Midterm 2 Terms Flashcards
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh is a Sumarian hero beleived to be written late in the 2nd mellinum B.C. circa 2150-1500. The Epic of Gilgamesh derves as perhaps the oldest example of what is commonly known as the classical Herioc model. The features of his story reiterated in tales of heros to follow and is prehaps the most recognised narritive model for Epics.
Possibly the oldest example of the Heroic model as well as Epic narrative, Serves as a incredible example of Anchient heroic values.
Retold and modified by diffrent societies and civilisations.
Written in Akkadian.
Predates Homers epics by aproxametly 1500 years.
Kalos kai agathos
means beautiful and good. Kalos is beautiful and algathos is good. Very close connection between physical beauty and moral goodness. The idea of the Greek hero is always closely related to physical perfection. Heroes tend to be very local and are in a specific place except for Heracles.
greek heroes are so important because they have Heroons which are actual places of worship
Labor of Heracles
the 12 Labors of Heracles were performed after he murdered his wife, the princess of Thebes and their three children, so he goes to Oracle of Delphi which tells him that he must complete the labors for the protection of humans, therefore, making him a culture hero who has a positive affiliation with travel as of 700BCE.
Labors 1-6 were performed in the Peloponnese and Labors 6-12 were performed all over the world/Mediterranean
apotheosis
the process of becoming a God. It happens to almost no one. The word theo means god and apo means away. The Greeks believe that in order to become a God you were taken on a flying chariot up to the sky or ride the back of an eagle. You have to be taken away to become a god.
The Trojan Cycle
all of the stories about the Trojan War. There are multiple authors. It was written between the Bronze Age to when Homer was writing so 1200 BCE - 700 BCE. It is epistatic so it occurs in multiple parts.
the defining moments before, during, and after the war
Xenia
“proper-guest house importance. This way of allowing guests in and then giving them the proper treatment without knowing them. Unspoken agreement between guest and host to treat each other with dignity.
we need to know if people are similar and try to decide if they are civilized and they can trust them or not. Also, important because you do not know who they are and you want them to like you. It is a big part of Ancient Greek society.
Dactylic hexameter
he oldest known form of Greek poetry and is shown in the epics of Homer. It stands for epic poetry and is one long syllable followed by two short syllables
In media res
greek phrase for “in the middle of things” which means in the middle of a plot, event, story, etc. An example of this is that we start the Iliad in the middle of the Trojan War. It is a technique that allows authors to immediately immerse their audience into the story and forces the reader to immediately question the situation presented to them, and to rely on the authors depiction
kleos
honor and glory. It is a common theme in Homer’s epics.
It’s a concept that Greek fighters’ reasons for war were honor and glory. To have poets sing about your deeds and your individual actions that cement your name in history. Often the loot of battle was represented in this ideology in the form of material items and women. Gives insight into the perspective of Greek fighters at the time that one would fight for personal benefit rather than state. An individual relationship with kleos rather than a communal one
Cyclops
means “round-eyes’ the Cyclops were monsters born from the Titans. In the Odyssey we see Polyphemus which is a famous cyclops Odysseus battles and blinds.
the story of the cyclopes is one of the most famous stories and Homer may have adapted it from a longer poem and incorporated it into the Odyssey. Touches on the idea of xenia
deus ex machina
means “god from a machine”. Refers to the machine that would lower an actor playing a god onto the stage in a play back in the day. Gods coming down to earth to fix mortal problems.
Classical Period
From 480 - 323 BCE
Athenian democracy. All of the Athenians come from this period. Time of the philosophers, Parthenon, Tragedy
the greeks develop a supremacy complex since they beat the Persians
Great Dionysia
a festival to Dionysus and the plays were presented in groups of 3. Sometimes the plays were all a part of the same narrative and sometimes they had nothing to do with each other. They would choose a winner from this. Oftentimes there was 1 satyr play which was a comedy, a palate cleanser.
