10/9/13 Lecture notes

Prometheus and Pandora

Hesiod's Works and Days
Didactic epic
A poetic sermon about
how to lead an honest life
why the world is so difficult
Uses mythology to explain why things are bad (aetiology)
The lesson: Zeus has hidden food in the earth; men have to work to survive
Addressed to Hesiod's brother Perses
they have a dispute about their inheritance
The Ages of Man
The world has cycled through four ages:
Golden Age: age of plenty, no need for agriculture or work
Silver Age: children never grew up
Bronze Age: violent, bellicose, self-destructive age
Age of Heroes: the time of the Trojan War and Theban conflict
Iron Age: the present; good and evil mixed; getting more anarchic
Prometheus in the Theogony
Theogony 509-610
Brothers are Atlas, Menoitios, and Epimetheus
Prometheus matches wits with Zeus by offering Zeus fat instead of meat and by stealing fire
from Zeus
Zeus punishes humans by taking fire away for Prometheus' error
Zeus chains Prometheus to the Caucasus Mountains and punishes man with Pandora
An eagle eats his liver nightly (it grows back the next day)
Zeus finally lets Heracles slay the eagle and free Prometheus
Prometheus' motivation
Hesiod's sly rascal (Theogony 617)
Aeschylus' noble victim of Prometheus Bound
Prometheus helped Zeus defeat the Titans
Byron's hero against oppression
describes Zeus as a tyrant
Prometheus sacrificed himself for the humans
Prometheus as Culture-Hero
Fire lays the foundation for culture
cooking
sacrifice
metallurgy
keeps us warm (protects against elements)
communication (beacons in Aescylus' Agamemnon)
Fire is the symbol of civilization in Homer's Odyssey

Prometheus' statue symbolizes hope for a better future, technology

Sacrifice
The sacrifice at Mecone explains sacrificial ritual. It is therefore an aetiology
The Procedure
1. lead an animal (piglet, sheep, cow) to an altar; -hecatomb: a group of 100 cattle
2. the killing
3. thigh bones wrapped in fat and burned
4. feast
Sacrifice gone wrong:
boundary between gods and mortals and mortals and animals blurs
mortals behaving wrongly in the name of religion
breakdown of law and order
Pandora in Hesiod
In the Theogony
Hephaestus makes clay to look like a shy virgin
Pandora = all + gift
but not named in Theogony
Women are considered a different specie.
Men have no choice in marriage. They are compelled to have kids in order to pass down
inheritance
In the Works and Days
Pandora is named
We hear the story of Epimetheus (Hindsight)
And we hear about the jar of evils (pithos)
Storage jar is called a pithos
associated with the womb and women
only to be opened by husband
adultery brings evil to the family
Interpreting Prometheus and Pandora
Jean-Pierre Vernant The Myth of Prometheus in Hesiod (1966)
Pandora is appropriate punishment for the deceptive sacrifice and the theft of fire
Pandora has the qualities of an ox, the fire, and of the grain which Zeus had hidden
Pandora and the Ox
Both Pandora and the ox are attractive looking gifts
An appealing outside conceals an unpleasant inside
thieving nature underneath charm, mind of a dog underneath jewelry (hungry for
food and sex), deceitful voice underneath gorgeous body
inedible bones underneath fat
Pandora is a metaphorical stomach
constantly consuming food, a symbol of man's need to eat
Pandora and the Fire
Both Pandora and the fire are traps
Pandora's finery conceals her true nature

 The fire is concealed in the fennel stalk

Pandora burns her husband with sexual desire
Pandora and the grain
Having children is metaphorical plowing- man must plant seeds to continue his line
Man must plant crops to survive
So this analysis explains the underlying logic for the imagery in these stories
10/11/13 Lecture Notes
The Trojan War
The Epic Cycle
Written down in the 7th- 6th century BCE
Covers events from the beginning of the world up to and past the Iliad up to the end of the
Odyssesy
Summaries preserved by Proclus (5th century CE)
Prelim
Cypria
Fighting at Troy
Cypria, Iliad, Aethiopis, Little Ilia, Iliou Persis, Aeneid (flashback)
Returns
Trojan Women, Hercuba, Helen, Oresteia, Odyssey
Preliminaries
In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus foretells that Thetis will bear a son mightier than his father
Zeus marries Thetis off to the mortal Peleus
Peleus and Thetis beget Achilles
Gods are invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis except for Eris
Judgment of Paris (gives the golden apple to Aphrodite instead of Hera or Athena)
Priam and Hecuba Hector and Paris
Hecuba dreams of a burning torch so she gives the baby to the servant to kill him. However,
the servant has pity on the baby Paris.
Abduction of Helen
Muster of Aulis
Conscripting Odysseus
Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Odysseus and Penelope Telemachus
Odysseus acts like he's insane to not go to war, but the Greek leaders find the truth by
putting Odysseus' baby in danger.
Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Agamemnon lures Iphigeneia to Aulis by promising a marriage with Achilles
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra Iphigeneia
Iphigeneia offers to die for the Greek cause.

The War at Troy

War lasts ten years

Greeks have to pillage neighboring towns to secure resources
Thisbe (hometown of Hector's wife Andromache)
Chryse (hometown of Chrises, given to Agamemnon)
hometown of Briseis, given to Achilles
Agamemnon loses Chryseis
Agamemnon tries to steal Briseis
Achilles stop fighting for the Greeks, and the Greeks suffer damage
The main Greek warriors get wounded
Achilles' best friend Patroclus begs to fight
Hector kills Patroclus who is dressed in Achilles' armor
Achilles fights the Trojans and the river Scamander
Achilles faces Hector and kills him
Achilles buries Patroclus
Priam begs Achilles for Hector's body, and buries him

After the Iliad: The Sack of Troy

Paris kills Achilles with his bow
Ajax recovers Achilles' body; Odysseus wards off the Trojans
Contest over Achilles' armor (Odysseus wins)
Ajax kills himself
Athena directs his anger towards livestock. His shame causes him to kill himself
The Greeks capture the Trojan prophet Helenus
the Greeks must get the Bow of Heracles from Philoctetes
the Greeks must bring Achilles' son Neoptolemus
The Sack of Troy
Building the Trojan Horse
Cassandra and Laocoon sense a trap
Laocoon and his sons get punished by Athena after Laocoon throws a spear at the Trojan
Horse
Sinon begs his way inside Troy
Sinon lies that he had been abandoned by the Greeks
Sinon opens the wooden horse
Neoptolemus kills Priam at the altar of his household gods
The lesser Ajax rapes the priestess Cassandra
Hector's infant son Astyanax is thrown from the walls.
The Returns
Storms blow Menelaus to Egypt before he makes it home
Odysseus loses all of his companions and must fight in Ithaca to regain his kingdom
Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
The Lesser Ajax is obliterated by Athena's lightning in a storm

