A Word About Study Guides

To keep you on top of the material day by day, I will regularly hand out a list of key names/terms and topics for study. The list of words may come from material just studied or from material assigned for the upcoming class or classes. Learn these names/terms, making thorough use of the dictionary and the primary texts, but pay particular attention in class, since all these words will come up in discussion. Students should prepare for possible short quizzes on a selection of these words at the beginning of each class period. Quizzes will be multiple choice, matching, or short answer format.

A note on spelling: English transliterations of Greek words are spelled inconsistently. The Greek ending -os in the Hymns is equivalent to -us in the dictionary (Cronos = Cronus). Final -a and -e are often equivalent (Hera = Here, Athena = Athene.) Diphthongs: -ai- and -ae- are equivalent (Hephaistos = Hephaestus), as are -oi- and -oe- (Oidipos = Oedipus). The letters -k- and -c- are equivalent (Knossos = Cnossos). If these examples seem confusing, don't despair: I will try to put equivalent spellings in the lists where necessary. Any problems, get in touch with me.

Also on each study guide you will find questions designed to focus your thinking for the upcoming week’s class discussion. Remember, intelligent, thoughtful questions and comments in class will positively affect your class standing, so do think long and well about the study questions in advance of each class period.

Study Guide – The Beginning of Things

Words:Okeanos/Oceanus Tethys ErosChaos Gaia Ouranos/Uranus

Questions for Discussion:

(you should write down some notes to yourself to make sure you are ready to participate. I won’t collect these notes next time, however...they are for your use)

• Why have a story about our "beginning"? What function does it serve? What impulse does it derive from? Think of several answers to these questions.

• Closely examine the symbols and themes of each of these three stories. For each one, be prepared to discuss how the idea of beginnings is involved.

--for example: in the first story, the creator god and goddess are Okeanos and Tethys, male and female manifestations of the divinity of water. Now think of at least five reasons why water is a suitable “first form” from which all other forms would be created. Then do the same analysis for the other two stories.

• Finally, consider the following questions: what are the connecting threads between these three seemingly disparate stories? What qualities do each of these “first forms” share? What is similar about our subjective or psychic response to each of them? What do these three stories suggest about the spiritual outlook of the early Greeks?

Study Guide - Zeus & Hera

Words:

Titans Cybele Potnia TheronCrete Knossos/Cnossos MinoansSnake Goddess Mycenaeans Cronos/CronusRhea Zeus HeraTyphon Europa ThemisMuses GanymedeEurynome “Fates” Mnemosyne (Memory)Leda Dioscuri (Castor & Polydeuces)

remember: not all terms have their own entries in the dictionary; some are from class discussion, and some are from the Homeric Hymns.

Discussion:1. Put yourself in the role of the classicist, and read the assigned Homeric Hymns, pretending that you are discovering a lost civilization. These readings are mere snippets, and yet, notice how much information you can glean from them nevertheless. Using only these snippets, make lists of characteristics describing Hera (Hymn #12), Cybele (“The Mother of the Gods,” #14), Zeus (#23), and Gaia (#30). We will go over these lists in class.

2. Analyze the myths which describe Zeus’ ancestry, birth, and rise to power. How would you describe first Ouranos, then Cronus, then Zeus? Is there a development from generation to generation? Why is Zeus able to consolidate ultimate and lasting power when his predecessors failed to do so?

3. Now approach these same myths, keeping in mind what we learned in class about the Greeks and the pre-Greeks. On a symbolic level, can these myths be seen to refer back to the time when the Indo-Europeans (Greeks) became dominant over the pre-Greeks and began imposing on them their views of gods and religion? Why, for example, would the myth describe Zeus’ being born on Crete, the center of the Minoan goddess culture? Again, from this perspective, why is Zeus able to hold on to lasting power when his father and grandfather could not?

4. What is the symbolic point behind Zeus’ many “marriages” and the delightful progeny those marriages produced?

Study Guide - Aphrodite, Poseidon

Aphrodite Eros Hephaestus/HephaistosAnchises Aeneas CyprusMt. Ida Horai/"Hours"/"Seasons"Ares Charites ("Graces") PoseidonAmphitrite trident Demeter

Hymns covered: # 5,6,10,22

• Carefully read the Hymn to Aphrodite (#5), please consider and be ready to discuss the following questions:

1) Compared to the other hymns you have read (including the Hymn to Aphrodite #6), what is different and odd about the opening 50 or so lines of this hymn that introduce the story?

2) How does Aphrodite manage to seduce Anchises? What does she say and do?

3) What is the significance of the child to be born from the liason between Aphrodite and Anchises? Of his name, Aeneas?

