final exam Flashcards
what pattern does hercules follow?
propps hero pattern
- the 10 step heroic pattern that is typical in folk tales
-
who is hercules?
- son of zeus (name means glory of hera)
- considered the greatest greek hero
- primitive in nature
- achieved divine status at death
- protector by definition, civilizing force that kills monsters and founds cities
- founded the olympic games
what is the iconography of hercules?
- bow and arrows
- lion skin
- club
what was the story of hercules’ youth?
- raised in thebes
- when human father (amphitron is off to war) zeus takes a liking to alcemena
- he comes to alcemena in the from of amphitryon and they sleep together
- heracles is conveived
- when amphitryon comes back she sleeps with him and conceives heracles twin brother —-iphicles
- hera is jealous so she sends snakes into his crib
- he defeats the serpent
- but eurisythius is born firsr so hercules has to serve labours for euristhius
- his teachers are amphitryon, linus, and eurytos
- kills linus
who does hercules kill?
- linus his centaur mentor bc he cant play the lyre lool
- because of this blood guilt he is sent to mount cithaeron
herclues does what on mount cithaeron?
- amphitryon sends him there to tend to sheep after being acquitted in death of Linus
- where he hears the problem of the lion
- kills the lion by strangling it to death
- (also symbolic for an initiation from boyhood to manhood)
- from this he gains iconic lion skin
-
heracles and the minyans vs thebans
- …..
how many labours must heracles complete before he can continue his quest?
12 to achieve immortality and the end
where hercules get his weapons from?
bow from apollo, gold breastplate from hephaestus, club made by himself, and robe from athena
what does heracles do in delphi?
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Propps hero pattern
1) ) The hero usually has elements of the extraordinary linked to his
birth and his childhood.
2) He faces opposition from the beginning, and he must prove his
worth by surmounting challenges.
3) His enemy(ies) usually instigate his achievement.
4) He is helped by at least one ally, divine or human.
5) He faces obscene obstacles, often labors that must be
accomplished or a quest that must be completed.
6) Adventurous conflicts with divine, human, or monstrous
opponents present him with physical, sexual, and spiritual
challenges.
7) He may also have to observe taboos – e.g., he must NOT look
back, eat forbidden fruit, or be too inquisitive.
8) Death itself is the ultimate conquest, usually achieved by going
to and returning from the Underworld.
9) The hero’s success may be rewarded with marriage, political
security, or wealth and power.
10) But knowledge through suffering and more lasting spiritual
enlightenment (literal or symbolic) – entailing purification,
rebirth, redemption, and even deification – are also part of
the hero’s attainment.
family of heracles
mother - alcmene daughter of electryon king of mycenae
human father, Amphitryon, son of Alcaeus
- twin brother, Iphicles
what is hercules reward for defeat of minyans?
marriage to megara
who does heracles serve in delphi?
the king of tiryns
where are first 6 labours oh heracles?
in the northern peloponnese
where are last 6 labours of heracles?
all over the world
The lernean hydrra was labour ?
labour 2
- heracles received help from mortal nephew iolaos
- where he got his fancy poisonous arrows with hydra blood
- iolas cauterizes the head of each hydra while heracles cuts it off
what is the life of heracles an allegory for?
- a life of vice and pleasure
labour 3, 4 - heracles
- The cerynitian deer
- sacred to artemis and appolo
- he negotiates with them and is able to take the deer alive to eurytheus and let it go free - the erymanthian boar
- boar is ravaging countryside of erymanthus
- pholos shows up and shows hospitality to heracles - who asks for wine
- if he opens the wine the centaurs will smell it and attack them
- heracles doesn’t listen he opens the wine anyway and the cnetaurs come to attack him
- he kills centaurs until he gets to chirons cave and a poison arrow accidentally kills him
- pholos also picks up an arrow and dies
- shows heracles vice
Why is heracles story following the propps hero pattern?
- consideres the quest a universal hero structure
- extrordinary elements influence his birth and childhood
- faces insurmountable challenges
- enemies instigate his achievements
- helped all allies human or otherwise
- had conflicts with morals, the divine, and monsters he had to physically come over
- has taboos such as extreme anger
- death is ultimate conquest as shown by entry to the underworld
- hero is rewarded with marriage, political security, wealth and power
Labour 5 heracles - the augeian stables
- the augeian stables
- Augeias tasks heracles to clean out horse stables that are full of shit
- he says hell clean out the stables in return to getting half the cattle
- gets help from athena to divert a river to run through the stables
- however he does not give heracles the cattle anyway and kicks he and phyleus out
- when heracles comes back to kill him he founds the olympic games
- side quest: he stops off at house of dexamenos and in return for hospitality and kindess heracles promises to kill unwanted centaur eurytion
labour 6,7 - heracles
- kills the stymphalian birds which have metal feathers that would fall out and kill people
- with divine aid from athena he scares birds with castanests out of the bushes - most popular story was that poseidon sent this cretan bull to minos and then released the violent bull into mainland Greece which heracles captures and takes home
Labour 8 - heracles
- man eating mares of diomedes
- who is son of ares and a thracian king.
- heracles kills diomedes and takes the mares which he dedicates to hera
labour 9 - heracles
The war belt of Hippolyte
- the amazons: a tribe of warrior women from the island of theiscyra in mothern parts of the worl
- the war belt symbolizes queenship and had magical powers
- heracles is sent to stand against amazons and take war belt from the queen
- the amazons enslaves and maimed boys at birth and girls were raised to hunt and fight
- heracles talks to hippolytae who gives up the war belt tp him
- hera thought he got it too easy, so she tells the amazons that heracles kidnapped hippolyta when they charge his ship he kills hippolyte
- with aid of achilles all are killed
- all amazons are killed off because they don’t fit into the greek world
heracles in troy
- heracles stops in at troy
- hesione is the sister of priam and daughter of king laomedon
- troy was given massive walls in return to something from laomedon but they were never given something
- so appolo sends plagues and poseidon sends monsters in ager
- princess hesione must be sacricificed and let a beast eat her that poseidon has sent to appease him
- but heracles defeats it and rescues her in return for immortal horses which laomedon doesn’t give him
Labour 10 - heracles
cattle of geryones
- geryones is a triple bodied man
- eurytion is his heardsman and orthos is his two-headed dog
- heracles travles to this island to steal his cattle
- its too hot to walk there so he shoots arrows at the sun and is given a divine cup by helios which transports him to the island
- kills dog, herdmans. and geryones
- takes cattle back in cup
- (etiology) he sails back through the pillars of heracles which marks where u can navigate the greek world
Labour 11 - the apples of the hesperides on mt. atlas- heracles
- step 1: find sea-god nereus
- the hesperides → daughters of nyx
- they guard a tree with golden apples that was gifted from gaia to zeus and hera with a snake named ladon (immortal serpent)
- nymphs tell heracles he must get help from the sea-god nereus
- heracles uses his smarts and grabs nereus so he stops shapeshifting and asks him how to get to the tree
2 side quests: antaeus who he squeezes to death and prometheus - he kills the eagle that is eating the liver of prometheus with a poisonous arrow
- so prometheus tells him to go to atlast where he can find aplles
- second step is tricking atlas into holding up the universe via apples
- athena helps heracles hold up the universe
- tricks atlas into holding the universe and runs away
- could be considered a conquest of death
Labour 12 - cerberus - heracles
- heracles goes into hades via caves of tainaron
- he sees medusa and meleager
- meleager asks him to take care of his sister
- hades lets him take ceberus
leading up to the death of heracles
- iole, daughter of eurytos, king of oichalia
- Heracles falls for iole
- eurytos is holding an archery competition for ioles hand in marriage -
- heracles wins
- but eurytos remembers the death of the children of megara and says no
- he is driven to madness by hear and hills iphitos the brother of iole
- goes to pythia to learn how to get rid of this blood guilt
- pythia says he must be sold into slavery to be rid of his blood guilt
- sold in slavery to omphale, queen of lydia
- spent time there being frivolous (exchanged gender roles)
- performed task of housewife
what were heracles deeds after omphale?