10/14/13 Lecture Notes

Helen
Timeline of Sources on Helen
Homer Iliad (8th century BCE)
Gorgias Encomium of Helen (420s BCE)
Herodotus Histories (425 BCE)
Euripides The Trojan Women (415 BCE)
Euripides Helen (412 BCE) tells that real Helen was actually in Egypt
George Seferis Helen (1955)
Geneology
Zeus and Leda Helen and Pollux
Tyndareus and Leda Clytemnestra and Castor
Leda lays two eggs. One with Helen and Pollux. Other with Clytemnestra and Castor
Helen is half divine
Helen marries Menelaus while Clytemnestra marries Agamemnon.
Menelaus and Agamemnon are brothers.
Helen in the Iliad
Book 3: Helen identifies the Greek fighters to Priam
Blames herself for bringing the war upon the Trojans (Helen to Priam, king of Troy) [3. 209214]
Helen defies Aphrodite when the goddess summons her to Paris' bedroom (Helen to Aphrodite)
[3.470, 475-478]
Helen gives in when Aphrodite threatens her.
Paris in the Iliad
Cock of the walk
Paris cannot defeat Menelaus in a fair fight.
Priam leaves as Paris steps up to fight Menelaus.
Paris' physical appearance and weak self shows parallelism to Pandora (beautiful appearance
but bad mind)
But has the protection of Aphrodite
Helen in Herodotus
Herodotus Histories
Preface gives scope and methodology
Herodotus uses his own research and his resources
Helen is the last in a series of de-mythologized abductions
The blame is put on Paris
Suggests that the Trojan War was an overreaction
Egyptian story (2.113-2.120) questions whether Helen was in Troy at all
Paris is blown off course to Egypt on his way from Sparta back to Troy
xenia: guest-friendship, hospitality - Zeus Xenios

This was important in the ancient times.

Menelaus treats Paris well, but Paris does him wrong by seducing Helen.
Helen remains in Egypt and doesn't go to Troy
Proteus doesn't let Paris leave with Helen and Menelaus' cattles
Herodotus' rationalizing of the length of the war (2.120)
If Helen was in Troy, the Trojans wouldn't have left Helen alone as death counts got higher
and higher

Defending the Indefensible: Gorgias' Encomium of Helen (420s BCE)

Sophist (intellectual entrepreneur)
A good speech can make the weaker argument the stronger
truth and justice evaporates with this kind of speech
parallel to Pandora: beautiful outside and ugly core
Encomium: a speech of praise
Justifies that Helen is not to blame
Encomium of Helen 6: Gods forced Helen to follow Paris. Weak cannot resist the strong
Speech is strong, can cause a human to make a different decision
Helen in Euripides
The Trojan Women (415 BCE)
Helen (412 BCE)
Helen in the Trojan Women
Trial between Helen and Hecuba with Menelaus as the judge
Helen assertively blames Hecuba for raising Paris and Aphrodite for corrupting her own good
sense
Helen argues for herself with her own voice while she is silent and Gorgias makes the case for
Helen in Encomium (acts as the lawyer)
Hecuba denies the judgment of Paris, calls Aphrodite Helen's own lust, and argues that if
Helen were truly guilty she would have killed herself.
Hecuba sees Aphrodite as the name for one's own lust.
Menelaus decides that Helen should die, but they end up living happily ever after.
Helen in Euripides' Helen
Menelaus rescues the real Helen from captivity in Egypt
A phantom Helen (Grk. Eidolon) had gone to Troy
Proteus kept Helen in his palace.
What was fought for, if the Helen of Troy was only a phantom?
Homer's Iliad
1. What are Achilles and Agamemnon arguing about in Book 1?
2. Who is in the right?
3. Does the Iliad seem different from the other archaic Greek poetry we've read so far?
Homer refers the Greeks as Archaeans, Argives, and Danaans

10/16/13 Lecture Notes

Achilles and Agamemnon
Dactylic hexameter: line is made of six dactyls.
Dactyl: a long syllable followed by two short syllables.
Features of Oral Poetry improvisation upon a them
Systems of epithets help the oral poet compose the song
Homer repeats lines, block of lines, and stories
The Proem : prayer in which the poet asks the god to sing through him
Characters of Books 1 and 2
Achilles: the best fighter
Agamemnon: the commander-in-chief
Odyssesus: clever speaker, problem solver
Thersites: rabble-rouser
The Quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles
the Greek army has sacked a town called Thebe and won Chryseis, the daughter of a priest
named Chryses
Achilles calls the meeting to resolve the plague-crisis.
Agamemnon is forced to surrender Chryseis (Iliad 1.143-148)
Agamemnon takes Briseis away from Achilles, and Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to ask Zeus
to bring defeat to the Greeks.
What makes Sullenberger a hero?
Expert pilot
controls emotion; keeps focus
saves passengers
shows confidence and competence
Greek Heroism
Achilles is the preeminent Greek hero
only he can bear to look at his armor (Il. 19.21-29)
arete: excellence
Greek heroes often compete against one another
time: honor; social worth
Achilles has his honor taken away when Agamemnon takes Briseis away from Achilles which
degrades his reputation as a hero
kleos: fame, reputation (a hero can achieve a part immortality through fame and remembrance)
klean andron the feats of heroes
Iliad Book 2

Agamemnon's dream
Agamemnon's failed test of morale makes him look like a bad leader
Odysseus steps up in Book 2 to discipline the restless army
The army literally leaves when Agamemnon tells the army to leave.
Odysseus is most like Sullenberger

Thersites
Thersites speaks out against Agamemnon (Il. 2.262-281)
Thersites is portrayed as ugly and disabled.
Therefore, people laugh at him when he is struck by Odysseus with a sceptor
Battle Narrative
1. Why is there so much battle narrative in the Iliad?
2. What do the similes contribute to the narrative?
3. Who is most responsible for the death of Patroclus?
4. How does Alice Oswald's Memorial compare to the Iliad?

Lecture 10/18/13
Achilles and Patroclus
The Heroic Code

Sarpedon (Iliad 12.359-362; 368-377) explains what's at stake for the fighters
shows trace of ambivalence heroes might as well die early on the front lines and receive
awards and valor
Achilles (Iliad 9.497-505) weighs the value of life with the value of glory
long life = less glory, short life = more glory

Iliad Books 3-10

One inconclusive day of fighting ringed with individual between Menelaus and Paris (Book 3)
and Ajax and Hector (Book 7)
Second day of fighting on which Trojans gain the upper hand (Book 8)
That night: 1) Achaean embassy to Achilles (Book 9)
Agamemnon offers gifts and Breisis to Achilles to bring him back, but he
refuses
2) Odysseus and Diomedes perform a night raid behind Trojan lines (Book 10)
Iliad Book 11
aristeia: an account of the marital exploits of a hero (including arming and the catalog of kills)
Agamemnon is wounded after killing seven Trojans; Odysseus kills nine; Diomedes three; Ajax
five
Achilles sends Patroclus to inquire about the wounded doctor Machaon (wounded by Paris)
Nestor entertains Patroclus at length and urges him to persuade Achilles to re-enter the combat
or if not, to let Patroclus fight in his stead.
Nestor reminds Patroclus that his father told him to be the adviser of Achilles.
In Books 12-15, the fighting continues, and the Trojans set fire to some of the Greek ships
Characteristics of Battle Narrative
Battle books consist of a series of individual duels
Shows the results in one line at the end
Similes heighten the impact of the action (Iliad Book 16.889-896)
similes call upon the sound of the impact
Similes can create interesting contrasts with the action
Iliad Book 16
Patroclus cries because of the dying Greek army.
Who kills Patroclus?
Achilles, Apollo, Hector, or Patroclus himself?
Achilles
violated prohibition motif if one gives an instruction not to do something, the other
will violate the order.
Achilles gives Patroclus detailed information on when to stop fighting (Iliad 16.101102,107-110)
the gods, esp. Zeus and Apollo

 Zeus denied Achilles' prayer to allow Patroclus' safe return (Illiad 16.296-298)
Apollo strikes Patroclus
Hector finishes Patroclus off

Sarpedon
Zeus wants to save his son, but Hera talks him out of intervening
Hera explains that Zeus' action will cause the gods to impose their will on life events

Oswald's Memorial
Free translation of Iliad's similes and death scenes
list of the dead
similes are translated twice and lifted from their original position in the poem
doesn't differentiate which side the dead is from
parallel to the Vietnam war memorial
thinks of Iliad as an oral memorial
Hector
1. Why does Hector fight? How different are his reasons from the Greek heroes?
2. Does Athena's intervention in Book 22 against Hector mar Achilles' victory?
3. Does Book 24 offer a satisfying resolution to the Iliad?
Midterm Format
1 image with questions (Who is in the image? What is going on? What stories are involved?)
2 key terms (choice of 6) (similar to week 2 quiz)
2 passages with questions (choice of 3) (identify title and author, speaker, whats being talked
about and what is happening next?)
Lecture 10/21/13
Hector

Hector fights for not himself but for others.

