Classical Myth Test 1

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mythos

Back 1

fictitious word, saying, report;tale, story, narrative. No connotation of falsity.

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logos

Back 2

"historical truth"

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divine myths

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set in time of gods. main characters are gods and goddess including physical parts of the cosmos. topics includes establishments of the cosmos and relationship of its parts

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heroic legends

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set in time of heroes and heroines. main characters are of great men and women from prominent and powerful families who make trips to the underworld, fight monsters, had great adventures, and had interactions with gods

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historical narratives

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set in recent historical time. main characters are more typical human beings and topics concern lives of humans

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mythological narratives

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group of traditional stories that involve both divine myths and heroic legends with collective importance.
they are typically represented as accounts of something that actually happened, often in a particular place, to named individuals.
The stories are usually interconnected to other stories through both the
characters and the places represented.

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folktales

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are presented as fictional events
involving generic characters in generic places. Although characters may be
named, they are not usually identifiable, and their tales are not
interconnected. purpose is to convey a moral or to entertain

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emergent

Back 8

sensitive to an interplay of factors including the narrator, the
narrator's competence, the genre, the situation, the audience, and
the goals of the participants."

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polytheism

Back 9

many gods of the Greek

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monotheism

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ONE god of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity)

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Minoan

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3000-1600 BC-->Minoan culture flourishes on the island of Crete (named after Minos, legendary king, who reigned at Knossos)

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Mycenaean

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1650-1150 BC-->flourishes on the Greek Peloponnese (named after the city of Mycenae in Greece)

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Archaic

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800-400 BC-->Age of Homer, Hesiod, early lyric poets; Olympic games founded (776 BC); Persian invasions of Greece in 490 and 480

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Classical

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480-323 BC-->"Golden Ages" of Athens; age of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; Peloponnesian wars between Athens and Sparta; Macedonian conquest of Greece; conquests of Alexander the Great

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Hellenistic

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323-146 BC-->successors of Alexander rule eastern Mediterranean and the Near East; Rome conquers Greece

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Xenophanes

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2nd half of 6th century BC. criticized Homer & Hesiod for portraying gods as behaving in inappropriate, unethical ways. Also mocks the tendency of humans to craft gods in the image of humans (anthropomorphism)

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Theagenes

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Archaic poet suggested that Greek myths can be read as allegories (narratives that function metaphorically to carry a deeper, symbolic meaning) ex: Homer's strife of gods as representative of the class of natural elements

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Hecataeus

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took a rationalizing approach to Greek myth, suggesting that the traditional tales were exaggerated but contained a kernel of historical fact

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Anaxagoras

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early 5th century philosopher arguing that the bad behavior of the gods should be read as examples of how not to behave

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Euthemerus

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Hellenistic writer suggesting that the Homeric gods are actually representations of actual, historical leader, who were posthumously defied (euphemism)

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Etiological interpretation

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Externalist theory:
considers myth narratives as attempts to explain the cause (aition) or origin of things

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Charter Myths

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Externalist theory:
narratives that explain and justify a particular social, economic, political or religious practice and serve to perpetuate that practice for the good of the community

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Freudian theory

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emphasizes the psychological character of myth, suggesting that myths, like dreams, allow humans to violate taboos safely. ex: Oedipus

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Jungian theory

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identifies universal archetypes in myth, that spring from the collective unconscious ex: memories, mental images, and basic assumptions shared by members of a society & humans in general. (Archetype is the original form of which all other similar things are copies)

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structuralism

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suggests that it's human nature to interpret the world through binary opposites ex: raw vs. cooked, savage vs. civilized

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narratology

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explains how narratives structure affect human perception. emphasizes the role and perspective of the narrator, as well as the sequence of events. when applied to myth narrative, narratology provides a framework and vocab for discussing commonalities in various narratives

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binatural beings

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when a feature of the cosmos is personified, the being has distinct natures and in myth, he or she is depicted as either one or the other at any give time. ex: Gaia is both the physical earth and an anthropomorphic goddess

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personified abstractions

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Emotions or qualities, such as Eros (sexuality); conditions, such as Eirene (peace), Nike (Victory); or institutions, such as Themis (Divine Law)

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cosmology

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describing the origin of the cosmos

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cosmogony

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describing the nature and natural order of the cosmos