LIT HUM FINAL STUDY GUIDE:
HUMACC1001
Fall 2021
Iliad (Homer)​​
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Greek Characters
Trojan Characters
Greek Gods (Amongst others)
Achilles:
-​ Son of Peleus and Thetis
-​ The alleged “Angel of
Death”-->brings death to men
because death will come
anyway
Hektor:
-​ Son of Priam
-​ Serves as a constant
contrast to Achilles
-​ favored by the Gods
Athena:
-​ Goddess of wisdom and war (note the
paradox)
-​ sides with the Achaeans
Agamemnon
-​ Leader of the Achaean army
-​ brother of Menelaus
Andromache
-​ wife of Hektor
-​ most heart-wrenching
scenes in the Iliad are
arguably when she begs
Hektor to remain within
the walls (and when she
learns of his death
Zeus:
-​ “son of Kronos”
-​ Generally establishes his neutrality in
the war, but Thetis (Mother of
Achilleus) implores him to put his
support behind the Trojans for the sake
of her son
Diomedes
-​ Fearsome fighter, given
god-like strength by Athena
-​ Son of Tydeus
Paris/ Alexandrios:
-​ “abducts” Helen from
Sparta
-​ Seemingly mocked for
his pomp, referred to as
“god-like”, despite this
-​ Favored by Aphrodite
Hera
-​ Queen of the Gods, wife of Zeus
-​ Cunning, spiteful, headstrong, deceitful
-​ Despises the Trojans; throws her
weight behind the Achaean cause
Odysseus:
-​ “the equal of Zeus in counsel”
-​ Glorified for his cunning and
resourceful ways
Priam
-​ Father of Paris and
Hektor
-​ King of Troy
Apollo
-​ God of sun and the arts
-​ Supports the Trojan cause and
frequently intervenes in the battlefield
to give them aid
Nestor:
-​ Stands as a representations of
the past,
-​ Sees himself as a model for
how the younger characters
should act
-​ Long, monotonous speeches
also serve as comic relief to the
reader
Helen
-​ Wife of Menelaos, lover
of Paris
-​ Multi-faceted character:
did she leave of her own
accord or was she
abducted?
-​ Temptress or victim
Aphrodite
-​ Pro-trojan, namely gives aid to Paris
-​ Portrayed as weakest of the gods
Menelaos
-​ Husband of Helen
-​ Seems that war is being fought
in his honor, yet he often falls
back and looks to Agamemnon
(his brother) to lead instead
-​ Futility in his skills as a warrior
Hekabe
-​ Mother of Hektor
-​ Portrays male-like anger
when Hektor dies
-​ Married to King Priam
Poseidon
-​ Brother of Zeus and God of the sea
-​ Initially holds a grudge against the
Trojans as they did not give him proper
thanks for the building of their city, but
he becomes angered with the Achaeans
when they fail to give him proper
sacrifice after building their defensive
wall
Ajax
-​ Second in strength and size
after Achilleus
Thetis
-​ Sea-nymph
-​ Mother of Achilleus
-​ Entreats Zeus to side with the Trojans
for the sake of spurned Achilleus
Patroklos
-​ Closest companion to
Achilleus, who he grew up with
-​ Dichotomy in his allegiance to
Achilles and his support of the
Achaean cause
Ares
-​ God of War
-​ Sides with Trojans
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Overview:
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The Iliad begins with Chryses asking Agamemnon to return his daughter, Chryseis, who is being
held captive. Naturally, Agamemnon is arrogant and refuses, thus Chryses prays to Apollo, who unleashes
a plague on the Greek side. When the Achaeans learn that Chryseis is the cause of the plague,
Agamemnon reluctantly returns the girl to Chryses, but demands Achilleus’s prize, Briseis, to be turned
over to him as compensation. After much griping, Achilleus obliges but then withdraws from the war and
asks his mother Thetis to have Zeus side with the Trojans in the Trojan War in order to prove that they
cannot win without his help. The plot revolves around the wrath of Achilleus brought on by
Agamemnon hurting his pride in this dispute. Zeus obliges because he owes Thetis a favor, and for the
next few days of fighting, the Trojans, led by Hektor, devastate the Achaean forces. Desperate,
Achilleus’s greatest companion asks to borrow his armor to scare off the Trojans. This plan works, until
Patroklos is killed by Hektor. The death of Patroklos incites Achilleus to re enter the war and he goes on
to have a killing spree until he finally avenges Patroklos by killing Hektor. As if this wasn’t enough, he
then abuses the body and defiles it, refusing to let the Trojans give him a proper burial. Finally, the Gods
have had enough of Achilleus’s behavior and ask him to return the body, so when Priam shows up
unarmed, Achilleus (thinking of his own father) finally agrees to give the body back. The epic ends with
the funeral of Hektor.
Important Themes/Motifs:
●​ Homeric Similes
●​ in the oral tradition is was necessary to translate war into everyday terms
▪​ nature
●​ “The wind scatters with the leaves on the ground, but the live timber
burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning”
(6.145-148).
▪​ animals
●​ “Like lions who live on raw meat” (7.256)
▪​ fire
●​ The Human Body
●​ what would bodies be doing if not in war/
●​ passage of spears through and/all places emphasizes the vulnerability of humans
●​ importance of burying the body
●​ Connected to symbol of armour
▪​ pseudo-desecration of stealing a dead man’s armor
▪​ idea that you take on the qualities of the man whose armour you steal
▪​ reliance on objects, relying on possessions, idolatry
▪​ stripping of armour makes one vulnerable in death, a depletion of honor and
respect
●​ Honor and Glory
●​ The Hero and the Heroic Code
●​ when protagonists follow it and when they stray
●​ What is Homer’s definition of a hero?
▪​ Achilles vs Hektor
●​ Good vs Evil
●​ does it exist in the Iliad?
●​ is there one side that is markedly better than the other?
●​ Mortality vs Immortality
●​ Fate vs. Free Will
●​ Hektor: “but as for fate, I think that no man yet has escaped it once it has taken its first
form, neither brave men nor coward” (6.487-489).
●​ Wartime and Peacetime
●​ what war gives and what it takes away
●​ Objectivity of Women
●​ The Iliad is a pre-monetary world in which women are the currency
●​ Yet women (and their bodies) spur on most of the actions in the epic
●​ Family (most notably lineage)
●​ not living up your name is considered death itself
●​ Power of the Gods vs Man
●​ fragility and vulnerability exist within the cadre of the Olympians
●​ there is no absolute power/god-->feuds, competing desires and interests
●​ The Oral Tradition
●​ use of repetition and alliteration
●​ Counsel
●​ mediates the tension between force and restraint
●​ Good counsel is both speaking and listening
▪​ Odysseus: “sit still and listen to what others tell you” (2.200)
▪​ Nestor: “it is yours therefore to speak a word, yours also to listen and grant the
right to another also, when his spirits stir him (9.100-101).
●​ Strength vs Vulnerability
●​ of both mortals and gods
●​ The Warrior World vs Family Cultured World
●​ former embodied by Achilleus, latter by Hektor
●​ Pity
Important Vocabulary
●​ Aristea: the finest moment for a particular hero, that may or may not result in the death of that
hero​
●​ mênis: Achilles’ divine, god-like anger/wrath, introduced in the first line of the epic: “Sing,
goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilles and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon
the Achaeans” (1.1-2).
●​ Vs. mere anger (a mortal feeling)
●​ “The gods put in [Achilles’] breast a spirit not to be placated, for the sake of one single
girl” (9.636-637).
●​ Later on, Achilles uses the Gods as a scapegoat for his wrath: In reconciliation with
Agamemnon:“Zeus took my wits away from me” (19.137)
●​ Atë: personified delusion, an active agent, that which affects Achilles and prevents him from
letting go of his anger
●​ ekphrasis: creating a depiction within a depiction
●​ ex. Achilles’ shield
Books 1-6:
●​ The epic starts out 9 years into the Trojan War, Agamemnon and Achilleus get into dispute over
women
●​ Apollo’s priest’s daughter Chryseis is captured by Agamemnon in a raid on a Trojan town
and is claimed by Agamemnon, while Briseis, another girl from the town is claimed by
Achilles
●​ starts out theme that women’s bodies are central in the plot
●​ Chryses (Father of Chryseis) offers a ransom for his daughter to Agamemnon
▪​ He refuses: Book 1, lines 29-31.“The girl (Chryseis) I will not give back; sooner
n will old age come upon her/ in my own house, in Argos, far from her own land,
going/ up and down by the loom and being in my bed as my companion
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●​ Chryses prays to Apollo, who sends a plague upon the Greeks:Book 1, line 52, “The
corpse fires burned everywhere and did not stop burning” describes plague, start of fire
motif representing destruction
●​ Agamemnon eventually returns the girl but demands a replacement (Briseis), Achilles
refuses but Agamemnon orders B. brought to his tent anyways
●​ As a result Achilles takes himself out of battle:
▪​ Achilles’ rage “checked” by Athena, shows a character with a split heart and
power of gods to spur on/hold back characters: “The goddess standing behind
Peleus’ son caught him by the fair hair” (1.197)
Book 2, pg. 93, Zeus sends false message to Agamemnon inciting him to attack the Trojans, and
Agamemnon tweaks it slightly when he relays it to his forces-he gathers his men for attack, but to
test their courage, tells them that he has decided they should return home
●​ many run, but Athena talks to Odysseus who inspires the Achaeans to stand their ground:
Odysseus to each king--> : “Hold fast and check the rest of the people”. (2.191).
Book 2, pg. 97: Power struggle between Agamemnon and other Achaean Kings, emphasizes the
notion that power is a relative thing
●​ Odysseus: “Lordship for many is no good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king”
(2.204-205).
The Catalogue of Ships in Books 2 not only details the power of various Achaean leaders (sheer
number of goods/ships/men/etc) but only emphasizes the fact that these warriors are individuals
with real histories and story-more than just cogs in the machine of war
Book 2, lines 102-107, describes the long history of Agamemnon’s scepter-- relates to theme of
importance of lineage and family honor
Book 3, both sides call a truce, decide that Paris and Menelaos will fight one to one for Helen,
Menelaos should have won but Aphrodite saves Paris--->unrealized potential for each character’s
Aristea, perhaps emphasizing their respective shortcomings
●​ In this “Close encounter”, it is Paris helmet strap that serves as his undoing
▪​ “for the broidered strap under the softness of this throat strangled Paris”
▪​ symbolizes the flaws that lie in pomp and vanity
Book 4: Gods have their own duels re: the actions of men
●​ their squabbling emphasizes the relativity of power and their human characteristics.
Athena disguises as a soldier and convinces a trojan archer to shoot Menelaus (Athena deflects
the arrow, but the truce is broken, the two sides will fight.
●​ arrows vs. spears: the close proximity of spears in battle suggest honor and respect;
arrows (notably used by Paris) seen as lacking in bravery and heroics.
Book 4, lines 350-355, “What is this word that broke through the fence of your teeth, Atreides?/
How can you say that, when we Achaeans waken the bitter/ war god on Trojans, breakers of
horses, I hang back from/ fighting? Only watch, if you care to and if it concerns you/ the very
father of Telemachos locked with the champion/ Trojans, breakers of horses. Your talk is wind,
and no meaning” -- Agamemnon calls Odysseus a fighter, only to trick him into fighting harder
Book 5, Athena gives Diomedes the power to see gods on the battlefield, after he is wounded in
battle
Book 6, pg. 179, Paris relaxing with Helen contrasts with his brother Hektor fighting in the front
lines
Book 6, Hektor goes back inside the gates of Troy: “Now as he entered the wonderfully built
palace of Priam…” (6.242)
●​ Notable technique of epic narratives in which the reader literally sees through the walls
●​ No animal/nature similes are necessary within the walls, for this is what all humans can
understand
●​ Tender moments that do not belong in war: Hektor’s emotional goodbye with his family
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“So speaking he set his child again in the arms of his beloved wife, who took him
back again to her fragrant bosom smiling in her tears; and her husband saw and
took pity upon her and stroked her with his hand” (6.481-485).
In this moment, Hektor becomes more relatable to the reader: The Myth/Hero vs.
the man
Books 7-12:
●​ Book 7, Agamemnon talks Menelaos out of fighting Hektor one on one --the relative weakness of
Menelaus, a second emasculation, perhaps
●​ Hektor fights Aias, but Zeus calls off the fight and the two exchange “glorious presents”
●​ “these two fought each other in heart consuming hate, then joined with each other in
close friendship, before they were parted” (7.301-302)
▪​ solidarity indeed exists between the two sides
▪​ in accord with the “hero code”
▪​ the duality of the heart
●​ Book 7, lines 459-463, “Come then! After once more the flowing-haired Achaeans/ are gone back
with their ships to the beloved land of their fathers/ break their wall to pieces and scatter it into
the salt sea/ and pile again the beach deep under the sands and cover it/ so let the great wall of the
Achaeans go down to destruction.”
●​ walls and monuments are a way for humans to attain a type of immortality: building
something that transcends time, it is not just a wall but a tomb, literally “the land of their
walls”
●​ Poseidon is angry the that Achaeans failed to make him proper sacrifice before building
the wall; spurs on Zeus to favor the Trojans
●​ Book 7, lines 299-302, “Come then, let us give each other glorious presents/ so that any of the
Achaeans or Trojans may say of us:/ "These two fought each other in heart-consuming hate, then/
joined with each other in close friendship, before they were parted."' -- shows the theme of the
fine line between friends and enemies
●​ Book 8, Zeus weighs the Achaeans and Trojans on a scale (later symbol of justice system) and
takes the Trojan side since the fate of the Achaeans is heavier -- theme of fate in the epic
●​ Gods must work in the framework dictated by Fate
●​ Zeus then shoots lightning from the sky onto the Achaean troops
●​ Book 8, page 215, the watchfires of the Trojans are likened to stars
●​ fire motif once again
●​ a sign of solidarity and endurance
●​ Book 9, first time Agamemnon admits he was not in his right mind when he insulted Achilleus,
but pushes the blame to the gods, proposes the Achaeans return home
●​ “Agamemnon stood before them, shedding tears, like a spring dark-running that down the
face of a rock impassable drips its dim water” (9.13-15)
●​ Diomedes spurs on the troops by declaring his own allegiance to the cause; Nestor argues that
reconciliation with Achilles is necessary for victory, so Agamemnon sends a troop of his best men
to reason the the hero
●​ Achilleus seems to be leaning towards growing old with no glory, theme of fate:
▪​ “Fate is the same for the man who holds back, the same if he fights hard. A man
dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much”. (9.318-320)
▪​ (page 262) The destiny of Achilles: A. “stay here and fight”, inevitable death
“but everlasting glory” or “a long life” [without] the excellence of my glory”
●​ tension between obscure/vague notions of honor and concrete idea of
self-preservation
●​ Book 9, lines 644-648, “Son of Telamon, seed of Zeus, Aias, lord of the people, all that you have
said seems spoken after my own mind/ Yet still the heart in me swells up in anger, when I
remember/ the disgrace that he wrought upon me before the Argives/ the son of Atreus, as if I
were some dishonoured vagabond.”(9.644-648)
▪​ Achilleus values his pride over material possessions, does not wish to have Briseis back,
not about the girl, but about his bruised ego
▪​ fails to understand how his actions are impacting innocent men:
Odysseus-->Agamemnon: “at least take pity on all the other Achaeans” (9.301-302).
●​ Book 10: Diomedes and Odysseus go on a mission to infiltrate the Trojan camp; The Trojans
makes the same plans and send a single man, Dolon to do the job.
●​ Dolon breaks the hero code after he is caught by Diomedes and Odysseus as he divulges
information about the Trojans
●​ A didactic moment: one must stay resolute/loyal, even in the face of death
●​ Diomedes and Odysseus attempt to steal the horses of Aiakides of the Thracians
●​ “As a lion advancing on the helpless herds shepherded by sheeps or goats pounces upon
them with wicked intention, so the son of Tydeus attacked the Thracian people until he
killed twelve” (10.485-488).
●​ Heroes who go against the hero code: Diomedes and Odysseus “cut down” warriors in
their sleep”
●​ Book 11: endless fighting
●​ death of Iphidamas who “left his young wife to help his own people”
▪​ serves as a contrast with Achilles who places his own interests before the cause
of his people ​ ​
▪​ Theme: The actions/qualities of characters serve to glorify or critique other
characters
●​ Diomedes & Paris: Diomedes insults Paris’ manlihood, comparing him to a woman
▪​ Paris use of arrows: “this is the blank weapon of a useless man, no fighter”
(11.389-390)-->a cowardly distance afforded to one who uses an arrow
●​ Book 12: The Trojans get off their horses and storm the Achaean ramparts
●​ as they are about to attack, they witness an omen, “an eagle...carrying in its talons a
gigantic snake…writhing back [the snake] struck the eagle that held it (12.201-204).
▪​ the dominant power is challenged by the underdog
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Books 13-18:
●​ Pg. 291: “barbarians”: In this time, the term literally means one who does not speak Greek
●​ Book13, lines 20-30: Poseidon compared to Zeus, sets up the brotherly feud
●​ older brothers take responsibility : Zeus is “elder born and knew more” (12.355).
▪​ Age and Wisdom
●​ parallel to how Hektor takes responsibility for Paris’s actions
●​ Poseidon’s chariot contrasts with the discord of men's’ chariots (book 11, lines 534-538)
●​ It is “imperishable forever,” contrasting with the impermanence of mortals
●​ Hera’s seducing of Zeus is a portrayal of women waging war the only way they can
●​ Book 13, lines 149-154, the reader can see Hektor get increasingly hubristic
●​ Motif of FIRE -- might of the humans, metaphor for war
●​ strongly associated with death
●​ contrast with water/thunder -- powers of the gods
●​ the more godlike they believe themselves to be, the more destructive they are
●​ once you lose awareness of where your strength comes from, superego can set in
●​ Books 1-12, Hektor’s position determined the tide of the war, he is “humanized” on pg. 307
●​ The Trajectory of Hektor from the earlier books to the later books:
●​ becomes blind to the conditions that garnered him favor in the first place
●​ the volatility and fragility of being the favorite of the Gods
●​ swelling ego correlates with the timeline of the climax
●​ Death of Poseidon’s grandson is hard to relate to since the old men cannot avenge their sons as a
God can
●​ Book 15 line 203, “the hearts of the greats can be changed” -- the people can have a change of
heart,
●​ wavering heart vs fixed heart
●​ a change in heart cannot exist without council
●​ Book 16, line 6, Patroklos is crying -- disaster is imminent
●​ only some emotions are merited
●​ history repeats itself, Nestor reminds everyone repeatedly that he’s fought wars before
●​ Pg. 295, Hektor is compared to a rock
●​ Book 16: Achilleus is also compared to a rock
●​ the word “rock” has a wild feel to it
●​ Book 16: Patroklos wears Achilles’ armour to make the Achaeans think the latter is in the war
●​ Patroklos is killed by Hektor, proclaims Hektor’s fate before he dies: “you yourself are not one
who shall live long, but now already death and the powerful are standing beside you”
(16.851-853).
●​ Achilleus has god-like, god-given wrath, contrasts with him saying he does not intend to be mad
forever
●​ is he trying to save his life by not joining the war, or is he trying to save his honor?
●​ tension between human responsibility and Gods’ control
●​ The god’s hearts are intertwined in the war as well
●​ Book 17: The Trojans and the Achaeans fight over the body of Patroklos
●​ emphasis on the importance of burial; if Patroklos is taken by the Trojans, he will not
receive due burial: religious and moral consequences
●​ Book 18: Achilles receives news of Patroklos’ death
●​ defiles his own body: [He] fouled his “handsome countenance” with “grimy dust” and
“tore at his hair with his hands”
●​ Book 18-- Achilleus’s shield
●​ describes life both in war and peace
●​ irony of the depiction of civilian life on a warfare instrument
●​ Homer’s self portrait?
●​ stands as its own kind of epic
●​ maidens and vines on the shield vs. blood and gore of war
●​ being in war for long periods makes killing almost a routine act
Books 19-24
●​ Book 19: A foreshadow of Achilles’ death in descriptions of battle preparation:
●​ Patroklos (pre-battle before his death): “first he placed along his legs the beautiful
greaves” (16.131)
●​ Achilles: “first he placed along his legs the fair greaves” (19.369)
▪​ repetition suggests a shared fate
●​ Book 19: Agamemnon and Achilles reconcile; Achilles set to re enter war
●​ Achilles starving himself out of grief over the death of Patroklos
●​ Book 20: Zeus has a change of heart, gives Olympians the green flag to intervene in the war
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●​ wants to provide balance as the fearsome Achilles enters battle so the war will not wrap
up too fast
Book 21: Achilleus almost single-handedly battles the Trojans, running them into the river
(Xanthus)
●​ Achilleus kills Lykaon, son of Priam
●​ Everyone is disgraced in this situation: Lykaon shows weakness by pleading, Achilles
kills him as he is begging for his life, which goes against the warrior code
21: The river implores Achilleus to cease from the killing as he is clogging the waters with
corpses
The Battle between Achilles and the River
●​ Achilles fears drowning in the River as his body would be lost and he would not be given
proper burial-->spiritual implications of this
●​ Gods intervene and set the river on fire; Achilleus is spared
●​ Achilles ruins the natural order of things, “water and blood”
Book 22: Hektor, with a fixed heart, is the lost Trojan standing outside the gate, laying in wait for
Achilleus
Achilles approaches Hektor, but the latter flees from him and runs around the city 3 times before
finally engaging him in battle-why?