- the first sack of troy
- aided by telamon
- hesione is given as a bride to telamon
- storms the capital of troy together
- declares that hesione can have any trojan slave they want - she chooses her brother podarces
- also partakes in gighantomachy battle on plain of phlegra
Heracles in calydon
- he leaves for calydon to fulfill his promise to meleager in the underworld
- deianira is sister of meleager
- must wrestle the river god acheloos to win her hand in marriage
- water divinities shapeshift as the water changes shape
- god comes to him in the form of a bull and heracles breaks off one of his horns to defeat him = when he returns the horn of amalthea he gets the magical cornucopia
- heracles’ anger issues → he kills a son of oineus’ friend
- he puts himself into exile and makes his way to trachis with deianeira
- they come across a river where a boat is ferried by a centaur named nessos
- heracles can walk across the water, deianeira has to be ferried
- nessos tries to rape deianeira, heracles kills nessos with arrow
- nessos, while dying, tells deianeira that heracles has a wandering eye → tells her to mix nessos’ blood and semen to make a love potion for heracles
- deianeira actually makes the potion
heracles, eurytos, lichas, and deianeria
- when they get to trachis, heracles decides again he is angry at eurytos → anger is one of his taboos
- he goes back to oichalia and kills eurytos
- he takes iole and wants to make sacrifice to zeus → asks his attendant lichas to bring a robe
- deianeira douses the robe with the love potion, heracles puts it on and the robe starts to burn his flesh → he throws lichas off a cliff
- deianeira kills herself because she feels bad
- heracles knows he’s about to die → he builds a pyre on mt. oita
- philoctetes lights the pyre and in exchange he gets a bow from heracles
-
apotheosis of heracles → he becomes divine
- prize → hebe’s hand in marriage
- political security by hera
heracles death
- his funeral pyre is held on mt oita
- his mortal skin burns away and he gets the prize of apotheosis = deification after completing all his labours
- he also is given hebe by hera in marriage
- can now hang out on mt olympus with the other gods
Motifs for theseus’s stories
In what way does his story pattern follow heracles ?
How does theseus’ trip to Crete further his reputation as a hero?
How does Cnossos reflect Crete’s early mythology ?
How does theseus’ story contribute to athenian propaganda ?
Early myths of athens
- autochthonous sprung from the earth and appeared snakelike, were always from this region and did not migrate
the early kings of athens
-KeKrops (founder of attica) during era of contest between athena and posiedon
- etichtonius - strange product of athena and hephaestos who founded olympic and panathenetic games (was civilizing aspect for an earlier king)
- erechtheus (founder of polis)
pandion - grandfather of theseus
Mythic Origins of the king of crete
Europa, sister of cadmos has three sons
- Minos, rhadamanthys, and king sarpedon
- Brothers - cadmos, phoenix, cilix
- After europa is abducted her father tells them to go find their sister
- They cant find her, but find thebes, phoenicia, and cilicia
Etiologies for locations
- asterios becomes the mortal husband of europa and the king of crete
backstory to minos becoming king of crete
- minos asks gods to send a bull for sacrifice to prove his worth as a king
- however he thinks bull is to beautiful to sacrifice
- so poseidon makes the bull angry and violent
- Pasiphaë: wife, also daughter of Helios
- suddenly wants to sleep with a bull after being influenced by aphrodite
- Ariadne, Androgeos, Phaidra: their children
who was daidalos?
a famous inventor and craftsman that was imprisoned on the island of crete
- his nephew (perdix of talos) is killed because he dosen’t want to be outstaged after talos shows his wit by using the jaw of a snakebone to cit something in half
so daidalos goes to crete in exile
- howver pasiphae needs help from daedalus to mate with the bull and he builds her a cow outfit
- this looks bad for the king so he gets daidolas to build a labyrinth under the palace for the minotaur
from union of cretan bull and pasiphae?
- the minotaur
What was the minoan civilization?
- considered a great sea power
- showed their importance on the sea through marine style of pottery
- bulls were important to their culture through artifacts (horns of consecration, bulls head rhyton, bull leaping fresco, crete)
athenian tribute backstory?
- minotaur is coming of age and needs to be fed
- minos is upset because androgeos is dead
- he was taking part in the panathenaic games
- androgeos is killed by the marathon bull
- minos goes to the mainland of greece towards athens
- minos prays to zeus to punish the athenians → zeus places a plague on their crop
- oracle says to end the plague aigeus must pay whatever minos requests
- 7 boys and girls of athenian upper-class citizenry must be sent as tribute to the minotaur
who is theseus?
- son of king aigeus (or poseidon) and aethra who is the daughter of pittheus the king of troizen
- iconography: youthful, athletic with a sword
- future king of athens
birth under unusual circumstances theseus
- aigeus asked the oracle for children otherwise his brother pallas would take the throne
- oracle: “not to undo the wineskin’s mouth until you arrive home in athens”
- he stops in troizen and pittheos offers hospitality
- pittheos realizes he must get aigeus drunk and make him sleep with his daughter
- oracle was trying to warn aigeus not to drink because he would want to sleep with someone other than his wife and athenian lineage would be important
- aigeus tells aethra to keep their child with her in troizen
- he placed tokens of recognition under a rock
- when the child is strong enough to pick up the rock and travel to athens, aigeus will be able to recognize the child
Theseus early story
aegeus goes to the oracle and asks for children
- the oracle says don’t get drunk because you will sleep with ur daughter
- he must keep child in troizen because to have athenian lineage u need to be born in athens
- puts sandals and sword under rocks and if the child is strong enough he will put on the tokens and come find the king of athens who will recognize him
Athenian writers make theseus a great character because?
= they need the athenians to have a hero they can root for
- - theseus’ labours were added by athenian authors in the 5th-6th centuries for a specific reason → to make him a hero the athenians would be proud of
Labors of thesues that follow pattern of killing various bandits and monsters
1) Periphetes, the clubber, at Epidauros
- kills son of hepheastus with club
2) Sinis (or Pityocamptes, “the Pinebender”), in Isthmos of Corinth
- sinus tied and catapulted people on trees so theseus does the same thing to sinu
3) the Crommyonian Sow, a village between the Isthmos of Corinth and Megarid
- old lady and sow are killed by theseus
4) Sciron (and turtle), in the Megarid
- sciron asks people to wash his feet and kicks them off cliff to get eaten by man eating turle
5) Cercyon, the wrestler,
at Eleusis
- defeats him by wrestling
6) Damastes (“the stretcher”) between Eleusis & Athens
- damastes hammers people to fit on a bed of cuts off their limbs if they don’t
theseus in athens
- after taking up tokens of recognition goes to athens
- his dad aegeus is married to medea and their son is medus
- medea was a powerful female heroine/witch in exile for having committed acts against her ex jason
- she knows theseus is the son of aigeus and that if he returns her son medus won’t get the crown
- aigeus puts him in the bull marathon for a labour
- the bull must be killed to complete the labour
- when medea tries to poison theseus she must flee and take her son with her when Aigeus recognized his son
Theseus’s voyage to crete
- he is on a ship with minos
- theseus must prove he is a son of poseidon
- says he will throw ring into the ocean and he should jump in to get it to prove it
- in the oceon he’s taken down to palace of amphitrite and welcomed as the son of poseidon, giving him a robe and wreath as a gift to show his importance
- when he reyurns he has proved his divine lineage and solidified protector status
Theseus On crete
- he meets ariadne who is blinded by her love for him
- she forsakes her kingdom and gives theseus a ball of yarn to unravel until he finds the minotaur in the maze
- he clubs minotaur to death and takes the children that were tributes to freedom
- ariadne is now responsible for killing the son of her mother
- follows similar character arcs of woman falling in love with their consorts and hero’s sacrificing romantic relationships for quests
Myth of daidalos and icaros?
- attaches wings of string and wax to him and his son
- don’t fly to close the sun of you’re wings will melt and die
- follows the idea of “nothing in excess”
- Daedalus is then forced to be monitored under security after icarus is too adventurous and dies
- ## etiology for icarian sea
Minos’s hunt for daidalos
He goes to court of cocalos in sicily
- asks the kingdom if they can get a string through a shell as a challenge
- roots out Daedalus with this trick cuz he’s so smart
- daedalus ties a string to an ant to get it through the shell
- daedalus gets rescued by children of cocalos after he is discovered
- minos is boiled alive in water to become a judge of the underworld
story of ariadne left of naxos
theseus leaves ariadne on naxos
- in an alternative version she writes to Theseus about her longing and how she cannot understand why they were left behind
- their oath of marriage was not taken by ceremony
- when she is deserted on island she knows she has nothing left
- theseus maybe left her because she is a sexual challenge
- Dionysos sees the symbolic wreath and decides to marry Ariadne
- so he throws wreath it in the sky and it becomes the corona constellation
Theseus in nostos did what?
