Final (Study Test 2 Flashcards First)
classics
the study of the cultures of Greece
and Rome from the Bronze Age to the
end of the Roman Empire
ROMAN
TRANSLATION
PROJECT
Denis Feeney’s term for the process by
which the Romans created Latin-language
literature on Greek models
HELLENISTIC
PERIOD
the period of Greek history beginning
with the death of Alexander the Great
Livius Andronicus
- c. 280/270 –200 BCE
- possibly a freedman of a Roman senator
- considered the first Roman to translate Greek literature into Latin
- including a translation of the Odyssey
- also composed his own Latin literature using Greek forms
Genres Imported from Greek Literature
epic, hymns, tragedy, comedy,
historiography, oratory, didactic, philosophical, dialogue
INTERPRETATIO
ROMANA
“Roman translation,” including religious
syncretism (the assimilation of non-
Roman religion to Roman religion)
Roman Names for Greek Gods
-Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Zeus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Athena
Hestia-Vesta
Demeter-Ceres
Hera-Juno
Poseidon-Neptune
Zeus-Jupiter
Aphrodite-Venus
Hermes-Mercury
Hephaestus-Vulcan
Ares-Mars
Apollo-Apollo
Artemis-Diana
Athena-Minerva
VERGIL’S AENEID
- 19 BCE (early Roman Empire)
- picking up Trojan War mythology
- integrating Roman history and
culture into Greek mythology
OVID’S METAMORPHOSES
- 8 CE (early Roman Empire)
- a variety of Greek myths merging
into history - united around the theme of
transformations
The geographical and historical proximity of ancient Greek and
Roman culture led to
cultural influence on the Romans
The “Roman translation project” incorporated Greek mythology
into
Latin-language literature
LATIUM
the region of the Italian peninsula to
which Rome belonged
Latinus and Amata’s daughter
Lavinia
Lavinia is betrothed to
Turnus
Aeneas marries
Lavinia
Aeneas’ parents
Anchises and Venus
Aeneas’ first wife
Creusa
Aeneas’ son
Ascanius (Iulus)
The Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas,
the legendary founder of the
Roman people
Vergil blends the mythology of the Trojan War with
Roman
historical legend to create the Aeneid
Aeneas is a figure with roots in the mythology of
the Trojan War
Jacques Derrida
- 20th-century French philosopher and
literary theorist - Author of Archive Fever (1995) and other
works - Originator of deconstructionist literary
criticism
DECONSTRUCTION
an approach to literary criticism that
emphasizes the fundamental instability
and indeterminacy of meaning in a text
Archive Fever (1995)
- originally published in French as Mal
d’Archive - a theory of the archive and archiving
as storage sites for cultural
information
ARCHONTIC
PRINCIPLE
“that drive within an archive that seeks to always produce more archive, to enlarge itself”
DICTATOR
a Roman official appointed by the Senate
to hold absolute authority in order to
resolve a crisis
Augustus
- nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar,
claiming descent from Venus - winner of the civil wars in the 1st century BCE
and first Roman emperor - in power from 27 BCE to 14 CE
- champion of Roman nationalism and social
and political values
Roman Republican Government consisted of
ELECTED MAGISTRATES
and
THE SENATE
ELECTED MAGISTRATES
*military and political leaders
*judicial authorities
*elected by Roman citizens
THE SENATE
*advisory body
*composed by appointment
*including wealthy property holders
and former magistrates
PRINCEPS SENATUS
“first of the senate,” an honorary title for
the senator who had the privilege of
speaking first in the Roman senate
Future Romans
-Silvius: son of Aeneas and Lavinia and king at Alba Longa
-Romulus: founder and first king of Rome
-Augustus: first emperor of Rome
The Aeneid was composed in a traumatic period of Roman history
in which Roman identity had been shaken by
civil war
The Aeneid establishes continuity between Greek myth and
Roman history, paralleling Augustus’ project of
creating political
continuity
Vergil draws on the authority of Greek mythology to
