Lecture 1 Flashcards
Types of Myths
- Divine Myths
- Legends (Sagas)
- Folktales
Divine Myths
Also known as pure myths
Supernatural main characters
Usually explain why something is the way it is in the world.
Legends/ Sagas
Stories of great deeds by humans or semi-divine characters
Legends narrate human past
Rooted in reality
Anthropomorphism
Personification of aspects of nature
Gods. animals or another object
Heinrich Schliemann
Believed that the events of the Iliad maybe true
Funded the anthropological research
Folktales
Main characters are ordinary people or animals
Serve to entertain and teach behavior
Ainos
Greek folktales
Motif
Regular appearance of an identifiable pattern or symbol in a story
Theories of Myths
- Allegory
- Physical Allegory
- False Etymologies
- Historical Allegory; Euhemerism
Allegory
Similar to symbolism
Physical Allegory
Theagenes, first to use allegory to interpret myth
Battle between the gods actually represent conflicts between natural forces
False etymologies
Creating false meanings due to thinking two words are related
Cronus (father of Zeus)
• Greeks tried to relate Cronus with Cronos
(time).
• When Cronus eats his children, it means
‘time devours everything’
• However, Cronus and Cronos are not
etymologoically related words.
Historical Allegory: Euhemerism
Euhemerism says myth
tells us historical truths, not philosophical truths.
The gods are historical figures, human kings who ruled
long ago and who eventually were transformed by story into gods.
Periods of Time
• Neolithic (‘New Stone’ Age): Agriculture starts
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• Early/Middle Bronze Age: Myths
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• Mycenaean Age (Late Bronze Age): Trojan War ends
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• Dark Age: Loss of writing ability
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• Archaic Period: Illiad/Oddesy
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• Classical Period:
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• Hellenistic Period: Greek values pushed forward
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• Roman Rule
The Minoans
Look peace-loving Advanced Bull and double- headed ax= Religious Symbols Worshipped a single female God Lost language Predated the greek language and the Indo-European Destroyed by a volcano Linear A script
Myceneans
Occuppied what previously the Minoans had
Violent people
Linear B script
Indo-Europeans
The Greeks were influenced by …
The Near East
Hesiod
Two of his works survived
- The Theogony
- Works and Days
The Theogony
Origin of the universe and ascension of Zeus as the King of gods
Works and Days
an account of the fall of man from a golden age to one of
iron.
How did the universe start
From Chaos
What was created from Chaos
Erebus Nyx Gaia Tartarus Eros
Who did Gaia create (Important)
Uranus
Erinyes
Giants
Gaia + Tartarus
Typhoeus