Aegeus tells theseus to take down his black sails and put up white ones to signify he is alive and killed the minotaur
- however theseus forgets and leaves up the black flags
- in some tales, this is because Ariadne cursed him
- aegeus sees the black sails and jumps off cliff
- etiology of aegean sea comes from this
how does theseus become king?
- his dad has a brother with 50 sons
- to take rulership of athens theseus must defeat all 50 sons and the brother
theseus’s romances
1 - ariadne
2 - kidnapped antiope and takes her back to athens in a quest when amazons chase him down and take her back
3 - meets and married phaedra - results in antiope getting jealous and she goes to the wedding party with huge army of amazons vs the Athenians. so antiope dies in battle
- in order to defeat sexual challenges the heroes must defeat to fully become heroes
what did Theseus do as king?
- united attica, with athens as its capital
- created popular assembly
- founded the isthmian game and instituted panathenaic festival
- abducted antiope queen of the amazons
- the result: 1) hippolytos
2) invasion (amazonomachy) on the areopagos
heracles youthful exploits
- he is taking refuge at king thespios’ house who has 50 daughters at a marriable age
- thespios wants heracles to father all children
- so he sleeps with all 50 but thinks its the sam egirl
- he kills lion ravaging the countryside
- apollodorus – this is where heracles gets his iconic lion skin
- shows he is a protector
minyans vs the thebans
creon is the king of thebes
- heracles fights the minyans with his father
- amphitryon dies in this conflict
- heracles moves up as man of household and defeats the minyans
- thebans don’t have to pay taxes to the minyans anymore
- creon rewards heracles with the daughter megara
-
what does hera putting heracles into madness do?
he kills all the children he has by megara
- he also kills megara later according to euripides
what does depli tell heracles to do?
- serve eurystheus the king of tiryns
- one task per year - enslaved in servitutde as punishment for killing the children
- pythia then gives him the name heracle - before this he was alceides
why is there no hero cult for heracles?
- hes not associated with one religion or region
what do we remember heracles for?
- we remember him as a hero for the civilizing effects he had on humankind, killing criminals and monsters, being a benefactor of humankind (marking off territory on a map of the different places where greeks were beginning to sail), establishing the olympic games
who was the character of perseus ?
- associated with the argolid territory (argos, mycenae, tiryntha)
- character that lived long before the greeks wrote anything down
- perhaps he was a great king or benefactor → we don’t really know, we just know that his story exists and was important to the greeks
- he is a local hero
- according to tradition, he is known as the person who founds mycenae
what is perseus’s birth story?
- acrisios, king of argos, father of danaë
- danae is perseus’ mother
- story pattern: succession tale
- unusual birth account
- priotos (brother of acrisios), king of tiryns
- acrisios heard that his male heir is going to kill him → the child of danae
- fear of progeny → succession tale like zeus
- some say that proitos had seduced danae, the more relevant tale is of zeus coming to her as a golden shower and impregnates her
- nurse was trying to help hide the screams of the baby
- acrisios hears the baby and pushes the baby and danae out to sea assuming they will die
- danae goes to great lengths to protect her baby → she remains calm on the sea and sings a lullaby to keep him safe
opposition to perseus?
- hero faces opposition from the beginning
- island of seriphos
- dictys (net), kind brother → captured the chest carrying danae and the baby while fishing and helps to raise perseus
- polydectes, evil brother → king of seriphos
- opposites in people/brothers (e.g. prometheus and epimetheus) → folktake pattern
what is the typical story pattern for female tragedy? for example in danae?
- the pattern that we see of danae is typical of a girl/princess that in her own way is reaching some type of heroic status
- prohibition → danae was forbidden to marry and have children because of the fear of progeny
- seclusion → she was hidden away in a bronze chamer
- violation of prohibition → zeus still gets to her and she gets pregnant
- threat of punishment → her father puts her adrift at sea
- liberation → dictys rescues her from the chest
who are enemies of perseus?
- his enemies instigate his achievements/faces obscene labour that must be completed
- polydectes → his taskmaster
- helped by at least one ally, divine or mortal → hermes, graiai, nymphs, athena
- since hermes has more of an association to the peloponnese, it is thought that early traditions of his story had hermes as perseus’ sole helper
- when the stories got into the hands of athenians, athena became part of the story
- this is when she began being depicted with the gorgon head on her shield
- polydectes in a ruse says he wants to marry someone other than danae, this is a farce
- perseus refuses the marriage between polydectes and danae → protecting his mom
- polydectes had only asked each person attending the wedding banquet to bring one horse each
- perseus boasted that he could bring the head of medusa → this is his labour as part of his hero quest
perseus’ allies on the medusa quest
- *the graiai (the grey ones)**
- the daughters of phorcos
- share one eye/one tooth
- even at birth they looked like old ladies
- their big glory is aiding perseus → hermes and athena tell perseus to go to the graiai because they will know where the nymphs are to give him tools
- he has to steal their eye and tooth and they will give the information
the nymphs
- cap of invisibility (helm of hades)
- winged sandals
- pouch (kibisis)
hermes
- sickle and shield
who are the gorgons?
- stheno, euryale, medusa
- on his winged sandals, perseus will fly to the edge of the known world and find the gorgons wearing the cap of invisibility
- considered a conquest of death because of its location → past ocean
- he sees that the gorgons are asleep and cuts medusa’s head off
- chrysaor and pegasos sprout from medusa’s head when she dies
- perseus looked through the reflection of the shield to kill medusa
what is the story of Perseus and Andromeda?
- physical conflict with a monster, rewarded with marriage
- andromeda, daughter of cepheus and cassiepeia → royal family of ethiopia
- cassiepeia boasts that she is more beautiful than the sea nymphs
- poseidon sends a sea monster
- oracle tells cepheus that he must chain andromeda to a rock so the sea monster can eat her as sacrifice
- perseus rescues andromeda and gets her hand in marriage
conons rationalization of andromeda’s tale?
- phineus (brother of cepheus) and phoinix (brother of europa)
- cepheus had promised that phineus wanted to marry andromeda but he wanted phoinix to marry her instead
- he decided to put her on an island with a mock account of a kidnapping
- phoinix would come on a boat named the cetos (sea monster)
- when the cetos was coming to kidnap andromeda, perseus hears her cries and kills phoinix and takes andromeda with him
how is persian race founded?
- at ethiopia → perseus kills phineus
- marries andromeda and has a child named perses
- perses rules cepheus’ territory and is the founder of the persian race
after death of acrisios what does perseus do?
- sheds kindred blood → he does not think that he can take the original site of argos that was part of his inheritance for having killed his own grandfather
- makes a deal with the son of his uncle
- found mycenae (hero-cult)
- offspring of perseus and andromeda become future kings of mycenae
- hero’s reward → wife, kingdom, lineage
who was bellerophontes? and what was his main story?
- corinthian hero
- grandson of sisyphus, son of glaucos
- the one who rode pegasos
- bellerophon accidentally kills his brother → drives him to tiryns
- proitos and stheneboia, royal family of tiryns
- hopes to find hospitality and have his blood guilt extinguished
- proitos’ wife stheneboia falls in love with bellerophon → asks to sleep with him but he says no
- stheneboia is scorned and searches for revenge → she tells proitos that bellerophon raped her, proitos sends a letter to iobates (stheneboia’s father, king of lycia) to kill bellerophon
- divine aid → athena
- gives him a magical bridle to ride pegasos
what were the labours of bellerophontes?
- chimaira → monster child of typhon and echidna
- bellerophon destroys the chimaira
- solymoi → wipes them out
- amazons → wipes them out (just like heracles and theseus)
- ambush → bellerophon is ambushed by lycians and he defeats them all
- iobates sees how amazing bellerophon is and asks him to stay in lycia and marry his daughter
- reward → marriage and political security
- perhaps theseus would’ve been left more obscure like perseus and bellerophon if it were not for the athenians who used him as a propaganda campaign to cement power
what was the house of atreus?
