Sea Monsters (Ch 7)

Origin

Pontus (element), son of Gaia, fathered hundreds of monsterous deities with his own mother, most of them a mixture of human and animal.

I. Nereus: The archetypal "wise old man" from the sea, Nereus is a shape-shifting seer who aided Heracles in finding the Hespereiades to complete his 11th labour. He fathers 50 Nereids with Doris that bear significant offspring in their days.

     - Thetis, wife of Peleus (who had to wrestle her to win her), mother of Achilles

     - Galatea, wife of Acis, object of desire of Polyphemus (unrequited love results in wrath 

       of Polyphemus, deification of Acis)

     - Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon

Often compared to/synonymous with Proteus ("variable", "taking on different forms") which accounts for the unpredictability of their natures.

II. Thaumas: Manages to father three supernatural daughters.

     - Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, messenger of Hera

     - Harpy ("snatcher"/"strong winds"), half women half bird vermin

     - Sphinx ("strangler"), the part woman/lion/bird riddler thwarted by Oedipus

III. Phorcys: Mated with his sister Ceto to have a bunch of monsterous kids daughters.

     - 3 Graeae, the "gray ones" from birth, personifications of old age, share 1 eye 1 tooth, thwarted 

       by Perseus on his quest for the head of Medusa, their sister.

     - Gorgans, two immortal, one mortal (Medusa). Said to turn people to stone with one glance.

     - Scylla, once the object of Poseidon's affection, forevermore a sailor's affliction.

Oceanus (titan), son of Uranus and Gaia, fathered over 3000 oceanids with his sister Tethys (One of them Doris, mother of the Nereids)

Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis, Hesiod's Theogony

Poseidon (Ch 7)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Poseidon, Posis "husband" + don... da "of Da" (ie. Consort of Earth mother), or Posis "to drink"
     (l.) Neptune
     "Earth Shaker", "Earth Holder"
     Potamos ("river"), associated with the I.E. God of Freshwater, who attains domain over salt water
     as they migrated to the coast.
     Hippios, "horsey" another I.E. association with riding-cultures. Horses drowned in his honor.
Domain: The sea. Tectonic plates.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Brother of Zeus.
Claim to Fame: God of the sea, horse riding, earthquakes, irregular temperaments.
Iconography: trident, waves, fish, horses, ships
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Poseidon Erechtheum ("original soil"): Despite losing the contest for patronage for Athens (See Athena), Poseidon is appeased by the citizens (in fear or appreciation, we'll never know) and a temple is built in his honor on the grounds of the Parthanon. The Erechtheum is characterized by its Carytid statues, beautiful women holding various items of symbolic significance, which serve the same function as columns.

II. Hippios and Demeter: In Arcadia it was rumored that Poseidon pursued his own sister, Demeter, who sought to escape him by disguising herself as a mare. Poseidon transformed into a stallion, and the magical steed Arion is born.
Similar origins for the mythological creature Pegasus as well, as Poseidon entered another tryst with Medusa to the same outcome.

III. Amphitrite: Poseidon took Amphitrite as his wife and had a son Triton. While daddy acts up to bring storms to sink ships, Triton blows his conch shell to calm the seas.
Amphitrite herself works hard to keep her marriage monogamous, and Poseidon is kept on a short leash.
Scylla (daughter of Phorcys), an object of Poseidon's desire is transformed into a monster whose lower half is ringed by dogs. She flees to the straits of Messina, where her and Charybdis (daughter of Poseidon and Gaia), a vicious whirlpool that spews three times a day, work to make sailors lives miserable.

IV. Odysseus: See Odysseus for details on Poseidon's pursuit of this wily hero.

Minor Olympians (Ch 5)

Hera

Etymology and Epithets:

     (g.) Hera

     (l.) Juno

     "cow eyed", "queen", "lady'

Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea, wife of Zeus.

Origin: Most likely non Indo-European. Worshipped primarily at Argos.

