CLAS170 - Readings Summary

for passage IDs - includes title (term), author, time period, speaker, summary & context. includes all required readings

theogony - the first gods

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod, narrator

summary - world begins with chaos, followed by emergence of primordials beings like gaia (earth), tartaros, eros, who generate further fods including night, day, and the titants. gaia gives birth to ouranos (heaven) and with him produces the first generation of major deities

context - this explains the origins and genealogy of the primordial gods, establishing a cosmic order from chaos and setting up later conflicts among divine generations

theogony - the castration of ouranos

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - gaia, angered by ouranos imprisoning their children, convinces cronos to ambush and castrate his father, overthrowing him. she wants to do this b/c ouranos stuffs all of his children under the earth after they were born

from the blood of ouranos arise new beings like the furies, gians, and nymphs

context - first major divine power struggle, introducing theme of violent succession that continues.

theogony - birth of aphrodite

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - after ouranos is castrated, his parts produces foam in the sea from which aphrodite is born. her first approach to land was near cythrea and she floated on to the island of cypros (hence her epithets)

context - highlights how creation can arise from violence, reinforcing theme of generational conflict while introducing an olympian that shapes later myths

theogony - the other gods

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

summary - night gives birth to death, sleep, fate, and strife whos offspring include suffering, conflict, consequence in human life. they personify harship and order. also mentioned oath

context - expands divine family to include personified concepts

theogony - typhoios

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - typhois, a monstrous offspring of gaia and tartaros challenges zeus but is ultimately defeated by zeus’ lightnight and cast into tartaros. from typhoios come destructive and chaotic winds that harm sailors and crops

context - reinforces zeus’ final supremacy after the titanomachy and explains the origin of dangerous natural forces, blending cosmic order with lingering chaos

theogony - zeus in power

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - after defeating the titans, zeus becomes the kind of the gods. he securies his power by swallowing metis, and fathers many important deities through various unions. his rule establishes order and hierarchy among gods and mortals

context - in theogony, this passage marks the final stabilization of divine power under zeus, concluding the cycle of succession and showing how the olympian order is established

theogony - the birth of the olympians

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - cronos swallows his children to avoid being overtrhwon, rheia saves zeus by giving cronos a stone instead of a baby. he hence throws up the stone and all his kids and zeus rises to power.

context - sets the stage for zeus’ eventual rule over the gods, continues cycle of generation conflict (son avenging father with clever mother). zeus fulfills prophecy and begins transition from titan to olympian rule

theogony - prometheus

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - prometheus, sone of iapetos, tricks zeus at mecone by diving an ox to favor humans and later steals fire for them, defying zeus. as punishment, zeus chains him and sends an eagle to torment him daily until heracles frees him

context - prometheus embodies human cunning and the tension between gods and mortals, explaining why humans perform sacrifices and why fire is a divine gift fraught with consequences

theogony - pandora

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - pandosa is fashioned by hephaestus and the gods as beautiful but deceptive to serve as a curve for humanity, bringing trouble and hardship to mortal men. she embodies allure and danger, representing the balance of good and evil in human life

context - explains origins of human suffering and role of women in zeus’ vengance. complements the prometheus myth and illustrates tension between gods and mortals

theogony - titanomachy

author - hesiod

time period - archaic

speaker - hesiod (narrator) but there is dialogue of zeus and cottos

summary - olympians wage a long war against titans and defeat them with the help of the hundered-handers, imprisoning them in tartaros.

context - titanomachy is cosmuc pattles that completes shift from titan to olympian rule, reinforcing theme of violent succession, divine hierarchy, and cosmi order

theogony - tartaros

author - hesiod

time period - archaic period

speaker - hesiod (narrator)

summary - immense, deep abyss far below the earth, surrounded by bronze barrier and cosmis elements, emphasizing its isoluation

context - reinforces structure of cosmos, portraying tartaros as the ultimate prison where defeated powers like the titans are confined

homeric hymn to demeter

2a - persphone is kidnapped by hades. demeter searches for her for days on end, devastated. dialogue includes demeter & helios

2b - demeter goes to Eleusis in disguise and speaks to some people, seeking a job of houseworker (i think?)

