Myth Week 1

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Definition of myth

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a traditional story with collective importance

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4 meanings of Greek word "mythos"

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"word", "story", "plot", "authoritative speech act"

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Homer

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What two works is Homer famous for writing?

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The Iliad and the Odyssey

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What Homer story is about a few significant days of the Trojan War and focuses on the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles?

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The Iliad

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Agamemnon

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‘Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion, feats for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end. Begin, Muse, when the two broke and clashed, Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.'

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Homer- The Iliad

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‘What god drove them to fight with such a fury? Apollo the son of Zeus and Leto. Incensed at the king he swept a fatal plague through the army—men were dying and all because Agamemnon spurned Apollo’s priest.’

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Homer- The Iliad

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‘Yes, Chryses approached the Achaeans’ fast ships to win his daughter back, bringing a priceless ransom and bearing high in hand, wound on a golden staff, the wreaths of the god, the distant deadly Archer. He begged the whole Achaean army but most of all the two supreme commanders, Atreus’ two sons, “Agamemnon, Menelaus—all Argives geared for war! May the gods who hold the halls of Olympus give you Priam’s city to plunder, then safe passage home. Just set my daughter free, my dear one … here, accept these gifts, this ransom. Honor the god who strikes from worlds away—the son of Zeus, Apollo!”’

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Homer- The Iliad

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‘And all ranks of Achaeans cried out their assent: “Respect the priest, accept the shining ransom!” But it brought no joy to the heart of Agamemon. The king dismissed the priest with a brutal order (krateros mythos) ringing in his ears: “Never again, old man, let me catch sight of you by the hollow ships! Not loitering now, not slinking back tomorrow. The staff and the wreaths of god will never save you then. The girl—I won’t give up the girl. Long before that, old age will overtake her in my house, in Argos, far from her fatherland, slaving back and forth at the loom, forced to share my bed! Now go, don’t tempt my wrath—and you may depart alive.”’

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Homer- The Iliad

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What is Agamemnon's "mythos"?

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A command or "brutal order"- authoritative speech act

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What is defined as "a statement whose power (efficacy or truth) is guaranteed by the authority of the speaker"?

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Authoritative speech act

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What was Agamemnon's authoritative speech act, or "mythos"?

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All the other Greeks want to accept Chryses’ gifts, to appease Apollo, but Agamemnon has the authority to issue a binding command that all his troops (and Chryses) obey – even contrary to their own best interest!

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‘The old man was terrified. He obeyed the order, turning, trailing away in silence down the shore where the battle lines of breakers crash and drag.'

(Both source and situation)

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Homer- The Iliad

The efficacy of Agamemnon's mythos

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What is the difference between a myth and a mythos?

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A mythos does not need to be traditional (myths are about the collective)

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What are “[S]tories in which supernatural beings are the main actors.” called?

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Divine Myths

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What are “[S]tories of the great deeds of human heroes or heroines that narrate the events of the human past." called?

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Legends

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What are “[S]tories whose actors are ordinary people or animals and that entertain the audience and teach or justify customary patterns of behavior.” called?

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Folktales

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Where does myth come from?

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A community imbued with a specific culture

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Delphi- Temple of Apollo

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Bassae- Temple of Apollo

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Beach of Sougia (Crete)

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Daedalus/Icarus (Cretan Myth)

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Thebes (Oedipus)

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Athens (Acropolis)

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Thessaloniki (Greece)

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What is the Greek city-state called?

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"Polis"

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“Within the polis, the Greek citizen was in relentless competition with his neighbor. Greek cultural values depended on the spirit of male competition…, and these values permeate the myths they told.”

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Powell- Classical Myth

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Wily Odysseus

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“When all had enjoyed the games (aethla) to their hearts’ content,/ Alcinous’ son Laodamas spurred them: ‘Come, my friends,/ let’s ask our guest if he knows the ropes of any sport./ He’s no mean man, not with a build like that…/ Look at his thighs, his legs, and what a pair of arms—/ his massive neck, his big, rippling strength!/ Nor is he past his prime,/ just beaten down by one too many blows./ Nothing worse than the sea, I always say,/ to crush a man, the strongest man alive.’”

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Homer- The Odyssey

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“And Broadsea put in quickly,/ ‘Well said, Laodamas, right to the point./ Go up to the fellow, challenge him yourself.’

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Homer- The Odyssey

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On that cue, the noble prince strode up/ before Odysseus, front and center, asking,/ ‘Come, stranger, sir, won’t you try your hand/ at our contests (aethla) now? If you have skill in any./ It’s fit and proper for you to know your sports./ What greater glory (kleos) attends a man, while he’s alive,/ than what he wins with his racing feet and striving hands?/ Come and compete then, throw your cares to the wind!/ It won’t be long, your journey’s not far off—/ your ship’s already hauled down to the sea,/ your crew is set to sail.’”

