Intro To Mythology Terms

Front 1

Characteristics of A Myth

Back 1

Timeframe: Set in the past
Ostensibly True
Often Deals with god and the supernatural

Definition:
Traditional Socially powerful story

Front 2

Charter Myth

Back 2

justifies a ritual

Front 3

Etiological Myth

Back 3

explains why things are the way they are

Front 4

Instructional Myth

Back 4

Tells you about moral function

Front 5

Myth Proper

Back 5

god's relationship with mankind
religious in nature but not religion

Front 6

Folktales

Back 6

Talking Animals
Used for Entertainment
Magical Elements/Impossibilities

Front 7

Legend/Saga

Back 7

Historical Figure
Rooted in Human History
Possible Events
Symbolic for Society
Saga: series of stories about family

Front 8

Mythos

Back 8

Mythology

Front 9

Social Power of Myth

Back 9

Beliefs that were believed at the time

Front 10

Story

Back 10

A series of events

Front 11

Tradition and Myth-Telling

Back 11

It's just part of the culture and you don't know the author

Front 12

Allegory

Back 12

Myths are disguised as something else such as religion or philosophy

What Theory

Front 13

Archetype

Back 13

Something repeated often to where it becomes part of culture

Why Theory

Front 14

Bronislaw Malinowski

Back 14

Functionalism-Myths only serve the function of maintaining and justifying a society's practices

What Theory

Front 15

Cambridge-Myth Ritual

Back 15

The origin of myths in all societies is the explanation of ritual
James Frazier

Why Theory

Front 16

Claude Levi Strauss

Back 16

Myth exists to mediate contradictions of binary opposites

Why Theory-Structuralism

Front 17

Carl Jung

Back 17

Myths are reflections of the collective unconscious
Archetypes
Why Theory Psychoanalysis

Front 18

Comparative Mythology

Back 18

Comparative mythology is the systematic comparison of myths from different cultures in the attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics

Front 19

Euhumerus

Back 19

believed that myths are based on traditional accounts of real people and events also known as
Euhemerism

What Theories-Historicism

Front 20

Functionalism

Back 20

What Theory
Myths only serve the function of maintaining and justifying a particular society’s practices

Front 21

Max Muller

Back 21

Myths can be reduced to primitive man’s attempt to express the awe they felt before the natural phenomena of day and night

Natural Allegory-What Theory

Front 22

Heraclitus Homeric Problems

Back 22

believed in myths as allegory

What Theories

Front 23

Psychoanalytic Theories

Back 23

Sigmund Freud-Myths are the collective dreams of the human race

Carl Jung: Myths are reflections of the collective unconscious
Archetypes

Front 24

Sigmund Freud

Back 24

Myths are the collective dreams of the human race

Front 25

Sir James Frazier

Back 25

Golden Bough
The origin of myths in all societies is the explanation of ritual
What Theories-Cambridge-Myth-Ritual

Front 26

Structuralism

Back 26

A system of definable relations between the parts or elements of a whole which admit predictable transformations-Walter-Bruekert
Why Theory

Front 27

What Theories

Back 27

What theory will tell you what a myth is. It tells you only what it is. Ex: myths is only misrepresented history, allegory.What theories explain myth as a subcategory or forerunner of something else. What theories are generally more older.

Front 28

Why Theories

Back 28

Why theories try to find the impetus behind the myths. It’s hard to prove its right or wrongs ( Why Theories). A Why theory try to find what causes myths.

Front 29

Anthropomorphism

Back 29

is the attribution of human characteristics to animals or non-living things, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts.

Front 30

Birth of Aphrodite

Back 30

According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the sea foam (aphros) arose Aphrodite.

