing system,

-very difficult to learn; required professional training

-used for palace, legal, and trade record

-mention of early deities but not the same as Archaic

burial significance

-both elites and plebeians buried with prized possessions and well-preserved = insight into daily life but only most valuable possessions (bias)

collapse of Bronze age

-drought and/or sea peoples invasion —> collapse of palaces —> end of trade routes —> switch to iron

Iron Age

-no writing; stories transmitted orally (more variation)

-small hamlets w/o large cities

Archaic Period

-dated to 1st Olympics

-city-states that were politically & governmentally allied

-development of Greek alphabet (written)

-period of Homer, Hesiod

significance of Greek alphabet

-easy to learn —> explosion of literacy

-based on Phonecian Abajad

-each sound was a different letter, not entire words

dactylic hexameter

poetic meter in which Hesiod, Homer, Homeric Hymns are written in

didactic epic

epic poetry intended to teach (Hesiod’s Theogony, W&D)

herioc epic

epic poetry concerning heroes, achievements (Homer’s Iliad, Odyssey)

aetiology

origin story of person/place/thing

cosmogony

origin story of the entire universe

Homeric Hymns

-short prayers sung orally to an audience

-not all written by Homer (called Homeric bc they use dactylic hexameter)

-dedicated to specific deities

-structure:

• invoke deity

• tell a story about them

• ask for their help and blessing with a task

Homer

poet associated with the Iliad and Odyssey (may not have been a real person)

time (plural: timai)

honor/sphere of influence of a deity associated with their divine status

cult

group of worship centered around a deity with traditions and rites

temple

-house image of cult deity

-sacrifices could be made here

-NOT required for worship

Theogony

-by Hesiod

-earliest complete, written cosmogony

-audience understood he could use diff variations of a myth and it was acceptable

content of Theogony

• invocation of Muses

  • grants Hesiod divine authority to tell story

  • Calliope: muse associated w/ epic poetry

• primordial gods

  • Gaia: Earth

  • Ouranos: sky

  • Chaos: empty void

  • Tartaros: abyss under the earth

  • Eros: desire

• Ouranians

  • 1st generation of Ouranos’ offspring

  • 12 Titans, Hundred-Handers, Cyclopes

3 successive power crises of the Theogony

1. Ouranos chains children up bc he feared their monstrosity —> Kronos castrates him

2. Kronos learns his children will become more powerful than him and swallows them —> Rhea tricks him with a stone, Zeus defeats him

3. Zeus learns his child from Metis will become more powerful than him and swallows Metis —> Athena emerges, ending the power crisis

theme: patriarchal control over entire household

Works & Days

-by Hesiod

-addressed to brother Perses; tells him life is eternal suffering and he needs to work hard

-moral advice + agricultural almanac

content of Works & Days

• 2 kinds of strife:

  • destructive strife = jealousy, hostility

  • productive strife = motivation to work had

  
  

• Prometheus tricks and is punished by Zeus x2

  • 1) aetiology for sacrifice: gives animal meat to humans, bones & fat to Zeus; Zeus accepts but is not tricked; takes fire away from humans to punish P.

  • 2) P. steals fire back for humans; Zeus chains to a rock and liver is pecked out every day by a bird, punishes humans with Pandora

• Pandora

  • Zeus sends Hermes to give Pandora as a wife to Epimetheus

  • E. was told not to accept gift from gods but forgot

  • Pandoran sent with a jar (pithos) and told not to open it but did

  • all troubles of life released except Hope (remained inside jar)

Pandora

-’All Gifts’ - all gods came together to create her

-said that she is the first woman

contradictions between Theogony and W&D

Theogony: purpose is origin

• Pandora unnamed

• created only by Hephaistos and Athena

• evil but necessary for procreation

W&D: purpose is explanation of why life is hard

• Pandora named

• crafted by all the gods together

• more innocent; jar is bait

6 Ages of Men

1. Gold

2. Silver

3. Bronze

4. Heroes

5. Iron

6. Iron II

Gold age of men

-just, peaceful, prosperous

-reign of Cronos

-no old age (death still exists)

Silver age of men

-impious, immature

-disrespectful towards gods

Bronze age of men

-violent, giants

-killed each other through force

Heroes age of men

-only present in Greek myth (Iliad and Odyssey take place here)

-noble, just, famous heroes

-death in Great Wars

Iron age of men (current)

-labor, hardship, moral decline

-only small good is possible

Iron II age of men (future)