Legitimate Offspring: Ares, Elitheya, Hebe, Eris, Hephaestus

Claim to Fame: Goddess of marriage and women. The original shrew. Bent on the destruction of Zeus's 

     paramours

Iconography: Cow, polos (circular pillbox crown), peacock feather, pomogranite.

Hestia

Etymology and Epithets:

     (g.) Hestia

     (l.) Vesta

Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Parthanos.
Origin: Mycenaean Greeks, or the sister of an IE sky god.

Claim to Fame: Goddess of the hearth, goodwill, domesticity, and chastity. Inspiration for the
     vestal virgins in Rome, postmenopausal virgins that tend to the eternal fire. Rejects both Apollo
     and Poseidon. One of three deities resistant to the powers of Aphrodite.

Iconography: hearth, fireside, fireside tools (ie. cauldron, kettle, candle, broom), torch, pig, donkey.
Literature: Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

Ares

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Ares, are "bane"/"curse"
     (l.) Mars, marne "to kill"
     "Thracian"
Domain: Associated with Thrace.
Genealogy: Zeus + Hera. Aphrodite's dirty little secret.
Claim to Fame: God of war, violence, bloodlust, masculinity, agriculture, rampant promiscuity.
Iconography: Spear, helmut, dog, chariot, boar

Hephaestus

Etymology and Epithets:

     (g.) Hephaestus, haph "ignite"

     (l.) Vulcan

     "Master Craftsman", "Strong Armed", "Bent Legged"

Origin: Potentially a fire-spirit on the volcanic island of Lemnos (non Greek origin). Rumored to have been thrown from Mt. Olympus by Hera because he was so ugly. Raised by Thetis and the Nereids, from which he learned metal-working skills.

Genealogy: Hera (Parthenogenically), or Hera + Zeus. Husband of Aphrodite.

Claim to Fame: God of the Smithy. 

Iconography: Forge, hammer, anvil.

Prometheus

Etymology and Epithets: Prometheus, Pro "before" + Metheus "thought"
Genealogy: Iapetus (titan) + Themis. Brother to Atlas and Epimetheus.
Claim to Fame: Trickster figure. Greek Culture Hero responsible for theomorphism of humans, religious sacrifice, and deliverance of technology and innovation to mankind.
Literature: Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Ovid's Metamorphosis.

Myth

I. Anthropogonal: The birth of humankind is rumoured to have been Prometheus' doing, who fashioned our form out of clay and bestowed within all of us a divine spark.
II. Religious Sacrifice: Prometheus, with sympathy for starving humankind at odds with the Gods, sacrificed an ox and portioned the animal evenly. To Zeus he offered the first choice of portions, either the bones,  cleverly and appealingly disguised by the dripping fat and gristle, or the meat, unappealingly disguised and reduced in ration. Zeus foolishly chooses the fat, leaving the sustaining portion to be consumed by humankind.
Etiologically, burnt sacrifice to the gods now holds only bones and fat, the meat and innards we consume ourselves first.

III. Gifts/Curses: Unfortunately Zeus, a young and wrathful god at the time, punishes mortals by removing fire and direct contact with the gods. Prometheus recovers the flame by hiding it in a fennel stalk, the first incidence of technology for humans to develop upon.
A prophecy bestows Prometheus with the knowledge of Zeus' future usurper, but refuses to reveal the information to the sky god. For this, he is shackled by Kratos ("strength") and Bia ("force") to the cliffs of Mt. Caucasus, gorged upon daily by Zeus' eagle, only to have his innards grow back nightly.
Zeus also gives the gift/curse of women in the form of Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother, and once her box is opened humankind is faced with infinite scourge.