Front 31

Birth of the Furies (Erinyes)

Back 31

Birth of Furies and Giants from blood-these are the revenge girls from the castration of Ouranos

Front 32

Birth order of Rhea's Children

Back 32

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and then a rock instead of Zeus

Front 33

Birth of the Giants

Back 33

From Castration of Ouranos, blood dripped became the giants and furies

Front 34

Cosmogony

Back 34

Automatic (spontaneously generated, no creator)
Hesiod, Theogony
Architectural (created by someone)
Genesis and Ovid, Metamorphoses
Cosmogony (Birth of the universe)

Front 35

Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea

Back 35

Cronus imprisons Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers
Cronus swallows the five Children as they are born
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and then a rock instead of Zeus

Front 36

Cyclopes

Back 36

Son of Uranus and Gaea
Fashioned lightning bolts

Front 37

Hesiod's Historical Context

Back 37

Date of composition: 8th BC
Purpose: Artistic take on an orally transmitted material, not a sacred text
Theme: Theogony (Birth of the Gods) and Cosmogony (Birth of the universe)

Front 38

Theogony

Back 38

Birth of the Gods.

Front 39

Theogony (the work)

Back 39

Jump to: navigation, search

The Theogony (Greek: Θεογονία, Theogonía, the birth of God[s]) is a poem by Hesiod (8th-7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC. It is written in the same artificial Epic dialect of Ancient Greek used by Homer.

Front 40

Hetaconcheires (Hundred Hander's)

Back 40

were figures in an archaic stage of Greek mythology, three giants of incredible strength and ferocity, that surpasses that of all of Titans whom they helped overthrow

Front 41

Kinds of Cosmogony

Back 41

Automatic (spontaneously generated, no creator)
Hesiod, Theogony
Architectural (created by someone)
Genesis and Ovid, Metamorphoses

Front 42

Logical Context of Cosmogony

Back 42

Generations and Regime Change
Ex: Protogenoi (primordial divinities) ; Gaea and Uranus; Cronus and Rhea; and Olympians
Families of things- ex: Spirits of night, Sea gods, Titans
Anthromorphic Gods
They have emotion and feeling

Front 43

Omphalos

Back 43

the stone Cronus ate instead of Zeus

Front 44

Ouranous + Gaea =?

Back 44

Chaos Gaea Tartarus Eros

Front 45

Apollodorus Library (Mythography)

Back 45

2nd Century AD writer is collecting a lot of literature, he’s creating a synthesis and an epitome of what myths are all about it. These myths attempt to cohesively combine myths together.

Front 46

Birth of Athena (Minerva)

Back 46

Zeus does it with Metis (a titan), an oracle predicted that the son would become the ruler of the gods. So Zeus eats his wife and Athena pops out of his head. Sometimes with Hephaestus axing his heads, other times just popping out

Front 47

Birth of Hephaestus

Back 47

comes straight out of Hera according to some myths, in others she is the baby of Zeus and Hera, as a result he is lame

Front 48

Ileithyia

Back 48

Goddess of childbirth

Front 49

Eurynome

Back 49

nursed Hephaestus back to health after he was cast down

her + Zeus = Graces

Front 50

Gigantomachy

Back 50

War of the Giants
Gaia is vexed by what happened to Titans, she produces giants by Uranus
Massive long hair bulky people
There is an oracle that the giants cannot be killed except with the help of a mortal (i.e. Hercules)
There is a plant that makes giants invincible but Zeus stops sun to hide them

Front 51

Hebe

Back 51

Goddess of youth
She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera.[3] Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles,

Front 52

Metis

Back 52

Metis (Μῆτις, "wisdom," "skill," or "craft") was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Mètis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings. Mètis was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal (Hesiod, Theogony 896) and the mother of Athena,

Front 53

Mnemosyne

Back 53

goddess of memory
The muses-poetry has to be memorized

Front 54

Porphyrion

Back 54

giant that tried to rape Hera

Front 55

Alcyoneus

Back 55

was the eldest of the Thracian Gigantes of Greek mythology.[1] He was born (like all other Gigantes) in full armor with a spear in his hand. He was the most prominent of the Gigantes who led a major rebellion against the Olympian Gods, and was said to be immortal in his homeland, Pallene.

cannot die if on gaea so athena helped get him off

Front 56

Styx

Back 56

was a river in Greek mythology which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld
Zeus + Styx = Persephone