- tantalus → child of zeus, great sinner residing in the underworld
- from arcadia in the Peloponnese
- served his son pelops to the gods as a meal when he was supposed to be showing hospitality
- cannibalism quite frequent in arcadia (remember lycaon)
- scholars have thought that cannibalism was part of ritual sacrifice very early on
- daughter → niobe
- zeus gets clotho to breathe life into pelops
- hyginus says tantalus is a sinner because he willingly gave information that the gods had given him in confidance
- he is a symbol of temptation (like demeter) → never with satisfaction
what were the three generations before agamemnon?
- tantalus → punished for his hubris
- pelops and the infamous chariot race
- hippodamia, oenomaus, myrtilus
- depicted on west pediment of temple at olympia
- atreus and thyestes
story of pelops and chariot race?
- decides to take a trip to elis
- hippodamia → daughter of king oenomaus
- oenomaus heard a prophecy that his son-in-law would kill him and take his throne
- doesn’t want anyone to actually marry his wife so he holds a chariot race against his invincible horses for potential suitors
- oenomaus is evil → took the skulls of dead suitors and use them to decorate gates
- monstrous man that heroes must protect others from
- pelops knows he cannot defeat him in the chariot race alone → enlists the service of myrtilus (mortal aid), the king’s charioteer
- promises myrtilus half his kingdom if he helps
- when he is putting the chariot together, he takes a pin out of the wheel and the crash kills oenomaus
- origin of curse upon house of atreus with death of myrtilus
what does pelops get rewarded with for winning the chariot race?
- pelops marries hippodamia and kills myrtilus, showing the angry and unholy side that seems to be in the dna of the house of atreus
hero cult to pelops?
- very important to the site of olympia → hero cult to pelops before the temple of zeus at olympia was built (where elis was)
- hero shrine for him there
- pelops’ name gives us the name of the Peloponnese
- if a hero kills someone while conquering a labour, the greeks are okay with this
themes in Generation 3: Atreus and Thyeste
- second generation of cannibalism in this household
- strange and monstrous geneology in this family
- curse of myrtilus affects atreus and thyestes directly
- struggle for kingship ensues between brothers
what do the oracles say to atreus and thyeste?
- oracle 1 → whoever holds the golden fleece shall rule
- the god pan gives this golden fleece to atreus, atreus is said to be the rules
- thyestes will seduce atreus’ wife and through this find out where the fleece is hidden and steal it
- atreus exiles thyestes
- atreus then brings him back and feeds him thyestes’ baby boys
- thyestes rapes his daughter
- oracle 2 → bring back thyestes to stop crop famine
- crops of mycenae are failing due to the cannibalism
- the oracle says atreus must bring thyestes back
- atreus saw his niece and didn’t know it was his niece → he took her as his wife but she’s pregnant with thyestes’ son
- she realizes her father raped her and kills herself
- aegisthus recognizes that thyestes is his father and kills atreus
- agamemmnon and menelaus will flee and return with a large army
- agamemmnon takes mycenae and menelaus marries helen
members of house of tyndareus (the king of sparta)
- tyndareus’ wife → leda (seduced by zeus — swan)
- two eggs, four children
- polydeuces and helen → zeus
- castor and clytemnestra → tyndareus
- castor and polydeuces
- brothers in arms
- protectors of sailors and seafaring
- take part in the argonautica
- saint elmo’s fire → thought to be the dioscuri as a good omen
- close to sisters
- helen → the most beautiful woman in the word
- the face that launched a thousand ships
- wife of menelaus, future king of sparta
- helen chose menelaus
- clytemnestra → wife of agamemnon
- verbally abused by agamemnon because she is not helen
- mother of iphigenia, orestes, electra
- definitely has her own personality separate from her ‘enchanting’ sister
why do greeks like tragedies?
- stories are universal, speak to audiences across time and space
- externalizes our fears and wishes
- forces us to feel strong emotions, purges us of them = catharsis
Agamemnon in the Aeschylus trilogy, the Orestia (produced in 458 BCE) - plot?
- a nostos (return) story
- clytemnestra has been plotting revenge the entire time agamemnon has been gone (10 years)
- deepseated sadness for the loss of her daughter to sacrifice
- hears rumors about the concubines taken by agamemnon (e.g. cassandra)
- she finds a confidante → aegisthus
- affair with aegisthus (son of thyestes and pelopia)
- aegisthus is angry at agamemnon and menelaus so he’s willing to be her confidante
- agamemnon’s infant son, orestes, exiled after agamemnon’s departure for troy
- to keep him away from her plot to finally kill agamemnon
- the curse that pelops put on the house of atreus continues
main characters in agammemnon play?
- clytemnestra → wife of agamemnon, daughter of tyndareus, sister of helen
- aegisthus → clytemnestra’s lover, son of thyestes
- agamemnon → king of argos (mycenae), commander of greek army at troy
- cassandra → agamemnon’s war booty, cursed prophet, daughter of priam
- chorus of argive elders
main themes in Agamemnon play?
- impossible choice → will he kill his daughter or not?
- is clytemnestra going to be dutiful to her husband and allow him to kill their daughter to fulfill his role as king or is she going to seek vengeance for the slaughter of her daughter?
- husband and wife put against each other
- justice → what is it and who enforces it?
- we see clytemnestra invoke zeus after the death of agamemnon but we also see the idea of justice in the character of agamemnon himself
- family vs. civic duty
- family → clytemnestra sees her family unit destroyed and seeks vengeance
- civic → agamemnon
- male vs. female (stereotypical gender roles flipped)
- clytemnestra must be dutiful to her husband, so she pretends to be
- aegisthus gets called a woman by the chorus because he sat back and let the woman be the lioness and kill the king
- clytemnestra acts outside of her gender role
Agamemnon’s inner conflict in the play?
- ompeting obligations between state or family
- the fleet expedition to troy or the saving of his daughter?
- agamemnon sees the sacrifice as something that has to happen → it is his obligation to the greek army to go and save helen
- he chooses civic duty over his family
- once he sacrifices his daughter, artemis will be appeased and let the ships sail
- he says he had to keep this oath in order to aid his brother menelaus in the kidnapping of helen
- the sacrifice fell upon him but it was all for the good of the greek people — it was his civil duty
what was Clytemnestra’s beacon speech?
- romantically and passionately explains how the pyres were lit to show her when the war is over and agamemnon is returning
- she tells them troy has been taken, they think she’s just a silly woman but she’s right
- she gives a performance in order to trick her husband to come to her with his defenses down
- carpet scene → clytemnestra unravels a red carpet before him
- foreshadowing of doom
- carpet is the colour of blood
- carpet scene → clytemnestra unravels a red carpet before him
what was the prophecy of cassandra?
- clytemnestra beckons cassandra to come inside in order to be cleansed
- cassandra knows what’s going to happen but she’s not believed because of apollo’s curse
- she sees the past → blood in the house and butchered children
- sees the future → she and agamemnon will die, return of orestes
was clymnestrant triumphant in the agamemnon?
- lowkey yes
- she puts them into a robe and into a bathtub and murders them with an axe
- she believes she is forthright and regrets nothing
- justified by zeus?
- her motives → iphigenia and cassandra
- aegisthus’ late arrival → he sat back and let a woman do the man’s job
- who’s next? → cycle of violence, vengeance
what are the themes of tension between genders in the play?
- the archetypal ‘mother goddess’ fulfills her role
- she is rejuvenated by the drops of blood upon the land, much like gaia
- trickster character
- clytemnestra vs. the chorus of argive elders
- they first call her a silly woman then say she acts like a man
- clytemnestra vs. agamemnon
- he says a woman should not be so combative
- aegisthus vs. chorus
- they say he sat back and let a woman do the man’s job
catharsis
- forces us to feel strong emotions, purges us of them
what was the story of Thebes before the arrival of Oedipus?
- europa, sister of cadmos, daughter of agenor
- kidnapped by zeus to crete
- conon says that cadmos just uses the kidnapping of europa as an excuse to go off to greece because he wanted to found a phoenician city
- epic cycle → oedipodeia (the story of oedipus cycle), thebais (the seven against thebes)
the foundation of thebes story?
- europa’s kidnapping caused some animosity between the east and the west
- heroditus → stories like this of kidnapping were mythological excuses for why there were wars between the east and west
- for whatever reason this mythology was first produced, it tells us about movement among the greek and nongreek peoples in ancient societies
- cadmos, mythical founder of thebes
who was Cadmus and what were his main tales?
