CLA 10 Intro and Entries 2 PDF

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Reading notes for CLA 10 taken with Professor D. Driscoll during Spring 2018 at UC Davis. These are notes taken from mandatory readings assigned by professor....

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Thebes ● City of Thebes located in southern Boeotia ○ Serves as the setting of many of the darkest and most disturbing mythical narratives of Greek antiquity ● 2 central foundation stories for Thebes: ○ One featuring Cadmus ○ Other starring twin brothers Amphion and Zethus ● Cadmus and Thebes ○ When Zeus (in the form of a bull) abducts Europa, Europa’s father, Agenor, sends his sons on a search to find her. ○ Cadmus (one of the sons) having no luck finding his sister, seeks out the Pythian Oracle of Apollo at Delphi ■ Pythia instructs Cadmus to follow a sacred cow and establish a city on the land where the cow lies down to rest. ■ Listening to this advice, Cadmus abandons the search for Europa and journeys to Phocis where he finds the sacred cow, follows it, and builds a city on the hill where the cow lies down ● Cow with a crescent mark on its head(?) ■ To thank the gods, Cadmus prepares to offer up the cow as a sacrifice. Sends his companions to fetch water from a spring for the sacrificial libation. ■ When his companions don’t come back, Cadmus goes to the spring and discovers that his friends have been devoured by an enormous dragon guarding the water source. ■ Unaware that the serpent was a sacred animal belonging to Ares, Cadmus slays the dragon and follows Athena’s advice to sow half of the dragon’s teeth into the ground,

● Sparti (“sown men”) rise from the ground in armour and weapons. Cadmus throws stones into their midst and confused, the sparti proceed to kill each other until only five remian. ● These five remaining sparti make peace with Cadmus and lend their assistance in building Thebes, and found many royal families of the city ● Marriage of Cadmus ○ Because Cadmus slew Ares’ beloved dragon, he is required to serve Ares for eight years in order to atone for his actions ○ After serving his sentence, he marries Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. ■ Conceives four unlucky daughters ● Autonoe ● Ino ● Semele ● Agave ○ Cadmus and Harmonia, after many years of suffering, depart Thebes, and leave the kingship to their grandson, Pentheus. ● Amphion and Zethus ○ Myths also allege that the twin brothers Amphion and Zethus, sons of Zeus and Theban Antiope, seize the kingship of Thebes, build the city walls, and name the city. ■ The story of these twins take place a generation (or two) after Cadmus’ reign and builds upon the myth of Cadmus. ○ Amphion and Zethus are exposed as infants, and their mother Antiope is imprisoned for her illicit pregnancy. ■ She eventually escapes Thebes and flees into the mountains where she finds her full-grown sons. ■ Amphion and Zethus take their mother into their hut and plan revenge.

■ The two twins find Dirce, the Theban queen who had persecuted Antiope, performing bacchant rituals in the woods ■ The twins tie Dirce to a bull that drags her to death. After placing Dirce’s mutilated body into a spring, the brothers return to Thebes, where upon arriving they kill the Theban king, Lycus and usurp the throne. ○ Amphion and Zethus then set their hands to fortifying the city. ■ According to legend, Zethus struggled to carry stones upon his back for the city wall, but as Amphion strummed his lyre, stones miraculously rose from the ground and shaped the walls of Thebes ■ The two brothers named the city (hitherto called Cademeia) Thebes after Zethus’ wife, Thebe. ■ Eventually the Thebans tried to reconcile the two foundation stories by saying that Cadmus has founded the inner citadel, the Cadmeia, while Amphion and Zethus had built the city’s outer walls.

Dionysus ● Dionysus (Roman: Bacchus or Liber) ● Born of Zeus and Semele ● God of wine, ecstasy, drunken madness, and the danger of animal and vegetable nature ● Epithets ○ Bromius, Of the Bacchic frenzy, of the grape, of liberation, of unmixed wine, twice-born god ● Iconographic markers ○ Thyrsus (an odd weapon made of a giant fennel stalk), drinking cup, leopards, vines, long effeminate dress, maenad and satyr companions ● Birth ○ Zeus seduces Semele, one of the four daughters of Cadmus of Thebes. Hera is angry at Zeus’ philandering, so she appears before Semele in disguise and convinces her to request that Zeus reveal his true form.

