Classical Mythology Introduction Flashcards
Who are some of the Greco-Roman gods?
Zeus
Hera
Athena
Apollo
Who are some of the Greco-Roman Heroes?
Heracles
Perseus
Theseus
What are some of the Greco-Roman monsters?
Hydra
Medusa
Minotaur
What are some of the major events in classical mythology?
Rise of Olympias gods
Labors of Heracles
Trojan War
Return of Odysseus
Definition of a myth
A person or thing of unverifiable existence
Definition of Mythology
A collection of myths
A popular belief or tradition
What is a myth proper/divine myth?
Story of gods/supernatural beings that explains some aspects of the world
What is a legend/Saga?
A story of heroes/heroines that records the great deeds of the human past
What are folktales/fairytales?
Story of ordinary people or animals that entertains and/or teaches a moral lesson
What are the characteristics of a myth
Traditionally
Anonymity
Orality
Mutability
Variants
Collective Importance
How are myths transmitted?
Speech
Writing
Art
Song
Music
Dance
Theories of myths
Ancient:
Allegorical
Modern:
Anthropological
Psychological
Structuralists
Feminist
What is the definition of anthropological definition?
Modern method of myth interpretation that grew out of the work of Charles Darwin and other early anthropologists
Who are the two proponents of anthropological?
James Frazer
Bronislaw Malinowski
What is James Frazer’s theory?
The ritual theory of myth maintains that myths serve as explanations of religious rituals
What is Bronislaw Malinowski’s theory?
The charter theory of myth maintains that myths serve as justification for historical, societal, or cultural realities
What is the Psychological theory?
A modern method of myth interpretation that grew out of the work of Sigmund Freud and others.
The theory maintains that myths reflect aspects of the human psyche on both individual and a collective level
Who are the two proponents of psychological theory?
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
What was Sigmund Freud’s theory?
Myths resemble dreams in that they reflect the repressed (often sexual) wishes of an individual and society
What is Carl Jung’s theory?
Myths are expressions of the collective unconscious and are built from archetypes that belong to the collective unconscious
- Collective unconscious: the shared mental concept of the human race
- Archetypes: timeless and recurring events (birth, death, marriage), figures (hero, tricksters, wise old man), a motifs (creation, deluge)
What is the Structuralist theory?
A modern method of myth interpretation that grew out of the work of early twentieth-century structural linguists - maintains that myths are stories whose meaning is based not on their content, but on their structure
Whose is the proponent of structuralists?
Claud Lévi-Strauss
What is Claud Lévi-Strauss’s theory?
Myths arise out of - and seek to reconcile - the binary pairs that make up reality (hot & cold, raw & cooked, life & death)
What is the Feminist theory?
Myths reflect aspects of girls’ and women’s lives and their place in society
