Week One: Lesson One Flashcards
What is a Myth?
A Myth is a traditional story with importance to a specific people in it’s original context.
What do myths contain?
Plot, problem, characters (the gods, royalty, demigods), and settings (outside the human world). They are timeless.
What are Divine Myths?
Can Explain:
- origin of the world
- acts as a kind of science to the ancient world
- main characters are supernatural
- ritual and beliefs
What is a Saga?
Things said - it implies a oral origin
What are Legends?
Things read - lessons learned
What are Folktales?
They have moral lessons.
- Ordinary people
Etiological Interpretation
Explains origins and facts
Rationalism
The gods were mortal men who were defied for their deeds.
Allegorical
A sustained metaphor standing in for something else. (Seasons, good and evil, night and day, ect.)
Dreamwork: Condensation
The mind condenses elements of our experiences.
Dreamwork: Displacement
Elements that are altered.
Dreamwork: Representation
Elements that are transmitted into symbols.
What are examples of Archetypes?
The divine child, the hero/heroine, the quest, the wise old man, the great mother.
(fundamental recurring patterns that are Symbols recognized by all)
Classical Myth
Has develped over a long period of time, it can change depending on how you look at it.
Literary Myths
Characteristics
- Plot (beg, mid, end)
- Recognition
- Characterization
- Tragic flaw in the protagonist
- Catharsis involving pity and fear
- Timeless
Types in Classical Mythology
Origin Myth
Explains why things are done the way they are, the origin of the world, and rituals.
Types in Classical Mythology
Literary Myths
Poetry form (such as Homer and Virgil)
Types in Classical Mythology
Foundation Myths
Popular among Romans rather than Greeks. It give antiquity to cities.
antiquity: ancient times
Homer
What is Homer’s importantce to Greek Mythology?
- Beginning of Greek mythology.
- Stabilized the myths of Olympian Gods.
- Defined Greek mythology and past.
Gave Greece a heroic past and defined Greek mythology
Hesiod
What is Hesiod’s importantce to Greek Mythology?
- Gave the origin of the gods and the universe.
- Explained why the world is as it is.
- Defined gods roles.
- Defined the relationships between gods and mortals.
