Hesiod
Theogony
Hieros Gamos
Tartarus
Chaos
Ouranos
Kronos
Zeus/Jove
Cyclopes
Hecatoncheires
9 Muses
Styx
Birth of Athena/Minerva
Birth of Aphrodite/Venus
Titans
Olympians
Rhea
Gaia
Hera/Juno
Enuma Elish
Apsu
Tiamat
Anu
Ea
Marduk
Kumarbi
Teshub
Anu
Genesis
Purpose of Myth
Etiological
Genealogical
Traditional
Anthropomorphism
Ceres /Demeter
Neptune /Poseidon
Diana / Artemis
Venus / Aphrodite
Vulcan / Hephaistos
Mars / Ares
Liber / Dionysus
Hercules / Heracles
Dis / Hades
Proserpina / Persephone
Ovid
Lycaon
Jove & Europa
Arachne & Athena
Baucis & Philemon
Medea, Aeson, Pelias
Niobe & Latona
Sorrows of Hecuba
Ajax v Ulysses
Jove & Io
Apollo & Daphne
Teiresias
Perseus
Minos
Meleager
Atalanta
Althaea
Heracles
Deianira
Nessus
Orpheus
Eurydice
Pygmalion
Apollonian/Dionysian
Greater Dionysia
Ecstasy
Sophrosune
Aidos
Agon
Thaumaturgy
Theatron
Parodos
Skene
Orkestra
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Pentheus
Dionysus/Bacchus
Thyrsus
Maenad (historical and mythical)
Cadmus
Agave
Semele
Hippolytus
Theseus
Phaedra
Antigone
Eteocles
Polyneices
Ismene
Creon
Philoctetes
Odysseus
Neoptolemus
Nietzsche
Archilochus
Hymn to Demeter
Virgil
Aeneas
Aeneid
Anchises
Eleusinian Mysteries
Mystai
Epoptes
Telesterion
Bronze Age
Archaic
Geometric
Classical
Hellenistic
Kouros
Black Figure & Red Figure pottery
Cycladic Figures
Possible Essay Topics:
In addition to its function as a paean to Zeus, what do you believe to be the purpose of Hesiod’s Theogony? To answer this question, you may want to draw upon the following: Richard Hamilton’s The Architecture of Hesiodic Poetry, Hesiod’s poetic structure and line of thought, the topics that Hesiod discusses within the poem, ancient conceptions vs. modern conceptions of creation and the gods, the Geometric art style, and any other relevant information gathered from lecture. Essentially, this question is asking you to put Hesiod’s Theogony into context: What role did it play for the Greeks, and in what way does it show us today how the Greeks conceived of the gods and their own lives?
Name two similarities and two differences between the Greek (Hesiodic) account of the creation of man and one other ancient or modern culture’s account of your choice (i.e. Enuma Elish, Kumarbi Myth, Genesis, or others mentioned in class). Why do you think that such diverse and wide-spread cultures tell similar stories when recounting the creation of man? Or, do you see important, irreconcilable differences that are perhaps overlooked in favor of interpretations that stress unity? You may want to consider the following questions when formulating your answer: What could be the reasons that nearly every society has some sort of creation account? How does the Book of Genesis figure into this discussion, and how does it factor into your own thoughts on the plethora of creation accounts? Do you believe that the great similitude between so many creation stories lends them more or less credence? Where do you think these similarities come from?
You have now been exposed to two different ancient genres: epic and tragedy. Describe two general attributes of each genre (four attributes total), and then discuss the relationship of the genres to one another with respect to these attributes. What are the similarities that exist between the two genres (e.g. depictions of the gods, depictions of mortal life, main themes, tone, structure, etc.)? How are they different, and are they so in any irreconcilable ways? What do these similarities and differences tell us about the “place” of each genre in Archaic and Classical Greek life? What did each genre do for its intended (ancient) audience? What do they do for us today? How can you relate Nietzsche’s idea of the duality of the Apollonian and Dionysian to your observations?
The gods in Homer’s Iliad and the tragedies do not always appear as benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent beings: they are involved in the ignominious deaths of certain heroes, they sleep around, and they are even wounded. These human-like characteristics are generally inconsistent with our own cultural and religious understandings of the divine. Choose one god from the Iliad, and one god from one of the tragedies read in class (two gods total) and comment upon the effect of their overall presence and purpose within the two texts. Some questions you might consider in your answer are as follows: Why are the gods depicted with an anthropomorphism that mirrors the emotions and faults of men? Do the gods need to be virtuous in order to be worshipped? What is the relationship between gods and humans? How do the gods interact with and understand humans? What is the relationship between gods and fate? What motivates the gods’ interactions with both humans and fate?
The concept of moderation is very important for understanding much of Greek tragedy, its characters, and the effect that such plays had on their audiences. Choose two characters from one of the following plays: Euripides’ Hippolytus, Bacchae, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Antigone. Compose an essay that discusses each of the two characters in terms of their moderate behavior or lack thereof. Some issues that you will want to consider: (1) In what particular ways do these characters act excessively in relation to the established norms that would be expected? How do we as the audience learn what the standard behaviors should be? (2) What are the consequences for these characters who act without moderation, both in terms of the plot and as they relate to your personal sympathies toward these tragic figures? (3) Can you detect a similar theme of immoderate/moderate behavior within the characters of epic genre (particularly, in Homer’s Iliad)? If so, how do you explain this consistency across genres? How does this trend deviate from what we would expect from tragedy? And, finally, (4) how does Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy and the Apollonian and Dionysian play into the concept of moderation in one’s life?
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