Format: Same as Exam 1, see previous study guide

Study Carpenter images marked below with C, and all images attached to the syllabus on the web.
Topics for Study: Know something about each of these items. This is NOT meant as a replacement for your notes or complete reading of texts. Every subject that may be asked will not necessarily appear here. This is merely and outline of names and concepts mentioned in class and read at home.

Study Carpenter images marked below with C, and all images attached to the syllabus on the web.
Topics for Study: Know something about each of these items. This is NOT meant as a replacement for your notes or complete reading of texts. Every subject that may be asked will not necessarily appear here. This is merely an outline of names and concepts mentioned in class and read at home. I have tried to be more detailed on material that I spent less time on in class so that you have a clearer picture of the order of events for these heroes and their lives.

KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT EACH OF THE FOLLOWING:
Underworld (Hades, Erebus, Tartarus) - Hades (god), Aidoneus (unseen one) (Rom - Pluto, Dis), the many named one - why?, chthonian Zeus NOT SATAN black rooster, black horses, parsley
Plutus - wealth, esp. agricultural - w/ Demeter (C120), same or different god from Hades? look at end of HH to Demeter where Plutus is Demeter's son
Hymn to Demeter #2 - Demeter "mother goddess - earth mother" (Rom- Ceres) = ripe grain

Eleusinian Mysteries (Eleusis, near Athens) - 9 days, know ritual events recorded in Hymn - special drink, jokes, fasting and no bathing, varying degrees of mysteries, most universal Greek cult - slaves, women, foreigners included
Persephone, Kore (the maiden) (Rom-Proserpina) = budding plants - rape by Hades (C121)
Persephone + Demeter = the two goddesses
Hymn as nature myth, what phenomena explained? note also the dual purpose of the hymn story of Persephone's kidnapping surrounds the story of Demeter's wandering to Eleusis where she tries to immortalize Demophoon
Other characters in Hymn: Metaneira (queen), Demophoön (infant son), Iambe (joke-telling slave), Triptolemus (barely mentioned at end, human who received knowledge of agriculture from Demeter see C 41, 42
be aware of the part the gods (Zeus and Hades) had in the story vs. the role of the 2 goddesses - note the difference in the cycle of seasons, pomegranate, mortality vs. immortality

Other Underworld characters - Charon - ferryman, river - Styx (oaths of the god's sworn by it), Judges - Minos, Aeacus

Please look at the underworld map linked on the website to give yourself a visual of the divide between the just and the sinners
See Pindar Olympian Ode 2 starting at line 15 - life is full of rises and falls in fortune, Pindar shows how this is true for the royal family of Thebes - the family from which the athlete honored in this ode claimed he was descended, note how around line 50, the athletic hero becomes a model of rise and fall in fortune - wealth also comes and goes ESP. note the divide between the reckless souls judged for wickedness and the end result for the good at the island of the blessed where the heroes are rewarded

Elysian Fields, Isles of Blessed for best heroes, Tartarus for worst sinners
Classic list of punished-Ovid, p. 235 - know their punishments: Ixion (C132), Sisyphus(C129), Danaids (daughters of Belus), Tityus, Tantalus
Furies (Erinyes) - avengers of blood guilt; Greek concept of Underworld? good, bad, neither?

Orpheus and Eurydice - conquest of Death,
nature worship in barbaric Thrace, Orpheus' ultimate failure in returning his wife is an admission of man's mortality, but he turns to the opposite extremes of life - cult with male homosexuality, peaceful nature, music, vegetarians
Death by Maenads - Bacchus avenges him in Ovid, but in another version Dionysus orders attack - note how Orpheus matches several key components of the Greek hero tales

Heracles(Hercules) "glory of Hera," why is his name ironic? having a deity's name as part of his name indicates that he is definitely mortal; ultimate universal Greek hero, but not Greek ideal of physique; club and lionskin symbols; Explain how Heracles' myths show he is a universal hero not just a hero of one Greek city or community
Birth - family from Tiryns (city dominated by Argos), but born in Thebes - where his step-father Amphitryon was in exile
See Pindar Nemean 1 - start at line 34 "I cling to the theme of Heracles - and follow the reading to the end, mostly emphasizes the birth story (see also Carpenter's text), notice the role of Teiresias the famous prophet from Thebes - see Teiresias' overview of Heracles' life ending in deification
see also Alcmena's feminine perspective on the event in Ovid where she emphasizes Juno's contribution to Alcmena's delayed labor, role of maid Galanthis and her metamorphosis

Amphitryon and Alcmena/Alkmene - Zeus slipped in on same night so twin Iphikles was mortal, Heracles a demi-god (half mortal); snakes sent by Hera (C 168)
Notice comic version of Zeus and Hermes coming to Alcmena - Zeus came in disguise of her actual husband causing confusion
Temper early on - Linus music teacher (C 171); marries Megara daughter of Creon of Thebes, driven mad by Hera and kills whole family (C 172) or just children