-people will be born old

-relentless labor

-divine abandonment

-Zeus will destroy humans

Aphrodite

-timai: sexual attraction, desire, erotic power

-iconographic attributes: vegetation, Eros

-titles:

• Cytheria: passed island of Cythereia

• Cyprogenes: emergence on Cypros

• Philomedes: connection to sexual organs

• Philommeides: connection to smiles

-contradiction: birth

• Homer: daughter of Zeus

• Hesiod: born of Ouranos’ severed genitals

-married to Hephaistos unwillingly

Eros

-timai: coercive desire, love as emotional control

-iconographic attributes: young (no beard), wings

-contradiction: origin

• Hesiod: within Theogony, he states Eros is primordial but then states he comes after Aphrodite in another poem

HH to Aphrodite

-theme: reason why gods lust for mortals, power of Aphrodite and Zeus’ limits on her

-sequence:

1. Aphrodite makes gods lust for mortals and Zeus punished her by forcing her to lust for a mortal, Anchises

2. approaches him in disguise, sleeps with him

3. reveals her true identity and a threat to not tell anyone, but promises she will deliver his son

4. announces their son will be names Aineas

Olympia

-place built as temple built to Zeus

-where Olympics took place

-functioned to preserve image of deity and sacrificial altar (this specific altar was a pile of ash; different from any other altar)

Poseidon

-timai: sea, earthquakes, horses

-iconographic attributes: trident, horses

-Father of horses (produced first horse on his own)

• Pegasos

• Areion (horse of Heracles); raped Demeter

-monster children

Athena

-timai: wisdo, strategic warfare, craftsmanship

-iconographic attributes: helmet, spear, shield with snakes, olive tree

-mother = Metis but born from Zeus’ head fully grown and clothed in armor

contest for Athens

-Athens to choose patron deity; Poseidon offers saltwater spring, Athena offers olive tree

-Athena wins; olives are versatile and central to Athens’ economy

-eternal competition between Poseidon and Athena

-theme: Poseidon provides powerful chaos and Athena provides skills to tame it

Acropolis

-highest point of Athens

-place of refuge in war

-could worship either Poseidon or Athena here

cults of Athena

-multiple; each had its own priests, traditions, rituals

Parthenon

major temple of a cult of Athena

Demeter

-timai: grain, agriculture

-iconographic attributes: grain, crown, torch

-Bringer of Seasons

-daughter = Persephone; central to her character

Persephone

-daughter of Demeter and Zeus (Zeus raped Demeter)

-wife of Hades

-known as Kore (girl); associated with youth and innocence

-associated primarily with underworld but sometimes agriculture

-abduction heavily connected to death, funerary inscriptions for young girls who died before marriage

HH to Demeter

1. abduction of Persephone (picking flowers, Hades tricks her with a beautiful one; kidnaps her)

2. Zeus has already authorized marriage w/o Demeter or Persephone’s consent (reflections patriarchal control)

3. Demeter in grief; learn what happens from Hecate

4. Demeter comes to Eleusis disguised as an old woman and nurses Demophoon, a royal child

5. places Demophoon in fire to make him immortal but his mother finds him and stops Demeter

6. Demeter reveals herself; demands worship at Eleusis and withholds agricultural fertility —> famine —> no sacrifices for gods

7. Zeus arranges for her return but Hades compels Persephone to eat pomegranate seed

8. Demeter must accept Persephone dividing her time in the year between upper world and underworld (aetiology for seasons)

significance of eating food in underworld

-tied to Athenian marriage rituals:

-groom comes in carriage —> wife carried to his house in the chariot —> eats food at groom’s house to signify his ownership over her

Demophoon

mortal child Demeter nurses at Eleusis

Eleusis

-secret sanctuary near Athens associated with Demeter and Persephone

-place of mystery cult

mystery cult

-religious cult whose practices & traditions were unknown to those that hadn’t participated

-open to anyone who spoke greek

-procession from Athens —> Eleusis

-initiation: barley drink, held in darkness, abduction reenacted

-could be done multiple times

Hermes

-timai: boundaries, thieves, travelers, merchants. heralds

-iconographic attributes: winged sandals, sun hat, staff (caduceus), usually depicted as a young adult

-no major temples but still a very important deity (shrines along roadside)

-also called Psychopomp (soul send) = send souls to underworld

-face on herma

-carries divine babies safely

herma

-pile of rocks/handcrafted stone boundary markers w/ elect phalluses

-head was Hermes

HH To Hermes

-thought to be performed for a festival (Hermaia)

1. Hermes born (physically) an infant to Zeus and Maia later than all other gods —> all timai are taken

2. very mischevous and intelligent; invents lyre (only in this HH)