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Homer- Odyssey

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“’Laodamas,’/ quick to the mark Odysseus countered sharply,/ ‘why do you taunt me so with such a challenge?/ Pains weigh on my spirit now, not your sports (aethla)—/ I’ve suffered much already, struggled hard./ But here I sit amid your assembly still,/ starved for passage home, begging your king,/ begging all your people.’

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Homer- The Odyssey

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“’Oh I knew it!’/ Broadsea broke in, mocking him to his face./ ‘I never took you for someone skilled in games (aethla),/ the kind that real men play throughout the world./ Not a chance. You’re some skipper of profiteers,/ roving the high seas in his scudding craft,/ reckoning up his freight with a keen eye out/ for home-cargo, grabbing the gold he can!/ You’re no athlete (athlêtêr). I see that.’”

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Homer- Odyssey

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“With a dark glance/ wily Odysseus shot back, “Indecent talk, my friend./ You, you’re a reckless fool—I see that. … /Your slander fans the anger in my heart!/ I’m no stranger to sports—for all your taunts—/ … / I’ll compete in your games, just watch. Your insults/ cut to the quick– you rouse my fighting blood!’/

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Homer- Odyssey

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Up he sprang, cloak and all, and seized a discus,/ huge and heavy, more weighty by far than those/ the Phaeacians used to hurl and test each other./ Wheeling round, he let loose with his great hand/ and the stone whirred on—and down to the ground they went,/ those lords of the long oars and master mariners cringing/ under the rock’s onrush…

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Homer- Odyssey

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“… ‘Even a blind man,/ friend, could find your mark by groping round—/ it’s not mixed up in the crowd, it’s far in front!/ There’s nothing to fear in this event—/ no one can touch you, much less beat your distance!’”

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Homer- Odyssey

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Ancient Discus (Corinth)

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“…men in their twenties gathered at the exercise ground to admire the prepubescent boys and to court them through gifts and poetry, a practice called pederasty… Teenage boys also attended the symposium [‘drinking party’] as cupbearers, where such courtship could continue. If the boy accepted a suitor’s attentions…, he would submit to kissing and fondling and, eventually, to copulation from the front between the boy’s thighs, or even anal penetration.”

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Powell- Classical Myth

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Greek Pederasty

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“… Ganymede radiant as a god,/ … was the handsomest mortal man on earth—/ and so the immortals, awestruck by his beauty,/ snatched him away to bear the cup of Zeus/ and pour out wine for all the deathless gods.”

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Ganymede: Homer's Iliad

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Ganymede, Zeus' Cupbearer

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Ganymede, with Gifts

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Three categories for how culture appears in myth

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Geography, history and society

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Herakles (Detail from Attic Amphora)

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Farnese Hercules (Roman)

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Hercules (Dwayne Johnson)

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What three sources are Archaic?

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Homer (Iliad, Odyssey), Hesiod (Theogony, Works and Days, Shield of Herakles), Homeric Hymns

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Hesiod

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“Or like Alkmene, the daughtor of Electryon, shield of his people. Leaving her country behind, with Amphitryon, valiant in battle, she journeyed to Thebes. The fairest was she of all generations of women who suckle children, in beauty of face and of figure. Of all the mortal women who have slept in the beds of immortals and borne them a race of children, there was none to rival Alkmene in wisdom and prudence of mind. From her brows and lustrous eyes an aura of charm breathed out as from Aphrodite the golden. Yet all her devotion was given to her wedded husband alone, such an affection as never another woman has offered.”

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“Now Amphitryon had quarreled, alas, with his excellent father-in-law, over a herd of cattle, and had slain him in violent anger. He therefore left his country and came as a suppliant exile to Thebes, where he made a home with the Kadmeans, bearers of shields. Be he and his modest wife forswore the sweetness of passion. He might not enter the bed of Electryon’s slim-ankled daughter till he avenged the death of his great-hearted brothers-in-law by burning the towns of the heroes, the Taphians and Teleboans.”

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“This he had promised to do and called the gods as his witness. Breading their wrath, he labored at the task commanded by Zeus. His allies obeyed his call to warfare and terrible conflict—horse-spurring men of Boeotia, shield-bearers, panting with rage. Locrians, hand-to-hand fighters, and valorous Phocians followed—all these obeyed the orders of the mighty son of Alkaios.”

