Literature 1B: The Classical and Christian Legacies in Literatures in English - Summary
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Course
Literature 1B (5621VLCCL)
Institution
Universiteit Leiden (UL)
This summary is made about the content that we have learned in the first semester of year 1. I made a list of the Pagan Gods, which is very easy to learn by heart. Furthermore, Ovid's Metamorphoses is summarized and the Renaissance is discussed.
The Pagan Gods
Latin Greek Associations
Saturn Cronos Father of Jupiter/Jove, deposed by him; golden age
Jupiter, Jove Zeus King and father of the gods; power, justice; sky,
thunderbolt
Juno Hera Wife of Jupiter; marriage, childbirth, jealousy;
enemy of the Trojans
Neptune Poseidon Brother of Jupiter and Pluto; king of the sea; trident
Dis, Pluto Hades, Pluto Brother of Jupiter and Neptune; king of the
underworld; husband of Proserpina
Venus Aphrodite Wife of Vulcan; lover of Mars, mother of Cupid;
mother of Aeneas by Anchises; love, beauty
Vulcan Hephaestus Husband of Venus; fire; forging of metal; lame
Mars Ares Lover of Venus; war, strife
Cupid Eros Son of Venus; love; bow, wings
Minerva Athene Wisdom, justice: technical skill
Apollo Apollo Brother of Diana; sun; oracles; music; lyre
Diana Artemis Sister of Apollo; moon; chastity; bow, hunting
Mercury Hermes Messenger of gods; thief; caduceus (snake-entwined
staff)
Liber, Bacchus Dionysus, Bachhus Wine; irrationality; bull
Ceres Demeter Sister of Jupiter; mother of Proserpina; corn
Proserpina Persephone Wife of Pluto; spring
Pan Pan Goat legged; shepherd; music; nature
, Ovid – Metamorphoses
Book 1
The Creation
Before land, sea and sky existed, “in the whole world the countenance / Of nature was the
same, all one, well named / Chaos, a raw and undivided mass, / Naught but a lifeless bulk,
with warring seeds / Of ill-joined elements compressed together.” Book 1 – The Creation,
line 7-11
All of the elements of the universe were at odds with one another until a god resolved the
conflict. He created Earth and the sky. Then man was made perhaps by the great Creator, or
perhaps the earth so recently separated from the heavens maintained some of that ethereal
essence and Prometheus used that earth to mould man. Thus, earth and mankind were
created.
The Four Ages
During the golden age, mankind lived in harmony with nature. The earth provided all that
man needed to live, and there was no need to farm or to work. War was unknown, and all
men were faithful and righteous, content with the land that they knew and unmoved to seek
out new territory. The golden age was a constant springtime of pleasure, peace and
contentment.
When Saturn was overthrown by his son, Jupiter, the silver age began. Jupiter (Jove)
introduced man to summer, autumn and winter, and these climate changes forced men to
seek shelter and to harvest the land for their food.
“Third in succession came the race of the bronze, / Of fiercer temperament, more readily /
Disposed to war, yet free from wickedness.” Book 1 – The Ages of Mankind, line 125-127
Treachery, deceit, and greet marked the Iron Age that followed. Men began to seek out new
territories, mine for wealth and battle each other for the spoils of war. Earth was a realm of
murder and mayhem and the last of the immortals fled, but even the heavens were not safe.
In their lust for power, giants born of the earth piled Mount Pelion on top of Mount Ossa in
an attempt to reach Mount Olympus, the domain of the gods. Jove struck them down with
his lightning and destroyed them, but it is said that their remains were fashioned into human
form just as evil as the other men of the age.
Jove was so disgusted with the depravity of mankind that he called a meeting of the gods
and goddesses to determine what to do with the degenerate mortals. Jove swore by the
river Styx that he had tried everything to purge the evil from mankind, but that the only
solution was to destroy the human race in order to save the earth itself.
Jove told the collect of immortals how he had descended from Olympus and walked the
earth in mortal disguise to determine the severity of mankind’s ruin. He went to the palace
of Lycaon, where the mortal greeted the disguised god with disbelief and scorn. Although,
Jove had made his true identity obvious to the mortals, Lycaon tried to feed him the boiled
,flesh of a mortal man to test whether or not Jove was a god. As a punishment for Lycaon’s
impudent action, Jove destroyed the man’s home and turned him into a wolf.
Jove sentenced all mankind to death for their sins and promised that a greater race of
humanity would be created after this first race was destroyed. He sent a flood to wipe out
the first race of mankind.
The Flood
Jove locked the north wind in a cave and sent out the south wind to bring storms. Iris, the
rainbow and messenger of the gods, refilled the rain clouds, and Neptune, god of the seas
and brother to Jove, called forth the rivers and oceans to rise from their beds and cover the
globe. The world was covered in water and the flood destroyed everything living.