- son of agenor, king of tyre, and brother of europa
- tyre → eastern empire of phoenicia
- cadmos brings with him to the greek people the invention of writing → makes him a civilizing hero
- also comes as a protector
- cadmos goes through delphi and pythia tells him to forget his sister and to follow a cow instead
- when the cow settles down that’s the site of the city of thebes
- he sacrifices the cow to athena
- goes to a spring of ares where a serpent son of ares is living and terrorizing the locals
- cadmos kills this serpent → athena tells him to sow the teeth of the serpent in the land
- earthborn men named the spartoi come out
- the spartoi fight and destroy each other until only 5 remain
- they are the founders of the 5 noble founders of thebes
- citadel of thebes → cadmeia
- reward → cadmos marries harmonia (daughter of ares + aphrodite)
- when cadmos kills ares’ son, he must serve ares for one eternal year
- cadmos now has a wife and political security
- aphrodite may have gifted a necklace and robe to harmonia with a curse because she is unhappy with the union
- curse → generations after the couple will have miserable fates (ino, semele, autonoe, agave)
- cadmos dies a hero’s death
background to Oedipus the king - ruler of thebes
- cadmos succeeded by his grandson, pentheus
- pentheus succeeded by polydorus, then by labdacos
- the infant laios becomes ruler, through exiled and returns
- ## lycos, amphion, zethus
story of second foundation of thebes
- nycteus → father of antiope and nycteis
- nycteis → marries polydorus
- antiope sleeps with zeus and is pregnant → nycteus is angry and kills himself when antiope runs away
- before killing himself, nycteus tells his brother (lycos) to find antiope and take her away
- dirce (wife of lycos) hates antiope, they find and capture antiope and torture her everyday
- antiope gives birth to twins (amphion and zethos) and hides them in boeotia (where thebes is)
- she escapes the prison and makes it to the house of her sons → they recognize her
- they kill lycos and dirce
- amphion and zethos rule thebes for awhile
- zethos marries thebe (etimology for thebes)
- amphion marries niobe (the one who insults leto)
origin of curse on house of thebes?
- laios → exiled when lycos comes into rule
- laios goes to the court of pelops in elis
- laios transgresses xenia at the court
- while he is receiving hospitality from pelops, he is giving chariot lessons to pelops’ son chrysippos
- he is in lust for chrysippos and kidnaps and rapes him
- chrysippos kills himself, pelops and the gods are not happy
- he goes into exile again, while in exile, he hears amphion is dead and is reinstated onto the throne of thebes
- is this the cause of the curse?
- did the course begin when aphrodite gifted the necklace and robe to harmonia?
- the ancients thought that each generation of these households had something wicked within them that was carried on to the next generation
- laios returns and marries jocasta at thebes
- oracle 1 → tells him he must kill his son or not have a son
- succession tale again
- he gets drunk one night and they sleep together
- they expose the child on mt. cithaeron
- oracle 1 → tells him he must kill his son or not have a son
what does oedipus do at corinth?
- oedipus exposed → they had tied his feet and sutured them together in a way that he could not walk alive or as a ghost
- etimology → his name means swollen foot
- saved by shepherd
- oedipus is raised by polybos and periboia (king and queen of corinth)
- they never told him he wasn’t there own child but he finds out and seeks the delphic oracle
- oracle tells him not to return home because he will kill his father and marry his mother
- he thinks corinth is his home so he leave corinth and goes to thebes
- he meets laius on the way to thebes → laius runs over his foot and oedipus kills him and his men
oedipus at thebes
plague 1 → sphinx
- tells oedipus a riddle, oedipus answers correctly and the sphinx dies
- oedipus receives kingship and jocasta (his mom)
- daughters → antigone, ismene
- sons → eteocles, polynices
- *plague 2 → famine**
- oracle 3 → states famine won’t be lifted ‘til the killer of laios, the pollution on the state, is found
- advisors → creon and tiresias
oedipus the king play themes?
- plague and miasma (pollution) → play begins with a plague upon the city of thebes and the pollution is found to be oedipus itself
- rage → rage, stubborness, arrogance that oedipus shows
- fate vs. free will → how much do we have control over our own actions
- leadership → oedipus wants to be a great king, but through this desire to succeed, we waiver back and forth between if this is truly jsut rule or arrogant kingship
main characters in Oedipus the king
- oedipus → king of thebes, tragic hero
- jocasta → wife/mother of oedipus
- creon → brother of jocasta, takes over rulership after oedipus exiles himself
- tiresias → theban prophet
- messenger/shepherd → both men aid in oedipus’ recognition
- chorus of theban elders
plague in oedipus the king
- opening scene at sanctuary of apollo
- characterization of oedipus as a leader
- priest calls oedipus a protector, savior
- thebans turn to the temples looking for a divine solution to the plague → when this does not work, oedipus will be the sole savior of the city
- the end of the plague does not come until oedipus exiles himself
- by sending creon to consult the oracle at delphi, oedipus sees himself as a good king → he wants to find the answers to the famine
- no crops are growing, women give birth to stillborns, all life is being decimated in thebes
- oedipus says all responsibility is being placed on his shoulders
fate vs free will in oedipus play?
- Oedipus’s quest ‘ for knowledge of his birth parents
- The final truth is revealed when kids’ ankles are pinned together
- Through threat of torture does the shepherd reveal the truth
- Oedipus finally knows
- tied to his name (swollen foot)
Oedipus hero pattern?
Oedipus and the Hero Pattern Parents are royalty Unusual conception/upbringing Attempt on his life Reared by foster parents Too inquisitive Victory over sphinx Marries mom, reigns as king Driven from city Dies mysteriously
conclusion of oedipus?
Conclusion in catastrophe
Jocasta id dead
Oedipus is blind
He blames daimon or “fate”
Says he must take full responsibility for his punishment
Blinding —- suffering for rest of life
Could he truly see? Blinding has metaphor vibes
Instead of hanging himself - he blinds himself
What are the Cyclic poems?
1) Homeri Opera: a theogony (“birth of the gods”)
2) Titanomachia: battle b/t Olympians and Titans
3) Oidipodeia: concerns the Oedipus cycle, incl. kidnapping of Haemon
by Sphinx, solving riddle of the Sphinx by Oedipus and the marriage to
his mother
4) Thebais: on the expedition against Thebes (Seven Against Thebes)
5) Epigonoi: sons of the Seven Against Thebes; more successful than
fathers; drove Cadmeans out of Thebes
- This poem chronologically occurs in same generation as
Trojan War, but just before.
6) Cypria: preliminaries of Trojan War, incl. Wedding of Peleus &
Thetis, Judgment of Paris, Abduction of Helen
7) Iliad: alternative versions, but we have received the canon passed
down, most likely, from Hellenistic period*
8) Aethiopis: Amazons & Ethiopians; mainly deaths: Penthesilea,
Thersites, Memnon, Achilles
9) Little Iliad: suicide of Ajax, fetching of Philoctetes & Neoptolemus,
Wooden Horse, Sinon and entry into Troy
10) Iliu Persis: Trojan debate over the horse, Laocoön, sack of Troy,
departure of Greeks, Aeneas leaves before the sacking
11) Nostoi: returns of heroes, murder of
Agamemnon, Orestes’ revenge, Menelaus’
homecoming
12) Odyssey: since so many nostoi referred to
in this epic, we think that it was not meant
to accompany the Nostoi of Achaeans above,
but follows
13) Telegonia: lost poem about Telegonus,
the son of Odysseus & Circe
lead up to trojan war
- Laomedon: first king of Troy
Does not sacrifice years worth of livestock - so sea monster is sent to city - Chooses hesione daughter to be sacrificed
- Heracles rescues her
Get her for the rescue and horses that walk on water - Laomedon does not follow up with promise as well
- So hercules sacks troy
= She can have any slave she wants - so she wants to save her son priam - who she buys
Priam becomes second ruler
who are tyndareus and leda parents of?
Tyndareus wife: Leda
Was seduced by Zeus
Two eggs, four children
Polydeuces and Helen, are children of zeus
- Castor and clytemnestra, are children of tyndareus
who was helen?
The most beautiful woman in the world “Face that launched a thousand ships” Wife of menelaus, future king of sparta As beautiful as aphrodite - daughter of zeus and leda
what was the oath of tyndareus?
