Exam 2 Flashcards
Demeter
goddess of grain and good harvest
mother of Persephone
when hades abducted Persephone and carried her away to be his bride, Demeter was so enraged she refused to allow grain to grow until a compromise was reached by which Persephone would spend a third of the year in Hades house and two-thirds in the world above
Kore
Demerter’s daughter, Persephone
was abducted by Hades and allowed to spend two-thirds of the year in the world above and one third in the underworld when Demeter refused to let anything grow until a compromise was reached
her fate is like the Greek girls who at age 14 were married to men twice their age whom they hardly knew
Eleusinian Mysteries
famous religious cult in the ancient world
an agrarian festival designed to promote the growth of grain
it fostered a feeling of community among the greeks
it ensured the growth of grain, promised a happy afterlife
Triptolemus
one of the princes of Eleusis to whom Demeter taught her secret rites
he mounted a chariot drawn by dragons and traveled the world teaching the art of growing grain
Inanna
“queen of heaven”
Mysopotamian myth
goddess of love and war,
went to the underworld to become quenn of the dead because she was already queen of the living, but got turned into meat green with decay.
was rescued but had to find someone to take her place in the underworld,
she chose her husband Dumuzi because instead of mourning her loss, he was dressed in finery and seated on a throne
Dumuzi
Inanna’s husband
didn’t mourn her loss when she was trapped in the underworld, so she chose him to replace her down there when she was free (but had to chose someone to take her place in the underworld-condition of her leaving)
hieros gamos
“sacred marriage”
mesopotamina religion
king acted as Dumuzi and Priestess as Inanna, and on top of the ziggurat they had intercourse so that it might gurauntee a rich natural harvest
because Dumuzi and Inanna did have intercourse for humans to have a rich harvest
Isis and Osiris
means “throne”
was married to Osiris, her brother and husband
greatest goddess of Egypt
they both lead Egyptians ou of their crude and backward ways
abolished canibalism, eastablshed laws, showed people how to grow crops.
However, Typhoeus plotted to kill Osiris, and was successful, but then their son Horus defeats Typhoeus
Cybele
was goddess of fertility and healing and sending diseases, protected from war in Greek culture
born from a rick in Phrygia
Zeus overcam with lust after seeing her, she resisted him, he spilled his seed on a rock. The rock became pregnant and Agdestis was born
Agdestis
born from a rock after Zeus spilled his seed on it when Cybele resisted him
was very strong and violent
Dionysus (God of wine and life force) poured powerful wine in the stream he drank from, got him very drunk, then made a noose from braided hair, put it around his feet and his gentials, so when Agdestis got up he ripped out his own testicles
Adonis
Myrrha (pregnant by her father) was turned into a tree
after 9 months, the tree split open and Adonis emerged
Aphrodite fell in love with him and spent all her time with him, but he was more interested in hunting
she warned him not to go after big sport, but he ignored her advice and one day a boar gouged him in the thigh and he bled to death
Attis
from Addetis’s spilled semen on the ground due to his castration, came new life: a pomegranite tree ripe with bloody seeds which impregnated Nana with Attis
the goddess Cybele loved him
and Agdetis became his guide in hunting, but became furious when Attis was to be married and had trsnferred his affections to a woman, drove eneryone including Attis mad
from Attis’ castrated genitals planted by Cybele, violets grew around a pine a tree that has seed0filled cones and erect straight growth, a symbol of male sexuality
Dionysus
god of wine, the life force
stood somewhat apart from the Other olympians
a male principle of fertility
encourages the growth of everything: plants, animals, humans
thick luscious ivy was the sign of his presence
Semele
princess of the house of Thebes, daughter of the Phoenician king Cadmus
Zeus fell in love with her
came to her disguised as a mortal man, impregnated her
Hera heard of her and came to Semele dressed as an old woman, and said that Zeus’s claim that he was Zeus was probably just a ploy to get her into bed, so Semele asks Zeus to appear to her in his true form, which he does and she burns to a crisp
her child is saved by Hermes and taken to Zeus and sown into his thigh. Later Dionysus was born again
Ino
Hermes carried the child Dionysus to Ino (Semele’s sister) to take care of him
Ino disguises him in girl’s clothing but Hera still knows it is him. she drives both Ino and her husband mad
Nymphs of Nysa
to save Dionysus from Hera, Zeus turns Dionysus into a goat and Hermes delivers him to the nymphs of Nysa
Bacchae
Dionysus’s female followers
maenads
another name for Bacchae, Dionysus’s female followers
thyrsus
a staff crowned with a pinecone or a bunch of Ivy leave, carried by the Bacchae, Dionysus’s female followers
satyrs
male followers of Dionysus
half-human with erect phalli, sometimes huge, and tails and ears of horses
Silenus
an ugly drunken extremely fat satyr, who tells tall tales
Midas
local king of Phrygia, whom Dionysus rewarded a single wish for his hospitality
he asked that everything he touched be turned to gold
but even his food and drink did too