Apollo and Daphne
Apollo chided Cupid for using a bow to ignite love. Apollo claimed that the bow was his
creation and best suited for his purposes, not the games of the love. Cupid avenged his
slighted honour by shooting Apollo with a golden-pointed arrow that induces love and
shooting Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, with a lead-pointed arrow that repels love.
Apollo fell in love with Daphne, but she wanted to be like Diana, virgin goddess of the hunt.
So, when Apollo called out to her, she ran away from him. He chased her and kept trying to
explain who he was and that he was in love with her, but Daphne refused to stop running. As
she ran through the brambles and brush of the forest, her skin was scratched, and Apollo
called out to her to run carefully so that she would not hurt herself. Apollo followed only a
few steps behind her and she was losing strength. Then she saw her father, the river, ahead
an called out to him to change her and destroy her beauty that had brought such a plight
upon her. Peneus changed his daughter into a laurel tree. Apollo still loved her and because
she could not be his wife, he made the laurel tree his sacred tree. He wrapped his bow and
lure in laurel wreaths and wore it in his hair. He also made it the honorary decoration of the
conquering lords of Rome.
Phaethon
Epaphus was friends with Phaeton, son of Clymene. Clymene told Phaethon that his father
was the sun god, Phoebus or Apollo, but the boy wanted proof. Phaethon journeyed to the
palace of the sun in Ethiopia to ask the sun god for proof that he was the boy’s father.
Phoebus vowed on the river Styx that as Phaethon’s father, he would grant him his heart’s
desire. Unfortunately, Phaethon’s wish was to drive his father’s chariot across the sky.
Powerful, fiery horses pulled Phoebus’s chariot and their journey across the sky from east to
west is what provided sunlight to the earth each day. Phoebus tried to dissuade his son
because of the grave danger of the journey, but Phaethon wouldn’t give up his wish, and so
Phoebus had to agree because he’d made a binding vow to his son.
Phaethon took the horses up into the sky and the chariot raced out of control because the
boy couldn’t control the horses. Weaving throughout the constellations and up to the apex
of the sun’s journey, the horses ran wild through the sky leaving a trail of fire behind them,
that dried up the rivers of the earth and evaporated the oceans. The heat turned the skin of
the Aethiops black and created the vast Sahara Desert. Even the heavens were in flames. The
earth cracked and trembled in pain and Mother Earth cried out to Jove for help. Jove could
not make it rain because all the water had disappeared, so he hurled a lightning bolt to
, knock Phaethon and the chariot from the sky. The bolt extinguished the great fire and killed
Phaethon.
Phaeton’s body was buried in a tomb in that foreign land, and his mother and three sisters
set out to find the tomb. When they reached his burial place, the women mourned there so
long that the girls turned into poplar trees and their tears formed amber.
Cycnus, Phaethon’s kinsman and lover, left his home and came to Phaethon’s tomb to
mourn him among the poplar grove of Phaethon’s sisters. There the man grieved until he
was transformed into “a strange new bird, a swan, that fears / To trust the sky or Jove,
remembering / The unfairness of that fiery bolt he hurled.” Book 2 – Phaethon, line 376-378.
Phoebus was so distraught over his son’s death that he refused to drive the chariot of the
sun anymore. He was angry that Jove had killed Phaethon. For a day the earth went without
the light of the sun. Finally, Jove forced Phoebus to drive the chariot again.
Book 2
Europa
Jove sent his son Mercury down to earth in the kingdom of Sidon. Mercury had to move the
royal herd closer to the shore where the king’s daughter, Europa, played. While Mercury was
moving the herd, Jove made himself a great, white bull. He gently lured the beautiful girl to
him and won her over until she was trusting enough to climb onto his back. The he carried
her out into the waves of the ocean and took her to Crete against her will.
Book 3
Acteon
Thebes grew into a strong city and Cadmus had wed Harmonia, daughter of Mars and Venus.
Life was good until an unfortunate accident caused the death of Actaeon, Cadmus' grandson.
One day the young Actaeon was out in the woods hunting when he got lost. He wandered
through the woods and stumbled upon Diana's bathing pool and accidentally saw her naked
form. Furious at his invasion, Diana turned him into a deer. His own hounds ripped him
apart, and only his death satisfied Diana's fury.
Semele
Cadmus’ family was not finished with their grief yet because his daughter, Semele was Jove’s
lover and had conceived his child. Juno was jealous and decided to punish the proud girl by
tricking her. Juno disguised herself as Semele's nurse. She convinced the girl that the only
way to know if it was Jove himself who came to her and was the father of her child, was to
ask him to appear to her in all his glory as a god, the way that he appeared to Juno when
they were making love. Semele agreed with the plan and then asked Jove for an unnamed
favour to prove his love. He vowed on the river Styx to give her anything she wanted, and
when she made her request, he could do nothing but fulfil it, despite its fateful
consequences. So, Jove called upon the thunder and lightning that were in his command and
came to Semele in all his divine power, but her mortal frame was destroyed by his powerful
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