- All suitors shall defend Tyndareus’s choice
Is anyone kidnaps helen the suitors must unite to see her returned - Is said to prefer menaleaus
Menaleus gets helen - Warriors are concerned about what people will think of them if they do not fullfill their oath
who was paris?
- Paris (or alexander of Mt.Ida)
- Son of priam and Hecuba
- King and queen of troy
- Hecuba’s dream
- Before alexander was born
- Fire would consume all of troy
- Soothsayer says her newborns birth would cause the destruction of troy
- So hecuba says to get him killed - however he is left to the exposure and taken care of by shepherds
what was the wedding of peleus and thetis?
- Was a lavish event mosty famous nereids in mythology
- Thetis marries peleus and is mother to achilles
- Galene and panope describe wedding destruction as eris
- Eris is not allowed to come - means discord
- Shes hanging in doorway to throw golden apple in middle of table titled to the most beautiful
- Thrown between the goddesses which causes massive conflict
- Zeus must say who is the most beautiful…but says go ask paris to judge who is the most beautiful
- Hera athena and aphrodite are competing
- Three of them fly to mount ida - where paris must decide who is most beautiful
what do the godesses offer to paris?
athena - victory in war
hera - you can be the king of everyone
aphrodite - i will offer you the most beutiful women on the planet - helen (she gets chosen)
paris abducts helen
- abducts her while menelaus is away and breaks oath of hospitality
so meneleaus and agamemnon invoke the oath of tyndareus
who dodges the draft?
- odysseus and achilles
- odysseus pretends like he is too crazy to go on the expedition
- to show this yolks a horse and bull together but palamedes sees through his plan and puts a baby in front of the bull to see if he’ll run it over - he picks baby up instead
- discovering trickery he tries to kill palamedes at troy (later killed by agamemnon who thinks he has been bribed with gold)
- these two men are not originally on the frontlines
who was achilles?
- Prince of the myrmidons
(Elite fighting force) - Hes from phthia where peleus rules
- Hears prophecy of doom from prometheus - don’t have a child with thetis because the child will be better then u zeus
birth story of achilles?
- thetis is married off to peleus who has a good reputation (he was in calydoninan boar hunt, and the argonaut expedition)
- thetis still does not consider him worthy
- Famous achilles heel - when she tries to put him in river of styx while holding him by his heel so thats missed
- Goes to chiron to become a dope young man
- Thetis knows hes gotta die young and glorious
- thetis hides him among daughters of King lycomedes
where he is dressed like a female - Similarly to god dionysus who is depicted as feminine
-
odysseus and diomedes find achilles by…
- propose to drop off a thing full of female gifts vs battle gear
- when achilles picks up battle gear/takes an interest he is exposed
pheonix and patroculus
patroclus - friend and partner of achilles
pheonix - tutor of achilles at pthia and troy who is a wise elder
Gathering at the aulis?
- Fleet at aulis (1200 ships present)
- The seer, calchas (second revelation)
- Sacrifice of iphigenia
- Clymnestra is angry at agamemnon
- They can set sail once draft dodgers arrive
Philoctetes on Lemnos
- He is bitten by a snake cuz hera sent it
- He receives bow and arrows from heracles as a prize for lighting pyre of heracles
- He is dropped off and left in agony
- He later will fullfill his fate - kill paris as last of the trojan champions
what is the national epic of the greeks
- homer’s the illiad
what were the aspects of oral composition in the illiad
- homer
- parry and lord
- dactylic hexameter
- fixed epithets
- repeated speeches
- formulaic phrases
- compleixity
- organization, thematic depth
themes in the illiad?
Rage of Achilles • War & Peace • Death (including treatment of) • Kleos (“glory”) • Honor - arete (“excellence”), possessions, rivalry & revenge, guilt & pity • Family • Gods and humans - quarrels, respect, & sacrifice - relationships on & off the battlefield - humans as puppets - gods playing favorites • Xenia (“hospitality”) • Roles of females (divine & mortal) • Storytelling & song
major characters in the illliad
Greeks (or Achaeans, or Danaans): - Achilles: best of the Achaeans, Prince of the Myrmidons - Agamemnon: king of Achaeans, bro of Menelaus - Patroclus, Diomedes, Phoenix, Odysseus, Ajax the GreaterGreeks -
the illiad starts
- 9th year of siege of troy
- subject is the wrath of achilles
Book 1 of the illiad
- achielles vs agamemnon
- war prizes need to be exchanged to stop plague, chryseis, briseis
- cultural causes: shame vs guilt
- glory, avoid shame
- arete “excellence” - shows how one appears to another gained only by great deeds but also spoils and gifts
Book 3 of the illiad
- duel between menelaus and paris
- paris is a good looking guy with leopard skin
- menelaus is favoured by ares and has warrior appearance
- hector shames his brother paris
- whoever wins the duel gets to take helen home
- messenger goddess iris comes to helen in form of daughter of priam and tells helen abt the duel
- aphrodite intervenes in the duel before paris can be killed and returns him to helen
what is the characteriziation of helen?
- she blames herself for what is happening
- mental capacity diminishes over the war
- creon is her friend who consoles her
- she feels used and manipulated by aphrodite
- feels ashamed and has no agency because she must do what aphrodite expects of her
- does not like paris, feels belittled and objectified by him
Book 6 of the illiad?
- Hector is back inside troy
- he’s looking for paris to get him to fight again
- hector must fight bc paris neglects his duty
- he and hector can relate to each other bc theyve both experience tragedy
- he must protect the city and avoid shame
who said “But may I die with the earth heaped up over my grave
before I hear your cries of anguish as you are dragged away a captive.””
hectorr
Hector is shown as
- having family values with the domestic scene between him and his family
- duty and honour
Book 9 the illiad plot
-Agamemnon sends gifts (including briseis) to achilles with odysseus, phoenix, and ajax the greater
- odysseus gives speech for trying to bribe achilles back into the war with promise of helen
- Says one must have good competition to better oneself
They have unhealthy competition altho so they can’t cooperate
- he tells odysseus to stop wining and knows hes being manipulated
- Achilles dosen’t come out of his mourning - takes it as an insult tht agamemnon sent gifts but didn’t come himself, instead sent his friends
-Achilles wants groveling but agamemnon can not give him that
-Feels sense of entitlement and arrogance as king of the greeks
- his personal grief is greater then his own duty
- pheonix his tutor also councels him to join the battle
- patroclus goes out in his armour and dies in achilles stead
book 9 illiad themes
- Cooperation vs competition
- Is this good leadership?
- Achilles is a lead general yet he’s staying back
- Agamemnon also will not release his grudge
- Neither one of them can reflect on what should be done
- Achilles knows of his two fates but hasn’t chosen his fate yet
- heroic code
aftermath of patroclus? book 18
- He questions achilles morals while he cries
- He says its better to fight instead of letting all these people die
- Achilles will relent to his friend and says he can lead them but stay away from hector
- In his armour he leads them against troy and kills sarpedon
- so achilles returns to battle for his friend and his mom thetis finally accepts his fate
- appollo hits patroclus in the head to faze him and hector kills him
Book 19 illiad
- zeus fortells of hectors doom but
- achilles gets a shield from thetis
ecphrasis means
a literaly description of a work of art - enlivens the inanimate object through description
- meant to be a rhetorical device
illiad books 20-24, death and ransom of hector
- Hector and achilles meet before the city walls for a duel
- Athena tricks hector
- Realizes he is forsaken by the gods
- His body is dragged behind the chariot of achilles
- Extreme desecration
- Priam tries to get body of his son back
- Apollo rejuvenates body of hector so he could be buried properly
- Takes pity on priam and achilles decides to return hectors body
- Priam is supposed to be pathetic
- 12 days for peaceful rest of hector before the city is sacked
What do we learn about the character of Achilles in this exchange between him and Priam?
is there a heroic transformation?
who is Odysseus
- Cunning, deceptive, storyteller/trickster character
- inherited armour from achilles
where is odysseus during his wanderings
- 10 years; siege of troy
-10 years;wandering/captured - ## poseidon bullies him athena helps him
what is happenibg while odysseus is away
- 107 suitors are fighting for his wife
- ## telemachus is his child growing up without his father
when do we meet odysseus for the first time ?
book 5 - where he is on an island being held by calypso
what do we know about what happens on island of calypso?
