Introduction to Mythology Background of Greek Mythology Why

Introduction to Mythology Background of Greek Mythology

Why study mythology?

• Myths symbolize human experience and embody the spiritual values of a culture.

§Myths are an important way to understand ourselves and our connection to other people at a time when the welfare of each culture depends on the attitudes and actions of other cultures.

• Although most of the myths were created by people who lived in societies that were much less complex than our own, they address fundamental questions that each thinking person continues to ask:

• Who am I? • What is the nature of the universe in which I live? • How much control do I have over my own life? • What must I do in order to survive? • How can I lead a satisfying life? • How can I balance my own desires with my responsibilities to my family and my community? • How can I reconcile myself to the inevitability of death?

Purpose of Myths

A myth’s serious purpose is to either: • To explain the nature of the universe; • To instruct the members of the community in the attitudes and behavior necessary to function successfully in that particular culture.

• On the other hand, some cultures are interested in the creation • The Heroic myths and epics of a society teach its members the appropriate attitudes, behavior and values of that culture.

Characteristics of Mythology

• Myths usually originate in an ancient oral tradition. • Some explain origins, natural phenomena, and death.

• Others describe the nature and function of divinities; while still others provide models of virtuous behavior by relating the adventures of heroes or the misfortunes of arrogant humans.

• Many myths believe in one or more divine powers who create life and control the direction of the universe.

• The hero myths examine the relationship between the individual’s desires and his responsibilities to the society. • Often the choice is crucial but uncomplicated: whether or not to risk death to save the community. • In spite of their extraordinary abilities no hero is perfect.

Introduction: Greek Art and Literature

• The Greeks are recognized as an exceptional people because of their attainments in literature, sculpture, architecture and philosophy. • No epic poet to compare with Homer, no lyric poet to equal Pindar; no prose aside from the Bible, more poetic than that Plato.

• Of the 4 great tragic poets the world has produced, 3 are Greek; the fourth is Shakespeare. • The history of Greek literature is divided into three periods: Pre-Homeric Age and Homeric Age, Athenian Period and the Period of Decline.

• The Greeks made their gods in their own image. • Greek artists and poets realized how splendid a man could be, straight and swift and strong.

• Man was the fulfillment of their search for beauty. • The Greeks had no wish to create some fantasy shaped in their own minds.

• Between deities and humans there were many differences. • The first was that the deities never suffered from old age or death. • The deities was based not so much on their goodness as on the feeling of deep respect for their incorruptible beauty and unfailing strength.

• The Greeks asked their deities for help in routine prayers and they asked advice and counsel through omens. • The Greeks had shrines, called oracles, where the priests and priestesses interpreted the words of the deities to the people who came to pray for help.

• To the Greeks, prayers followed a formula. • A prayer generally had 3 parts: the Invocation, the Sanction and the Entreaty. • Invocation - the deity was invoked and addressed with titles in the most respectful way

• Sanction – asserts the credentials and services to the deity that make the one praying worthy of the favor of the deity. • Entreaty – the deity is asked to do something or to grant something, an urgent need of the one praying.

• Four Cardinal Virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice and Wisdom. • These 4 virtues represented the 4 aspects of the human being – physical, moral, aesthetic and intellectual.

Qualities of Greek Literature

1. Permanence and Universality • It is read and admired by all nations of the world regardless of race, religion or culture.

2. Essentially Full of Artistry • Greek art is the highest form of classic art. • The Greek mind became the foundation of the literature of the Western world and its masterpieces afford the most splendid examples of artistic beauty and excellence that the world has ever known.

3. Originality • The Greek mind had the supreme power of modifying and improving all that it touched.

4. Diversity of Talent • It was fond of diversity of application. • The Greek mind never rested complacently on any subject; it was ever searching, ever seeking.

5. Intellectual Quality • The Greek mind challenges one to think for some purpose – to bring about some inner transformation.