Hector vs. Greek Heroes

Agamemnon: best because of his social position
Achilles: best because of his military prowess
Odysseus: best because of his mind
Hector: best because of his devotion to duty
Simone Weil (1909-1943)
The Iliad, or, The Poem of Force (1945)
She asserts that the real element in the Iliad was force which dehumanizes everything it touches.
Homer shows his sympathy towards both sides.
Book 6
conflict between combat fury and xenia (hospitality) to resolve in Book 24
Encounter between Agamemnon and Adrestus (6.45-77)

shows ruthlessness of combat

Adrestus' offer is foreshadows Priam's offer
Encounter between Diomedes and Glaucus (6.137-282) shows that xeneia can prevail
Diomedes' grandfather and Glaucus' grandfather were guest friends
They call off the fight and trade armors
Tense encounters in Troy between Hector and the Trojan women
Hecuba offers Hector drink but he refuses.
Hector and Andromache
6.548-550
'There is the wife of Hector, the bravest figher they could field, those stallion-breaking
Trojans, long ago when the men fought for Troy'
Andromache persuades Hector to stay but Hector doesn't listen.
The previous restraint of Achilles
Achilles took ransom for Andromache's mother and gave proper burial for Andromache's
father.

Books 17-21
Day of fighting
Greek heroes wounded (Book 11)
Patroclus fights and dies (Book 16)
Hector strips Patroclus' armor but the Achaeans recover the body (Book 17)
Hephaestus fashions new armor for Achilles (Book 18)
Confrontation with Hector (Books 19-22)
Agamemnon and Achilles reconcile (Book 19)
Achilles fights the Trojans (Book 21)
Lycaon (Iliad 21.111-124)
The Battle with Scamander (Book 21)
Achilles kills so many Trojans that it overwhelms the river
Scamander the river god fights Achilles
Hephaestus puts the river on fire to defeat Scamander.
Book 22
Oswald Memorial (pp.71-72)
And HECTOR died like everyone else
Pleas from Priam and Hecuba (22.31-107)
Hector's soliloquy (22.118-156)
But Hector runs (should we blame him?)
Athena tricks Hector by disguising herself as Hector's brother
Hector and the beautiful death (Jean-Pierre Vernant)
beautiful death - to die at one's prime/ peak at his physical power
Book 24
Thetis instructs Achilles to ransom Hector
Hector's body is undefiled because of Apollo's protection
Priam goes by chariot to Achilles' tent

Priam reminds Achilles of his own father Peleus, and of his mortality
Achilles and Priam come to a tenuous truce
Battle stops for 12 days

Lecture 10/25/13
Ancient Myth Interpretations
The Pervasiveness of Myth
More widespread than modern poetry (or other media)
And experienced more communally
parents telling stories to children
local legends and cults
poems performed at festivals and victory celebrations (like Pindar's victory odes)
Athenian tragedy (choruses)
Homer in education
children would learn to write and read from Homer's works
Homer in the symposium (aristocratic male drinking party)
immortalized in Plato's Symposium
Greeks mixed alcohol with water
Myth in visual arts
vase painting (wasn't restricted to stick with the context)
statues
Xenophanes
500 BCE
Philosopher-poet who spent time in Sicily like Gorgias
Xenophones criticizes Homer for describing the gods as evil-doers. (Xenophones Fr.11)
questions gods' morality
criticizes anthropomorphic conception of divinity (Xenophones Fr. 15)
Favors a sphere-shaped and harmonious god (Xenophones Fr. 23)
Plato
429-347 BCE
Student of Socrates; author of The Republic, a dialogue about justice
e.g. Euthryphro is a dialogue about piety
According to Plato, gods are always responsible for good
and it is irresponsible and wrong to credit the gods with evil
e.g. the castration of Ouranos in Hesiod
Problems
the story is false
children cannot understand the story in any way but literally
children will imitate the violence in the story
Solutions
ban harmful myths and supervise storytellers
create myths that inculcate good (like the Myth of Metals in Republic III)

Allegory
alla other + agoreuein to tell
Practice most notably by the Stoics Heraclitus and Cornutus (1st C AD)
Pursuit of deeper meaning below the literal/surface level of the story
e.g. people aren't disinterested in sci-fi movies because they're not real.
Physical allegory: gods represent physical principles
Battle between Apollo and Poseidon is an opposition between fire and water
in Heraclitus
e.g. Hera is air (Gk: aer)
in Cornutus
example of etymology
Moral allegory: stories encode moral truths
conflict between Athena and Ares in Iliad 5 is actually a clash between thoughtfulness and
thoughtlessness
The Odyssey
1. How would you describe Odysseus?
2. Why does Odysseus forgo Calypso's offer of immortality?
Lecture 10/28/13
Odysseus and Calypso

Odysseus is the last hero to make his return

Returns (Trojan Women Odyssey)
nostos: return, homecoming
Proem (Homer Odyssesy 1.1-12)
Three agents
Odyssesus man of constant sorrows
companions blind, foolish, devoured the cattle of the Sungod
gods represented by Helios, decides the fate of the humans.
Homer doesn't say the name of Odysseus but describes him as polutropon (the man much
turned/ much turning) in book 1.
Polytropos: poly - many tropos - turn, way, manner, habit

Book 1
desperate situation on Ithaca in Odysseus' palace
Odysseus and Penelope Telemachus
At divine council, the gods tell us who to root for and ratchet up the suspense
If one of the suitors like Aegithus seduces Penelope, a tragedy like Agamemnon's murder might
happen.
Athena visits Ithaca to inspire Telemachus to seek news of his father (Homer Odyssey 1.132137)
(Homer Odysseus 1.249-251) to Athena
Penelope yearns for Odysseus but doesn't kick the suitors out from the palace.

