GRST 209 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Odysseus, Hekatonkheires, Sea Foam

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Greek and Roman Studies
• Course: GRST 209
• Professor: Peter Toohey

Document Summary

Chaos arose, birthing gaia (earth), eros (desire/sexual love), tartarus (underworld), Erebus (darkness), nyx (night: gaia made ouranos (sky), ourea (mountains), pontus (sea, from ouranos and gaia came the titans (kronos), the cyclops, and the hecatonchires (fiercer, stronger than titans) Ouranos" disgust with hecatonchires pushed them back into gaia"s womb, and the titan. Kronos castrated his father: ouranos" severed testicles were thrown in the ocean, and aphrodite (goddess of love) was formed out of the sea foam. Athena was birthed from zeus" forehead, after he swallowed the pregnant oceanid metis to avoid another prophecy. Myth is defined as word in greek, but we define it as stories about gods and heroes. Heroes are seen as (typically) big, strong, brave, male, aristocratic, young, act (rather than think). Gods are seen as moral beings, living forever (athanatos), much more powerful than humans. Begin with chaos (nothingness), end with 2nd generation of olympians oranous eros tartarus.