4) How if at all does this episode affect the divine order, the relative powers of the gods, and Aphrodite’s future role and influence on the Greeks?

In considering these points, be asking yourself: -what kind of figure is Aphrodite (as the hymn portrays her)?-what was her significance for the Greeks (from what we know of

them so far)?

• Read in your dictionary the story of Aphrodite’s adulterous affair with Ares. Again, what does this say about her character and role for the Greeks? What is the moral of the story? What parallels can you draw between this story and hymn #5.

• According to Greek myth, Poseidon was a brother of Zeus and they, along with a third brother, Hades, divided the universe between them. Compare the stories about Poseidon in your dictionary with those of Zeus. Think of as many parallels as you can, and we will discuss them in class.

Study Guide - Athena

Gorgon (Medusa) Pegasus Athena/AthenePallas Metis HephaestusErichthonius Cecrops AtticaArachne Perseus Nike

Hymns covered: #28,11

• Read about the birth of Athena in Hymn #28 and the dictionary. Be prepared to discuss the following points of significance:

–what is signified in having Athena be born from Zeus’ head?–why is she born fully grown, fully clothed? why in armor?

What do these points say about Athena’s evolution from a pre-Greek to a Greek divinity?

• With the same end in mind as above, read and analyze the myth describing Athena’s unconsummated “marriage” to Hephaestus (in dictionary).

• Using the myth of Perseus (see dictionary) as a guide, why do you think Athena helps heroes? Specifically, why does she want to help Perseus kill the gorgon Medusa? What is signified when Athena takes the head of Medusa and fixes it on her breast?

• Analyze the myth of the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the lordship of Attica (dictionary). Why do you think Athena’s offering to the city is considered more valuable? Why is it such a good symbol for the ideal of civilization the Athenians saw themselves striving for?

• Analyze the story of Athena and Arachne. Why do you think the art of weaving was a particular favorite of the goddess? What, besides the chastening of an arrogant mortal, is involved in Athena’s turning Arachne into a spider?

Study Guide - Apollo & Artemis

Leto Delos ApolloArtemis Delphi Delphic OracleTyphon/Python Asclepius Daphne Hyacinthus Actaeon Niobe

Hymns covered: #3a/b,9,27,16,25

• In the hymn describing the birth of Apollo and Artemis (3a), think about the following questions:

–Why does Leto have to search so far and wide to find a place willing to be the birthplace of the divine twins? Why is their birth so significant? Why is the floating island, Delos, finally chosen as the birthplace?

–Compare Apollo’s birth to Athena’s. Are they similar in any way? Think of specific parallels but also identify broader similarities.

• Archaeologists have established that the site of Delphi was originally sacred to the mother goddess in her manifestation as Pytho, dating back at least as far as 1600 BC. With this in mind, analyze the hymn to “Pythian Apollo” (3b). How, mythically, does Apollo take possession of the sacred place in the hymn? Pay particular attention to the passage describing the installation of priests in Apollo’s new temple.

• Neither Apollo nor Artemis are known for their sexual liaisons. Review the stories of Daphne, Hyacinth, Cassandra, and Actaeon and be prepared to discuss their symbolic significance. Why are the twins so unlike their father Zeus in this respect?

• Analyze the myth of Niobe and the slaughter of her children. Does it say anything about Apollo and Artemis and the values they represented to the Greeks?

Study Guide –Dionysus

Mt. Nysa Semele CadmusThebes Pentheus Ariadneoinos thyrsus Maenadsymposium

Hymns covered: 1,26,7; also you will get a handout

1. Compare the birth of Dionysus to the birth of Athena. Find as many points of contrast as you can. What can you infer about Dionysus’ character and role simply from this analysis?

2. Read the handout of the folksong John Barleycorn and think about the following questions:

–How are Dionysus and John Barleycorn similar figures? In what way do they undergo a similar transformation?

–What is the relationship between Barleycorn and his “killers”? Think long and deeply about this question, and be prepared to relate it to Dionysus.

–The word “spirits” is still used to refer to alcoholic beverages of all kinds. This description is rooted in a very old association between the beverage and a divinity perceived to be embodied in it. How do you suppose a “spirit” such as wine becomes intertwined with a god such as Dionysus?

3. Analyze hymn #1 and especially hymn #7 for more clues about Dionysus’ character and role. Is Dionysus a mysterious god? A powerful god? An irresistible god? If you think so, be able to show exactly where these qualities are manifested in the hymns.

4. As discussed in the dictionary, Dionysus reputedly had a legendary effect on his women worshippers. What do you make of this?