Book 2-4
Telemachus calls the suitors to assembly and denounces them (Book 2)
Telemachus visits Nestor and learns about the death of Agamemnon (Book 3)
Telemachus visits Menelaus and learns about Odysseus at Troy (Book 4)
Book 5
Odysseus is homesick, trapped in a relationship with Calypso (Odyssey 5.165-175)
Odysseus is shrewd, calculating, suspicious (Odyssey 5.197-199)
Odysseus is a great flatterer (Odyssey 5.239-243)
Odysseus is a great craftsman (Odyssey 5.266-283)
Odysseus has a tremendous capacity for endurance (Odyssey 5.476-478)
Odysseus has imaginative vision (5.533-534)
Book 6
Phaeacians
they do no work but just enjoy leisure
temptation for someone like Odysseus
Alcinous and Arete Nausicaa
Athena appears to Nausicaa in a dream and encourages her to do laundry
Alcinous lets Nausicaa go to do the laundry
The girls are playing ball when Odysseus is startled awake
Odyssey Book 6.142
Odysseus shows great tact when he meets Nausicaa (Book 6.163-206)
Nausicaa's charmed, especially after she sees Odysseus after his bath (Odyssey 6.268-271)
Athena makes Odysseus look more appealing. (Odyssey 6.268-271)
Odysseus will meet Nausicaa at her father's palace by following her from behind.
Lecture 10/29/13
Odysseus and the Cyclops

Proem (Homer Odyssey 1.1-12)

Odyssey Books 7-8

Odysseus makes it safely to Alcinous' palace with Athena's help
Odysseus marvels at the Phaeacians' orchards and gardens (7.132-140)
draws parallel the golden age described in Hesiod's Works and Days
He crushes the Phaeacian athletes in the shot put (8.216-265)
Phaecian are not involved in any war-like situations, but they like hearing about heroes.
Odyssey Book 9
Raid on Cicones (9.45-70)
Lotus-Eaters (9.92-117)
Cyclops/Polephemus (9.118-630)
Odysseus' goals
He wants to go home.

He wants to make himself look good.

Odysseus' story is more of a persuasive speech rather than an expository speech
It is Odysseus who tells the story
Preamble: 9.1-44
Praises the feast (9.2-11)
Declares his name boastfully (9.20-21)
There's no place like home (9.38-41)
Raid on the Cicones (9.45-70)
Blames his companions for their greediness (Odyssey 9.48-53)
The Lotus-Eaters (9.71-117)
Odysseus refrains from eating the lotus while some of his companions ate and lost their
desires to return home. (Odyssey 9.106-113)
The Cyclops/Polyphemus (9.118-630)
Odysseus has a bad feeling about the Cyclops' island.
Odysseus lingers to stay in the cave unlike him the previous instances.
Odysseus identifes himself as a war hero and invokes Zeus Xenios
But the Cyclops devours two of Odysseus' crew
Greeks thought of milk as drinks for babies.
Drinking milk portrays the Cyclops as an immature monster
Odysseus' cautious reaction (9.336-443)
shows the adaptability and flexibility of Odysseus.
Odysseus' plan
make a weapon
trick the Cyclops by telling him that he's nobody.
Polyphemus Outis (nobody)
me tis if no one vs metis cunning
Odysseus taunts the Cyclops (Odyssey 9.556-563)
Odysseus tells his real name the second time.

Euripides' Cyclops
Only fully preserved satyr-play
Date unknown
Retells Homeric episode in Cyclops' cave
Satyrs are half-goat and half-human
enjoy sex and drunkenness
The difference between Euripides' Cyclops and Homer's Odyssey is the insertion of satrys and
their leader Silenus.
The World of Euripides' Cyclops
Set in Sicily, not Fairyland
Cyclops cook their own meal
Polyphemus and Galateia
In Theocritus
Story of unrequited love told in Theocritus Idyll 11 (early 3rd century BCE)
Idyll 11.50-53 (burning my one eye too)

In Ovid Metamorphoses Book 13 (1st century CE)

Polyphemus is more violent

Penelope and the Suitors

how much does Penelope welcome the suitor's attention?
Is Odysseus' vengeance justified?
Lecture 11/1/13
Penelope and the Suitors
Penelope and the Shroud
Telemachus promises to call an assembly (1.427-437)
Telemachus demands that the suitors leave his house (2.41-85)
There was a government shutdown while Odysseus was missing.
Penelope tells the suitors that she will marry one of them after she finishes weaving (2.104-113)
Antinous blames Penelope for leading the suitor son (2.91-142)
Wives who weave are industrious, responsible, and virtuous in the ancient world.
Penelope weave in interest of waiting for Odysseus.
One of Penelope's maids tells the suitors about her trick.
Penelope and kleos (2.139-140)
Odysseus arrives on Ithaca (Book 13)
Meets Athena in disguise
Athena makes him unrecognizably ugly (13.492-501)
Odysseus is about to face the same treatment as he gave to Theristes in Troy.
The plan
The Visit with Eumaeus (Books 14-16)
Gets a rundown of the situation in Ithaca from a trusted confidante
Reunites with Telemachus (Book 16)
The Suitors (Book 18)
Odysseus fights with the beggar Iros (18.51-57)
Antinous offers a prize to the winner
Eurymachus throws a foolstool at Odysseus' head
Odysseus and Penelope (Book 19)
Melantho, a disloyal maid verbally abuses Odysseus (Book 19.71-75)
Melantho has been sleeping with the suitors and has become corrupted
Penelope explains her predicament to Odysseus
Penelope's speech to the suitors (19.156-165 = 2.104-113)
She uses the same language.
Odysseus presents himself as a Cretan who had met Odysseus
Eurycleia discovers the scar while washing his feet

Penelope's dream (Odyssey 19.605-612)

Odysseus states that the geese are the suitors who Odysseus, the eagle, kills and reclaims the
throne.
Penelope prepares the bow contest

The Contest of the Bow (Books 21-22)

Leodes and Eurymachus try and fail to string the bow (Book 21)
Odysseus takes aim at Antinous the ringleader (21.15-21)
The questions of mercy and excess:
Leodes (22.327-335)
Phemius (22.362-373)
draws parallels to deaths in the Iliad.
Melanthius and the serving women (22.488-504)
Odysseus mutilates the bodies of the dead
Does Odysseus go too far with his vengeance?
Reunion with Penelope
The olive bed (23.205-229)
Odysseus tells Penelope about the bed post which is rooted into the earth
The bed post symbolizes Penelope's fidelity and constancy and also Odysseus'
craftsmanship
Odyssey (23.262-272)
Penelope is compared to a sailor (reverse sex simile)
Euripides' Hecuba
How does Euripides change Homer's characters?
How does tragedy differ from epic? How do the differences affect the way the story gets told?
Why does Hecuba take her vengeance? Does she go too far?
Lecture 11/4/13
The Fall of Troy
Hecuba
proud queen of Troy, mother of fifty children
loses the last remaining two: Polyxena and Polydorus
Set in the Thracian Chersonese
After the sack of Troy
Homer strips characters of their dignity in different epics.
Greek Tragedy
Slices from Homer's great banquets (Aeschylus)
Tragedies are shorter than epics
Tragedy is acted out while an epic is narrated
we can't trust anyone to give an impartial account