○ He grants her wish and appears as thunder and lightning bolts. Semele is incinerated, but Hermes snatches the unborn child from her womb and sews it into Zeus’ thigh. In due time, Zeus removes the baby Dionysus from his thigh, the “twice-born god” ■ Other counts allege that Hermes delivers the thigh-born Dionysus to his aunt Ino, who then dresses the young Dionysus in women’s clothes in order to hide him from the wrathful Hera. ● Dionysus’ wanderings ○ In an effort to protect Dionysus from Hera’s jealous cruelty, Zeus transform Dionysus into a kid and brings him to the nymphs of Nysa. ■ It is here with the Nysan nymphs that Dionysus discovers the vine and invents the art of winemaking ○ But Hera soon finds Dionysus and drives him mad. Dionysus then heads east in a delirium to Asia Minor where he develops a following of maenads (bacchantes) and satyrs. ○ Dionysus and his frenzied retinue march throughout the lands drunkenly clashing cymbals, beating drums, engaging in Dionysus’ orgiastic rites, and recruiting followers. ■ Here in the East, Dionysus adopts his eastern style of dress and learns the rites of Cybele, the Anatolian mother goddess. ■ Eventually Dionysus reaches Naxos, discovers Ariadne (whom Theseus had abandoned) and marries her. ● Resistance to Dionysus ○ In a much-told tale of Dionysus, a band of pirates try to abduct Dionysus in order to ransom him. The unknowing pirates bind the god with ropes. ■ Suddenly, flutes are heard in the distance, the ropes bring the god fall off, ivy and grapevines grow out of the mast, and Dionysus transforms himself into a lion.

■ As a lion, Dionysus ravenously devours the ship's captain and the frightened sailors leap overboard and are transformed into dolphins. ○ As Dionysus travels, he finds much resistance from kings and women who refuse to recognize his godhead and practice his rather outlandish rites. ■ Lycurgus, king of Thrace, expels the maenads. ○ One tradition tells that Zeus blinds Lycurgus ○ While another tradition claims that Dionysus drives Lycurgus mad, causing Lycurgus to rape his mother and murder his children. Lycurgus is then taken outside the city by his people and left to be eaten by wild horses. ○ The best-known tale of resistance to Dionysus involves Pentheus, king of Thebes.

Pentheus ● Son of Agave and one of the Sparti named Echion. ● Becomes king of Thebes when his grandfather Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, abdicates the throne as an old man and hands the kingship over to Pentheus. ● Not long into Pentheus’ rule, Dionysus returns Thebes and wrecks havoc on those who deny his godhead. This story is told in Euripides’ tragedy Bacchae ● Resistance to Dionysus ○ During Pentheus’ reign, Dionysus returns to Thebes, his birthplace, disguised as a Lydian stranger. Dionysus plans to take vengeance on his aunts because they refuse to acknowledge his divinity. ■ Dionysus drives his aunts mad and they roam the forests performing his bacchant rites. ■ Pentheus also arrogantly refuses to honor his cousin Dionysus and even goes so far as to forbid the women of Thebes to perform the god’s ritual. ● Pentheus’ mother and aunts nevertheless continue to worship the god and perform Dionysus’ frenzied rituals in the mountains ● Even the old Cadmus and Tiresias honor the god and attempt to persuade Pentheus to acknowledge Dionysus’ godhead.