●​ trying to literally out run/stave off fate
●​ showing the vulnerability/fear of the human condition
Hektor falls to Achilleus in a trick by the gods; begs Achilleus to return his body to his
people-Achilleus refuses and details how he will treat the body of Hektor: “the birds and dogs
will have their feasting”
●​ The defilement of Hektor’s body
▪​ referred to as “it”
▪​ Trojans continue to stab the body after Hektor has died
Book 23: Competitions held in honor of Patroklos suggest life without war, provides some comic
relief, a way to let out anger and win glory in a controlled environment
Book 24: Achilleus continues to mourn Patroklos and drags Hektor’s body “at random” around
Priam at the urging of the Gods, goes to retrieve the body from Hektor
●​ they have an intimate, almost father-son moment in which Priam even “kisses the
hands...that had killed so many of my sons
●​ dual weeping suggests a shared experience, release of strong emotions
The return of Hektor’s body symbolizes the end of Achilleus’ rage
Circular nature of the Iliad as it starts with a return of body (Chryseis and Agamemnon) and ends
with one (Achilleus and Hektor)
Enheduanna “The Exaltation of Inanna”
Summary:
-​ Inanna was the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and goddess of love, related to the
Akkadian Ishtar, and in the hymn, Enheduanna praises her and then asks for her
help and, moreover, vengeance, in reclaiming her position and home after being
exiled due to some unknown political disturbance. It ends triumphantly with her
return. Enheduanna is the high priestess of the moon god Nanna in the city of Ur,
but a revolt led by the usurper Lugal-ane had driven her into exile. In despair,
Enheduana prays to Nanna, but the god does not answer her prayers. Instead, she
turns to her personal goddess, Nanna’s daughter Inana: the Sumerian goddess of
war, sex, paradox and transformation. Enheduana attempts to convince Inana to
intervene in her favor in her case against Lugal-ane, implicitly taking over
Nanna’s role as a divine judge. But Inanna’s heart is famously difficult to please,
and to make matters worse, Enheduanna has lost her poetic skills. She must regain
her powers of speech if she is to persuade Inana to help her, and so save her own
life
-​ Analysis:
-​ “You, who have seized the seven great powers of the gods!”
-​ Here and elsewhere in the poem, the word “power” translates a complex
Sumerian concept, me. In this context, the word refers to a divine sphere of
influences: when a god is a god of something, that something is the me of that
god. But the me also has a number of other connotations. It can be a building
block of civilization, an activity that has to be performed repeatedly, or even a
feature of existence (the word literally means “to be”).
-​ “With your might, teeth can crush stone.”
-​ There is a pun in the line between zu, “tooth,” and zu, a kind of stone (perhaps
obsidian). But when at last they do sing their lamentation, my queen, sail your
boat of sorrow to a foreign shore. The Sumerian tradition of lamentation
songs—also alluded to when Inana’s feat strike up the beat of a lamentation—was
meant to pacify angry gods, by glorifying the destruction that they were able to
wreck. In turn, the gods were expected to turn their devastation elsewhere, when
their might had been recognized. Darling lover of the dead Dumuzi. A widespread
tradition in Sumerian literature concerned Inana’s love for the shepherd god
Dumuzi, whose death is related in the story of Inana’s Descent to the Underworld.
-​ “I have not defiled Nanna’s bed of flowers, or divulged the words of his wife Ningal.”
-​ This may be a reference to the fact that, as high priestess of Nanna, Enheduanna
would have served as the embodiment of his wife Ningal in certain rituals,
symbolically standing in for the god’s wife. 11 This has made you even greater,
this has made you the greatest. The logic of this line is that, by withholding his
judgment in Enheduana’s case, Nanna has effectively created a vacuum of power
for Inana to fill. The decision is up to her, and so is the role of divine judge: by
accepting it, she will become “even greater.” The Holy Inn awaits you. The Holy
Inn is the name of a poorly known temple, probably in Ur. Inns were symbolic
spaces generally associated with social transgression, eroticism, and ritual
transformations.
-​ “For you I gave birth to it. What I sang for you at dead of night, a singer shall repeat for
you at midday.”
-​ This is a specific kind of singer, a gala, who according to some modern scholars
belonged to a third gender. Gala’s mainly performed ritual lamentations, of the
kind described above. Note also that when Enheduana says that she “gave birth”
to the song, the word du can also have several other meanings: “I released it,” “I
spoke it” and “I created it.” The word appears in different guises in different
manuscripts. What she said to her was magnificent. The line is intentionally
ambiguous, as it is unclear who is who in the line. It could refer either to
Enheduana’s glorification of Inana, or to Inana’s order that Enheduanna be
restored as high priestess. The ambiguity folds them together, as they exalt each
other with their words.
-​ Characters:
-​ Enheduanna ("en" means high priest or high priestess, and "hedu" means
adornment, so this name translates to "high priestess adornment of the god, An"),
was the daughter of king Sargon of Akkad and High Priestess of the moon god
Nanna (Sin) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur. Enheduanna served as the "High
Priestess" during the third millennium BCE.
-​ Lugal-ane, usurper in the city of Ur.
-​ Inana, goddess of war and sex.
-​ Nanna, god of the moon, father of Inanna.
-​ Ningal, spouse of Nanna, mother of Inanna.
-​ An, god of the skies, ancestor of the gods.
-​ Enlil, king of the gods.
-​ Dumuzi, Inanna’s lover in her youth.
Enuma Eilish (Babylonian/Unknown author)
-Summary
​
-The Mesopotamian creation myth tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over
the forces of chaos and his establishment of order at the creation of the world.
-Analysis
-Characters
Anshar
Anshar is the offspring of Apsu and Tiamat. He begets Anu, who begets Ea.
Qingu
Qingu is Tiamat’s consort after Apsu’s slaying. Tiamat appoints him commander of her army and
grants him the Tablet of Destinies.
Apsu
Apsu, one of the two primordial Mesopotamian gods, is known as the begetter. He dwells with
his consort, Tiamat, before anything else exists.
Nudimmud / Ea
Nudimmud, more often called Ea in the epic, is begotten of Anu. Originally a Sumerian deity, he
is also sometimes known as Enki or Enlil.
Tiamat
Tiamat, one of the two primordial Mesopotamian gods, is known as the maker. As a deity, she is
associated with water and with chaos.
Marduk
Sometimes called Bel, Marduk is begotten by his father, Ea, and borne by his mother, Damkina,
inside the dwelling Apsu. From his birth, Marduk is superior to all other gods.
Lahamu
Lahamu is an early Babylonian god—with Lahmu, the firstborn of Apsu and Tiamat. He and
Lahmu lead the Igigi (the older gods) in recognizing Marduk as their king.
Kishar
Kishar is the offspring of Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar is her consort.
Anu
Anu is Anshar’s son, and he begets Nudimmud/Ea. Associated with thunderstorms, he gives
Marduk the four winds to play with.
Mummu
Mummu is Apsu’s vizier (adviser). He advises Apsu to destroy his and Tiamat’s offspring even
after Tiamat angrily rejects this idea. Consequently, Ea lulls Mummu into a daze and vanquishes
him.
Damkina
Damkina is the lover of Ea, with whom she lives within the dwelling Apsu, and the bearer of
Marduk.
Igigi
In the epic, the Igigi is the collective name used for the gods of the younger generation.
Anukki / Anunnaki
In the epic, Anukki or Anunnaki is often used to refer collectively to the older generation of
gods.
Ellil
In the Babylonian pantheon, Ellil is considered to be the head of the younger generation of gods.
In Tablet VI, the gods take special care in constructing a shrine for him, as well as for Anu and
Ea, but he doesn’t otherwise feature prominently in the Enuma Elish.
Kakka
Kakka is Anshar’s vizier (adviser). Anshar dispatches him to Lahmu and Lahamu to tell them the
news of Tiamat’s rejection of her children and Marduk’s readiness for battle.
Genesis (Bible/Unknown)
IMPORTANT CHARACTERS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
Adam: The first being. His name and the word ‘man’ are used interchangeably in the text
because they are the same in Hebrew. He eats from the Tree of Knowledge because of his wife
and is forever expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Eve: The first woman: created from the flesh of Adam. She is manipulated by the serpent into
eating from the tree.
Noah: The only ‘righteous’ man in his generation. He is commanded to build and ark and is
saved from the flood. Afterwards, God promises him that he will never again flood the earth,
forming a covenant that is symbolized by the rainbow.
Abraham: Patriarch in Judaism and Islam. Father of Isaac and Ishmael. Well known for almost
sacrificing his son in obedience/fear of God (Genesis 22) and for God’s covenant with him in
Genesis 15
Sarah (also known as Sarai): Abraham’s first wife and mother of Isaac.
Hagar: Sarah’s maid; given to Abraham as a wife. Mother of Ishamel.
Isaac: Son of Abraham and Sarai. Accidentally gives Jacob blessing and birthright, sets up the
nation of Israel through him in doing so (27:25-30)
Rebekah: Wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau. She favors Jacob over Esau, so she helps
Jacob steal the blessing from Isaac. (27:6-13)
Esau: Gets his birthright and blessing stolen, starts nation of Edom which becomes an enemy of
Israel later on (36:1)
Jacob: Father of twelve sons. Has his name changed to Israel after he fights a divine opponent
(32:28)
Laban: Father of Rachel and Leah; Jacob’s employer for a long time; deals dishonestly with
him.
Joseph: Son of Jacob and Rachel. Is sold into slavery in Egypt after his brothers get angry at him
after he tells them that he has dreamt that they will bow down to him one day. (37:5-28). His
brothers were also jealous of him being the favored child - was given a coat of many colors. He
later becomes second-in-command in Egypt (41:43) and saves his brothers during a famine
(chapters 42 - 47)
Rachel: favorite wife of Jacob, mother of most important brother, Joseph. She dies in childbirth
after giving Jacob a second son, Benjamin. (35:18)
Leah: mother of most of the brothers, sister of Rachel. She is not loved by Jacob but becomes
more valued as she is able to give him children (29:31-35)
Pharaoh: Ruler of Egypt. He has a dream that no one but Joseph can interpret. (41:14) After
Joseph successfully interprets that the dream means that a famine is coming and provides a plan
for how to deal with it, Pharaoh promoted him to second in command in all of Egypt (41:43)
Ruben: Oldest of Jacob’s twelve sons. Acts as their leader and decision-maker.
Judah: One of the twelve sons of Jacob. He had a widowed daughter in law, Tamar, who didn’t
have any children when Judah’s son, her husband, died. Per custom, Judah or one of Judah’s
other son’s was obliged to give her children. Judan was slow in honoring this, so Tamar dressed
up as a prostitute and slept with Judah to get children. Story points to the themes of God’s
emphasis on giving birth, the worth of women being tied to how many children they can bear,
and the importance of carrying on a family line (chapter 38)
Simeon and Levi: Two of the twelve sons of Jacob. They exact revenge on Shechem after he
rapes their sister Dinah by killing him and all the men in his city (34:25)
Dinah: Jacob’s only daughter. She is captured by a local prince and raped.
Benjamin: Youngest brother. Only full brother of Joseph (son of Jacob and Rachel). Was
extremely loved and spoiled by Jacob because once he believed Joseph had been slain, Benjamin
is the only son from his favorite wife, Rachel.
Summaries:
Chapter 1: 1st creation story- God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th:
​ Day 1: Heaven and Earth, light and darkness, day and night
​ Day 2: the horizon between the ocean and the sky
​ Day 3: land appeared after the seas separated, vegetation, and trees
​ Day 4:Time (days and years), sun, moon and stars
​ Day 5:birds and sea creatures
​ Day 6:land animals and then created male and female (in the image of God(1:27), to rule
over all of the creatures and land, and to have children(1:28))
​ -Separations
​ - After all of the creations of that day God says which day it was
e
Chapter 2: End of the 1st creation story, now 2nd creation story
​ Day 7: God rested and commanded that the 7th day should be a holy day
​
God created man from the dust of the earth and blew life into his nostrils-> then he
created the Garden of Eden and put man in it->God created trees that you could eat from
and in the middle a “tree of knowledge of good and bad”-> God created three rivers->
“of every tree you are free to eat, but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you
must not eat of it, for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”(2:16-17)-> man was alone
so God created animals to keep him company (beasts, birds) and the man named them but
none of them fit -> God took a rib from man and created woman and he named her.
when man leaves his parents and goes to his wife- “they become one flesh”(1:24)
they “were both naked and not ashamed” – this is a reference to later after they eat
from the tree of knowledge they become aware that they are naked
Names: Hebrew
Man= Ish or Adam
Land= Adamah- man was created from the land so his name comes from the root
word of land
Woman= Isha- woman comes from man so her name comes from the root word of
man
A bible scholar explains:
-From chapter 1 we learn that God is indeed the Creator of nature, yet that recognition
does not necessarily imply that man can develop a personal relationship with Him. The
environment created in chapter 2, although described in physical terms, is of a more spiritual
nature, for in it, God has created everything specifically for man. However, he must obey God in
order to enjoy this special relationship. In this environment, the fate of man is a direct function of
his deeds. Understanding man's potential to develop a relationship with God on the spiritual
level, while recognizing the purpose of his placement in a physical world as well, should be the
first topic of Genesis, for it will emerge as a primary theme of the entire bible
Chapter 3: The Sin?
the serpent convinces Eve to eat forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and she
does
Eve then convinces Adam to eat the fruit and he does
They are enlightened and realize that they are naked (previously they were told that
they were going to die if they eat from the tree so why don’t they? An answer can be that
they do die, just much later, they no longer are able to live forever), they created clothing
using fig leaves
God curses them:
o Mifarshim: The serpent used to stand on its hind legs and was equal to the
height of man but after the punishment God took their legs away and they were forced to
slither on the ground bellow man
o The woman increase pain of childbirth
o Man must toil the land and eat by his sweat
they were exiled from the Garden of Eden to prevent man from eating from the tree
Man and Woman are now able to die, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return”
Chapter 4: Cain and Abel, the first murder or sin
Cain is the tiller of the ground and Abel is a shepherd
Cain makes a sacrifice to God from his fruit and Abel then chooses his best animal
and gives it as a sacrifice
God accepts Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain
Cain kills Abel
God asks Cain what happened to Abel and Cain says, “am I my brother’s keeper?”this makes it seem that Cain wasn’t aware of what he had done, this was the first death so
he might have not known that man could die
o God punished him
God curses Cain to a life of wandering and is forced to live out his long days, no one
is allowed to kill him
Cain’s lineage starts
o Sacrifice- draws you closer to God § Desire to give is a human prerogative,
was denied to Cain
·
In prison you deprive people the ability to give
·
Sacrifice soon becomes ritual, if followed correctly then the sacrifice
will always be accepted
·
Cain’s punishment is that we won’t be able to create and give- he is a
forced wanderer who is cut off from the earth and his old life
·
Death is a release- it is an even greater punishment to live with the sin
Chapter 5: Lineage from Adam to Noah
Overall declining life expectancy
Fulfillment of the promise that man would be fruitful and multiply
Generations of Adam told, but told in way to get to the story of Noah
o What did this say about God’s interest in humanity ?
o What did this say about the Passage of time ?
Chapter 6: Flood preparation
All of the people were bad, “son’s of God” crossbreeding with “daughters of men”
and constant evil thoughts- hybrid isn’t looked at favorably, their needs to be separations
as in creation
God tells Noah to build an ark and take two of every animal
The idea of a covenant is introduced in the text.
God giving order to Noah because every detail is necessary.
Noah had to have faith in God’s wisdom because the idea of rain nor a flood was
never introduced to human, there was only a mist about the Earth.
o Noah became God’s faithful servant
Chapter 7 & 8: Flood
Noah brings his wife, 3 sons, their wives and all of the animals into the ark
It rains for 40 days and 40 nights
After the rain stops the Noah sends out first a raven to find land that doesn’t return,
then a dove that comes back empty handed and eventually the dove comes back with an
olive branch as a sign that there is land
When they reach dry land Noah builds an alter
Noah’s faith was greatly tested
●​ Noah can be seen as the average hero, because the bible did not mention his
occupation
●​ God can use any human to fulfill his purpose and his ultimate will.
●​ Noah can be seen as the average hero, because the bible did not mention his
occupation
●​ God “remembered” Noah, did he ever forget Noah?
○​ God can use any human to fulfill his purpose and his ultimate will.
Chapter 9: Rainbow covenant:
The rainbow is a sign in the clouds that connects the land to the heaven which links
man to God
God promises to never cause another flood that destroys the entire world
The 7 laws of Noah- Natural laws, every man should abide by them- morality
binding people together
o God becomes more merciful after the flood
o Comparison the second covenant later of circumcision
- Noah gets drunk, Ham sees him naked, Noah curses him
Chapter 10 & 11: Lineage from Noah to Abraham, the Tower of Babel
the lineage shows Gods commitment and shows the direct line that we can trace
back Abraham all the way to Adam
Tower of Babel- the people wanted decided to build a tower all the way up to the
heaven brick by brick, God didn’t like this so he decided to separate the people across the
world with different languages
Chapter 12: Abraham
God tells Abram to leave his father's house and go to the land that I will show you,
he promises to create a great nation form Abram, make his name great, give a great land
to his offspring
He took his wife Sarai and his son in law Lot with him to Betel (still exists)
He continued on his journey, there was a famine so he went down to Egypt
Before they entered he told Sarai that she should say that she is his sister so that he
won’t get killed
Sarai was taken into the palace by Pharaoh and Abram received many gifts but then
God caused a plague on Pharaoh so he asked Abram why he called Sarai his sister and
then sent them away
Chapter 13: Abraham and Lot separate
Abraham and Lot both needed more land for their animals to graze so Lot said that
he would take Jordan and Abram stayed in Canaan
God promised Abram that he would give all the land that he could see to his
offspring
God puts a requirement on the covenant -- an ultimate direction of not taking any
riches of any land.
Chapter 14: Abram saves Lot
Sodom and Gomorrah are raided and lot is taken captive with his family
Abram comes and saves him
The importance of family is explored in 14, being that Abraham had to consciously
think about the life of Lot, his brother.
Chapter 15: Abram’s covenant
Abram is promised the land of Canaan to Abram and his offspring
“know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall
be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; but I will execute judgment on the nation
they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth”… “to your offspring
I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates…”
Chapter 16: Hagar and Ishmael
Sarai can’t have children and she wants Abram to be able to fulfill the covenant that
he made with God to have children so she tells him to have kids with Hagar her maid
servant
●​ This discusses the patience of waiting on God.
When Sarai saw that she conceived she got very angry and Abram said that she is
her maid servant and she should do what she wants
Sarai treated her badly and Hagar ran away
An angel found Hagar and said that if she goes back then she will be rewarded with
an increase in his offspring
●​ Parallel to God asking Eve and Adam “Where are you”
- Ishmael was born
Chapter 17: Abram’s covenant with circumcision
-​ God tells Abram that if he keeps on following the covenant then he will have numerous
offsprings, as sign that he is keeping the covenant he and all of his household should be
circumcised
-​ Abram’s transition of name from being “Exalted father to “Father of multitudes”
-​ Shows that God keeps his promises, but Abraham is no longer revered in the same
way anymore.