Homer and His Writings Homer: The Epic Iliad

• The dominant figure of the early age was Homer • Homeric scholars think that homer lived and worked in about 760 B. C. and later • He was called the blind poet of Greece and was also known as “the Poet”

The Homeric Age

• Greek mythology begins with Homer, generally believed to be not earlier than a thousand years before Christ. • The Iliad is the oldest Greek literature and is written by Homer.

Homer & his Writings • 760 B. C. • The Iliad and The Odyssey

• In Homer’s time, the Greeks possessed an elaborate oral tradition. • Successive generations of professionally trained poets, called rhapsodes, learned, taught, and performed a wealth of literary material orally.

• A rhapsode chanted his entertainment to the accompaniment of his lyre.

• Rhapsodes served a far more important purpose as well. • In a culture that had no code of ethics or body of laws, their tales presented standards and goals for living one’s daily life.

Principal Goals • Honor • Glory • • • Prime Values Courage Strength Skill Intelligence Loyalty Respect for all forms of life • Moral responsibility • Hospitality

• Performing The Iliad must have taken between six and ten three-hour sessions and, therefore, was a form of would continue for a three – to four-day period.

Conventions of the Homeric Epics Recognizable Characteristics of the Epic Genre

In Medias Res • A Latin term meaning “into the midst of things” • The epic plunges us into the middle of the action.

Flashbacks • Are used to inform the audience of events that took place before the narratives current time setting.

Stock Epithets • A descriptive adjective or phrase that is repeatedly used with – or in place of – a noun or proper name. • “Andromache of the ivory-white arms” • “the pale-gold goddess Aphrodite”

The Homeric Hero

• The Homeric Hero – The Greek nobility in the Mycenaean Age valued strength & skill, courage & determination.

• The Homeric hero’s goal is to achieve the greatest glory in order to earn the highest honor from his peers, his commander, and from his warrior society.

• In addition, he also knows that his ultimate fate is death. • How well the Homeric hero fights, how heroic his adversary is, and how well he faces death all combine to determine how well he will be remembered and honored.

• Given that suffering & death are inevitable part of the human condition, honor, glory, and lasting fame compensate the Homeric hero for his mortality.

• The highest and most honored prize is called the prize of honor, and in the Iliad this prize is the most attractive, intelligent, and skilled female captive. • Fame is the ultimate honor, for it is the only form of immortality that any mortal can acquire. • Lasting fame places the Homeric hero lower than the gods but higher than ordinary men.

• Public approval is crucial to the Homeric hero’s self – esteem. • Thus the greatest insult one can confer upon the Homeric hero is to withhold the honor he has earned. • The Homeric hero feels dishonored if he does not receive enough wealth or appropriately impressive prizes for his contributions in battle, or he is judged the loser in a competition he thinks he deserve to win.

• Ultimately, every Greek warrior must choose between dying as a hero and dying an obscure or disgraceful death. • Sometimes he must choose between his loyalty and responsibility to the individuals he loves most and the loyalty and responsibility he owes to the larger community.

• The Homeric hero feels the presence or absence of gods. • He often attributes all of his success on the battlefield to them or blames them for his failures.

• However, he accepts the fact that the gods cannot prevent his death when it is his time (fate) to die. • Either way, the Homeric hero brought his fate, which was often death upon himself.

The Genealogy of the Greek Gods & Goddesses Titans and Olympians

Principal Gods • The First Generation • Gaea • Uranus

Second Generation of Gods • • Briares Hecatonchieres Cyclops Titans • • • • Cronus Rhea Hyperion Themis Iapetus Atlas Epimetheus Prometheus Coeus Phoebe Ocean Tethys Mnemosyne

The Third Generation The Olympians • • • Zeus Poseidon Hades Hera Demeter Hestia • • Apollo Artemis Athena Aphrodite Ares Hephaestus Hermes Dionysus

