Review Sheet for Exam #2Lecture 14 (Afterlife Myth, Part I):Homer’s Nekuia (aka Book 11 of the Odyssey) Nekuia = ‘rites by which the dead are called up’Necromancy and catabasis House of Hades; Hades and his queen PersephoneGeography of the cosmos; threefold division of cosmos (heaven, earth, underworld)Tiresias Blind Theban prophet who can see the futureInteresting story as to how he became a blind prophetHouse of Hades Psyche (‘soul’) vs. body; body requires proper burial for the soul to find rest (cf. Elpenor) Anticleia and the incorporeal nature of the psycheCanonical Sinners Tityus, Tantalus, SisyphusLecture 15 (Afterlife Myth, Part II):Vergil’s Aeneid Written in 20’s BC; epic poem about Aeneas, son of Anchises and Aphrodite Aeneas’ quest to flee Troy and start new life in Italy Myth used to provide the story of Roman origins, Aeneas became Roman ‘founding father’ (Aeneadae, ‘descendants of Aeneas’) Book 6: Aeneas descends into Underworld with Sibyl, a prophet and priestess of Apollo Entrance to Underworld located near Lake Avernus, in southern Italy Lake Avernus ‘the lake of no birds’ The golden bough, a gift for Proserpina (i.e. Persephone), a ticket to hell Charon, the ferryman at the River Styx (‘the hated river’) Cerberus, the three-headed hound of hell The Fields of Mourning: Aeneas sees Dido, queen of Carthage A fork in the road: Left leads to Tartarus, where wicked souls are punished; River Phlegethon Right leads to Elysian Fields, where good souls/purified souls enjoy themselves Aeneas speaks with his father, Anchises; is shown ‘parade’ of great Romans to comeLecture 16 (The Theban Saga, Part I):The Founding of Thebes Abduction of Europa by Zeus-as-bull Taken from Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) to Crete Europa, origin of the word ‘Europe’Her brother, Cadmus, sets out to find her- Europa is down by the water playing with friends. Zeus sees Europa and lustsafter her. He comes in the form of a beautiful white bull and catches the attention of Europa. He lets her pet him; he is docile. When she finally gets on, sees still as a bull runs across the see to Crete. He then turns back into his normal form and he has sex with her, and she gets pregnant. Now that she is missing, her family doesn’t know where she has gone. Her brother Cadmus goes on a quest to find her. He doesn’t know where he’s going, so he goes to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. She tells him to give up because he won’t find her. But he would come across a white cow with a half moon shape on it. He is to follow the cow until it rests and found a city there and live there for the rest of his life. He founds his city in an area known as Boeotia, but he called his city Cadmeia, which later became known as Thebes (the acropolis retained the name Cadmeia). He wants to thank the gods for his new city, so he is going to sacrifice a cow for them. But he needs water for the sacrifice, sohe sends his men to a river, but they don’t come back. He goes to the river and finds a serpent (dragon), that lives by the river, who devoured his men. He then kills the dragon and the gods tell him to take the teeth of the dragon and plant them in the Earth. Up from the ground comes armed warriors (Spartoi) and they start fighting each other. Only 5 survive, who get along with Cadmus. They give rise to the most noble families of Thebes. - Cadmus eventually takes as his wife Harmonia (daughter of Ares and Aphrodite). They have 4 daughters, two of whom are Semele (mother of Dionysus) and Agave (mother of Pentheus). Pentheus, who succeeded Cadmus, was succeeded by Labdacus. With Labdacus’ death, and infant son named Laius was next in line.- Laius was the guest of Pelops, King of Elis. Laius violated the guest-host relationship (xenia) by seducing and abducting Pelops’ son, Chrysippus. Pelops curses Laius. Laius, now king, consults the oracle at Delphi. She says he is going to have a son with his wife, Jocasta, who will kill him. A son is born and is exposed to die, with a spike driven through his ankles. But the servant pitied the child, releases him, and gave him to a Corinthian shepherd.The shepherd took the child to Polybus, the king of Corinth, who raised him as his own son, named Oedipus.- Oedipus grows up, and is told he was not Polybus’s natural son. In an attemptto find out who he is, so he goes to Delphi and he asks the oracle. He was told that he was fated to murder his father and marry his mother. Believing he is aCorinthian, he decides to go to Thebes instead of returning to Corinth. On his way to Thebes, he comes across some travelers in a caravan and they get intoa fight. Oedipus goes into a rage and kills everyone and continues on his way. He makes his way to Thebes and the city is in trouble. The king is missing (because he was in a traveling caravan and was killed) and the Sphinx, a beastly woman-lion-bird creature. It has a riddle and if you get it right, it will die, but if you get it wrong it will eat you, and who ever is good enough to solve the riddle will marry the queen. Oedipus solves the riddle and gets the prize, taking Jocasta as his wife and queen. What happens next is the subject of Sophocles’ “Oedipus the king.”Attic Tragedy: Theater and Performance- Tragedies are performed once a year in Athens, at the City Dionysia, a festival in honor of Dionysus, god of drama.- Were staged at the theater of Dionysus, near the acropolis- Theater could seat around 20,000- Audience would have been mostly male citizens, but also would have included foreign visitors and possibly women as well.- A fund made it possible for poor citizens to afford tickets, so all ‘classes’ would have attended- A highly political genre: use of traditional myths to analyze current political and social realitieso Athens spoke to and about itself through tragedyPerformance of tragedies occurred in context of a contest (agon)- Performance of tragedies was also a contesto Greek culture was very agonistic - Tragic competition lasted 3 days; 3 tragedians put on 3 tragedies each day.- A panel of judges would decided which of the 3 was victoriouso Very prestigious to win; both the playwright and the choragus (‘chorus director’: roughly equated with the modern notion of a ‘producer’) won prizes and erected trophies along the street outside the theaterPerformance space: - Theater of Dionysus - Open air structure-
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