-​ Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah
Chapter 18: 3 angles and Sdom
-​ 3 angles that take the appearance of men come to the tent of Abraham and he is very
hospitable
-​ One angle tells Abraham that in a year from now Sarah will have a son
-​ Sarah laughs and says that Abraham is too old to have a son and then God tells Sarah that
it is true
-​ God tells Abraham that he wants to destroy Sodom because of all of the evil
-​ Abraham asks what if there are 50 innocent people… Even if their are 10 innocent people
Sdom will be saved
-​ shows the power of forgiving and of hospitality
Chapter 19: Sodom and Gomorrah
-​ Lot takes 2 angles , the city men want to rape the 2 angels ( who appear as foreigners) so
he offers his daughters to them instead, the angels save them
-​ They flee the city with daughters and wife, when his wife turns around to watch the city
being destroyed she turns into a salt
-​ Lot sleeps with his daughters to continue the bloodline
Chapter 20: Abimelech
-​ Abraham claims that Sarah is his sister again to protect himself
-​ this repetition shows that he didn’t learn from his past experience
-​ God tells Abimelech that he is going to die because he took Sarah who was already
married, Abimelech asked him about it and Abraham answered that she really is his
sister- “she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but no the daughter of my
mother; and she became my wife”
Abimelech gave presents to Abraham and Abraham prayed to God to heal Abimelech and
he was healed
Chapter 21: Isaac was born
-​ Isaac- in hebrew comes from the tzak which means laughter because Sarah laughed when
she was told that she was having a baby
-​ Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years and was circumcised
-​ Sarah is afraid that Ishmael will get the inheritance and all of the presents over Isaac so
she banishes Hagar and Ishmael
-​ later we learn that the inheritance normally goes to the oldest son so it makes
sense that Sarah was scared
-​ Hagar and Ishmael run out of water and starts to cry, she puts Ishmael into the bush but
then God shows her a well of water and saves them both, Ishmael grows up in the
wilderness
-​ The well was shown to Hagar and another well was taken from Abraham by Abimelech
they made a pact and went on their ways
Chapter 22: Isaac’s sacrifice
-​ God tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, Isaac doesn’t seem to know what is going
on until he is binded
-​ An angel comes to Abraham and calls out to him and tells him not to do anything to his
son Isaac- God knows that he was willing to do it and fears him
-​ Abraham sacrifices the ram instead
-​ God promises that he is going to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the sand
in the sea, he was reminded again of the previous covenant
Chapter 23: Abraham buys a burial place:
-​ Sarah dies(possibly out of shock because of Isaac’s sacrifice) so Abraham goes to buy a
burial site from Ephron
-​ Ephron offers to give the burial site to Abraham for free but Abraham refuses and pays
the full price
-​ because he wants to truly own it and doesn’t want anyone to be able to come later
and say that it wasn’t a fair transaction
-​ this is the burial site for many important characters later on
-​ man was created from the land so when they die they are returned to where they
were created from
Chapter 24: Rivka/ Rebecca
-​ Abraham sends his servant to go to his cousins to find Isaac a wife
-​ the servant took 10 men and camels and Rebecca came out and offered them water, she
draws water for all of the men and the camels
-​ the servants gave her many presents and she came with her nurse to Abraham
-​ She became Isaac’s wife and loved her
-​ Some mefarshim believe that Rivka was 6 years old during this time which is why
it was even more impressive that she able to draw all of the water
-​ Similar to Abraham hospitality is looked very well upon and they are both
rewarded
Chapter 25:
●​ Summary: Abraham’s children and grandchildren are listed. Abraham separates his
chosen son, Isaac, and the children he has via concubines. Jacob and Esau, twins, are
born to Isaac and Rebekah. It is prophesied that Jacob will rule over Esau. Esau sells
Jacob his birthright for some stew.
●​ theme of the importance of burial. Isaac and Ishmael make sure to bury their father in the
same field as his wife Sarah.
●​ theme of the value of women tied to fertility (v21). Also, theme that God grants children
●​ Esau and Jacob being polar opposites of one another
●​ Foreshadowing of what is to come
○​ theme of prophesies (v 23). Start of competition/struggle between Jacob and Esau.
Chapter 26:
●​ Summary: A famine pushes Isaac to Egypt. He tells Rebekah to say that she is his sister
so that the Egyptians won’t kill him to take her. Abimelech the king takes Rebekah, and
finds out that she is Isaac’s wife after plagues hit his country. Isaac and the king
reconcile, and Isaac grows prosperous in Gerar. On the contrary, Esau marries a woman
from another tribe and brings sorrow to his parents.
●​ - theme of famine that points back to the curse in Genesis 3 (v1)
●​ - Diaspora. Isaac is in Garar at this point (v1)
●​ - Isaac’s lie is something he inherited in a way from his father. (v7)
●​ - Prosperity comes with God’s blessing (v12)
●​ - “I am the God of your father” (v24) God uses the singular to describe himself;
monotheism
Chapter 27:
●​ Summary: Jacob steals his brother’s blessing from Isaac with the help of his mother. Esau
gets so angry that he conspires to kill his brother, so Rebekah sends Jacob away to her
brother, Laban.
●​ theme of deception, trickster Jacob. (v21) Nomen est omen. Jacob means supplanter, he
“supplants” his brother by taking his blessing.
●​ Esau wanting to kill Jacob points back to the Cain and Abel story.
Chapter 28:
●​ Summary: On his way to meet Laban, Jacob falls asleep and sees a ladder going up to
heaven and angels going up and down. He believes it is the gate of heaven and begins to
believe in God.
●​ The blessing in v 14 is similar to the blessing God gave Abraham in chapter 15
●​ motif of altars and pillars erected to honor God (verse 18)
Genesis 29:
●​ Summary: Jacob the trickster gets tricked by Laban: he has to work for 7 years for
Rachel, but ends up with Leah. Works for 7 more for Rachel.
●​ Leah has blessing of being able to bear children, while Rachel is barren. Points to God
balancing out their value in Jacob’s eyes (verse 31)
Genesis 30:
●​ Summary: Recording of children born to Leah and Rachel. God blesses Jacob, and
through him Laban is blessed with plentiful sleep and goats.
●​ Ironic that Rachel says that she will die if she doesn’t have children, but then dies in
childbirth (verse 1)
●​ Mandrakes are traded for getting to sleep with Jacob between Leah and Rachel and stew
was traded between Jacob and Esau for Esau’s birthright. Theme of giving up important
things to satisfy immediate desires.
Genesis 31:
●​ Summary: Jacob flees Laban with his wives, family, and possessions. In secret, Rachel
steals idols from her father. Laban chases them down to get his idols back and plans to do
Jacob harm but is warned by God in a dream to leave him alone. They reconcile and
Laban leaves them peacefully.
●​ making pillars/monuments to God are a method of making peace in this culture (v49)
●​ continued story of deception of Jacob (v34-35)
●​ interesting reaction of Rachel to say that because she’s a woman, she can’t sit up (v34).
Points to gender roles of the time
Genesis 32:
●​ Summary: Jacob learns that he is going to see his brother and is afraid, so he sends a gift
to him. The night before they meet, Jacob wrestles a man all night, until in the morning,
this man dislocates Jacob’s him. Jacob still holds on to him and asks for a blessing. The
man blesses him with the name Israel, which means “the one who strives with God.”
●​ nomen est omen: the name change to Israel changes his destiny, from supplanter he who
fights with God (v28)
Genesis 33:
●​ Summary: Jacob and Esau meet and Jacob discovers that his brother no longer wants to
kill him. They forgive each other.
Genesis 34:
●​ Summary: Jacob’s daughter, Dinah is raped by a prince named Shechem. He wants to
marry her, but Dinah’s brothers are angry. They tell him that he and every male in his city
must be circumcised before they can give them Dinah. While the men are in pain, Simeon
and Levi kill them all.
●​ Parallel to the Iliad when Odysseus and Diomedes kill the Thracians in their sleep
Genesis 35:
●​ Summary: God makes a covenant with Jacob promising him kings and a great nation as
descendants. Rachel bears a child named Benjamin, but dies in childbirth. Isaac also dies
and is buried by his sons.
●​ Covenant mirrors the one made with Isaac and Abraham.
Genesis 36:
●​ Summary: Recording of the descendants of Esau.
Genesis 37:
●​ Summary: Jacob loves Joseph more than his other sons so he gives him a special robe.
Joseph has dreams that he interprets to mean that his brothers will bow down to him
someday. This angers the other brothers, so when they get the chance, they catch him and
plot to kill him. The oldest brother, Reuben, stops them. Once he leaves, they sell Joseph
to some traders passing by. They dip Joseph’s special robe that he got from Jacob in
animal blood and bring it back to Jacob to convince him that Joseph has been killed by a
wild animal.
●​ theme of dreams
Genesis 38:
●​ Summary: Judah’s son dies, leaving a childless widow named Tamar. It is Judah’s duty to
get her children, so he gives her another one of his sons, Onan. Onan is killed by God
because he ejaculates onto the ground to avoid giving Tamar a child that would not be his
(it would technically belong to his dead brother). Judah tells Tamar to wait till his last son
grows up so that he can impregnate her. Tamar decides to dress up as a prostitute and
sleep with Judah in order to finally get children.
●​ shows gender roles; women only have value if they are able to bear children
●​ deception by Tamar(v14-15)
●​ God’s killing of Onan is reflective of the idea of the importance of carrying on
generations.
Genesis 39:
●​ Summary: Joseph makes his way up in Egypt. His master’s wife tries to seduce him.
When he refuses her advances, she accuses him of sexually assulting her. He gets sent to
jail. Joseph is also successful in the prison and rises to be second in command.
●​ God’s blessing brings prosperity (v23)
Genesis 40:
●​ Summary: While in prison, Joseph interprets the dreams of a cupbearer and a baker. His
interpretations end up coming true.
●​ continued theme of dreams
Genesis 41:
●​ Summary: Pharaoh has some weird dreams. Joseph is known by the cupbearer who was
in prison with him but is now serving the king. This cupbearer tells the king about
Joseph’s ability, so Joseph is brought before Pharaoh. Joseph interprets that the dreams
mean that there will be famine and outlines a plan to save Egypt. Pharoah promotes him
to second in command.
●​ continued theme of the power of dreams and their interpretation
Genesis 42:
●​ Summary: Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to get food to survive the famine. Joseph
recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him. When they ask him for food, he accuses
them of being spies and only gives them food when they agree to leave Simeon in prison.
●​ Trickster spirit in Joseph inherited to Jacob
●​ theme of famine and going to Egypt
Genesis 43:
●​ Summary: The brothers return to Egypt to get more food, but this time they have to bring
Benjamin with them per Joseph’s orders, and to Jacob’s dismay. Joseph finds out about
his father’s weakness in old age and is sad. He invites his brothers to eat with him. They
still don’t recognize him.
Genesis 44:
●​ Summary: Joseph hides his silver cup in his brother’s bags to play a trick on them. He
sends men after them when they leave and when they find the cup in their bags he
accuses them of stealing. He says that the person who stole the cup must become his
slave. The cup was in Benjamin’s bag, but Judah begs Joseph not make Benjamin his
slave
Genesis 45:
●​ Summary: Joseph reveals himself to his brothers as he is overcome with emotion. He tells
them his whole story and promises them land in Egypt. The brothers go back to Jacob
and tell him that Joseph is alive and he is overcome with joy.
●​ In verse 8 Joseph says that it was God’s will to send him to Egypt. Parallel with The Iliad
and the strong control fate and the Gods have on people’s destinies.
Genesis 46:
●​ Summary: Recording of Jacob’s family. Jacob and Joseph reunite.
●​ interesting the shepherds are an abomination for Egyptians (v34) but all the great
patriarchs are shepherds
Genesis 47:
●​ Summary: Pharaoh meets Joseph’s family. The famine gets so severe that the Egyptian
citizens are forced to sell all their goods to the government for food. Joseph and his
family have prosperous, happy lives.
●​ start of Jewish displacement from the land God promised Abraham.
Genesis 48:
●​ Summary: Jacob blesses Joseph’s younger son first.
●​ theme of older being served by younger
Genesis 49:
●​ Summary: Jacob blesses all of his children. He is buried in the same place as his wives,
parents, and grandparents.
●​ theme of the importance of burial
Genesis 50
●​ Joseph and his brothers bury their father. The brothers are afraid Joseph will get revenge
now that their father is dead, but he assures them that all is forgiven. Joseph lives to be
110 and dies.
Major Themes and Ideas
Walking with God:
●​ The idea of walking with God and leaving his side only for him to ask the rhetorical
question of “Where are you” and “Where have you been”.
●​ Trusting God rather than fearing God through experiencing extreme tests of faith.
●​ Staying by God’s side is a testament to how strong your faith is in God.
Covenants:
●​ Covenants play an extremely significant role in Genesis.
o​ Covenants take two forms: the verbal, which is merely a promise (usually by
God), and the physical, which can be anything from a monument erected from
stones to a circumcision.
▪​ Jacob and Laban make a covenant for the sake of peace (31).
▪​ God makes a covenant with Noah and symbolizes it with
▪​ rainbow. Repeated covenants between God and Abraham make Abraham’s
people the chosen people.
▪​ Isaac is promised a great nation.
▪​ God uses covenants to test Noah (flood), Abraham (sacrificing Isaac), and
Jacob (moving his family to build a tribute).
Sexual Ethics:
●​ Sex is appropriate and goes unpunished by God and the community when families of
those involved have formally approved it or when those having sex are doing so with the
intent of carrying on a family line.
o​ The idea of “knowing” someone is adjacent to becoming one with another person.
●​ The rape of Dinah shows that Genesis is not tolerant of sexual acts that do not have
formal and communal consent.
●​ The marking of circumcision is seen as a person’s membership and association with a
particular group is important even in the most intimate times.
○​ Schehem is also punished because he isn’t circumcised.
Childbirth:
●​ God has direct control over conception. We see this direct control in Sarai unable to bear
children for Abram.
●​ Genesis also explores the order in which one is born to explore, the birthright of a child
as well. Receiving a blessing for being born first, Esau and Jacob.
●​ Having children ensures that the family line will continue so investing in an area of land
or in a city becomes worthwhile.
○​ God always commanding to be fruitful and multiply to a new generation.
Odyssey (Homer)
Overview:
-​ The Odyssey takes place a decade after the citadel of Troy is sacked. It focuses on the
journey of Odysseus from Troy to his island of Ithaca. While away, his wife Penelope is
being courted by a crowd of unruly suitors who are literally eating the family “out of
house and home.” She wards them off by having them wait for her to finish weaving a
blanket for Odysseus’ father, but she unravels it every night. Telemachus, Odysseus’ only
son who he has not seen since he left for the war, is the only one left to guard the fort.
Young and inexperienced, he is really no challenge to the suitors. The story actually
begins with the Telemachia (story of Telemachus). Deeply bothered by the disrespect of
the crowd in his house, and commanded by Athena, Telemachus sets off to find word
about his father’s whereabouts and health. Penelope is kept in the dark of the whole but
the suitors learn of his journey and conspire to kill him on his way back home so that they
may marry his mother and take his household. With Athena’s protection the entire time,
Telemachus travels to the homes of Nestor and Menelaus. The former does not have
much information to offer, but the latter tells what he has learned from the Old Man of
the Sea about Odysseus and then lets Telemachus return home.
-​ Book five introduces Odysseus when Hermes is sent to release Odysseus from Calypso’s
island. Odysseus builds a raft and travels to the land of the Phaiakians. En route, his ship
is smashed by Poseidon, who is angry with him for hurting Polyphemos. He arrives at the
island and is taken in by Nausikaa, who is under the influence of Athena. He enters the
city and ends up at the knees of King Alkinoos. They feast and play games in which
Odysseus excels and are later sung to by a singer. The songs are about Odysseus and the
War and they cause him to weep. Eventually, he reveals his identity and tells the story of
his long journey from Troy to their island. In order, he tells them of the Kikonians, lotus
eaters, Cyclops, Aiolos, Laistrygones, Circe, Hades, Sirens (after a return to Circe),
Skylla and Charybdis, island of Helios, and then Kalypso. They then offer him a high
place in the city, and the hand of Nausikaa, but instead he asks for safe passage back to
Ithaca. They drop him off on the island with his gifts as he sleeps. On their way back,
Poseidon turns the Phaiakian ship to stone, for he is angered at the safe return of
Odysseus. Athena shrouds Odysseus in cloud so that he will not be bothered while he
sleeps. She disguises herself as a young boy and eventually reveals to him the truth about
where he is and the situation in Ithaca. She disguises him as an old beggar and tells him
to stay with his swineherd for a while. There, Odysseus tests the swineherd’s loyalty and
is briefed of the situation in Ithaca. Telemachus arrives and when they are alone together,
Odysseus reveals himself to his son. The two begin plotting an attack on the suitors and
Odysseus returns to his home still disguised as a beggar. He spends time amongst the
suitors, testing the loyalty of his wife and his servants.
-​ After Penelope arranges for marriage games to take place, the suitors return home and in
their absence, Odysseus and his son hide all the weapons. Before the games, Odysseus
servant Eurikleia recognizes him by his scar. On the day of the games, none of the suitors
can string the bow and Odysseus is granted a try. After stringing it and shooting an arrow
through the ax-loops, he begins to attack the suitors with his son. With the help of
Athena, they kill each suitor and then Odysseus cleans the house before he allows
Penelope to enter. She initially does not believe it is he, but after he speaks of the
bedroom he built, she is convinced of his identity. Odysseus visits Laertes, his father
where he is welcomed warmly. While there, the relatives of the suitors attack Odysseus’
family but after a battle with Laertes, Odysseus, and Telemachus, Athena tells them all
not to fight.
Major characters:
-​ Odysseus: is the protagonist of the Odyssey. He is known across the world for his
wisdom and intelligence. He holds favor in the heat of Athena, but is hated by Poseidon.
Though he is wise and clever, he is very flawed and he allows his pride and hasty
judgment to make him do unwise things, such as taunt Polyphemos. He begins his
journey from Troy with a ship full of men but ends up alone by the end. He is a war hero
but he also has a place in peace. He is responsible for building his bedroom, particularly
structured around a large tree.
-​ Penelope: is the wife of Odysseus. She is known repeatedly as “circumspect,” hinting
that her character complements that of her husband quite well. She remains in tears and in
retreat for a good part of the text, but she also demonstrates a clever side and strength of
conviction in warding off the suitors. She remains faithful to Odysseus.
-​ Telemachus: is Odysseus’ only son. He is an adult, but has no battle experience and is
not capable of resisting the many suitors alone. There are times when he gets bold and
makes great threats, insults, and speeches, and others when he feels a bit scared. Athena
helps him as well, so that the final plan may be accomplished.
-​ Athena: is the most active goddess in this tale. She supports Odysseus and his family the
entire time. She transforms people and gives strength, protection and advice.
-​ Antinous and the suitors: are living off of Odysseus’ riches and preying on Penelope.
They are completely violating all the rules of hospitality established elsewhere in the text.
Antinous is the most hostile and bold of the suitors and Odysseus kills him first.
-​ Eurycleia: was nurse to both Odysseus and Telemachus and she is faithful to the family
when other servants are not. Her recognition of Odysseus’ scar sheds light on the life of
the young Odysseus.
-​ Eumaios: is Odysseus’ loyal swineherd, while Philoetius is the loyal cowherd. They
rejoice at the return of their master and help secure his victory. Melanthius, however, is
the goatherd who chooses sides with the suitors and is therefore brutally mutilated.
-​ Laertes: is Odysseus’ aged father who lives on a farm in Ithaca. He is in severe decline
until the return of his son.
Islands (order of fabula)
-​ The Kikonians inhabit the first island that Odysseus reaches after Ilion. He sacks their
city and takes their possessions, but his men get drunk and feast, while the surviving
Kikonians went to recruit others and attack them. The Achaians had to retreat.
-​ The Lotus Eaters offer Odysseus’ men some lotus to eat, which causes them to lose sight
of their “nostos” (homecoming), and makes them wish to stay with the lotus eaters.
-​ The Cyclops’ land is plentiful in resources. Here Odysseus intrudes upon the home of
Polyphemos expecting gifts, only to be trapped and have some of his crewmembers
eaten. To escape, Odysseus creates a plan to poke out the eye of the Cyclops. After this is
accomplished, he tells the Cyclops that his name is Nobody, so when Polyphemos cries
out to the other inhabitants of the island, he will tell them that Nobody has hurt him. The
men escape under some sheep. After they are in the water, an overly proud Odysseus
taunts Polyphemos and reveals his true identity. For this, Polyphemos curses him and
asks his father, Poseidon, to avenge him.
-​ The Aiolian island is kind to the travelers, and gives Odysseus a skin filled with the
winds. While sailing, his men get jealous of him and open his bag while he is sleeping.
After unleashing all the winds, they wind up back at the island, but are refused further
help.
-​ The Laistrygones is a land of giants. Odysseus sends men in the city to see what type of
people they are. While in the palace, one man is eaten while the other two run back to the
ship. The entire town chases after them and kills many of his men.
-​ In Circe’s island, Odysseus first sends men in to see who in habits the place. When they
arrive at Circe’s home, they are all turned into swine who escapes to tell the story.
Hermes tells Odysseus how to transform his men back into humans. He wins over Circe
and becomes her lover and the witch turns his men back to humans and shows them
hospitality. She tells the men that in order to get home they must first travel to the city of
the Kimmerian people, or the land of the dead.
-​ At the land of the dead, Odysseus encounters the spirit of Elpenor, one of his crew who
fell of a roof at Circe’s island. They converse and then, in front of a pool of blood, he
waits for Teiresias, the blind prophet, to tell him how to get back home. Teiresias tells
him what he must do and then he talks to his mother, who died waiting for his return. She
tells him about what is happening in Ithaca. He then sees the daughters and wives of
many men, Agamemnon’s, Achilleus, Ajax and the heroes in torment, such as Tantalos,
Sisyphos, and Hercules.
