CLAS 2520 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Pyrrhus Of Epirus, Origin Myth, Only Hope

• School: University of Manitoba
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLAS 2520
• Professor: Rob Nau

Document Summary

Class 6 creatio(cid:374) of hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)s | a(cid:374)cie(cid:374)t si(cid:374)(cid:374)ers. One theory of myth is that it is a crude science. If ancient greeks were trying to explain why the sun crossed the sky, they could say apollo drove the chariot of the sun across the sky. When myth is seen as an explanation it is called aitological, and the individual story is called an aition (plural = aitia) Where did the milky way come from? (aitia) Zeus wanted herakles, his bastard child, to be immortal. When hera was sleeping he would sneak herakles in to their royal chamber and have him suckled by her. One night hera awoke, swatted him away, and milk went everywhere. Prometheus (forethought) and his brother epimetheus (afterthought) sided with zeus in his battle against the titans. For their reward, they were allowed to create the animals of the earth: prometheus shaped the animals out of clay, epimetheus gave them gifts (lions claws, fangs; eagle flight, talons)