quiz 2 Flashcards
God of wine, vegetation, fertility, and theatre
Dionysus
Three day festival in for the arrival of spring in Athens, wine and fertility, blending the worlds of living and dead, destabilizing effect on society
Anthesteria
Main mystery cult criteria
No civic affiliations
Initiation
Did not demand sole allegiance
Offer something to the initiates
Open to all
divine messenger, guide of souls to the realm of Hades
Hermes
story of Hermes’ birth and childhood
Homeric Hymn to Hermes
twins of Zeus and Leto, Leto flees from Hera and finds a safe place to give birth, associated with youth and initiatory rights
Artemis and Apollo
Day 1 of festival, wine is opened and the dead come back from the underworld
Pithoigia (jar-opening)
Day 2 of festival, citywide drinking contest, no talking, procession to Dionysus Limnaios (of the marshes)
Choes (Wine Jugs)
Day 3 of festival, sacred marriage of dionysus with athens, offerings to spirits so they return to Hades, girls on swings (honouring myth of daughters suicide after her fathers death from wine)
Chytroi (Pots)
Male only drinking parties, to examine their world and the self
Symposium
Aristophane’s The Archarnians describes a festival, procession of phallus’ usually made of food
Country Dionysia
Week long celebration in Athens, protaganist Dionysus “Eleuthereus”, translates to “free”, temporary liberation from political/gender identities during plays
City Dionysia (great dionysia)
religious practice, tearing apart sacrificial animals and eating them raw, very different from the standard
Dionysus’ Orgia
Dionysus arrives with his followers (bacchae), disguised as a follower, convinces women to join him in the woods, Pentheus resists and Dionysus trues to convince him, Pentheus is destroyed by maenads
Euripides’ Bacchae
Goddess of virginity, childbirth, moon and menstruation, protector of animals, aka The Cynthia
Artemis
guy sees Artemis bathing, she turns him into a stag because of his unchaste eyes
Actaeon
Artemis protecting or punishing mortals by turning them into stars
Orion, Callisto (ursa major), and Arcas (ursa minor)
explanation of women dying in childbirth as them getting hit by “gentle arrows”
Artemis Lochia
Handsome son of Theseus is a chaste follower of Artemis, spurns Aphrodite who makes his stepmother Phaedre fall in love with him, comes on to Hippolytos and is denied, she kills herself and blames him, father curses son, son dies, Artemis promises a cult for him, father and son reconciled
Euripides’ play Hippolytos
“Playing the bear” for Artemis at Brauron, rite of passage for young girls before marriage, playing and acting
based on myth of young girl playing with bear, she gets scratched and bleeds (first menstruation), brothers kill the bear and are punished
“Taming” of the girls into society
the Brauronia
young men’s rite of passage in Sparta, they steal cheese without getting caught and return it, also whipped at the altar of Artemis, also play parts in performances as Helots (slaves)
based on myth of young men killing eachother at Artemis’ altar, she is angered and demands more blood
Orthia in Sparta
Born to Leto and Zeus, youthful, healer and bringer of pestilence, claims lyre, bow, and laurel, contradictory extreme emotions and restraint, usurps son god role, opposite to Dionysus
Apollo
Son of Apollo, god of medicine, divine ideal of kindly physician, temple of healing in their honour
Asclepios
oracle visited by people all over greece with any kind of question, they sat on tripod and went into a frenzy, priests would transcribe responses
Pythia, prophetess to apollo at temple in Delphi
more generic term for prophetess, very famous seers
Cumaean Sybil
Spartan festival: First day is a ritual funeral only for boys, second day is feasting and competitions, third day boys are incorporated back into society as men
Based on myth: Apollo falls in love with boy, jealous god kills the boy
The Hyacinthia
myth as a literal script for ritual, not convincing but shifted attention to myths social contexts
Jane Harrison and Cambridge Ritualists
- “A hero or heroine was understood to be a human being who had died”
- “Heroes and heroines perform extraordinary deeds that may or may not be moral”
- “Heroes and heroines die prematurely (aoroi) and violently (biaiothanatoi)”
- “Heroes and heroines were worshipped at their gravesites”
5.“Heroes and heroines obtain a form of immortality through cult and song”
The five traits of a hero
the hero’s moment of excellence where he approaches divinity
Aristeia
the glory or renown that a hero seeks, oftentimes the impetus for why they fight in the first place and attempt to achieve heroic deeds
Kleos
the honour which a hero gains among his peers, also related to price, thus can pertain to the ransom a family or city will pay for a hero if he is caught by his enemies
Timē
King of Mycenae and brother to Menalaus, whose wife, Helen, was stolen by the Trojan prince, Paris.
flawed and incompetent ruler
Agamemnon
Young greek warrior, second only to achilles.
blessed by Athena he manages to wound Ares and Aphrodite
Diomedes
foil to Achilles, greatest hero among the Trojans
Hector
Epic poetry corresponds to tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in verse of admirable people
Aristotle’s Poetics
force is a power one person wields over another but cannot fully control;
that the Iliad is about force;
that Homer’s work will always be relevant because people will always attempt to use force;
and that despite its central theme—namely force and the suffering it causes—the Iliad is a beautiful poem
Simone Weil
The Iliad is a poem of force
Rhea is raped by Mars, abandons her children, she-wolf nurtures them, the brothers have a rivalry and one kills the other
Romulus and Remus
Escapes from Troy during war because mother the prophecy states he must travel the Mediterranean
Vergil’s Aeneid (first century BCE)
Peripheral role
Rarely involve travel or physical strength
Love and connection to others
Lee R Edwards differences in how Heroines are portrayed
