Chapter 2 Flashcards
What are creation stories?
Reflect an understanding of how the world works. Sets ethical, social, and religious patterns for society. Explains reasoning behind existence, suffering, and order
What are Homer and Hesoid shorthands for?
Poets using Hexamic metre (verse with 6 main accents), that contain formulaic elements-reccurrent character descriptions and recurring building blocks.
What did Hesoid’s Theogony influence in Greeks?
Formed the backbone of how Greeks thought about Gods (not the absolute authority), but was not considered sacred
Which civilization was present during the Late Bronze age?
Mycanae
What are some features of the Mycenae settlement?
Complex social and economic networks, armies, slavery. Most important bronze age settlement in Greece. Fortified settlement that was home of the King (Wanax). Also functioned as a site for sacred ceremonies and administration
What was found on the tablets that were discovered by archaeologists?
Linear B script (Early form of Greek). Administrative docs, production and distribution of Goods, names of some Gods
How was society stratified in Mycenae?
Farmers and herders paid taxes. Devoting your life to the King allowed for a new life. Army was lead by the “Leader of the People”
How did slavery work in the Mycenae?
Unfree labour, weren’t granted the same rights as free people.
When did Bronze age settlements disappear and why?
1200 BCE. Due to either natural disaster, invasion, or migration.
What is a feature of the Iron Age?
More isolated communities. Hesoid’s Works and Days was composed at the end of this period (Before 750 BCE)
What were some features of the region of Ascra in the Iron age?
Multiple authorieis in each area. Lost central authorities. Wealthy landowners who can gather people have to fend for themselves in small populations. Constant bickering.
Why did Hesoid have a pessimistic view of his society?
Because the Kings decided disputes not based on merit, but based on the gifts they’d received (kings are gift eating)
What happened during the Archaic period (750-490 BCE)?
Resurgence of culture, population growth, technology, and government. Towns developed into robust communities. Kings gained power through competition, set up a more individual based government
What are tyrants?
One ruler who ruled over a territory with the consent of a large group of lower SES people.
What was the name of the collective identity that the Greeks developed?
Demos
What happened in Olympia?
First Olympic games. Gathering of all Greek speaking people, performances about the Gods were done.
What is characteristic of Panhellenism?
All Greeks uniting in Greek event. Sense of ethnic identity, colonisation intesified. Sense of identity was maintained by sanctuaries and festivals. Oral performances of Homer and Hesiod developed shared understanding of Gods and Goddesses. Gradual homogenization of belief and worship
When did the alternative creation stories come about?
Mostly from the Archaic and early Classical
What did Thales identify to be the origin of the universe and what did Helophitus identify?
Thales: Water
Helophitus: Fire
What are the Orphic stories?
Tales attributed to the fictional character Orpheus. Included Gods not found in Hesoid such as Phanes, Protogonus, Chronus, Zeus and Earth.
What are the Hymns in Hesoid’s Theogony?
Songs in praise of the Muses which provide inspiration to poets. He also has a hymn to Hecate which presents her as protective.
Why is it important that Hecate be a protective Goddess in Hesoid?
Because the Divine are unreliable. Gods can choose to be truthful or to lie. Hecate moderates the pessimism towards the GOds and helps men obtain food and success
What are the Catalogues?
Lists of names and functions of Gods. Allowed poets to show off memory and ability when reciting aloud
Who is Chaos?
First entity to appear in the Theogony. Means “a yawning void from which elements emerge” Female.
Where did the Earth come from?
Earth (Gaia) Spawned out of Chaos
What is Tartarus?
The Underworld
What is Eros?
The personification of desire, passion, and procreation that drives creation from the Gods.
What are the 2 methods of procreation?
Spontaneous (autonomous, female) Within marriage (male governed)
Who was Typhoeus?
Ultimate enemy to Zeus, generated by the Earth. Is a confusion of all states of being.
What does Typhoeus tell us about procreation?
That female entities generate negative entities. Procreation within marriage that is male governed allows for order and peace.
What is Cosmos?
The orderly state of nature.
What are the Dramatic Tales?
Description of how Zeus came to rule creation. Core of the entire structure of the Theogony.
How did Zeus come to rule?
Earth created the Sky (Uranus, first cosmic ruler). They mated together. Titans were created and forced beneath Earth. Gaia ends union by using her son Cronus to slash off the sky’s genitals with a metal sickle. Series of other Gods spawn, Sky was castrated completely. Cronus becomes the ruler and mates with his sister Rhea, then swallows his sons and daughters. Rhea saves Zeus, and he eventually overpowers his Dad by making him vomit u his kids.
Who was the most important God to spawn from the Sky’s genitals?
Aphrodite.
How did sacrifices to the Gods work in ancient times?
Slay an animal, let it bleed on the alter
How did Prometheus trick Zeus with the animal sacrifice?
Hid bone and inedible animal parts under the fat, and Zeus ate it
What was the punishment that Zeus dealt out after Prometheus tricked him?
Took away fire (But Prometheus steals it back)
How did Zeus punish Prometheus the second time?
Send Pandora to the humans
Who was Pandora?
First woman in society. Beautiful, but deceitful. Unwittingly releases evils contained in a jar, so that because of women, people suffer. She quickly closes the box, leaving only hope inside.
What does Zeus guarantee?
Order of Humanity
Who is credited with being the creator and benefactor of humanity?
Prometheus
How was Sir James Frazer’s idea of Myths limited?
Strict evolutionary approach, neglecting the cognitive approach. Did not consider Myths in relation to society
What were Frazers 3 stages of development?
Magical, religion, and scientific reasoning (once this last one was achieved there is no reason for religion and myths)
How did Malinowski remedy the limitations of Frazer?
Put myths in correlation with context and within the societies where they re told. Only social context can explain the function of a myth for it’s society.
What are myths according to Malinowski?
A living reality. Practical guides about how to behave for the people who hear them
What is functionalism?
“Myth is as Myth does,” asks what does myth do in society? Everything in society functions to fulfill some basic biological needs.
What is the function of myths?
Applying social arrangements. Myths work because they appeal to biological needs. The reaction to the need causes us to believe. Myths are formed from a reaction to death.
What did Enuma Elish and the Babylonian Creation story write about that relates to the Greek creation stories?
Depicts Gods fighting forces of Chaos to create order (end of 2nd-1st Millenium BCE)
What is the basis of Genesis?
Monotheistic God focusing on the creation of humanity and the creation of order out of confusion
What can comparative studies help us to do?
Find a broader perspective on specific themes and borrowing of myths between cultures.
How are Titans represented in modern art?
As Gods that still exist, but are suppressed. Powerful, but destined to be defeated
Which 2 Titans exist in Rockefeller centre?
Prometheus and Atlas
What does the statue of Prometheus represent?
Progress after the Great Depression, power of human resourcefulness and technology
What does the statue of Atlas represent?
Symbol of strength and endurance and faith in the strength of humanity.
What do both of the statues represent together?
Anxieties of the great Depression and a determination to overcome them. Faith in tech and industry, rebellion against order.