Works & Days, Hesiod

I. Origin of Women, Marriage, and Suffering: The gift/curse of Pandora (pan "all" + dor "gift"), the first woman, to mankind was a group project from Olympus sent to "punish" mankind for Prometheus' wiles. Haephaestas mixed together clay, water, and voice to give form, while Athena made her skillful, Aphrodite made her alluring and Hermes topped her off with the "soul of a bitch". She was delivered to Epimetheus with a Pyxis, an ornamental casing she was warned not to open. Of course, her curiosity gets the best of her (or, to some, she intentionally opens it) and she unleashes a plethora of scourges upon mankind. She is able to capture hope as is it is about to escape by shutting the jar tight, posing the idea that we need disillusion for a meaning in life.
The idea of a beautiful exterior, rank interior is recompensed by Prometheus's sacrificial gift.

II. Ages of Mankind:
1. Gold: Created by the Olympians, to live under Cronus' rule. Humankind was almost immortal, and lived to experience a painless death, whereby they became holy spirits that wandered the earth.
2. Silver: Again, created by Olympians, living under Zeus' rule. This prototype lived until 100, most of which in immaturity. Their prime was short and violent, and they refused to honor the gods, so in death they were only "blessed".
3a. Bronze: Created by Zeus from ash trees, this race was inherently violent and fashioned Bronze weapons to main and kill each other with. They often met mutual annihilation over political and cultural strife. In death they were sent to Hades to pay their dues in proportion to the good and evil they enacted.
3b. Heroes: Created by Zeus, these creatures were created in the image of the Gods (godlike demi heros) and lived out short but glorious lives. Most experienced death, but many legends were privileged to occupy the Isles of the Blessed (Elysium) in Hades.
4. Iron: Created by Deucalon and Pyrrha, this race experiences endless labour and strife, and only meet some good with much evil. We live under the threat of total destruction, and live out our short and numbered days awaiting a painful death. It is the iron age that adopted the adage "the best fate of all is to never have been born", as promoted by Arisophanes.

Zeus (Ch 5)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Zeus
     (l.) Jupiter, Ju "sky" + piter/pater "father"
     Dios, Di "bright"
     Imported sky-god with the the migration of patriarchal Indo -European cultures
Domain:
     Dodona, sanctuary worshipped of Dios and Dione (not Hera). Zeus' oracle interpreted the rustling
     of oak tree leaves, burnt offerings, and the cooing of doves to prophecy.
     Peloponnesus, worshipped at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (Est. 5th c BC), the original site of
     the a sanctuary and temple complex that was the original site of the Olympic games in 776 BCE.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Husband of Hera, cuckold of many - mortal and immortal.
Claim to Fame: God of all, weather, storms, oaths, xenia ("guest/host relationship"), suppliants.
Iconography: Eagle, sceptre, crown, aegis
Literature: Hesiod's Theogony

Myth

I. Birth: Cronus swallowed each of his six children of Cronus and Rhea (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus), paranoid that the prophecy of Uranus would continue. Rhea and Zeus conspire and substitute a swaddled stone when Zeus is "born" (came to be known as the omphalus, "navel"). While Cronus continues to rule unaware, Zeus is reared in Crete on Mt. Dicte by Amalthea ("goat") and Melissa ("bee"). His cries are hidden from Cronus by the clamouring of the Curetes ("young men"), devotees of the Mother Goddess who wield cymbals and drums. He subsists on the bounty of nature, a cornucopia ("horn of plenty"), until he is of age to overthrow his father.
Zeus symbolizes a fusion of Minoan and Mycenaean Cultures in that he integrates the existing earth religions with the dominant iIndo-European belief system. With his import follow a series of myths that replace indigenous social beliefs of matriarchy, polygamy, and transpomorphism, with patriarchy, monogamy, and anthropomorphism.

