9/14/2015 Myth, Religion & History What is myth What is history What is religion How do they relate to one another?

9/14/2015 Mythellaneous ● All cultures have myth ● Babylon – Enuma Elish ● Vikings – sagas ● Native American traditions ● British - King Arthur ● Hebrew?

9/14/2015 Types of Myth ● Etiological (or Divine) ● Aitia = cause ● What causes earthquakes? ● Heroic Myths (Legends) ● Traditional Folk Stories ● Moral guidance (Aesop's fables) ● Societal fears ● Rites of passage ● Great trials

9/14/2015 What do we know about Greek myth, religion and history? ● Worship of the Greek gods (Zeus, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, etc.) goes back to the second millennium BC on the mainland. ● Sacred Bull ● Human Sacrifice ? (relationship to Baal?) ● Canaanite worship/Phoenician ● Bulls and human sacrifice ● Snake goddesses

9/14/2015 Religion – Sacred Bulls (Apis)

9/14/2015 Religion – Human Sacrifice Story of Minotaur eating 14 victims Sacrificial site at Knossos includes human sacrifice and indicates ritual feasting on the dead Probably rare – maybe related to Earthquakes suffered by island and attempts to appease Poseidon/Earthshaker

9/14/2015 Religion – Snake Goddesses

9/14/2015 Sacred War Axe

9/14/2015 Is Mythology History? ● Heinrich Schliemann used Homers works for archaeological expeditions.

9/14/2015 Heinrich Schliemann Self-financed / self-style archaeologist Married 16 year-old Greek girl who could read the original Greek accounts Where is ancient Mycenae Looking for grave of Agamemnon discovers the shaft grave inside the lions gate.

9/14/2015 The Lion’s Gate

9/14/2015 “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon…”

9/14/2015 Was there a Trojan War Heinrich Schliemann Calvert – American vice-consul Nine layered cities

9/14/2015 “The Greeks raise a mighty army because of a woman... And then invaded Asia and destroyed Priam and his forces. Ever since then, the Persians have regarded the Greeks as their enemies…. They date their hostilities towards Greece from the fall of Ilium.” (Herodotus)

9/14/2015 Homer ● Late 8 th century BC ● Assumes knowledge of the gods.

9/14/2015 Alexander the Great Saw himself as embodiment of Achilles. Where did he get such an idea?

9/14/2015 Plato and Aristotle Plato – Myth vs. Logos ● With logos one takes responsibility for the story ● Platonic Myth ● Aristotle ● Fiction ● Romans - Fable