Serves cousin Eurystheus, king of Argos or Tiryns (oracle-a great king will be born this day, Hera rushes Eurystheus' birth, slows Heracles')
12 labors - know all metopes C173 in order of occurrence, and pictures of each labor that follow in Carpenter (here I list only the place names and foreign names, not the nature of the beasts themselves
Nemean, Lernaian hydra, Kerynian, Erymanthian, Augeus, Stymphalian, Cretan, Diomedes (Thracian), Amazons, Geryon, Hesperides, Kerberos(Cerberus)
role of Iolaos (nephew) C 178-180, 6 local Peloponnesian labors, 3 within or just on edge of Greek known world - south north east, 3 in far west, why?
2 versions of Hesperides - Atlas gets apples, Heracles kills serpent
C214 - Heracles challenges Hades directly, but not in all versions of labor 12

on way to Hesperides (evening daughters) wrestle w/ Antaios son of Gaia C206, Busiris, human sacrificing king of Egypt C207

Nessus steals Deianeira - see OVID - note the role of the Hydra's blood in Heracles' final death, notice his death speech which runs like a resume of less painful tasks(C224, 226) cloak (C228), hurls self on pyre - subordinate roles of Lichas and Philoctetes
Becomes a god (apotheosis) (Homeric Hymn), marries Hebe, goddess of youth, worshipped as god and hero - esp. note how much of the hymn is devoted to the man and his labors for Eurystheus

Compare and contrast Samson with Greek heroes - also note the strength in hair subject reappearing with king Nisus, Philistine enemies of Israel were Mycenaean Greeks, so likely that Greek stories and Jewish stories were being interchanged - note the cultural exchange Samson does with Philistines until they wrong him

Meleager    Calydon    Artemis/Diana       Atalanta, Jason, Theseus, Nestor + others compare Argo journey -note how Ovid pulls all these heroes together, but most are ineffective, special notice of Atalanta and Meleager - compare C 284 where Atalanta is with another guy with similar name
    Althaea    sons of Thestius - her struggle with self about loyalties to different family members, brand of Meleager, end result for Meleager and Althaea

Bellerophon - Pegasus, Chimera - see both poems of Pindar - esp. notice how only the heroic deeds are mentioned in Olympian 13, while death is passed over - notice the city the athlete is from, then read the end passage of Isthmian 7 which explains why he needed to pass over death in the other ode - notice how Athena's help is mentioned, the prominent role of Corinth in Olympian 13 - notice Sisyphus and Medea mentioned
See Carpenter on his dealing with Stheneboia and Proitos king of Argos - Potiphar's wife theme from story of biblical Joseph in Egypt

Jason and the Argonauts - quest for all Greece, everybody was there from generation before Trojan War, Heracles (left early), Orpheus, Theseus (sometimes included), Gemini (Dioskouroi) = Castor and Pollux/Polydeuces

Pelias vs Aeson in Iolkos "beware the man with one sandal" Jason, son of Aeson, golden fleece in Colchis or Aea - Eastern end of world (land of children of Helios, Sun)  Medea and brother Absyrtos, father Aeetes;
Medea's battle with self over going with Jason or loyalty to father and homeland, uses magic to help Jason with fire-breathing bulls (know this entire episode)
Return to Iolkos - Jason's request for father Aeson and Medea's angry response, trouble w/ Pelias, Medea's youth potion C280, Pelias' daughters, she and Jason go to Creon of Corinth -trouble there

Euripides Medea -know all characters and order of Medea's meetings with them onstage
Consider Medea as barbarian woman, vengeful wife, strong woman; consider Jason as hero, villain, weakling, Greek male vs. barbarian female - Consider purpose of each character in Medea's plans
Jason died by Argo's bow failing on head
Medea to Aegeus king of Athens C283 - see also Ovid p. 166-7

Theseus - SEE CARPENTER TEXT know roles of Aegeus (father), Aethra (mother) and Poseidon (god of sea) in his birth story

sword and sandals under rock C235; adventures on way to Athens: C236-241, Periphetes (club), Sinis, sow of Krommyon and Phaia, Skiron, Prokrustes, Kerkyon,- some of these were local heroes absorbed into Athens and so their myths  become part of Theseus, Athenian hero, note places where he imitates actions of Heracles in particular

Appears to Aegeus and Medea C243; bull of Marathon, same as Heracles' bull C 242, Medea stopped, Theseus agrees to go as sacrifice to Crete - Aegeus and the black/white sails - see Carpenter

Adventure on Crete - Europa, mother of Minos; Minos and Pasiphae, Minotaur C245-247(bull cult)) - Piccasso's minotaur
Nisus and Scylla - background for a just Minos or maybe not so just - role of woman beset by a passion she cannot control, note her justifications for destroying her father and Minos' reaction - what did she and Nisus' become?

