GREEK AND ROMAN MYTH

Background – Greek Civilization –Minoan (Crete) BC –Mycenean BC (“good old days”) –Dark Ages (no record) BC –Homer, Hesiod (beg. of writing) –Greek Drama (height of Gr. Civ.)

Background -Roman Civilization Roman Civilization BC-300 AD Christianity AD

Greek Cosmogony/Cosmology

Greek Mythology Begins Orally Heavily borrowed from earlier nearby cultures— esp. Sumerian and Egyptian Separate City-States, Islands, geography leads to fragmentary, overlapping stories First written in Homer, Hesiod BC Most Important Characteristic: HUMANISM –“The Greek Miracle” –“Anthropomorphic”

Greek Creation Stories Hesiod, “Theogony” Greek Deity Family Tree (handout)

Botticelli – “Birth of Venus”

The Original Dysfunctional Family – Goya - “Saturn Devouring His Son”

Zeus – The Ultimate Pick-up Artist? Da Vinci, “Leda and the Swan”

“Rape of Europa” - Titian

Greek Gods and Their Human Characteristics What are the primary attributes/personality traits of the major gods? How many of these could be seen as human failures/fallible behavior? Discuss: compare Greek creation story and Greek Gods with their fallible, human characteristics to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Monotheism and notion of God’s perfection –“How does one worship a fallible god?” –“What different attitudes of worship and religious belief might result from such different Deities?”

Rubens - “The Judgment of Paris”

Breughels – “The Fall of Icarus”