Exam 2 study guide - Summary Mythology Of Greece And Rome PDF

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CLCV 111/115 Exam 2 Gods Go look at pages 83-84. No reason to copy them here. Ovid Storiesi ● Zeus ○

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Io: priestess of Hera. One day, Zeus noticed her and wanted her, so he covered the two of them in clouds after she was forced out into the fields. Hera noticed anyway, and Zeus was forced to transform Io into a white heifer. She demanded the cow as a present, and Zeus had to agree so as to not tip her off. She is eventually transformed back into herself. Semele: woman pregnant with Zeus’ child. Hera, pissed at another of her husband’s capers, transforms into an old woman and gets Semele to ask Zeus to make love to her with all his might. He does, killing her. Was pregnant with Dionysus at the time of her death. Ganymede: young boy that Zeus wants. He transforms into an eagle, swoops down from heaven, and takes him back up to serve as his cupbearer. Europa: upper-class woman. Zeus transformed into a perfect white bull, caught her attention, and made her feel safe. Eventually she climbs on him and Zeus brings her far out into the sea.

Demeter ○ Rape of Persephone: Hades (the god) falls in love with Persephone, daughter of Demeter, and brings her down to Hades (the place). Demeter frantically searches the Earth to find her daughter, ignoring her godly duties to cause crops to grow. Eventually Helios tells her what happened and Zeus, pressured by the despair of the hungry mortals, forces Hades to give Persephone back. He agrees, but first feeds her pomegranate seeds. Because she ate food in the underworld, she can never truly leave; instead, she spends half the time with Hades and half on Mount Olympus. Apollo ○ Slaying of Python: Python was a huge snake created after the great floods, slain by Apollo. The Pythian games were named in its honor and included boxing as well as foot and chariot racing. ○ Daphne: Apollo mocks Cupid for his use of a bow, saying that it’s a weapon for warriors only. Cupid, not happy about this, shoots Daphne, a nymph, with a leaden arrow that causes hatred. Then he shoots Apollo with a golden arrow to fill him with love for Daphne. He chases her for a long time, eventually beginning to gain on her. She calls for her father, Peneus, to save her, who turns her into a tree. Apollo tends to her carefully, using his power of eternal youth to keep her leaves green. He still loves her so he gropes the tree. This is why bay leaves never decay. The laurel wreath is his attribute because of this. ○ Phaethon: son of Apollo. His mother, Clymene, boasted about this fact. Phaethon, unsure of this, asked Apollo to swear by Styx that he would give him anything to prove Phaethon’s origins. He wanted to drive the sun chariot for the day. Apollo tried to talk him out of it, but to no avail. When the day came to drive the chariot, he was unable to control it and scorched the Earth. Zeus was forced to put a stop to the destruction by killing Phaethon with a thunderbolt. ○ Marsyas: Satyr who challenged Apollo to a music contest to be judged by the Muses. The winner would be able to treat the loser however he wanted. Of course, Apollo wins. He flays Marsyas alive for his hubris to challenge a god, then nails his skin to a pine tree. ○ Hyacinth: Youth hero and lover of Apollo. He’s killed after he tries to catch the discus Apollo throws, as it bounces off the ground. Apollo is unable to revive him, and his blood transforms into a new flower, the hyacinth. Artemis ○ Callisto: Beautiful nymph of Artemis. Like all of Artemis’ followers, took an oath to remain virgin. Zeus wanted her anyway, and transformed into Artemis herself to seduce her. Artemis notices her pregnant belly while bathing with her, and casts her out. Hera, angry at Callisto for having Zeus’ child (a public symbol of his unfaithfulness), transforms her into a bear to take away her beautiful form. Her son, Arcas, is never told of his parentage. Fifteen years later, he is about to hunt her down, but Zeus intervenes at the last second by turning them both into constellations. ○ Niobe: Woman who boasts that she has more children (14, 7 daughters 7 sons, collectively the Niobids) than Leto (two, Apollo and Artemis). Artemis and Apollo exact revenge by killing the Niobids with arrows. Apollo kills the sons and Artemis kills the daughters. Niobe’s husband, Amphion, kills himself from sadness. Niobe dies on the inside from her losses and turns to stone. She is blows to a mountaintop near her home and cries there to this day. ○ Acteon: Theban hero. While out hunting one day, he sees Artemis naked while bathing. She doesn’t have her arrows on hand, so she splashes him with water and curses him, turning him into a stag. He is then eviscerated by his hunting dogs. ○ Atalanta: Beautiful, very fast woman. Her father told her she doesn’t need a husband, and that she should run away from any suitors. She does, living her life alone in the forest. Eventually, she issues a challenge: if a man beats her in a foot race, she will become his wife; if he loses, she kills him. Despite the risk, men line up to race

her and all lose. Finally Hippomenes, great-grandson of Poseidon, challenges her. He wins by throwing three golden apples far from the course, which Atalanta is attracted to because of Aphrodite’s influence. Hippomenes doesn’t thank Aphrodite for her help, though, so she fills him with lust as they pass by an ancient temple. They defile it by having sex inside, and Hera turns them into lions as punishment. ●