Daedalus (Athenian captive-name means skilled, crafty), Icarus (know also Perdix = partridge); Know Brueghel's painting and Auden's and Williams' poems about it, know how the painting and poems match Ovid and how they differ from it
Daedalus' creations - wings, Pasiphae's cow costume, labyrinth, tools of Perdix, Ariadne's string - think about how the flight story is explained and shown to be superhuman by Ovid's ending on the story of Perdix the nephew

Ariadne helps him w/ labyrinth (cf. palace plan of Knossos in Crete - intricate palaces as possible inspiration for visiting Greeks interpreting as a labyrinth; Minoan civilization), kills Minotaur, goes with Ariadne, left her on Naxos, picked up by Dionysus C249; Note Plutarch's comments on embarassment this caused Athens and mythological coverup - also noted that the just Minos was overlooked by tragic writers in favor of the monstrous Minos who would offer Athenian captives to a monster

Theseus fights with Amazons, marries one

Friendship with Pirithous-fight with centaurs at wedding, stealing Helen and Persephone, trapped in Underworld, rescued by Heracles (but not Pirithous) C 126

Theseus returns to Athens an outcast,exiled and killed by a local king in Scyros or slipped off cliff; bones later recovered by Athens and established as a hero monument

Tereus, Procne, Philomela (Pandion king of Athens)- contrast to other lighter views of violence against women, descent into barbarian behavior inspired by location, since Tereus is king of Thrace, though women are Athenians, rape and revenge against son Itys, tapestry

Love Stories - get details, esp. narrative and setting details from Ovid
Pyramus&Thisbe - Babylon, Romeo&Juliet; Baucis&Philemon-Phrygia, two gods appear, as a flood myth; Iphis&Ianthe - Io and Isis involvement, lesbianism, mother's prayers; Pygmalion - statue note inspiration for Pygmalion's infatuation with statue and ideal beauty,; Cinyras and Myrrha - role of nurse, parents of Adonis describe narrative points, literary technique, metamorphoses, role & type of love in each of these
Especially examine when characters look at their problems and try to rationalize passion into something reasonable - Iphis, Cinyras - look at the use of natural and mythological precedents for anti-social behavior

Echo & Narcissus - signs of separate stories originally, interconnections between stories that may have drawn them together, Echo and Juno, Narcissus and the youth, Tiresias' prophecy, Narcissus' long soliloquy and self-destruction, look at similarities and differences between Ovid and Fred Chappell's poem Echo and Narcissus

Vernant on marriage in Greek society - note the major purpose of marriage in classical period, statement on p. 58 of different purposes for courtesans (prostitutes), concubines, and full-fledged wives.;, note that Athens' insistence on "legitimate" marriages comes later (6th century BC) when citizenship issues become a bigger deal, note pp. 62-65 on the less contested distinction between wives and concubines in Homeric period and probably before that - know difference between 'hedna' and 'proix', p. 67, marriage with foreigners 68-69, three very different marriage practices in early Greek world - endogamy, svayamvara, and selection of a wandering alien as son-in-law (see pp. 70-73), these different forms of marriage indicate some social disorder and probably fears - don't worry about example of Odysseus and Penelope yet
 

Essay

Choose from the following 2 essay topics for a 2 page essay or 5 minute oral delivery as recorded on the last exam:

1) Modern conceptions of heroes and the heroic share with and differ from ancient Greek constructions of heroism due to cultural traits, human instincts and ethnic or national values. Choose a modern fictional or historic hero and discuss how he or she exhibits the heroic in ways an ancient Greek might recognize, and how this modern hero is appropriate only to his or her own mdoern context. Do not simply point out similarities and differences, but try to examine what societal or psychological role is filled by these conceptions of heroism shared among individuals in a society or that you find personally heroic. Feel free to separate your ideas of heroism from what you perceive are wider societal views and discuss where you think our ancient sources show that there was a reasonable amount of freedom among ancient storytellers and authors when they constructed heroes.

2) We have now had greater opportunity to read of the roles women played in Greek myth. Although Ovid has been our major source for examining women's reflection on their roles, you can consider any female character we have discussed this term for this question, so Homeric Hymns, plays and other works we have read may serve as sources for this question. Choose a female character whom you think an author has presented as absolutely positive and deserving of respect - be prepared to discuss also how that author has wiped out or omitted negative reference to keep the picture focused; choose a female whom you think the author has portrayed as generally negative and deserving of contempt for her actions - include ways the author could have redeemed the character, but did not; finally write about a female who is observed neutrally - neither wholly good nor evil, and discuss how that woman's picture is intentionally made to be a balance between those psychological opposites. So a total of 3 females as presented in any myths we have read. Try to concentrate on one author's view of these, but you can use material from outside that author as a way of seeing how the author has constructed his character to fit his own needs and purposes.