GREEK AND ROMAN

MYTH

Background – Greek Civilization

–Minoan (Crete) 2200-1450 BC

–Mycenean 1450-1100 BC (“good old days”)

–Dark Ages (no record) 1100-700 BC

–Homer, Hesiod 800-700 (beg. of writing)

–Greek Drama 500-400 (height of Gr. Civ.)

Background -Roman Civilization

• Roman Civilization - 200 BC-300 AD

• Christianity - 300 AD

Greek Cosmogony/Cosmology

Greek Mythology

• Begins Orally• Heavily borrowed from earlier nearby cultures—

esp. Sumerian and Egyptian• Separate City-States, Islands, geography leads to

fragmentary, overlapping stories• First written in Homer, Hesiod 800-700BC• Most Important Characteristic: HUMANISM

– “The Greek Miracle”– “Anthropomorphic”

Greek Creation Stories

• Hesiod, “Theogony”

• Greek Deity Family Tree (handout)

Botticelli – “Birth of Venus”

The Original Dysfunctional

Family –

Goya - “Saturn Devouring His

Son”

Zeus – The Ultimate Pick-up Artist?

Da Vinci, “Leda and the Swan”

“Rape of Europa” - Titian

Greek Gods and Their Human Characteristics

• What are the primary attributes/personality traits of the major gods?

• How many of these could be seen as human failures/fallible behavior?

• Discuss: compare Greek creation story and Greek Gods with their fallible, human characteristics to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Monotheism and notion of God’s perfection– “How does one worship a fallible god?”– “What different attitudes of worship and religious belief

might result from such different Deities?”

Rubens - “The Judgment of Paris”

Breughels – “The Fall of Icarus”