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Athena ○

Arachne: Talented weaver. She said that she was even more talented at it than Athena. The goddess transforms into an old woman and tells her she should beg for forgiveness for her pride. Hearing this, Arachne challenges Athena to a weaving contest. Arachne weaves beautiful works depicting the gods deceiving and taking advantage of mortals, especially Zeus, while Athena’s weavings depict other mortals losing similar contests after setting themselves equal to gods and being punished. Arachne’s work is more beautiful and insults the gods, enraging Athena and prompting her to destroy her heretical pieces and turn her into a spider. ○ Aphrodite: Assuming it means the Judgment of Paris. All of the gods except Eris, goddess of discord, are invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Unable to enter, Eris throws a golden apple labeled “To the fairest” into the party. Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera all see it at once, and fight over who it’s truly addressed to. Unable to decide, they ask Zeus to mediate. He commands Hermes to lead them to Paris of Troy to judge. Paris chooses Aphrodite after she promises to give him Helen as a wife. The abduction of Helen leads to the Trojan War. ○ Adonis: Most handsome man ever, born to Myrrha and Myrrha’s father. Myrrha is turned into a tree as punishment for her incest and gives birth by splitting open. He’s so attractive that Aphrodite herself takes notice. While she kisses her son, Eros, he scratches her with one of his golden arrows, causing her to fall madly in love with Adonis. He’s an avid hunter, but Aphrodite warns him only to kill non-dangerous animals. He ignores her advice and attempts to kill a boar with his spear. He’s unable to, though, and the boar kills him. Aphrodite hears this but is unable to save her lover. She turns Adonis’ blood into a bright red flower called the anemone to honor him. Dionysus ○ Pentheus: King of Thebes. He bans the worship of Dionysus in Thebes. He orders his guards to arrest him, but they instead arrest a man called Acoetes who confirms Dionysus’ divine status. Having none of that, Pentheus orders the man to be thrown in prison, but shackles they put on him fall off. This sends Pentheus into a fit of rage with the intent of dealing with the god himself. He stumbles upon his family at a bacchanalia (basically a huge party where everyone trips balls), who mistake him for a boar and tear him to shreds. Miscellaneous ○ Pyramus & Thisbe: Lovers in the city of Babylon. Their houses are connected and share a wall, but their families have a fierce rivalry and forbid them to be wed. They whisper their love for one another through a crack in the wall and arrange to meet under a mulberry tree near a tomb. Thisbe gets there first, but runs away after seeing a lion with a bloody mouth and leaves her veils behind. Pyramus gets there later, sees her discarded veils, and assumes she was killed by some fierce animal. He kills himself with his sword as a result, staining the white mulberries with his blood. Thisbe returns later, sees her lover’s body, and kills herself with the same sword. The gods hear her lament and change the color of mulberries red to honor their love. Basically, ancient Romeo and Juliet. ○ Hermaphroditus: Handsome son of Aphrodite and Hermes. Salmacis, a water nymph, falls for him and asks the gods to join them as one when he swims in a pool. The gods answer and make Hermaphroditus half man and half woman. ○ Pygmalion & Galatea: Pygmalion is a skilled sculptor who carves a woman out of ivory and names her Galatea. After seeing women work as prostitutes, he decides he’s not interested in women, but falls in love with his statue anyway. During Aphrodite’s festival, he made an offering and asked her for a woman just like his perfect statue. She grants his wish, and Pygmalion comes home to find that his statue is alive and marries her. ○ Narcissus: Son of a river god and a nymph. He was extremely proud of his beauty, ignoring all the other lovely young girls who wanted him. One day he goes out hunting and encounters Echo. She tries to seduce him, but is unable because of her inability to speak and Narcissus’, well, narcissism. He runs away and, exhausted, leans down near a stream. He sees the strapping young man in the water’s reflection and is stricken. He leans down to give the mysterious figure a kiss, then falls in and drowns. When his sisters, the Naiads, prepare the funeral pyre, they are unable to find his body but find a flower in its place, one with white petals surrounding a yellow heart. ○ Echo: Goddess who can only speak by repeating the last few words someone says. Hera made her like that because when she was trying to catch Zeus with nymphs, Echo would knowingly hold her in long conversations to give the nymphs time to run away. Echo tries to seduce Narcissus, but cannot due to his pride and her inability to speak for herself. She’s been crying ever since, and her bones have been transformed into rocks that have her unique voice. ○ Midas: King with the golden touch. Dionysus finds that his foster father, the satyr Silenus, is missing. He got drunk on wine, wandered away, and ended up being taken to Midas. Midas recognized him and treated him well, and the two entertained each other for ten days. On the eleventh day, Midas returned Silenus to Dionysus,

