CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Boundary Marker, Theatre Of Ancient Greece, Tide Pool
9 May 2018
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CLA2323- Lecture 3- May 8, 2018
Today’s Ageda:
• The twelve Olympian Gods, Buxton p.29 table
• Most of today comes from pages 68-82 in Buxton9
• Zeus (young Zeus pg 47-49)
• Hera
• Poseidon
• Demeter
• Apollo
• Artemis
• Athena
• Hermes
• Aphrodite
• Ares
• Hephaestus
• Dionysus (born of a human mother, he should be a hero, he should be human, he is a borderline
god) Hera comes to his mother and tricks her, Zeus asks to come in the most powerful form
(thunder bolt), mother is killed, house burns down. He is able to save the unborn baby, he puts
him inside his thigh, in which the baby comes to term and born of his thigh, this is what makes
him a god instead of a hero because he is born of Zeus and not his mortal mother- Athena is the
other child born of Zeus (came from his head)- often resisted as a god, bad things happen to
those who resist (The Bacchae is an example)
Other gods:
• Hades (king of hell, brother of Zeus)
• Hestia
• Persephone (queen of hell, niece of Zeus, daughter of Demeter)
• Pan
• Eros
• Priapus
Please Note that the midterm is a week from today!
• Gods have a distinctive and unique personality
• While they are Godly, they are also quite human in some of their attributes
• The human traits given to them are usual negative- cruel, petulant, jealousy and so on
• Cannot reconcile the two, the split personality is equal
• Gods were often apart of daily life- daily thought of as a universal principle
• Pray to Zeus for rain, or Poseidon for help if lost at sea and so on
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• When looking at the stories or myths that is when we see more of the human sides
Zeus
• King of the gods
• Hera is his wife
• Apollo and Artemis are sons to Zeus
• Father (figure) or literal, to the gods, everyone is related to Zeus
• Think of it as a family business, job is to run the universe, Zeus at the top and he has delegated
jobs to the other members of his family
• KEY point: FAMILY
• Zeus does not have intercourse with his divine children
• In the bible- God creates the universe, however in Greek mythology that is not the case- Zeus
takes over the world from what is already there
• This is covered in the text of p47-49
• Zeus takes over from his violent father Kronos/Cronus- he is consuming his children, Zeus is the
last oe or, Zeus’s other triks his father ito eatig a stoe rather tha ay Zeus, Zeus is
sent to live in cave- grows into man in a year
• He confronts his father and forces him to puke up his siblings- land of the Titanes ( world before-
the time when violence ruled)
• When Zeus takes over he is beginning to create order in the world
• The new race is Theoi- the time of gods- the old gods are banished to the underworld
• Establishes physics, justice, seasons, moons/suns etc
• Zeus Horkios- enforcer of oaths
• Zeus Xenios- protector of strangers (travelling stranger was protected under Zeus)
• He keeps society fair and justice
• God of weather- overlapped with the agricultural calendar
• 3 examples that show Zeus fighting the social order – p.93- Phaethon (human boy)- son of the
sun god- Phaethon asks if he can drive the sun chariot- and given permission- hoeer he a’t
do it- the sun begins to come towards the earth- burning crops/buildings- so Zeus throws
thunder bolt and kills the boy- needed in emergency – story of human stepping out of bounds
• Ex#2- Aselepius- son of Apollo and a mortal woman- he was not a hero- first human doctor- he
was the best doctor- so good he could raise a dead man back to life- so he does this- and Zeus is
horrified- it goes against natural order- so he throws thunder bolt and kills Aselepius and the
man he revived
• Ex#3- Sarpedon- son of Zeus- he is a warrior- during the Trojan war he fought alongside the
Trojans- fighting on the planes of troy- Zeus is watching his son fight against a hero and has a
bad feeling- he pulls out the scale of fate- he puts the fate of each his son and the hero, he sees
that his son is shown as heavier which is bad- he knows his son will die- due to karma he did not
mess with the fate of his son- so he wept- he wept for he was powerless to help his son- he
obeyed his own laws of the universe when in theory he could break them – very powerful story
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Real life ancient Greece Zeus had two places of sanctuary- Olympia(the Olympic games held
here every 4 years) (not mount Olympos )
• The Olympic games are a recreation of what happened in Greece- 1896- reinstated as a way to
promote world peace
Hera
• Wife and sister of Zeus
• Patron of marriage and wives in real ancient Greece
• Her name is pure Greek and means the lady
• In origin she is a non greek medaterian woman who was adapted into Greek mythology-
probable around 2100-1600 Bc- however this is not hinted at in Greek mythology
• She is more important in real life than in the mythology
• In mythology she is often painted in negative likes- spoiled, jealous, beautiful, wall street wife,
perseutes Zeus’s affairs
• She persecutes Heracles (name meaning glory/fame)- hih does’t ut hi ay slak ith Hera
None of the gods are depicted as old- all under 50-children in their 20s
Apollo
• God of music and poetry and also medicine, disease, prophecy
• Transition to manhood
• God of Male beauty – stunning
• Apollo is enemy of Greeks- with Zeus permission he stands outside Greek troups and shoots
arrows in that bring disease to the Greek warriors- plague
• He also had getle arros hih ould shoot thigs like aer
• He is depicted as surprisingly young- 17-20 (transition to manhood)
• God of a boys transition- seen as beautiful thing
• We are unsure of the meaning of his name- we do know, apella- the assembly of citizens (being
able to vote and so on)
• Wise like his father Zeus
• He takes on the trait of delivering prophecy also like his father
• The oracle at Delphi- people could go and ask a question- and would get an answer from God
Apollo in the form of priestess (this really happened)
• Often people would pray to Apollo to be left alone- do’t hurt us- do’t rig disease
• Least friendly of the Gods
Artemis
• Twin sister of Apollo
• Thus also around 17-20
• She is a virgin goddess
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Other gods: hades (king of hell, brother of zeus, hestia, persephone (queen of hell, niece of zeus, daughter of demeter, pan, eros, priapus. Hera: wife and sister of zeus, patron of marriage and wives in real ancient greece, her name is pure greek and means the lady. In mythology she is often painted in negative likes- spoiled, jealous, beautiful, wall street wife, perse(cid:272)utes zeus"s affairs: she persecutes heracles (name meaning glory/fame)- (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h does(cid:374)"t (cid:272)ut hi(cid:373) a(cid:374)y sla(cid:272)k (cid:449)ith hera. None of the gods are depicted as old- all under 50-children in their 20s. Apollo in the form of priestess (this really happened: often people would pray to apollo to be left alone- do(cid:374)"t hurt us- do(cid:374)"t (cid:271)ri(cid:374)g disease. Like her brother she is imagined of having bow and arrow- she does not carry the disease aspect. Leto was a demigoddess ( minor goddess) result of an affair with mortal.