strengthen
this narrative of Roman continuity
Vulcan (Hephaestus)
GOD O F F I R E , V O L C A N O E S , A N D C R A F T —
E S P E C I A L LY M E TA L LU R GY
EKPHRASIS
an extended, often detailed and vivid,
description of a work of art in a literary
text
Roman History on Aeneas’ Shield
- Ascanius’ (therefore Aeneas’) descendants
- Romulus and Remus
- Rape of the Sabine Women
- Alliance of the Romans and Sabines
- Execution of Mettius Fufetius
- Porsenna’s Siege
- Gallic Invasion of Rome
- Romans in the Underworld
- Battle of Actium
Romans in the Underworld
-CATILINE, BYWORD FOR TREASON
-CATO THE ELDER, PARAGON OF ROMAN VIRTUE
INTERTEXTUALITY
a relationship between literary texts in
which a reader’s knowledge of one text
shapes their interpretation of another
Scenes on the Shield of Achilles
*the universe: earth, sea, and sky
*a city at peace: weddings and a trial
*a city at war: a siege, an ambush, a raid, and a battle
*agriculture: plowing and harvesting grain and grapes, herding cows
and sheep
*leisure: dancing and a festival
The Shield of Aeneas in Book VIII of the Aeneid parallels
the Shield
of Achilles in Book XVIII of the Iliad
The Shield of Aeneas is decorated with
illustrious scenes from
Roman history
Vergil places the Shield of Aeneas in direct, intertextual
conversation with
the Homeric Shield of Achilles
HISTORIOGRAPHY
the study of written history with
emphasis on the style and agenda of its
composition
(Some) Key Questions in Historiography
- What do the writers of history choose to include in their
histories? What do they omit? - What are writers of history trying to accomplish? What
are their goals, biases, and blind spots? - Who were the writers of history writing for?
Herodotus
- Greek author of an early work of history known as “The Histories” or “The Persian Wars”
- Probably lived in the 6th or 5th centuries BCE (500s or 400s)
- from Halicarnassus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor
- Concerned with the causes of the Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and Greek city-states (approx. 500 –450 BCE)
Titus Livius (“Livy”)
- Roman historian of the early Empire (59 BCE –17 CE)
- Author of the Ab Urbe Condita Libri (“Books from When the City was Founded”)
- Historical narrative of Rome from 753 BCE to Livy’s own time
- Fragmentary: Most of the work has been lost over time
ELEGY
poetry associated with loss, lament, and
mourning
love elegy
unhappy relationships
emotive
elegiac couplets
Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid)
- Roman poet living in the Augustan Age
- approximate lifetime: 43 BCE –17 CE
- made his name writing love elegy
- exiled by Augustus in 8 CE
ARS AMATORIA
“The Art of Love,” Ovid’s didactic poem
about establishing and conducting sexual relationships
Augustan Marriage Laws
- morality laws instituted between 18 BCE and 9 CE
- promoted marriage and childbirth among citizens
- punished adultery with exile and property confiscation
METAMORPHOSES
“changes of shape” or “transformations”
Metamorphoses
- composed by Ovid around his exile in 8 CE
- structured around myths featuring
transformations - a universal history from creation to his
present day
Palatium
root of the English word “palace”
PROGRAMMATIC
tone-setting; a programmatic passage
reveals the underlying agenda and
priorities of a literary work
The Metamorphoses was composed by Ovid,
a Roman poet with a
complicated relationship to Augustus
The Metamorphoses collects and organizes mythology
thematically around
transformations
The myths of Lycaon and Daphne can help us to interpret Ovid’s
attitude toward
contemporary history
MYTHOGRAPHY
the collection and compilation of myths
mythography
anthologies of myths
informational
prose
THE FATES
three chthonian goddesses who embody
destiny and foreknowledge
CATALOG POEM
a poem that compiles a list of things,
characters, or stories, generally within a
certain category
Mythological Catalog Poetry
Hesiod
*Theogony
*genealogy
of gods