who offered Midas anything he wanted. Of course, he asks for anything he touches to turn to gold. It was cool at first as he turned sticks and stones into gold, but he realized his mistake when his food and drink were transmuted. He prayed to Dionysus to take the gift back, who then told him to wash his power away in the river Pactolus. It worked, and explains why that river is so gold-rich. Note that the idea that he turned his daughter into gold was not part of the original Ovid story. ○ Pan: God of the wild, shepherds, flocks, and hunting music. One day, he spots the nymph Syrinx and chases her down. She asks the water nymphs for help as she runs towards a river, and they do so by turning her into reeds. Pan walks over to them and sighs, which causes the reeds to vibrate. He then turns them into an instrument, the panpipes. ○ Syrinx: Nymph who looks very similar to Artemis. Like her, she had also taken a vow of chastity. See Pan for the story. ○ Orpheus: Poet. His new wife, Eurydice, was killed by a snake bite to the ankle right after their marriage. He decides to go down to Hades to get her back. He encounters Persephone and tells her that he is only down there to get his wife back, then sings her a story of what happened. The spirits nearby are moved and join in the song, while all the torturing in Tartarus paused. Persephone decides to grant his wish, but says that if Orpheus looks at his wife before they leave the underworld, she will be stuck there forever. Of course, on the way out, he turns around and Eurydice is pulled back down into Hades. Later, he dies in a strange way: Ciconian women throw stones and spears at him, while he stands atop a mountain, but he deflects them with his beautiful songs. Followers of Dionysus play their wild music more loudly, though, and drown out his magical music shield. The stones then kill him. ○ Eurydice: Wife of Orpheus, doomed forever to Hades. See Orpheus for the story. Art Historical Periods Go look at the top of page 197. Not gonna copy them. Important Names and Terms ● The 12 Olympians ○ Mt. Olympus: highest mountain in Greece, home to the Olympian gods ○ ambrosia: Food or drink of the gods, consuming it grants longevity and immortality ○ nectar: very similar to ambrosia ○ ichor: golden blood of the gods ○ pantheon: set of related gods. The Olympians and Titans are examples. ○ omnipotent: all-powerful ○ omniscient: all-knowing ○ metamorphosis: transformation into someone or something else ● Zeus - god of Thunder, king of the gods ○ *Dyaus: proto-European name for the omnipotent storm god. Transformed into Zeus and Jupiter over time. ○ storm god: in proto-European religions, he was the most powerful god (see Zeus, Thor, etc.) ● Hera - wife of Zeus, goddess of Marriage, Women, and Birth ○ Argive Heraion: huge ancient temple to Hera, probably the origin of the cult of Hera ○ Eileithyia: daughter of Hera and Zeus, goddess of childbirth ○ Hebe: daughter of Hera and Zeus, goddess of eternal youth, cupbearer for the Olympians, served them their nectar and ambrosia ○ Kanathos: spring where Hera annually renewed her virginity ● Poseidon - god of the Sea ○ thalassa: primordial sea goddess ○ Mt. Helicon: mountain dedicated to the Muses, where Hesiod was told the story in Theogony ○ Pegasus: pure-white winged divine stallion. Born of Poseidon and Medusa, created Hippocrene, one of the springs on Mt. Helicon ○ Hippocrene: one of the springs on Mt. Helicon, sacred to the Muses ● Demeter - goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, Sacred Law, Harvest ○ Persephone (Proserpina): daughter of Demeter, see Rape of Persephone above ○ Telesterion: great hall devoted to Demeter and Persephone, whose initiation ceremonies were considered the most sacred of all rites in Greece ○ Triptolemus: demigod who taught mankind how to farm. Demeter came across him when looking for Persephone, fed him her breast milk, which instantly cured the sickness he had and turned him into an adult. She then taught him the art of agriculture to spread to everyone. ○ eternal return: the idea that some things will always happen in a cycle, the seasons for example. Persephone is allowed out of Hades for half the year during which time the Earth is bountiful (spring, summer) and is taken back down for the other half (fall, winter), only to be allowed out again later. ● Apollo - god of the Sun, Light, Knowledge, Art, Music, Poetry, Oracles, Archery, Plague, and Medicine