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“But the father of men and gods devised quite another contrivance: to beget a son to defend both gods and bread-eating mortals from all the evil that threatens the common safety and comfort. From Olympus he came one night, deep in profound meditation, burning as well with lustful desire for the beautiful woman. Zeus, the most skillful of planners, descended at Typhaonium. On the Hill of the Sphinx he rested plotting wonderful things. Disguised as her husband, that night he enjoyed the bed of Alkmene.”

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“But on that self-same night came Amphitryon, guard of the people. His task accomplished, he hurried in such an amorous frenzy to enter the bed of Alkmene that he greeted no mortal whatsoever, not even the rustic herdsman and peasants who worked on the land. As a wanderer thanks his star for escape from terrible danger, from fever and deadly disease or the anguish of lying in prison, Amphitryon, now delivered from all the pangs he had suffered, returned again to his home, overflowing with love and delight. The rest of the night he lay in the arms of his reticent partner, delighting himself with the gifts of Aphrodite the golden.

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“Alkmene, having submitted to a god and the best of mankind, in Thenes of the seven gates gave birth to a pair of twin brothers—brothers, but by no means alike in thought or in vigor of spirit. The one was by far the weaker, the other a much better man, terrible (deinos), mighty in battle, Herakles, hero unconquered. Him she bore in submission to Kronos’ cloud-ruling son, the other, by name Iphikles, to Amphitryon, powerful lancer. Of different sires she conceived them: the one of a human father, the other of Zeus, son of Kronos, the ruler of all the gods.”

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Hesiod- Shield of Herakles

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“Herakles, son of Zeus, I will hymn, by far the best of mortals, whom Alkmene bore, having mixed with the son of Kronos, lord of the dark clouds. He traversed long ago vast distances of land and sea at the order of lord Eurystheus. He accomplished many deeds; he endured many things. Now he dwells in joy in the beautiful palace of snowy Olympus and has beautiful-ankled Hebe as his wife. Hail, lord, son of Zeus! Grant me excellence and wealth.”

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Homeric Hymn to Herakles, the Lion-hearted

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Aoidos Singing to a Lyre

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What are the 5 classical sources?

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Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (all tragic playwrights), Pindar (lyric poet), Plato (philosopher)

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“Willingly do I take hold of Herakles upon the high peaks of Virtue as I retell an ancient tale. When the son of Zeus had escaped from the birth pangs with his twin and had come into the bright light, he was wrapped in the yellow swaddling bands, and Hera of the golden throne saw him. Straightaway in hasty anger, the queen of the gods sent snakes, which passed through the open doors in the farthest part of the wide room, eager to coil their quick jaws around the children. But Herakles lifted up his head and for the first time made trial of battle; with his two hands, from which there was no escape, he seized by their necks the two serpents, and his grip squeezed the life out of the huge monsters, strangling them.”

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Pindar- Nemean Ode

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“Various men have various skills. It is right for a man to follow straight paths, and strive according to his nature. For strength manifests itself in action, and intelligence in counsels, for those who have the inborn skill of foreseeing the future. Son of Hagesidamus, your way of life grants you the enjoyment of many things. I take no pleasure in keeping great wealth hidden away in my hall, but in using what I have to be successful and to win a good name by helping my friends. For the hopes of men who toil much come to all alike.”

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Pindar- Nemean Ode

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Nemea (Stadium)

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Ancient Charioteer (Vase Painting)

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What are the three Hellenistic/Roman Sources?

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Apollonius of Rhodes, Vergil (Aeneid), Ovid (Metamorphoses)

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“And now … the flames were attacking the limbs that did not fear them and him who despised them. The gods were anxious for earth’s champion [sc. Hercules] and them did Jupiter…in happiness thus address: ‘Your fear is my joy, O gods … let not your hearts tremble with empty fear, despite Oeta’s flames! He who conquered all will conquer the flames which you see, and only his mother’s part will feel the power of Vulcan [sc. fire]. That part which he inherited from me is immortal, immune to death, impervious to fire, and it will I receive in the heavens when its time on earth is done …” The gods approved. Meanwhile Vulcan had consumed all that fire could consume, and the recognizable form of Hercules was no longer to be seen. He kept no part of himself that came from his mother, and he kept only the features drawn from Jupiter …. So, when the hero of Tiryns had put off his mortal body, his better part kept its vigor. He began to seem greater in size and awe-inspiring with august dignity. The almighty Father received him as he ascended into the surrounding clouds in a four-horse chariot, and placed him among the shining constellations.”

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Ovid- Metamorphoses

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The Apotheosis of Hercules by Rubens

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Which two of the most important sources are not even Greek?

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Vergil and Ovid

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What is the early Greek tale of the origins of the Gods themselves called?

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Theogony- Hesiod