-​ The island of the Sirens is one from which no man has returned. Anyone who hears their
song is enchanted to their land and dies there. For this reason, Odysseus has his men jam
their ears with beeswax. He, however—proud man that he is—desires to hear the song
himself. Therefore he has his men tie him to a pole and when he asks to be released, they
only tighten the ropes.
-​ Skylla is a monster with multiple heads. No ship passes without losing some of its men.
She lives high up in a cave and eats six of the men.
-​ At the island of Thrinakia, the men are told that if they do not eat the cattle, they will
have a safe passage. Odysseus falls asleep and the men begin to feast. This deeply angers
Hyperion who smashes the ship and drowns them all.
-​ Charybdis swallows and spits the ocean up. Odysseus escapes by holding onto a tree
branch.
-​ Kalypso is a beautiful goddess who lives on Ogygia. She is more beautiful than Penelope,
but Odysseus still chooses his wife and home over immortality as Kalypso’s lover. She
takes care of him and sleeps with him every night for nine years until Hermes arrives to
tell her that Odysseus must be set free.
-​ The Phaiakians are closer to the gods than humans and are the best sailors in the known
world. They are somewhat inhuman because they have never known war. They listen to
war stories with a somewhat voyeuristic approach but do not truly understand the nature
of human failings.
Major Themes
1. Judging
-​ The Odyssey is an epic about interpretation as well as action. Odysseus judges each place
differently. Each time he lands on an island he must figure out what kind of people live
there. The reader must also judge.
-​ Odysseus thinks that he is traveling around to see who is a good host when in fact he is
being judged as a good guest and in many cases is found lacking
-​ Odysseus judges places by his own standards in an almost Herodotus way. The Cyclops
are uncivilized because they are unlike him and the giants are beastly because they do not
welcome him. As his journey progresses he has to learn to judge more carefully, if for no
other reason but his own safety.
2. Sujet/Fabula
-​ The order we experience Odysseus’ journey home is very different from the order in
which it takes place for Odysseus. The sujet starts with Kalypso because this is the point
when he chooses mortality and makes the ultimate decision to return home. It also begins
when he is alone (after he has lost all of his men). So we begin the story at its most
difficult point (the temptation of Kalypso). The flashback begins with the Phaiakians
because storytelling must occur with humans.
3. Peacetime
-​ The Odyssey reveals the social climate of peacetime as well as what is possible in times
of peace.
-​ Hospitality is possible in a time of peace because you can invite strangers into your home
and they are expected to be good. While wartime is based on compensation, peacetime is
based on reciprocity and hospitality is the fundamental expression of the rules of
reciprocity. The suitors in Odysseus’ home do not follow the rules of hospitality.
Odysseus cries when he hears the song of the Iliad. The crying and emotion repressed in
war can be expressed in peacetime. After the war, warriors need to hear their story again
so that they may experience it emotionally. In peacetime, you can cry.
-​ In peace you can be clean and be concerned with bathing, bedding, games and also
craftsmanship. Odysseus’ bed is a representation of the glorious things people can make
during peacetime. Odysseus is not just the “sacker of cities” but also the “maker of beds”
4. Storytelling/Deception
-​ This is the most essential human interaction and it must occur between humans. For this
reason, Odysseus’ story does not begin until he is with the Phaiakians. Storytelling is
expected of all guests. It is the exchange for hospitality. Storytelling is also a mark of
civilization as well as intimacy and when Odysseus returns home he and Penelope tell
each other stories when they make love.
-​ Storytelling is also a way in which The Odyssey is intentionally framed and mediated.
Odysseus’ storytelling is filtered and it is important to remember that everything in his
account is in quotation marks. This becomes very important during his account of the
Cyclops when Odysseus is revealed as an unreliable storyteller. He is inconsistent about
the nature of the Cyclops and their ways of life.
-​ He says the Cyclops are without community, help from gods or civilization when in fact
the Cyclops live within communities and are descended from the gods and take great
cares with such domesticities as cheese making and goat herding.
-​ Stories should be of things you know. In the case of the Phaiakians, they do not cry
during the stories of the war because they do not know war.
Sappho /Poems 1, 2, 16, 31, 44, 94, 96/ (Sappho)
Fragments
●​ Fragmentation can remove critics from analyzing the author’s intent, instead forcing audiences to
extract their own meanings from the poetry.
○​ One must question the ethics of inserting oneself into the Sapphic fragments and ignoring
clues towards Sappho’s intended meaning.
●​ They also allow readers to focus on specific turns of phrase and slight choices of wording.
●​ Sappho’s fragments allow us to understand her voice, even though we don’t get all of the context.
●​ Her fragments were ordered intentionally based on supposition and historical record of the subjects
of her various books of lyrics and poetry.
Historical Interpretations of Sappho
●​ Plato called Sappho the 10th muse, or the mortal muse, to go along with the nine immortal muses
(one of whom Homer calls on to begin his epics).
●​ In Rome and the 18th century, revisionists framed Sappho as one of two star-crossed lovers, and
claim that she killed herself for one of her loves. Such was meant to sanitize the less-acceptable
two-woman relationships she alludes to in her work, and is historically unfounded.
●​ Sappho was idealized during the Romantic Era because she channeled her emotions through her
poetry
●​ In the 19th century, Sappho was presented as the headmistress of a school, supposedly to replace her
female lovers with younger pupils that she simply cared for. There is no background for this.
●​ In the late 19th century, Sappho was accepted to be gay, leading to the origin of the words “lesbian”
(of Lesbos, Sappho’s home island) and “sapphic” (an adjective synonymous with lesbian, or “of
Sappho”).
●​ Since the 1950s and 1960s there has been an increased interest in Sappho
Style
●​ Sappho used a strategy known as “Double Consciousness” when one alludes to references the
majority will understand to get their minority opinion across (African American poet Phillis Wheatley
used the same tactic)
●​ Sappho would reference the storyline of The Iliad to communicate to a very large swath of people
because in ancient Greece everyone, including men, knew The Iliad.
Title of Collection - “If Not, Winter” (frag. 22)
-​ What does winter signify?
-​ cold, loneliness, a barren landscape
-​ Speaking of the seasons brings to mind the cyclical nature of life and love, there will always
be a winter as surely as there will be a spring and in the same way in relationships there will
always be joy and heartbreak
-​ “if not”
-​ there is ambiguity in this oncoming winter, there is hope for joy and love
INDIVIDUAL POEM ANALYSIS:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/0B_W6KJS-p06wNXhZWDBUc05nbFV3SUtRWXNN
eGdEU3hXMHUw/edit?resourcekey=0-eWHSUhrgqu8J4-W9wYu9tw
Songs of Songs (Bible/Unknown)
SUMMARY:
The Song of Solomon is a series of lyrical poems organized as a lengthy dialogue between a
young woman and her lover. A third party, or chorus, occasionally addresses the lovers. The first
poem is spoken by the young maiden, who longs to be near her lover and enjoy his kisses. She
explains that she has a dark complexion because her family sends her to work in the vineyards.
She searches for her lover, comparing him to a wandering shepherd, and the chorus encourages
her to follow the flocks to his tent.
The lovers lie on a couch together. The man praises the beauty of his beloved, comparing her to a
young mare and comparing her eyes to doves’ eyes. He describes verdant and fertile
surroundings. The maiden calls herself a rose and a lily, covered by the shade of her beloved, a
fruit tree. She compares her beloved to a lively gazelle that arrives to take her away during spring
when the plants are budding. The maiden boasts that the man now pastures his flocks of sheep
among her lilies. She warns other women, “the daughters of Jerusalem,” not to fall in love too
early (2:7).
While in bed, the maiden dreams that she is searching the city streets for her lover and that she
finds him and takes him home. She envisions a lavish wedding procession, in which her happy
bridegroom appears as King Solomon. The man speaks, comparing each part of the maiden’s
body to animals and precious objects. He calls for her to come down from the mountain peaks to
be with him. With intense yearning, he characterizes her as an enclosed “garden” full of ripe
foliage and a flowing fountain (4:12–15). The maiden bids the wind to blow on her garden and
invites the man into the garden. The man dines in the garden and calls for their friends to
celebrate with the lovers.
In another dream, the maiden hears her lover knocking at her door late one night, but he
disappears. Again, she roams the streets, but this time the city guards accost the maiden. She asks
the “daughters of Jerusalem” to help her find her lover. The chorus asks her to describe the
young man, and she compares each part of his body to precious metals, jewels, and animals.
The two find each other in the garden. The man continues to praise each part of the maiden’s
body. He bids her to dance and likens her to a palm tree with breasts like fruit. The maiden
invites her lover to the fields and villages, promising to give him her love among the blossoming
vineyards. She wishes that he were her brother so that people would not comment about their
open displays of affection. She urges him to “seal” his heart with her love, for love is strong. The
maiden thinks back on her earlier chastity but is glad she has lost it peacefully “in his eyes”
(8:10). The man says that, while King Solomon may have many vineyards, he is happy with his
one vineyard, the maiden.
ANALYSIS:
The Song of Solomon is also called “The Song of Songs,” suggesting that it is the greatest of all
songs. The first title implies that King Solomon composed the collection of love poems, but
Solomon’s name was probably added at a later date by the song’s editors, perhaps because of
references within the text to the wise and prolific king. This attribution to Solomon led to the
book’s inclusion in the Hebrew Bible and later, Christian versions of the Old Testament. Early
Hebrew and Christian scholars long maintained that the love story is an allegory of God’s love
for humankind, or of the intensity of divine love within the human heart. However, it is
undeniable that the song celebrates not only human love but also the sensuous and mystical
quality of erotic desire.
Modern scholars see similarities between The Song of Solomon and other ancient Near-Eastern
stories in which the fertility of the earth depends upon the sexual encounter of a male and female
deity. Although the biblical maiden and her lover themselves do not affect the fertility of the
land, there are numerous parallels between the fertile vegetation of their surroundings and the
success of their romance. The lovers recline on a green couch, whose color suggests a connection
with nature. The song also explicitly compares the man and woman to vegetation: the woman is
a flower and the man is a fruit tree. Images of plants and frolicking animals are symbols of life,
and as such they are metaphors for the procreative act of human sexual relations. The song’s
references to spring and the budding of plants further emphasize the budding of romantic
arousal. The couple always celebrates their love in such verdant environments—in the
wilderness, the vineyard, or the garden. It is in the city, where plants do not grow and the city
guards are brutal, that the maiden searches for her lover but cannot find him.
The man’s comparison of the maiden to a “garden locked” and “fountain sealed” establishes the
relationship between chastity and femininity (4:12). The image of an enclosed garden is a
metaphor for female virginity that is frequently repeated in later medieval and Renaissance
literature. In the Song of Solomon, the closed garden suggests that the girl is chaste and
unsullied. The man’s dining in the garden implies that the two have consummated their
relationship, and his invitation to the chorus to celebrate this event with feasting further indicates
the completion of this rite of passage. Later, the two walk in a vineyard, and the girl remembers
her earlier virginity when she was cursed to labor in the vineyard instead of enjoying it. Her
memory while in the vineyard suggests the bittersweet nature of the loss of innocence.
The garden motif is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, where Adam and Eve enjoy
God’s creation prior to the emergence of human wickedness. The parallels to Eden in The Song
of Solomon suggest that the celebration of human sensuality is, itself, a good and not a wicked
thing. The maiden and her lover, however, must enjoy their love within the boundaries and
confines of gardens and fields. This limitation on the enjoyment of their sexual behavior is in
keeping with the ongoing biblical theme that there are ethical requirements for enjoying God’s
promises—for Adam and Eve to remain in the garden of Eden and for the Israelites to dwell in
the promised land.
​
Job (The Bible/Unknown)
Job is a wealthy man living in a land called Uz with his large family and extensive flocks. He is
“blameless” and “upright,” always careful to avoid doing evil (1:1). One day, Satan (“the
Adversary”) appears before God in heaven. God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan
argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that,
if given permission to punish the man, Job will turn and curse God. God allows Satan to torment
Job to test this bold claim, but he forbids Satan to take Job’s life in the process.
In the course of one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his
livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding invaders or natural
catastrophes. Job tears his clothes and shaves his head in mourning, but he still blesses God in
his prayers. Satan appears in heaven again, and God grants him another chance to test Job. This
time, Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. His wife encourages him to curse God and to give
up and die, but Job refuses, struggling to accept his circumstances.
Three of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to visit him, sitting with Job in silence
for seven days out of respect for his mourning. On the seventh day, Job speaks, beginning a
conversation in which each of the four men shares his thoughts on Job’s afflictions in long,
poetic statements.
Job curses the day he was born, comparing life and death to light and darkness. He wishes that
his birth had been shrouded in darkness and longs to have never been born, feeling that light, or
life, only intensifies his misery. Eliphaz responds that Job, who has comforted other people, now
shows that he never really understood their pain. Eliphaz believes that Job’s agony must be due
to some sin Job has committed, and he urges Job to seek God’s favor. Bildad and Zophar agree
that Job must have committed evil to offend God’s justice and argue that he should strive to
exhibit more blameless behavior. Bildad surmises that Job’s children brought their deaths upon
themselves. Even worse, Zophar implies that whatever wrong Job has done probably deserves
greater punishment than what he has received.
Job responds to each of these remarks, growing so irritated that he calls his friends “worthless
physicians” who “whitewash [their advice] with lies” (13:4). After making pains to assert his
blameless character, Job ponders man’s relationship to God. He wonders why God judges people
by their actions if God can just as easily alter or forgive their behavior. It is also unclear to Job
how a human can appease or court God’s justice. God is unseen, and his ways are inscrutable and
beyond human understanding. Moreover, humans cannot possibly persuade God with their
words. God cannot be deceived, and Job admits that he does not even understand himself well
enough to effectively plead his case to God. Job wishes for someone who can mediate between
himself and God, or for God to send him to Sheol, the deep place of the dead.
Job’s friends are offended that he scorns their wisdom. They think his questions are crafty and
lack an appropriate fear of God, and they use many analogies and metaphors to stress their
ongoing point that nothing good comes of wickedness. Job sustains his confidence in spite of
these criticisms, responding that even if he has done evil, it is his own personal problem.
Furthermore, he believes that there is a “witness” or a “Redeemer” in heaven who will vouch for
his innocence (16:19, 19:25). After a while, the upbraiding proves too much for Job, and he
grows sarcastic, impatient, and afraid. He laments the injustice that God lets wicked people
prosper while he and countless other innocent people suffer. Job wants to confront God and
complain, but he cannot physically find God to do it. He feels that wisdom is hidden from human
minds, but he resolves to persist in pursuing wisdom by fearing God and avoiding evil.
Without provocation, another friend, Elihu, suddenly enters the conversation. The young Elihu
believes that Job has spent too much energy vindicating himself rather than God. Elihu explains
to Job that God communicates with humans by two ways—visions and physical pain. He says
that physical suffering provides the sufferer with an opportunity to realize God’s love and
forgiveness when he is well again, understanding that God has “ransomed” him from an
impending death (33:24). Elihu also assumes that Job must be wicked to be suffering as he is,
and he thinks that Job’s excessive talking is an act of rebellion against God.
God finally interrupts, calling from a whirlwind and demanding Job to be brave and respond to
his questions. God’s questions are rhetorical, intending to show how little Job knows about
creation and how much power God alone has. God describes many detailed aspects of his
creation, praising especially his creation of two large beasts, the Behemoth and Leviathan.
Overwhelmed by the encounter, Job acknowledges God’s unlimited power and admits the
limitations of his human knowledge. This response pleases God, but he is upset with Eliphaz,
Bildad, and Zophar for spouting poor and theologically unsound advice. Job intercedes on their
behalf, and God forgives them. God returns Job’s health, providing him with twice as much
property as before, new children, and extremely long life.
Oresteia (Aeschylus)
Context of the Text:
The Oresteia is a trilogy of plays originally performed at the Dionysia Festival in 458 BCE in
Ancient Greece. It was written by Aeschylus, an already renowned playwright. He was born
almost 80 years before, in a town in Athens, from a noble family. Aeschylus’ Athenian
citizenship is crucial to his writing of this trilogy, so be sure to take into account his bias as you
analyze the text.
Agamemnon:
The first play of the Oresteia begins with a weary watchman on the roof of King Agamemnon's
palace. He sings to "weep the pity of the house" (22) and waits for the signal of a beacon that the
Greeks have conquered Troy. The chorus enters and tells the story of how Agamemnon
sacrificed his and Clytemnestra's daughter, to Artemis in order to save the Greek fleet, at the
advice of a seer on board at the time. Then Clytemnestra enters and tells the chorus leader that
according to a beacon signal, the Greeks have prevailed over Troy. Then the herald enters and
announces the arrival of Agamemnon. Clytemnestra expresses her joy and sends Agamemnon a
message to hurry home. When Agamemnon arrives, Clytemnestra insists that he enters the
palace walking on a tapestry, even though he thinks that treatment is for a God. Cassandra, a
Trojan princess that Agamemnon has brought back as a concubine, refuses to enter the house and
has a fitful, cryptic vision in the name of Apollo that foreshadows the death of Agamemnon and
herself. She then resigned to her fate and enters the palace, where Clytemnestra kills her and
Agamemnon. Aegisthus then enters and tells of how Atreus betrayed his brother, Thyestes, who
was Aegisthus’ father. He then reveals that he helped Clytemnestra overthrow Agamemnon and
the chorus express hope that Orestes will return and restore the kingdom.
the Libation Bearers:
Orestes and Pylades, his friend, arrive in Argos outside the palace after being sent there by an
oracle of Apollo. Orestes leaves a lock of his hair at the tomb of Agamemnon (his father).
Electra approaches, having been sent by her mother to pour libations in honor of Agamemnon in
order to ease her guilt. The chorus, who in this play are servant women, accompany her and sing
lamentations when she pours the libations. Electra recognizes the lock of hair at Agamemnon’s
tomb as identical to hers, but is still skeptical of Orestes when he reveals himself to her. He
proves his identity by showing Electra a piece of weaving that she had given him, and the
siblings have a heartfelt reunion. Along with the chorus, they plot to avenge their father by
killing Clytaemestra and pray for Agamemnon’s spirit to give them strength on their mission.
Orestes has been threatened by Apollo that if he fails, he will be severely punished. After
plotting to kill Aegisthus as well, Electra and the chorus go back into the palace and Orestes
knocks on the door. When Clytemnestra answers, he presents himself as a stranger bringing news
of Orestes’s death. Clytemnestra orders Cilissa, Orestes old nurse, to bring Aegisthus with his
bodyguard to meet the stranger and hear the news. However, the chorus persuades Cilissa to
change the message and tell Aegisthus to come alone. When he comes to hear the news, Orestes
slaughters him. Clytemnestra sees Orestes standing over his body and realizes that a dream she
had about giving birth to a snake that made her bleed when she breastfed was actually about
Orestes. Clytemnestra pleads with him to spare her, appealing to his emotions by reminding him
of how she cared for him when he was little. Orestes second guesses himself, but at the urging of
Pylades decides to carry out his revenge and stabs her. Orestes cries that he must leave because
he will be haunted by the “bloodhounds of (his) mother’s hate” (121). The chorus laments that
the cycle of violence will continue and that the fury of fate will continue.
the Eumenides:
The play starts with Orestes at the temple of Apollo, with blood dripping down his sword,
surrounded by black, nearly demonic creatures. Apollo tells Orestes to go to the citadel of
Athena so that this case may be judged and Orestes’ record may be cleared. Clytemnestra's ghost
appears and demands the furies hunt down Orestes. Apollo protects Orestes from the furies and
decides to support him through his journey and trial. The scene turns to Athens and depicts
Orestes amidst the statue of Athena where he awaits his trial. The furies find him and warn him
of the vengeance they seek for the murder of his mother. Orestes claims that he will accept
whatever fate is put upon him. Athena creates a jury of 12 citizens to analyze this case. Apollo
acts as Orestes’ defense attorney and defends him against the furies. In the case of a tie, Athena
casts a vote in support of Orestes and he is saved. The furies are angry and offended at how the
Gods have dishonored their decision and thus Athena makes a deal with them, stating that they
have the power to control the lives of the Athenians. Thus, they become the ..
Characters:\
-​ Agamemnon -- King of Argos, brother of Menelaos. He is not present at the beginning
because he is fighting in the Trojan War. The people of Argos are angry with
Agamemnon because of the length of the war; since it had been going on for 10 years
already, they believed that too many young men had been killed. Agamemnon returns to
Argos and brings Cassandra with him. Agamemnon is a character with immense hubris,
which angers those around him, including the gods and fates. His sacrifice of his daughter
speaks to the nature of his character and also contributes to his unpopularity. He is fated
to die because of these two factors, and also because he is part of a cycle of blood that
began with his father, who fed his sons to Theyestes.
