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Anagnorisis
Recognition of the truth, important element of tragedy.
Animal Transformation
Example: Dionysus
Apotheosis
Being made a god.
Apotropaic
"Turning away" - magical means to deflect the evil eye
Catharsis
Vicarious experience thru drama (Film: Greek Drama - From Ritual to Theater)
Communion with God
Example: Dionysus Enthusiastic and ecstatic communion.
Compartmentalization
Fertility goddesses - functions divided up among gods and goddesses - different from Near Eastern tradition
Dancing Madness
Dionysus' followers in his cult
"Dead Hand" Motif
Heracles killed by the hands of the dead (poisonous blood from the hydra on arrow that killed Nessus, then given to Deianira who smeared it on shirt for Heracles)
Downgrading of Traditional Tale
Tale which originally had important political and religious meaning transferred to another culture as a more ordinary story
Dramatic Irony
Example: Oedipus Audience knows something but character does not
Dying and Resurrecting God
Dionysus who in a way dies and comes back to life himself and also has a part in the death and resurrection of others around him
Ekstasis ("ecstasy")
Standing outside oneself.
Enthousiasmos ("enthusiasm")
Being filled with the god.
Gender Ambiguity/Reversal/Transformation
Common feature in myths of Dionysus.
Gender Ambiguity/Reversal/Transformation
Common feature in myths of Dionysus.
"Girl's Tragedy"
Oedipus makes critical mistakes that cause his peripeteia.
Initiation Ritual
Rites of passage; also chapters on myths of fertility, chapters on the heroes and their careers, quests and trials of strength
Invulnerability Motif
Demeter trying to make infant Demophon immortal. Nisus and his purple lock of hair.
Labyrinth
Place of the double axe. Minotaur imprisoned there. Built by Daedalus
Maenads
Female followers of Dionysus.
Mediation Between Opposites
Conflicts which cannot be resolved, but must be dealt with (Example: Antigone vs. Creon, nomos vs. physis)
Metempsychosis
Orphism - reincarnation of the soul
Mythical Inversioin
Amazons; example of feature of social behavior turned upside down
Necromancer
Odysseus as magician who summons spirits of dead
Nomos (custon) vs. Physis (nature)
Dispute of Crean vs. Antigone
Omophagia
Eating raw flesh - Dionysiac ritual
Orphism/Orphics
Teaching arising from story of Orpheus that include metempsychosis, dualistic nature of humans, virtues of ascetic life
Oschophoria
Festival of Theseus featuring juxtaposed cries of joy and grief.
Paradigm
Heracles as paradigm of heroic tragic existence
Peripeteia
A turning around, reversal of fortune - important element of tragedy
Phallus
Symbol of fertility for Dionysus
Quest
A major component of legends, folktales and careers of heroes.
Recognition Scene
Where hero, god or goddess is recognized for who he/she really is.
Resistance Motif
Stores of resistance to Dionysus and his cult by various communities in Greece; a dominant theme in his myths.
Sacred Marriage
Playing the part of marriage to ensure fertility; later as substitute for human sacrifice.
Scapegoat
Oedipus (pharmakos), a loathsome pariah on whose head all society's sins are heaped.
Sparagmos
Tearing apart live animals limb from limb; part of the cult of Dionysus
Token of Identity
Item used for proof of identity or proof that the quest has been completed - for Perseus, the Gorgon head; for Theseus, the sword and sandals hidden under a rock.
Transmigration of Souls
Souls of the dead purified and then reborn in another form.
Transvestitism
Important element in stories of Dionysus - both for him and Pentheus
Trial of Strength
Physical tests of the great heroes - Heracles, Theseus, Perseus
Autochthonous
Sprung from the earth

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