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64 Cards in this Set

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Edda

one of two Old Norse texts. One consists of poetry (poetic Edda) dealing with mythological matters. The other, the Prose Edda, is the work of the scholar Snorri Sturlesson, dating from about 1200 CE. Though written in christian era, it describes, the key myths of pre-christian Icelandic culture

Snorri Sturlesson

An Icelanding historian and scholar of the early 13th century CE, who collected pre-christian tales of the Norse gods in his Prose Edda

Gylfi (aka Gangleri)

central in the myth-telling of the Prose Edda: the king whose questions the three figures High, Just as High and Third inspire the telling of Norse maths in Prose Edda

Ginungagap

meeting place of fire and ice where the world began

Muspell

land of fire, whose flames were part of the binary creation, and whose flames also destroy the world at ragnarok

Asgard

home of the gods

Bifrost

the rainbow bridge that leads to Asgard

Utgard

home of the giants

Midgard

where humans live

Yggdrasill

the world tree, with roots in Asgard, Utgard and Hel, which represents all life in a state of entropy

Elfheim (Alfheim)

where elves live

Valhalla

Where warriors who die bravely in battle spend eternity fighting and feasting preparing for Ragnarok

Gimli

another realm of the dead, populated by bards and keepers of knowledge

Hel

gloomy dark cold afterlife realm, presided over by goddess of the same name

Freyja's realm

never elaborated

Aesir

Race of goods about whom most of the Norse myths tell, among them Tor, Odin, Balder, etc.

Vanir

Race of gods associated with land and its fertility; not as common in Norse yyths with the exception of Freyr and Freyia

Odin

chief of the Norse gods, known as a wanderer, distinguished by having only one eye, having lost the other to gain the wisdom of the well of mimir; often a trickster and shape changer; the god of kings in warfare

Thor

Thunder god, popular in the Norse world; straightforward and trustworthy; often portrayed as strong but slow, although he is capable of craftiness. His hammer was a sign of protection into the christian era

Frigg

Wife of Odin; name means Fate

Baldr

beloved god who was killed by mistletoe through the connivance of Loki; he will return to rule a world of peace and plenty when this one is destroyed

Freyr

god of agricultural fertility

Freyja

Goddess of agricultural fertility, sexuality, and mysterious knowledge; owner of one-third of the dead

Tyr

one handed warrior god, best known for bringing Fenrir

Loki

The half-Gd, half-giant trickster whose antics threaten the gods' very existence at some times, and at others preserve them from their enemies the Giants

Norns

the fates, three women who guard and tend to Yggdrasil

Ymir

Giant from whose body the earth was formed

Giants

(frost giants) the constant opponent of the Norse gods

Fenrir (Fenris)

son of loki, a giant, tricky, evil wolf, now safely bound in Hel but sure to break free from Ragnarok

Hel

Another child of Loki, the guardian of the afterlife realm of the same name.

Iormungand

the serpent at the base of the world, Thor's particular enemy.

Ragnarok

the battle of gods and giants that will end the world as we know it

Mythos

words, speaking, telling of a story

Folktale

fantastic stories with no specific living person

xenophanes

Homer and hesiod ascribed to the gods al that is shameful and reprachful among mortals


-always want your gods to be similar to you


-One god, greatest among gods and mortals, not at all like them, either in body or mind

Hubris

not knowing your place; arrogance


-Croesus thinks he's the most fortunate, but Solon sets him strait

Ate

state of blind infatuation; don't notice that everything's falling apart

Nemesis

result of hubris

Miasma

pollution with blood; pollution incurred by killing


-guilt

Espiate

paying back for miasma

Hesiod vs Ovid

Hesiod claimed divine inspiration


-ovid didn't say it was literal


-Hesiod was sung at festivals


-Hesiod was believed


-Ovid was for educated and more emotional effect and humorous


-Hesiod- oral poetry, small-town perspective


-ovid- Roman, first century AD


-Hesiod- Greek 7th century BC

Athena

-aegis


-mourn for loss of life in war


-has a snake


-has an owl


-prometheus had the prophecy of her birth

Metis

Athena's mother, cunning intelligence

Innana and EReshkigal

-mirror images of one another


-Ereshkigal's fate is to be exiled from the rest of the gods in the realm of death


-Inanna high-living

Sumerians

The people who inhabited the Fertile Crescent whose cities flourished in the 3000's -100 BCE

Babylonians

The people who inhabited and dominated this area following the sumerians from the 1000s BCE until the 700's BCE

Cuneform

wedge-shaped writing they used, in which the texts used in this section of the course are preserved

Inanna (Ishtar)

Goddess of love, sex, sometimes warfare and the communal storehouse, patron deity of unmarried women, wife of Dumuzi; one of the most significant deities in the Sumerian pantheon though less important and more destructive in Babylonian mythology

Dumuzi

Inna's husband, a shepherd, most significant as her consort

Utu (Shamash)

sun god, brother of Inanna (Ishtar), often defender of the masculine principle (Utu saves Dumuzi, Shamash helps Gilgamesh); Shamash is particularly a god of justice

Enki

god of wisdom, close to Inanna although she stole the me from him

Enlil

Chief among the gods

Nanna (Sin)

The moon god, father of Inanna and Utu

me

powerful tokens of rule that Inanna won fro her city of Uruk, representing the blessings of the natural and civilized worlds

Ereshkigal

Inna's sister, goddess of the underworld

Ninshubur

Inanna's "executive assistant"

Uruk

home city of Inanna and where Gilgamesh is king

Gilgamesh

King of Uruk, 2/3 mortal and 1/3 god but also subject to death

Ninsun

Gilgamesh's mother, minor goddess who is close to shamash and takes a direct interest in Gilgamesh's fortunes

Enkidu

the "Wild Man" created by the gods to become Gilgamesh's friend and alter ego

Humbaba

Auperhuman creature the gods have set out to guard the cedar forest

Dilmun

the sumerian/Babylonian equivalent of Eden, a land beyond time

Utnapishtim

the Sumerian Noah, who survived the flood with Enki's help and achieved immortality

Siduri

the barmaid at the end of the universe and avatar of Ishtar