Exam 2 Flashcards
Hymn to Demeter
Demeter’s daughter Persephone gets kidnapped by Hades while she was picking flowers. Demeter mourns her daughter’s kidnap (she didn’t eat for nine days). Helius tells her what happened and she goes to Eleusis and lives among the mortals. There the king Celeus takes her in as the mortal Doso. She doesn’t accept their food but does drink the kykeon (a communion drink). Demeter nursed their son Demophon. The king’s wife Metaneira spied on Demeter nursing Demophon in a fire, and Demeter becomes enraged. Demeter turns into her pure form and tells them to build a temple for her and she teaches them the rites. Demeter leaves the king, and she leaves the world in a drought for a year. This is a problem so Zeus orders Hades to send Persephone to the overworld. Persephone ate a pomegranate which forces her to come down to the underworld for part of the year to rule. When Persephone arrives, Demeter restores fertility and establishes the Eleusinian Mysteries. The person she tells how to farm is Triptolemus.
Eleusinian Mysteries
Demeter’s cult; they were in Eleusis. There were lesser mysteries (focused on initial purification) and greater mysteries (sacrifice, prayer, fasting, drinking kykeon, and singing). There are a lot of secrets, but we can assume that it was a performance of some sort. Anyone including slaves and women could join as long as you could speak Greece and hadn’t killed anyone. There would be a procession from Athens to Eleusis and the priests would carry holy objects (hieros) . People would get initiated in a square room called the telesterion.
Cybele and Attis
Cybele came from Phrygia or modern day Turkey. Called Magna Mater. Attis was her lover and he died because he cut off his penis. Zeus turned Attis into violets for Cybele, but his hair and nails still grew and his pinky still wiggled. Cybele is depicted with a crown and animals pulling her chariot. In her mystery religion, priests were required to self-castrate. Music and drinking were involved in her mystery religion. They also did a taurobolium (bull sacrifice).
Isis
Fertility god in Egypt. Married to Osiris. Her husband died so she had to put him back together. Like a combination of Demeter, Aphrodite, and Artemis. She told Lucius about the secrets of the underworld, which stemmed into the mystery religion. Lucius was turned into a donkey, but Isis turned him back. He worshipped her for 10 days, and he tells what he experienced in the mystery religion. She is depicted with a sistrum (a musical instrument that looks a loop with rods of metal through it).
Dionysus
Roman Name: Liber but often called Bacchus in both Greek and Roman. His mom was Simele and she died when Zeus showed his true form. Zeus sowed the womb into his leg, which is why Dionysus was born. He was raised by nymphs. He is pictured with an ivy crown, animal skins, and a thyrsus. He was the god of grapes and wine.
Dionysus Adventures (Midas, Lycurgus, Ariadne, Minyad Princesses, Pirates)
Midas: Midas was nice to Dionysus, so Dionysus made everything he touch turn to gold. To get rid of the gold touch he had to wash stuff in a river.
Ariadne: She was a princess of Crete. She was left on an island by Theseus and Dionysus saved her. They end up getting married.
Lycurgus: He was a king, and he banned Dionysus from his city. Dionysus makes him go mad, and Lycurgus kills his family.
Minyads: They were all princesses weaving during a Dionysus festival, so Dionysus made them go mad. They killed their kid and turned them into bats.
Pirates: He was kidnapped by Pirates, and they didn’t believe he was a god. He turned into a lion and turned them into dolphins.
Dionysus Cults (Bacchae, Bacchants, Maenads)
They all pretty much worshipped him the same way, but the Maenads and the Bacchae could only be women. Drinking and singing were a large part of worshipped. They also did sparagmos (mutilating animals) and omophagia (eating of raw flesh. Worshippers hoped to experience ecstasis (out-of-body experience )and enthuosiasmos (possessed by god).
Bacchae Play (characters and plot)
Cadmus’s grandson Pentheus becomes ruler of Thebes. Dionysus arrives back in Thebes for the first time since Semele died. He drives all the women mad. This makes Pentheus look bad so he tries to stop it. Pentheus’s harmartia (tragic flaw) is stubbornness. Dionysus tricks Pentheus into going to the woods to spy on the Maenads, and his mom, possessed by Dionysus, and the rest of the Maenads/Bacchae kill him. He goes through an anagnorisis (a recognition); Dionysus is a god.
Odyssey
Written by Homer. Odysseus and his men went to the edge of the world, dug a hole, and sacrificed animals. This made ghosts start talking to them. 1st soul was Elpenor, a fallen comrade, and he tells Odysseus to give him a proper burial. The next was Tiresias; tells him that souls have to drink the blood. He then meets with his mom, Anticleia, who tells him the secrets of existence. He tries to touch her, but he cannot. He also sees Achilles. Homer’s view of the underworld. There were few people being punished; the underworld was not great but it wasn’t hell. Elysium did exist but it was for a select few people; people who descended from the gods and were great heroes.
Aneid
Vergil 19 BCE. Aeneas talks to the Sibyl of Cumae to see how to get to the underworld. She tells him he needs a golden branch in Naples. They go together into the cave and cross river Acheron. In the underworld, he sees Palinurus who also didn’t receive a proper burial. Aeneas and the Sibyl have to get past Cerberus so they drug him. In the Fields of Mourning, they see Dido, the princess of Carthage, who killed herself because of Aeneas. He also sees his Dad Anchises in Elysium, but cannot touch him. They also see Elysium and Tartarus. Vergil sees the underworld as torturous and more hell-like. People get punished, purified, drink from the river Lethe, then get reborn. Average people could go to Elysium.
Tityus
Attempted to rape Leto (Apollo’s and Artemis’s mom). His punishment in the underworld was getting his liver ate by vultures everyday. The liver grows back every night.
Tantalus
He was an amoral king in Sipylus, and he stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods. He went to the underworld, and his punishment was he was stuck in a pool of water underneath an apple tree, but could never eat or drink.
Sisyphus
He was a king and cheated death twice. This made Hades mad, so his punishment was trying to roll a boulder up a hill, but it permanently rolls back down.
Myth of Er
Created by Plato. There was a man named Er, he died but came back ten days later. He said people were judged either good or bad, and they then lived 1000 years in torment or bliss. After that time, they got to choose what new body they wanted. It shows how philosophy and mythology interact.
Orpheus and Eurydice (Orphism)
Orpheus was cracked with a lyre. He made a katabasis. On his wedding day, his wife, Eurydice, dies to a snake bite while walking through the forest. He goes to the underworld, and Persephone promises to bring Eurydice back to Earth, but he cannot look back. He ends up looking back, so he loses Eurydice forever. He ends up rejecting women and dies to the Maenads. His mystery religion was called Orphism. His followers were ascetic (abstained from luxuries). They didn’t eat meat, beans, use wool, or have sex. They believed that they learned the secrets to not be reincarnated.
