Chapter 1 Interpretation and definition of classical mythology

Question 0

Allegory

Answer 0

A sustained metaphor which is a symbolic depiction

Question 1

Aitia

Answer 1

“Cause” or “reason” for a fact, ritual practice , or institutio

Question 2

Animus/anima

Answer 2

Image of the female that each man has within him; it is the concept that he responds to when he falls in love/ archetypal concept of the male that a woman instinctively harbors within her.

Question 3

Archetypes

Answer 3

Dramatic abbreviations of human behavior

Question 4

Bronislav Malinowski

Answer 4

Anthropologist and ethnographer,stranded among Trobriand islanders during WWII myths as “charters” of social customs and beliefs. Related to practical life , explained existing facts and institutions by reference to tradition. Confirms institution, custom, or beliefs.

Question 5

Carl Jung (psychological)

Answer 5

Instead of myths connected to dreams of the individual unconscious it’s the collective unconscious “ a revelation of the continuing psychic tendencies of society” they contain “archetypes “ anima/animus

Question 6

Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropological/sociological)

Answer 6

Mode of communication. Partial versions combine to reveal total structure including relationships and between the parts and as a whole. “Binary structure” negotiations and resolution of opposites through myth

Question 7

Collective unconscious

Answer 7

Revelation of the continuing psychic tendencies of society

Question 8

Dream-work

Answer 8

Freud. Consists of 3 primary mental activities

1. Condensation of elements (they are abbreviated or compressed)
2. Displacement (changed, particularly in terms of allusion and a difference of emphasis)
3. Representation of elements ( transmission of elements into imagery or symbols)

Question 9

Euhemerism

Answer 9

From Euhemerus c.a. 300 BC who claimed that gods were men deified for their great deeds, the opposite extreme of the metaphorical approach

Question 10

Electra complex

Answer 10

Female version of Oedipus complex, girl loves her father and jealous of mother (Freud/Jung)

Question 11

Etiological approach

Answer 11

Myths as explanations of some facts, rituals, institutions, or customs. From the Greek word aitia which means “cause” or “reason”

Question 12

Folk tales

Answer 12

Often stories of adventure peopled with fantastic beings, hero/heroine that triumphs in the end. Primary goal to entertain and contain many familiar characters and motifs.

Question 13

J.G. Frazer

Answer 13

Author of The Golden Bough which remains a pioneering monument in it’s attempts to link myth with ritual. Full of comparative data between kingship and ritual. Has some limitations

Question 14

Joseph Campbell

Answer 14

Well known comparative mythologist who embraces mythologies of every sort and has contributed much to the popularization of comparative mythology although he doesn’t really deal with Classical Greek and roman mythology. Recognize kindred spiritual values through a comparison of different peoples mythologies over the centuries.

Question 15

Legend/saga

Answer 15

Used interchangeably, these stories contain a kernel of historical truth and generally focus upon the adventures of a hero.

Question 16

Max Müller

Answer 16

19th century influential theory that myths are nature myths, all referring to meteorological and cosmological phenomena

Question 17

Mircea Eliade

Answer 17

Proflific 20th century writer who believed that myths are distant memories of the mystical and the divine

Question 18

Eliade

Answer 18

.

Question 18

Motifemes

Answer 18

A concept used in the elucidation of stories by identifying their patterns; it is a functional element or unit of action in a story. Ex: hero and hero’s mother
Girl is secluded
Girl impregnated by god
She suffers
She is rescued and gives birth to a son as reward

Question 19

Myth

Answer 19

No one definition is suitable. A classical myth is a story that, through its classical form, has attained a kind if immortality because it’s inherent archetypal beauty, profundity, and power have inspired rewarding renewal and transformation by successive generations

Question 20

Myth proper

Answer 20

Primarily concerned with the gods and their relations with mortals

Question 21

Mythos

Answer 21

Greek for word, speech, tale, or story

Question 22

Oedipus complex

Answer 22

Son turns toward mother as object of love and hostile or jealous of the father (freud)

Question 23

Sigmund Freud

Answer 23

20th century psychological approach to myths, Oedipus complex, dream work, emphasis on sexuality (particularly infantile), the individual unconscious

Question 24

Structuralism

Answer 24

Focuses on the the relationship among the themes and on patterns of action. An attempt to analyze myths into their component parts.

Question 25

Vladimir Propp

Answer 25

Structuralist, studied Russian folk tales and divided the basic structure into motifemes or functions/units of action. From one story to the next the characters may change but the functions do not and all of them may not be used but they always appeared in the same order

Question 26

Walter Burkert

Answer 26

Structuralist.

1) myth belongs to the more general class of traditional tale
2) the identity of a traditional tale is to be found in a structure of sense within the tale itself
3) tale structures, as sequences of motifemes, are founded on basic biological or cultural programs of actions
4) myth is a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of collective importance

Question 27

Fairy tale

Answer 27

Particular kind of folk tale aimed at children

Question 28

Religious interpretation

Answer 28

Myths of creation, the nature of god and humankind, the afterlife, and other spiritual concerns

Question 29

Psychological interpretation

Answer 29

Archetypes and the collective unconscious, a revelation of the continuing psychic tendencies of society

Question 30

Anthropological/sociological

Answer 30

Myth connected to ritual, myths as social charters of customs and beliefs, related to practical life explaining existing facts and institutions by reference to tradition, structuralists