The Great Dionysia

Festival in honor of Dionysus in early March
Featured dramatic competition, sacrifices, and a procession of war orphans
Each tragedian staged three tragedies and a satyr-play
The choregos producer paid for the chorus and the sets
Participating in the chorus was the young Athenian males' civic duty.
City assigned each tragedian a star actor
Actors wore masks.
Plays would be judged by a panel of citizens
Parts of a Greek Theater
Theatron = viewing place
Orchestra = dancing place
Skene = stage
Parodos = aisles chorus enter and exit through
mechane was a crane used to suspend the actors in the air
deus ex machina god from the machine
Structure of Hecuba
Prologue (1-97): Polydorus sets the scene; Hecuba sings
Parodos (98-153): First song of the chorus (Polyxena must die)
Episode 1 (154-215 sung): Hecuba and Polyxena lament their fate
(216-443 spoken): Odysseus demands Polyxena
First Stasimon (444-483 sung): Chorus worries for the future
Episode 2 (484-628 spoken): Talthybius reports Polyxena's death
Second Stasimon (629-657): Chorus laments the Judgment of Paris
Episode 3 (658-904): Hecuba learns of Polydorus' death
Exodus: Polymestor is blinded by women
What's new in Euripides' Hecuba
New attitude towards the Trojans (as barbarians)
New focus on sophistry, politics, and rhetoric
New focus on female heroism
Barbarians
Persian Wars (490 BCE; 480-479 BCE)
from Greek word barbaros (foreigner)
penchant for brutality, softness, wealth, deception
Rhetoric
Hecuba 255-258
Hecuba talks to Odysseus about the mercy she had on him before
Hecuba tells Agamemnon that he's a slave to public opinion.
Female Heroism
Polyxena dies beautifully (566-571)

Polyxena displays courage while Hector runs for his life in front of death.
Hecuba's desperate straits
Cassandra becomes Agamemnon's war bride, drawing connection between Hecuba and
Agamemnon.
Hecuba resembles Odysseus killing the Cyclops
blinding Polymestor vs blinding Polyphemus
Hecuba and Cynossema Bitch's Tomb
Polymestor foretells that Hecuba will turn into a dog.
Dog may symbolize Hecuba's protectiveness over her children

Lecture Notes 11/6/13

Clytemnestra
Aeschylus' Oresteia
Aeschylus (520s -456 BCE)
Veteran of the Persian Wars
Aeschylus' epitaph describes of his valor in the Persian war and participation in the
marathon.
Oresteia (458 BCE) consists of
Agamemnon
Choephori (Libation Bearers)
Eumenides (The Kindly Ones i.e. Furies)
Notoriously bold style, dense language, and rich imagery
The House of Atreus
3 generations of atrocious crimes
Tantalus feeds is son Pelops to the gods
Atreus feeds Thyestes' sons to Thyestes
Agamemnon sacrifices his daugher Iphigeneia
Tantalus Pelops Thyestes Pelopeia Aegisthus
Atreus feeds Thyestes' his sons after he has an affair with his wife
Tantalus' banquet
Tantalus makes a stew of Pelops and serves him to the gods.
Tantalus is punished by gods in a pool of water (Od. 11.669-680)
Pelops and Hippodameia
Pelops wins his bride Hippodameia in a chariot race.
Pelops goes against Hippodameia's father in a race.
Myrtilus, Oenomeus' charioteer, curses Pelops and his descendants.
When Pelops come back from getting water, Myrtilus tries taking Hippodameia's virginity.
Pelops pushes Myrtilus off the cliff.
Atreus and Thyestes
Sibling rivals over kingship of Mycenae
Thyestes seduces Atreus' wife Aerope
Atreus' tasty revenge.
Atreus serves Thyestes his sons in revenge.

The Birth of Aegisthus

Thyestes rapes his daughter without knowing, and Pelopeia gives birth to Aegisthus.

Aeschylus' Agamemnon
The plot
not much action, by design, but suspense builds gradually
the curse haunts and hinders the plot; action is cyclical, and forward-moving
nostos homecoming of Agamemnon
Cannibalistic Imagery in the Agamemnon
The watchman (delivered from roof of the skene)
the dark and gloominess describes the house itself
The parodos (the chorus' entry-song)
tells the backstory of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia
Artemis mourns the death of the pregnant hare and demands the life of Iphigeneia
The sack of Troy (described by Clytemnestra)
Clytemnestra explicitly describes her imagination of the sack of Troy.
Aeschylus connects the crime of Agamemnon to the crime of Atreus.
Agamemnon
Returns in triumph with war-prize Cassandra
Athena allows Odysseus to plan his returns while Agamemnon just enters his land.
Clytemnestra lays out crimson tapestries as a welcome mat.
Agamemnon refuses to walk on the tapestries as he thinks it's only for the gods.
However, Agamemnon ends up falling into the trap.
Clytemnestra makes Agamemnon think if Priam would've walk on the carpet if he had wont he
war.
Clytemnestra
Androgyne
Queen Clytemnestra who wears a mans' heart in a woman's body, a man's dreadful will in
the scabbard of her body like a polished blade. A hidden blade
Deceptively pretends the role of the lonely faithful wife
Embodies the curse of the House of Atreus
Clytemnestra appears as the symbol of the curse of the house.
T 11-12
Th 1-2
Dodd 2
Lecture Notes 11/8/13
Orestes in the Odyssey
Orestes kept safe in Phocis
Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; brother of Electra
The Furies
Chthonic powers of retribution

 Greek Erinyes
Born from the blood of Ouranos castration
Motive of the murder doesnt matter
Aeschylus Choephori
Orestes returns; dedicates lock of hair at Agamemnons grave
Orestes retreats when he spots the chorus and Electra
Choe-phori libation bearers
Clytemnestras Dream
o She gave birth to serpent, swaddled it and nursed it, but it bit her breast
o Parallel to eagle and hare omen in Agamemnon
o Swaddling clothes parallel Agamemnons death robe
o Biting breast looks ahead to Clytemnestra death-scene
o Snakes are a chthonic symbol
o Chorus doubts Clytemnestras sincerity
Electra
o I live among slaves. I live the life of a slave. Orestes is banished. How shall we get our
home back?
Recognition scene between Orestes and Electra (p. 99-103)
o The first sign of forward progress
Orestes Dilemma
The kommos (dirge) (p. 107-115)
o Comprises 150 lines of a 1000 line play
o Why is there so much lament in this play?
Plotting the Murder
o As in Agamemnon, the action consists of homecoming to the house
o The action comprises getting across the threshold
o Orestes disguises himself as a traveler with important news
o Orestes announces that Orestes has died
Reaction to Orestes Death
The Murders
o Aegisthus is killed quickly and without incident
o But Clytemnestra goes down swinging!
Orestes as Hero
o Kills metaphorical serpent (as Apollo killed the Python)
Echoes of Agamemnon
o Clytemnestra does NOT succeed this time at persuasion
o Clytemnestra and Aegisthus die, as Cassandra and Agamemnon die in first play
o Orestes as runaway charioteer (p. 141), just like Agamemnon killing Iphigeneia (p. 15)
Play ends with Orestes visions of the furies tormenting him
Submitting papers
1.
my.ucla.edu and click the Turnitin link under Classics 30
2.
Click the submit icon next to the assignment called paper and upload paper
3.
Save receipt and confirmation number
Include topic number on the title page

Lecture 11/13/13
Justice
Aeschylus' Eumenides
Hymn to Apollo
Apollo becomes a hero after killing the dragoness Pythos.
The Furies on Delphi
Apollo ceased Dephi unfairly and trampled over the older gods.
Eumenides means Kindly Ones
Name anticipates the Furies' becoming Athenian fertility goddesses
Orestes has fled to Delphi to seek Apollos protection and purification for the two murders
pollution (Gk miasma): ritual uncleanliness
caused by murder, cannibalism, incest, sex during the day, etc.
people who associate with ritually unclean people suffer disease in their household
purification (Gk: katharmos): cleansing
Odysseus cleans his hall with sulfur
cannot be avoided whether the reasons were justifiable.
The blood of the piglet purifies Orestes
Historical context
general: tragedies allude to 5th C concerns with war, barbarians, and persuasion
specific
Eumenides gives historical aetiology for Areopagus court
the play calls for an end to civil strife
462 BCE: Ephialtes reduces power of the court and lowers the income requirement
Then Ephialtes is assassinated.
General Themes
Cycle of retribution and violence gives way to rule of law (jury trial)
Female interest get subsumed to male interests
Scene changes from House of Atreus in Argos to Delphi to, finally, the Athenian acropolis
Athens and Suppliants
General Themes
Athens takes in Orestes as a suppliant
Apollo instructs Orestes to find shelter in Athens (p.154)
Emma Lazarus The New Colossus (1833)
Conflict at Delphi
Furies convict Apollo for violating the natural, unwritten laws.
Apollo argues that the laws do not apply to human justice and suggests to settle the case with
Athena's judgment.
The Trial
Marks an improvement on retributive justice
Why did Athena convene a jury instead of hearing the case herself?

