Greek and Roman Mythology Study Guide Exam 2

Critical Thinking

Not having the answer before asking the question

Thesis

A statement based upon facts that a reasonable person could DISAGREE with

Observation

A statement about more than one fact that every reasonable person will AGREE with

Humanism

The idea that human beings have remained essentially the same between the ancient world and modern world

Idealism

The belief that categories exist independent of language and human beings

Textualism

Due to the fact that categories and even mythic figures are constructed by language, it is better to try to understand categories and mythic figures as subject to LIMITED CHANGE OVER TIME rather than imperfect copies of an ideal hero or category

Gender

The range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between masculinity and femininity

Ethnicity

A category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, culture, or nation

Intersectionality

Understanding how aspects of one’s social and political identities combine to create unique modes of discrimination

Syncretism

The identification of local deities with the relevant god or goddess of another culture

Ritual

A sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence that is usually prescribed by a community or religion

Repeated actions with symbolic intent

Demeter

Goddess of Agriculture

Attributes: Grain Sheaf, Crown of Wheat

Artemis

Areas of concern: Hunting, childbirth, virginity

Attributes: Bow and arrow, hunting dog, stag, moon

Apollo

Areas of Concern: Music, healing, prophecy

Attributes: Kithara, bow, laurel

Poseidon

Areas of Concern: The sea, horses, and earthquakes

Attributes: Tridents, beards, fish

Aphrodite

Areas of Concern: Love, desire, and fertility

Attributes: Cupids and doves

Melqart

Patron God of Tyre

Equated with Heracles

Hera

QUEEN OF THE GODS

Areas of Concern: Marriage, family

Attributes: Crown, peacock

Dionysus

God of Wine

Heracles

Son of Alcmene and Zeus, occasionally Amphitryon

Performed “12” Labors after killing his wife and children

Theseus

First king of Athens

Slayer of the Minotaur

Cadmus

Brother of Europa

Founder of Thebes

Sphinx

Daughter of Echidna and Typhoeus

Plagued Thebes by killing anyone who failed her riddle

Oedipus solved the riddle and she offed herself

Typhoeus

Son of Gaia and Tartaros

Challenged Zeus for the crown (LOST)

Anchises

Baby daddy of Aphrodite’s child, first mortal aphrodite fell in love with

Jason

Leader of the Argonauts

Ex Husband of Medea

Stole the golden fleece

Europa

Phoenician Princess

Taken by Zeus and crowned queen of Crete

Ariadne

Daughter of Minos, sister of the Minotaur

Helped Theseus slay the Minotaur, but rejected his hand in marriage

Persephone

Daughter of Demeter

Queen of the Underworld

Married to Hades

Phaedra

Theseus’ Wife

Fell in love with his son, who rejected her, hung herself because people found out

Pasiphae

Minos’ wife

Enchanted by Poseidon to fall in love with Minos’ prized bull. Eloped with the bull. Birthed Minotaur.

Amphitryon

Heracles’ “other” father

Zeus shapeshifted as him and slept with his wife

Hydra

A dragon with 9 heads, one was immortal. Slayed by Heracles for his labors.

Minotaur

Half human, half bull creature

Trapped in a labyrinth beneath Crete

Nemean Lion

A large lion like creature with invulnerable hide, strangled by Heracles for his labors

Python

Original occupant of Delphi, killed by Apollo

Cerberus

Guardian of the Underworld, 3 headed dog. Captured by Heracles

Homer

The author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, also Homeric Hymns

Theorized to be an oral tradition

Euripedes

Author of many tragedies, including Orestes and Medea. Believed to have been bribed to change the ending of Medea

Ovid

Author of Metamorphoses, The Heroides and other poems

Exiled for a poem and a mistake

Pseudo-Apollodorus

Author of the Library of Greek Mythology

Martin Bernal

Claimed that much of Greek Culture is a result of contact with Western Asia and Northern African cultures

Sir James George Frazer

Author of the Golden Bough

Claimed the Mythology was made to explain ritual

Milman Parry

Theorized that Homeric poetry is part of an older oral tradition

Claude Levi Strauss

The father of Anthropology

Identified universal structures of human society, such as kinship rules

Cyprus

Island located near modern Turkey

Setting of Homeric Hymn of Aphrodite

Crete

Island in contact with Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece

Home of Minoan and his family, as well as the Minotaur

Thebes

Home to many legendary heroes including Thebes, Heracles, Orestes, and also Dionysus.

Frequent enemy of Athens

Strait of Gibraltar

The Pillars of Heracles

Represents the limits of the known world for ancient Greeks

Historicism

The idea that humans have had fundamentally different ideas of how the world worked between the past and now