Final Flashcards
Oedipus Lineage
Son of Laius and Jocasta (later husband of Jocasta)
Oedipus story
Solved the riddle of the Sphinx and became tyrant of Thebes
Oedipus Fate
Arrived at Colonus in Attica and died there
Jocasta
Queen of Thebes who married her son Oedipus
Eteocles
Brother of Antigone who died in battle and received a hero’s burial
Polynices Lineage
Brother of Eteocles and Son of Oedipus
Polynices fate
Died during the Argive expedition against Thebes to force his brother out
Creon lineage
The brother of Jocasta and Uncle of Antigone
Creon event
Became king of Thebes after fall of Oedipus
Tiresias Trait
A blind prophet
Tiresias Blinded By
Blinded by Athena or Hera
Tiresias Fate
At some point was turned into a woman and turned back into a man
Orestes Lineage
Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
Orestes Story
Avenges his father by killing his mother
Orestes Fate
Suffers punishment for killing his mother from the Furies
Odysseus Lineage
Son of Laertes, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus
Odysseus Role
King of Itacha
Odysseus Story
Greek hero who took ten years to return after the end of the Trojan War
Aeneas Lineage
Son of Aphrodite and Anchises, a Trojan prince
Aeneas Significance
The mythical ancestor of several Roman noble families (including the Caesars)
Aeneas Fate
Fought for Troy but escaped the destruction of the city
Gilgamesh Role
King of Uruk
Gilgamesh Significance
A legendary Sumerian king who was the hero of an epic collection of mythic stories
Prometheus Lineage
Son of Iapetos, brother of Epimetheus, and father of Deucalion
Prometheus Attributes
Attributes: fire, eagle, caring for man
Prometheus Areas of Concern
Areas of concern: technology and man
Artemis Goddess of
Goddess of the hunt and moon
Artemis attributes
Attributes: Bow and arrow, hunting dog, stag, moon
Artemis areas of concern
Areas of concern: Hunting, childbirth, and virginity
Persephone Lineage
Daughter of Demeter and Zeus
Persephone Story
Goddess who is kidnapped by Hades
Wife of Hades
Persephone Attributes
Attributes: Pomegranate, torch, flowers
Persephone Areas of concern
Areas of concern: Queen of the underworld, vegetation
Hades God Of
God of the underworld
Hades Lineage
Brother of Zeus and Poseidon
Hades attribute
Attributes: Scepter, Cornucopia, Rooster
Hades area of concern
Areas of Concern: The regions below the surface of the earth, including the dead
Aphrodite Atributes
Attributes: Cupids, doves
Aphrodite Areas of Concern
Areas of concern: Love, desire, fertility
Aphrodite Associated with
Associated with Roman Venus
Demeter Area of Concern
Areas of Concern: Agriculture
Demeter Attributes
Attributes: Grain sheaf, crown of wheat
Demeter Lineage
Mother of Persephone
Apollo Attributes
Attributes: Beardless, wreath, kithara
Apollo areas of concern
Areas of Concern: Music, truth, prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, etc.