-​ Clytemnestra -- Wife of Agamemnon, Queen of Argos. Clytemnestra is a key figure in
the manifestation of the issue of gender in the plays. She is portrayed with manly
qualities, as she had ruled Argos for 10 years in Agamemnon’s absence. She finds a new
lover, Aegisthus while Agamemnon is gone. She murders Agamemnon because of her
anger at his sacrifice of their daughter. She views this murder as a necessary act of fate.
-​ Aegisthus -- Clytemnestra's lover. Wants to seek vengeance on Agamemnon because of
the murder of his brothers. He also emphasizes Clytemnestra's “manly” qualities through
his passivity -- Clytemnestra does all of the killing.
-​
Cassandra -- Woman brought to Argos by Agamemnon upon his return. Cassandra has
the ability to tell prophecy but is cursed in that no one can understand them. Cassandra
presents the notion of the cycle of blood and revenge. No one understands her prophecies,
and she is also murdered by Clytemnestra.
-​ Chorus from Agamemnon -- Chorus is Argive elders. They criticize Agamemnon for
the bloodshed due to the length of the war. They don’t support Agamemnon throughout
the play but they also do not approve of his murder.
-​ Chorus from Libation Bearers -- slave women that lament the death of Agamemnon
and help Orestes and Electra in their plot for revenge by persuading Cilissa to tell
Aegisthus to come alone to greet the stranger (Orestes in disguise) instead of bringing his
bodyguard with him.
-​ Orestes -- Son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He kills his mother to avenge his
father’s murder. Apollo encourages this murder in pursuit of revenge. He is the focus of
The Libation Bearers.
-​ Electra -- Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sister of Orestes. She lives in the
palace of her mother as a slave. She is perpetually upset about her father’s death and
remembers him as a perfect human being. She supports her brother in his seeking of
vengeance.
-​ The Furies -- Chorus in The Eumenides. Represent older generation of gods. They are
often critical of the “new gods” i.e. Athena and Apollo, and many contrasts are made
between the two throughout the work. For example, they disagree that the relationship
between a husband and wife is stronger than that of a mother and son. They are renamed
the Eumenides after the trial of Orestes.
-​ Athena -- Athena guides Orestes through his judgement and declares him innocent. She
represents the new generation of gods. Her decision in the court speaks to Athenian
democracy and the justice system.
-​ Pylades -- Orestes friend that comes with him to Argos
-​ Cilissa -- Orestes’s old nurse
Major themes and Motifs:
-​ Webs and Nets: Nets and related images, such as webs, shrouds, and robes play an
important role in the Oresteia. The reoccurring image acts as a device that mirrors the
entanglement of all the characters in the play in a seemingly endless cycle of bloodshed,
fury, entrapment, and deception. Clytaemestra, Aegisthus, Orestes and Electra all weave
plots to murder just as a net or robe would be woven.
-​ Revenge and Justice: The code of justice that the main characters and the furies follow in
the play in one of revenge. Because the only way to cleanse an act of violence is to
punish the perpetrator with another act of violence, an endless cycle of blood results. The
characters are aware of this: after Orestes kills his mother, he worries about the curse of
revenge he knows she has put on him: “These are no fanices of affliction. They are clear,
and real, and here; the bloodhounds of my mother’s hate...You cannot see them, but I see
them. I am driven from this place. I can stay here no longer.” (lines 1053-1054 and
1061-1062 in The Libation Bearers). In reaction, the chorus of slave women acknowledge
and lament the endless nature of the revenge: “Where is the end? Where shall of the fury
of fate be stilled to sleep, be done with?” (lines 1074-1076)
-​ Not until after Athena rules that Orestes is innocent is justice redefined to end the
blood cycle of revenge. The complete reversal of the definition of justice from
revenge is illustrated by the parallel structure of the phrases “bloodshed for
bloodshed” (the old way) and “grace for grace” (the new way).
-​ Gender and Femininity: Throughout the play, gender roles and attributes are explored
through Clyteamestra’s character, especially at the beginning of Agamemnon. Page 29:
The elders acknowledge Clytaemestra’s power as a female regent: “For when the man is
gone and the throne void, his right falls to the prince’s lady, and honor must be given.”
(lines 259-260) However, the elders are skeptical of Clytaemestra’s claims that Troy has
fallen, which belittles her. In response, she asks “Am I some young girl, that you find my
thoughts so silly?” (line 277 from Agamemnon). Clytaemestra’s femininity through her
role as a mother is very complex. While she kills her husband (defying one gender norm)
supposedly out of a motherly instinct as revenge for her daughter, she also sends Orestes
away from the kingdom, thereby choosing power and her lover over her son.
Father Comes Home From the Wars (Susan Lori-Parks)
-​ PART 1:
The play opens with a musician singing about the dark night and long day. The singer questions
whether an unspecified “he” will go or stay.
It’s early spring 1862, and a chorus of slaves stands outside a cabin. The setting is far west Texas
an hour before dawn. The chorus places bets about whether Hero, a fellow slave, will join
Boss-Master in the war. One chorus member bets Hero will reject the request because it’s too
dehumanizing to tuck Boss-Master in a warm tent and then sleep “on the cold hard ground /
While the cannons pound and the bullets fly.” Another chorus member disagrees, wondering why
Hero would toil in the fields for nothing when he could go to war and maybe be “wrote up in one
of them great Histories.” The chorus presses the Oldest Old Man to place his bet, but the Old
Man isn’t interested. He and Hero’s wife, Penny, have been searching for Hero’s good-luck
charm, a dog called Odd-See. Odd-See ran off after Hero kicked it, which formerly was out of
character for Hero.
Hero enters carrying a Confederate army uniform. He asks the chorus to search for his missing
dog while he and the Old Man discuss Hero’s decision. If Hero goes to war, Boss-Master has
promised him his freedom. If he stays, Hero knows there will be a terrible punishment, possibly
death, for his refusal. The Old Man doesn’t think it’s fair that Boss-Master has presented the
request as a choice when clearly Hero doesn’t have one. Although freedom has been dangled in
front of him “like a beautiful carrot,” Hero can’t stomach the idea of “helping out / On the wrong
side.” Hero also can’t trust Boss-Master’s promise. Previously, Boss-Master promised Hero his
freedom for betraying his fellow slave, Homer, when Homer tried to run away. Hero revealed
Homer’s location and cut off Homer’s foot, but Boss-Master didn’t keep his promise then or
later.
Hero’s wife, Penny, arrives and voices her frustration with Hero’s decision. In the early morning
hours, before others could plant “their own seeds in [him],” Hero had promised her he would
stay. The Old Man tells her to leave Hero alone because “it’s natural for a man to want to go to
War.” He encourages Penny to change her mind, calling it “liberating” to do so. Just as the
chorus returns, Hero announces that he will stay. The chorus worries that Boss-Master will be so
angry that he’ll beat them all. The Old Man encourages Hero to injure himself to garner
sympathy from Boss-Master. He suggests cutting off Hero’s foot. Just as the Old Man raises the
knife, Homer arrives. Recalling when Hero cut off his foot at Boss-Master’s request, Homer
gives the chorus orders, telling them how to prepare for a deluge of blood.
Although Hero has the knife raised, Homer doesn’t think his mind is made up. He tells Hero that
he doesn’t have to accept these choices because they’re “nothing more than the same coin /
Flipped over and over… And the coin ain’t even in your pocket. #8221; Rather than deciding
between going to war or staying home, Hero should create a third option: running away.
Angered, Homer says Hero shouldn’t trust anything Boss-Master promises. To the horror of
everyone around him, Hero admits what Homer already knew: that Hero was the one who
betrayed him to Boss-Master during the failed escape attempt that cost him his foot. Disgusted,
the Old Man and the chorus disown Hero, who sullenly decides to join Boss-Master at the war.
As he walks away without his dog, Penny vows to wait for his return.
The musician sings about Hero leaving, singing, “Farther and farther, / He’ll be going / Farther
and farther down the way / Farther and farther.”
-​ PART 2
It’s late summer 1862, and the setting is now a wooded area in the South. A
colonel—Boss-Master—sings a song called “Passing the Time” while guarding a wounded
Union prisoner named Smith, who sits in a small wooden cage. The Colonel, who was separated
from his troops, thinks aloud about how richly he’ll be rewarded for capturing a Union captain.
The men discuss the different values of prisoners based on their ranks. Smith is a captain serving
the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, meaning he leads an infantry of Black soldiers, whom Smith
praises. The Colonel can’t understand why a man would rather lead Black soldiers than own
them, claiming that “there’s nothing like” the feeling of owning another man.
Smith insists repeatedly that he has no desire to own slaves, which the Colonel doesn’t believe:
“Underneath your blue coat you and me are more alike than different,” he says. The Colonel sent
his valet, Hero, to collect water and firewood over an hour ago, and Smith antagonizes him by
suggesting that Hero has run off. The Colonel explains that Hero is too loyal to ever leave him.
On cue, Hero arrives carrying the firewood and water. The Yankees are closing in, he says, but
the Rebels are nearby too. To pass the time, the Colonel goads Smith into discussing Hero’s
value, promising that Smith can “win” Hero’s freedom with a correct guess. The Colonel floats
many factors during the assessment: Hero’s original price, his skills, his obedience, and the
quality of his teeth. When Smith gives a half-hearted answer, the Colonel orders Hero to remove
his trousers so they can finish the inspection. When Smith objects, the Colonel strikes Hero hard
across the face with his riding crop. Then he cries about how much he’ll miss Hero once he’s
free and how grateful he is to have been born white: “No matter how low I fall… I will always
be white.” Smith interrupts to ask the Colonel how much he thinks he (the Colonel) would fetch
on the auction block, angering the Colonel. He puts his gun to Smith’s head and pretends to
shoot him and then leaves to check on the progress of the Yankee forces.
When the Colonel leaves, Smith reveals to Hero that he’s actually a Black soldier and former
slave who can “pass” as white. He describes his sense of pride in fighting for his cause and the
wonderful feeling of being free. Hero doesn’t understand what his value would be if no one were
willing to pay for him: “Where’s the beauty in not being worth nothing?” Smith encourages him
to try on the Union jacket. Hero does but quickly takes it off when he hears the Colonel return.
The Colonel orders Hero to tie a rope around Smith’s neck and bring him to the Rebel troops. As
soon as the Colonel races ahead, Hero removes the rope from Smith’s neck and tells him he’s
free. Smith pleads with Hero to wear the second jacket and join him, but Hero follows the
Colonel.
The musician sings a reprise of the song “This Bright Wilderness,” about God up in heaven
looking down at the people toiling “bravely down below.”
-​ PART 3:
The musician sings a song called “Misplaced Myself,” about a worker being missing while
“they” search for him: “I’m long gone. / I ain’t sitting on your shelf. / I have misplaced myself.”
It’s fall 1863, back at the cabin in West Texas where the play began. The chorus of slaves—now
runaways—huddles together discussing their journey. They hope Homer, who knows the land so
well, will join them, but they know he’s unlikely to leave Penny, with whom he has fallen in
love. When Homer arrives, the chorus reminds him that Penny doesn’t love him back. She pines
for Hero; if Hero returns, Homer will lose Penny anyway. Homer agrees to join the chorus but
picks up a stick and practices writing Penny’s name over and over in the dirt.
Penny arrives and inquires about the beautiful-looking word in the dirt. Homer says, “It says
everything.” He asks Penny for a kiss, but she refuses. She stoically announces that the Missus
received a letter stating that the Colonel had died in battle, which means Hero died alongside
him. Homer tries convincing Penny to travel north with him, but she wants to stay to bury Hero.
The conversation reveals that Penny is pregnant with Homer’s baby, despite her loyalty to Hero.
Homer asks again for a kiss, and this time Penny obliges. The stage directions say, “Penny gently
kisses Homer. And again. It’s love.” Just as Penny agrees to leave with Homer, she sees
something walking toward them on the horizon. Suddenly, Hero’s dog, Odd-See, bounds onto the
stage. Penny begs to hear how Hero died, but the dog speaks excitedly, unable to stay focused.
Finally, Odd-See reveals that Hero is still alive, causing Penny and Homer to burst into tears.
Penny hurries to tidy up the house while Homer prepares to leave without her, chanting, “Not
dark enough. / Not dark enough. / Not dark enough to jet. / Not yet.”
Hero arrives, announcing that he’s given himself a new name: Ulysses. Penny and Ulysses
embrace, and then Ulysses kneels, saying, “This is what I seen them do. When they get home.
I’m just following but it feels right.” On his knee, Ulysses sees Homer’s writing in the dirt and
grows suspicious. He has a paper to read to everyone, but he decides to hand out other gifts first.
He gives Homer an alabaster mannequin’s foot and Penny a silver-tipped spade. Then he
announces another “gift” for Penny: Ulysses has arranged for his new wife, Alberta, to come
help on the farm. Although she’s heartbroken and shocked, Penny dutifully starts preparing the
house to welcome Ulysses’ new bride.
Meanwhile, Ulysses discusses his suspicions about Penny and Homer with Odd-See, now called
Odyssey. Odyssey tells Ulysses not to worry about it, because “You weren’t faithful either.”
Angered, Ulysses kicks Odyssey and scoffs, “Remember your place, dog.” Ulysses confronts
Homer, demanding to know whether Homer slept with Penny. During their heated conversation,
Ulysses reveals that Boss-Master never freed him as promised, not even with his dying breath.
Ulysses takes out his knife and lunges at Homer, intent on killing him. They struggle, and Homer
breaks free. Penny emerges from house, horrified. She agrees to leave with Homer. When
Ulysses tries to stop her, she rips off a piece of her dress and says, “I’m gone.” Now alone,
Ulysses pulls the unread paper from his pocket and says, “The Proclamation… It says we’re
free.” He puts the paper back in his pocket and prepares to dig “Boss-Master’s” grave with
Odyssey’s help.
Characters:
-​ Hero
-​ Hero is a slave and the protagonist. Loyal to Boss-Master despite his abuse and
disloyalty, Hero chooses to stay with Boss-Master even when opportunities to
escape arise. By the end of the play, Hero remains loyal to Boss-Master but has
chosen his own identity. In Part 3, he changes his name to Ulysses.
-​ Boss-Master
-​ Boss-Master (called “the Colonel” in Part 2) owns slaves Hero, Homer, Penny
and others. Dishonest and manipulative, Boss-Master periodically promises Hero
freedom in exchange for huge requests he makes of him, but he never follows
through.
-​ Homer
-​ Homer is a slave who lives with Hero and falls in love with Hero’s wife, Penny.
On Boss-Master’s orders, Hero cut off Homer’s foot when he tried to escape.
-​ Penny
-​ Penny is Hero’s loyal wife. Although she sleeps with Homer and becomes
pregnant with his child, she remains emotionally loyal to Hero. When he returns
from the war with a new wife, however, she takes agency over her own life and
decides to run north with Homer.
-​ Odd-See
-​ Odd-See is Hero’s good-luck dog. At the beginning of the play, he runs off after
Hero kicks him. He returns at the end, having spent the play searching for his
master, staying loyal despite the abuse. In Part 3 he is called “Odyssey” or “the
Odyssey Dog.”
-​ Smith
-​ Smith is a Union soldier wounded and captured by the Colonel in Part 2. He
reveals his true identity—a Black man who can “pass” as white—to Hero when
-​
-​
-​
-​
-​
he tries to convince Hero to abandon Boss-Master and join the Union army with
him.
The Oldest Old Man
-​ The Oldest Old Man lives with Hero on Boss-Master’s land. He offers advice to
Hero and treats him like a son but abandons him when he hears how Hero
betrayed Homer.
The chorus
-​ The chorus is a group of enslaved persons whose conversations give the audience
information and insight. It has two parts: Part 1’s “Chorus of Less Than Desirable
Slaves” and Part 3’s “Runaway Slaves.”
The musician
-​ The musician sings at the beginning and end of each act, bringing deeper meaning
to the play’s themes and messages.
The Missus
-​ The Missus is Boss-Master’s wife.
Alberta
-​ Alberta doesn’t appear in the play; she is Hero’s new wife, whom he brings home
from the war.
Symposium (Plato)
Contextual Summary
Apollodrus recounts the philosophical exchanges of Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus,
Aristophenes, Agathon, Socrates, and Diatoma on the topic of love to an unnamed friend.
Apollodrus’ account is doubly removed from the actual exchanges that took place in Agathon’s
home because it is based on the descriptions he received from Aristodemus “a really long time
ago” (pg 2). After Apollodrus agrees to recount the story of the symposium to his friend, he
concedes that “I myself don’t remember everything Aristodemus told me. But I’ll tell you what
he remembered best, and what I consider the most important points” (pg 8). He goes on to relay
the happenings of the gathering; ranging from the intellectual subtleties of their individual
arguments to instances of comedic verbal jousting. According to Apollodrus, Phaedrus proposes
that they center their discourse around the topic of love at the symposium: “Has a single [poet]
given one moment’s thought to the god of Love, ancient and powerful as he is?”(pg 7). To which
Socrates wittingly quips, “How could I vote ‘No,’ when the only thing I say I understand is the
art of love?” (p. 8) All in attendance similarly agree and offer Phaedrus the right of first
recognition. They ensuingly develop their respective notions of love and it’s defining
characteristics; of which virtue is invariably present.
The Speech of Phaedrus
To Phaedrus, love is the force that inspires virtuous acts and demands their fulfillment in
order to be seen in the highest regard possible by the lover. Nevertheless, Phaedrus premises this
ideal of love on the pedephilic and hierarchal relationship of an elder with an adolescent boy. He
begins by admitting plainly, “I cannot say what a greater good there is for a young boy than a
gentle lover, or for a lover than a boy to love” (pg 9). As problematic as this may sound to us in
our present world, Phaedrus and his society validated this by noting, “There is a certain guidance
that each person needs for his life, if he is to live well: and nothing imparts this guidance­not
high kingship, not public honor, not wealth­nothing imparts this guidance as well as love” (p
10). However perverse this may sound today, these form of mentorships prepared promising
young men to assume prominent roles in society.
Having justified the existence of pederasty in Athenian society, Phaedrus explains how
love may inspire the best in us; “If a man in love is found doing something shameful.. nothing
would give him more pain than being seen by the boy he loves.. We see the same thing in the
boy he loves” (p 10). Phaedrus truly believes in the undying commitment felt between man and
boy, so much so that he exclaims, “If only there were a way to start a city or an army made up
lovers and the boys they love! Theirs would be the best possible system of society, for they
would hold back from all that is shameful, and seek honor in each other’s eyes. Even a few of
them, in battle side by side, would conquer all the world, I’d say” (p 11). Their commitment
would be elevated by wartime pressures to the extent of fighting off the world for one another’s
sake. The fear of losing one’s love during war would “inspire him with courage” and “make him
as brave as if he’d been born a hero” (p 10).
Phaedrus qualifies his claim that “no one will die for you but a lover.. even if she’s a
women” by sharing the story of Alcestis’ self ­sacrifice for the sake of her lover: “Because of
[Alcestis’] love, she went so far beyond his parents in family that she made them look like
outsiders, as if they belonged to their son in name only” (p 11). Love’s ability to incite this level
of courage for the sake of another outperforms the love extended by one’s family and exposes its
limitations by highlighting a lover’s extraordinary ability to perform virtuous acts in every form.
Phaedrus concludes by saying, “In truth, the gods honor virtue most highly when it belongs to
Love” (p 12)
The Speech of Pausanias
Pausanias maintains that “there are two kinds of Love” (p 13) but that Love itself is not
necessarily bad or good; “that depends on whether the sentiments he produces in us are
themselves noble” or perverse (p 14). The first kind of love he describes is Vulgar/Common
Love. This love “strikes wherever he gets a chance,” and is felt by lovers equally by those
“attached to women no less than to boys, to the body more than to the soul” (p 14). He concludes
this characterization with: “..all they care about is completing the sexual act” (p 14). However,
Noble/ Heavenly Love is more concerned with the well­being of the other’s soul. Yet, “this love
is for boys” (p 14). People who are inspired by this Love are “attracted to the male: they find
pleasure in what is by nature stronger and more intelligent” (p 14). Pausanias is “convinced that
a man who falls in love with a young man of this age is generally prepared to share everything
with the one he loves” and “does not aim to deceive him” (p 15).
However, Pausanias justly presents the complexities of love: “In view of all this, you
might well conclude that in our city we consider the lover’s desire and the willingness to satisfy
it as the noblest things in the world” (p 17). Yet, “fathers hire attendants for their sons” to
prevent them from falling in love and elders encourage friends to “mercilessly” “tease.. if they
catch him in the act” (p 17). He comments on this contradiction: “When you take all this into
account, you’re bound to come to the conclusion that we Athenians consider such behavior the
most shameful thing in the world” (p 18). In conclusion, Pausanias states that the only and single
way of loving “above reproach” is for the sake of “virtue” (p 18). Yet, Pausanias seems to limit
the achievement of this idealized love to an “older man and a young man,” both of which will
only form an “honorable” love if they abide by their respective roles of “making the younger
man wise and virtuous” and the younger one “grants him favors” in return (p 18).
