clas 430: exam 1

Mesopotamia

events?
age?

land between the rivers

Sumerian cities → Akkadian empire
early bronze age

Minoan civilization

fertility goddess, bulls, rish lands and cities, Linear A script
not defense, believe god of protection

Michael Ventris

deciphered the language of the clay tablets found on the Greek mainland

divine myth?

legends?

etiological tale?

folktales?
types? motifs?

divine myth: stories of gods/supernatural

legends: stories of heroes (greet deeds)

etiological tale: explains world’s existence (i.e., creation myth)

folktales: stories of regular people
note: folktale types & motifs

Erinyes

female spirits who punish broken oaths

Parent: Uranus (blood drops on earth)

Metamorphoses (ovid)

transformation of chaos into cosmos

stories united by the theme of the transformation of shape

Roman myth

Ovid?
Vergil?

Ovid: 43 BC-AD 17, Metamorphoses

Vergil: 70-19 BC, Aenid, [heracles, Troy]

Greek myth

Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound
classical

Sophocles: Oepidus/king of Thebes

Euripedes: 

Homer: Oepidus, Iliad, Odyssesy, Homeric hymns
archaic

Hesiod: Prometheus at Meconê

humanism

choral song

tragedy

epic

e.g., Iliad & Odyssey (Homer, archaic period)

Sumerians

unique language, near Tigris & Euphrates rivers (note: mesopotamia)

all gods are anthropomorphic

• first city-states (3000 BC)

• irrigation agriculture

• cuneiform writing (34000 BC)

Inanna

queen of heaven, [goddess of love, curiosity, war]
adjacent to Aphrodite lust, Athena war

Parent: Anu/Anu

Enlil

who?
parent?

Sumerian storm god

Parent: Anu/An (mesopotamian sky god)

Enki (Ea)

Sumerian freshwater god

Parent: Anu/An (mesopotamian sky god)

Children: Marduk

semites

nonunited, semi-nomadic

• akkadians (capital akkad) took over south sumerian cities

  • akkadians adopted sumerian myths and culture

    • preserved through cuneiform script on clay tablets

• babylonians (capital babylon, 2000 BC)

• hebrews = best known semites

  • southern mesopotamia (abraham)

    • abraham → egypt → became pharaoh’s slaves

  • moses <3 yahweh, universal flood adapted from mesopoatmian myth

  • phoenecian alphabet = hebrew writing system

Akkadians

early bronze age (from mesopotamia?)??

Hebrews

Hittites

powerful and important in late bronze (!!)

• controlled central anatolia (turkey, 1600-1200 BC)

• preserved through hittite cuneiform clay tablets

• language from sumerian → indo-euro

egypt

• language include semitic and egyptian influence

• important (!!) murder of osiris

  • resurrected by daughter isis

  • myth told by greeks (?)

etiological tale

folktale types

folktale motifs

soft vs hard G & C

final E & Es

Chi (x) or Ch

pronunciation: Patroclus

pa-trok-lus

pronunciation: Actaeon

ak-tē-on

pronunciation: Danaë

dān-a-ē

diphthong (ae, oe, au, ei)

dieresis (ë) indicates…

two vowels pronounced as one, long vowel

…not a diphthong, pronounced as separate syllable

Neolithic (New Stone) Period

When: 10,000 BC

Where: Near East

What: development of agriculture and sedentary communities

EARLY BRONZE AGE

When: 3000-2000 BC

Where/What:

• Greece (bronze metallurgy)

• Mesopotamia: Sumerian cities

• Crete: Minoan civilization (Linear A script),

• Mesopotamia: Akkadian Empire

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

When: 2000-1600 BC

Where/What:

• Balkan Peninsula: arrival of Indo-European Greeks (kings, nobles, etc.)