- He arrived without any of his comrades
- They all died on the way there
- Calypso is a sexual challenge
- Women offer him comfort from his suffering
- Odysseus is distrustful of people now
Dosne’t believe she will give him safe passage
Calypso offers him safe passage from the island by leaving on a raft
-
calypso
-She is a beautiful woman
-Weaving and sewing
Kind to odysseus
-Hermes says odysseus must be let go
-Offers hermes xenia - hospitality - which odysseus searches for - friendship and care from his host
-Complains why do i have to give up my man? But males never have to give up their consorts
-She is depicted as ultimate female temptation stopping him from going back to his family
book 6 - odyseeus (nausicaa and phaenicians)
- Queen arete and king alcinuus
- Nausicaa is their child
- A young maiden who wants to be a wife
- But is to young but not old enough to show companionship and leadership through odysseus
-Her father lets her go down to the sea to wash her clothes - He hears women when he is awoken
Constantly battling hospitality or savages
Keeps distance from the virginal maiden like a good man should - Odysseus charms nausea
- He asks for clothes and passage - so she offers hospitality
Other girls run away in fear - Athena beauties him and says to go up to the queen
- Arete must measure his worth and excellence
- If she smiles at him he’ll be granted passage
- Her name literally means excellence
book 8 - odysseus
Book 8 -
- He’s inside the phaenicians palace
- Demodocus, phaecian bard
- Sings about his brilliance by bringing in a wooden horse
- Odysseus starts crying bc he misses his friends - ptsd
- He’s suffering in happy moments
- Judge his worth to be excellent and help him cross the sea
- Wooden horse was big moment
- The phaeacians live here
- Place: island of scheria
- Alcinous asks who odysseus is
- Needs to know if he’s from ithaca so he can send him to ithaca
Book 9 - odysseus (cicones)
Recounts sacking of towns after they take over troy
- When odysseus says stop they push back on him
- Sign of mutiny
- Maron’s wine is super strong
- They leave cionia
- They encounter lotus eaters
- Perhaps suffering from sadness and guilt after troy
- Eat lotus’s and forget their sadness
- He collects his men to move to book 9
book 9 - odysseus (cyclops)
Polyphemus - cyclops with one eye in the center of his forehead
- Odysseus must go up against him
- Kills his men
- He eats human flesh
Inhospitable population
- Uses craft and wit to escape him
- Super strong wine - maron’s wine
- Outis “norman”
- Says he will eat odysseus last
- Calls himself “noman” or outis
- So when polyphemus gets his eye punched out and calls for help
- The cyclopes are like bruh noman is harming you? So they don’t come and help - miscommunication - no shared identity, familial bonds, nobody cares to help him
- Bonds of friendship can come through hospitality
- Important and cyclopes lack it
- The escape
- Polyphemus is blinded and drunk
- Uses the sheep to tie his men under while polyphemus is asleep
- When polythemus removes giant boulder - odysseus and his men escape
- Dosen’t know they are there
- Odysseus and his men escape
- Near the ship he scolds polyphemus for his inability to show hospitality
- Gone against the will of the gods
- Men are going to suffer when he calls back to polyphemus
- Pride, arrogance, honor pushes him to do this
- Polyphemus dad is poseidon
- CURSES odysseus - says he will lose all his men
book 10 - aeolus and laestrygonians (odysseus)
- Aeolus, keeper of winds, lived on a floating island (aeolia)
- Bag of winds, show proper xenia, discord in the ranks
- Aeolus - keeper of the wind which is in a bag
- Discord in the ranks
- Good population that odysseus comes across - gives gift in return for stay at the palace
- Soldiers distrust their leader odysseus
- Aeolus says you must be hated by the gods - go away
- Odysseus leaves w the angry men - not knowing they are going towards the laestrogonians - if he wasnt so secretive…
Whos gonna eat us…who wont? - No signs of plowed field - zero agriculture
Greeks did this to understadn themselves and how they lived their lives - These monsters are exagerations of inhospitable people at the ports
- Other heralds make it back to the ship to flee
- Odysseus is able to survive - gets around harbour behind a rock
- Laestrogonians came down in thousands - giants threw rocks at
Odysseus gets away -silly goofy boy
Book 10: circe on aenea - holds odysseus for a year
- Circe is a sexual challenge he must overcome
- She is witch and daughter of helios
- Must make it back to ithaca to penelope
- Hermes gives odysseus a magical herb
- Gets divine aid Xenia
- Circe sends him to the underworld (tiresias and Elpenor)
- What is penelope doing back home in ithaca
- Circe lives alone but still knows her role within society - knitting?
- Circe also sings - slay
- Leader of scouting party is weary
- Some are happy to receive the hospitality she offers them
- They all turn into pigs after receiving her food
- Need to charge zenia
- Is what hermes tells odysseus to do
- She will be scared, invite him into bed, theyll fuck and the protection for him and his men will be assured
- Circe tells him how to survive next to monsters and not eat cattle of the sun
- Makes his way home back to ithaca - man pig chases him?
- Sword and sheath
- Soldiers beseaching odysseus for aid
Pig can’t talk but hey - He leaves circe
Book 12: scylla and charybdis
- One of two routes
Wandering rocks (planctae) - Scylla
- Charybdis
- Want to avoid the wandering rocks
- Must choose between two cliffs
- Giant whirlpool that sucks down water and shoots it in the air
- All get sucked down to die
- Scylla has 6 heads of dogs around her waist
Scoop up one of the men - 6 must die when they go by - The rest past through
- What is charybdis - the straight of messina (between sicily and italy) with a whirlpool
Book 12: cattle of the sun (odysseus)
- Island of thrinacia
- Helios and his herd of cattle and sheep
- Circe warrens “ don’t eat them”
- Cattle are f sun god
- You will lose all your companions
- They are starving my man
- Odysseus was asleep men open bag of winds
- And in another version go ashore and kill some of the cattle
- Helios complains to zeus and a storm is sent to whip up the ship and a lightning bolt strikes it
- We finally meet calypso who warns him of all the comrades who have died
- He is taken to ithaca
- All his men are dead
odysseus travels from nostos to ithaca
- Odysseus is still distrustful, needs wisdom from athena
- Athena under the guise of a make mentor - disguises odysseus, the faithful swineherd.