Homer
*Odyssey 11
*the dead in
Hades
Ovid
*Metamorphoses
*chronology of
myths
The Metamorphoses can be considered a type of
mythography
Unlike Hyginus, Ovid structures his mythography using
literary
characteristics of epic and catalog poetry to serve his narrative
These literary characteristics reveal Ovid’s underlying interest both
in
the storytelling aspect of mythology and in literature
ARCHETYPE
a primary and definitive example of a
literary type
Orpheus’ parents
Apollo and a Muse
Orpheus’ wife
Eurydice
MISE-EN-ABYME
the repetition in a work of art or
literature of the work itself (literally
“placed in the abyss”)
The Song of Orpheus features
Ganymede
Hyacinth
Pygmalion
Myrrha
Atalanta & Hippomenes
Adonis
METAPOETRY
poetry about poetry
MIMESIS
“imitation” or representation, especially
in visual or performance art
VERISIMILITUDE
the probability of what is represented in
art or literature; its resemblance to reality
MAENAD
female devotees of Dionysus who are
driven into madness by the chaos-
inspiring power of the god
VATES
poet-prophet, a Latin word for “seer” that takes on connotations of divinely-inspired artistry
Ovid casts Orpheus as
the archetypal poet and storyteller par
excellence
The myths in the Song of Orpheus raise questions about
the
power and truthfulness of art and literature
Divinely-inspired poets like Hesiod and Ovid help us to think
critically about
the truthfulness or “truth-like-ness” of mythology
Characteristics of Secondary Worlds
credibility, a “distinct border, transnarrative
credibility
“It immerses readers or viewers so completely, yet so subtly, that
they pass into it without even noticing that they are doing so.”
a “distinct border”
giving the Secondary World a sufficient number of
sufficiently striking features—geographical, botanical, zoological, technological,
etc.—to make it different from the Primary World
transnarrative
“something that goes beyond the narratively constructed space
in which a single story is set—something that constitutes a space where many
stories, whether they be directly connected to each other or not, can be set, and
something that is perceived by its audience as consistent and coherent”
MYTHOGRAPHY
the collection and compilation of myths
Tarana Burke
activist who coined the phrase “Me Too”
to indicate solidarity among survivors of
sexual violence
Timeline of the #MeToo Movement
2006
*Tarana Burke
begins using
the phrase
“Me Too”
October
2017
*sexual assault
and
harassment
allegations
against Harvey
Weinstein
become public
late
2017
*Alyssa Milano
popularizes
#MeToo on
Twitter
2017 –
present
*#MeToo
becomes a
global
movement
Wake,
Siren
Myrrha
Io
Ivory Girl
Atalanta
Daphne
Callisto
Wake, Siren is an example of classical reception influenced by
the
#MeToo Movement
MacLaughlin retells Ovid’s myths of the transformation of women
from
their own perspectives
In “Eurydice,” MacLaughlin thematizes the empowerment of
women through
their voices, a key feature of #MeToo
RECEPTION
the reuse, retelling, or allusion to ancient
artwork or culture in later time periods or
by different cultures
Lore Olympus
- webcomic created by Rachel Smythe
- New Zealand-based graphic artist
- first published in March 2018
- has a following of about 6 million readers
- honored with Harvey and Eisner Awards
- tells the myth of Persephone
FANFICTION
fiction that uses characters, settings,
plotlines, or other details from the work
of another author, especially from a
published or copyrighted work
GENRE FICTION
fiction whose form and contents conform
to popular, often formulaic, genres, such
as romance, fantasy, or mystery
RETCONNING
“retroactive continuity,” the
establishment of coherence across a
narrative after inconsistencies are already
present
Lore Olympus embraces the adaptability of myth by
retelling the
myth of Persephone as a modern-day romance
Smythe uses formulaic elements associated with romance to
refocus the main characters and conflicts of the myth
In composing a webcomic, Smythe seizes the unique opportunities
