Classical%20Mythology:%20An%20Introduction%20http://www.sfu.ca/personal/dmirhady/102.htm

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Classical MythologyAn Introductionhttp//www.sf
u.ca/personal/dmirhady/102.htm

• David Mirhady
• Simon Fraser University

2010-1
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Instructor Dr. David Mirhady AQ 5127
778-782-3906 dmirhady_at_sfu.ca Office Hours by
appointment Tutorial D101 1030 WMC 2533
Teaching Assistants Dylan van der Schyff D103,
D104, D105 dva5_at_sfu.ca Office Hour F 1030-1130
AQ5126 778-782-5378 Bill Dow D102, D104, D105
william_dow_at_sfu.ca Office Hour F 1130-1230
AQ5126 778-782-5378
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This course will focus on the stories that the
people of the classical world told to entertain
each other, to explain the nature of their world
and its institutions, to reflect on current
challenges, and to preserve a memory of their
distant past. It was thus an almost pervasive
vehicle for communication, a sort of language.
Because classical mythology is so thoroughly
anthropo/morph/ic, it has also raised questions
about the nature of the human condition that have
led people to return to its stories continually
since antiquity. While keeping aware of our
own, modern perspective, our goal in this course
is to begin to master and appreciate these
stories and the role they played in the culture
that produced them.Following a university
initiative to give greater emphasis to writing
skills in the undergraduate curriculum, this
course will also emphasize writing skills and the
use of writing as a vehicle for learning.
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• Grading Tutorial Participation 10
• Four Papers 60
• Mid-term Quiz 10
• Final Exam 20