Front 57

Themis

Back 57

(the Seasons), Peace, Order, Justice, and the Fates

Zeus + Themis equals above

Front 58

Titanomachy

Back 58

There’s a war between the Titans and the Elder Olympians
Lasted 10 years
One of the factors of this world is that Gaia prophesied that the Olympians would need help to
overthrow Titans, therefore in Apollodorus (you need Cyclops) in the other one (need both).
Cyclops made lightning, trident, and helmet

Front 59

The Triple Division

Back 59

Hades gets Tartarus, Poseidon gets waters and earthquakes, and Zeus gets sky and Earth

Front 60

Typhon

Back 60

Gaia is still pissed and intercourse with Tartarus
All the Olympians run away and metamorph into animals and leave Zeus by himself
Typhon cuts tendons off w/ Adamantium Sickle that Zeus tried using against him
Hermes and Pan helps Zeus out by getting his tendons back
Fighting over the whole Mediterranean by himself
Mount Etna is thrown on top of Typhon
Mt. Hinus? Typhon’s blood colors the mountains
Interpretation can be Earth deity vs Heaven deity

Front 61

Xenia

Back 61

is the Greek concept of hospitality, or generosity and courtesy shown to those who are far from home. It is often translated as "guest-friendship" (or "ritualized friendship") because the rituals of hospitality created and expressed a reciprocal relationship between guest and host.

class primarily hangout together

Front 62

Ambrosia

Back 62

ambrosia (Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the Greek gods (or demigods), often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it.
emphasize anthromorphous qualities

Front 63

Contents of Ambrosia

Back 63

when she opens the jar she gives all these evil gifts into the world

Front 64

Deucalion and Pyrrha

Back 64

In some myths, son and daughter of Prometheus and Epimetheus respectively
it’s not the flood of the whole world, just the Greek one
The flood
Rain comes from both up and down (rain and springs)
Deukalion and Pyrrha survived in a chest or a small boat
The oracle and the repopulation
they’re scared that there would never be anymore of them
Prometheus forewarns them of the flood
Themis gives them the oracle which is throw the bones of your great mother over your shoulder with your eyes closed

Front 65

Epimetheus

Back 65

In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion and was one of the two who survived the deluge.

Front 66

Four Races in Hesiod's Works and Days

Back 66

Golden Race-the time of Chronus, blissful time, they disappear by falling asleep
Silver Race-the idiots, they’re raised like children and die b/c stupid, don’t give honor to God
Bronze Race-created by Zeus, hard-hearted, warlike, they kill themselves off
Heroes- Odysseus and stuff like that, heroes kill themselves off
Iron Race-is our race, everybody’s a sinner,

Front 67

Metamorphoses

Back 67

700 years later
Literary culture
Scientific Theories of the day- atoms four elements
Nature as creator
700 years later
Literary culture
Scientific Theories of the day- atoms four elements
Nature as creator

Front 68

Ichor

Back 68

God's bloods

Front 69

Nectar

Back 69

drink that makes gods immortal

Front 70

Pandora

Back 70

Creation of Pandora (pan=all +dora=gifts) for Epimetheus (his name means afterthought)
Pandora’s pithos
pithos is a jar
when she opens the jar she gives all these evil gifts into the world
Elpis (hope)
hope is hanging on the inside of the jar
open to interpretation

Front 71

Prometheus

Back 71

Dispute over the god’s portion of sacrifices between humans and gods
Prometheus attempts to trick Zeus by changing the appearance of the good sacrifice
Zeus punishes mankind by taking fire
Steals fire for humankind
also known as bringer of culture
also taught them how to build houses
also teaches them how to domesticate animals
Aeschylus’ trilogy:
Prometheus bringer of culture
This myth can be an etiological or ritual myth
some may say there might be a psychological theory
Rescued by Herakles

Front 72

Acteion (Actaeon)

Back 72

Accidently viewed Artemis naked
Turns his body into a stag and his hounds tear him to shreds
Even though there was no hubris, it’s the point of transgression, the fact that he did is what matters.

