CLAS 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite Urania, Venus Callipyge

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLAS 2000
• Professor: Andrew Walsh

Document Summary

Mycenaean collapse (dark age) > archaic > classical > hellenistic -> roman > Christianity: greece was close to earlier advanced communities. Topography important: mountainous terrain, isolated communities, separated by islands = accounts for oral stories told for thousands of years = a lot of variation in stories by communities and slight variations. Greek myths held together well despite geographic separation. People consuming myths were rational, yet saw immense value in myths. Rationalizing con icting ideas: hero quest: the greeks spoke allegorically. Hero quest begins with miraculous birth of hero, separated from father and raised by mentor. Confront father, are wounded, overcoming father, assume place as leader. People were on greek peninsula 400000 years ago. Caves frequent in greek myth as hangover from when early greeks lived in caves. Same with cannibalism and other taboos (bestiality, monsters, incest), likely dating back to when humans were a food source. Greeks move out of stone age but the stories and fears remain.