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CLASSICS2200 Greek and Roman Mythology - All Lecture Notes
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This document consists of all lecture notes for CLASSICS2200 Greek and Roman Mythology taught by Aara Suksi.
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Week 1: Story Telling, Definition, Evidence, and ContextWorking Definitions
Myth
● Ancient greek (muthos): a spoken word, utterance, a thing that is said
● Walter Burkert 1979: myth is a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of
collective importance
● Lowell Edmund 1997: for Homer and his audience, … ‘myth’ is the oral performance of a story
with intent to sway an audience
● Andrew von Hendy 2002: traditional narrative with a high degree of ideological saturation
● Express, reinforce, justify, and challenge cultural values, practices, desires, and fears
● A way to make sense of the unknown, the inexplicable, and the mysterious
Traditional
● Latin (trado): ‘hand over’, ‘transmit’
● Greek myths were orally transmitted… original authors/composers are unknown/anonymous
● Myths are flexible and change as they are transmitted over space and time
○ Change as narrator and audience changes
Ideology
● System of ideas that explains and gives legitimacy to the actions and beliefs of a social, religious,
political, or corporate entity
Types of Myths
1. Divine Myth
○ Talks about the gods
■ eg. Zeus’ weapon is a lightning bolt made by the Cyclopes
○ Explain or reflect experiences of the natural universe and phenomena
■ eg. stars, earthquakes, rainbows, weather, tidal waves, vegetation, etc.
○ Reflects ancient Greek social structure or ideology
■ eg. family of the Greek gods exemplifies patriarchy and aristocracy
○ Major characters of Greek divine myths are anthropomorphic (human-shaped) gods…
immortal and ageless but not eternal
■ eg. Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, etc
2. Legend
○ Explain/reflect historical phenomena
■ eg. founding of cities, archeological ruins, hereditary kingships, wares, political
and institutional structures
○ Gods are often involved but major characters are exemplary humans who are superior is
some way
, ■ eg. Achilles, Theseus, and Heracles
3. Folktale
○ Reflect a fantasy of the inversion of power structures
■ eg. a small weak person slaying a monster, a change in status from poverty to
wealth, a servant overthrowing an evil tyrant
○ Major characters are usually ordinary mortals… trickster figures are common
○ Often comical or with a happy ending
4. Fable
○ Simple and didactic (teaches a lesson)
○ Usually about everyday moral behaviour
○ Major characters are often animals with human characteristic
Evidence
1. Texts
○ eg. Papyrus fragments: Fragment of Hippocratic Oath
○ Recently found poem by Sappho. #58 Cologne Papyrus
2. Vase Paintings
○ eg. Black-figure amphora, 520 BCE
○ eg. Wine Bowl (crater), 530 BCE
○ eg. Pot Shreds from Excavation in Crete
3. Archeological Sites
○ eg. Lions’ Gate, Mycenae. 13th century BCE
○ eg. Apollo’s Temple, Delphi. 7th-4th century BCE
4. Sculpture
○ eg. Ludovisi Throne (460 BCE) Birth of Aphrodite
○ eg. Hermes and Dionysus, Praxiteles. 340 BCE
○ eg. East pediment, Athenian Parthenon. 5th century BCE
5. Painting
○ Eg. Villa of Venus Pmpeii, 1st century CE
6. Mosaics
○ Eg. Theseus and the Minotaur, Roman. 4th century CE
○ Have illustrations of mythic stories
7. Funerary Objects
○ Eg. Mask of Agamemnon. 16th century BCE
○ Often buried dead with treasure to accompany them to world of dead
○ Eg. Etruscan Mirror. 4th-3rd century BCE showing Paris and Helen
8. Coins
○ Made of metal and preserved over time
○ Get information about worship and importance of the gods
, ○ Eg. Archaic coin of Athens with Athena and olive sprig, owl and AOE (initials of Athens).
510/490 BC
Greek Historical Contexts
1. Minoan Civilization (ca. 3000-1400 BCE)
○ Based on island of Crete
○ Not Indo-European (not Greek)
○ Open palace complexes without fortification (eg. Knossos)
○ Naval domination of Eastern Mediterranean region
○ Sophisticated arts and engineering
○ Female figurines, bull imagery, double-axe (labrys)
■ Eg. Minoan Snake Goddess
■ Eg. Bull Fresco at Knossos
■ Eg. Horns of Consecration, Knossos
■ Eg. Bull’s head Rhyton (drinking vessel), Zakos
2. Mycenaean Period (ca 1650-1150 BCE)
○ Indo-European, spoke early form of Greek
○ Fortresses palaces of hill-tops (eg. Mycenae)
○ Many epic heroes associated with Mycenaean cities *eg. Menelaus, Nestor, etc.)
○ Aristocratic social hierarchy
○ Absorption of many elements of Minoan culture
○ Linear B: syllabic writing system (not useful for recording narratives/stories)
■ Used for keeping accounts
○ Do not know the reason for decline (war? natural disaster?
3. Dark Ages (1100-800 BCE)
○ Decline in population on Greek mainland
○ Absence of literacy
○ Economic decline
○ Poor quality of artifacts
○ Waves of emigration to Asia Minor
○ Scarcity of evidence
4. Archaic Period (800-480 BCE)
○ Rise in trade and travel
○ Adoption of Phoenician alphabet led to literacy. Huge development for Greek culture
○ Homer, Hesiod, and lyric poetry were written down
○ Growing interest in science
○ Growth in city-states
○ Olympic games established 776 BCE (Panhellenic)
○ Democracy established in Athens 510 BCE
○ Persian Wars 490-479 BCE
, ○ Sculpture influenced by Egypt
5. Classical Period (480-323 BCE)
○ Athenian dominance in Greek confederacy (Delian League)
○ Athnian empire based on naval strength
○ Pericles a major statesman
○ Flowering of art, drama, architecture, education
○ Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Thucydides, etc
○ Evolving democracy
○ Peloponnesian Wars (against Sparta and allies) 431-404 BCE
○ Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) and his successors expanded Greek empire across
Mediterranean and Near East
6. Hellenistic Period (323-146 BCE)
○ Successors of Alexander the Great rule vast areas around Mediterranean, Near East, and
Egypt
○ Cosmopolitan culture, important centers of learning (eg. Athens had first university,
Alexandria had famous library)
○ Ends of Rome conquers Greece 146 BCE
Week 2: Hesiod’s Theogony and the Evolution of the World
Features of Greek Oral Epic
Early Greek Oral Epic
● Originally sung by single specialist performer (bard or aoidos), self-accompanied with a lyre
● Sung in meter: dactylic hexameter
○ 6 metrical units with specific pattern of syllables in each line
● Invocation of Muses or other god (inspiration, authority)
● Repetition
○ Formula(e): repeated phrases
○ Epithets: descriptive phrases of specific important characters
● Ring composition: embedded narrative structure part of improvisation that comes back to main
theogony
● Catalogues and lists: show off by reciting long lists or give break
The Muses
● Zeus + Mnemosyne = nine daughters (the muses)
● Inherit some authority from Zeus, true memory from Mnemosyne
● Lived on Mount Helikon (Helicon)
● Hesiod invokes Muses three times
○ Tells of their birth from Zeus and Mnemosyne, their gifts to gods and mortals, and all
their names
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