CH. 3 - Humans Flashcards
Hesiods vs Ovids Ages/Races of Men
Hesiod
- Golden Age
- Silver Age
- Bronze Age
- Heroic Age
- Iron Age
Ovid
- Golden Age
- Silver Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
why did Hesiod name the 5 ages/races of humans after metal
4/5 of them are named after metals in decreasing value to symbolize the deterioration in happiness and peace
origin of the golden race (Hesiod vs other Greek/Roman traditions perspectives)
Hesiod
- the gods created a Golden Race who lived/ate/sat amongst the gods, they felt no pain, suffering, aggression or disease
- since they could not reproduced the golden race died out and became beneficial spirits who wander the earth protecting mortal from harm
Prometheus
- he moulded man out of earth and water in the gods imgage
silver race of man
- created by the gods
- inferior in both mind and body to the race of gold
- took hundreds of years to grow up, and then were foolish/aggressive/greedy and neglected the gods
- Zuese destroyed the silver race with a flood, where they then became the spirits of the Underworld
Bronze race of men
- Zeus fashioned them + women out of ash trees
- their armour, weapons, houses, and tools were all Bronze
- they were so dedicated to warfare that they exterminated themselves through their relentless violence
Heroic Race of men
- spanned 6 generations
- “heros” one mortal parent and one divine
- some were so glorious that they were rewarded with a life after death in a paradise called the Islands of the Blest
Iron Race of man
- most wicked race of them all
- Hesiods world
- life of man of the iron age is always a constant state of work
- everything that was once free was owned
Prometheus and his trick, and the consequence
- Promethius was tasked with dividing the sacrificial bull between the gods and mortals
- he put all the bad stuff in one bag but covered it with appetizing fat for the gods and gave the actual good stuff to mortals but covered it with the bad stuff, bones. To this day, man eats the good parts and sacrifices the leftovers (i.e. bones) to the gods
- Zeus was so angry that he withheld the gift of fire, can’t enjoy the good stuff without cooking it
how did man get fire back? what where the consequences?
Prometheus stole it back and carried it down from the heavens in a hollow fennel stalk
- Zeus was furious so he decided to balance this blessing of fire by giving men a bane to plague their lives: woman
- a beautiful evil woman Pandora
What are Pandora’s origins who taught her what?
she was crafted from earth and water by Hephaestus
- Athena dressed and adorned her and taught her domestic craft
- Aphrodite showered her in beauty and grace
- Hermes provided her with a nature of cunning and deceit
How did Pandora end up punishing man?
- after her creation, Zeus sent her to Promethius’s brother Epimentheus (Prom. warned him to never take a gift offered by Zeus)
- Epi took pandora as his bride
- Pandora brought down a pithos, a large ceramic jar, which stored sorrows, diseases and hard labour
- she was curious and opened the lid and these horrors spread and poured across the earth
- Epi tried to quickly seal the jar but ended up trapping Hope in it
How did Zeus directly punish Prometheus after stealing fire
- chained him to a cliff and had an eagle tore out his liver every day
- he’s immortal and the liver can regenerate
- Zeus allowed his son Heracles to shoot the eagle down with a bow
The Great Flood
King Lycan, who ruled Arcadia, served human flesh in the stew he was feeing Zeus, outraged he sent the Great Flood
- Prometheus knew Zeus’s plan and warned his son Deukalion
- Deukalion and his wife Pyrrha (Epi + Pandora) built a huge arc/wooden chest
- endless rain brought rain for 9 days and nights, on the 10th day
- they thanked Zeus for saving them (only 2 mortals left) and sent them to Hermes to learn how to repopulate the earth
- Hermes gave them stones to throw over their shoulders. Deukalions turned into men and Pyrrha’s turned into women