II. Coming of Age: Zeus returns to Mt. Othrys and rescues his siblings (and the omphalus) from his father Cronus, then seeks to establish his new rule.
     - Titanomachy: The Olympians, Themis (and her son Prometheus), the Cyclopes, and 100-handers,
        of Mt. Olympus, engage the Titans in a 10 year battle that results in their defeat. They are
        locked away in Tartarus for their misdeeds. Atlas (titan) is punished for his misalliance by the
        penalty of having to physically separate earth and sky, preventing the procreation of any more
        earthy beasts.
     - Gigantomachy: The Gegeneis ("earth born", "giants"), born from the spilled blood of Uranus, sent
       by the titans, and are defeated handily by the Olympians with the help of Heracles.
     - Typhonomachy: Zeus battles Typhon (a.k.a. Typhoeus, Typhaon, son of Gaia and Tartarus), a
       snaky, fire breathing, 100 head (subsequently 100 voices), that set the world aflame. He is
       defeated with some difficulty and is hurled beneath Mt. Etna to Tartarus.
With his nemesis' defeated, Zeus attains the throne on Mt. Olympus and ascends his new rule.

III. Affairs:
     - Metis ("wisdom"), swallowed by Zeus = Athena
     - Mnemosyne (titan, "memory") = Muses, the patron Goddesses of the Arts
     - Themis ("law") = 3 Fates: Clotho ("spinner"), Lachesis ("apportioner"), Atropos ("inflexible")
                                = 3 Horae: Eunomia ("good order"), Dike ("justice"), Eirene ("peace")
     - Eurynome ("wide dominion") = 3 Charites/Gratiae ("Graces"), associated with Aphrodite
     ... And much, much more.

IV. Zeus and Lycaon: Disguised as a mortal to calibrate the moral fibre of mankind, Zeus feasted at the castle of Lycaon, King of Arcadia. To test his divinity, Lycaon serves Zeus human flesh, which evokes the wrath of Zeus to destroy all of mankind. Lycaon is transformed into a wolf (Lykos "wolf"), and Zeus threatens to ignite the world. The Gods, fearful of their own annihilation, suggest he flood the earth instead, of which only the two mortals Deucalon (son of Prometheus) and Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus) are the sole survivors.
Wracked with guilt, Zeus looks to repopulate the earth. The couple visit the Oracle of Themis, who order them to cover their head, loosen garments, and "toss the bones of the earth over their shoulder". Wily Deucalon reasons that stones are the bones of the earth, so he and Pyrrha obey and form the iron age(his becomes man, hers become women).
The couple has a son, Hellen, who is the eponymous founder of the Hellenes (Greeks).

The Beginning of Time (Ch 3)

According to Hesiod's Theogony (theos "god" + gon "birth") and Works & Days, the cosmos ("order/arrangment") was spontaneously created out of Chaos ("chasm"), a conceptual entity with no order to lend itself to human understanding.
Out of Chaos came Gaia/Ge ("earth"), Erebus ("gloom"), Tartarus ("hell"), Eros ("sexual passion") and Night, the precedents of the foundations for the universe. Gaia's procreates with her children Pontus ("Sea") and Uranus ("Sky") in Hieros Gamos, or holy matrimony.
     + Pontus
     + Uranus = 12 titans, Oceanus-Tethys, Iapetus-Themis, Cronus-Rhea, Mnemosyne, Coeus-Phoebe,
                        Hyperion-Theia, Crius.
                     = 3 Cyclopes ("orb-eye"), Thunder, Lighting, and Shining.
                     = 3 Hecatonchires ("100-Handers" with 50 heads each)