for
visual storytelling that her medium offers
the study of the cultures of Greece
and Rome from the Bronze Age to the
end of the Roman Empire
classics
Denis Feeney’s term for the process by
which the Romans created Latin-language
literature on Greek models
ROMAN
TRANSLATION
PROJECT
the period of Greek history beginning
with the death of Alexander the Great
HELLENISTIC
PERIOD
- c. 280/270 –200 BCE
- possibly a freedman of a Roman senator
- considered the first Roman to translate Greek literature into Latin
- including a translation of the Odyssey
- also composed his own Latin literature using Greek forms
Livius Andronicus
epic, hymns, tragedy, comedy,
historiography, oratory, didactic, philosophical, dialogue
Genres Imported from Greek Literature
“Roman translation,” including religious
syncretism (the assimilation of non-
Roman religion to Roman religion)
INTERPRETATIO
ROMANA
Hestia-Vesta
Demeter-Ceres
Hera-Juno
Poseidon-Neptune
Zeus-Jupiter
Aphrodite-Venus
Hermes-Mercury
Hephaestus-Vulcan
Ares-Mars
Apollo-Apollo
Artemis-Diana
Athena-Minerva
Roman Names for Greek Gods
- 19 BCE (early Roman Empire)
- picking up Trojan War mythology
- integrating Roman history and
culture into Greek mythology
VERGIL’S AENEID
- 8 CE (early Roman Empire)
- a variety of Greek myths merging
into history - united around the theme of
transformations
OVID’S METAMORPHOSES
cultural influence on the Romans
The geographical and historical proximity of ancient Greek and
Roman culture led to
Latin-language literature
The “Roman translation project” incorporated Greek mythology
into
the region of the Italian peninsula to
which Rome belonged
LATIUM
Lavinia
Latinus and Amata’s daughter
Turnus
Lavinia is betrothed to
Lavinia
Aeneas marries
Anchises and Venus
Aeneas’ parents
Creusa
Aeneas’ first wife
Ascanius (Iulus)
Aeneas’ son
the legendary founder of the
Roman people
The Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas,
Roman
historical legend to create the Aeneid
Vergil blends the mythology of the Trojan War with
the Trojan War
Aeneas is a figure with roots in the mythology of
- 20th-century French philosopher and
literary theorist - Author of Archive Fever (1995) and other
works - Originator of deconstructionist literary
criticism
Jacques Derrida
an approach to literary criticism that
emphasizes the fundamental instability
and indeterminacy of meaning in a text
DECONSTRUCTION
- originally published in French as Mal
d’Archive - a theory of the archive and archiving
as storage sites for cultural
information
Archive Fever (1995)
“that drive within an archive that seeks to always produce more archive, to enlarge itself”
ARCHONTIC
PRINCIPLE
a Roman official appointed by the Senate
to hold absolute authority in order to
resolve a crisis
DICTATOR
- nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar,
claiming descent from Venus - winner of the civil wars in the 1st century BCE
and first Roman emperor - in power from 27 BCE to 14 CE
- champion of Roman nationalism and social
and political values
Augustus
ELECTED MAGISTRATES
and
THE SENATE
Roman Republican Government consisted of
*military and political leaders
*judicial authorities
*elected by Roman citizens
ELECTED MAGISTRATES
*advisory body
*composed by appointment
*including wealthy property holders
and former magistrates
THE SENATE
“first of the senate,” an honorary title for
the senator who had the privilege of
speaking first in the Roman senate
PRINCEPS SENATUS
-Silvius: son of Aeneas and Lavinia and king at Alba Longa
-Romulus: founder and first king of Rome
-Augustus: first emperor of Rome
Future Romans
civil war
The Aeneid was composed in a traumatic period of Roman history
in which Roman identity had been shaken by
creating political
continuity
The Aeneid establishes continuity between Greek myth and
Roman history, paralleling Augustus’ project of
strengthen
this narrative of Roman continuity
Vergil draws on the authority of Greek mythology to