3. steals Apollo’s cows and hides his tracks

4. sacrifices a cow for the gods —> implication that Hermes was the first to sacrifice animals (contradiction)

5. Maia scolds him, but Hermes insist he will become equal to the gods and taunts Apollo

6. Apollo finds out, brings Hermes to Zeus for judgement

7. Hermes lies and forges innocence; Zeus knows he’s lying but orders them to make up

8. Hermes gives Apollo lyre, Apollo gives Hermes caduceus, cow, Thriai (prophetic bee women)

9. Hermes now welcomed to Olympus as a full-fledged god

Hermaia

-took place at gymnasia

-physical competition of adolescent boys

-maturation ritual

-HH to Hermes perfomed

-same-sex mentor/mentee relationships where adolescents were brought into society by older men (could be sexual or nonsexual)

Apollo

-timai: archery, music, sickness/health, prophecy

-iconographic attributes: young man, arrows, lyre, laurel tree

-titles:

• Far-Shooter

• Smintheus (mouse god; possibly borrowing from another language)

• Lycian (wolf god)

• Phoebus (radiant) — connected to sun in Roman times

-often vengeful and cruel

Daphne (Laurel)

-Eros shoots Apollo with arrow to make him chase after Daphne

-Daphne prays to river god to help her; she is turned into laurel tree

Hyacinth

-mentee of Apollo

-Zephyr was jealous of Apollo; made discus fly back and kill Hyacinth

-blood became Hyacinth flower

Coronais

-Apollo sleeping with Coronais

-crow tells Apollo she is sleeping with someone else

-Apollo burns her alive and turns crow black

Ascelpius

-son of Apollo

-timai: sickness/health

-many temples dedicated to him (must survive a night with snakes within the temple to be healed by him)

-worshipped throughout Greece

HH to Apollo

-aetiology of Delos and Delphi

Delos

1. Leto pregnant with Apollo & Artemis (by Zeus) but Hera decreed no where on Earth should allow her to give birth

2. Delos = barren island; allowed Leto to give birth on condition Apollo would build a center there and make it habitable

3. Apollo born as full adult with lyre

Delphi

-most important cult site to Apollo

-Apollo kills dragon who controls this sport —> rotting dragon lady (Pythia)

-people came from EVERYWHERE to seek prophecies (even kings, Delphi had substantial political power)

-called the center of the Earth (Omphalos)

Pythia

-priestess to Apollo

-person expected to make donation, attendants would go back and talk to Pythia then relay prophecy

-most likely breathing hallucinogenic vapor to commune w/ deities

Artemis

-timai: hunting & archery, young women & virgins, animals

-iconographic attributes: bow, deer

-negative attitude towards women who were not virgins (e.g. if a woman died in childbirth it could be said it was due to Artemis)

Actaeon

-found Artemis naked

-she turned him into a deer and fed him to his hunting dogs

Callisto

-assaulted and became pregnant by Zeus

-Artemis found out she wasn’t a virgin anymore —> turned into a bear

Iphigenia

-daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

-Calchas told Agamemnon winds weren’t blowing because Artemis was angry he killed a sacred stag

-Agamemnon told he must sacrifice her to appease Artemis

-switched at last second with a deer

Trojan War

-biggest event in Ancient Greece

-likely didn’t actually happen

-mythic explanation of the world prior to them

the Trojan Cycle

-collection of poems and songs that told the story of the Trojan War

1) Cypria

2) Iliad

3) Aithiopis

4) The Little Iliad

5) The Sack of Illion

6) The Returns

7) The Odyssey

8) The Telegony

Cypria

1) Thetis destined to have a more powerful son than father —> Zeus forces her to marry Peleus (mortal) to prevent usurpation

2) Judgement of Paris: Eris at wedding and presents golden apple for the prettiest goddess

3) Paris as the judge; Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite present gifts

4) chooses Aphrodite’s gift of marrying the most beautiful woman

5) Helen taken from Troy and Meneleus (willingness to leave is debated)

6) Greek city states unite to sack Troy due to Oath of Suitors

Oath of Suitors

-told within Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women (anthology of all women in myth)

-tells of Helen’s origin; many suitors wanted her hand in marriage and Odysseus said all suitors who wanted to court her had to make an oath that they would protect her and whoever she eventually got married to

-bound by oath to return and get her back from Troy

Troy

-center of all trade routes

-Luvian language (related to Hittite)

-vassal state of Hittite Empire

-no evidence of an actual sack of Troy