Study Guide – Hermes

Hermes caduceus Maiaherm Pan Mt. Cyllene

Hymns: #4, 18, 19

• Read hymn #4. Compare the story of Hermes’ precocious childhood to those we have previously studied about Apollo and Athena. What similarities, differences are there?

• In addition to being the god who mediated between the day world and the underworld, Hermes was also associated with merchants, thieves, roads, cooking, laughter, sleep, and certain kinds of soothsaying. How are these associations appropriate for Hermes and where can you find evidence of them in the Homeric Hymn?

• From the description of the herm (pl. hermai) in the dictionary, what sort of god do you think Hermes was in his pre-Greek origins?

Study Guide – Demeter and Eleusis

Demeter Persephone Hadesnarcissus Hecate CeleusEleusis Triptolemus MetaniraIambe Kore Helios

Hymn: #2

• Demeter is a fertility goddess, most closely associated with plants, especially grain which is so essential to sustaining life. Read closely the Hymn to Demeter, and find as many references to plant life and growth as you can. What do you think is the symbolic point of these references?

• The abduction of Persephone is the central incident in the Hymn to Demeter. How do the male characters in the story (Helios, Hades, Zeus, Hermes) react to this incident? The female characters (Demeter, Persephone, Hecate)? In light of what we learned about the pre-Greek and the Greek cultures, why is this contrast interesting? How does the end of the hymn resolve these differing perspectives on Persephone's "marriage"?

• Read in your dictionary about Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate. How in the hymn do they exemplify three different stages in a woman's life? How have their roles changed by the end of the hymn?

• In the final lines of the hymn, the poet sings that those who partake in the mystery at Eleusis established by Demeter are “happy,” while “those uninitiate, having no part in the mysteries,...perish down in the shadows.” What do you make of this statement? Are there any clues in the hymn which might shed some light on the question?

What is Myth? – The Hero

Think about the following quotation for class discussion in the weeks ahead:

The flax for the linen of our thread has been gathered from the fields of the human imagination. Centuries of husbandry, decades of diligent culling, the work of numerous hearts and hands, have gone into the hackling, sorting, and spinning of this tightly twisted yarn. Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

– Joseph Campbell

Study Guide – Introduction to Heroes; Perseus

Pandora Perseus AcrisiusDanaë Dictys PolydectesGraiae Prometheus Andromeda

• Read about Prometheus in your texts. Why do you think that Prometheus' assistance to humankind draws him into conflict with Zeus? Why would Zeus be "jealous" of the gains that humans make? Is struggle and competition the natural relationship between humans and gods? Pay particular attention to the Pandora story.

• Read closely the myths concerning Perseus. Make a catalogue of the main events in his life story. Which moments in his life span are strongly emphasized. Keep this catalogue for comparison to other heroes.

• Compare the myths of Perseus’ adventures to the myths we have studied about the exploits of gods and goddesses. In general, do you see a difference between the situation of the human and those of the gods? When Perseus encounters Medusa, what risk does he face? What reward does he seek? Having encountered her, does he return with something he did not have before? How does his action influence the universal order?

Study Guide – Herakles

Amphitryon Iphicles MegaraIolaus Eurystheus CerberusEchidna Hippolyta DiomedesGeryon Antaeus AtlasAlcmene Deianira Nessus

Also: Memorize the Labors of Heracles (by full title)

• Read closely the myth of Herakles’ birth. What do you make of Herakles’ having two potential fathers just as Perseus did? Is there any symbolic point being made in these mysterious births, do you think?

• The name Herakles comes from two Greek words, “Hera” and “glory.” Yet Hera is Herakles’ most relentless adversary. What do you suppose is the significance of this name based on the Herakles myths?

• Is there any pattern at all evident in the stories of Herakles’ Labors? If so, what, in general, may we say that heroes do? What does the pattern say about how the Greeks viewed their world and man’s place in it?

• At various times in Herakles’ heroic career (and there are different versions of the story of Herakles coming from different times and places), the hero seems inexplicably to fall prey to fits of madness or temper that result in catastrophe or disgrace. Can you find examples of some of these “mis-steps”? What do you make of this “character flaw” of his and how does it effect the overall picture presented of the hero?

• Herakles “dies” as a result of coming into contact with one of his own poisoned arrows (by a circuitous chain of circumstances). What do you make of this part of the myth? Does it seem an appropriate end? Why? Why do you think some versions of the Herakles myth tell of his subsequent apotheosis into a god?

Study Guide – Theseus

Theseus Aegeus TroezenPittheus Aethra ProcrustesMinotaur Ariadne LabyrinthNaxos Hippolyta Pirithous

• Analyze the story of Theseus’ birth and compare it to the other myths of hero births we have studied.