G O D O F F I R E , V O L C A N O E S , A N D C R A F T —
E S P E C I A L LY M E TA L LU R GY
Vulcan (Hephaestus)
an extended, often detailed and vivid,
description of a work of art in a literary
text
EKPHRASIS
- Ascanius’ (therefore Aeneas’) descendants
- Romulus and Remus
- Rape of the Sabine Women
- Alliance of the Romans and Sabines
- Execution of Mettius Fufetius
- Porsenna’s Siege
- Gallic Invasion of Rome
- Romans in the Underworld
- Battle of Actium
Roman History on Aeneas’ Shield
-CATILINE, BYWORD FOR TREASON
-CATO THE ELDER, PARAGON OF ROMAN VIRTUE
Romans in the Underworld
a relationship between literary texts in
which a reader’s knowledge of one text
shapes their interpretation of another
INTERTEXTUALITY
*the universe: earth, sea, and sky
*a city at peace: weddings and a trial
*a city at war: a siege, an ambush, a raid, and a battle
*agriculture: plowing and harvesting grain and grapes, herding cows
and sheep
*leisure: dancing and a festival
Scenes on the Shield of Achilles
the Shield
of Achilles in Book XVIII of the Iliad
The Shield of Aeneas in Book VIII of the Aeneid parallels
illustrious scenes from
Roman history
The Shield of Aeneas is decorated with
the Homeric Shield of Achilles
Vergil places the Shield of Aeneas in direct, intertextual
conversation with
the study of written history with
emphasis on the style and agenda of its
composition
HISTORIOGRAPHY
- What do the writers of history choose to include in their
histories? What do they omit? - What are writers of history trying to accomplish? What
are their goals, biases, and blind spots? - Who were the writers of history writing for?
(Some) Key Questions in Historiography
- Greek author of an early work of history known as “The Histories” or “The Persian Wars”
- Probably lived in the 6th or 5th centuries BCE (500s or 400s)
- from Halicarnassus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor
- Concerned with the causes of the Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and Greek city-states (approx. 500 –450 BCE)
Herodotus
- Roman historian of the early Empire (59 BCE –17 CE)
- Author of the Ab Urbe Condita Libri (“Books from When the City was Founded”)
- Historical narrative of Rome from 753 BCE to Livy’s own time
- Fragmentary: Most of the work has been lost over time
Titus Livius (“Livy”)
poetry associated with loss, lament, and
mourning
ELEGY
unhappy relationships
emotive
elegiac couplets
love elegy
- Roman poet living in the Augustan Age
- approximate lifetime: 43 BCE –17 CE
- made his name writing love elegy
- exiled by Augustus in 8 CE
Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid)
“The Art of Love,” Ovid’s didactic poem
about establishing and conducting sexual relationships
ARS AMATORIA
- morality laws instituted between 18 BCE and 9 CE
- promoted marriage and childbirth among citizens
- punished adultery with exile and property confiscation
Augustan Marriage Laws
“changes of shape” or “transformations”
METAMORPHOSES
- composed by Ovid around his exile in 8 CE
- structured around myths featuring
transformations - a universal history from creation to his
present day
Metamorphoses
root of the English word “palace”
Palatium
tone-setting; a programmatic passage
reveals the underlying agenda and
priorities of a literary work
PROGRAMMATIC
a Roman poet with a
complicated relationship to Augustus
The Metamorphoses was composed by Ovid,
transformations
The Metamorphoses collects and organizes mythology
thematically around
contemporary history
The myths of Lycaon and Daphne can help us to interpret Ovid’s
attitude toward
the collection and compilation of myths
MYTHOGRAPHY
anthologies of myths
informational
prose
mythography
three chthonian goddesses who embody
destiny and foreknowledge
THE FATES
a poem that compiles a list of things,
characters, or stories, generally within a
certain category
CATALOG POEM
Hesiod
*Theogony
*genealogy
of gods
Homer
*Odyssey 11
*the dead in
Hades
Ovid
*Metamorphoses
*chronology of
myths
Mythological Catalog Poetry
