Classics Exam 2 Flashcards
Hesiod and the Muses
Invokes the muses, which is similar to the beginning of the Odyssey
Then settles into the subject matter
Perses
Hesiod’s brother
Hesiod and Perses are in a dispute
Perses might not have existed at all
Hesiod might have made him up for the sake of the story
Two kinds of strife
Considered goddesses
One is praise-worthy, the other is blame-worthy
One favors fighting (bad strife)
One favors hard work (good kind of strife)
The Human Condition
Zeus made life hard for humans
Kept means of livelihood concealed
Pandora
Means “all gift”; all gods give her as a gift to human men
Made out of earth and water, pretty on the outside, bad on the inside
Prototype for all women
Made as a punishment for humans for Prometheus stealing fire
Epimetheus
Pandora’s husband; name means “afterthought”
Didn’t listen to Prometheus’ warning of not accepting gifts from the gods
Deeply misogynistic myth
Caused grief and sickness and sorrow
Pandora’s Box/Jar
Box is mistranslation
Scattered misery and disease, left hope in the jar
Some see this as a good thing, some see this as a bad thing
Good example of Greek pessimism
Golden Age
Perfect; no men, only women; lived blessed lives, didn’t labor, didn’t grow old; lived in paradise
Silver Age
Made by gods of Olympus; notable worse
Women existed
People lived as babies for 100 years, matured, didn’t live as adults for very long
Still had minds of babies
Didn’t worship the gods, Zeus got mad and wiped them out
Bronze Age
Worse; violent and very strong; ate no grain, just meat
They killed each other off
Age of Heroes
A little better, but still violent; not identified with a metal
Generation of man that fought at Troy
Strong and noble; quality goes down, people get weaker; didn’t have a distinct end point
Iron Age
Even worse; quality has significantly decreased; full of toil and pain; the Age we are in now; Zeus will destroy us when turmoil reigns
The Fable of the Hawk and the Nightingale
Short story that conveys a moral
Moral (for the hawk): only a fool struggles against his superiors
Moral (for the nightingale): accept being in a position of weakness
The Importance of Justice
First great theme in Works and Days
Weak should behave well, but strong should too
Just community contrasted by unjust community
The Importance of Work
Second great theme
Need to be a hard worker in order to have wealth
Work hard to be successful
Summer (1)
Cut wood to make plows
Get 2 oxen and a man around 40 to tend the plow