CLASSICS 2E03 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Ancient Greece, Euripides, Troy
CLASSICS 2E03
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Origin and Nature, Humanity and technology
2001: tech, violence, and human nature
• Barly surviving ancestor
• Long shot of the sunsets gives info on static mode of existence and state of nature
• Human origins: "no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all continued fear, and
danger of violent death: and the life of man, solidarity, poor, nasty brutish and short"
• Innovation for survival and betterment- and destruction
• Used the tool (bone) for hunting and then warfare, genius for tech is not shown for good, capacity
for violence
• Move for tech moves worsening in our condition (monkeys were bad in the beginning and worse
after found the bone)
• Technology and the ascent or descent of humankind?
• The Jupiter mission was sparked by monalist and so was the finding of the bone by the moneys
• Tech started by this monolist
• The humans only talked when concerned for themselves
• The guy kept walking around, showing monogamous existence
• No talking to keep our attention on ethical content
• A vision of the world of the future: absence of bonds of affection and fellowship?
• Dave was too calm about Franks death
• Dave is closer to HOW then dave is
• Dave shows more emotion to HOW than Dave
• HOW is ruthless machine but also like humans. Made in our own image?
• HAL: made in the image of humankind?
• The way Dave put down HOW was interesting. Like HAL like a kid
• Humanity's genius for violence
Hesiod and Greek epic
• Archaic period: c 750BCE- 480 BCE. Rise of Greek city state
• Works of days and theogany (birth of Gods): c. 700 BCE
• Older than the Thiad and Oddyssy- at any rate, some of the oldest works of ancient Greek
• Hestoid presents himself as a farmer and bard from Bocotio
Aeschylus and greek tragedy
• Classical period: 480 BCE-323 BCE. The period which we see the floruit of Greek intellectual
culture (tragedy, comedy, historiography, medicine, philosophy). Also, the heyday of democratic
Athens
• Prometheus bound: mid to mid-to-late 400s BCE
• Athenian, fought in the Persian wars at the battle of Salamis, 480 BCE
• Oldest of the 3 canonical Athenian tragedians (Sophocles, Euripides)
Two kinds of Eris (trouble)
• Eris: strife, discord, trouble contention, quarrel
• Put hims in the roots of the earth
• A deep seated motivation a drive towards both virtues and vicious behaviors (envy as a stimulus
to bettering ones circumstances )
The ages of man
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• Overall a decent, a move away from the company of the gods: Gold, silver, bronze, the age of
hero's, iron
• Gold a life without sorrow, pain or toil; beloved by the gods, in afterlife wander the earth as
guardians of humankind and arbiters of justice
• Silver: an extended childhood; out of foolishness fight one another; lack of respect for the gods and
ritual
• Bronze: wholly warlike, no need for sustenance, abundance of technology (bronze and iron);
destroyed themselves and died nameless
• Hero's: those who fought at Troy and Thebes, the times of Odysseus, Achillies and Oedipus; enjoy
immortality on the islands of the blessed
• Iron: Hesiods present
• Humans as "mere stomachs" "men who live on bread" (this is how the muses describe them)
• More like animals then humans
• Following impulse
• Gods live without worry about food and bread unlike humans
• Gods just need the smell of the food that is burnt
• Human condition defined in terms of our mortality
Prometheus and Pandora in Hesiod
• Prometheus as fire and foremost a trickster god, who end up giving man the technological means
for civilization
• The Prometheus myth as an account of Greek ritual practice (alter)
• Prometheus (forethought: intelligence) and Epimethus: (Afterthought; stupidity)
• Womankind as punishment for Prometheus deception (Pandora fashioned as a deceiving gift, a
"beautiful evil" [kalon kakon]
• Only hope remains in Pandora's jar
• If the jar was filled with evil then why was hope in it?
• A good thing can be bad if it is out of reach
• The need for hope implies that there is something bad (so you need hope)
Prometheus in Aeschylus
• Prometheus as the benefactor of humanity, an almost self-sacrificing figure
• Hubris (arrogance: act of transgression) and divine punishment and retribution (Nemis) the hubris
of Prometheus and the Tyranny of Zeus (Zeus characterized by the way of literary tropes of
Tyranny)
• The anger, even spitefulness, of the Gods
• The Gods and the fortunes of humankind: the God not wholly the defenders or benefactors of
humanity
- Is Prometheus' punishment justified?
- Zeus is presented as a Tyrant (fight with family, struggle for control)
[QUOTE]- Hear istead aout the iserale oditio of akid…….
- Technology is something that frees us from turmoil
The battle of the Gods
• The problem of succession (Ouranos, Cronos, Zeus) - Metis and the birth of Athena
• Battle with the titans (Titanomachy)- the overthrow of the previous generation
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Document Summary
2001: tech, violence, and human nature: barly surviving ancestor, human origins: "no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all continued fear, and. Long shot of the sunsets gives info on static mode of existence and state of nature danger of violent death: and the life of man, solidarity, poor, nasty brutish and short" Made in our own image: hal: made in the image of humankind, the way dave put down how was interesting. Like hal like a kid: humanity"s genius for violence. Hesiod and greek epic: archaic period: c 750bce- 480 bce. Aeschylus and greek tragedy: classical period: 480 bce-323 bce. The period which we see the floruit of greek intellectual culture (tragedy, comedy, historiography, medicine, philosophy). Athens: prometheus bound: mid to mid-to-late 400s bce, athenian, fought in the persian wars at the battle of salamis, 480 bce, oldest of the 3 canonical athenian tragedians (sophocles, euripides)