mythography
The Metamorphoses can be considered a type of
literary
characteristics of epic and catalog poetry to serve his narrative
Unlike Hyginus, Ovid structures his mythography using
the storytelling aspect of mythology and in literature
These literary characteristics reveal Ovid’s underlying interest both
in
a primary and definitive example of a
literary type
ARCHETYPE
Apollo and a Muse
Orpheus’ parents
Eurydice
Orpheus’ wife
the repetition in a work of art or
literature of the work itself (literally
“placed in the abyss”)
MISE-EN-ABYME
Ganymede
Hyacinth
Pygmalion
Myrrha
Atalanta & Hippomenes
Adonis
The Song of Orpheus features
poetry about poetry
METAPOETRY
“imitation” or representation, especially
in visual or performance art
MIMESIS
the probability of what is represented in
art or literature; its resemblance to reality
VERISIMILITUDE
female devotees of Dionysus who are
driven into madness by the chaos-
inspiring power of the god
MAENAD
poet-prophet, a Latin word for “seer” that takes on connotations of divinely-inspired artistry
VATES
the archetypal poet and storyteller par
excellence
Ovid casts Orpheus as
the
power and truthfulness of art and literature
The myths in the Song of Orpheus raise questions about
the truthfulness or “truth-like-ness” of mythology
Divinely-inspired poets like Hesiod and Ovid help us to think
critically about
credibility, a “distinct border, transnarrative
Characteristics of Secondary Worlds
“It immerses readers or viewers so completely, yet so subtly, that
they pass into it without even noticing that they are doing so.”
credibility
giving the Secondary World a sufficient number of
sufficiently striking features—geographical, botanical, zoological, technological,
etc.—to make it different from the Primary World
a “distinct border”
“something that goes beyond the narratively constructed space
in which a single story is set—something that constitutes a space where many
stories, whether they be directly connected to each other or not, can be set, and
something that is perceived by its audience as consistent and coherent”
transnarrative
the collection and compilation of myths
MYTHOGRAPHY
activist who coined the phrase “Me Too”
to indicate solidarity among survivors of
sexual violence
Tarana Burke
2006
*Tarana Burke
begins using
the phrase
“Me Too”
October
2017
*sexual assault
and
harassment
allegations
against Harvey
Weinstein
become public
late
2017
*Alyssa Milano
popularizes
#MeToo on
Twitter
2017 –
present
*#MeToo
becomes a
global
movement
Timeline of the #MeToo Movement
Myrrha
Io
Ivory Girl
Atalanta
Daphne
Callisto
Wake,
Siren
the
#MeToo Movement
Wake, Siren is an example of classical reception influenced by
their own perspectives
MacLaughlin retells Ovid’s myths of the transformation of women
from
their voices, a key feature of #MeToo
In “Eurydice,” MacLaughlin thematizes the empowerment of
women through
the reuse, retelling, or allusion to ancient
artwork or culture in later time periods or
by different cultures
RECEPTION
- webcomic created by Rachel Smythe
- New Zealand-based graphic artist
- first published in March 2018
- has a following of about 6 million readers
- honored with Harvey and Eisner Awards
- tells the myth of Persephone
Lore Olympus
fiction that uses characters, settings,
plotlines, or other details from the work
of another author, especially from a
published or copyrighted work
FANFICTION
fiction whose form and contents conform
to popular, often formulaic, genres, such
as romance, fantasy, or mystery
GENRE FICTION
“retroactive continuity,” the
establishment of coherence across a
narrative after inconsistencies are already
present
RETCONNING
retelling the
myth of Persephone as a modern-day romance
Lore Olympus embraces the adaptability of myth by
refocus the main characters and conflicts of the myth
Smythe uses formulaic elements associated with romance to
visual storytelling that her medium offers
In composing a webcomic, Smythe seizes the unique opportunities
for