2c - demeter takes cause of this child but puts him in the fire to burn his mortality. his mother gets mad and demeter gives them her wrath. she says they need to build a temple in her name in Eleusis

2d - demeter causes famine and all crops to be bad. zeus realizes this and tries to convince her to come back to olympus but fails

2e - zeus sends hermes down to the underworld to pick persephone up, hades tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds

2f - persephone and demeter reuinte, persephone tells she are pomegranate seeds

2g - demeter is happy once again and restores fertility and introduces the Mysteries to the Eleusinians

etiological myth - seasons & cult of demeter and persephone in Eleusis

author - unkown

time period - archaic period

homeric hymn to apollo

3a - introduces apollo and shows him in olympus among the other gods

3b - leto was looking for a place to give birth to apollo, hera was mad at her so she couldn’t do it in olympus. everyone rejected her; delos was hesitant to let her give birth on her island because she was scared apollo would not build his shrine there. she ultimately agreed. dialogue from delos and leto. leto is in childbirth for 9 days/nights, goddess of difficult births comes to help her (originally she was with hera who held her back out of anger)

3c - apollo is born, his cult on delos is described

3d - super short, just describes him on olympus

3g - he goes to delphi and there is a monster there that hera created cause she was mad at zeus for giving birth to athena w/o her. she feels her son (hephaestus) is weak in comparison. she makes a monster that is as strong as zeus and apollo defeats it and hence that area is given the name pytho, and apollo earns the name pythian

etimoligcal myth - cult of apollo in delphi

author - unkown

time period - archaic period

homeric hymn to hermes

4a - the nymph gives birth to hermes. he is cunning, a theaf, a watcher of the night, etc. in his first day of life, he made the lyre and stole apollos cattle

4b - he left his cradle and found a tortoise. he took the shell, cut stalks of reed, and made the lyre. he sand some songs for the gods. then he left it in his cradle and went to look for some cows

4c - hermes takes the cows and reverses the tracks. he invents sandals. he sees an old man and tells him not to tell anyone of what happened. then he took the cattle and left

4d - he makes a fire and he invents sacrifice to the gods. he heads back to his cradle and his mother saw through his lies.

4e - apollo was searching for his cattle. he found the old man who told him about some child who stole the cattle. apollo saw some interesting tracks, which was due to hermes’ sandals and clever thinking. apollo realizes that it was hermes who stole his cattle

4f - apollo confronts hermes, he denies anything but once again apollo does not believe him and sees through his lies

4g - apollo and hermes talk to zeus and say their sides. ultimately zeus tells hermes to take apollo to where he kept the cattle

4h - they exchange gifts, hermes gives apollo his lyre beceause apollo was fascinated by it and apollo gives hermes his cows. they become friends

author - unkown

time period - archaic period

homeric hymn to aphrodite

5a - introduces aphrodite and says there are three people she cannot control: athena, artemis, and hesta. she even has control over zeus

5b - zeus causes aphrodite to fall in love with a mortal, shows her getting ready i think

5c - she is so pretty, anchises thinks she is a god and asks for good health. she says that she isn’t a god and was born to two mortals, was told by hermes that she was destined to wed and have a child with anchises

5d - aphrodite reveals that she is a god to anchises and tells him not to be afraid because the gods like him. she says that will have a son name aeneas. she mentions two stores about immortality and says that she does not want anchises to be immortal. she then says their son will be raised by mountain nymphs and she will give aeneas to anchises when he is 5 and tells him not to tell anyone the truth about aeneas’ mother, or else she will face zeus’ wrath.