• Read closely the myth of Theseus’ journey to Crete and encounter with the Minotaur. How is it comparable to other hero journeys we have read so far? How does this myth incorporate references to the Minoan civilization? What is the significance of these references, do you think?

• How would you characterize Theseus’ relations with women in his myths? How does he compare with the other heroes you have read previously? How do the female roles in these myths fit in with the picture of women you derived from studying the myths of gods and goddesses?

• Read the myth of Theseus’ death. What do you make of it? What does it say about the Greeks that in their mythology a great hero like Theseus meets with such an inglorious end?

Study Guide – Odyssey

Odyssey Homer Odysseusnostos Ithaca PenelopeTelemachus Calypso NausicaaPolyphemus Circe SirensScylla and Charybdis

• Books 9-12 of the Odyssey, where Odysseus tells of his adventures, are the most “mythical” in all of Homeric epic. Read all about Odysseus and the Odyssey in your dictionary, paying particular attention to the stories of Circe, Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the voyage to the underworld. How are these stories similar to those you have seen in the hero myths? At the same time, in what way does the epic narrative go beyond these other myths and become a completely new and different type of story?

• Odysseus purpose in the Odyssey is to go home. The Greek word for “homecoming” is nostos. But nostos comes from the Greek root word noos, or “mind,” and so, in some way, the Greeks connected returning home with a return to a certain state of mind. Is it fair to say, do you think, that the Odyssey is playing with this connection, and that, as Odysseus travels through his adventures, he is travelling from one state of mind to another, searching for his psychological “home”? Find as many examples in the story to justify this point of vew. Can you develop the psychological implications of this connection between the mythic journey and the mind even farther?

Study Guide – Iliad

Iliad Troy HelenClytemnestra Eris ParisAgamemnon Priam HectorAjax Achilles ThetisPatroclus

• Read about the origins of the Trojan War. From what you already know about Greek mythology, what does Paris’ choice of Aphrodite as winner of the “beauty contest” say about Paris and about his people, the Trojans? How are the Greeks an appropriate manifestation of the revenge of the other two goddesses, Hera and Athena?

• Read carefully the handout from Iliad book 24. How does the passage describing Priam’s visit to Achilles use the hero journey pattern we have seen previously? Be ready to cite examples. How on the other hand does this passage depart from the established pattern, or twist it in an unexpected way? Would you call this passage a myth or has Homer created something more and altogether greater? If so, where does myth leave off and this greater “something” begin?

Study Guide - Oedipus The King

Names:Oedipus Cadmus SphinxCreon Jocasta LaiusPytho TeiresiasAntigone Ismene

Questions for Discussion:

• Oedipus ascended to the Theban throne by solving a famous riddle. Solving another famous riddle (that of his birth) undoes him. What does the play say about Oedipus' quest to solve riddles, and about human intelligence in general?

• Review what characters in the play say about the truth or falsity of Apollo's prophetic oracles. By the play's end, Oedipus realizes that he has fulfilled the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but could he have avoided this fate? Can he be said to have exercised free-will in his actions? Is he merely a puppet of Apollo? What, in general, does the play say about the meaning of human endeavors in the context of a fate ordained by the gods?

• Does Oedipus deserve the catastrophe that befalls him? Does he bring it upon himself? If so, how? What is Apollo's role in bringing it about?

• Sophocles wrote for a city proud of the democracy it had invented - the first ever in history. Less than a hundred years earlier, Athens was ruled by a tyrant. How does Sophocles use the figure of Oedipus to dramatize the excesses of the tyant's rule? How does Oedipus' downfall complete the picture.

• How is this play in honor of the god Dionysus?

Study Guide - Oedipus at Colonus

Names:Antigone Ismene TheseusCreon Polyneices ColonusAttica Furies EumenidesEteocles

• Does the Oedipus at Colonus present the catastrophe that befell Oedipus in a different light than did the Oedipus the King? How does Oedipus himself look back on those events? Where does he place the blame? Does the play present a different perspective on the roles of fate and free will in human endeavors?

• Oedipus was "wise" beyond all others in the Oedipus the King, but his intelligence - his desire to lay bare the truth about himself - leads to his downfall. Is Oedipus still "wise" in the Oedipus at Colonus? If so, how is his wisdom different than before? What has he learned from the disaster that befell him?

• How do Creon and Polyneices remind you of the "old" Oedipus? Why does Oedipus curse them?

• Why is Demeter's grove outside Athens a suitable place for Oedipus' end? Why is his death there such a benefit to Athens? What do you think Sophocles, the Athenian, might have been saying to his countrymen by having this defiled, rotting old man find his final resting place in their own city.

• What sort of death does Oedipus experience? What view of death does the play as a whole present?