Noteworthy quote: “Recall also that a lover is encouraged in every possible way.. conquest is
deemed noble, and failure shameful. And as for attempts at conquest, our custom is to praise
lovers for totally extraordinary acts” (p 16).
● This way of thinking still persists:
The Speech of Eryximachus
(Prominent Athenian Physician)
Eryximachus begins by breaking love out of its prescribed biological boundaries. To this
guy, love applies to everything and everywhere. The most important lesson that Eryximachus has
learned from his field, “the science of medicine,” is that Love not only “occurs only in the
human soul,” but is rather a “broader phenomenon” that “occurs everywhere” (p 20). It is not just
“simply the attraction we feel toward human beauty,” but also the harmony of opposites
coexisting (p 20). Eryximachus claims that there are two forms of Love. He claims that these
forms of love are expressed in our bodies. That medicine is the science of gratifying the healthy
aspects and being able to discern which aspects are harmful to the body and ceasing to gratify it.
Thus the doctor’s role is to impart one type of love in the body and dissect the harmful out in
order to create an internal environment that allows for the harmony and love between opposing
elements of the body, such as “hot and cold, and dry and wet” (p 22).
Noteworthy quotes:
“Consider for a moment the marked difference, the radical dissimilarity, between healthy and
diseased constitutions and the fact that dissimilar subjects desire and love objects that are
themselves dissimilar. Therefore, the love manifested in health is fundamentally distinct from the
love manifested in disease.” (p 20)
● Medicine has the capability to create agreement between opposing elements of the body,
and this consonance is the result of Love.
“In short, medicine is simply the science of the effects of Love on repletion and depletion of the
body, and the hallmark of the accomplished physician is his ability to distinguish the Love that is
noble from the Love that is ugly and disgraceful.” (p 21)
● Love has a major role in medicine, just as in our lives. Love is concerned with harmony
and coexistence and to this extent a practitioner of medicine is supposed to be able to
discern ugly and disgraceful love in the form of disease from noble love in the form of a
healthy composition.
“Medicine, therefore, is guided everywhere by the god of Love, and so are physical education
and farming as well... the case of poetry and music, too, is precisely the same.” (p 21)
● Love is a ubiquitous harmony; is seen everywhere and in everything.
“Music, like medicine, creates agreements by producing concord and love between these various
opposites. Music is simply the science of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.”(p 22)
● suggests that Love is equivalent to harmony and agreements between opposites.
○ “When the elements to which I have referred­hot and cold, wet and dry­are
animated by the proper species of Love, they are in harmony with one another.”
(p 22)
The Speech of Aristophanes
Aristophanes starts off claiming that the previous speakers have “entirely missed the
power of Love” (p 24). Otherwise they would honor the god of Love with great sacrifices,
temples and altars in fear that Zeus and his committee of gods do not decide to split them further
into two. For this to make sense, he provides us with the very unique and enjoyable myth that
there were “three kinds of human beings” that were comprised of two individuals in a single
circular body which had “two sets of sexual organs” (p 25). The first two are the conjoinments of
solely one sex, the third kind was “a combination of those two: androgynous” (p 25). Each kind
had its own celestial origin; the male kind was “an offspring of the sun, the female of earth, and
combination of both genders of the moon” (p 25). In the ever­present theme of hubris, these first
humans attempted to ascend to heaven and “attack the gods” (p 26). In retaliation, Zeus realized
that human beings would cease to be “wicked” if he stripped them of their strength by “cutting]
each of them in two” (p 26). As a result, the gods will profit even more because there will be
more humans to offer sacrifices and pay homage.
Since the natural form of human beings was cut in half, Aristophanes claims that “each
one longed for its own other half” (p 27). The longing for completion that rests in another human
being results in the “weaving and wanting to grow old together,” and is at the basis of Love (p
27.) This split is the “source to love each other” and is “born into every human being” (p 27). A
characteristic that propels the urgency one feels for Love is our innate and subconscious attempt
to “heal the wound of human nature” (p 27). Thus, Aristophanes defines Love as the remedy to
our incompleteness.
Aristophanes is also one of the first individuals to tackle the question of what defines our
sexual orientation, albeit through a spurious myth. He reasons lesbians are so because, “Women
who are split from a woman, however, pay no attention at all to men” (p 27. In a likewise
manner, homosexual men are so because, “People who split from male are male­oriented” (p 27).
However, Aristophanes no longer relies on his myth to explain pederasty. He problematically
explains that boys enjoy “loving, lying and being embraced by men” because they adore what is
like themselves; “manly in nature” (p 27). Human being’s “desire to be whole” requires the best
in us in order to find our other half. Yet, Aristophanes urges the adulation of the god of Love so
that they “not be cut in half again” (p 29).
The Speech of Agathon
Agathon: One of the most significant Greek tragedians, whom is presented as celebrating his first
victory in the dramatic festival. He is described as young, beautiful, and clever with his words.
He is the passive partner in the relationship with Pausanais, and is the host of the dinner party.
Summary:
Agathon’s first acknowledges that his speech, which analyzing Love, will take a different
approach than those of his predecessors – approaches that “did not so much celebrate the god as
congratulate human beings that come to them from the god” (32). Thus, Agathon comments on
Love, the god, focusing “first [on] what he is and afterwards [on] his gifts. Agathon follows up,
formally describing the age demographic of Love as young – “the youngest of gods.” Agathon
claims that Love dwells with young people not older individuals, and as a result constructs the
hypothesis that Love is not more ancient than Kronos (an idea proposed by Phaedrus), but is
actually the youngest of the gods. After establishing this hypothesis, Agathon goes on to claim
that not only is Love the youngest deity, but also is delicate. He comes to this conclusion by
suggesting that Love dwells not in every soul, because when he encounters a harsh individual he
rejects them. Thus, Love is delicate. Next, Agathon suggests that in addition to youth and
delicacy, Love is “fluid, [of] supple shape” (33). He supports this through the beauty of Love.
Abandoning his description of Love’s appearance, Agathon begins to comment on Love’s moral
character. He claims that Love never causes or is affected by injustice – violence and injustice
never touch Love. Lastly, Agathon comments on Love’s bravery and poetic nature. He uses Ares
as an example of the epitome of bravery, saying that if Love has control over the bravest entity,
Love is the bravest. Similarly, Agathon argues that if Love has the ability to inspire the best
poets, Love is the best poet. Agathon says all that he has stated in order to display how Love is
never touched by ugliness, saying that Love is forever chasing beauty. Thus Love is the “most
beautiful and the best” (36). After Agathon is done speaking everyone applauds him, and
Socrates argues that he cannot follow such an eloquent speech – somewhat mockingly.
Socrates Questions Agathon
Overall, the audience is satisfied with Agathon’s panegyric, and Socrates politely commends
Agathon. However, Socrates comments on the fact that the previous speeches have all praised
absolutely, but not necessarily accurately​. So he proposes to deliver his speech in his own
style, in which content trumps flowery language. Before beginning his speech, Socrates
questions Agathon. He cross ­examines Agathon, coercing him to agree with several axioms that
will prove fundamental to Socrates’ speech. Some important points Socrates establishes
include​:
-​ That love is “love of something” (199e), meaning there must be an object receiving love.
-​ Love desires only what he doesn’t possess
-​ (Quoting Agathon) “There could not be such a thing as love of ugliness” (200e)
-​ Since Love loves beauty and wants what he doesn’t possess, love must not be beautiful
-​ Good = Beautiful
-​ If love is not beautiful, and good = beautiful, then love is not good
Important quotes from this passage:
“It follows from my previous admission that this is impossible.” – Agathon 199e
­This is a testament to how logical Socrates is in his speech. Each premise is calculated (this is
especially different from Agathon, who inserts a rhyming couplet).
“It looks, Socrates, as if didn’t know what I was talking about when I said that.”
–Agathon 200e
­Socrates is shifting the conversation from emotions to facts. He exposes the logical fallacies
of Agathon and delivers a somewhat researched speech.
“It is truth that you find it impossible to withstand” –Socrates, 202a
­This is Socrates response after Agathon said that he could not withstand Socrates. Socrates
equates his premises with truth.
Diotima Questions Socrates
After his rhetorical introduction, Socrates recounts a speech about love, which he heard from
Diotima​, a woman from Mantinea. (At this point, the narrator Appolodorus narrates Socrates
retelling a story of his own.) Diotima cross­examines Socrates in the same style Socrates
cross­examined Agathon. Here are some key points Diotima establishes:
∙ Something that is not beautiful is not necessarily ugly, so Love can be in the middle.
∙ All gods are beautiful and good, but Love is neither. Therefore Love must not be a god.
∙ But according to the first principle, this does not render Love mortal. Love is in between: an
entity Diotima dubs a spirit​.
∙ As a spirit, Love acts as an intermediary between gods and men.
The Speech of Diotima
Next, Diotima recounts the legend of Love’s parentage​. Love was conceived on the day
Aphrodite was born. At a feast of the gods, Poverty ​seduced drunken Contrivance
(resourcefulness) son of Invention. Love became Aphrodite’s servant. As Poverty’s son, Love
is also poor and lacks a home. But as Contrivance’s son, he is also clever and wily. Though he
is not beautiful and good, he knows how to get what is.
Diotima declares that one who has wisdom cannot want it, and one who lacks it does not know
what he lacks. Therefore the true lover of wisdom is the intermediate class. Love, the child of a
wise father and ignorant mother, is a lover of wisdom.
Diotima asks what the purpose of love ​is, and what someone accomplishes by attaining
possession of a beautiful thing. She answers by asking and answering a parallel question: why
does one desire goodness? Because it makes one happy. Love expresses itself in many ways, the
way we define love is but one facet of a broader concept (such as love of power and money,
etc.). All men are in love with what is good. Diotema redefines love as “desire for the
perpetual possession of the good​” (205e).
Another purpose of love is procreation​: both physical and spiritual. Procreation is what allows
man to approach immortality, and is by necessity beautiful. Since love is the perpetual ​desire
for good, it follows that man desires to be immortal. This explains why animals sacrifice
themselves for their offspring. This sacrifice for immortality is not limited to physical
procreation. Men will also make sacrifices for things they love for the sake of keeping ideas
alive​. For example, Achilles avenged Patroclus, though he did not procreate with him.
However, his bravery allows him to live forever in people's memories. Therefore the incentive
for all actions is love of renown. As we would expect, Socrates (quoting Diotima) defends the
love between men and young boys: a young man desires procreation, he seeks out beauty both in
body and in soul. The children that he begets are ideas, which are superior to mortal children.
(53-54)
Important quotations:
“The object of love is in all truth beautiful and delicate and perfect and worthy to be thought
happy, but what feels love has a totally different character such as I have just described”
(Diotima in 204D).
● Diotima makes an important distinction between love and the object of love.
“It is desire for immortal renown and a glorious reputation such as theirs that is the incentive of
all actions, and the better a man is, the stronger the incentive; he is in love with immortality”
(Diotima in 208c).
● ­Diotima broadens the scope of the conversation from romantic love to love of glory
(and eventually to love of knowledge). This argument is relevant to the discussion on the
love of knowledge. Diotima suggests that an intangible can be more timeless than
physical offspring. It comes as no surprise then that knowledge is the most timeless and
most rewarding object of love.
The Ascent to Absolute Beauty
Naturally, a young boy will be attracted to a beautiful body. However, as time goes on, he
realizes that all physical beauty is the same. Eventually, he learns to love beauty of the soul and
realizes that physical beauty pales in comparison. He also finds beauty in wisdom. The climax
in the search for love is the search for absolute beauty​(greater than the beauty of young boys!):
a beauty so great one can catch a glimpse of it but can never attain it​. This is classic Socrates.
“This... is the region where a man’s life should be spent, in the contemplation of absolute
beauty” (Diotima 211a). This absolute beauty is untainted by humans; to attain it is to attain true
goodness because “he will be in contact not with a reflection but with the truth​” (Diotima
211a). (Does “reflection” sound familiar?)
Overall Theme:
Love is constantly striving for beauty, searching for beauty, and rejecting ugliness and meanness.
Thus, Love is beautiful and kind.
Other Themes:
● Love is the youngest of the gods (contrast to Phaedrus though)
● Love is delicate
● Love is the bravest of all gods
Important Quotes:
● ∙ “For he makes his home in the characters, in the souls, of gods and men – and not even
in every soul that comes along: when he encounters a soul with a harsh character, he
turns away” (33).
● “The main point is that Love is neither the cause nor the victim of any injustice; he does
no wrong to gods or men, nor they to him” (34).
● “Because Love has power over the bravest of the others, he is bravest of them all” (35).
● “First, [Love] is himself the most beautiful and best, after that, if anyone else is at all like
that, Love is responsible” (36).
∙ (37.197D­E) – Important passage
g
Alcibiades’ Entrance
Alcibiades: A charismatic politician that played a key role in the Peloponnesian War. He sided
with Athens and then switched allegiance to Sparta. He was a friend of Socrates until
dishonored.
Summary:
Shortly after Socrates speech, “a large drunken party had arrived at the courtyard door”
(61). After instructing his slaves to see who was at the door, the party inside could hear
“Alcibiades shouting in the courtyard, very drunk and very loud.” After demanding to see
Agathon, Alcibiades was allowed in were he proudly exclaimed, “He was plastered.” Agathon
insists that Alcibiades come lie next to him, and once he has, Alcibiades crowns Agathon with
his garland and soon realizes that he has been trapped into being next to Socrates once again.
Following, Alcibiades begins engage with Socrates, crowning him with a garland he has created
from ribbon, in a mocking and reluctant manner. Nevertheless, the party insists that they cannot
sit and drink in silence. Consequently, they urge the discussion to go on, urging Alcibiades to
speak on what he feels love means.
Overarching Theme:
This entrance really serves as a way for Alcibiades to establishes both precedent for his
relationship with Socrates, and also an excuse for his controversial speech to come.
Other Themes:
● Proper drinking protocol
Important Quotes:
“You can’t imagine what it’s like to be in love with him: from the very first moment he realized
how I felt about him, he hasn’t allowed me to say two words to anybody else” (62).
“This is certainly most improper. We cannot simply pour the wine down our throats in silence:
we must have some conversation, or at least a song” (63).
The Speech of Alcibiades
Summary:
Alcibiades starts off by comparing Socrates to a statue of Silenus, specifically the satyr,
Marsyas – who had the ability to enthrall individuals with his musical devices. Alcibiades states
that not only do Socrates and the half man, half beast resembles one another in physicality, but
also in mentality. Alcibiades argues that Socrates is “imprudent, contemptuous, and vile” (66),
and also argues that like Marsyas, Socrates is able to cast a spell over individuals. However,
Socrates’ spell is conjured not by a magical flute, but his words – his wisdom. Alcibiades
exclaims that these very words are what traps him and draws him to Socrates, making him a
slave to his will. Alcibiades goes on to point out the rather bad traits of Socrates, saying that he is
a manizer who looks down on people’s obsessions with beauty, riches, and materials. Alcibiades
transitions in his speech and begins to discuss how he believed that Socrates would claim him,
taking him as his lover to teach him wisdom and virtue. After discussing Socrates contradictory
actions, which lead to Alcibiades dishonor, Alcibiades discusses Socrates’ honorable traits,
exclaiming that in war “[Socrates] refused to leave [him] behind when wounded, and he rescued
not only me but my armor as well” (73). Alcibiades finishes his speech acknowledging that
although a Socrates is a decent person, ‘he presents himself as your lover, and, before you know
it, you’re in love with him yourself” (75).
Overarching Theme:
The overarching theme of this speech seems to enforce the idea that love, specifically
inconsistencies and miscommunication within an intimate relationship, can lead to madness and
upset.
Final Dialogue
Socrates exclaims that Alcibiades is sober and only used drunkenness as a ruse to speak
such an uncomfortable speech. Alcibiades, once again, feels embarrassed by Socrates’ actions,
and Agathon plays into Socrates’ charm and moves from Alcibiades, and lies next to Socrates.
After a while, everyone either leaves and falls asleep. However, in the morning Alcibiades,
Socrates, and Agathon can still be seen conversing, discussing the role of authors in writing
comedies and tragedies. After that, Socrates dismisses himself, leaving both Alcibiades and
Agathon asleep.
Aeneid (Virgil)
Main Characters:
●​ Aeneas: Titular protagonist. Aeneas is a Trojan hero who makes a couple of minor
appearances in Homer’s Iliad, but whose fate is left uncertain. Marked by his piety,
Aeneas consistently works to ensure that he lives up to the destiny which several divine
figures have presented him. Aeneas is the son of Anchises and Venus, the Roman
equivalent of Aphrodite, making him semi-divine. He is, however, something of a
“reluctant hero,” repeatedly shown to question himself and his destiny. Aeneas, notably,
does not blindly follow the path which has been shown to him; rather, he doubts his fate,
but ultimately resolves to remain on his course many times. He is a fearsome warrior, as
demonstrated by his final battle against Turnus.
●​ Juno – The Roman equivalent of Hera, and, accordingly, Queen of the Gods, and wife of
Jupiter. She still hates the Trojans because of the Judgment of Paris all those years back,
and consistently creates problems for Aeneas and his companions – notably, the storm
through which the ships are being tossed at the beginning of Book I, most of the
tribulations of Book III, and aid to the Rutulians throughout the second half of the work.
●​ Dido – Queen of Carthage, whom Aeneas meets during his travels, and who falls in love
with him during his time there. Aeneas arrives at her palace in Carthage in Book I, tells
her his backstory in Books II and III, and seduces and leaves her in Book IV. She kills
herself after he departs Carthage for Italy, symbolically sparking the rivalry the Romans
had with the Carthaginians. She is frequently described by epithets foreshadowing her
death, such as “fiery,” “burning,” or, perhaps more heavy-handedly, “destined to die.”
●​ Anchises – Father of Aeneas. His son carries him outside of the city as it burns on his
back, in a famous scene. His death in Book V triggers the funeral games that follow, and
when Aeneas visits him in the Underworld in Book VI, he prophesied about the future
glory of Rome.
●​ Venus – Roman equivalent of Aphrodite and the mother of Aeneas. Venus plays a central
role in intervening to ensure that her son stays on track to travel to Italy and found Rome,
notably, her repeated intercessions in Book 2.
●​ Ascanius/Julus – Son of Aeneas. Founder of Alba Longa, from where Romulus and
Remus came to found Rome. Mythologically considered the founder of the Julian clan,
thus legitimizing Augustus’ rule as emperor.
●​ Turnus – Aeneas’ main enemy for Books VII-XII. Leader of the Rutulians, he had been
promised the hand of Lavinia, princess of the Latins. However, her father, Latinus (yes,
the king of the Latins was named “Latinus”) married her to Aeneas, causing Turnus’ to
go to war for her. Killed by Aeneas in the epic’s closing scene. Turnus is said to be as
fierce of a warrior as Achilles was, which is intended to make Aeneas’ slaying of him all
the more glorious.
Plot Summary:
Book I: After the poem’s introduction, we are plunged directly into the middle of things with
Juno demanding that Aeolus, god of the winds, release a storm upon the Trojan fleet. Aeneas and
company narrowly cling onto their ships through the storm, until Neptune intercedes to calm the
waters back down. Aeneas lands the flotilla on an unknown shore, the storm having caught them
off guard. They forage for food, and Aeneas has a brief moment of self-doubt and weeping while
looking at the ocean over a cliff. He gives a rousing speech to the men, and leads them out
exploring the next day, when they find and sneak into Carthage. Shrouded by the same divine
mist of protection, they slip right into the palace of Queen Dido, and are fed and housed there.
The book closes with Dido asking Aeneas to tell his story.
Book II: The book describes the fall of the city of Troy. It begins with a description of the sudden
abandonment of the Greek camp and the arrival of the Trojan Horse. Sinon, a Greek who has
been left behind, gives a speech urging the Trojans to take the horse into the city. Next, Laocoön,
a Trojan priest of Apollo, urges them not to bring it in, but, when snakes dramatically eat him
and his two sons, the Trojans decide not to heed his advice. The horse is brought in; the Trojans
celebrate the end of the war and get completely plastered (“They fall upon the city buried deep in
wine and sleep,” 367-8). The Greeks slip out of the horse, let their comrades (who hadn’t
actually sailed away, but were only out of sight) into the city, and they proceed to rape and
pillage. Aeneas is awakened, rounds up a band of men and begins to fight, but the repeated
intercession of Venus drives him back home to rescue his family. Although he desperately wishes
to fight for his city, he ultimately accepts his fate and leaves, carrying his father on his back and
leading his son by the hand. His wife, Creusa, is lost along the way; when he goes back to find
her, her ghost tells him to give up. They then depart the burning city together and head for the
hills as day breaks.