To make it fairer?
But why does the jury deadlock 6-6?

The Arguments
The Furies prosecute Orestes
The Furies argue that Orestes killed his own bloodline
Apollo defends Orestes
Apollo argues that Orestes' blood only comes from his father. Clytemnestra is only like the
soil in a pot.
Pre-Socratic influence (Anaxagoras)
Athena acquits Orestes
Resolution
The Furies become the Semnai Blessed Ones
Lecture Notes 11/15/13
Mythology on the Athenian Acropolis
Athenian Exceptionalism
Athens is so great that two gods compete to earn patronage.
Athena receives all the attention as she is born.
Autochthony
the state of being indigenous; native to a place
being born from the earth itself without human parents.
Auto itself + chthon earth
Athenian vs. Theban autochthony
Thebans are always ruled by a king.
Cecrops and Ericthonius
Two important early kings of Athens
Cecrops (half man, half snake) close to the earth
judged the contest between Athena and Poseidon.
Erichthonius
Parents are Hephaestus and Gaea
Athena throws the wool she uses to wipe off Hephaestus' ejaculation on the earth.
Great Panatheneaea
Festival in honor Athena held in August
Poetic contests and athletic competitions
Procession from lower city up to the Acropolis
Robe (Grk: peplos) clothed the statue of Athena
Probably depicted on the interior frieze of the Parthenon
The Athenian Acropolis

1.
2.
3.
4.

Parthenon
Propylaea
Temple of Athena Nike
Erechtheum
Persians took over Athens, but then victory allowed the Athenians to retake their homes.
Pericles rebuilt the Acropolis after the Persian Wars.
The Parthenon
Construction begins 447 BE
Thank-offering for Athena after Persian Wars
Elaborated decorated
pediments
metopes
frieze
statue of Athena
Double colonade
Metopes run around outer columns
Frieze runs around inner columns
Pediments run along short ends of the rectangle (west and east)
Statue of Athena stood in larger inner room.
Pediments
West Pediment (reconstructed): The Patronage of Athens
East Pediment (reconstructed): The Birth of Athena
Metopes
East metopes: Gigantomachy
West metopes: Amazonomachy
North metopes: Sack of Troy
South metopes: Centauromachy
Inner frieze
The frieze: Represents a procession on all sides (identified as the Panathenaic procession)
The east frieze is best preserved; shows gods witnessing the procession
The Statue of Athena
Sculptedby Pheidias (438 BCE)
Holds a Nike in her right hand (victory of the Athenians over the Persians)
Near the spear at her left was a snake
The shiled at her feet depicts the Amazonomachy and Gigantomachy
Her sandals depict the Centauromachy
The base has the story of Pandora (an example of a woman out of control)
Athena keeps the evil under her feet, setting an example for women to follow
The Propylaea
437-432 BCE
Monumental gateway
Picture gallery on northwest wing including Trojan War scenes (Diomedes and Odyssesus;
Sacrifice of Polyxena; Orestes killing Aegisthus)
The Temple of Athena Nike

430s 420 BCE

Small Ionic temple
Frieze depicts Greeks against Persians
Greeks resorted to mythology battles against monsters before

The Erechtheion
Temple of Athena Polias (Protector of the City)
Housed sacred wooden statue of Athena clothed with the Panathenaic robe
Caryatid columns
Patronage of Athens
Lecture 11/18/13
Oedipus and His Complexes
Sophocles
496-406 BCE
Won first prize 18 times at the Dionysia and never finished third
Oedipus the King dates to 420s (placed second)
Not a proper trilogy and Antigone (442 BCE) and Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE)
The Founding of Thebes
Zeus seduces Europa
Agenor and his sons search for Europa
Cadmus goes to Delphi to inquire after Europa
The oracle at Delphi doesn't answer Cadmus' question
The oracle tells Cadmus to found a city where a cow collapses and not worry about Europa.
Cadmus slays the dragon that guards the spring
Athena tells Cadmus to plant the tooth of the dragon
From the earth spring the violent Sown Men (Gk. Spartoi)
Cadmus founds Thebes and marries Harmonia
The Early Life of Oedipus
Laius marries Jocasta
Laius gives Oedipus to a shepherd to expose him
The oracle tells them not to have a baby.
Laius cripples the baby by piercing his ankles
Corinthian shepherds bring the baby to Corinth
Delphi tells Oedipus not to go home
Oedipus stays away from Corinth but goes to Thebes
Oedipus fights a band of men at the crossroads
Oedipus confronts the Sphinx and kills the monster
Oedipus is welcomed by the Thebes as king and marries Jocasta
Sophoclean Irony

Sophocles emphasize the elements of ignorance, irony, and unexpected recognition of truth
Oedipus asks about who killed the late king when he killed him himself
Oedipus mocks Teiresias saying that he is blind
Title
Greek: Oidipous Tyrannos (absolute ruler who comes to power by other means rather than
by inheritance)
Oedipus comes from Corinth, but he is the son of Laius, the past king of Thebes
Latin: Oedipus Rex
English: Oedipus the King
Name
Oedipus
oid pous swollen foot
oida pous I know foot (known for his feet)
dipous two-footed
The clue to the riddle is encoded in Oedipus' name
The Plague
Oedipus the King 9-13, 60-64
Oedipus' curse: killing his father and sleeping with his mother causes the plague
Oedipus claims that he is the sickest among all of them, yet he doesn't realize that he is the
cause of the plague.
Athenian plague (430 BCE)

Teiresias
OT: 316-322
The Tragic King
OT: 337-340
Tragic kings allow themselves to be pulled into an argument with the rebels
Tragic kings usually have bad tempers
The stereotype of tragic kings make monarchy look bad
Hybris
Misconceptions
Not 'pride' or 'overconfidence'
Definition
Aristotle: doing and saying things at which the victim incurs shame, but simply to get
pleasure from it. They think themselves superior by harming people.
In a word: bullying
Oedipus eagerly interrogates Teiresias and the herdsmen.
Oedipus acts for the good of the city
Tragedy focuses on unjust or problematic sufferings
Audiences feel ambivalent towards the tragic hero.
Oedipus is already over the cliff and doesn't realize it
He reacts to the fall by blinding himself
Sigmud Freud (1856-1939)

Interprets Oedipus the King in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)

Parts of the mind
id: the appetitive unconscious
ego: the seat of judgment and reason
Freud's analogy: just as an individual has dreams, so a culture produces myth
When we are awake, ego represses the id and people feel disgusted when the thoughts pop up.
When we dream, ego turns off, id takes over.