● Pentheus still refuses to adopt the new religion and order that the bacchants be arrested ● Dionysus’ revenge and Pentheus’ demise ○ Pentheus unknowingly arrests the disguised Dionysus, cuts his hairs, takes his thyrsus, and imprisons him. ■ Soon, however, there is lightning, thunder, and an earthquake, and Dionysus appears unfettered and free. ■ Messengers arrive and tell Pentheus of the women in the mountains who are drunkenly raving and dismembering beasts with their bare hands. ■ Initially, Pentheus wishes to have these crazed women arrested, but Dionysus persuades him to disguise himself as a maenad to spy on the women in the forest, Pentheus agrees to don a woman’s dress and all the attributes of a maenad. As pentheus prepares to leave, he comes under the spell of Dionysus ■ Maddened, Pentheus follows Dionysus’ instructions and climbs to the top of a tall pine tree. The women, however, catch sight of Pentheus and set out to kill him. ■ Agave, Pentheus’ mother, leads these women. The women do not recognize Pentheus, their own king and kin, in their madness. ■ When they reach Pentheus, they tear his body apart with their bare hands, thinking that he is a lion. ● Agave later returns to the city boasting of her kill with her own son’s head in her hand ● Eventually Agave’s father, Cadmus, brings her back to her sense. Dionysus appears once more and condemns the whole family to exile.

Oedipus ● Son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta ● Prophecy, birth, and exposure ○ When Laius has trouble conceiving a child with Jocasta, he seeks the Oracle of Delphi for advice. The oracle tells Laius that his son with Jocasta will kill him. Laius vows not to have sex with his wife ○ Jocasta, unaware of the oracle, gets Laius drunk and entices him to sleep with her. When Oedipus is born, Laius pierces his son’s feet with a nail and exposes him on Mount Cithaeron ● Rescue, youth, and the oracle ○ A Corinthian shepherd finds the infant Oedipus and delivers him to Polybus and Merope named the child Oedipus (“swollen foot”) and raise him as their own. ○ Oedipus is taunted throughout his youth for not being the true son of Polybus, and he sets out on a journey to Delphi to seek answers ■ The Pythia orders Oedipus away from the temple in disgust, proclaiming that he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother. ■ Oedipus leaves the shrine and turns his back on Corinth in fear of endangering those whom he assumes to be his true parents. ● Journey, murder, the Sphinx, and kingship ○ As Oedipus comes to a crossroads on his return from Delphi, a man in a chariot drives Oedipus off of the road and accidentally runs over his foot. Angry, Oedipus attacks and kills the man and all but one of his servants. ■ Oedipus is unaware that he just fulfilled a part of the oracle since the man in the chariot was his birth-father, Laius. ○ As Oedipus proceeds toward Thebes, he encounters the Sphinx, a horrid monster that had been terrorizing travelers outside of Thebes by killing those who cannot solve its riddles. ■ Oedipus however solves the riddle of the Sphinx, and the Sphinx leaps off a mountain to its death.

○ The city of Thebes hails Oedipus as a hero and makes him their new king. ■ Oedipus weds Jocasta and unwittingly fulfills the second part of the prophecy; marrying his own mother. ■ Oedipus has four children with Jocasta ● Eteocles ● Polynices ● Antigone ● Ismene ● Plague, blindness, and exile ○ While Oedipus is a king, a great plague devastates the city of Thebes. An oracle declares that Laius’ killer is in the city, and that the plague is a result of the murderer’s blood-pollution. ○ Oedipus embarks on a search to find the killer. He summons the prophet Tiresias, and Tiresias utters the truth: the man Oedipus seeks is none other than himself. ■ But Oedipus refuses to acknowledge that he is the murderer until the shepherd who had rescued him and a messenger arrive to give their testimonies ■ Jocasta realizes the truth before her husband/son does, and she hangs herself. ■ Once Oedipus recognizes his own plight, he takes Jocasta’s brooch pins and violently stabs himself in the eyes, blinding himself. ● Oedipus afterward ○ According to one tradition, Oedipus dies in a battle while he fights for Thebes. ○ Others maintain that Oedipus relinquishes the throne but curses his sons, Polynices and Eteocles. ■ His sons, or sometimes Creon, exile Oedipus, and he wanders throughout Greece accompanied by his daughter Antigone. ○ According to Sophocles, Oedipus seeks asylum in a grove, sacred to Erinyes at Colonus, just outside of Athens, where he is greeted by Theseus. Here, Oedipus is

finally purified of his blood guilt and transformed into a guardian spirit of Athenians.