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For every tutorial meeting, students will be
expected to have done the required readings and
to be able to participate in discussion about the
assigned topics. Grades for tutorial
participation rely on the following factors
presence, constructive oral discussion, and
reading preparation. (In order to be
constructive, discussion must shed some light on
the texts.) Each student must hand in four
450-500-word prepared papers. The papers must
address the topics each week and be handed in at
the lectures the day the material is being
discussed (keep a copy for yourself). The
mid-term (25 minutes March 5th) will have
multiple-choice questions based on the readings
and lectures. The final exam (90 minutes/April
22, 830-1000AM) will have both multiple-choice
and essay questions.
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Homer, The Iliad, trans. Fagles.Homer, The
Odyssey, trans. Fagles.Greek Tragedy Vol. 1.
University of Chicago Press. ISBN
978-0-226-30790-5Ovid, Metamorphoses. Oxford
Worlds Classics. ISBN 019283472XGreek Tragedy
Vol. 3. University of Chicago Press. ISBN
0226307905. Texts can also be found at
http//www.perseus.tufts.edu
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Goals of the Writing Assignments To have you
engage in historia (research) and come to your
own, independent view about some aspect of
classical mythology. To have you learn some of
the basic strategies of academic writing,
especially in the humanities. In this course,
we'll work on two forms of writing, 1) a
narrative synopsis, and 2) an argumentative
essay. To allow you to work through the
material in such a way that you may appropriate
it, i.e. make it your own (and remember it for
the exams). To have you come to the tutorials
with a position on the material already staked
out. (Those who have written on the assignment
on any given day are expected to be able to speak
for up to five minutes that may form part of the
paper's evaluation.) To have you develop your
writing skills. (If there are too many
mechanical errors, you will be asked to correct
and resubmit your paper in order to get a
mark.) To have you work out some preliminary
thoughts about a subject that you may want to
take up in a more elaborate way in a senior
course. This paper can form what we call an
abstract for your future essay.
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Procedure for Paper 1Write a synopsis of one
of the books of the Iliad that we are not reading
together for class. Follow the guidelines. Use
the rosters circulated in the tutorials to avoid
overlap.Do all of the assigned reading and
take note of whatever is relevant to the plot of
the story.Assume that your reader is another
student in the class who has done the reading but
has not had time to make a detailed record of the
story. Use the present tense
throughout.Decide on a single term for each
character and stick with it. Ignore epithets,
including patronymics. Make sure to include all
relevant names, places, and actions. Do not
quote. Keep the paper within 500 words.
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Mechanics (for all papers) Put all identifying
information (e.g. your name, the date) on one
line at the top of the first page. Do not use a
title page. Do not bother with a title. (For
the synopsis, do indicate which book you are
summarizing.) For any specific or disputable
information or a quotation, cite your source.
Since these are very short papers, do not use
footnotes. For instance, if you use Homer for
specific information, write (Il. 1.48) at the end
of the sentence before the period to indicate
that your information stems from the Iliad, book
one, line 48. (Subsequent citations of the Iliad
can omit the "Il.".) Do not bother with a
bibliography. Consider information gleaned from
footnotes in your texts as background
information. It can save you from errors, but it
should not play an active role in your papers.
The same is true of class lectures. That is,
neither the footnotes nor the lectures should
ever be cited. If specific information cannot be
grounded on our texts themselves, it should not
appear in your papers. Check the mechanics of
your paper thoroughly for grammatical errors,
spelling, and typographical mistakes. It is even
better to ask a classmate to proofread your paper
once you have done so. Feel free to pencil in
changes on your typescript. The most common
errors are comma splices, dangling modifiers, and
confusions between its and its. Be aware
that I tolerate split infinitives with
difficulty. Double space and use standard
margins, font (e.g. Times), and font size, that
is, 12 point.
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Caveats When referring to events in a story
that is in a text under discussion, use the
present tense even if the text narrates them in
the past tense. Avoid saying much about the
modern world. You may briefly illustrate a point
by mentioning a modern parallel, but remember
that you are writing about classical mythology
and its context. We are not interested in your
views about the modern world (at least, not for
this course). Write nothing about yourself or
your opinions it wastes space. I know that what
Im reading represents your thoughts. Instead of
writing in my opinion, write something like it
appears that if you want to qualify a statement
you are unsure of. Better yet, explain why the
statement needs to be qualified. Avoid trite
conclusions such as those that claim that the
classical world and the modern world are
similar. Avoid colloquialisms, slang, and
contractions. Although you are writing as if to
your classmates, keep a formal distance.Late
papers 5 if not handed in at the lecture, 10
if not handed in that day.
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The spellings of classical names vary in this
course as they do in our language in general.
You need to get used to this fact. Some
spellings are influenced by the literary
transmission through Latin, while others attempt
to transliterate Greek spellings directly. You
dont want to bother with all the details, and
you can certainly use in your writing any
spelling that appears in our course material. As
rules of thumb, remember that C K
(Kastor/Castor), OI OE (Oidipous/Oedipus), AI
AE (Aiskhylos/Aeschylus), and OS US
(Ouranos/Uranus).AbbreviationsAen. AeneidEum.
EumenidesPhil. PhiloctetesBacch. BacchaeIl.
Iliad (e.g. Il. 6.25 Iliad book 6 line
25)Met. MetamorphosesOd. OdysseyAlc.
AlcestisOC Oedipus at Colonus
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What is Classical Myth/o/logy?

• classis - (Latin) a class, i.e. the first class
• mythos - word, story, plot, speech, traditional
  story
• logos - telling (doxo-), study (socio-),
  selection (antho-), language (philo-),
  computation (astro-)

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Plato, The Republic382d And also in the
mythologies of which we were just now speaking,
owing to our ignorance of the truth about
antiquity, we liken the false to the true as far
as we may and so make it useful.394b-c There
is one kind of poetry and mythology that works
wholly through imitation (mimesis), as you
remarked, tragedy and comedy and another which
employs the recital of the poet himself (epic and
lyric).
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• divine myths - superior, nature, conflict,
  abstractions, anthropomorphism, etiology (aition)
• legends (sagas) - analogous to history, nobility,
  heroes
• folktales - ordinary people, for entertainment
  and instruction of children, motifs, types,
  magic, monsters
• nb in this course we do not treat any folktales
  per se

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Theories of Myth

• All myths are the result of the working of naive
  imagination upon the facts of experience. (Rose
  1928)
• All myths are etiological, explaining the origin
  of some fact or custom. (Lang 1884) (aition)
• -all myths are nature myths referring to
  meteorological and cosmological phenomena.
  (Müller 1856) - linguistic
• -all myths are charters of social customs and
  beliefs. (Malinowski 1926) - anthropological
• -all myths serve to re-establish the era in
  which the pattern of society was created.
  (Eliade 1963) hierophany