• Mesopotamia: Old Babylonian Empire

LATE BRONZE (MYCENAEAN) AGE

When: 1600-1150 BC

Where/What:

• Anatolia: Hittite Empire rules

• Phoenician syllabic writing (1500)

• Trojan War (1250)

DARK (IRON) AGE

When: 1150-800 BC

Where/What:

• Greece: destruction of Mycenaean cities

• Asia Minor: Greek colonies settle 

ARCHAIC PERIOD 

When: 825-480 BC

Where/What:

• Invention of Greek alphabet (825)

  • Iliad & Odyssey (epics, attributed to Homer)

• Southern Italy and Sicily: Greek colonies (polis)

• Greek vs Greek conflict

• Writing!!

CLASSICAL PERIOD

HELLENISTIC PERIOD

ROMAN PERIOD

MEDIEVAL PERIOD

Hesiod

who?
known for?
period?

aoidos (oral poet)

Theogony & Works and Days 
archaic period (700 years before Roman myth)

Homeric Hymns

Period: Archaic

Cyclic poets

Period: Archaic

Bacchylides

Period: Archaic

Sophocles

Period: Classical

Herodotus

Period: Classical

Euripides

Period: Classical

Socrates

Period: Classical

Peloponnesus

event?
period?

Peloponnesian war
Classical period

Thucydides

Period: Classical

Plato

Period: Classical

Aristotle

Period: Classical

Alexander the Great

Period: Classical

Apollonius of Rhodes

Period: Hellenistic

Catullus

Period: Hellenistic

Vergil

Period: Hellenistic

Livy

Period: Hellenistic

The Greek and Roman Pantheon

Period: Hellenistic

Julius Caesar

Period: Hellenistic

Ovid

Period: Hellenistic (700 years after Greek myth)

Augustus Caesar

Period: Roman

Apollodorus’ Library

Period: Roman

Plutarch

Period: Roman

Apuleius

Period: Roman

Hyginus

Period: Roman

Gaea

Earth, fertility, feminine

Children: Uranus, Mountains, Pontus, Erinyes*, Giants*

*from Uranus’ blood

Chaos

chasm

Children: Erebus (darkness), Nyx (night)

Tartarus

underworld, confinement

Children (+ Gaea): Typhoeus/Typhon (monstrous)

Eros

desire, attraction, lust; more of a concept

succession myth

1. all gods proceed each generation

2. for the current generation to be overthrown by the next, they must be banished to underworld

3. immortal gods who cannot be killed, must be confined & controlled

4. reason that gods do not want their children to come to fruition, to avoid being overthrown

   1. e.g., uranus, cronus, etc.

Uranus

sky

Parent: Gaea

Children (+ Gaea):

• 12 Titans: Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus

• Cyclopes

• Hecatonchires

Children (genitals): Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, sexual attraction)

Cyclopes

produces lightning source for Zeus

Brontes (thunderer), Steropes (flasher), Arges (brightener)

Cronus

cunning, last born of titans

Children (+ Rhea): Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus (Olympians)

Zeus

who? roman equivalent?
parent? raised by? where?
children? sexual metaphor?

god of lightning, ruler of gods, maker of all things
roman equivalent: Jupiter

Parent: Cronus + Rhea
raised by curetes and dactyls on crete island

Children: note: sexual metaphor of “rain and earth”

• Metis: Athena

• Themis: Horae (seasons, x3), Moerae (fates, x3)

• Eurynomê (Oceanid): Graces (x3)

• Mneumosynê (memory): Muses

• Donê: Aphrodite (one account)

• Demeter: Persephonê

• Leto: Apollo, Artemis

• Hera: Hephaestus (smith god), Ares, Hebê (youth)

• Alcmene: Heracles

• Maia: Hermes

Hera

who?
parent?
(formal) spouse? seduction?
children?

gold-sandled, goddess of marriage and women’s fertility
roman equivalent: Juno

Parent: Cronus + Rhea

Spouse: Zeus (seduces himint he Iliad)

• uses Aphrodite’s magic girdle to seduce Zeus → female cunning

Children (+Zeus): Hephaestus, Ares, Hebê (youth)

Hades

who? roman equivalent?
parent?
spouse?