Eteocles and Polynices ● Brothers; sons of Oedipus and Jocasta ● Joint rulers of Thebes once Oedipus abdicates the throne ● Fraternal dispute, exile, and alliance ○ When Oedipus abdicates, Eteocles and Polynices agree to rule during alternate years. Eteocles reneges on his part of the agreement once his term is over and banishes Polynices ○ Polynices, as an exile, seeks help from Adrastus, the king of Argos. Adastrus summons his greatest chieftains for an expedition against Thebes: ■ Capaneus ■ Hippomedon ■ Tydeus (a Calydonian exile) ■ Parthenopeus ■ Amphiaraus (a seer) ○ A quarrel ensues between Adrastrus and Amphiaraus, who does not want to join the expedition, but Polynices ensures Amphiaraus’ participation by bribing his wife, Eriphyle, with the necklace of Harmonia (a gift from the gods on the occasion of Harmonia’s wedding to Cadmus) ● The Seven Against Thebes ○ Once Polynices and his expeditionary forces reach Thebes, each of the seven heroes take one of Thebes’ seven gates ○ Many are viciously slain during the bloody battle, and the gods take part in the fight. ○ Tydeus, a hero dear to Athena, kills the Theban Melanippus and eats his brains in an attempt to heal the belly wound that he suffered. This cannibalistic act disgusts Athena, who was ready to come to Tydeus’ aid with a potion of immortality.

○ Zeus strikes the ground with a thunderbolt and the chasm in the earth swallows Amphiaraus and his chariot ● Battle ends in fratricide ○ The armies eventually decide that Eteocles and Polynices should end the slaughter by facing one another in single combat. ○ The brothers fight and mortally wound each other. In the end, only Adrastus remains and managed to flee on his winged horse

Antigone ● Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta ● Betrothed to Haemon, son of Creon ● Antigone faithfully follows her father Oedipus into exile and remains by his side until he died. ● Her loyalty does not stop here. After Eteocles and Polynices die at each other’s hands, Creon takes the throne and decrees that on one who attacked Thebes be given a proper burial. Anyone who defies Creon’s punishment is to be condemned to death, but Antigone is determined to bury her brother Polynices. ○ She devises a plan and reveals it to her sister, Ismene, who tries to dissuade Antigone from breaking the law. Antigone remains resolute and declares that her first duty is to the ancient laws of the gods. ○ Antigone proceeds to secretly bury Polyneices’ corpse. While she is in the middle of her burial rituals, Creon’s sentries catch and bring her before the king. Despite the pleas of Haemon, Creon sentences Antigone to death and order that she be buried alive in a cave. ○ After Antigone has been sent to her death, the prophet Tiresias relates terrible omens to Creon and urges him to revoke his decree and free Antigone. Creon relents and goes to the cave. When he arrives, he finds his son Haemon embracing Antigone’s corpse.

○ Antigone has hanged herself. Haemon, grieving and fuming with rage, lunges at Creon with his sword, mises and plunges the weapon into his own breast. Creon’s wife, Eurydice, also kills herself.

Creon ● Theban regent; husband of Eurydice; brother of Jocasta; son on Menoeceus ● After Laius ○ Creon stands in as the ruler of Thebes on several occasions. When Laius dies, Creon presides as king in his absence and promises the throne to whoever can rid the city of the Sphinx and disposes of the monster. ○ When the plague from Oedipus’ miasma devastated the city, Creon summons Tiresias and he reveals that Oedipus is the true cause of this plague. ● Seven against Thebes ○ During the Argive attack on Thebes, Tiresias foretells that Thebes will win the war if a Theban prince sacrifices himself. ○ Creon’s second son, Menoeceus (named after Creon’s father), kills himself at the city’s gates. ● Antigone’s crime and punishment ○ Creon rules Thebes once again after the deaths of Eteocles and Polynices. As regent, Creon demands that no one bury the men who attacked Thebes. ○ Antigone is nevertheless determined to bury her brother Polynices and refuses to follow Creon’s decree ○ When Antigone is discovered burying the body of her brother, Creon sentences her to death. Tiresias urges Creon to rescind his law and to free Antigone. By the time Creon agrees, Antigone has already hanged herself, and Haemon (Creon’s son and Antigone’s betrothed) has stabbed himself in grief at his beloved’s suicide. ■ Shortly thereafter Creon’s wife, Eurydice, hangs herself when learns of Haemon’s suicide.