Front 73

Apollo

Back 73

Bow and Arrow (bringer of sudden death)
usually whenever these symbols show up it is Apollo
the young Olympians stay young, while the older Olympians grow till they’re a specific age
he’s usually associated with culture, music, father of Aesclepius (god of medicine)
but he’s also the bringer of the plague, disease
Lyre (Muses)
musical instrument
some stories he got from Hermes some others he already had it
in charge of the Muses
representative of the arts and culture
Snakes (oracle), animals of song (ex:swans)
sometimes snake is representative of medicine, other times reference to Python
Epithet: Phoebus (shining)
Apollo eventually takes the place of Helios as the sun god

Front 74

Artemis

Back 74

Bow and Arrow
represents the opposite of Apollo
she’s the huntress of animals and the protector of younger animals
Dog, Fawn, Boar (animals of the hunt)
the animals that she is correlated to
Protector of women in childbirth
if you’re in labor you pray to Artemis to save you
when a woman is in childbirth she is at her “wildest state” which explains the irony w/ next
point
Virgin maiden and patron of young maidens
When identifying Artemis her skirt is usually pulled up so she can run faster

Front 75

Birth of Apollo and Artemis

Back 75

So and daughter of Leto and Zeus
Leto is a titan
Hera isn’t too happy about Zeus being with another woman, chases Leto around
Born on Delos
Most myths say that Apollo and Artemis was born on Delos, supposedly a moving island.
In some myths, Artemis helps Apollo out because she was born first
This is because Artemis is god of childbirth
Apollo and Python
Gaia had a snake that in some accounts, pursues Leto around. Apollo eventually takes revenge
and kills the snake at Delphi, thus taking over the oracle position

Front 76

Hubris of Creosus

Back 76

Interview of Solon: most “fortunate/blessed” man
Creosus shows all of his wealth, and then asks who is the most fortunate person
a god then became angry because he says he’s been blessed and that he ends up most blessed
he thinks that nothing can happen that will affect his blessedness
Loss of Son, Atys
he has a dream that his son was going to die by iron
Atys died on board hunt point is that nobody can escape fate
Defeated by Cyrus
prophecy that “a great empire will be destroyed” and interprets it that he will win

Front 77

Delos

Back 77

where Apollo and Artemis were born

Front 78

Leto (Latona)

Back 78

So and daughter of Leto and Zeus
Leto is a titan

Front 79

Marsayas

Back 79

Challenge the god of music, Apollo, to a musical contest
he thinks he can play a flute better than Apollo
Flayed alive
he turns into a river, metamorphoses

Front 80

Apollo's Maxims

Back 80

“Know thyself”
Know who you are know your place
“Nothing in excess”
causes you to have hubris and be prideful, these maxims go together

Front 81

Niobe

Back 81

Bragging that she is superior to Leto (Latona)
Leto runs off crying to Artemis and Apollo
Loss of 7 sons and 7 daughters at the hands of Leto’s children Artemis and Apollo
Apollo kills all men while Artemis kills all women
changes into a weeping cliff

Front 82

Oracles at Delphi

Back 82

Pythia
the oracles are really ambiguous and hard to decipher

Front 83

Phoebus (Shining)

Back 83

Apollo eventually takes the place of Helios as the sun god

Front 84

Pythia (Pythoness)

Back 84

she's the oracle at Delphi

Front 85

Python

Back 85

Gaia had a snake that in some accounts, pursues Leto around. Apollo eventually takes revenge
and kills the snake at Delphi, thus taking over the oracle position

Front 86

Anchises

Back 86

Zeus turns Aphrodite’s sphere of influence against her
can’t do anything against Hestia, Artemis, and Athena
she falls in love with Anchises
Aphrodite comes in disguise to Anchises at Mt. Ida near Troy
he recognizes that she as a maiden is different than other normal women (very cautious)
she makes him fall in love with her
After sex revelation and reactions
Shame Aphrodite
she is so ashamed of sleeping with a mortal
Fear Anchises

Front 87

Aeneas

Back 87

Aeneas is born and nurtured by the nymphs
Anchises must not reveal who the mother is
In other accounts, he reveals it and becomes crippled