Book III: III primarily details Aeneas’ travels before arriving in Carthage. The Trojans had
originally planned to establish a new settlement in Thrace, part of northeastern Greece, but, when
they dug in the ground, blood kept spurting up, so they decided not to stay there. They wander
through the island of the Harpies, strange half-woman half-bird creatures, who attack them and
then prophesy bad things for the Trojan band. Next they wander through “Little Troy,” a city
founded by Helenus and Andromache, where they find an eerie recreation of their former city; it
has the somber mood not of a new home but of a memorial, so they depart. They briefly follow
through the wake of Odysseus, seeing a Greek sailor let behind on the island of the Cyclops and
warding off Charybdis and Scylla. Anchises dies, and a storm washes them ashore near Carthage,
as Aeneas wraps up his tale to Dido at the present.
Book IV: Dido falls madly in love with Aeneas, and consults her sister, Anna, on what to do.
When Dido and Aeneas are out hunting together, a storm arises (through divine intervention,
naturally) which leads them to take shelter in a cave. Separated from the rest of the party, they
consummate their relationship, an act which Dido later claims to have constituted a wedding.
Aeneas, however, is called back to travel to Italy by Mercury, and he unhappily departs. Dido is
heartbroken, and kills herself with Aeneas’ sword before jumping onto a burning funeral pyre.
The Trojan flotilla sees the smoke rising from Carthage as they sail away.
Book V: Essentially, the most important bits of Book V are the funeral games of Anchises, which
feature the typical athletic contests seen in the Iliad. Notably, Juno tries some treachery to burn
Aeneas’ ships, but her plot is foiled. Aeneas sees an apparition of his father’s ghost, who tells
him to go to the Underworld to see him.
Book VI: Aeneas travels to the Underworld to see his father. He travels with the Cumaean Sibyl,
an oracle of minor importance to Roman history. Before he can enter, she tells him that he needs
a sign that it is the will of the gods. He wanders into the woods, and proceeds to find a golden
branch which is prophesied will only break from the tree if the right hero tries. He grabs it, and it
hesitates for a second, but eventually breaks off, and he enters the Underworld with the
prophetess. There, he crosses the river Styx, passes through various sections of the Underworld
reserved for sinners of different sorts, and sees all kinds of various dead people – mainly
unimportant characters from Roman history in the time between the setting of the Aeneid and its
writing. However, notably, he sees some of his Greek former enemies, who fear him, his
deceased companion Palinurus, who asks him to bury him (à la Elpenor of the Odyssey), and
Dido, who spurns his apology for his conduct and gives him the cold shoulder. Aeneas meets up
with his father, Anchises, who is in the best part of the Underworld, the Elysian Fields,
essentially a paradise reserved for the most heroic of heroes. Anchises tells Aeneas all about the
glory of the city whose founding he will trigger, and Aeneas departs, curiously, out of the door
which is said to trigger false dreams.
Books VII-XII (condensed due to the emphasis of our discussion): Aeneas arrives in Italy, settles
in Latium, the land of the Latins, whose king, Latinus promises him the hand of his daughter,
Lavinia. Latinus, however, had already told Turnus, king of the Rutulians, that he could marry
his daughter, so all hell breaks loose. Turnus leads his people and several tribes of Italian allies to
war against the Trojans and Latins. Juno has a significant hand in stirring the pot to make sure
the war happens. Aeneas goes and gets some allies too, lest he be outnumbered; notably,
Diomedes, the Greek hero of the Trojan War who is currently living peacefully in Southern Italy,
is sought as an ally by both sides, but refuses to continue fighting against the Trojans any longer.
The Rutulians attack at night and lots of dudes die; Aeneas and company strike back and lots of
dudes die; finally, Aeneas takes Turnus one-on-one and whoops his ass, killing him while he
begs for mercy in the epic’s closing scene.
Analysis:
Roman Version of Iliad and Odyssey: The Aeneid is, in some respects, a direct response by
Vergil to Homer. The parallels between the works are everywhere, and Vergil’s writing
demonstrates an exceptional familiarity with Homer’s works. The Aeneid, accordingly, fills a
similar cultural role to the ones filled by Homer’s works – that of the national epic. Further, it is
important to remember that the Greeks were a people conquered and colonized by the Romans,
and that the Aeneid depicts the remnants of the Trojan defeat going on to found the state which
would eventually rule over their once-conquerors.
Origin Story: The Aeneid also functions effectively as a history of the Roman people, from their
mythological origins and right up to Vergil’s time. In doing so, it presents the Romans with an
honorable source from which to have sprung and glorifies much of the history in between with
the suggestion that it had always been divinely ordained. It is worth noting that, unlike Homer,
Vergil uses his own temporal separation from the events he narrates to his advantage,
“compressing” centuries of Roman history into a handful of figures in Book VI. The Aeneid
functions very effectively as a propaganda piece about the (then-) current glory of Imperial
Rome, and legitimizing the claim of the Julian clan to rule, since they claimed descent from
Ascanius, also known as Julus.
Fate: Aeneas knows his fate from the end of Book II, when his mother tells him several times to
flee burning Troy, since he’s not destined to die there. Ultimately, he obeys the commands of the
gods and does not stray from the course dictated to him – but not without significant reservation
and tension on his own part. Indeed, Aeneas questions his fate throughout the work, from its
opening scene where, after the shipwreck, he takes in a moment of solitude among the crags, to
the final battle sequences against the mighty Turnus. Nonetheless, Aeneas obeys, and great
things come of it – a useful virtue for an authoritarian state as Augustus’ to instill in its subjects.
Stoicism: Aeneas repeatedly demonstrates the Stoic ideal of transcending one’s own worries,
repeatedly crushing down or hiding his own emotions in pursuit of his goal. Such an attitude of
cool disaffection from emotion and rational, levelheaded thinking was widely praised in Vergil’s
Rome. Its foil (misogynistic though it may be) appears in the hysteria that claims Dido after
Aeneas departs, and the sufferings it spells. Indeed, the gods themselves embody this ideal, with
Jupiter’s stern, unemotional decision making ruling in favor of the Trojans at Venus’ bequest;
this stands in contrast to the emotional, even melodramatic gods of Homer.
Agency: Questions of which characters have, and which characters lack agency dot the work.
Aeneas, in spite of his own doubts, ultimately stays on the exact path foreseen for him at the
beginning, which begs the question of whether or not he has free will at all. Further, most of
Aeneas’ men, all of his family, and many of those whom he meets in his adventures – notably,
Dido – are stripped of their own agency in his wake. The gods, even, lack the agency that they
had in Homer’s works – Juno is unable to prevent Rome from being founded in the face of fate,
and never takes an active role in fighting against the Trojans herself.
Tragedy: Some aspects of the Aeneid are undoubtedly tragic. Book IV is certainly more tragic
than romantic, as it heightens the readers’ expectations for a romance, which could never have
been, and holds wretched consequences for those left in its wake. Further, the destruction of Troy
in Book II is saddening to readers who empathize with the Trojans, as its wanton destruction and
senseless violence and slaughter must cause the hardiest of hearts to shudder.
Resurgence/Endurance: This is related to, but distinct from, the idea of Stoicism as previously
discussed. The notion that the Trojans and, by extension, the Romans cannot be crushed in spite
of wars and hardships prominently serves to inspire the people of Rome. Aeneas is both
physically and spiritually indomitable, and, given his status as the proto-Roman, all of the
peoples of the Empire are as well. However, as seen with the episode in Helenus’ and
Andromache’s “Little Troy,” simple repetition of the former city and way of life will not do; thus
the need to found new walls, greater and mightier than the old.
Ecphrasis: Ecphrasis is a technical term for verbal description of works of visual arts within
literature. This occurs several times; notably, when the Trojans see themselves depicted in the
murals of Dido’s palace, when Aeneas gazes at Daedalus’ temple of the Sibyl, and, perhaps most
importantly, in Book VIII when Venus presents Aeneas with his shield. Here, the parallels to the
Iliad are particularly notable, since Homer uses the same device when Achilles receives his
shield from Thetis. The differences in the two shields are worth noting; while Achilles’ shield
depicts citizens of an unspecified city-state engaging in the various labors and leisures of
peacetime, Aeneas’ bears images of the future leaders and glories of Rome.
Aeneid as Propaganda: The Aeneid was officially commissioned and sanctioned by Augustus’
new Imperial regime, and the poet personally presented several books to the emperor himself. It
is important to remember that Vergil produced this work, which legitimizes and praises the
sitting government, while fully aware that criticism of the state would certainly result in his
punishment. Therefore, even Vergil’s agency in writing must be called into question, and whether
or not the work is discreetly subversive is worth asking. Some curious details – such as Aeneas’
departure from Hades through the gate of Ivory, which was said to trigger false dreams – suggest
that Vergil may not have been fully on board with collaboration. Indeed, his consistent praise of
past leaders not of the Empire, but of the Republic, suggests that he personally may not have
been thrilled with the changes in government.
Life of Aesop (Unknown author)
-​ Aesop, a Greek slave, has escaped from his cruel master Xanthus. In the forest he
discovers a wounded Lion with a thorn in his paw. When Aesop removes the thorn, the
Lion
pledges his gratitude but is unable to prevent Aesop’s capture and subsequent return to
the house of his master. Xanthus, heartbroken and bitter over the recent death of his wife
Calliope, is determined to put Aesop to death for escaping. Aesop’s only hope for
salvation is to regale Xanthus with stories whose lessons not only help Xanthus cope with
his suffering but help him remember happier times with Calliope as well. So it is that we
hear various fables including The Oak and the Reed (it is better to bend than to break),
The Fox Without a Tail (misery loves company), The Beast in Love (love tames the
wild beast), The Hare and the Tortoise (slow and steady wins the race) and The Boy
Who Cried Wolf (no one believes a liar). But even these stories aren’t enough to
persuade Xanthus to change his mind and he orders Aesop to be thrown to the lions. But
the Lion charging Aesop is the same one Aesop met in the forest and instead of
devouring Aesop, he licks his hand in gratitude. Xanthus is dumbfounded; Aesop
explains how he helped the Lion and Xanthus finally recognizes that Aesop has been
trying to help him as well. In gratitude he frees Aesop, who stays on to become storyteller
to Xanthus, guaranteeing that the memory of Calliope will live on.
Sections of the Life of Aesop (as described by Prof. Joe Howley):
1-19: Enslaved in the field and market
20-91: Enslaved by the professor (Xanthus)
92-100: Manumission (helping the Samians against Croesus)
101-123: Lycurgus & Nectanebo (“The Babylonian section”)
124-142: Persecution and death at Delphi
​
​
​
Gospel of Luke (Bible/Unknown-attributed to Luke and/or followers of Luke)
Chapter 1 — Historically, Dr. Luke begins his Gospel before the other synoptic Gospels.
Heaven had been silent for over 400 years when the angel Gabriel broke through the blue at the
golden altar of prayer to announce the birth of John the Baptist. Luke gives us the background as
well as the births of John and Jesus. Neither Joseph nor Mary was God’s accidental choice. They
both possessed certain noble human character traits. Joseph was an unselfish, humble and
dependable man of high ideals. Mary possessed the same character traits. She was obedient and
uncomplaining, with a definite knowledge of the Old Testament. Long before medical science
gave any attention to heredity, Dr. Luke placed a great emphasis upon it.Dr. Luke makes it
abundantly clear that Jesus is virgin born. No other conclusion can be drawn from the definite,
direct, and dogmatic statements of the angel Gabriel to Mary. Until man knows more about the
origin of life, he is in no position, scientifically, to refute dogmatically the statement of Dr. Luke.
A true scientific approach is that of humble inquiry and patience.
Three songs are in this chapter:
-​ (1) Elisabeth’s greeting of Mary, vv. 42-45;
-​ (2) The magnificat of Mary, vv. 46-55;
-​ (3) The prophecy of Zacharias, vv. 67-79.
Chapter 2 — This is the careful historical record of the birth of Jesus tied into the record of the
Roman government. The simple record of the visit of the shepherds is tied into the sublime
record of the visit of the heavenly host. Jesus was brought to the temple when 8 days old to be
circumcised according to Mosaic Law: But, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:4, 5)
As a result of this visit to Jerusalem, we have the songs of Simeon and Anna.
The one isolated incident from the boyhood of Jesus is recorded
by Dr. Luke to let us know that Jesus had a normal human childhood (see vs. 52).
-​ (1) Jesus increased in wisdom (mental),
-​ (2) in stature (physical),
-​ (3) in favor with God and man (spiritual).
Chapter 3 — Luke, with a true historian’s approach, dates the ministry of John the Baptist with
secular history (see vv. 1, 2). Luke places the emphasis upon John’s message of repentance as
the condition for the coming of the Messiah. From the Mosaic system of washing in water, which
was a common custom of immersion in that day, John baptized those who came to him as merely
a preparation — a moral reformation — for the coming of Christ. Jesus would baptize by the
Holy Spirit — a real transformation. The genealogy in this chapter is Mary’s, which reveals two
facts. First, it goes back to Adam, the father of the human family. Jesus
was truly human. Matthew, in presenting Jesus as king, traces the genealogy back only as far as
Abraham. Luke, in presenting Jesus as man, goes back to Adam. In the second place, Mary was
descended from David through another than Solomon; that is, from David’s son Nathan (v. 31;
compare 1 Chronicles 3:5).
Chapter 4 — Jesus is tempted as a man by Satan. They were
human temptations such as come to all of us. They cover the entire
spectrum of human temptations, and are threefold:
-​ (1) Make stones into bread to satisfy needs of the body. There is nothing wrong with
bread; it is the staff of life. The body has need of bread and Jesus was starving. What is
wrong? To use His great powers to minister to Himself would be selfish. He must
demonstrate the truth of the great principle, “Man shall not live by bread alone”
(Matthew 4:4). This is contrary to the thinking of this crass materialistic age that lives
only to satisfy the whims of the body. Modern man in our secular society says, “Eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” And as far as man is concerned, that ends it
all. Selfishness is the curse of a creedless secular society. Our Lord,in meeting this
temptation, refuted the popular philosophy of the world.
-​ (2) The nations of the world derive their power through brute force and political intrigue.
War is a way of life. Hate and fear are the whips that motivate the mob. This is satanic,
and Satan offers the kingdoms of the world on these terms. Men must be changed to enter
God’s kingdom: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The answer of Jesus
has a note of finality, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve” (Luke 4:8; see Deuteronomy 6:13). For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
-​ (3) The temptation to cast Himself down from the temple seemed a logical procedure for
Jesus to impress the crowd as to His person and mission. But Jesus followed no easy way
to the throne. He had to wear the crown of thorns before He wore the crown of glory.
Stifler states succinctly, “There are two ways of despising God, one is to ignore His
power, the other is to presume upon it.” Both are sin. It is easy to do nothing and then
mouth pious platitudes about God providing for the sparrows and that He will take care
of us. But God says, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Genesis 3:19). The
missionary to a foreign land will have to study to learn the language, and then God will
help him. We are partners of God, not puppets.
-​ Dr. Edward Judson, after considering what his father, Adoniram Judson, suffered in
Burma, said, “If we succeed without suffering, it is because others have suffered before
us. If we suffer without success, it is that others may succeed after us.” Jesus rejected a
false and phony spiritual stance. His answer was devastating: “Ye shall not put the LORD
your God to the test, as ye tested him in Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Actually, Jesus
began His public ministry in His hometown of Nazareth where He was rejected and
ejected. It was in the synagogue where He announced the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1, 2. He
broke off the reading before He came to “the day of vengeance of our God” (compare
Isaiah 61:1, 2 with Luke 4:18-20).
Chapter 5 — Dr. Luke carefully records the cleansing of the leper and the healing of the
paralytic.
Chapter 6 — He records in detail the healing on the sabbath of the man with the paralyzed hand.
He repeats the so-called Sermon on the Mount down on the plain (see v. 17). Jesus must have
repeated His most important teachings again and again.
Chapter 7 — This chapter opens with another meticulous record of healing. In this case it is the
centurion’s servant. Although Jesus had no personal contact with the servant, he was made well.
Dr. Luke alone records the raising from the dead of the son of the widow of Nain. He is the only
Gospel writer who records Jesus’ raising of two persons from the dead, the other being Jairus’
daughter (8:54, 55). Also in this chapter is the first of 18 parables that Luke alone records. It
grew out of Jesus’ visit to the home of a Pharisee where a woman anointed His feet with
ointment. The simple parable of the two debtors reveals that this woman of the street was better
in God’s sight than Simon, the Pharisee.
Chapter 8 — This chapter records events that are in the other synoptic Gospels.
Chapter 9 — This chapter also records events found in Matthew and Mark. All three record the
transfiguration. John does not record it, as the transfiguration sets forth the perfect humanity of
Jesus rather than adding proof to His deity, and John emphasizes the deity
of Jesus. Verse 29 may give the impression that the light was shining upon Him as a spotlight,
but that is not Luke’s intention. Mark 9:3 reads, “And his raiment became shining, exceedingly
white like snow, as no fuller on earth can whiten them.” The light came from
within. This was probably the original condition of Adam and Eve. The word for transfigured is
from the Greek metamorphoom. The English derivation is metamorphosis. Metamorphosis can
be upward or downward:
(1) Upward — the ugly larva in the cocoon that became a beautiful butterfly,
(2) Downward — death.
In the transfiguration it is upward.
There are three steps in the life of Jesus:
(1) Innocent and holy — born without sin;
(2) Holy in the sense that He met temptation and overcame it
(Adam did not meet this test);
(3) Transfigured — this is the goal for humanity. In the transfiguration of Jesus we see the hope
of humanity.
Dr. Luke alone elaborates upon this detail, as he does upon the contrasting condition — the
demon-possessed boy at the foot of the mountain (vv. 37-43). What a contrast! Dr. Luke also
gives much attention to demon possession. In chapter 8 he records Jesus’ visit to Gadara and the
man in the tombs possessed with demons. This man and the boy at the foot of the
mount are extreme cases. He also records other cases, and from
these we can draw certain conclusions:
●​ Casting out a demon is the first miracle recorded by Luke (4:31-35).
●​ Demons recognized Jesus (4:41).
●​ Demonism is distinguished from diseases (4:40, 41).
●​ Demonism is a reality, as real as cancer or fever.
●​ Demons disturb men physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
●​ They destroy the lives of men and bring about inevitable eternal doom.
●​ Demonism is synonymous with unclean spirits.
●​ They control the lives of those whom they possess. Victims do not abide by rules and
customs of society.
●​ A demon-possessed person cannot discipline himself — the will is destroyed, leading to
strange conduct (e.g., nudity).
●​ He is abnormal but not necessarily insane.
●​ The personality is degraded and debased. Ultimately he will be caused to do frightful and
terrifying acts (8:27-29; 9:39, 42). Demons belong to the spiritual world, not the physical.
They are behind false religion (1 Corinthians 10:20). Demons desire to inhabit persons.
Many occupy one person. They dread the bottomless pit — would rather go into pigs/
would rather die.
●​ Verse 51 is the turning point in the ministry of Jesus. He begins His march to Jerusalem
and the cross.
Chapter 10 — Luke alone records the familiar parable of the good Samaritan. The final
interpretation is that Jesus is the Good Samaritan who found mankind wounded by sin on the
side of life’s highway where religion and the Law went by, indifferent and incapable of helping.
Chapter 11 — The two parables on prayer are recorded only by Luke. Most parables illustrate by
comparison. These illustrate by contrast. The insistent friend and the sleepy neighbor who would
not answer his door at midnight certainly do not illustrate the reluctance of God to answer prayer.
God is willing to answer, and He is not asleep; it is we who are not insistent and persistent in
prayer. In the second parable, a human father never gives his son a stone as substitute for bread,
and surely God is as good as a human father. He is much better! These parables illustrate by
contrast.
Chapter 12 — Luke alone gives us the parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns in this life
but made no provisions for his soul in the next life. The parable of the steward, who abused his
servants because his lord seemed to delay his return, also is unique in this Gospel.
Chapter 13 — Luke alone records the incident of Jesus healing the crippled woman in the
synagogue on the sabbath.
Chapter 14 — Luke alone records the delightful occasion of Jesus going to dinner at the home of
one of the chief Pharisees. He gave His host and guests a lesson in etiquette in the devastating
parable of the ambitious guest. There are two other parables in this sycamore tree. Luke alone
records this account of Zacchaeus, the publican of Jericho. (See author’s booklet, The Fruit of
the Sycamore Tree.)
Chapter 20 — Luke records the incident (as do Matthew and Mark) of the encounter of Jesus
with the religious rulers in the temple area in Jerusalem.
