Patriarchal
Adj.
Pertaining to a society organized around the idea that
men hold all the power—they are in complete control
OPPOSITE: matriarchal
Noun: patriarchy
Ancient Greece was a patriarchal society in which the
men had all the power.
polytheism
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Noun
Religious belief in more than one god
Adj: polytheistic
Greek mythology is based on polytheismthe belief in many gods
Monotheism
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Noun
Religious belief in one God
Adj: monotheistic
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all
monotheistic.
Anthropomorphism
• (anthros=human; morph=form): the giving
of non-human beings human traits or
characteristics
• Adj: anthropomorphic
• The Greek gods and goddesses are
anthropomorphic and had traits such as
anger, jealousy, etc.
Hubris
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Noun
Excessive pride
Adj: hubristic
The Greeks felt that hubris was a great sin
and would always bring punishment from
the gods.
Xenia
• Noun
• Greek word for the guest-host relationship;
hospitality xenos: Greek word meaning
guest, host, friend, stranger, foreigner
• Xenophobia: fear of foreigners
• In ancient Greek culture, one of the most
important relationships was that of the
host to his guest, called xenia.
in medeas res
• In middle of the action
• The Odyssey and The Illiad both begin “in
medeas res” or in the middle of the story
rather that 1st to last chronological order.
What?
• Greek myths are ancient (very old) stories
that were first told by the Greek people
and later my the Romans-they are stories
about the Greek gods, heroes, and
people.
When?
• The Greek people developed a written
alphabet in around the 8century BC –
before that these myths were developed
and told orally by people and traveling
poets or bards – dating back over 3000
years.
How?
• First for a very long time – hundred of
years – these stories were told orally –
parents to children, bards to groups of
people for entertainment. Later (from the
8c BC) they were written down.
Why?
• The Greeks told these myths for 3 main
reasons
• For entertainment
• To explain things in nature or the world
which they could not understand
• To teach moral lesson to the people of
their society
Where?
• Ancient Greece is more or less in the
same area as Greech is today.
The Creation
• Taken from Hesiod’s Theogony c. 800BC –
same time as Homer’s The Illiad.
4 Primordial Entities
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Chaos – gap, a “yawning”
Gaia – earth
Tartaros – Underworld
Eros – Sexual love, desire
Chaos birthed
• Night and Erebos (the gloomy darkness of
Tartaros)
• Night and Erebos made (Ether and ) Day
Gaia birthed
• Ourano (sky) and Pontos (sea) and
Mountains
• The earth takes shape
Gaia and Ouranos mate and have
12 children
• First a series of monsters, then the 12
Titans, including: The Sun, Moon, River
oceanos. Ouranos doesn’t allow the
children to be born he pushes them back
into Gaia – she is angry and plots with her
youngest son Cronos to get revenge. She
creates a sickle, Cronos cuts off Ourano’s
genitals. Gaia throws his genitals into
Pontos (The Sea)
Aphrodite is born (Venus)
• Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual desire, is
born from the foam that springs up around
them. Ouranos then retreats and
becomes the dome of the sky.
Same pattern repeats itself in next
generation of gods
• Cronos marries sister Rheia and they have
6 children:
• Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon,
and Zeus.
• Cronos allows his children to be born, but
once they are born, he swallows each one.
• Rheia seeks her revenge – she tricks him
by substituting a stone wrapped in a
blanket for the youngest child - Zeus
CONT.
• Cronos doesn’t notice and Zeus is sent
secretly to the island of Crete til he grows
and comes back to avenge his father.
Zeus overthrows his father Cronos
• Zeus returns and overcomes Ouranos,
makes him spit up the other children (gods
cannot die) – these and several of their
children become the gods/goddesses of
Mt. Olympus – The Olympians
10 year war between the
Olympians and the Titans
• The Titans (led by Cronos) and the
Olympians (led by Zeus) battle and the
Olympians are finally victorious – they will
now be the gods forever (as the Greeks
thought)
The Olympian Gods
• Zeus – shares his power with his brothers
• Poseidon – god of the seas (Neptune)
• Hades – god of the Underworld
(Tartaros/Pluto)
• Zeus – god of the earth and sky (Jupiter)
Zeus’s SISTERS
• Hera – goddess of marriage (Juno)
• Hestia – goddess of the Hearth/home
(Vesta)
• Demeter – goddess of grain and
agriculture (Ceres)
Zeus oversees justice and Xenia
• Xenia – extremely important concept to
the Greeks – host/guest relationship. To
the Greeks, this was central to life – you
must be a generous and gracious host to
your guests.
“Baucis and Philemon”
• One myth which provides a good example
of this is “The Mysterious Visitors”
hubris
• Excessive pride – The Greeks felt this was
a terrible sin, always punished by the gods
Apollo’s maxims
• Carved on his temple at Delphi and central
precepts to the Greek culture
“Gnothi sauton”
• Know yourself – know your limits – you’re
only a human
“meden agan”
• Nothing in excess – don’t challenge the
gods by appearing to have “too much”
Niobe, a queen of Thebes
• Good example of hubris – she was a
queen of Thebes and had 14 children and
boasted that she was superior to Leto –
mother of Apollo and Artemis (father is
Zeus) – she said they should build her a
temple and worship her instead – Apollo
shot and killed 7 sons, Artemis shot her 7
daughters – she failed to remember these
2 all-important maxims
“Minerva (Athena) and Arcahne”
• Another example of hubris can be seen in
the myth called “The Weaving Contest”
Gods/goddesses cont.
• Demeter – goddess of grain and
agriculture
• Persephone – Demeter’s daughter
• Hades- god of Tartaros, the underworld
• “The Kidnapping” Here’s a story that
shows what happened with these 3 gods.
Athena (Minerva)
• Goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, battle –
protectress of civilized life, goddess of the
city (Athens gets its name from her)
• Mother was Metis, a minor goddess –
fated to bear a son who will (again!)
overthrow his father – so Zeus (in a new
twist on an old theme!) swallows Metis –
the child already concieved is born out of
Zeus’s head – this is Athena
Athena Cont.
• She’s one of these virgin goddesses (also
Artemis and Hestia
Apollo
• Along with his twin sister Artemis, Apollo is
the son of Zeus and the goddess Leto.
• Apollo is the god of youth, medicine,
music, prophecy, and
rationality/moderation but also of sudden
death for me and plagues
Artemis (Diana)
• Associated with wilderness and wild –
huntress, patron of wild animals, protector
of young and all species.
• She’s a virgin goddess.
Hermes (Mercury)
• Mother is Maia (minor goddess) father is
Zeus.
• Called the “messenger god” – also god of
merchants, thieves, beggars, travelers,
and tricksters. Also- he escorts the dead
to Tartaros (Hades)