RELGST 0083 CLASS 0030 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Chapters 1 8 Chapter 1 The Nature of Myth Mythos Greek for myth meant authoritative speech story or plot traditional story with collective importance Required elements plot characters setting Orality concept that these traditional stories were passed down orally from generation to generation Myths originated before literacy end of Mycenaean age Had been passed down for hundreds of years before they were written down until the time of Homer o Changes had been made to stories and more closely reflect the times of Homer literacy than when they originated o Evidence that Homer s work was oral Formulaic thematically structured inconsistencies in different versions Major components of oral tradition o Poet composed as he she performed not memorization or free improvisation each performance is unique o Formula group of words regularly employed under the same metric conditions to express a central idea o Formulaic expression line or half line constructed on patterns of formulas o Epic all story poetry of any length and genre o The performer is traditional and a creator Tries to follow tradition as closely as possible but changes can occur as he performs Ideas and themes are most important o Folk epic another word for oral poetry but about normal people not gods aristocracy etc Oral tradition lasted longer among peasant communities because of lack of literacy o Conservatism of tradition main story remains the same no matter how many generations it gets passed down through and who performs it each time Three Types of Myth Divine Myths o Gods and goddesses are main characters o Stories explains origins and causes etiological myths rituals Legends o Heroes are main characters o Stories explain what happened in the human past such as wars quests founding of cities Folktales o Ordinary people sometimes animals are main characters o For entertainment morals Three Forms of Prose Narrative 1 Divine myth Belief fact Time Place took place in the remote past took place in a different world Attitude stories sacred Principal Characters gods and goddesses not human Purpose explain why the world is the way it is science 2 Legend Belief believed to have an element of truth but exaggerated Time place took place in the recent past took place in the world of today Attitude stories either sacred or secular Principal characters humans heroes aristocrats royalty but gods often involved in some way Purpose explain what happened in the human past history 3 Folktale Belief known to be fiction Time place took place any time took place anywhere Attitude stories secular Principal characters either human or non human Purpose to entertain or moralize The Study of Myth 4 general categories 1 Recording and compiling myths of a culture a Primary source is literature i Are we studying myth or interpretation of whoever wrote it down b Have archeology art sculpture 2 Analysis of role myths play in culture a What does it mean to who was telling it and who was listening 3 Study of relationship of one culture s myth to another a Many myths from ancient Greece didn t originate in Greece 4 Assessment of lasting value of specific myths a Themes motifs are still found in culture today Chapter 2 The Cultural Context of Classical Myth Myths reflect the society that produced them o Greek maps growing seasons etc influenced history and myths Mountainous terrain discouraged communication favored political independence of cities o Dark age oral composition o Archaic period Greek alphabet invented myths written down Homer and Hesiod o Classical period era of great literacy treatments of myth How gender social order influenced myth Men Were the only citizens and only participants in political sphere Symposium drinking party o Teenage boys served as cupbearers o Pederasty love for boys Note normal career of men Men married at 30 years old Women Note Pericles assessment of the ideal woman nothing should be said about her either in praise or blame o Invisible outside own household No participation in politics Stayed mainly in women s quarters of house Responsible for household spinning wool and weaving child bearing and child rearing care of dead Married at age 14 important to know woman is virgin at time of marriage Arranged marriages dowry Associated with miasma pollution because of menstruation childbirth Also tended to the dead Slavery Athenian citizens could not enslave another Slaves were common and came from outside Greece as a result of winning wars Religion Greek gods each had their own sphere Many had cults and rituals associated with them Beliefs and Customs Belief in magic spirits ghosts of the dead Supernatural world mixes with human world Greece and Rome Romans remade Greek culture and myths in their own image Chapter 3 The Development of Classical Myth Important to put Greek myth in its developmental context Influence of Near Eastern Myth o Sumerian Myth o Semitic Myth o Hittite Myth Greek Myth in the Archaic Period oral compositions Homer Hesiod Homeric Hymns Greek Myth in Classical Period Important source tragedies Used myths as the core of their plays o Aristotle o Aeschylus o Sophocles o Euripides Greek Myth in Hellenistic Period o Alexandria o Apollonius of Rhodes o Library of Apollodorus Roman Appropriation of Greek Myth Vergil Ovid o The Metamorphoses Chapter 4 Myths of Creation The Rise of Zeus Ancient Greek ideas about the creation of the universe o Not out of nothing or instantaneous o A succession of generations of gods leading up to the supremacy of Zeus o Theogony origin of the gods same as cosmogony origin of the universe according to Hesiod Hesiod Oral poet from about 700 BC Wrote Theogony to glorify Zeus o Includes abbreviated cosmogony Important stories to note o Creation of the universe Gaea and Uranus o Uranus vs Cronus o Zeus vs Cronus Battle of the Titans Cronus swallows his 5 children but Zeus is saved by his mother Zeus is raised elsewhere and comes back to save his siblings o Zeus vs Typhoeus and the Giants o Eastern Creation Stories Babylonian Enuma Elish Very similar to Greek creation stories succession of generations Hittite Kinship in Heaven and Song of Ullikummi Several generations of kings younger generations fighting older o Biblical accounts of creation Differences monotheistic divinity outside the world Similarities primordial mass at beginning separation into heaven and earth Chapter 5 Myths of Creation The Origins of Mortals Promethius