Myth flashcards

myth

traditional stories that have been passed down orally

story

structured plots with a beginning, middle, end; contain a problem to be solved, setting, time, place

not now, myths always take place in the past when life was better and more fantastical

in regards to time and place, how are myths described

literacy rate is very modern because people couldn’t read or write! Stories were all spoken word through memories

Why did myths exist?

NO AUTHORS

Do myths have authors?

divine myths

• Supernatural protagonist

• time/place isn’t real

• explain why the world is the way it is

• characters are gods

legends

• characters w/ human heros, but not everyone— only demigods and kings

• explore social explanations

folk tales

• characters are humans or talking animals

• many moral messages

• meant for entertainment

people want to preserve stuff; myths could possibly justify things; myths can tell about human condition

Why we study myths?

true

true or false: myth and religion are not the same?

religion

actions based on beliefs

aition

explanation; origin story; cause

Hesoid

word/name meaning “sacred voice”

becoming (-gon) god (theo-)

what does “theogony” mean

Chaos

word meaning void/absense

Earth

primordial female deity (also the planet)

Ouranos

Rain-maker and 1st ruler of the cosmos

Ouranos wouldn’t let Gaia give birth because he hates kids

conflict between Gaia and Ouranos

Gaia and Kronos plotted —> Kronos castrates Ouranos

solution between Gaia and Ouranos

kronos

2nd ruler of the cosmos

Kronos swallows kids to thwart the prophecy

conflict between Kronos and Rhea

Gaia and Rhea give a stone swaddled like a baby to kronos

solution to problem between Kronos and Rhea

zeus used the monsters that were locked up, who give him the lightning bolts

How does Zeus win against kronos

Zeus

3rd and last ruler of the cosmos

prometheus

whose name means “fore-thought”

epimetheus

whose name means '“after-thought”

zeus picks ox bones hidden in fat, so he withholds fire from mortals

explain the 1st conflict between Zeus and prometheus

prometheus steals fire for mortals, so zeus creates the 1st woman who unleashes all human suffering

explain the 2nd conflict of zeus and prometheus

pandora

1st woman, made out of clay and water by gods, releasing human suffering into the world

all (pan-) gifts (-dora)

what does “Pandora” mean

Golden Age

• only men (no women)

• during Kronos’s reign

• BEST life = ABSENSE OF BAD STUFF (age, work, suffering, etc.)

• partying and abundant food

  • Death = sleep and you come back as gaurdian spirits

Silver Age

• Zeus’s reign

• Violent

• Stupid

• Atheistic

• Short-lived

Bronze Age

Age of humanity that was just violence

Heroic Age

• heroes from myth (Thebes, Troy, etc.)

• really good heroes —> Isles of Blest (like Golden Age)

Iron Age

• time is now (and it SUCKS)

• injustice grows

• Zeus wipes everyone out (prophecy)

Epic of Gilgamesh

• Back to ca. 2000BC (earlier?)

• Babylonian culture (Mesopotamian: @ Euphrates River)

Book of Genesis

• 6th c. BC? (in written form)

• Oral tradition goes back a few 100 years

Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)

• Historical author

• Certainly knows ancient Greek authors

• Post-modern, snarky, self-conscious

gods; ppl ruin gods’ sleep

Gilgamesh: Who sent the floods and why?

God; Human evil

Genesis: who sent the floods and why?

Jupiter; Human evil (Lycaon)

Ovid: Who sent the floods and why?

rain; Utnapishtim + family + bffs + animals (virtuous ppl)

Gilgamesh: How was the flood sent and who survived?

rain; Noah + animals + family (virtuous ppl)

Genesis: How was the flood sent and who survived?

Rain + seas & rivers; Deucalion & Pyrrha (virtuous ppl)

Ovid: How was the flood sent and who survived?

gods regrets; Ppl renewed??

Gilgamesh: How did the flood end and what happened after?

Total annihilation (other than ark); Noah & fam repopulate

Genesis: How did the flood end and what happened after?

Mission accomplished; D & P throw stones → ppl

Ovid: How did the flood end and what happened after?

autochthony

Claim to territory based on mythical orgin directly from land, or “self-earth”

Jupiter

What does “sky-father” mean

wolf

what does the root Lyc- mean

• Kills guest

• DISRESPECTS J. & OTHER GODS

What crimes did Lycaon commit

Kronos and Rhea

Zeus’ parents that are Titans and 2nd gen gods

in a cave in Crete

Where was Zeus raised

lightning & irresistible allies

In the Olympians vs. Titans fight, what did Zeus get out of freeing the cyclopes + 100 handlers?

locks them up in Underworld

What happens when the Zeus defeats the Titans

sky, clouds, storms

What’s Zeus’ domain?

lightning, aegis (goat-skin shield), bull, & eagle, beard

What’s Zeus’ iconography?

justice, cultural norms (“right”), hospitality to strangers (xenia)

• Divinely guaranteed justice = theo-dic-y

What’s Zeus’ conservative values?

Ganymede

Zeus’ boy-toy

Marriage and fertility

What is Hera the god of

Ares, Hebe, Eileithuia

Who are the kids that Hera shares with Zeus?

Hephaistos

Who is the child that Hera has alone

cows and peacocks

What’s Hera’s iconography

Io

Who is the daughter/demigod of a river god and was raped by Zeus

cow

What animal did Zeus turn Io into?

