Ancient Greek Culture

Question 1

What were the rules of hospitality?

Answer 1

Welcome strangers and feed them and house them before asking why they’re there

Question 2

What are mystery cults?

Answer 2

Cults dedicated to a particular god or goddess whose activities and beliefs were kept secret. Most had to do with getting a better place in the afterlife for those initiated

Question 3

Why did people avoid talking about Hades? How did they talk about him when they had to?

Answer 3

They feared him, and used apotropaic names whenever talking about him to avoid attracting his attention.

Question 4

Why can’t a timeline of the events in myths be established?

Answer 4

The stories are local to particular areas, and are collected from all over Greece. Things contradict each other when we try to establish a timeline

Question 5

How were the Romans influenced by Greek culture?

Answer 5

They borrowed the stories of the Greeks and supplanted their stories into them. They had their own set of gods and stories about the origins of their cities, but were impressed by the Greeks and wanted to emulate them

Question 6

Who were the Mycenaeans? When did they live? What do we know about how they lived?

Answer 6

The people who lived in Greece from 1600-1100 B.C.E. We don’t know anything about their mythology, and texts from their cities are accounting documents about trade and taxes and stuff. They’re written in Linear B, but mention many of the gods, indicating that they were worshipped then.

Question 7

Which gods are mentioned in Mycenaean texts?

Answer 7

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, Hermes, Ares (under the epithet Enyalius), Apollo (under the epithet Paean), Eileithyia

Question 8

What is the role of magic in Greece?

Answer 8

It is competitive, meant to harm and rival. The goddess of magic is Hecate, and she will stand by anyone she favours

Question 9

Why are actual time periods called the Bronze Age and the Iron Age?

Answer 9

Inspired in part by the ages of man in Ovid and Hesiod, but the bronze age is characterized by bronze and copper metallurgy, and the Iron Age is economic depression and the beginning of iron metallurgy

Question 10

Why do myths often have sexual attacks in them? 3 reasons

Answer 10

1. gods are anthropomorphic, and produce other gods, heroes and aspects of the universe sexually
2. Women aren’t regarded as autonomous, property of men, first their fathers then their husbands, marriages were arranged
3. The stories were written by men for men, and are conditioned by societal norms to present stories like that

Question 11

What gods are associated with rites of passage?

Answer 11

Apollo and Artemis

Question 12

Why are rites of passages significant in Ancient Greece?

Answer 12

It represents a death (death of childhood, death of innocence), and that death creates their adult self

Question 13

What is the rite of passage for boys in Sparta?

Answer 13

They mourn Hyacinthus for a while, spend time outside of the cities as animals, then are brought back into the city as adults

Question 14

How is Apollo’s temple in Delphi important in society?

Answer 14

The high priestess, the Pythia, is the oracle to Apollo. She receives divine knowledge from Apollo when someone makes a sacrifice to him and fills the room with the smoke. She thens sends the cryptic message down with the priests to the person who requested it

Question 15

What were the pythian games?

Answer 15

Sport and poetry contests in honour of Apollo held every 4 years before the olympics

Question 16

Why is knowing that the Mycenaeans worshipped many of the same gods important?

Answer 16

Shows persistence/conservatism of the gods that are worshipped

Question 17

What are the cities that are prominent in the Late Bronze Age?

Answer 17

Athens, Thebes, Sparta, Pylos, Tiryns, Knossos, Mycenae

Question 18

Why are these cities especially important when looking at myths from later times?

Answer 18

They were usually the setting of myths, show that the Mycenaeans were involved in the politics and conflicts of those times

Question 19

What are the most powerful cities in the Archaic period?

Answer 19

Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Megara, Miletus

Question 20

When was the Archaic Period? Why was it important?

Answer 20

750-480 B.C. A renaissance happened at the very beginning getting out of the Iron Age, and the earliest texts that have myths in them from this time

Question 21

Why did Mycenaean civilization fall in 1100 B.C.?

Answer 21

Climate change (likely from a volcanic eruption). Led to cooler climate and agriculture failed. People left the area and conflicts arose

Question 22

Why were oral poets important in the transmission of knowledge?

Answer 22

The were keepers of the knowledge about the past and the gods, and sung stories to an audience

Question 23

Why did poets adapt the stories to present events?

Answer 23

To satisfy their audiences. Times and politics change, and the poet can’t just tell the same story over and over. That won’t satisfy the audience, and things that don’t do that get forgotten and not passed on.

Question 24

What are the conservative mechanisms and the innovative mechanisms poets used to tell stories?

Answer 24

Conservative: telling the same stories, keeping the knowledge consistent
Innovative: adapting the story to satisfy the audience

Question 25

What is the problem with constantly changing the story to satisfy the audience?

Answer 25

Not much historical accuracy is left

Question 26

How did poets remember all those stories?

Answer 26

Poetic formulae, type scenes, tale types

Question 27

What are poetic formulae?

Answer 27

A line is said exactly the same every time, and gives the poet time to remember what comes next (Agamemnon, Lord of men)

Question 28

What are type scenes?

Answer 28

The exact same lines are repeated every time a certain action occurs, like a chorus

Question 29

What are tale types?

Answer 29

A narrative pattern that has a sequence of events that occur in the same order in lots of stories

Question 30

How did poetry change in the Classical Period?

Answer 30

Oral tradition died out, people started reading more

Question 31

What was the role of women in religion?

Answer 31

Very important, under their own leadership, had roles reserved just for women, preformed duties essential to the health of the community

Question 32

What did priestesses do?

Answer 32

They were in charge of a cult for a god or goddess, in charge of the temple and all the rituals associated with said god

Question 33

What happened in ancient greek funerals?

Answer 33

The rituals were all carried out by women. The body was washed, layed out and they sang hymns and cried a lot, the body was then carried to the tomb (ecphora), then the body was buried

Question 34

What was believed happened to the souls of the dead?

Answer 34

The souls were thoughtless, emotionless shades of their former selves, but if they were part of certain cults, they could retain themselves and do the things they enjoyed in life

Question 35

How did someone get initiated into a mystery cult?

Answer 35

They had to be sponsored by someone in the cult, and had to supply a piglet, made a pilgrimage from Athens to Elusis, costumed people would mock the initiates, then they sacrifice the piglet and priests would reveal the secret knowledge to them

Question 36

Why would sea travellers pray to Aphrodite?

Answer 36

She oversaw calm seas, stormy seas were the domain of Poseidon and not good to travel on.