Uranus = Gaea (Heaven) (Earth) Cronus = Rhea Hestia Pluto Hera = Zeus Hephaestus (Hera’s son alone) Ares & Hebe Demeter = Zeus Athena Coeus = Phoebe Ocean = Tethys Leto = Zeus Iapetus Poseidon persephone Apollo & Artemis Prometheus Atlas Epimetheus Maia = Zeus Dione = Zeus Hermes Aprhodite

Homeric Gods Characteristics and Roles

Role of the Greek Gods • The Homeric gods are ageless & immortal, can possess great knowledge of the future, and are influenced by the pleas of one another & prayer of mortals.

• They do not give nor have any moral codes. • They are not all-powerful; thus, mortals can be dignified, morally responsible, and important.

• The Greeks believed that their gods and goddesses played an active role in the affairs of human beings. • Although people are the actual combatants of the war, the gods take sides in the conflict and have a profound effect on its outcome.

• The Homeric gods are not all powerful. • However, the gods may participate in their lives by giving advice, by supplying thoughts and ideas, strength, skill, courage and determination, by causing weapons to hit or miss their mark. • They may appear as their divine selves or they may disguise themselves, depending on the purpose they have in mind.

• The Homeric gods clearly have their favorites among mortals and make an effort to help them. • However, a mortal must earn divine esteem and goodwill by the way he treats both the gods and other mortals. • Their help enhances the heroic stature of those warriors who receive it. • The Homeric gods do not change a mortals personality or fate.

The Iliad

• A long narrative poem which tells the tales of partly human, partly superhuman heroes who embody the highest values of a society and carry a culture’s history, values and traditions.

The Principal Characters • • • The Greeks Achilles Agamemnon Menelaus Helen Nestor Patroclus Ajax Odysseus Calchas • • • The Trojans Priam Hector Andromache Astyanax Paris Deiphobus Cassandra Aeneas Pandarus Briseis Chryseis

Prologue Before the war…

The Birth of Paris • When Queen Hecuba was about to give birth, she dreamed that instead of a baby, she gave birth to a flaming torch crawling with snakes. • The prophets told her the baby will cause the destruction of Troy. • The baby was left in the wild to die of starvation but was saved and raised by a shepherd couple.

• Many years later, the young man went to the funeral games commemorating Paris’ death and won all the contests. • Priam’s daughter, Cassandra announced that this young man was the son they thought had died.

Judgment of Paris • It started at the wedding of sea goddess Thetis and King Peleus • All the gods and goddesses were invited except Eris. • Eris threw a golden apple. • The goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite were chosen for the honor of the apple.

• Zeus was asked to be the judge. • Paris was chosen as substitute for Zeus. • Bribes were presented to Paris.

The Marriage of Helen • The greatest kings of Greece wanted Helen as their wife. • Odysseus made a bargain with King Tyndareus. • All suitors swore an oath before Helen’s husband was chosen.

Paris and Helen • Paris went to Sparta as a guest to claim Helen. • He broke the sacred bond between guest and owner. • Paris and Helen sailed for Troy after 9 days.

Preparation for War • 2 Greek nobles missing before the war: Odysseus and Achilles. • Odysseus pretended to be insane by harnessing an ox and horse and sowed salt instead of grain. • Achilles was dressed as a girl living in the household of a king who was Thetis’ friend.

Guide Questions: • Who are the mortals in Iliad and what are their roles in the Trojan War? • Identify the gods and goddesses in the Trojan War, the sides they took and their reasons for taking that particular side.

• Characterize the heroes in the war. What are their similarities and differences? • How did the heroes embody the characteristics of the Homeric Hero? Justify your by citing examples of their actions during the war.

Sources: Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. USA: Warner Books, Inc. pp. 14 -36, 185 -200 Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology. USA. Pp. 411, Serrano, Josephine B. English Communication Arts and Skills IV. Philippines: SIBS Publishing House. Pp 2 -9

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