Greek tales (lecture 1)

Question 1

Muthoi

Answer 1

Stories

Question 2

Muqoj

Answer 2

Myth

Question 3

Divine myth

Answer 3

Stories involving deities

Question 4

Heroic myth

Answer 4

Stories involving mortals who have a share in divinity

Question 5

Legends

Answer 5

Similar stories but beneath the characters and events historical events may be detected

Question 6

Folktales

Answer 6

Timeless stories including human or personified animals as central characters

Question 7

Divine myth expanded

Answer 7

• most important for explaining why the world is the way that it is, but other myths may have this function (etiological - from the Greek word ‘aition’ - cause or origin)
• the narrative line may be more engaging than the aition, and an aition may be lacking when a story humanizes deities

Question 8

Heroic myth and legend expanded

Answer 8

• heroic myths are set in the distant past and are narratives involving mortals with divine blood
• the same tales may be considered legendary if there is a belief that the tales are rooted in historical fact

Question 9

Folktale

Answer 9

• traditional stories that are timeless, tend to have generic characters - even animal characters - can be told / retold for entertainment, and / or for its insight in how to get along in the world or with others
• these often have recognizable plot points or characters

Question 10

Area dominated by the Early Greeks

Answer 10

• region inhabited by 40000 BC
• permanent settlements adopted by 7000 BC
• inhabitants entered their bronze age by 3000 BC
• by 2000 BC the Minoan culture rose and spread from Crete

Question 11

Mycenaean period

Answer 11

Only at around 1700 did the first Greeks arrive from somewhere east of the black sea

Question 12

Dark ages

Answer 12

Starting around 1250 BC the Mycenaeans succumb to violence, decline, and isolation lasting from 1050 - 800 BC

Question 13

Archaic period

Answer 13

800 - 479 BC, was a recovery period that included Panhellenic trade and religious festivals and in the early period, readapting of writing

Question 14

The classical period

Answer 14

479 - 323 BC was the height of Greek art and literature. The Greek city states succumbed to the power of Macedonia, and the end of the period was marked by the establishment of Greek kingdoms around the Mediterranean at the death of Alexander the Great and the fragmentation of his empire

Question 15

The Hellenistic period

Answer 15

323 - 31 BC marked the spread of Greek culture more widely in those kingdoms and the eventual conquest of the Romans which was completed in 31 BC with the defeat of Cleopatra, the last of Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt