GRST 209 Notes - 2024

Most Roman myths are not considered sacred narratives, yet they still hold mythological significance and contribute to the cultural understanding of the society.

The Late Bronze Age in Greece, also known as the Mycenaean Age, characterized by important settlements like Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes.

Panhellenic sanctuaries like Delphi and Olympia served all Greeks, providing opportunities for worship and athletic competitions.

Cult titles are descriptors of a god or goddess tied to their worship, often carrying religious connotations and reflecting local variations.

Myths tend to preserve perceived fundamental traits and change them very little over time, while adapting relevant elements.

The unions between gods and mortals often symbolize the blending of divine and human qualities, leading to the birth of heroes and demigods.

Local variations in traits and worship of gods indicate that while there was a unified personality attributed to deities, regional differences persisted.

The chronological period begins with the Bronze Age (c. 3000 BCE) and ends with the Roman conquest of Greece (146 BCE).

Hesiod's works began as oral history, recited for generations, which reflects the cultural practices of storytelling and the transmission of myths.

A scholarly tradition investigating different stories from linguistically related cultural groups to understand common themes and story structures.

Hesiod's Works and Days provides insights into the social and economic conditions of the time, including disputes over inheritance.

Orphic creation stories include gods not found in Hesiod, such as Phanes and Chronus, and describe unique accounts of the universe's creation.

A Folk-tale is a term invented in the 1800s to describe traditional, oral tales of ordinary people.

Myths provide explanations for the order of society, setting ethical, social, and religious patterns that guide behavior and societal norms.

Skilled sailors who developed a powerful trading empire and spread religious and cultural ideas throughout the Mediterranean.

Linear B is an early form of Greek script used for administrative records, production, distribution, and names of some gods.

An ancient historian who provides insights into how Greeks viewed their myths and narratives.

Mythology is the study of myths, a unitary/unified body of tales that includes spoken utterance and discourse.

Classical mythology refers to the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, encompassing the cultural narratives of those civilizations.

Myths shape how individuals understand themselves, their place in society, and the reasons behind accepted or condemned behaviors.

A significant religious phenomenon in the Mediterranean, whose worship forms were adopted in Greece and the Roman Empire.

Genealogies serve to describe the creation and lineage of the gods, illustrating their relationships and origins.

Homer and Hesiod contributed significantly to Greek religious understanding, promoting a gradual homogenization of beliefs and worship.

Isolation refers to a part of a total functioning componential system within a total culture.

Roman myths were significantly transformed by contact with Greece, leading to the incorporation of Greek origins into most Roman myths.

Chaos represents the primordial void or abyss from which all things originated, often depicted as the first entity in the creation of the universe.

Panhellenism refers to the cultural unification of the Greeks, emphasizing shared identity and religious practices across different city-states.

A time when Greeks began to critically examine their myths, expressing skepticism about the gods.

The Iliad and Odyssey are two epics originally composed orally, developed over many generations before being written down.

A cultural entity in central-western Anatolia that engaged in exchanges with Greeks and fought alongside Trojans against them.

The term 'wanax' refers to a king in Mycenaean society, often associated with fortified settlements.

Oral performances of works by Homer and Hesiod helped develop a shared understanding of gods and goddesses among the Greeks.

Zeus demonstrated his power through victories over enemies like Typhoeus and by transforming the universe from chaos into order.

Greek mythology is an 'intertext' because it is constituted by all representations of myths experienced by its audience, gaining meaning from its relation to previous presentations.

Romulus and Remus are foundational figures in Roman mythology, representing the legendary origins of Rome, and their story predates contact with the Greeks.

A Sumerian myth that was written down during the Babylonian Empire, featuring themes similar to Greek myths.

Hesiod presents a complex relationship characterized by both scornful distrust and harmonious interactions, reflecting the duality of divine influence.

Hesiod's Theogony is a collection of oral poems that outlines the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, shaping Panhellenic ideas of divinity.

A Saga refers to myths that are supposed to have a basis in history, originating from old Icelandic family or clan tales.

The theory section surveys the various ways scholars have explained the function of myths, providing insights into their significance in society.

Gaia is the personification of Earth and one of the primordial deities, born from Chaos, and is considered the mother of all life.

'Gift-eating' refers to a practice where kings lost central authority, leading to a more decentralized form of governance.

Panhellenic sanctuaries and festivals helped maintain a sense of identity among Greeks, reinforcing shared cultural and religious practices.

A Fairy Story is a variant of folk-tale where the supernatural is a dominant feature, previously used derogatorily but now more neutrally.

Bascom limits myths to primarily prose narratives or tales.

Eros represents passion and desire, and his early presence in the Theogony may symbolize the motive for creative acts.

The main types of divinity stories include spheres of influence, activities, associates on Olympus and Earth, and important sanctuaries or rituals.

The Hittite Empire, which ruled Anatolia, produced creation myths that share similarities with Hesiod's Theogony.

Sacred refers to a force that influences ordinary life, deserving faith and worship, often represented in myths.

Hesiod's hymn to the Muses emphasizes their role in inspiring poetry and the importance of prayer and praise to the gods.

Poems in hexameter verse dedicated to a god or goddess, often performed before epic narratives.

A Hittite myth that narrates the rise and fall of the god Kumarbi, reflecting themes of power and divinity.

Refers to the movements and migrations of peoples who contributed to the development of Greek civilization and language.

The Iron Age (1150-700 BCE) is marked by few records, a decline in centralized authority, and the emergence of small independent farmers.

A work that describes the genealogical relationships among gods and goddesses, detailing their appearances and traits.

A Legend is any myth with only a kernel of truth or historicity, often found in medieval compilations of Christian saints' lives.

Hesiod's Theogony is a poem that outlines the origins of the gods and the cosmos, recorded during the Archaic Period and considered more fiction than fact by many scholars.

Tartarus is a deep abyss used as a dungeon of torment for the wicked and as a prison for the Titans, located beneath the Earth.

A metrical line consisting of twelve beats per line, commonly used in ancient Greek poetry.

The philosophical approach where myths are questioned using reason, contrasting logos with mythos.

Doty's definition emphasizes the importance of the context of the mythological corpus for understanding myths.

Etic approach uses modern categories of analysis based on the investigator's cultural assumptions, while Emic approach analyzes cultural phenomena from an internal perspective of the culture being studied.

Oral tradition is the process by which myths are passed down anonymously for generations before being recorded, representing traditional beliefs shared by a group or society.

Myths differ from legends and folktales by having high emotional content, being considered true accounts of what happened in the remote past, and often involving sacred theology and ritual.

1. Myths include metaphors and symbols that engage viewers' emotions. 2. The content of myths reflects religious, political, and cultural values. 3. Myths function to locate one's experience in a broader framework.

Myths are set outside historical time in primal or eschatological time, or in the supernatural world.

A myth is typically a traditional sacred story of anonymous authorship that has archetypal or universal significance, recounted in a certain community and often linked with ritual; it tells of the deeds of superhuman beings such as gods, demigods, heroes, spirits, or ghosts.

The three forms of prose narratives are myth, legend, and folktale, each differing in belief, time, place, attitude, and characters.