lecture 12 & ch. 9, 10, 11 (couldn't attend)

Question 1

Who is considered to be the last of the demigods?

Answer 1

Aeneas

Question 2

Regarding Aeneas, what are three significant aspects of his character that reflect a change in how mythological accounts?

Answer 2

1. Last of the demigods
2. Gods and humans no longer fuck
3. He survives the attack on troy and will go on to
   discover Italy (beginning of Rome’s establishment)

Question 3

Persephone is the daughter of?

Answer 3

Zeus and Demeter

Question 4

What are the sequence of events of the “rape of Persephone?”

Answer 4

1. Hades and Zeus plot to help Hades obtain a bride
2. Hades snatches
   Persephone
3. Demeter mourns and searches for her daughter
4. Persephone eats the pomegranate
5. Because she ate it, she has to spend 1/3 of the year in the underworld and she spends the rest in the
   overworld

Question 5

What is the Homeric Hymn to Demeter etiological for?

Answer 5

• The seasons (specifically the rape of persephone)
• marriage in ancient Greece
• separation of humans and mortals
• politics of olympus

Question 6

What are the two narrative threads seen within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter?

Answer 6

1. The abduction myth & the seasons
2. Demeter at Eleusis & the mysteries (an explanation of the mysteries and the importance of the cult)

Question 7

What are the sequence of events of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter?

Answer 7

1. Zeus agrees to Persephone being Hades’ bride
2. Demeter hears the screaming of Persephone
3. Helius is an informant to Demeter revealing what occurred
4. Demeter mourns and refuses all divine visitors
5. Zeus asks for Hermes’
   help because without the divine community there is are no sacrifices
6. Everyone comes to an agreement

Question 8

How did men in antiquity view marriage?

Answer 8

An economic transaction

Question 9

In relation to themes of marriage in antiquity, what did the goddesses
represent?

Answer 9

Artemis - virginity
Aphrodite - desire
Hera - monogamy
Demeter - fertility
Hestia - the home
Athena - female handiwork

Question 10

What was the explanation used whenever a man or woman suddenly died?

Answer 10

man - struck by apollo’s arrow
woman - struck by artemis’ arrow

Question 11

Athena was not originally Greek, how is this proven?

Answer 11

Her name is found on Linear B tablets

Question 12

Persephone and Demeter were often viewed as complementary to each other; a “yin and yang.” What was the etiological explanation?

Answer 12

Demeter - the permanently fertile earth
Persephone - the seasonal giver of grain

Question 13

What was the premise of the Eleusinian cult?

Answer 13

The promise of regeneration through Demeter.

Question 14

within the Eleusinian cult, what was punishable by death?

Answer 14

Divulging what occurred within the Telesterion
- the temple, “hall of initiation”

Question 15

Who was eligible for initiation within the Eleusinian cult?

Answer 15

ANY GREEK SPEAKERS- INCLUDING WOMEN AND SLAVES
- murderers were an exception, they were not

Question 16

What were initiates of the Eleusinian mysteries blessed with hope for?

Answer 16

They were blessed with hope for a pleasurable existence after death.

Question 17

In relation to Mesopotamian myths, which was the most influential on later religion?

Answer 17

The Sumerian myth of Inanna (god of love and war) and her love, Dumuzi (shepherd god).

Question 18

Briefly describe the myth of Inanna and Dumuzi.

Answer 18

1. Inanna went into the underworld, dressed in her best clothes and arrived at the temple of her sister, Ereshkigal.
2. Ereshkigal did not want her to be there so she instructed her gatekeeper to lead Inanna through the seven gates of the underworld but at each gate Inanna was to remove a piece of her clothing or jewelry.
3. She arrived at her sister completely nude and pulled her from the throne and Inanna sat down herself. She was turned into meat and hung on a stake.
4. Immediately all sexual activity on Earth came to a
   halt.
5. When she didn’t return, her minister asked various gods to help and Enki agreed. He created two beings to meet Ereshkigal in the
   underworld.
6. They found her mourning and they mourned with her. Grateful, she offered them whatever they desired, they wanted the meat hanging on the stake.
7. Inanna was brought back to life and allowed to leave only if she found someone to take her place.
8. She returned to Dumuzi, with demons following her. She found him, not in mourning, but on a throne and furious declared the demons take him in her place.