Classics Midterm

Why does Ajax kill himself

Achilles armour was awarded to Odysseus and not him, he goes crazy (connection to modern veteran’s story of trauma)

Why are myths set in ancient times

Helps audiences confront important social issues by adding distance to the situation

How does the word “Classics” get its connotation

Army class had to pay for its own weapons, which turned to economical class, which then was romanticized because older more aristocratic people knew Ancient Greek and Latin better, and wrote better.

Main theme of Theogeny

Literally “God Birth” earliest written story of the gods, new alphabet used to “fix” myth to one story

Sources “of” vs. “For” myth

“Of” being stories, icons, and ritual vs. “For” being a primary source of how we learn about myth (primary vs. Secondary sources)

“Proem”

Introductory section of poems, invocation of muses to inspire artists they favour, muses can tell truths and lies, born from Zeus and memory and help artists forget their anxieties while performing

Order of Gods creation

First Chasm/Chaos, then Earth, then Eros —> Kronos from Earth and Sky (Oronos) that castrated Chasm then genitals fall and create Aphrodite and blood creates furies and titans

Three kinds of gods

Personification of natural phenomenon, associated with natural phenomena, abstract concepts

Patronym

Name of father

Theme of genealogy

Gods genealogy in Theogony is a motif of the cultural importance of inheritance and conflict between generations

What values does Hesiod preach in Works and Days

Inheritance themed as private property becomes more importance, don’t be greedy, be satisfied with less, court trials are for aristocrats as they become more prominent

Eteology

The explanation of cases, a way to use myth as a tool to explain social norms

Mowinowsky

A functionalist, who believed myths are used as a justification for societal norms, commonly used “charter myths” from tradition or past

Harrison

People create myths to explain religious rituals, rituals lose original meaning but survived because of new reasons (origin of myth)

Burkert

Sexuality and killing rituals because it reestablishes community while also indulging in violent nature (sociobiological theories) by performing them, it reinforces someone’s societal standing (function of myth)

Hesiod Works and Days through Burkerts themes

Inclusion and exclusion between humans and the divine (miseries from Pandora’s box and power / fire from Prometheus, aetiology and necessity of labour)

Gold, Silver, Bronze, Demigod and Iron Age

Gods and Humans come from same places, got more and more violent, Iron Age work and conflict with generations and guests (proper societal order)

Polis

Greek word for city state

Close reading

Extrapolating data from very little information

Intrusive loss

Explanatory note that was accidentally included in other iterations, small reliabilities in texts from copies get passed down

Lakuna

Gap in writing because it’s unreadable

Mythographers

Comprehensive mythology written by scholars, diodorus included both myth and history

Three kinds of primary sources for mythology

Literary texts, library texts, and scattered references

Reading against the grain

Learning other things from the text than the authors purpose

What two labours did Hercules not get credit for and why

Killing the Hydra cause he had help burning the head stumps (hydra had crab friend too) and cleaning the stables cause he got paid for it

How did Heracles die

His wife poisoned him with semen from this guy he killed that had blood of the hydra in it because the guy told her it would make him love her

Culture hero

Heracles and Prometheus are important in establishing the current culture

Binary opposition of Heracles freedom

He was athletic which was an aristocratic version of “freedom” and he did labours like cleaning the stables, which he did for honour and labour/working class “freedom”

Ideology

Relationships and ideas based on socioeconomic class (chopo said there were three classes - aristocrats, merchants, and farmers, and each had different ideas of freedom)

Labour chart of freedom

Motive (action is undertaken for gain or glory) or modality (action is chosen freely or forced)

Syncretism

Merging of two religions

what kind of people did comedy and tragedy happen to

Comedy happened to common people, tragedy happened to rulers because it was more serious

How did the story of Hercules change in the Roman version

Hercules killed Megara and his kids at the end, and the context changes to influence emperor Nero (ruling by violence, importance of honor, ect)

Seneca the Youngers views on suicide

Suicide as final method of freedom and honour (including as alternative to slavery- hypocrite) and ironic because he committed suicide at the end of his life after Neros assassination attempt

Theogeny

Hesiod, 750-650 BCE, mount helicon, Ancient Greek

Works and Days

Hesoid, 750 - 650 BCE, Mount Helicon, Ancient Greek

Biblioteca of Apoludorus

1st of 2nd BCE

Raging Hercules

Seneca the Younger, 54 CE, Rome, Latin

Homeric Hymn to Olympian Gods

7th to 6th BCE, Greece, Greek

Metamorphoses

Ovids, 8ce, Rome, Latin

Bacchae

Euripides, City of Dionysia, 405 Ce, Greek

Oedipus the King

Sophocles, 420 BCE, Greek, Athens

Cthonic gods

Gods that live below

Reader response theory

Cultural context changes, so we read differently

Alucinan mystery

Mystery cult taught by Demeter

Aphathesmaphoria

Woman festival without men for three days

Structuralism

Purpose of myth is to answer our unanswerable questions on how the world works to provide a solution to contradictory ideas (spearheaded by Serb, and Straus applied this to societal structures)

Beginning of Hellenistic period

323 BCE

Overate vs. Underate blood relations

Too much vs. Too little value on family members

Complete Roman mythological texts survive

First century BCE

Ideological interpretation

Myths are cultural tools that embed justify and transmit dominant belief systems

Homeric Hymns and Iliad/Odessy

Not written by the same homer

My theme

Repeatable element of mythical stories

Dithyramb

Song sung in honor of Dionysus

Krater

Wine mixing bowl as grave markers

Amphora

Storage jar

Metopes

Section with images

Pediments

Triangular sections on roof

Frieze

Continuous metopese around temples

Art in 8th century

Figurative art reappeared, temples were built

Hydria vase

Water

Lekythose vase

used for carrying oil

Drinking cups

Skyphos and Kylix

Theory of mind

Understanding people different knowledge than you and the ability to predict their actions based on their information

Who’s going to ace this exam?

You!