Apollo lineage
Son of Zeus and Leto
Twin brother of Artemis
Zeus Areas of concern
Areas of Concern: The sky, kingship
Zeus attributes
Attributes: Beard, Eagle, Thunderbolt
Zeus name meaning
Based on the same root as Roman Iu- in Jupiter (Jove) and Sanskrit Dyaush pita (both “sky father”)
Zeus associated with
Associated with Egyptian Amun and Persian Ahura-Mazda
Dionysus Alias
Dionysus (Bacchus, Mr. D)
Dionysus God Of
God of wine
Dionysus family of
Son of Zeus and Semele
Dionysus honored at
Honored at the Great Dionysia festival in Athens where tragedies were performed
Hestia Roman version
Roman Vesta
Hestia Goddess Of
Goddess of the hearth
Hesita significance
Received the first offering at every domestic sacrifice
Hermes Role
Messenger of the gods
Hermes attribute
Attributes: Winged hat (Petasos), sandals, Caduceus
Hermes areas of concern
Areas of concern: transitions and boundaries
Thieves, travelers, and guides the dead into the underworld
Hephaestus Lineage
Son of Hera
Hephaestus Attributes
Attributes: hammer, tongs, donkey
Hephaestus Areas of Concern
Areas of concern: metal, working, fire
Hephaestus associated with
Associated with Roman Vulcan and perhaps related to the Syrian smith god Kothar
Martin Bernal
Scholar who used linguistics, ancient manuscripts, and archaeology to challenge Eurocentric perspectives on the relationship between Greece and Pharaonic Egypt
James George Frazer Born
Born 1854 Glasgow
James George Frazer Death
Died 1941 Cambridge
James George Frazer Wrote
Author of the Golden Bough
James George Frazer View
Argued that myth is designed to explain ritual
Michele Foucault
1970s historian and theorist, created modern categories of sexual orientation or constructions that originated mostly in the 19th century
Claude Levi-Strauss Born
Born Brussels, Belgium, 1908
Claude Levi-Strauss death
Died Paris, France, 2009
Claude Levi-Strauss Significance
“The father of modern anthropology”
Claude Levi-Strauss View
Identified universal structures of human society, such as kinship rules
Plato Born Death
Born Athens 420s BCE Died 340s
Plato life
Follower of Socrates
Founder of the academy where Aristotle was educated
Plato view
The inventor of Idealism
Ovid Born Death
Born March 20, 43 BCE, Sulmo, Italy
He died ca 17 CE, Tomis now in Modern Romania
Ovid Life
The last poet of the Golden Age of Latin literature
Euripides born death
Born late 480s BCE Athens and died 406 BCE Macdeon(?)
Euripides Life
Author of over 90 tragedies including Medea and Orestes but rarely won 1st prize in the dramatic contests
Euripides rumor
Rumored to have changed the ending of Medea myth because he was bribed
Sophocles Born death
Born 497/6 BCE
Died 406/405 BCE
Sophocles Role
Author of Tragedies, including Antigone
One of the treasurers of the Delian League 443/42 BCE
Elected General
Eleusis
A deme or village of Athens that was formerly independent
Home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, an initiation ceremony of which the details were secret but had something to do with the Eleusinian triad and an afterlife
Thebes Definition
A polis in Boeotia near Attica (the territory of Athens)
Thebes enemy
A traditional enemy of Athens who sided with the Persians in the Persian Wars
Thebes significance
Mythical home of Cadmus, Dionysus, Oedipus, and Antigone
Delphi definition
Panhellenic Sanctuary and sacred precinct of Apollo located in the region Phocis
Delphi overseen
Site of the Delphic oracle overseen by the Pythia
Delphi in plays
Setting of the first half of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo
Uruk definition
One of the first cities in Sumer (modern southern Iraq), perhaps the first city in history
Uruk Significance
Home of the temples of Innana and Anu
The mythical home of Gilgamesh
Cyprus definition
Cyprus
Cyprus significance
The legendary home of Myrrha, Pygmalion and a favorite place of Aphrodite who is often called “the Cypriote” (Cypria)
Sicily Definition
A large island south of the Italian Peninsula
Heavily colonized by Greeks and Carthaginians from ca 800 BCE
Sicily significance
Thought to be the location of the Cyclops episode in the Odyssey
Phoenicia
An ancient seafaring civilization located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea
Olympus definition
Highest mountain in modern Greece and second highest in the Balkan range
Olympus significance
Mythical home of some of the twelve Greek gods known as Olympians
Critical Thinking
Not having the answer before asking the question
Thesis
Statement based on facts that a reasonable person can disagree with
Observation
A statement about more than one fact that every reasonable person will agree with
Humanism
The assertion that human beings are the same now as in the ancient world and therefore understandable
Historicism
The idea that human beings had fundamentally different ideas of how the world worked in the past
And their motives cannot always be understood
Idealism
The belief is that categories exist “out there” independent of language and human beings. Sometimes these categories are referred to as “natural”
Textualism
Because categories and even mythic figures are constructed by language, it is better to try to understand categories and mythic figures as subject to limited change over time rather than the imperfect copies of an ideal hero or category
The Raw and the Cooked
“Raw” refers to anything a culture defines as outside of human society and therefore natural
“Cooked” refers to products of human culture
Cooking is therefore a mediation between nature and culture
Tyranny
Cruel and oppressive government or rule
Orientalism
The acceptance of “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”
-Edward Said
