LF310 Greek Mythology Introduction

Introduction Syllabus Reading Schedule

Texts Apollodorus, Library of Greek Myth, trans. Robin Hard (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999). Homer, Essential Homer, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett Publishing, 2000). Homeric Hymns, trans. Diane Rayor (Univ. of Califronia Press, 2004). Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony, trans. Stanley Lombardo (Hackett Publishing, 1993). T. H. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (Thames & Hudson, 1991).

Today Summary and discussion Definitions Interpretations Methodology Sources of Greek Mythology

Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology Problem of Defining Myth: No one definition can cover all kinds of myths From the Greek word mythos, meaning: word, speech, tale, or story. A story which has proven itself worthy of becoming traditional. Narrated orally, but usually it is eventually given written form. May be told in other media: painting, sculpture, music, dance, or a combination, such as in drama, opera, film, etc. Distinction between true myth vs. legend, saga, and folktale

Myth vs. Legend, Saga, and Folktale True Myth: concerned with gods and humans’ relations with them. Saga/Legend: has a perceptible relationship with history, or roots in historical fact. Focus on hero Folktale: adventure, fantastic creatures, heroic ingenuity. Categories overlap.

Myth vs. Truth It’s a myth: Scientific discoveries we make a distinction between myth and “scientific truth” Scientific discoveries will change, grow obsolete “Art is eternal, for it reveals the inner landscape, which is the soul of man” Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer Myth: provides a unity and reality to our transitory world of experience Myth in a sense is the highest reality.

Myth and Religion Most Greek and Roman myths deal with: creation nature of god and men the afterlife other spiritual concerns Mythology and religion are inextricably entwined. The texts are, by nature, religious.

Myth and Etiology From aitia, or cause Myths are the explication of the origin of some fact or custom. Myths attempt to explain: not just the physical world but also the origin of man the source of good and evil beauty division of body and soul. Theory does not really say what is unique about myth. Mythmaker is a primitive scientist using myths to explain things that cannot otherwise be explained. Explanatory is a better word.

Rationalism, Metaphor, and Allegory Euhemerus (c. 300 BCE): the gods were men deified for their great deeds. Metaphorical interpretation: traditional tales hide profound meanings. Myth as allegory Details of the stories are symbols of universal truths. Allegorical Nature Myths: Max Müller Nineteenth century. Myths are nature myths. Said all myths refer to meteorological and cosmological phenomena.

Modern Approaches Myth and Psychology Myth and Society Structuralists Comparative Studies Feminist Studies

Myth and Psychology Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Carl Jung (1875-1961) Purpose of Myth: to make life bearable Theories: Oedipal Complex Dreams Conception of god Carl Jung (1875-1961) Collective Unconscious Archetypes Heroic Models Social necessity

Myth and Ritual Sir James G. Frazer (1854-1941) Robert Graves The Golden Bough Kingship Rituals Robert Graves (1895-1985) Distinguished myth from other categories “Myth implies ritual, ritual implies myth, they are one and the same.” The White Goddess True myth is “the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed in public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially on temple walls, vases, seals, bowls, mirrors, chests, shields, tapestries, and the like” p.5

Myth as Social Charters Bronislav Malinowski (1884-1942) Social Anthropologist WWI: Trobriand Islanders off New Guinea coast Connection between myths and social institutions Explained myths as charters of social customs and beliefs Myths are related to practical life They explain existing facts and institutions by reference

The Structuralists Claude Lévi-Strauss Vladimir Propp Walter Burkert

Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-) Cultural Anthropologist Structural similarities underlie all cultures Structural Anthropology, 1958 Myth is a mode of communication Myths are derived ultimately from the structure of the mind, which is binary. It is the function of myths to mediate between these opposing extremes: raw/cooked; life/death; hunter/hunted; nature/culture; etc. “Mythological thought always progresses from the awareness of oppositions towards their resolutions” In myth, the different or partial versions combine to reveal its total structure. Breaks down each myth into its component parts. Basis: all human behavior is based on certain unchanging patterns, whose structure is the same in all ages and in all societies. Society has a consistent structure and therefore a functional unity in which every component plays a meaningful part. Myths are derived ultimately from the structure of the mind, which is binary. It is the function of myths to mediate between these opposing extremes: raw/cooked; life/death; hunter/hunted; nature/culture; etc. “Mythological thought always progresses from t he awareness of oppositions towards their resolutions” Myth is a mode by which a society communicates and through which it finds a resolution between conflicting opposites. Differences in versions don’t matter – they can all be used to explore the conflicts. The logical structure of a myth provides a means by which the human mind can avoid unpleasant contradictions and thus, through mediation, reconcile conflicts that would be intolerable if unreconciled.

Vladimir Propp (1895-1970) Russian folklorist Morphology of the Folktale, 1928 31 functions or units of action later called motifemes by others Always in the same order Looked only at Quest stories Applicable to myth in some ways

Walter Burkert (1931-) Historian of religion and myth Four theses Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual, 1979 Synthesized structural and cultural theories Historical dimension of myth Four theses Myth belongs to the more general class of traditional tale. The identity of a traditional tale is to be found in a structure of sense within the tale itself. Tale structures, as sequences of motifemes, are founded on basic biological or cultural programs of actions. Myth is a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of collective importance Most widely regarded theorist today

Feminist Theorists Social criticism of the male-centered world of Greek mythology Goes back to Greek poetess Sappho. Especially concerned with the tales in which the central figure is female. The role of women in religious rituals was fundamental they participated in many festivals of their own, from which men were excluded Women in Greek society 1.Women were citizens of their communities, unlike non-citizens and slaves-a very meaningful distinction. They did not have the right to vote. No woman anywhere won this democratic right until 1920. 2. The role of women in religious rituals was fundamental; and they participated in many festivals of their own, from which men were excluded. 3. Women’s education was dependent on her future role in society, her status or class, and her individual needs (as was that of a man). 4. The cloistered, illiterate, and oppressed creatures often adduced as representative of the status of women in antiquity are at variance with the testimony of all the sources, literary, artistic, and archaeological

Conclusions Many important myths occur in multiple versions, but usually one ancient treatment has been most influential. Literary and artistic versions of myths and legends of their artistic merit and the inspiration they have afforded to others are indisputable. The tales have been retold and continue to be retold. “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.” – Morford and Lenardon

Textual Sources of Greek Mythology Homer (8th c. BCE), Iliad and Odyssey Hesiod, (8th c. BCE), Theogony, Works and Days Homeric Hymns Archaic Poets, Pindar (early 5th c. BCE) Fifth-century BCE dramatists, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides Alexandrian poets (Apollonius of Rhodes, 260 BCE) Historians (Herodotus, 5th c. BCE) Mythographers (Apollodorus,120 CE) Philosophers (Plato, 4th c. BCE) Satirists (Lucian (120 CE)

Roman Textual Sources Vergil (70-19 BCE): Aeneid Ovid (43 BCE- 17 CE): Metamorphoses Seneca (1st c. CE): Thyestes Valerius Flaccus (d. 80 CE): Argonautica Statius (d. 96 CE): Thebaid Apuleius (b. 123 CE), Metamorphosis Hyginus (mid. 2nd c. CE) mythographer Fulgentius (6th c. CE) mythographer

Other Sources for Greek Mythology Ancient artistic representations Vase paintings Reliefs Sculpture Perseus Project

A word about names Pronunciation guide on-line Pronunciation Guide Handout

Sources for Slides Morford and Lenardon, Classical Mythology, 7th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ), Chapter 1.