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• True myth is the reduction to narrative shorthand
  of ritual mime performed in public festivals.
  (Graves 1955) - ritualist
• All myths provide us with absolutes in the place
  of ephemeral values. (Kowlakowski 1972) -
  didactic
• All myths reflect waking peoples efforts to
  systematize the incoherent visions and impulses
  of their sleep world. (Freud/Jung 1920s) -
  psychological/psychoanalytical

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• All myths are derived ultimately from the bipolar
  structure of the mind. (Lévi-Strauss 1962) -
  structuralist
• All myths contain a basic, identical structure of
  linear functions called motifemes. (Propp 1928)
• In all myths, the gods were men deified for their
  great deeds. (Euhemerus c. 300 B.C.) -
  Euhemerism
• Myth is a traditional tale with secondary,
  partial reference to something of collective
  importance. (Burkert 1979)

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Our Sources

• Herodotus 2.53 (c. 430 BC) Where each of the
  gods came from and whether they all existed
  always and of what sort they were in appearance,
  the Greeks did not know until yesterday or the
  day before, so to speak. For I think that Homer
  and Hesiod lived four hundred years before my
  time. These are the ones who created a theogony
  for the Greeks and gave the gods their names and
  distinguished their honors and arts and indicated
  their appearances.
• Xenophanes (c. 550 BC) Homer and Hesiod have
  attributed to the gods everything that is
  discreditable among men - thieving, adultery,
  deceiving one another.

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• 3000-1600 Early/Middle Minoan Age
• 1600-1200 Late Helladic/Minoan/Hittite Age,
  a.k.a. Mycenaean Age
• 1200-800 Dark Ages
• 800-480 Archaic Period
• 480-323 Classical Period
• 323-31 Hellenistic Period
• c.500-27 BC Republican Rome
• 27 BC-AD 476 Imperial Rome

Rome
Troy
Peloponnesus
Crete
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• Epic
• Homer before 700 B.C., Iliad, Odyssey (Trojan
  Cycle)
• Hesiod c. 700 B.C., Theogony, Works and Days
• Homeric Hymns
• Choral
• Pindar 518-438, Epinician Odes (Olympian, Nemean,
  Pythian, Isthmian)
• Tragedy
• Aeschylus 524-456
• Sophocles 496-406
• Euripides 485-406

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• Comedy
• Aristophanes c. 450-387
• Philosophy
• Plato 428-348
• Hellenistic Epic
• Apollonius of Rhodes c. 260, Argonautica
• Roman Epic
• Virgil 70-19, Aeneid
• Ovid 43 BC- AD 17, Metamorphoses
• Late Apollodorus AD 120, Bibliotheca

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The Olympians (epithets, patronymics,
euphemisms) Zeus, Poseidon, (Hades), Hera,
Demeter, (Hestia)Athena, Apollo, Artemis,
Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Aphrodite,
DionysusParthenon, West Pediment
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Zeus - Jupiter HH 23 I will sing of Zeus, best
among the gods and greatest, all-seeing, the lord
of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of
wisdom to Themis as she sits leaning towards
him. Be gracious, all-seeing son of Cronos,
most excellent and great!

• sky, cloud-gatherer
• lightning (epiphany, kataibatês), aegis
• eagle, bull, oak
• Crete, Olympia
• liberator, oaths, xenia,
• sexual potency, father of gods and men
• fate (moira or aisa) and judge, justice, kings
• Metis, Themis, Demeter, Memory, dios

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Poseidon - Neptune HH 22 I begin to sing about
Poseidon, great god, shaker of earth and
fruitless sea, god of the deep who is also lord
of Helicon and wide Aegae. A two-fold office the
gods allotted you, O Shaker of the Earth, 5 to
be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships!
Hail, Poseidon, earth-holder, dark-haired lord! O
blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those
who voyage in ships!

• potei - lord,
• Pylos, Troizen,
• Athens and Erechtheus, Amphitrite,
• Homeric sea-god, earth shaker,
• horse-tamer,
• trident, Triton

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Hades - Pluto HH 2.18-19 The lord, Host of
Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon
her the Son of Cronos, He who has many
names.83-7 Aidoneus, the Ruler of Many, is no
unfitting husband among the deathless gods for
your child, being your own brother and born of
the same stock also, for honor, he has that
third share which he received when division was
made at the first, and is appointed lord of those
among whom he dwells.