Took place in ancient Athens during the time of the upcoming spring. Its purpose was connected to the “release valve” theory in which people were partying and drinking refueling their batteries, and eventually making themselves more effective at work on a daily basis. Therefore, doing wild things for only one day would prevent them from happening during the rest of the year.
Tragic hero
it is a certain type of hero that goes on a psychological journey rather than a physical one.
- Delves into their own mind and deals with all the monsters that they see there. - Long process of recognition. Not necessarily have a divine birth and are often of the aristocracy.
- They have a messed up family history always “dysfunctional families”
- Scapegoat
All of these plays with tragic heros were Anthenian, at the time the people of Athens were very interested in themselves and their specific democracy. These stories represent being self reflective and looking inward on the hero’s self and on Athens’ democracy to find flaws. It is a psychological journey rather than a physical one. Themes of being born of a noble family, being a scapegoat, and taking on the society’s problems to be a culture hero.
Miasma
pollution based on killing someone in your family. Oedipus is a miasma in the city of Thebes because he has already killed his father. A miasma is contagious
Oedipus Complex
a psychological theory that boys are attracted to their mothers and girls are attracted to their fathers. Desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a rivalry with the parent of the same sex. About the male child’s relationship with its mother, there is separation anxiety. They always desire their mother as something they have lost and always fearing their father as if they are taking the mother away.
Freudian theory which an individual has sexual attraction towards the parent of the opposite sex and feeling of rivalry towards parent of the same sex. Oedipus unknowingly married his mother and killed his father.
Ericthonius
conceived when Hephaestus tried to rape Athena and ejaculated on her thigh; Athena wiped this away on a wool cloth and threw it on the ground, impregnating Gaea in the process; Gaea gave birth to Erichthonius (chtonian deities–fertility, death, Earth), in the form of a snake; Athena raised this boy in her temple at the Acropolis; eventually he grew to be a human king (snake form represents the fact that Athenians considered themselves to have come from the Earth of Athens itself, rather than to have migrated there from another land)
authonity
7 Against Thebes
an episode in the Thebian cycle which is performed in 476 BCE. It is about a dysfunctional family that is cursed. Battle Between Polynices and Eteocles/
There are 7 gates at the walls of Thebes and each hero matches up with a gate
The Theban Cycle is second only to the Trojan Cycle
Arrephoria
religious festival in Athens which was a yearly procession of women of the virgin age who would weave a tapestry for the Athena on the Acropolis. It is the ritual death of girlhood and a loss of sexual innocence
coming of age / sacrifice of the maiden / loss of sexual innocence
Amazonomachy
battle of the Amazons versus the Athenians. It is to avenge the abduction of the Amazonian queen Atiope by Theseus.
the scariest thing possible for an Athenian men is a barbaric eastern women.
House of Atreus
a cursed house which is a family that breaks the big 3 (incest, kin slaying, cannibalism. They have a miasma. Starts with Tantalus who is the originator of the house, but he is a mortal and is sick of the Gods lording all of their power over them. The entire house is cursed. The whole family is cursed for ever and probably the worst of the worst.
Blood vendetta
You kill someone, and in order to make it right another person is kill to the point where there is a continuous cycle of killing for revenge. - It is a central theme in the Atreus stories
- It contributes to the themes of conflict in tragedy
- It creates more intergenerational conflict, by having generations seek revenge on each other in a never ending cycle
Furies
chthonic because they are coming out of the Earth and deities of vengeance. Especially vengeance for when a family member is killed. Mentioned in the Linear B tablets, Homer, Hesiod. The names are Alecto, Megeara (rage), Tisiphone, (vengeful)
Importance: women associated with the ground who are always avenging a lost family member (Demeter). Also the name of Eumenides
Electra Complex
The Electra complex is a psychoanalytic term used to describe a girl’s sense of competition with her mother for the affections of her father. It is comparable to the Oedipus complex in males.
Electra visiting her grave, blood vendetta