-He recognizes her tho and they praise each other for being smart lol - Telemachus returns from sparta
- Who was hospitalible vs inhospitable
- Says to go to beggar
Important to show kindness to a stranger - Final happy reunion between father and son - telemachus and odysseus
- Ignorant of who the beggar actually is - eumaeus and telemachus get ready for odysseus return
- Penelope is distrustful however
- Because so many people claimed to see or be him
- She’s been waiting for his return
At the palace
At the palace in ithaca odyseeus
- At the palace in ithaca
- Atinious, and 107 other suitors eat his food
(PENELOPE -SYMBOL of fidelity and intelligence) - Shes been sewing the shroud of laertes, the dad of odysseus, says she won’t marry until she’s done
- Smart and cunning like odysseus
- Recognition scenes with argus his dog and his nurse - two characters that were close to gim
- Symbolic of loyalty his dog Argus died (book 17)
- When he gets back his house is in a state of disrepair
- Penelope is still fending off suitors - antinuous is lead of 107 other suitors
- Is the most disrespectful
- Reveals himself through characters
- Penelope is a simple of fidelity always dutiful and in love by keeping off the suitors
scenes of recognition odysseus back in kingdom
- Dog is symbolic of loyalty - was his dog when he was hunting in ithaca
- Argus is super old and not being taken care of - sad and lonely
- Always by his side
Immediately recognizes odysseus - wags his tail and dies - Eurycleia his nurse is second recognition
- Is not treated well
Recognizes him - Melantho is naughty maidservant - who looks over hospitality - recognizes his scar on his foot
- Threatens her with death when he sees her
- Tryna figure out who is his loyal servant
- Shroud of laertes trick: revealed by disloyal maidservants
- Every night she would unravel the shroud and disloyal maidservants basically snitch
Book 21 - contest of the bows (odysseus)
- Odysseus plots with his loyal attendants
Takes bow out of the closet to see who is worthy of odysseus old bow - bow only odysseus could string - Retrieves it - only odysseus has strength to shoot through mast head
- Antinuous boasts that beggar cannot string bow
- Attempts to cheat and bend it
- Kills off all suitors through combat
Father and son come together to take down the suitors = telemachus - Telemachus throws stool at beggar odysseus
- Telemachus orders penelope to take odysseus
- Penelope is super cautious tho
- Telemachus and eurycleia insist on his identity
- Final test for odysseus
- Gets him to move bed
- But he made bed by rooting tree in the ground so impossible task….She finally realizes its him
Book 24 - hermes takes suitors to the underworld (odysseus)
- Laertes hugs his child odysseus and finally recognizes him
- relatives off dead suitors come back for vengeance
- Athena makes them not fight and zeus sends thunderbolt to discourage fight
Story of family leadership etc… - Experience of reintegration back into society
jason
- Jason is hero and leader of the argonauts
- Jason is from minyan decent cuz his mom is minyae
- In Iolclos: controlled by King Pelia (his uncle) which controlled the plain of thessaly in greece and miletus in ionia
story of golden fleece
- Story of golden fleece
athamas , king of boeotia = nephel/nebula - Had kids phrixos and helle
- Athamas wife ino is a jealous wife
- Asks her sister to parch land so nothing grows
- Many die
- Athams asks oracle how to end famine
- Athamas must sacrifice phrixos to zeus
- Phrixos will allow himself to sacrificed for the land (tricked by ino)
- Dionysos rescues ino
- Athamas is driven mad
- Ino throws himself off cliff and they turn into sea divinities
- Nephele retrieves children and says they need to fly to colchis
Helle falls off and died - Etiology of hellespont
- Phrixos kills ram as sacrifice to ares in colchis
- Places fleece in temple of ares which is guarded by serpent
- Aitese is nice to colchis and marries chalciope but then eventually kills him as a servant
jasons childhood
- Nephew of pelias
- Pelias half brother of aison
- Jason as heir leaves for safety so pelias does not harm him
- Raised by chiron
- Returns 20 years later when he hears pelias is doing a lavish sacrifice for poseidon
- Comes across old women in lolcos
- Helps woman cross river
- Its hera in disguise
- Oracle says beware of one man w sandal
- Peleus sends him on quest to get the golden fleece
- ## Hoping he is gong to die on journey
argonauts on journey?
Calls together the argonautsL travelers to colchis
Needs these heroes
- Heracles (with Hylas) - Orpheus (post-Homeric addition) - Theseus - the Dioscouri (Castor and Polydeuces) - Peleus - Augeas, king of Elis - Meleager - Atalante - Telamon - Zetes and Calais (winged sons of Boreas, the North Wind
the argo
- Largest ship ever made, first though black seed
- Made with oak trees in dodona sacred to zeus
- Ship can talk to the argonauts
Hpsipyle and lemnian women
(jason)
- Woman stank and husbands didn’t want to sleep with them because aphrodite cursed them
- So they slept with slaves and killed all their husbands except the king thoas
- Argonauts were happily taken in
- With hypsipule the queen of lemnos
Euneos, nebrophonos are their children
Jason moves on
Cyzicos king of doliones at cyzicos (jason)
Cyzicos - king of cyzicos and the doliones
- Doliones protect themselves bc it is night and cant see the argaunaughts are friends and king dies in battle
- Cyzicos dies - he is youthful like jason - he had shown then
- Jason accidentally kills him
- Only one of two men known to kill
- Deaths are not celebrated
story in mysia (jason)
- Mysia
- We lose heracles here
- He has a boyfriend and water boy on journey
- And polyphemus friend of heracles
- Heracles must leave the expedition - rows to shore and breaks an oar
- Heracles says he wants to make a new oar while argaunauts eat
- His boyfriend wanted to get him some water for heracles
- Comes across water nymphs who pull him under the water - they keep him
- Polyphemus hears this and tells heracles - heracles is raging around
- Jason says argaunauts are gonna leave with polyphemus who founds the city cios
- Heracles goes back to court of omphale
- Hes overshadowing all other heroes = and overshadows jason the main hero
Jason is not typical hero
= Delegates authority and tries to get aid as much as possible
jason vs bebrycians
Jason is challenges to battle
Jason steps back and polydeuces steps forward
Amychas does not stretch but waits angrily
Rational vs irrational
Known for his boxing skills
Amycos is defeated
Jason was not protector himself - delegated authority
phineas - harpies in thrace (jason)
-Phinues is prophet
Zeus takes away his eyesight
- Harpies: zeus’ watchdogs are sent to phineus and steal his food and shit everywhere to terrorize him
- For giving away knowledge of zeus to mortals
- Zetes and calais, sons of the north wind
Phineas says is argaunates help him they will passage safely
- Save phineas fro his fate
- Another version has harpies given up in exhaustion
- Sons of boreas fulfill prophecy
- Says to phineas when they get up to lose rocks
symplegades
- crashing rocks they have to pass through
Release pigeon - if it makes it through follow the pigeon - Argo sails through
- Divine aid from hera to keep them open forever
At colchis, ruled by king aietes (jason)
- Witch medea, daughter of aites piestress of hecate
- Expert in drugs, poison, magic
- Outside of typical roles in greek society
Tasks were usually domestic sphere - Young, innocent, witch with magic
- After meeting jason she changes - sexual challneg
- Breaks mold once shes had enough of jason = otherness
- When jason arrives at palace
- Aites heard from oracle a foreigner will be his undoing
- When jason asks for fleece he gives him labours to accomplish
Given with hope hero will die - Struck by all consuming love for jason
- Medea gives him magical ointment - will protect him from fire
Tasks - Yoke two fire breathing bulls
- Sow the dragons teeth
- Kill autochthonous warrior creatures - throw them a rock
- Didn’t involve a lot of fighting
- Aites refuses to give him the fleece
medea
- sees he had been using her
- But knows ultimately that he will leave her for another princess
- Knows shes abandoning her father
- She goes w jason puts hero to sleep and gives jason the fleece by hiding in the night
- She has forsaken country
jason kills who… on ship
Aapsyrtos is led into an ambush where he is killed jason (other version by her) after luring him into trap
- Unheroic killing via jason
where do jason and medea go to purify themselves from the murder
- Jason and medea are told to go to where cercei lives to be purified of their deaths
jason and medea after stealing the fleece
- Make it to corcyra, with the phoenicians
- Give them safe cover from man in pursuit
- Refuge with alcinous and arete
- Arent allowed to be together unless they consummate their marriage
(worthy of political collection) - Otherwise shell still be her dads daughter if she dosent
- Shes a barbarian foreigner - not a greek to jason
- They meet talos on crete
- Giant guy who walks around throwing rocks at strangers
- Medea comes to his aid again
- Cuz he cant defeat the giant
- Pulls ichor out of ankle and talus is dead
the death of pelias
- The death of pelias
- Wont return fleece
- Dad of jason kills himself wife curses him and kills himself
- Before jason returns
- Medea plots against his enemies
- Rejuvenates a ram back into a lamb
- Daughters throw father in cauldron who accidentally kill them trying to do rejuvination trick on pelias
jason and medea in corinth
- Jason and medea are exiled and flee to corinth
- Take both of jasons kid
- Mermeros and spheres
Jason says he should marry princess in corinth - Blames medea tries to banish her via new political connection
- Says let me give glauce a nice marriage gift, gives her marriage gifts that literally set this women on fire
- CREON tries to rescue her and dies
- Medea completes her revenge by killing both her and sons of jason
In revenge for jason using her - She fulfills her own story line in doing this
- Medea runs away on -chariot oh helios
- At athens she must find refuge with king aiegeus
death of jason
- Unusual death of jason - death by argo (foretold by medea)
Dies alone on argo by timber falling on his head
end of medea’s story
- returns to colchis
- With help of restoring father onto throne
- Renews father daughter relationship with aietes
- What was her mindset - innovation on typical hero princess pattern
- Jason has destroyed her
- Woman of extremes
- Full of desire
- Torn between love and fear
- She says each time i think of this
- Unravels to point of killing children
- Goes against everything in motherly society
story of scylla and minos?
- he stops off at megarid → ruled by nisos
- nisos’ daughter → scylla
- nisos had one lock of hair → as long as he had this hair this city would be protected
- minos seduces scylla → another story of a girl who falls in love with a hero and is forsaken by the hero and left with nothing
- scylla cuts the hair off her father’s head for minos thinking minos was going to take her, instead he drowns her
