CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Semitic Languages, Greek Mythology, Theogony
15 May 2018
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Thursday, May 10, 2018
Greek Mythology
Lecture 4: Midterm Review
Part 1: Short answer — 2 to 4 sentences
Part 2: Long answer — 10 sentences
The Phoenicians
• Egyptian painting depicts images of Phoenician traitors (Lebanon) — Ships
• Semitic language family
• The Phoenicians are in red robes, while the Egyptians are in white, kilted robes
• They were actually called Phoinikes ‘The Red People’
• Red is significant — colour fast, red dye
• This was an object of marvel in the ancient world, which was a luxury item that was highly
expensive
• The colour red and purple were associated with the rich and the royalty — purple is the colour
of Kings/Pope
• Excellent at seafaring
• Gaddir — Phoenician colony
• The most popular Phoenician colony was Carthage
• They traded to Egypt, Spain, Greece (900 BCE)
• In Greece, the island of Cyprus *know Cyprus for map quiz
• Cyprus was divided by Greeks and Phoenicians (south coast)
• Worshiped their own Gods — Ashtarte/Ishtar
• Royal figure depicted as high achieving, sexual
• Lover, Tammuz — perished
• The Greeks copied Ashtarte to be a Goddess of their own, Aphrodite
• Doomed lover parallel — Ares (symbolized as the shield and spear, which is the symbol for
males)
The Goddess Aphrodite
• Almost always associated with the island of Cyprus
• Emerges from the sea (hence the name, from the foam) — came from the genitals of Ouranos
• Copied her planetary association — Venus (called Astarte by the Phoenicians, Aphrodite by the
Greeks)
• Attributes of Aphrodite was the hand mirror (made of Bronze or Copper)
• Often, these hand mirrors had the symbol of Venus (female symbol)
• Hesiod Theogony — Kronos cut off his father’s testicles, Ouranos, which birthed Aphrodite (therefore,
Zeus’s aunt)
• Homer said she was the daughter of Zeus
The Greek Underworld
•Buxton, pg. 206-213, 52, 30, 89-90, 72-73, 158-159
!1
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Thursday, May 10, 2018
•750 BCE — The Odyssey
•Not the same as Christian hell, and not necessarily a place of punishment
•Ruled by Hades and Persephone
•Hades ‘the unseen one’
•Odysseus visits the underworld — river of the dead
•Tantalos — tantalize
•Sisyphus — attempted to trick the Gods, as well as death by substituting himself
•Greek literature begins to elaborate about what happens to the soul after death, the geography of the
underworld, etc
•50 daughters of Danaus/Danäos
•The daughters are punished forever in the underworld — carry water in jars with a leak
•There is a place in the underworld, where there is a happy afterlife — Elusion/Elysium (place of reward)
•Menelaos
•Kadmos ‘King of Thebes’
•Achilles, in some readings, wen to Elysium
•Champs-Élysées
•Judges of the underworld (all lived as mortal men, and the sons of Zeus)
1. Minos — King of Crete
2. Aiakos — Grandfather of Achilles
3. Rhadamanthus
•The Mysteries — fringe religious practice
•The Eleusinian Mysteries (Demeter/Persephone)
•The Orphic Mysteries — Orpheus
•Tartarus (punishment)!
The Gap Between Gods and Humans — pg. 88, 89 (honour and boundaries)
•Live forever — always youthful
•The story of Arachnē — turned into a spider
•Claimed to be a better weaver than Athena
•She turns her into a spider “guilty of Hubris”
•Hubris — “pride that goeth before a fall”
•Arrogance to a self destructive extent
•Humans who believe they are god-like
•Marcias — demigod
•Story of Asklepios — pg. 91
•Story of Aktaion/Actaeon — Prince of Thebes who was turned into a Deer by Artemis, the
Goddess of the Hunt
•Story of Icarus — he and his father are escaping from the King of Crete, so he fashions bird wings
(don’t fly close to the sun, the wax will melt)
•Humans are not allowed to go above a certain level, Godliness
•Apollo was aloof of humanity, disliked humans — appeasement
•“Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”
!2
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Part 1: short answer 2 to 4 sentences. Egyptian painting depicts images of phoenician traitors (lebanon) ships. The phoenicians are in red robes, while the egyptians are in white, kilted robes. They were actually called phoinikes the red people". Red is significant colour fast, red dye. This was an object of marvel in the ancient world, which was a luxury item that was highly expensive. The colour red and purple were associated with the rich and the royalty purple is the colour of kings/pope. Excellent at seafaring: gaddir phoenician colony. They traded to egypt, spain, greece (900 bce) In greece, the island of cyprus *know cyprus for map quiz: cyprus was divided by greeks and phoenicians (south coast, worshiped their own gods ashtarte/ishtar. The greeks copied ashtarte to be a goddess of their own, aphrodite: doomed lover parallel ares (symbolized as the shield and spear, which is the symbol for males)
