names

Question 1

An

Answer 1

Sumerian god of sky, the source of kingship.

Question 2

Inanna

Answer 2

Sumerian god; queen of heaven, love, and war (creation and destruction)

Question 3

Enlil

Answer 3

Sumerian god; lord of storm, An’s agent on earth

Question 4

Enki

Answer 4

Sumerian god; lord of earth, fertilizer and is a trickster

Question 5

Anthropomorphic gods

Answer 5

Gods that behave like humans.

Question 6

Enuma Elish

Answer 6

This refers to the Babylonian creation myth; translates to “when on high”

Question 7

Who was Hammurabi (1750 BCE)?

Answer 7

The most notable Babylonian king.

Question 8

Who was Pindar (ca. 522 - 443 BCE)?

Answer 8

-He was the most famous chorus practitioner, mostly because we have the most evidence.
-He wrote odes and hymns which often included mythological stories.

Question 9

Who is Callimachus? Why is he notable?

Answer 9

1. He is a scholar who wrote the Aetia (a book called ‘causes’)
2. This is notable as he chose to write this work in a different meter from Hesiod and Homer, he wrote in elegaic couplet.

Question 10

Who Xenophanes? Why is he notable regarding rationalism as an interpretive approach?

Answer 10

1. The most famous ancient practitioner of rationalism interpretation of myth.
2. He recognized that myths are deeply anthropomorphic.
   ex. “if cows had gods, their gods would look like cows.”

Question 11

Regarding rationalism as a way of interpreting myth, what did Plato believe to be true? What did he do as a result of what he believed?

Answer 11

1. He believed that myth could be a corrupting force. He criticized myth from a moral, ethical perspective.
2. To combat the ‘corrupt,’ he would rewrite myths; he removed the ‘morally questionable’ acts and changed myths into a more educational tool.

Question 12

Regarding rationalism, how did Palaephatus interpret myth? What did he argue?

Answer 12

1. Through rationalism, he sought to explain how myth was impossible.
2. He argued that in most cases there was a misinterpretation of a language.
   -He believed “myth is the disease of language.”

Question 13

Who is Theagenes? How did he interpret myth?

Answer 13

1. A famous allegorical theorist.
2. He liked to interpret through cosmic forces (fire v. water etc)

Question 14

Who is James Frazer? Why is he notable?

Answer 14

1. James Frazer was an anthropologist who interpreted myth.
2. He is most known from his work, “The Golden Bough”.