Susan Sandul

Carleton University, 2019

Why study the gods of mythology?

Why have they endured?

How do they relate to me?

References:Classical Mythology, 11th ed. (2019),

Mark P.O Morford and Robert J. Lenardon (Oxford University Press)

Goddesses in Everywoman (rev. ed. 2004), and Gods in Everyman (1989), Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. (Harper)

Stereotypes: printing term; fixed, formalized mental impression

Symbols: regarded by general consent as naturally typifying , representing, recalling or evoking something, (esp. idea or quality) by possession of analogous qualities or by association with it

Aniela Jaffé: “The symbol is an object of the known expressing the life and sense of the inexpressible.”

Archetypes: Universal patterns or motifs which come from the collective unconscious and are the basic content of religions, mythologies, legends, fairy-tales and dreams.

Mythos: word, speech, tale, story

Myths: Stories about the gods and human beings’ relation to them

‘A classical myth is a story that, through its classical form, has attained a kind of immortality because its inherent archetypal beauty, profundity, and power have inspired rewarding renewal and transformation by successive generations.’

Classical Mythology, 7th edition

M. Morford and R. Lenardon

Literary sources Homer – The Iliad and The Odyssey (8th c. BCE)

Hesiod – Theogony, Works and Days (8th c. BCE)

Homeric Hymns (8th –4th c. BCE)

Tragedians of 5th c. BCE: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

Pindar – Odes (5th c. BCE)

Historians – Herodotus, Thucydides (5th c. BCE)

Apollonius of Rhodes – The Argonautica (3rd c. BCE)

Virgil – The Aeneid (1st c. BCE)

Ovid – Metamorphoses (8 CE)

Apollodorus – Bibliotecha (ca. 120 CE)

Cult beliefs and practices:polytheistic; patron gods of polis

gods ‘embedded’ and interconnected

gods to be respected, honoured

public and communal worship, festivals

sacrifices , offerings at shrines and temples

syncretism, myths dynamic, oral tradition

non-hierarchical

Greek Goddesses Hera (Juno) Queen of the Heavens

Artemis (Diana) Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt

Athena (Minerva) Goddess of War, Crafts and Wisdom

Hestia (Vesta) Goddess of the Hearth

Aphrodite (Venus) Goddess of Love

Demeter (Ceres) Mother Goddess of the Grain

Persephone (Proserpine) Kore, Queen of the Underworld

Greek Gods Zeus, (Jupiter) King of the Heavens

Poseidon (Neptune) God of the Sea

Hades (Pluto) God of the Underworld

Apollo, God of the Sun and Prophecy

Hermes (Mercury) Messenger God

Ares (Mars) God of War

Hephaestus (Vulcan) God of the Forge

Dionysus (Bacchus) God of Wine and Ecstasy

Bronze to Iron Ages (3000-800 BCE)

Minoan civilization (3650-1450 BCE)

Mycenean civilization (1600-1100 BCE)

Greek writing – Linear A and Linear B

worshipped sky-god Zeus

Trojan War (ca 1184 BCE)

Archaic Period (800-480 BCE) trade from the East and colonization

‘orientalizing’

city-states and great sanctuaries

Greek alphabet

Homer’s Iliad, Odyssey; Hesiod’s Theogony

Olympic Games 776 BCE

Classical period (480-323 BCE)Persian Wars (480-323 BCE)

polis or city-state, democracy

‘golden age’ of Pericles (463-429 BCE)

Pan-Hellenic Games

Parthenon, theatre, art, science, philosophy

Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE)

Rise of Macedonian Empire and Hellenistic Age (400-323 BCE)

Philip II unifies Greece

Alexander the Great defeats Persians and creates an empire

spread of Greek culture East

death of Alexander (323 BCE) splits empire

Rome conquers Macedonia (168 BCE)

Roman conquest (146 BCE - )destruction of Corinth, annexation of

Greece as a province (146 BCE)

golden age of Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE)

Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses

emperors admire Greek culture

Constantine first Christian emperor

polytheistic worship outlawed (380 CE)

Olympian genealogy

Gaia and Uranus

[Aphrodite]

Rhea and Cronus (Titans)

Demeter, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia (offspring of Rhea and Cronus)

Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Persephone, Athena, Ares, Hephaestus,

[Aphrodite] (offspring of Zeus)