so Midas begged for Dionysus to take the gift back, and the river carried away his gift and the gold settled in the sands, and Lydia later became a very rich country
Ariadne
Dionysus married her
daughter of the King Minos
he found her on an Island after she had been abandoned by Theseus, hero of Athens
Lycurgus
Dionysus recieved resistance when he returned from his travels from the East
Lycurgus was a king of a tribe in Thrace and he persecuted him and him travelers
Minyads
also resisted Dionysus and refused to join his new religion
enraged, Dionysus drove them mad, and they joined him as Bacchae, but he later turned them into bats who enjoy the dark and hate the light
Pentheus
a stubborn king, resisted Dionysus
championed reason against disorder
ensured his own horrible end
Thespis
introduced someone speaking in first person who presented a crisis in the career of a mythic figure
made possible the presentation on stage of visible, direct conflict between characters prominent in traditional tales
Hades
ruled over all the dead in the dark land he received when he and his brothers partitioned the world. the dead buried in the earth are unseen and that is where Hades rules
also called Pluto
Pluto
another name for Hades
means “enricher”
because from beneath the earth comes mineral and agricultural wealth
Erinyes
the furies
mythical portrayal of the ghosts of slain members of one’s own family
precautions had to be taken to ensure the safety of the living without infringing on the rights of the often malevolent dead
psychopompos
Hermes, “soul-guide”
leads the dead to Hades’ house and relieve the world of their presence
Tiresias
the most famous seer in Greek myth and an important character in Euipedes Bacchae
was descended from
Tiresias was descended from one of the Sparti, the five-founders of the ruling families of Thebes who sprang from the teeth of a dragon (that Cadmus killed)
when he was young, he saw a pair of serpants coupling and killed the female. As punishment, he was turned into a woman. After 7 years, he saw another pair of serpants mating, and killed the male this time to me turned back into a man
Tantalus
was guilty of violence against their gods
he tested the god’s omniscience by serving them his own son at a banquet, and he was punished: he can never satisfy his desire for food and drink
from his punishment comes the word “tantalize”
Sissyphus
guilty of violence against their gods
was famed for his cleverness
he seduced Odysseus’ mother, on her wedding night, and according to tradition was the true father of Odysseus
also tricked Death himself, as one time imprisoning him, on another time escaping to the upper world to love out a second life
Going a second time to the underworld, he recieved his punishment: labors endlessly without result
Elysium
a special afterword
those destined for Elysium don’t descend to the underworld, but continue a blessed life in a remote part of earth
notion of a happy other world
Orpheus
famous for his sweet singing
tragic love for Eurydice
his wife died on their wedding day, and he entered the underworld overwhelmed with grief.
Hades agreed to release his wife but only if, while climbing back to the upper world, he must mot look back. But he does, and when he tries to enter the underworld again, he can’t.
wanting nothing to do with any other woman, he invented male homosexuality
Zagreus
Dionysus
born from Zeus and Persephone
Pythagoras
best known for the philosophical claim that the essence of reality resides in mythical relations among numbers, proportions, and measures
also taught metemphsychosis, and taught his followers to lead ascetic lives based on principles like those of Orphism
Er
described by socrates
Er was killed in battle, but 10 days later, when the bodies were put on a funeral pyre, he was found still alive and told his tale: he and all the other dead in a place where openings on either side led to heaven or down to earth. the souls were judjed and sent under the earth to be punished, or to heaven to be rewarded. for the evil or good they had done.
they suffered or enjoyed bliss for a thousand years. afterward they returned to the place of judgement and offered the choice of new lives when they returned to earth.
this myth is philosophical and intellectual recasting of ancient traditional accounts of life after death and of the uderworld to teach tha the soul is immortal and that a moral law governs the world (pg 325)
Acheron
the boundary of Di’s realm (Hades’ realm)
Charon
the ferryman who takes the dead to the underworld. the dead can only board if they have fare, or they must wait a hundred years to cross
Ixion
a king who lusted after Hera
Zeus, not believing that someone could desire his wife for sport made an image of Hera out of a cloud.
Ixion pounced on it and his seed tumbled through the cloud to the earth, and up sprang Centaurus, father of the centaurs.
Zeus bound Ixion to a wheel of fire that turns slowly through the eternal mists
Eurydice
was Orpheus’s love
died on their wedding date because a beekeeper tried to rape her, and while running away was bitten by a snake, and so died
Hero
any noble or well-born male
someone who stands out from others, someone distinguished by prominence, bravery, or merit
Gilgamesh
king of Uruk
one-third mortal
abused his power
Enkidu was sent to defeat him, but they ended up friends instead
tried to achieve immortality after Enkidu’s death, but wasn’t able to
Enkidu
mother of gods created him to defeat Gilgamesh
he challenged Gilgamesh, gilgamesh won, but began a lifelong friendship