author - unkown

time period - archaic period

homeric hymn to dionysus

dionysus was kidnapped by some sailormen and they wanted to take advantage of him, not knowing he was a god. he created vines and flowers to cover the ship, turned into a lion and turned most of the crew into dolphins (but ate the captain and saved the streersman who guessed he was a god at the start)

homeric hymn to artemis

very short, just introduces artemis as apollo’s sister, drivers her golden chariod, hails her

song of Ares and Aphrodite - odyssey

author - homer

time period - archaic period

speaker - no single speaker, various gods speak

summary - helios tels hephaestus that his wife, apgrodite and ares are having an affair. hephaestus gets angry and makes something to trap them when ares and aphrodite are in bed. it works, they are trapped, and all the male gods come and laugh at the pair. poseidon asks hephaestus to let ares go and promises that ares will pay him back (or poseidon will if ares runs away) and hephaestus agrees

context - hephaestus is the lame god - this scene shows his strengths and how is manages to make a fool out of ares, supposedly the young, handsome, and fastest god of them all

helen in the odyssey

author - homer

time period - archaic period

speakers - homer is narrator, menelaus, helen, telemachus have dialogue

summary - helen uses a magical drug from egypt to easge grief and recounts Odysseus’ disguise in troy, while menelaus adds another story about the trojan horse, praising odysseus’ restraining and cunningness.

context - occurs when telemachus visits sparta seeking news of his father, and reinforces odysseus’ intelligence

odyssey - book 11

summary - odysseus travels to the underworld, performs rituals to summon the dead, and speaks with figures like achilles who reveals that life (even poor) is better than ruling the dead. he also witnesses the punishments of famous sinners, emphasizing the consequences of human actions.

context - pivotal moment on odysseus’ journey, exploring themes of death, memory, and limits of glory

speakers - homer, odysseus, achilles, ajaxs, other dead people

time period - archaic period

author - homer

iliad - book 1

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

iliad - book 6

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

iliad - book 9

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

iliad - book 18

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

iliad - book 22

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

iliad - book 24

summary

context -

author - homer

speakers -

time period - archaic period

poem by sappho

summary - most beautiful thing is nor military power but whatever one loves, using helen as an example of someone who abandoned everything for desire. poem ends with speaker expressing longing for anaktoria over any display of war and wealth

context - sappho reinterprets story of helen to emphasize personal emotion and desire over herioc values, contrasting with the epics

author - sappho

time period - archaic period

speaker - sappho

story of king croesus

summary - croesus sends people to various oracles and tests them for accuracy. delphi gets it correct and so he showers her with gifts. he consults her about attacking persia and is told he will destroy a great empire, which he interprets as positive, misreading another cryptic prophecy. sardis (city) is captured by persians, croesus is prisoner being burned alive. he is spared by apollo and croesus realizes his mistake too late. cyprus ends by showing generosity to croesus, granting any request he wants. croesus learns that his fate was at no fault but his own.

context - theme of huberis, fate, instability of fortune. also shows the misinterpretation of the prophecy and overconfidence and how that led to his downfall.

author - Herodotus

time period - classical period (490-323 BCE)

speaker - various speakers. croesus, delphi, cyrus, apollo

the egyptians on whether helen ever went to troy

summary - paris/alexander abducted helen from sparta and was blown off course to egypt. King Proteus learned that Paris had violated guest-friendship by stealing his host’s wife. the kid forced paris to leave without him. meanwhile the greeks attacked troy thinking helen was there but she was not despite what the trojans said.

author - herdotus

time period - classical period

title - Histories

speaker - herodotus

argonautica - book 3

summary - jason needs to steal the golden fleece and so hera and athena seek the help of aphrodite. they ask her to ask her son (eros) to shoot an arrow into medea to make medea fall in love with jason and help him get the fleece. jason has to pass a series of tests from aeetes, who is medea’s father

author - apollonius of rhodes

time period - hellenestic period (323 - 31 BCE)

speaker - many. remember hera, aphrodite, eros, athena

library

author - apollodorus

time period - roman period

summary - M2: cadmos has many daughters, one of which is semele. she had an affair with zeus. zeus hit her with a lightnight bolt when she was 6 months pregnant. zeus stitched the baby onto his thigh and ultimately came dionysus. he gave the baby to ino and athamas to raise him as a girl, much to hera’s anger. M4: dionysus wanders the world spreading his rites after being driven mad, punishing those like Lycurgus and Pentheus who refuse to honor him with madness and death. after proving his divinity through these acts (including transforming pirates and rescuing his mother Semele from the underworld), he is fully recognized as a god and brings her to olympus.

