Week 11 Flashcards
saga or legend
focuses on one or more heroes
propp
reocurring motifs
argos
ecompasses the argolid area, corinth, thebes, contact with mediterranean and egypt
heraeum
hill where hera’s sanctuary stood, religious center of the area.
hera and poseidon contest
phoroneus established argos, decided hera over poseidon. Poseidon dried up argive rivers including phoroneus father, inachus
great grandfather of perseus and his sons
abas, acrisius (king of argos) and proteus (tiryns)
perseus birth
acrisius daughter danae, oracle said her son would kill acrisius. She was shut up in a brozen chamber but zeus came to her in a shower of gold. Perseus was hidden until he was 4, acrisius put them in a chest to float out to sea
perseus and danae rescued by
fisherman dictys (net), on island of seriphos
polydectes
brother of dictys, king of seriphos, in love with danae
persesus at the banquet
polydectes has a banquet, where everyman has to give him a horse (attempt to get perseus to give him danae), perseus boasts he could give him a gorgon head
athena’s assistance
perseus’s guide, tells him where graeae
perseus and the graeae
perseus gets their eye and tooth, gives back when they tell him where to find the nymphs, they give him cap of invisbility, winged sandals, and kibisis (wallet)
hermes’s assistance
gives a scimitar
perseus and medusa
gorgons were asleep, guided by athena, looks only at gorgon reflection in the shield, beheads medusa (only medusa was mortal) and puts her head in kibisis, flies away with cap of invisibility
from medusa’s body
chrysaor (he of the golden sword) and pegasus, father was poseidon
athena/ medusa and the flute
athena invented the flute in imitation of the gorgons lament for medusa’s death.
perseus returns to seriphos
andromeda parents
king cerephus (ethiopia) and cassiepea, she boasted andromeda more beautiful than the nereids, poseidon flooded and sent sea monster
andromeda rescue
oracle told cepheus andromeda had to be offered to monster, perseus killed with scimitar and married her
perseus and andromeda son
perses, after he was born they returned to seriphos and left him as heir to cepheus’s kingdom
phineus
andromeda’s previously bethrothed, perseus kills with gorgon head
what does gorgon blood create
poisonous snakes of libyan desert
atlas into mountain range (when he doesn’t show hospitality)
creation of coral
death of acrisius
acrisius hears that perseus is alive, goes to larissa in thessaly. perseus competes in games in larissa and throws a disc that accidentaly kills acrisisus. perseus returns to tiryns insteado of argos and exchanges kingdoms with megapenthes (proteus son) cause he feels bad and eventually founds mycenae
persesus myth format
closest of all legends to a folktale, danae follows the “girl tragedy”
other legends of argos
reflects important and intimate relationship with the argive plains and egypt (inachus family)
descendants of io
kingdoms of crete, thebes, phoencia
daughters of danaus myth
twins aegyptus and danaus (great grandsons of io) argued over kingdom, danaus left with his 50 daughters (danaids) to become king of argos. (subjects = danai) aegyptus had 50 sons, who pursued danaids to marry. Danaus gave daughters daggers to kill husbands, all did except for hypernmestra, who spared lynceus. 49 punished in the underworld. hypernmestra grandmother of proteus and acrisus.
electryon death
was king of mycenae, accidentally killed by amphitryon who is sentenced to exile in thebes and takes electryons daughter alchemena
alchemena and amphitryon
alchemena will not lie with amphitryon until he avenges her brothers by attacking the teleboans, he does but zeus disguises himself and extends the night 3x, when amphirtryon returns she only believes him because of tiresias. alchemena has twins heracles and iphicles
hera’s wrath and zeus’s trickery
zeus boasts about heracles, so hera slows heracles birth and speeds up eurystheus (son of sthenelus) and sent snakes to heracles which he killed
heracles music teacher
linus keeps complaining about how bad heracles is at the lyre, heracles bashes him in the head with it, charged with murder, acquitted with self defense
exploits in thebes
freed the thebans and led the army into battle, king creon gave him daughter megara as wife in gratitude
megara and heracles
he goes mad and kills megara and 3 kids
heracles and the oracle
goes to oracle at delphi, she tells him to serve eurystheus for 12 years at tiryns, then he would become immortal
12 labours overview
first 6 are in the greek peleponese, last 6 in the world, goes from local hero to wordly hero
peloponnesian labours
- nemean lion
- lernaean hydra
- cerynean hind
- erymanthian boar
- augean stables
- stymphalian birds
- nemean lion (important image)
exaggerate, rampaging in nemea, instructed to slay lion and bring back skin, stuns with his club and strangles with bare hands, always wears skin after this
- auguean stables
important because humiliating, diverts water into stables to clean feces
non-peloponnesian labours (overcoming death)
- cretan bull
- mares of diomedes (WRESTLES DEATH)
- girdle of hippolyta
- cattle of geryon
- apples of hesperides
- cerebus
- apples of the hesperides
grew on magical tree guarder by hesperides (3 daughters of night, nymphs) that was a wedding gift to hera, she plants at the foot of mt atlas, only she knows where it is. Sends the serpent ladon to help guard the apples. Heracles looks for atlas and switches to hold up the sky so atlas gets the apple, heracles tricks atlas into switching back, gives apples to eurthyseus who gives them to athena to return to the garden
parega
side quests
city of heracles birth
thebes
althoi
contests undertaken for a prize (immortality)
heracles helpers
athena and nephew iolaus
- mares of diomedes parega
king admetus is sad about death of his wife alcestis, heracles wrestles with thanatos (death) to get her back
- cattle of geryon parega
pillars of hercules, kills fire god cacus who steals cattle
- nereus
sea god nereus tells him where to find garden after turns himself into a bunch of different shapes but heracles does not let him go
- apples of herperides parega
kills king busiris of egypts who sacrificed strangers to zeus
kills giant antaeus (son of gaia and poseidon, drew strength from earth) by holding him up and crushing him
finds prometheus and releases him