Argus

Who is the multi-eyed guardian with eyes like the spots on a peacock’s feathers

Hermes

Who lulled Argus to sleep and killed him?

sea, horses, earthquakes

What is Poseidon the god of?

beard, trident, fish

What’s Poseidon’s iconography?

Europa

Sidonian (near Eastern) princess who gets on Zeus’ back for a ride; Their kids are Midos and Rhadamanthus

stopped succession cycle

Why does the theogony say Zeus swallowing Metis (“wisdom”) = key to success

Demeter

goddess of harvest/fertility/agriculture

• Olympian (sib of Z, Hera, Pos, et. alii)

  • wife/baby-mama to Z → Persephone (Kore)

  • Incestuous relation/rape by Poseidon

Persephone playing w/ friends, picking flowers

what was persephone doing when Hades opens up the Earth on his golden chariot

True

True or false: Demeter searches the earth and hears of persephone’s kidnapping from Hekate and Helios

• Disguised as old lady

• Found by the princess of Eleusis

When Demeter leaves to go to the mortal world, how does she disguse herself and who finds her?

• Dem tries to make baby immortal by giving him ambrosia

• Thwarted by mom

When Demeter is brought to the king’s house, what happens?

she ate pomegranate seeds

Why must Persephone spend 1/3 of the year in the underworld.

Eleusinian mysteries

What did demeter establish that EVERYONE could join (except murderers) and promised blessed afterlife (very rare in Gr/Roman religions)

mystes

eleusinian mystery that means someone who has observed secret ritual

initiate

Eleusinian mystery that means in-it (opp. of ex-it) = “1 who has gone in (to see)”

revealing secrets

what is the eleusinian mystery reason for getting the death penalty

unmarried girl

Persephone gets called Kore, what does it mean?

Withdrawal and return

What is this story pattern called: 

• Protag suffers loss/indignity/shame (oft quarrel) 

• Protag leaves group

  • Oft curses group

  • Oft wanders to other groups (gets/doesn’t get hospitality)

• Social group suffers w/o protag

• Social group embassies to get protag back

  • Oft initial refusal →acceptance & return

• Protag returns w/ specl honors/recognition

  • (sometimes returns in disguise)

• [Death of substitute for protagonist]

Hephestus

God who is a blacksmith and has a foot disability/deformity who is:

• Best smith w/ magical powers

• Married to Aphrodite/a Grace

• Attempted rape of Athena →Athenian hero Erichthonius

ares

god of war, very athletic; got chained to bed with aphrodite

aphrodite

goddess of sex whose name means “arose from the sea foam” with power over all gods besides Athena, Artemis, & Hestia

• Associated w/ Eastern Mediterranean

  • Cyprus, other islands

  • Gr. version E. goddess Ishtar

Anchises

When Zeus blames Aphrodite for him cheating all the time, he punishes her by making her fall in love with a mortal who tends cattle. What’s his name?

he fears punishment so Aphrodite swears him to secrecy

After Aphrodite has sex with Anchises, why does he have an epiphany?

Aeneas (“source of shame” 4 Aph)

What’s the name of the son Anchises and Aphrodite have together, and what does the name mean?

birds (swans, geese, etc.)

whats aphrodite’s iconography?

Artemis

• Parents = Z. & Leto (Titan)

• Origin Story

  • Difficult birth →Delos

  • Twinsies w/ Apollo

• Virgin goddess (1 of 3), not subject to Aph.

• Huntress

• Girls dedicate their toys to them before getting married

Hermes

• Parents: Z + Maia (dghtr of Atlas?)

• Divine properties: thief, deception, messenger/takes souls 2 underworld

• Origin story

  • Invents lyre w/ tortoise

  • Steals cows (drives in circles), invents sandals (puts on backwards)

• Travelers clothes: hat (+/- wingsz) & cloak

• Magic staff (symb of messenger)

• Winged footwear

What’s Hermes iconography?

Herm statue

(statue of Hermes) used as a marker

• Mile markers

• Ward off evil in city

Athena

• Daddy = Z, mom = Metis (“Wisdom”)

  • Born from Z’s head after he SWALLOWED Metis

• 1 of 3 virgin goddesses

  • Parthenon “place of virgin (goddess)”

• Goddess of artisans & craftspeople

  • Esp, important as weaver 

• Alt. name = Pallas

• Patron goddess of Athens

• Wears armor (+/- spear, helmet, shield)

• Aegis = goat skin of Z. 

  • Eventually has Medusa’s head attached

• OWLS

• Artisans & crafts

What’s athena’s iconography?

• Each god offers gift to Athenians

  • P. strikes ground → saltwater

  • A. produces 1st Olive tree

    • Olives grow well near sea (repurposed P’s gift)

      • Food

      • Oil (fuel, cloth production, perfume, athletes used like soap)

How did Athena win in the contest for Athens against Poseidon?

Apollo

• Origin story: Dad = Z., Mom = Leto (Titan)

  • Hera won’t let mom give birth

    • No place will accept L’s labor

    • Goddess of childbirth forbidden from helping

    • Delos agrees to be place & Eileithuia fetched

      • →twins

  • God of poetry & music, prophecy

bow + arrow, paired w/ sis Artemis, shown w/ mom, lyre (musical instrument)

What’s Apollo's iconography

• Where he kills Pytho (Typho) there

  • Aition (explanation) Pyth-ian (“where the dragon rotted”)

How is Apollo related to the Temple at Delphi