• invisible, a-(v)ide
• host of many,
• husband of Persephone,
• Chthonian, Elysium and Tartarus
• For three brethren are we, begotten of Cronos,
  and born of Rhea, Zeus, and myself, and the
  third is Hades, that is lord of the dead below.
  And in three-fold wise are all things divided,
  and to each has been apportioned his own domain.
  190 I verily, when the lots were shaken, won
  for my portion the grey sea to be my habitation
  for ever, and Hades won the murky darkness, while
  Zeus won the broad heaven amid the air and the
  clouds but the earth and high Olympus remain yet
  common to us all. (Il. 15. 187-93)

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Hera - Juno HH 12 I sing of golden-throned Hera
whom Rhea bore. Queen of the immortals,
surpassing all in beauty she is the sister and
the wife of loud-thundering Zeus, the glorious
one whom all the blessed throughout high Olympus
5 revere and honor even as they do Zeus who
delights in thunder.

• hora ripe for marriage?, fem. of hero ?
• Argos and Samos
• cow-eyed, peacock
• sacred marriage, hieros gamos, motherhood?
• Hebe, Ares, Hephaestus
• Eileithyia corruption of Eleuthyia, the
  Coming

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Demeter - CeresHH 13 I begin to sing of
rich-haired Demeter, revered goddess, of her and
of her daughter lovely Persephone. Hail,
goddess! Keep this city safe, and govern my song.

• Demeter and Persephone
• treated together
• mother and daughter (kore)
• Da/mater Dorian
• Eleusis, grain

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Hestia - VestaHH 24 Hestia, you who tend the
holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at
goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from
your locks, come now into this house, come,
having one mind 5 with Zeus the all-wise
draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.

• Delphi has the communal hearth of all of Greece
• hearth, virgin, tended by daughters
• sacred fire, hearth of home and public buildings
• first and last born of Rhea
• stay at home
• symbol of a family line
• libation
• replaced as non-anthropomorphic

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Athena - Minerva HH 11 Of Pallas Athena,
guardian of the city, I begin to sing. Dread is
she, and with Ares she loves deeds of war, the
sack of cities and the shouting and the battle.
It is she who saves the people as they go out to
war and come back.

• Pallas of Athens, Polias, parthenos, heroes
• aegis, owl, grey/green eyed, military, crafts,
  olive tree
• Zeus and Metis, Panathenaia
• HH 28 I begin to sing of Pallas Athena, the
  glorious goddess, bright-eyed, inventive,
  unbending of heart, pure virgin, saviour of
  cities, courageous, Tritogeneia. Wise Zeus
  himself bore her 5 from his awful head, arrayed
  in warlike arms of flashing gold, and awe seized
  all the gods as they gazed. But Athena sprang
  quickly from the immortal head and stood before
  Zeus who holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear.
  . . the bright Son of Hyperion stopped his
  swift-footed horses a long while, until the
  maiden Pallas Athena 15 had stripped the
  heavenly armour from her immortal shoulders. And
  wise Zeus was glad.

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Ares - Mars HH 8 Ares, exceeding in strength,
chariot-rider, golden-helmeted, strong in spirit,
shield-bearer, saviour of cities, harnessed in
bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with
the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of
warlike Victory, ally of Themis, 5 stern
governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous
men, sceptred king of manliness, who whirl your
fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold
courses through the aether where your blazing
steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of
heaven hear me, helper of men, giver of
dauntless youth! 10 Shed down a kindly ray from
above upon my life, and strength of war, that I
may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from
my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of
my soul.

• Restrain also the keen fury of my heart. which
  provokes me to tread 15 the ways of
  blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one,
  give me boldness to abide within the harmless
  laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the
  violent fiends of death.
• Thracian, Aretê
• Aphrodite as cult-partner, wolf
• Il. 5. 888 Dont sit by me and whine, you
  renegade. 890 Most hateful to me art you of all
  gods that hold Olympus, for ever is strife dear
  to you and wars and fighting. You have the
  unbearable, unyielding spirit of your mother,
  Hera her can I scarce control by my words.