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Hyperboreans: literally “people who live beyond the north wind”, people who praised Apollo and brought his worship to the rest of Greece ○ ephebe: literally “adolescent male”, which Apollo is (he never has a beard, etc.) Artemis - goddess of the Hunt, Forest, Hills, the Moon, Archery ○ potnia theron: term used by Homer in the Iliad to refer to female divinities associated with animals, word comes from Mycenaean language ○ Leto (Latona): mother of Apollo and Artemis, one of the many consorts of Zeus ○ Mt. Cynthus: mountain where Leto gave birth to her children, forced there by Hera out of jealousy of Zeus’ relations with Leto Athena - goddess of Wisdom and War ○ Metis: Titan, cousin and first wife of Zeus. Conceived Athena, was then eaten by Zeus, who had the baby Athena out of his head. ○ xoanon: name for wooden cult images, of which there was one of Athena at the Acropolis ○ Erechtheion: temple on the north side of the Acropolis, located in Athens, dedicated to Athena and Poseidon ○ Parthenon: temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena, partially destroyed in the late 1600s after an ammo dump inside it exploded ○ aegis: fancy shield used by Athena and Zeus in the Iliad ○ Gorgoneion: amulet with an image of a Gorgon head, used by Athena and Zeus as a protective charm ○ apotropaic: word used to describe anything that repels evil, such as the Gorgon head image used on the Gorgoneion Hestia - goddess of the Hearth, Home, Architecture, Family, and State ○ hearth: firepit in the center of many ancient homes and buildings ○ megaron: great hall in Greek palaces used for poetry, feasts, meetings, worship, sacrifices, and courts ○ Pylos: a city. Not sure what it has to do with Hestia. Hermes - Messenger of the gods, guide to the Underworld, god of Trade, Thieves, Travelers, Athletes, and Borders ○ herm: a sculpture consisting of a head, shoulders, square pillar, and male genitalia. Really focusing on what’s important. Often placed around borders and public places as an apotropaic figure. ○ Arcadia: utopia, birthplace of Hermes, also a major site of worship for him ○ Pleiades: seven sister nymphs of Artemis, the eldest of which was the mother of Hermes, who were chased by Orion until Zeus transformed them into a cluster of seven stars ○ trickster god: deity who uses superior intellect to outsmart other gods and their laws, Hermes was this Aphrodite - goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sexuality ○ Dione: Aphrodite’s mother according to Homer’s Iliad Dionysus - god of Grapes, Wine, Ritual Madness, Ecstasy, Fertility, and Theatre ○ vegetation god: god whose cycle of life and death (or disappearance and reappearance) represents the cycle of crops ○ mystery cult: cults about which we know very little. Dionysian cults fall into this category. ○ sparagmos: literally “tear, rend, or tear to pieces”, something that happened in Dionysian cults often. Often followed by omophagy. ○ omophagy: the eating of raw flesh, usually after sparagmos ○ Bacchus: Roman name for Dionysus ○ Maenad: literally “raving ones”, name for the female followers of Dionysus. During rituals to him, they would get intoxicated from wine and dance. ○ Satyr: ithyphallic male companions of Dionysus, half man, half horse ○ Silenus: companion and tutor to Dionysus, see the story of Midas above ○ thyrsus: staff of fennel covered with ivy and topped with a pinecone, used as a sacred object during Dionysian rituals Other Technical Terms ○ syncretism: combining different, seemingly contradictory beliefs into one ○ Euhemerism: treating mythological accounts as a reflection of historical events and characters as people whose attributes and actions are exaggerated ○ allegory: a story with a moral and a story in which everything is symbolic ○ panhellenic festival: festivals held by the city-states of Greece. They would all come together during them, hence panhellenic. ○ Olympic Games: games held every four years to honor Zeus in Olympia. Both a celebration of athletes and a way for the city-states to show superiority over one another, very similarly to the 1936 Olympics. ○ Panathenaea: most important festival of all in Athens, held to honor Athena ○ votive: something offered to fulfill a vow, such as Apollo’s fatal gift to Phaethon ○ cult: group of people who worshipped one of the gods ○ attribute: characteristics of a god

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epithet: a kind of nickname for a god, such as “gatherer of clouds” for Zeus or “leader of the Muses” for Apollo. Usually focus on one specific attribute of the god. ○ invoke: call on a deity in prayer ○ demigod: a divine or supernatural being, often the child of a god, such as Hercules, Helen, Achilles, and Orpheus ○ divinity, deity: god Art and Architectural Terms ○ iconography: visual symbols of a god such as Zeus’ thunderbolts ○ Apollo Belvedere: marble sculpture of Apollo ○ orientation: the way something...