CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Pointless, Dyaus Pita, Knossos
2 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CLA2323- Greek Mythology- May 1st, 2018
• Prof email: David Sacks [email protected]
• While e ill eed to ko fats e o’t eed to ko outless arratie
• The class follows a contextual approach-you will look at this by taking into account the real life
people who were affected at the time- how did the ancient Greeks react to these stories- what
was there real lives like
• By studying the myths we can see what the real life was like and sometimes get to the origin of
some of the myths
• Ex. Greeks saw their Gods as some distant to humanity and others were closer to humanity- 3
towards being friendly towards humans- Athena(god of wisdom, Patron of Athens, Technology,
gave gift of olive tree to Athens), Demeter(daughter is Persopheny, god of
harvest(wheat/barley) and crop), and Dionysus(god of wine)- All these Gods overlap in
agricultural resources
• Pointless to take in the mythology of these gods without taken in what they meant to the
people at the time
• Review of the course outline- important note- two different classrooms
• Readings are textbook and class readings- check brightspace regularly for readings
• Course involves a midterm (May 15), Map quiz (May 29), and a Final
• Midterm and final will be in the format of short answer and long answer essay questions (2
paragraphs)
• Map quiz- two blank maps with land and water features, at the bottom a legend of about 40
placenames – you have 10mins to label the map as best possible (5%)
• Any other details refer to outline before contacting prof etc
Lecture 1- The land of Greece
• Aiet Greee reseles uh of oder Greee. The did’t hae suh a oastlie hoeer
it is quite the same
• Close to Italy and Turkey
• Not too far from North Africa across the Medatarian
• Continuity of mountain chain going south ward throughout Greece- stepping stones heading to
Asia Minor.
• It was easy to island hop- ou did’t eed to e a epert to do so – communication lines were
open
• From an early on Greeks were always pulled to cities- ex. Older brother got the farm and you
were the younger brother you could go to the city for trades
• 5 Gods of the sea, fascinating
• Mountains of Greece had a couple of strong effects – they occupy much of the fertile land-
which Greece already has very little of- they can support some grapes and wheat but not much
else
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• The mountains took up much of any available farm land- food has always had a ? in terms of
history
• People would go to war over it- both sides hungry
• Wheat was hard to grow so often grew arle, hih is’t ofte eate i opariso to drik
• Grew grapes, olives, figs and some other fruits, meat was hard to come by due to cost- generally
only the rich ate meat regularly
• The mountains were said to be the home of the Gods, Olympus
• It as’t just the outais of the orth or the ajor gods, saller gods ere also assoiated
with other mountains
• Mountains also contributed to greek history and culture because they were home to a lot of
limestone( compressed is known as marble)- great because it can be used for building- some
mountains gave marbles- building and statues
• Caves are an intimate approach- gods born in cave
• Greek piiile iddle figer of had o the ap- Greeks believed it was the opening to the
underworld ( cave that was partially submerged in water )
• Another effect is that it is Porous, water is not kept, it runs down- thus very little rivers and
lakes- very little surface water- wells required- like food water was also ?
• Thus many chose to leave for Italy, Southern France or Asian Minor.
• Weather- Summer is brutal- plants tend to die- only some can survive such insane climates- like
figs, pomagrantes, and some pears
• Winter- fairly mild- very rainy- like April here- very dreary- Greeks sowed grains in October
rather than April so crops grew over winter- not uncommon to see grains poking through wet
snow (never cold enough to kill crop)
• Summer rain stops- rain is mostly winter – West side tends to get about 3x the amount of rain
then the East side
• Zeus- god of justice (fairness) but also known as he God who made it rain
• Greeks saw the Gods as a religious necessity- you would plow your field, sow your grains, and
then go and pray to Zeus for help for rain to grow the food.
• It was a very literal aspect to their lives
• Pigs were often kept since they would eat just about anything and require little space- often
seen in city courtyards- if they ate meat it was pig, goat, sheep and fish – beef was rare and $$
• Animals often given as sacrifice to their associated God- they sacrificed domestic animals not
wild- no one really knows why
• Break
Second half of lecture 1 – Greece in prehistory
• Mediterranean Triad- Athena (olives), Demeter(barley), and Dionysus ( grapes, wine)
• At some point in history Greeks started to trade with Egyptians and Lebanon
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