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Hephaestus - VulcanHH 20 Sing, clear-voiced
Muse, of Hephaestus famed for inventions. With
bright-eyed Athena he taught men glorious crafts
throughout the world, men who before used to
dwell in caves in the mountains like wild beasts.
5 But now that they have learned crafts through
Hephaestus the famed worker, easily they live a
peaceful life in their own houses the whole year
round. Be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me
success and prosperity!

• non-Greek name, Lemnos
• smith, workshop
• accompanied by Cyclopes connection to Athena and
  Athens
• Hephaesteum
• lame
• connection to poet
• Fire
• volcano

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Artemis - Diana And Leto was joined in love with
Zeus who holds the aegis, 920 and bore Apollo
and Artemis delighting in arrows, children lovely
above all the sons of Heaven.
Homeric adolescent woman potnia therôn deer,
bear Moon - Selene, Hecate golden arrows -
shafts of woe, sudden death of girls virgin but
not asexual, hunt Brauron, kourotrophos
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Apollo - ApolloHH 21 Phoebus, of you even the
swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his
wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying
river Peneios and of you the sweet-tongued
singer, holding his high-pitched lyre, always
sings both first and last.
kouros apellai initiation festival poetry as
unifier, poets god bow - lyre Ionians healer
and destroyer sun god , Phoebus antithesis to
Dionysus, sôphrosynê Laurel, Daphne Delphi,
prophecy
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Hermes - Mercury herma, heap of stones, bearded
head liminal, herm, ithyphallic,
apotropaic, hermeneutic bringer of luck - guide
of souls (psychopompus) HH 18 I sing of
Cyllenian Hermes, the Slayer of Argus, lord of
Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, luck-bringing
messenger of the deathless gods. He was born of
Maia, the daughter of Atlas, when she had mated
with Zeus, 5 a shy goddess she. Ever she
avoided the throng of the blessed gods and lived
in a shadowy cave, and there the Son of Cronos
used to lie with the rich-tressed nymph at dead
of night, while white-armed Hera lay bound in
sweet sleep and neither deathless god nor mortal
man knew it. 10 And so hail to you, Son of Zeus
and Maia with you I have begun now I will turn
to another song! Hail, Hermes, giver of grace,
guide, and giver of good things!
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idealization of youth Argeiphontes (Slayer of
Argos). Messenger, winged boots, hat petasos,
kerykeion (heralds staff) a.k.a caduceus
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Aphrodite - Venus HH 6 I will sing of stately
Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose
dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set
Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western
wind wafted her over the waves of the
loud-moaning sea 5 in soft foam, and there the
gold-filleted Horai welcomed her joyously. They
clothed her with heavenly garments on her head
they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and
in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of copper
and precious gold, 10 and adorned her with
golden necklaces over her soft neck and
snow-white breasts, jewels which the
gold-filleted Horai wear themselves whenever they
go to their father's house to join the lovely
dances of the gods. And when they had fully
decked her, 15 they brought her to the gods,
who welcomed her when they saw her, giving her
their hands. Each one of them prayed that he
might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so
greatly were they amazed at the beauty of
violet-crowned Cytherea. Hail,
sweetly-winning, coy-eyed goddess! Grant that I
may gain the victory in this contest, 20 and
order you my song. And now I will remember you
and another song also.
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Dionysus - Bacchus - Bromius - Liber HH 26 I
begin to sing of ivy-crowned Dionysus, the
loud-crying god, splendid son of Zeus and
glorious Semele. The rich-haired Nymphs received
him in their bosoms from the lord his father and
fostered and nurtured him carefully 5 in the
dells of Nysa, where by the will of his father he
grew up in a sweet-smelling cave, being reckoned
among the immortals. But when the goddesses had
brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he
to wander continually through the woody coombes,
thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the
Nymphs followed in his train 10 with him for
their leader and the boundless forest was filled
with their outcry. And so hail to you,
Dionysus, god of abundant clusters!
wine, ecstasia, enthousiasmos merging of votary
and god Zeus (Dios), Semele, Cadmus of Thebes,
phallus latecomer to Olympian
pantheon vegetation Maenads, mania, Bacchae,
goat, lion,