“invisible,” ruler of the underworld, technically not an Olympian
roman equivalent: Pluto

Parent: Cronus + Rhea

Spouse: Persephonê

Poseidon

who? roman equivalent?
parent?
children?

ruler of the seas, shaker of the earth → horses!
roman equivalent: Neptune

Parent: Cronus + Rhea

Children (+Medusa): Pegasus, Chrysaör
Children (+Amphitritê, Nereid): Triton
Children: cyclops Polyphemus
Children (+Demeter): Arion

Titanomachy

What is it?
Who sided with Zeus?

battle of the Titans; Titans battled Olympians on Mt Olympus in resentment of Zeus’ rule

Titan Themis and son Prometheus

Hecatonchires

translation?

parent?

names?

hundred-handed ones (+ 50 heads)

gaea (+ uranus)

Cottus, Briareus, Gyes

Atlas

Titan OR Giant

Parent: Gaea (+Uranus) OR Iapetus (+Oceanid)

banished by Zeus to the edge of the world (following titanomachy)

held up the heavens ot separate gaea (earth) and uranus (sky)

Typhoeus (Typhon)

who?
typhonmacy?
parent?

massive, muscular, monstrous roar of several animals
typhonomachy: battle with Zeus

Parent: Gaea (+Tartarus), last of Gaea’s children

Athena

masculine, virgn but infertile (does not want to submit to males)
olive tree: gift to Athens (stomped on by Poseidon’s son, as opposed to his saltwater…)

Parent: Metis (+Zeus)

born from curing Zeus’ headache

Heracles

what did he do for prometheus?
parent?

freed titan prometheus from bound pillar

Parent: Zeus (+ mortal Alcmene)

Divine Myth

subject of myth is gods’ actions and grand events + consequences

Olympians

Who are they?
Where do they reside?

Children of Cronus + Rhea: Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon

Mt Olympus

Hyperion (titan)

who?
parent?
children?

sun god

Parent: Gaea + Uranus (since titan)

Children: Helius (sun god), Selene (moon), Eos (dawn)

Phaëthon

Parent: Helius (+Clymene, Oceanid)

requested paternal confirmation, since Clymene also married to king of Ethiopia

Helius granted wish to ride chariot, although dangerous, to confirm paternity (Zeus had to blast him, lol)

note: Ovid stories

Helius

sun god

Parent: Hyperion

Children: Phaëthon

Eos

dawn

Parent: Hyperion

Spouse: Tithonus (trojan prince)
Zeus granted immortality, but not anti-aging, lol

Selene

moon

Parent: Hyperion

Children (+shepard Endymion): 50 daughters
Endymion placed in eternal sleep by Zeus

Sphinx

human-headed lion, symbolized divine power of Pharaoh
greeks changed sex M→F, added wings, “strangler”/deadly

Parent: Echidna + Orthus (descendants of Gaea + Pontus)

Harpies

egyptian blessed dead, human-headed birds
greeks changed to “snatchers”/hostile/sirens

Parent: Thaumas (wonder) (descendants of Gaea + Pontus)

Pontus

Parent: Gaea

Children (+Gaea): Nereus, Ceto, Thaumas (wonder)

Nereus

Parent: Gaea (+Pontus)
Children: Nereids (Thetis, Peleus)

Thetis

changes shape at will

Parent: Nereus

Children (+Peleus): Achilles

Ceto

sea monster, whale

Parent: Gaea (+Pontus)

Children: Graeae (gray ones), gorgons (Medusa)

Medusa

who?
parent?
children? with who?

gorgon

Parent: Ceto

Children (+Poseidon): Pegasus, Chysaör

Chysaör

enemy of Heracles, three bodies joined at waist

Parent: Medusa (+Poseidon)

Children (+Oceanid): Geryon, Echidna

Echidna

half woman, half serpent

Parent: Chysaör + Oceanid

Children (+Typhoeus): Orthus (two-headed dog)

Children (+Orthus): Cerebus, Hydra, Chimera, Sphinx