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CAMS 1103 Module 1 Lecture 1--Introduction to Classical Mythology: Intro A - Classical mythology - The Rudy thing: an idea people believe in, a cultural truth-value, what gets expressed in myth Intro B - Classis: group of any kind, similar socioeconomic status, alike someone - Classical: having to do with ancient Greece or Rome  upper socioeconomic group o The “good” works -

Mythology (at odds) o Mythos: word, story o Logos: word, report

Intro C - Two portrayals of Hercules - Both were adapted for their audiences o Body builder 1950s o Kid trying to fit in 1990s - Classical myth brought into modern world o About the audience of the movies - Myth is about the time the stories are told as are the time of the ancient past

Lecture 2--The Odyssey and the Andra: Vocab: - Euhemerism is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. - Origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the cosmogonic myth, which describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have stories set after the cosmogonic myth, which describe the origin of natural phenomena and human institutions within a preexisting universe. - Myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice. Although myth and ritual are commonly united as parts of religion, the exact relationship between them has been a matter of controversy among scholars - Structuralism theory of mythology: he clarifies, "Myth is language, functioning on an especially high level where meaning succeeds practically at 'taking off' from the linguistic ground on which it keeps rolling."[2] - Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives or stories that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. The main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans. Stories of everyday human beings, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends, as opposed to myths.

Andra A10 video: The Odyssey o Andra: Man  human being o Clearly human, no divine parent, using normal human skills (exceptional skills) o Talk about what it means to be a hero who has stories told about him o Odysseus is very smart!

Andra B10 video: The Odyssey o Singers of tales: songs sung on nightly basis  Like Homer with the Iliad, the bard sings of the sufferings experienced by the Greeks on their return from Troy, and his song makes the bereaved Penelope more miserable than she already is. o Bards were professional singers o Mise en abime: representation of an artistic work placed within the work itself  Game of Thrones play  Story within a story Andra C10 video: The Odyssey - Story within a story: o Truman show: ‘True Man’ o Peter Were has created a joining between outside and inside of story o Odysseus is a “true man”  Someone else is telling the story of his life

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Person’s life is becoming a story Truth value: we feel like we are in a story, we want to be able to change the story  people in our culture believe this to be true LIVES ARE LIKE STORIES

Andra D10 video: The Odyssey - Looking at the Gods: - Think the Gods are in control of all actions - “LAW” of double determination: every important action in Homeric epics has both a human and a divine cause - “Myth” is about us  humans have control over their own actions - Odyssey Book 1 319-324 o Telemakhos answered boldly, for Athena had given him courage to ask about his father and get himself a good name [kleos].  Athena is a friend of Odysseus allowed Telemakhos to have memory of father  Thinks it’s a divinity because she flies away  Human: however, it was a memory (like a supernatural quality) Heroism: extraordinary attribute - Not a “good guy” - Attitude toward woman

Lecture 3--Creation and Succession: Vocab: - Hesiod was a Greek poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. - Theogony: "the genealogy or birth of the gods" is a poem by Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 700 BC. It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek. Succession A10 video: - Illiad and Odyssey came before this o Heroic stories come first  then Gods - Bible: Creation comes before everything - Myths of the 12 creations - Theogony: describes the muses o Homeric hymn o **Begins with invocation to a God o **Ends with “I will remember you”  hymns were short preludes  bards made new form of mythology  blew up and  Hesiotic Theogony  blew up and became huge creation story  Double determination  Gods are now individual figures  Market for new epics and mythic poetry came into play - Hesiotic vs. Homeros rivalry o Homeros (asia minor): puts songs together  earlier o Hesiodos (thebes): sends out his voice

Succession B10 video: - Syncretism: conflicting myths and jamming together and runs together as a story - Ex: Star Wars: a new hope vs. Empire Strikes Back vs. Return of the Jedi o Lying to Luke; he did betray and murder your father  However, he still is Annikan in the end - Hesiotic bards using syncretism to put together into creation story - Heiros gamos: sacred marriage between sky father and earth mother - Aphrodite example: o Sexuality of humans vs. worlds o Sense and Sensibility Succession C10 video - Pantheon: all god thing, group of immortals ruling universe o Pre-patheon: titans o Olympians: Zues - Kronos genitals: Aphrodite was born

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Example: Heaven won’t stop having sex with Earth  children can’t be born o Kronos has access to genitals o Kronos swallows his children, Rhea (mother) is able to take over o 12 Olympians vs. 12 Titans  Zeus is sitting down but when he stands, he is the tallest  Don Corleone: he is the leader of them all  Truth value: locomotive (he drives the train

Succession D10 video - Force that governs above all else - Governs justice: beyond judges and police officers (similar to the Gods) - Manifest destiny: the train  American is telling itself a story: be the greatest nation

Lecture 4--Troy as a Myth Troy A10 video: - Myths of Troy o Closest thing to scripture for archaic and classical Greek o Iliad and Odyssey are lost epics o The story of Troy is fixed in the past o Two ways to look at Troy  Troy as history:  Wanted a story about the past to make it history  Falsify some of the truths  Tory as myth in Iliad: o What we have?  Illiad  Odyssey  Epitomes (summaries of other stories)  Lots of lyric  Tragedies Troy B10 video: - Archeology o Heinrich Schliemann: northwest Turkey (Hisarlik) o NOT Troy - ‘Meaning’ is more important o helped to create cultural truth values - Troy as the Iliad o epic power of recapitulation: an epic’s power to go back over larger stories within smaller ones o Cipher: symbol without a clear meaning o Iliad is able to capture the entirety of the Trojan war Troy C10 video: - What it means to send Athenians off to fight Persians - Leda and the Swan o Whole story is the EPIC CYCLE o Violence from a rape o Iliad is all of Troy o Story of glory and heroism o Anti-war story Troy D10 video: - Three movements of the Iliad o Transfer of strife especially from divine to human o Death of Patroclus o Tragedy of Hector

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Iliad Summary  ANTI WAR BOOK Trojan: o Hector o Paris o Helen Greek: o Achilles loves Patroclus (Hector kills Patroclus) o Paris shoots Achilles in the heel o Odysseus o Agamemnon (pissed off people) o Menelaus (Helen’s real husband) o Diomedes: good at fighting Athena Zeus and Poseidon fight over girl: Thetis is married to a mortal o Apple happens o ALL STARTS OVER A GIRL o Takes away Achilles prize o Gods mirror people  Double determination (law): bards of Iliad  What it means to have Gods and humans cause things:  “You are only my third slayer”  Apollo,  PATROCLUS IS SEEING THROUGH DOUBLE DETERMINATION  War is people on the bottom level carrying out the commands of people above them (gods or commanders)

Troy E10 video: - People feel strongly for Hector even more than Achilles o Duty to the lost cause: Hector and Germans o Hector is concerned for glory  More real o Won’t stop fighting for Troy o Tragedy of Hector – Hector is human  HUMANS HAVE HOPE o Achilles isn’t mortal...