○ Theseus of Athens eventually forces Creon to grant proper burials to the Argive dead. ○ Creon continues to rule for a time. He welcomes Amphitryon and Alcmene, Heracles’ parents, into Thebes when they are exiled from Argos. ○ Creon’s rule comes to an end when Lycus (a descendant of an earlier Theban king named Lycus) murders Creon and usurps the throne.

Io ● Daughter of the river-god Inachus ● Priestess of Hera ● From Epaphus, her son with Zeus, are descended the royal houses of Argos, Crete, and Thebes ● Io’s seduction and wanderings ○ Zeus seduces Io in the form of a cloud. When Hera notices the odd cloud on an otherwise clear day, Zeus transforms Io into a cow in order to escape Hera’s detection. ■ But Hera is not deceived and she coaxes Zeus into giving her the cow as a gift. ■ Hera tethers Io to a tree and sets the sleepless and hundred-eyed monster Argus over her as a guard. ■ Zeus, dismayed at his lover’s predicament, sends Hermes to slay Argus and free Io. Once Io is freed, she wanders the earth as a cow, continually stung by a gadfly that the jealous Hera sends to torment her. ■ After traveling as far as Scythia and even encountering Prometheus in the Caucasus Mountains, Io reaches Egypt. In Egypt, beside the Nile, Zeus touches Io, transforms her back into a human, and impregnates her with Epaphus, the future king of Egypt ● Io’s descendants

○ Io and Zeus produce Epaphus. Epaphus marries Memphis, the daughter of Nilus (The River Nile), and together they give birth to Libya. ○ Poseidon conceives Belus and Agenor with Libya ○ Agenor is the father of Cadmus and Europa (who found the royal houses of Thebes and Crete respectively). ○ Belus is the father of Aegyptus and Danaus. A quarrel between Aegyptus and Danaus results in Danaus’ flight to Argos where he founds the house of Argos and presides as king.

Danaids ● Birth and murderous undertakings ○ When Danaus and Aegyptus, descendants of Io and Zeus from Epaphus, are born, their father Belus makes Aegyptus king of Arabia--which he later renames Egypt--and makes Danaus king of Libya. ○ Danaus begets fifty daughters and Aegyptus begets fifty sons. Aegyptus wishes to marry his sons to Danaus’ daughters, but Danaus is afraid that this proposal is a masked attempt to usurp Danaus’ kingship over Libya. ○ In fear, Danaus seeks the help of Athena, builds a ship, and flees with his daughters to Argos, the very place from which his ancestor, Io, had been exiled years before. ○ Aegyptus’ son pursue Danaus and his daughters across the sea and force Danaus to relent. Danaus finally agrees to hand his daughters over to Aegyptus’ sons, but before they are wed, Danaus gives each of his daughters a dagger and instructs them to murder their husbands on their wedding night. ○ Forty-nine of Danaus’ daughter return with their husband’s heads, except for one daughter, Hypermnestra. ■ She disobeys Danaus and allows her husband Lynceus to live since he had spared her virginity. ● Aftermath and the house of Argos

○ Danaus eventually succeeds in marrying off his forty-nine daughters by holding a foot-race and offering them as prizes to the victors. ○ Yet when the murderous daughters die, they are punished in the underworld with the task of carrying jugs of water to fill broken water vessels for eternity ○ Danaus punishes Hypermnestra for a time, but he eventually allows her to remain with Lynceus (by some ...