Claude Levi-Strauss
Structuralism
The Structural Study of Myth from Structural Anthropology (1967)
Explains recurring elements (mythemes) in myth
like kin-killing, incest, and monster combat
Not interested in the literary treatments of myth, but in revealing the deep logical structure of
the myth itself
Myth mediates between binaries like male/female/, light/dark, raw/cooked
11/20/13 Lecture Notes
The Seven Against Thebes

Oedipus goes into exile with Antigone

King Theseus receives Oedipus in Athens
Thesesus' mercy portrays Athens' generosity
Athens gain profit for caring for Oedipus
Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polyneices quarrel over Thebes
Eteocles refuses to surrender the throne
Polyneices goes into exile and is received in Argos where he marries the princess of Argos.
War between Argos and Thebes (7 vs. 7)
Eteocles and Polyneices kills each other as they duel.
Thebes defeat Argos and Creon refuses to bury Polyneices for being a traitor.
Creon feels that he needs to abide by the laws of the state since he's not a rightful heir.

Prologue
Antigone and Ismene argue whether they should bury Polyneices or not.
Ismene thinks that women should refrain from defying men.
Antigone reflects Hector and Achilles
Creon and Antigone
Creon is loyal to the state
Antigone is loyal to her family and the gods
(175-177; 181-182)
Creon shows his strictness on crime and rage when he finds out that Polyneices was buried.
He thinks that he knows the mind of the gods.
Antigone believes that Zeus is on her side.

Conflict over gender roles

C: I am no man and she the man instead if she can have this conquest without pain (484485)
Creon tells the guard to find the man who buried the body. (306-307)
Creon accuses Antigone of ruling over him for burying the body.
The Chorus
Old men (whereas Antigone is a woman)
Start off firmly on Creon's side.
(334-351; 364-375)

Creon and Haemon

(718-723)
Haemon tries to persuade his father, Creon, to not execute Antigone.
Haemon plays the parent role by telling Creon that he is wrong.
Creon as a tragic king (824-825)
The End
Does Creon redeem himself?
Creon decides to change his mind, but he is too late.
Lecture 11/22/13
Dionysus and the Bacchae
Dionysus/ Bacchus
God of nature, grapes, wine, vital force in living things
Depicted as young but mature man
Followers are the male Satyrs and the female Maenads/ Bacchae
Causes religious ecstasy using wine
losing complete self-control
emotional
The Bacchae
Female-only Dionysiac cult
Carried Thyrsus (staff) and Narthex (wand)
used Thyrus as weapons in the play
Dressed in fawnskin
Ritual of the sparagmos: holy sacrifice of a small animal
ripping of the animal and devouring
They live peacefully with the nature when camping in the mountains
Dionysus and the East
Dionysus is the symbol of paradox
He pursues appearance like women
Women from Asia follow Dionysus out of free will

The New Dionysus

Thinks of himself as a new god.
Struggles to be recognized since he is born later than other gods.
Seeks recognition and acceptance; demands respect
Geneology of the House of Laius
Zeus seduced Semele as a form of an eagle.
Semele demands to see the true self of Zeus.
Zeus reveals his true self and Semele dies because of his thunderous presence.
Zeus sews the fetus in his thigh to hide Dionysus from Hera.
Dionysus = Elvis?
Dionysus' Revenge
Dionysus comes to Thebes to rightfully plant his cult and reclaim his mother's name.
Dionysus converts all women of Thebes to the Bacchae.
He resembles a young god who seeks glory, self-recognition
Comparing Hermes to Dionysus
Age: Infant vs Full-grown man
Obstacle: Apollo's anger vs Pentheus' resistance
Consequences: Recognition, power divided vs Murder of Pentheus
Characters: gods, one mortal vs one god, many mortals
Tone: funny, lighthearted vs violent, dark, gloomy, but funny?
Moments of black comedy
In Hecuba, Agamemnon rejects his death
The Character of Pentheus
Name means: grief
Tragic king
reacts with rage
doesn't control himself
wants the intruder's head cut off
Dionysus ruins the role of the females
Pentheus uses his imagination to predict what the women are doing. (216-225)
Pentheus falls into Dionysus' hypnosis (957-8)
Dionysus says that he will distract Pentheus' wits (850-4)
Pentheus begins to halluncinate (religious ecstasy) not by his own will but by Dionysus' will
(918-23)
Gods usually don't manipulate mortals except for Dionysus
The Bacchae and Gender Roles
The Bacchae turn ferocious once men come to disrupt them
Dionysus makes Pentheus feminine and the Bacchae masculine
The Bacchae defeat men with their wands (758-64)

The Bacchae led by Agave rips Pentheus' body when they see him as an intruder
The spell wears off as Agave shows off the head of Pentheus to Cadmus

The Triumph of Dionysus

Dionysus shows no pity (1344-9)
He destroys the House of Cadmus and proclaims that Zeus was behind everything
Did Pentheus deserve his fate?
He shows rage but doesn't really do any wrong
Lecture 11/25/13
Medea
Medea bridges the culture between the Greeks and the Romans.
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Jason is on a quest to capture the Golden Fleece for Pelias from King Aeetes of Colchis
Jason is rightful heir of Iolcus.
Medea, Aeetes' daugher, falls in love with Jason
Jason is given more tasks: to fight two bronze-footed bulls breathing fire and fight the men who
will sprout from the dragon teeth.
Jason swears to bring her to Greece as his bride, if she helps him.
Medea gives Jason the potion to protect him from fire and gives him tip on how to fight the
men.
Medea betrays her father and kills her brother, Apsyrtus
Medea curses Jason for breaking his oath.
Medea has Pelias' daughters murder him by deceiving them that they can turn their father,
Pelias, young.
Jason is an indecisive and powerless hero depending on Medea for help.
Medea and Jason flee to Corinth.
They live as husband and wife, bearing two children.
Jason later decides to marry Glauce, princess of Corinth.
Female Heroism
Medea : preoccupied, like Achilles, with the validity of oaths (160-165)
Medea : insists childbirth is more dangerous than warfare (247-253)
Medea and Achilles are both very concerned about their reputation
Medea : reworks Semonides 7 for males (235-243), describes one type of good husband.
Medea manipulates language like Clytemnestra (337-342)
Creon resists Medea's plead, but gives in when Medea targets his vulnerability
Clytemnestra persuades Agamemnon to walk on the tapestries
Both women causes men to act against their will even while knowing that what they're
doing is wrong
Jason's Unheroic Character
Jason breaks his oath (492-496)
Jason is intensely misogynistic; thinks Medea is obsessed with sex (526-532)

Jason is obsessed with money (612-614; 616-618)