Front 88

Aphrodite

Back 88

Uranus (Saturn) and from foam (aphros) of the sea (Aphrodite Ourania)
different names of Aphrodite
Ourania- “heavenly love”
Cyprus
Epithet: Cyprian or Cyatheria
Dione and Zeus (Aphrodite Bandemos)
Attributes
Young and beautiful
Marriage age
Usually in a state of undress
Accompanied by Eros (Cupid)
Sphere of influence ta aphrodisiac

Front 89

Aphros

Back 89

foam

Front 90

Aphrodite and Ares

Back 90

cheat alot Hephaestus catches them

Front 91

Apollo and Daphne

Back 91

Daphne and Apollo
Apollo questions Cupid’s use of bow, a manly weapon
Cupid shoots Apollo with gold arrow (attraction) and Daphen with lead (hate)
Ridicule of Apollo and the revenge of Eros (Cupid)
Bay laurel tree
Daphne prays right before she is caught and her father turned her into the tree

Front 92

Cyprus

Back 92

Aphrodite's city

Front 93

Cypria

Back 93

Aphrodite's Epithet

The Cypria (Ancient Greek: Κύπρια Kypria; Latin form: Cypria) is an epic of ancient Greek literature that was quite well known in the Classical period[1] and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view.

Front 94

Eros

Back 94

“Force”
Sappho, Hymn to Aphrodite
Transitory madness, disease, it’s an external thing
Under the control of Aphrodite
it’s like a lovesickness, passionate warlike
Plato, Symposium
Friend and healer of ills
attraction rather than passion
Aristophanes-Eros is a consequent of our current nature

Front 95

Hephaestus and Aphrodite

Back 95

Husband and Wife

Front 96

Mt. Ida

Back 96

where Aphrodite comes in disguise to Anchises

where Zeus was born

Front 97

Pygmalion

Back 97

which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.

Front 98

Sex with mortals

Back 98

Sex with Mortals if it is a female deity
Shame because he penetrates thus making him more dominant than the goddess
Different male god with mortal female as opposed to vice versa
Product of Union
she will bear the child of their union, shameful because the child will die (a mortal)

Front 99

Eos and Tithonus

Back 99

Tithonus pursued by Eos
Gift of eternal life but not eternal youth
Locks him in a chamber and he wastes away b/c of no eternal youth.

Front 100

Zeus and Ganeymede

Back 100

Zeus snatches young prince and son of Tros
Cupbearer to the gods
a whirlwind takes him up to the heavens

Front 101

Minerva and Arachne

Back 101

Arachne challenges Minerva to a weaving contest
In disguise, Minerva warns Arachne (gave her a chance)
Two different tapestries
Minerva’s mortals who challenged the gods
Arachne’s the dalliances of the gods with mortals
she beats her on the head a few times, she is resurrected as a spider

Front 102

Erectheus

Back 102

Early King of Athens
Hephaestus is attracted to Athena
tries to rape her wipes sperm off her leg and flings it to ground
Gaia brings child up

Front 103

Judgement of Paris

Back 103

Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
Hera- rule all the lands/ dominate the rest in wealth
Athena- strongest among mortals/ know every skill
Aphrodite – he would marry the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen

Front 104

Minerva Capta

Back 104

capta could be head
Minerva capta could be captured
when you conquer another country you can take on another god

Front 105

Pallas

Back 105

the common epithet for Athena
Several theories to why her name is Pallas
1) slays and skins the giant Pallas with his own shield in the Gigantomachy (giant war) (a lance)
2) Pallein means to brandish
3) she was raised with a daughter of Triton’s daughter Palladion and killed her when playing war games

Front 106

Palladion

Back 106

The Greeks learned from Helenus, that Troy would not fall while the Palladium, image or statue of Athena, remained within Troy's walls.

Front 107

Romulus and Remus

Back 107

Founder of Rome

Front 108

Rhea Silvia

Back 108

mother of Romulus and Remus

Front 109

Syncretism

Back 109

Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought.