Knowledge Flashcards
who was the first author of the first text in the greek world?
Hesiod - theory about creation
- says he can speak with authority’s about materials because he was given the power to do so by the musees
theories about the start of the world?
- came from chaos (void) of nothingness
- from the void came Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus, and Eros
- gaia gives birth to the sky (ouranos), mountains, pontos (sea)
first generation of gods
- gaia/ouranos
- sacred marriage between the two - gaia does not need male counterpart to give birth however
from Ouranos seeds, which creatures were created
- Twelve Titan (kronos, rhea, kapetos, oceanos, hyperian…)
- the cyclopes - Brontes, Steropes, Arges
- the 100 handers (hecatonchires) - cottos, briareos, gyges
- the furies (considered enemies of the gods)
Castration of Ouranos myth
- Gaia’s kids get shoved back into her womb, so Kronos castrates ouranos to leave him powerless
- shows matriarchal vs patriarchal religions
- this is because ouranos was depicted as a brutal figure, and gaia one of wit and power
the furies
- furies are in tartarus
- act as zeus’s henchmen, meant to drive characters insane
The graces and seasons
- aphrodite’s attendants
- charites (graces) and horae (seasons)
Aphrodite
- typically depicted naked as a god of love and attraction
oceanos
- significant titan who mated with other titan Tethys
- birthed Oceanids (streams, springs, rivers)
Hyperion
- father of Helios (sun), Selene (moon), Eos (dawn)
- Eos “rosy-fingered” “saffron robed” myth of being caught with areas who is cheating on aphrodite
- myth of tithonus, Eos abducts him and asks zeus if he will make him immortal because she wants him as a boyfriend, as well as boyfriend myth that Selene requested endymion be with her forever but zeus makes it so he sleeps forever
The three fates (Moirai)
- children of Nyx (night)
- Three old women or birth spirits
- Clotho (spinner
- Lachesis (apportioner)
- atropos (inflexible)
what does gaia represent?
- represents that the greeks could have a matriarchal religion
- she is also evidence of matriarchy in early religions (worship of divine female over male)
- she is depicted as smart and powerful
- the earth which everything is based on
First Generation born from Rheia and Cronos
- Hestia (earth)
- Demeter (fertility)
- Hera (wife of zeus, marriage)
- hades (brother of zeus)
- poseidon (brother of zeus)
- zeus
prohecy of kronos being overthrown?
- Kronos hears that he will be overthrown by his own child so he gobbles his own children before that can happen
- so rheia hides zeus on a mountain and is raised by a goat Amaltheia and protected by Corybantes/Curetes who hide Zeus’s cries by banging shields together
- Kronos pukes up his kids when he is fed the omphalos stone instead of zeus
Zeus
- some say zeus was born on mont Ida in create as shown on symbols and shields
- some say arcadia
- he’s associated with eagles
- puts omphalos stone at the center of the greek world and grows an army to battle the titans
- breaks free the hundred handers who forge his thunderbolt
- is depicted as helping the downtrodden
Battle of titans
- 1st battle of zeus’s rise to power
- kronos and his siblings are imprisoned
Battle of Gigantomachy
- battle of giants
- gaia is angry at zeus for defetaing the titans
- ## hercules appears to aid the gods and they win
third battle of gigantomachy - “battle of typhon”
- child of gaia and tartarus
- hesiod calls this monster “typhoeus”
- zeus fought typhon seeing that he was powerful
- sentences him to be chained into tartarus
- now mount sicily is a volcano because of typhonomachy
atlas and prometheus
- prometheus whose name means forthought, chose to battle with the gods and his brother atlas sided with the titans and was tasked to hold up the boulder or essentially the sky in the underworld
Zeus defeats the prophecy of male succession?
- yes he thinks he defeats the prophecy of being overthrown when he eats Metis who is pregnant with Athena
- then athena is birthed from zeus
- this means that zeus swallows the personification of intelligence and can now act with female intelligence
Second generation of olympian gods
athena, hephaistos, ares, apollo, artemis, dionysos, hermes, Aphrodite
- twelve olympian gods that dwell on mt olympus
- eventually dionysos replaces hestia and hades gets kicked to the underworld
Why is zeus different from other gods, and past leaders?
- uses diplomacy to recruit allies
- enlists allies
- delegates authority
- a shift to patriarchy (reflects a cultural shift towards civilizing actions over brutality)
- does sleep around but is married to hera which strengthens the marriage
Creation of mortal myths?
- variant narratives on the creation of mortals
- Prometheus, pandora, 5 ages of man, the flood
main motifs in the storytelling patterns of creation?
- religious sacrifices
consequences for human transgressions
Prometheus and Epimetheus
- show the duality of siblings
- prometheus creates men from mud
- athena breathed life into the clay
- similar to biblical traditions in the genesis
Hesiod’s theogony is about what?
- idea that zeus needs to punish mortals to instill order
- because prometheus stole fire he is bound to rocks and has his insides devoured on Mt Caucasus
- shows that zeus is depicted with law, brutality and justice
- prometheus acts as a martyr for human kind
- like jesus he gives us something in return for his suffering
Creation of pandora myth?
- pandora “all gifts”
- progenitor of the female race
- god takes part in her creation
- like eve she is created after man
- hesiod’s punishment of man was the creation of women
- pandora comes from a jar, each god gave her a gift to be irresistible to men
- pandora opens the jar which unleashes all the evils of the world
Prometheus
- considered a hero of civilization
- a trickster you can root for
- deceits for good
- this story brings us closer to the divine
- prometheus brings us the gifts of fire
- gave order to social customs - ritual sacrifices
the five ages of man?
as ages past, quality of life deteriorates showing that mortals have angered the gods and deteriorated their lives
suffering is worse - as relfected by metals with less value
gold, silver, bronze (ends with a flood), heroic, iron
deucalion and the flood
- flood is caused by transgressions of Lycaon, king of arcadia against Zeus
- Lycaon agreed to provide zeus hospitality but tried to give him human meat
- the only people that survive the flood are decualion and pyrrha - deucalion sacrifices and prayers to zeus that they repopulate the world with humans
- they give birth to hellen - where greek word “hellenes stems from”
cross cultural references to the book of genesis?
- transgressions
- punishments
- floods
- sacrifice and prayer
- prosperity
- humanity is created in the image of god
what is the divine hierarchy?
- zeus
- the olympians
- other gods and goddesses
- demigods./heroes
- divine spirits who animate nature (nymphs, river gods, etc)
- strange, scary creatures
what is anthropomorphism
- human attributes given to the gods
- could be used to the gods as a product of humanism, a sense of idealistic optimism in the face of realistic pessimism
where do the gods live?
- Mt Olympus
what do gods eat and drink?
they eat ambrosia, drink nectar, have ichor instead of blood
Xenophanes had what argument against anthropomorphism ?
- that if animals worshipped the gods they would probably think that the gods were animals as well
- homer and hesiod showed them as being vengeful and adulterers or intangible beings that are also forces of nature
xenophanes thoughts about monotheism?
- thinks that god is unlike any human
- god perceives everything
- god sets everything in motion
- god is motionless
- thinks that the divine are detached and perfect beings who don’t care about human affairs
what is the nature of zeus?
- justice, law, and hospitality
- zeus is the benefactor of human kind
- king of the upperworld who upholds moral values
- protects suppliants
- hospitality and upholding of oaths
- instills harsh punishment and is there to uphold order and establish moral authority for society
- sacred bird is eagle
- patron of guests and strangers
- thunder and lightning as well as regal as king of the gods and mature bearded mature man
- sacred tree - oak tree
who were zeus’ and hera’s kids?
- Hebe, Hephaestus, Ares, eileithyia
hera
- matronly appearance, crown, scepters
- sacred bird is a peacock
- goddess of marriage
who was zeus’ first mortal affair?
- Io
- she was a priestess of Hera
- so hera got Io turned into a white cow
- etiology of ionian sea
what was zeus’ second mortal affair?
- phoenician woman from tyre
- descendent from Io
- zeus disguises as a bull and wisks her away
- their kids are minos, rhadamanthys, sarpedon
what was zeus’ third mortal affair?
- Leda
- zeus disguises himself as a swan has sex with her the same night she has sex with Tyndareos the king of sparta
- then she hatches eggs which birth Clymnestra, Castor, and twins helen and polydeuces
what was zeus fourth mortal affair?
- zeus and semele
- dionysos comes from this affair
- hera convinces semele to have zeus come to visit her
- she is accidentally killed by fire bolts
Myth of Aphrodite and her sash?
- aphrodite’s sash allows her to manipulate desire
- hera wants her sash so she goes to the personification of sleep
- the personification of sleep dosne’t want to anger zeus
- so he learns of heras plan and he threatens her
Poseidon characteristics
- mature, bearded male, trident
- god of sea, earthquakes, associated with bulls and horses
- known for the walls of troy
- children - triton, polyphemus, theseus
- has marriage with amphitrite
- has control over the sea
poseidon myths
- Odysseus blinds poythemus so poseidon is angry
- poseidon makes odysseus lose all his comrades
- the oddyssey is about the wrath of poseidon
- could be linked to dangers of the sea
Dionysus
- god of wine and grapes
- madness and theatre
- his symbology is ivy, grapes, figs, leopard skin, phallus, bull’s horn, chariots drawn by leopards, animals
- the thrysos and musical instruments
- youthful or mature i
- his quest is to protect his goodhood
- feminine depiction as he was raised by the nymphs on mt nysa
what was childhood of dionysos like?
- he was threatened by Hera after-birth that she would be jealous cuz he was born from an affair
- hermes hides him
- sisters of ino disrespect the memory of semele
- he spreads his religion and godhead to protect the memories of his mom
- cross-dressing, shapeshifting, miracles, human sacrifice
- he kills those who don’t believe him and supports those that do
- divine trickster and always smiling