Child-killing and Revenge

Hecuba (Greeks kill Polyxena- at the instigation of Achilles; Polymestor kills Polydorus;
Hecuba kills her enemy Polymestor's children)
Antigone (Creon kills Antigone)
Oedipus Tyrannos (Laius wounds Oedipus)
Oresteia (Atreus kills Thyestes' children; Agamemnon kills daughter Iphigenia- at the
instigation of a god)
The Bacchae (Agave kills Pentheus)
Barbarians
Medea kills her children in hatred towards Jason without any instigation of gods but by her will.
Do barbarians have scruples?
Has Medea lost her humanity?
Lecture Notes 11/27/13
Dido and Aeneas
Roman Literary and Cultural History
Greek literature inspired Latin literature from the beginning
240 BCE: Translation of Homer's Odyssey (Livius Andronicus)
3rd - 2nd centuries BCE: Plautus and Terence comedies
50s BCE: Lucretius On the Nature of the Universe
29 -19 BCE: Vergil's Aeneid
Graecia Capta
Graecia capta ferum vicorem cepit. (Horace)
Although Greece had been captured, she conquered her wild conqueror.
The Romans praised the Greek literature and found Greek's art is more superior.
Vergil
70-19 BCE
Wrote Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid
Consummate poet and perfectionist
The Aeneid
Latin epic in 12 books
Books 1-6: Aeneas' wanderings
Books 7-12: Aeneas' war in Italy
Aeneas shipwrecks at Carthage (Odysseus' ships are shipwrecked)
Dido entertains him (Nausicaa entertains Odysseus)
Dido falls in love, but Aeneas must found Rome (Calypso falls in love with Odysseus)
When Aeneas leaves, Dido kills herself (Jocasta kills herself for loving Oedipus)

The Gods of the Aeneid

Juno: the antagonist (Aeneid 1.13-19)
Jupiter: discloses what is fated (1.348-398)
Venus asks Jupiter to have pity on her son, Aeneas (Thetis asking Zeus)
prophesies that Aeneas will found Rome
Venus: Aeneas' protector? (1.895-904)
disguises as a girl to guide Aeneas to Dido
makes Dido fall in love with Aeneas
Aeneas
Son of Anchises and Aphrodite/ Venus (Homer Hymn to Aphrodite)
Saved by Aphrodite from Diomedes' spear (Iliad 5)
Pietas: Pietas is a very Roman concept, embracing many aspects of man's relationship to the
gods and to fellow men: duty, devoted service, responsibility, compassion, the full
consciousness of what is due to other... It was a code of high conduct and an integral part of
patriotism in the best sense. (R.G. Austin)
devotion
Aeneid 1.13-19
A man apart, devoted to his mission...
The storm (Aeneid 1.134-143)
Aeneas longs to have died on the battlefield when he faces the storm
emphasizes dying in front of the eyes of his family rather than proper burial
wishes that his mom did not save him
Aeneid 1.201-211
Neptune calms the sea as a leader calming the crowd
Virgil compares the water to the crowds of Rome
Close to his companions
Aeneid 1.270-278
Aeneas is close to his companions and encourages them after the shipwreck
Aeneid 1.270-278
Dido

Formidable queen of Carthage

Formerly married to Sychaeus; Sychaeus murdered by Dido's brother Pygmalion
Founded Carthage; trick of the bull hide
Carthage is prosperous (Aeneid 1.587-596)
Dido loses interest in city building after falling in love with Aeneas (4.121-126)
Love is disease, torture?
The status of the relationship between Dido and Aeneas is unclear (4.227-238)
Aeneas receives the command from Mercury to leave and he obeys, but he doesn't know what
to say. (4.385-389; 400-401)
shows that he's no Odysseus
Dido kills herself after Aeneas leaves
Aeneas meets Dido's ghost in the underworld (6.613-621; 624-625)
Aeneas doesn't seem to understand his effect on others

Final Exam Format

Questions
2 images from midterm on (15 min)
Choice of 3 of 4 passages from midterm on (30 min)
Choice of 3 of 9 key terms from second quiz on (30 min)
1 cumulative essay on major course theme (45 min)
Lecture Notes 12/2/13
Metamorphoses 1: Mortal Limits
Main themes include: the power of the gods, mortals' mistakes, etc.
Ovid and Roman Education
43 BCE 18 AD
Refined Augustan poet
Excelled at the suasoria
being a mythological character giving a speech during a crisis
Rejected legal career for writing poetry
Main point of the school was to train students in public speaking
prolific poet
Heroides
Ars Amatoria
Metamorphoses
exiled to the Black Sea for a carmen et error (a poem and a mistake)
Ovid

Metamorphoses
15 books (about 12,000 lines)
dactylic hexameter
encyclopedia of mythology

Transformation
Transformation as part of fairytale
Transformation as part of Greek mythological
gods transform into humans to trick mortals and etc.
Ovidian transformation
interested in crossing the boundaries
Proem
Ovid doesn't disclose the name of the gods but calls on all gods.
Diana and Actaeon
Ovid asks Is the story just?

Ovid suggests that the death of Actaeon is not just but unfortunate
It draws parallel to his thought on his exile. (not just since he was deliberate)
Locus amoenus (pleasant place) conceals danger and brutality
Ovid describes the transformation of Actaeon to a deer.
Transformation focuses on weird in-between moments
Catalogue of dogs
Compare Actaeon with Erysichthon or Phaethon
Ovid leaves the question as to justice open-ended

Daedalus and Icarus

Icarus wants to fly but Daedalus doesn't really want to.
Ovid emphasizes the limit of mortals
Mortals on the ground think that Daedalus and Icarus are gods.
They are not punished but Icarus' carelessness causes his own death.
The painting shows that the world goes on despite such amazing happenings.
William Carlos Williams' poem reflects the painting.
Lecture 12/4/13
Metamorphoses II: Love Stories
Philemon and Baucis
Zeus and Mercury visit a pious but materially poor old couple
Golden Age motifs
the couple find that the wine jar doesn't run out (nothing runs out)
Importance of frugality
Philemon and Baucis become an intertwined oak and lime tree
piety is rewarded
Daphne and Apollo
Python provides the lead-in after the Flood
Apollo and Cupid have a spat
Cupid shoots Apollo with a gold arrow and Daphne with a lead one.
Cupid's arrow causes tragic consequences (Dido & Aeneas, Paris & Helen, etc.)
Apollo falls in love with Daphne, but Daphne is led astray
Apollo tries to convince Daphne by describing how great, perfect he is, but this shows irony.
Apollo (and us readers) as voyeur
Daphne calls out to her father for help, and she turns into a tree.
Apollo makes a crown out of laurel leafs.
Tereus, Procne, and Philomela
Corrupted marriage of Tereus and Procne
Their marriage wasn't blessed by Juno but the Furies.
Tereus falls in love with Philomela, Procne's sister when he goes to pick her up from Athens.
Tereus violates the bond with Pandeon to keep Philomela safe.

Tereus rapes Philomela

Philomela vows to tell people of what happened.
Tereus cuts Philomela's tongue with his sword (second rape)
The tongue is pictured as a snake (a symbolism for revenge)
Philomela's revenge
she uses feministic skills (weaving) to overcome the evil-doers
Procne's revenge
Procne kills her son, Itys, in vengeance
She makes a stew with Itys (House of Atreus)
She later brings out the head of her son (Agave)

Echo and Narcissus

Resists advances of all girls and boys
Echo falls in love with him, but cannot initiate a conversation since she can only echo.
Narcissus falls in love with his reflection
He turns from a living boy to a marble sculpture
Reverse of Pygmalion story
Pygmalion carves a sculpture he falls in love with
The sculpture turns into a real, live woman.
Narcissus reduced to pleading
from a god-like to useless
Transformed into narcissus flower
Narcissus and Ovid
Narcissus perceives the truth and mourns the life that he will not live.
Epilogue
Ovid wonders what will happen to him once he dies.
Although he dies, he leaves behind the poem which preserves his kleos.
Conclusions 12/6/13
Dodd 147 8:00 11:00 AM

Coherent, organized
Specific facts and details