speaker - apollodorus (narrator)

icarius and erigone

author - hyginus

time period - roman empire

speaker - hyginus himself, just telling a story

summary - liber (dionysus) introduced wine to icarius. he encouraged him to spread its cultivation over the rest of the lands. he showed it to his daughter, dog, and shepherds who drank too much and passed out. they pummeled icarius to death because they thought he drugged them. his daughter erigone, killed herself. liber punished the athenians and made a festival in honor of erigone. some constellations are in their names (erigone, dog, and icarius)

book 1 - metamorphoses

author - ovid

time period - roman empire

speaker - ovid, narrator, juno, jupiter, deucalion and pyrrha, io, apollo, eros, etc. lots of ppl

summary -

• the creation (choas —> order)

• the ages of mankind: golden —> silver —> bronze - iron

  • started off perfect and humanity deteriorated, preferring war and other bad stuff

• the flood: like idk a flood? just lots of water

• deucalion and pyrrha: two people left alive after flood, the gods chill out after seeing them pray and take back the water from the flood. they throw stones behind them to repopulate the planet.

• apollo and daphne: this one is weird tbh, but anyways cupid shoots his arrow into apollo and he falls immensely in love with daphne like creepily and starts chasing her then she prays for help from the gods and she turns into a tree

• io: she is a mortal priestess of juno who jupiter desires so to hide her from juno jupiter turns her into a cow. juno knows the truth and demands the cow as a gift and sets the hundered-eyed argus to watch her. io is trapped, so jupiter sends mercury to slay argus. io is freed, chased by juno into eygpt and regains humanity.

book 2 - metamorphoses, jupiter and europa

author - ovid

time period - roman empire

speaker - ovid as narrator ig, and jove/jupiter

summary - jupiter is down bad for europa, instructs mercury to drive her father’s herd to the sea. he transforms himself into a bull and attracts europa. she climbs on his back and jupiter carries her across the sea to crete, leaving europa both amazed and fearful

book 3 - metamorphoses, birth of bacchus

author - ovid

time period - roman empire

speaker - ovid, semele, juno, jupiter

summary - semele is pregnant with dionysus. juno disguises herself as a nurse and manipulates jupiter to reveal himself in full godly form. bound by this, he has to show himself and hence that kills semele. he saves dionysus by sewing him to his thigh and gives him to ino (semele’s sister) to raise him. athamas is inos wife.

aenid

author - virgil

time period - roman empire

speaker - various, remember aeneas. also there is sybil, charon, anchises

summary - aeneas goes down to the underworld to visit his father in elysium, he goes through many obstacles to do so. he sees how much people are struggling in the underworld. he sees his father then leaves through the ivory gates

the second creation story, the creation of man and woman

author - jahwist source

time period - roman empire

summary - god he made man and woman. he made the garden of eden and put the man there then he made the woman. he said not to eat from the tree of good and evil but the snake convinced the woman to so she did. god got mad as a result

speaker - narrator

the first creation story

author - priestly source

time period - roman empire

speaker - god spoke things into being from nothingness. “let there be…”

summary - narrator

the flood story - bible

author -

time period - roman period

speaker - narrator, god, and noah

summary - god was disgusted at humanity and told noah to make an ark and to save his family and 2 of every animal. then it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and noahs ark saved the creatures then the flood stayed for 150 days. then the flood subsided very very slowly. god made a promise to never flood the earth like that again