Chapter 21 — Luke records the answer to the first of the three questions asked by the disciples,
“When shall these things be?” (v. 7). And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,
then know that its desolation is near. (Luke 21:20) This section was fulfilled when Titus, the
Roman, besieged and destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Chapter 22 — Luke records the Passover, Garden of Gethsemane betrayal, arrest and trial of
Jesus before the Sanhedrin, and the denial of Simon Peter. (See notes on Matthew and Mark
regarding these events.)
Chapter 23 — Luke follows the other synoptic Gospels in giving the account of Jesus before
Pilate, the crucifixion and burial of Jesus (see notes on Matthew and Mark). Luke alone includes
the record of Jesus being sent to Herod by Pilate. Jesus’ silence before Herod is startling. Jesus is
the final issue of Jacob; Herod is the final issue of Esau. Jesus had no word for Herod. He
formerly had called him “that old fox” (see Luke 13:32).
Chapter 24 — Luke records the resurrection of Jesus as Matthew, Mark, and John do. But Luke
alone records the journey of the resurrected Jesus down the Emmaus road and His encounter
with two disciples. Although Jesus is in a glorified body, He is still
human. He walked with these two down a dusty road and ate with
Them. Jesus also appears to His disciples in an upper room and eats with
them. He is still human, though glorified. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself;
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.… And they gave
him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. (Luke
24:39, 42, 43) The most important highlight in both instances is His reference to the Scriptures to
substantiate His death and resurrection.
Gospel of John (Bible/Unknown-attributed to John and/or followers of John)
The Fourth Gospel describes the mystery of the identity of Jesus. The Gospel According to John
develops a Christology—an explanation of Christ’s nature and origin—while leaving out much
of the familiar material that runs through the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke,
xfincluding Jesus’s short aphorisms and parables, references to Jesus’s background, and
proclamations about the kingdom of God. Whereas Mark’s Gospel brings us the texture of
first-century Palestine with a vivid, concrete, and earthy Jesus, John’s Gospel is filled with long
discourses describing Jesus’s divinity. John takes us behind Jesus’s ministry, where we get a
glimpse of what it means to believe in Jesus as flesh of the eternal and living God, as the source
of light and life, and for a believer to be a “Son of God.” Though John’s narrative diverges from
the synoptic Gospels, it is indeed a Gospel, or a telling of good news. It includes the basics of
Jesus’s ministry—his preaching, miracles, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. It is likely that
John heard the details about these events from a very early oral source common to all the
Gospels, but the freedom he uses to interpret these events helps us see clearly that all accounts of
Jesus have come to us through the filter of interpretation. John may have been written a bit later
than the synoptic Gospels, likely around 90 a.d. The actual author of John’s Gospel was probably
an interpreter of John, who was one of Jesus’s original disciples.
The Gospel of John begins with a poetic hymn that tells the story of Jesus’s origin, mission, and
function. John says that Jesus is the incarnated Word of God, bringing “grace and truth,”
replacing the law given by Moses, and making God known in the world (1:17). The narrative
opens with John the Baptist identifying himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy; he will
prepare the way for the Lord. Indeed, when he meets Jesus, John testifies, “He is the Son of
God” (1:34). The next day, hearing John’s testimony, two disciples, including Andrew, begin to
follow Jesus. Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus, who now accumulates several other
followers as well. On the third day after Jesus’s baptism, Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding
at Cana in Galilee, where Jesus works a miracle, transforming water into wine. As Passover
approaches, Jesus travels to Jerusalem, where he drives the money changers from the temple,
charging them to “stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” (2:16). A Pharisee named
Nicodemus assumes that Jesus has come from God as a teacher, and Jesus tells him, in solemn,
semipoetic lines, that he has been “born from above” (3:3) and that God has given “his only Son
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish” (3:16). Jesus leaves Jerusalem and begins
to baptize people in Judea. John the Baptist has continued his baptizing, and someone informs
him that Jesus too has begun to baptize, assuming that John would be angry at the competition.
The Baptist rejoices at the news, knowing that Jesus, as the Son of God, is the greater of the two,
and that Jesus is the fulfillment of John’s prophecy.
Jesus travels to Samaria, where he speaks in metaphors and figures of speech with a Samaritan
woman and with his disciples. They do not always understand his metaphors, and take Jesus
literally when he tells the woman that he has “living water” (4:10) and when he tells his disciples
that “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (4:32). Eventually, the woman understands
Jesus. Impressed by his knowledge of her past and by his message, she tells the other Samaritans
that he is the Christ, meaning that he is the Messiah prophesied in Jewish scriptures. The
Samaritans profess belief in him. Returning to Cana in Galilee, Jesus cures a boy who is at
death’s door. In Jerusalem once again for a festival, Jesus cures a sick man at the pool of
Bethzatha and orders him to pick up his sleeping mat and walk around. As it is the Sabbath,
when observant Jews do not carry objects outdoors, the Jews become angry with Jesus, and their
anger only increases when Jesus explains that God is his father. Jesus delivers a long discourse,
in which he announces that his words bring eternal life, and that rejection of Jesus in favor of the
traditional laws is foolish, since Jesus represents the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Returning to Galilee, Jesus is approached by a crowd of people looking for inspiration. To feed
them, he works a miracle, providing food for 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and
two fish. Later that evening, Jesus’s disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee and are surprised to
find Jesus walking across the water toward them. The next day, crowds of people come in search
of Jesus, and he explains the significance of the miracle of the loaves: “I am the bread of life / no
one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father” (6:35). Using the symbol of bread, Jesus
explains that belief in him and in God, his father, will give eternal life. Many of his listeners
disbelieve him, and Jesus teaches that belief in him is a foreordained gift from God: “Do not
judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (6:65). Peter, however, remains with Jesus
and professes his faith.
At the Feast of Booths, the Jewish holiday Sukkoth, Jesus returns to Jerusalem with the pilgrims
and begins preaching in the temple. He urges the people not to hold his previous violation of the
Sabbath against him, saying, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment”
(7:24). Many people wonder whether Jesus is the Christ, or Son of God, and the authorities want
to arrest him but do not dare. The authorities bring him an adulterous woman and, in an attempt
to entrap him, ask him whether or not she is guilty. Jesus responds, “Let anyone among you who
is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (8:7). A long discourse ensues, in which Jesus
responds to questions and accusations from the assembled people. Jesus predicts his own death
and ascension, and explains that his authority comes from his origin in God and his fulfillment of
the word of God. He accuses his listeners of being slaves to sin and, as sinners, of being
illegitimate sons of God. Claiming to precede Abraham and to derive his glory from God, Jesus
finally infuriates the crowd and barely escapes being stoned.
Jesus comes upon a man blind from birth and gives the man sight. The Pharisees are frustrated to
realize that Jesus really has cured the man, who now professes faith in him. For their failure to
believe, Jesus pronounces the Pharisees blind and teaches that he is the good shepherd, and that it
is only through him that the sheep of Israel’s flock shall be saved. Months pass, and at the Feast
of Dedication, the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, Jesus is again confronted by the Jews in the temple,
who ask whether or not he is the Christ. He responds by announcing that he is the Son of God,
united with God. The crowd tries to stone him, but Jesus escapes Jerusalem.
Jesus is called to Bethany, the village where two of his devout followers, Mary and Martha, live
with their brother Lazarus, who has fallen sick. Arriving in Bethany too late, Jesus finds Lazarus
dead. He works a miracle to inspire belief in the observers, resurrecting Lazarus. Hearing of this
spectacle, the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, including the chief priests, decides to kill both
Jesus and Lazarus. Nevertheless, Jesus travels to Jerusalem for Passover. He has foreseen his
own death, as well as the salvation that he will bring through his sacrifice. Many of the Jews,
despite witnessing signs of Jesus’s divinity, continue to disbelieve, and Jesus decries their lack of
faith.
At the Passover meal, or Seder, Jesus preaches extensively to the apostles. Through washing
their feet, he teaches them that they must serve each other, saying, “I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another” (13:34). Jesus stresses his unity with God: “I am in
the Father, and the Father is in me” (14:10). Jesus foresees his own death and his betrayal by
Judas. “I am going to the Father,” he tells the apostles (14:28). Jesus assures the apostles that in
Jesus’s place, God will send an advocate, the Spirit of God, who will continue to dwell with the
faithful, and who will lead them toward truth and salvation. He warns them that even after his
death, they will continue to be persecuted, but that their ultimate salvation is imminent. Hearing
this prophesy, the apostles finally express their firm belief in Jesus, and Jesus responds
triumphantly, “I have conquered the world” (16:33). In a long, private prayer, Jesus addresses
God directly, asking him to consecrate, glorify, and protect the faithful.
The narrative moves quickly toward its conclusion. Jesus is arrested by the soldiers whom Judas
leads to him. He is brought first before the Jewish high priest, and then before Pontius Pilate, the
Roman prefect. Pilate repeatedly interrogates Jesus, who refuses to confirm the allegation against
him—that he has acted treasonably against Caesar by declaring himself King of the Jews. Pilate
is reluctant to condemn Jesus, but the Jews agitate for Jesus’s execution, and eventually Pilate
consents. Jesus is crucified, and the soldiers cast lots to determine who will get his clothing.
Pilate affixes a notice to the cross, reading “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (19:19).
Jesus dies, and to ensure his death, a solider pierces his side with a lance. Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus bury Jesus on a Friday.
On Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene comes to Jesus’s grave and finds it empty. Jesus appears
to her, and she brings the news of his resurrection to the disciples. Later that day, he appears to
the disciples, whom he charges with the propagation of his message: “As the Father has sent me,
so I send you” (20:21). Thomas is absent from the room, and he expresses doubt as to the
resurrection until, a week later, Jesus reappears to him as well.
The Golden Ass (Apuleius)
Summary:
Lucius, the narrator, is journeying to Thessaly. On his way he meets a man named Aristomenes,
who tells him a story of Socrates, a friend of his whom he encountered along the road. Socrates
had fallen in with a witch, who later killed him and frightened Aristomenes. Lucius believes the
man’s story and is intrigued.
In Thessaly he stays with Milo and his wife, Pamphile, a notorious witch. Lucius encounters his
aunt, Byrrhena, who warns him of Pamphile. While in town Lucius is also the centerpiece of the
festival of Laughter when, drunkenly, he stabs three wineskins thinking they are robbers and is
taken to a fake trial.
Lucius begins to sleep with the maid, Photis. He begs her to let him watch Pamphile do magic,
and Photis grudgingly agrees. They watch Pamphile turn into a bird, and after she leaves, Lucius
clamors for the ointment she used. Photis accidentally gives him the wrong material, and he turns
into an ass. He is terrified and angry, and Photis tells him the only way he can turn human again
is by eating roses.
Milo’s house is robbed by a group of bandits, who take Lucius with him. He is beaten up and
dragged to exhaustion. In the bandits’ cave they bring in a young woman whom they’d
kidnapped from a neighboring town for ransom. The old woman who tends them tells the girl the
story of Cupid and Psyche.
In this tale, Psyche is a beautiful mortal woman. She is isolated from her family when a prophecy
says she will marry a winged monster. The wind Zephyr takes her from the top of a mountain
into a valley and a splendid home, where her new husbands comes to her. It is Cupid, although
he is invisible and does not reveal his true identity to her. He falls in love with her even though
his mother Venus is deathly jealous of the girl’s beauty, and Psyche falls in love with him too. He
warns her of her cruel and evil sisters, but she is too curious and easily swayed that she disobeys
his commands and eventually severs the ties between them. He leaves her and she despairs, and
seeks revenge on her sisters. She then tries to find Cupid and eventually decides to go to Venus
to grovel before her. Venus loathes the girl and gives her impossible tasks to perform. Psyche
receives help for all the tasks, including Cupid on the last one, as he decides he still loves her.
Finally Jupiter intervenes and says Venus must be okay with her son’s wife. He makes Psyche a
god, and she and Cupid have a daughter.
The old woman ends the story. Not long after, the kidnapped girl, Charite, is rescued by her new
husband, Tlepolemus, and the townspeople kill most of the bandits. Lucius is honored and
treated well, but he is given to a young boy as a caretaker; the boy is terribly cruel and vile, and
is eventually killed by a huge bear.
News comes to the slaves of the household that Charite and Tlepolemus are dead due to the evil
doings of a man named Thrasyllus, who was in love with Charite and schemed to get Tlepolemus
killed. The slaves run away and take Lucius with them. Lucius is sold to a priest who, with other
priests, is a catamite. The priests are at the center of a scandal and go to a new city. Lucius is
almost cooked and served to dinner guests, but at that time rabid dogs attack the group and
everyone is afraid Lucius is also sick.
Lucius is then sold to a baker, and is worked very hard. While working for him he hears and
observes tales of adultery and betrayal. He is then auctioned to a farmer, who loses him to a
soldier.
He stays with the soldier for a short time and is then sold to two brother slaves, one a baker and
one a cook. Lucius eats their food when they are out of the kitchen, as he still likes human food.
When the brothers catch him they are not mad, and the whole thing tickles their master. Lucius
becomes a celebrity and the master lets people pay to see the ass eat human food. Lucius also
garners the eye of a wealthy woman, who pays to have sex with him. The master then decides he
will have a public display of Lucius having sex with a woman at his three-day carnival.
Lucius bemoans the fact that the woman selected for him is a criminal who killed her husband,
his sister, her daughter, and the local physician and his wife all to satisfy her murderous jealousy
and rage. Right before Lucius is supposed to come out for the show, he runs away; he cannot
stomach the shame that would come from being with that woman.
Lucius falls asleep and when he wakes, offers a prayer to Isis, the great goddess. She comes to
him and tells him how he can return to human form. A procession celebrating Isis comes by, and
Lucius follows the instructions given him; he finds a priest with roses, eats them, and becomes a
man again. The crowd is stunned and praises Isis. Lucius devotes his life to serving Isis,
becoming one of her priests, joining her cult, and eventually entering the cult of Osiris as well.
Character List:
Lucius
The hero of the novel, Lucius is a handsome, cocky, and curious young man whose longing to
observe dark magic accidentally turns him into an ass. He is then plunged into serious of
misadventures, such as being captured by bandits, being beaten nearly to death, becoming a
celebrity for eating human food and having sex with human women, and, at the end, becoming
an initiate of Isis, to whom he pledges his eternal devotion from delivering him from his
condition.
Aristomenes
A man whom Lucius meets on the road to Thessaly, who tells him of his terrible adventure with
Socrates and the witch Meroe.
Socrates
The famed philosopher, here he is a friend of Aristomenes, wasted and destroyed by the witch
Meroe.
Meroe
The witch who casts a spell on Socrates and threatens the life of Aristomenes when he criticizes
her and learns of her doings.
Panthia
The sister of the witch who enchants Socrates.
Milo
The wealthy friend with whom Lucius stays in Thessaly. He is married to Pamphile, but seems
largely unaware of the darkness of her magic.
Byrrhena
Lucius's aunt, who raised him. She is a wealthy woman of Thessaly and invites Lucius over
often. She also warns him about Pamphile the witch.
Pamphile
Milo's wife and a witch, she performs all sorts of unnatural acts of magic, such as turning into a
bird. Lucius is intrigued by her doings.
Photis
The beautiful servant of Milo and Pamphile; Lucius has a sexual relationship with her. She
grudgingly allows Lucius to witness magic, and is accidentally responsible for his turning into an
ass.
The old hag
A woman who works for the bandits but is treated cruelly by them. She tells Charite the story of
Cupid and Psyche.
Lamachus
One of the bandits who loses an arm in the aborted robbery of Chryseros, and then kills himself
because he knows he will be useless.
Chryseros
A moneylender whom the bandits try to rob; his perspicacity wins out when he sounds the alarm
on them, forcing them to cut off the arm of one of their own to get him out alive.
Thraslyeon
One of the bandits who dresses up as the bear to gain entry into a wealthy home. He is killed for
his efforts.
Charite
The young, pretty captive the bandits bring in for ransom. Her husband, Tlepolemus, later
rescues her. Her life is pleasant for a time until a rival for her affection, Thrasyllus, plots to harm
Tlepolemus and seize her for himself. She eventually takes her own life after seeking revenge.
Venus
The beautiful but insecure and vengeful goddess of love, Venus works to thwart her son Cupid's
love for Psyche. She gives Psyche impossibly hard tasks to complete in the hopes that she will be
killed.
Cupid
The winged god and son of Venus, he falls in love with Psyche but becomes frustrated with her
when she disobeys his orders. He is injured in his retreat from her, but as he recovers he realizes
how much he loves her and commits to helping her as she tries to win his mother's favor.
Psyche
A mortal woman famed for her beauty, it is prophesied that she will marry a winged creature.
She is isolated from her family, but then the wind takes her to a beautiful valley with a splendid
house in which she meets her invisible husband -- this is Cupid, but she does not know this. She
falls in love with him, but due to her natural curiosity, has difficulty listening to his warnings
about her evil sisters. She eventually incurs Cupid's wrath and they are separated. She seeks
revenge on her sisters, then tries to make good with Venus, her husband's mother. Her love with
Cupid renewed, Jupiter legitimizes their union and makes her a goddess so their unborn daughter
will be one as well.
Psyche's sisters
Ugly and terrible, the sisters plot to destroy their youngest sister because they are jealous of her
good fortune. They are almost successful in the sense that they part Psyche from Cupid, but
Psyche has her revenge by tricking both to their deaths.
Ceres
The goddess of the earth; she cannot help Psyche because she does not want Venus to be angry
with her.
Juno
The wife of Jupiter, goddess of the hearth and of pregnant women; she cannot help Psyche
because of her relationship with Venus.
Jupiter
The highest of the gods who finally settles the dispute between Venus, Cupid, and Psyche.
Tlepolemus
Charite's husband who rescues her from the bandits by pretending to be one of them; Thrasyllus,
who lusts after Charite, ultimately kills him.
The boy
A monstrous and cruel caretaker of Lucius who beats him and lies about how bad of an ass he is;
a bear eventually tears him apart.
Thrasyllus
The evil young man who is in love with Charite and orchestrates the death of her husband. He
eventually despairs of his behavior and imprisons himself in the tomb of Charite and Tlepolemus
to die of starvation.
Philebus
The priest who becomes Lucius's owner for a time; he and his fellow priests are catamites and
charlatans.
The baker
Lucius's new owner after the priest, whose wife fornicates with other men behind his back. She
gets her comeuppance when he discovers the plot, sleeps with the man, and then beats him up
and gets rid of his wife.
The baker's wife
A libidinous and deceitful woman, she pursues extramarital affairs. Her current conquest is
Philesitherus; her husband eventually finds out about this, takes him for himself, and then pushes
her out of the house.
Philesitherus
A young and handsome lover of married women who first sleeps with the wife of Barbarus and
is then pursued by the baker's wife. He ends up being discovered; the baker sleeps with him and
then beats him up.
Barbarus
A man who endeavors to keep his wife chaste by entrusting her to his slave, Myrmex.
The estate-owner
The estate-owner, with whom Lucius and his current master have dinner, experiences a myriad of
terrible supernatural events. He then hears of the death of his three sons, and kills himself in
front of his dinner guests.
The soldier
The soldier commandeers Lucius from a gardener and uses him for a time, until his duties to his
commander require him to sell the ass.
The master
A kind father and wealthy master of an estate, whose story Lucius hears and relates to his
audience.
The oldest son
The master's eldest son from his first marriage, who is handsome, moral, and intelligent. He does
not want to sleep with his stepmother, who lusts for him, and is put on trial for the suspected
murder of his younger brother; he is acquitted during the trial.
The younger son
The youngest son by the master and the stepmother, who accidentally drinks a poison his mother
intended for the oldest brother after failing to secure his affection. Presumed dead, the younger
son wakes up after the physician reveals that he is only sleeping.
The wife
The second wife of the master of the house, she harbors lustful thoughts toward her stepson, and,
failing to secure his consent, tries to poison him. She accidentally poisons her younger son
instead, but, lacking a sense of right and wrong, does not care. She is eventually discovered and
exiled.
The brother-slaves
One a baker and one a cook, the brother-slaves come to oversee Lucius for their master. Lucius
eats their excess food, leading to his fame as a curious and spectacular donkey.
The female criminal
A woman who is made to be Lucius's sexual partner in a public event. She was notorious for
becoming jealous of her husband's sister, killing her, her husband, her daughter, and the
physician and his wife, who provided her with poisons.
Isis
The supreme goddess, Lucius pledges himself to her after she delivers him from his
imprisonment in the ass's body. Beautiful, just, generous, and powerful, she is worthy of Lucius's
devotion.
Mithras
Lucius's priest who guides him through his initiations into the cult of Isis.
Osiris
The highest god of all, who welcomes Lucius into his cult at the end of the novel.
Thelyphron
A man at Byrrhena's party who tells the story of how as a young man he chose to guard a corpse
and ended up having his nose and ears made of wax. His disfigurement makes him a
laughingstock, and he is widely mocked and disbelieved.
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