Hyperion + Theia = Helius/Sol ("sun"), Selene/Luna ("moon"), Eos/Aurora ("dawn")
     - Phaethon, son of Helius and Clymene, questions his patronage. To affirm his son, Helius grants
       him one wish, in which Phaethon demands to drive Daddy's chariot. Helius abides, bound by oath,
       and Phaethon naturally loses control of the chariot, scorching the earth. Jupiter intervenes, and
       Phaethon is struck from the chariot and hurls to his death below. The Heliades, daughters of Helius,
       bury him, weeping, and are transformed into Poplar trees with tears of amber.
     - Selene falls in love with the handsome shepherd Endymion, bearing 50 daughters. In order to
       preserve him, she asks Zeus to grant him Eternal Sleep as well as Eternal Youth, and he is rests
       forevermore, beautiful in death. Now, he is a motif frequently found on sarcophagi as a symbol
       of the timelessness of youth in memory.
     - Eos, not as clever as her sister, asks for a similar gift for her Trojan prince Tithonus, but forgets
       to mention eternal youth along with his eternal life. His gift becomes a curse, as he becomes
       undesirable to the goddess and shrivels away to a Cicada.
Uranus + Gaia = 12 titans.
     - Uranus inseminates Gaia each night, but prevents her from giving birth. Gaia and Cronus conspire
       and Cronus emerges from the womb to castrate his father.
       From his spilled blood, that drips on Gaia, the Erinyes ("Furies"), Gigantes ("giants", "earth born")
       and the Ash-Tree Nymphs are born. From his severed genitals that are cast into the sea, the
       Goddess Aphrodite emerges from the foam
     - The prophecy repeats itself with the birth of Zeus from Cronus and Rhea, see Zeus.

Myth Interpreted (Ch 1)

Objectives:
1. Learn to distinguish between myth proper, saga/legend, and folktale.
2. Learn the fundamental differences between the Psychological, Ritualist, and Structuralist approach.

Types of Myth

Myth, mythos: "a traditional tale handed down through history with anonymous origin"

Mythology, mythos + logos (reason): A set of myths, or study of myth in general.

I. True Myth (a.k.a. Myth Proper, Divine Myth)

Concerned with the lives of deities, exempt from historical and factual timelines. The gods themselves are notable for their exaggerated human traits - virtues and flaws. 

In the time these myths were told, people accepted True Myth as an explanation for what present day religion, science, and politics could not account for about the world, ie. weather, nature, fate, human behavior.

II. Legend (a.k.a. Saga)

Concerned with the lives of the noble classes of Greece, called heroes or heroines (heroic virtue was more defined by status in life than by chivalrous and valourous deeds)

Since these myths contain a kernal of historical truth, as proved by archaeological evidence and literary sources, they are analagous to history.

III. Folktale (a.k.a Fable, Fairytale)

Primarily for entertainment purposes, folktale features fictionalization for events for a variety of purposes, but often contain insightful didactic merit.

Types of Approaches

Though no one can establish a single, comprehensive definition of myth, the attempt to define them only attests to their importance, and have led to their resilience against time.
Though many philosophers and academics have worked hard to find empirical, psychological, or cultural grounds for many mythical stories, the element of rationality often isn't necessary to make the experience meaningful. The truth in myth is in its relatability in human experience, on whatever level.

I. Etiological, aitia ("cause"): Etiological approaches explains an accepted purpose or revelation behind an observed occurance. For example, the etiological explanation for why Libyians were known to be black is because of Phaethon's dangerous flight in his fathers chariot, which ended up scorching the earth and the skins of the people occupying that area.

II. Allegorical: This approach uses sustained metaphor to reduce terms applying to universal events to figurative simplifications. For example, the physical allegory of the Gods is that they themselves are terms for physical elements (ie. Apollo = fire vs. Poseidon = water). A psychological allegory is that they are instead representatives of concepts, ie. Erabus = darkness, depression, Athena = love.

III. Rational: An attempt to apply logical critical evaluation to a myth, hoping to back it with factual explanation.
- Xenophanes:
     1. Why do the gods' physical features, as manifested in local art, match the demographic
     characteristics of the populations worshipping them? (ie. Why is Zeus black in Africa, have
     red-hair in Thrace, etc...)
     2. What is moral about worshipping those who are equally responsible for mischief as they are
     good in the world? What is ethical about following the example of deities that commit
     adultery, murder, torture etc.?
- Euhemerism: Claimed that the Gods were really just the great men of old that became deified through myth.

IV. Psychoanalytical: The human predisposition to myth indicates there is something about our psyche that connects with these stories.
- Freud: The latent manifestations of our subconscious appear in our dreams.
     1. Dreamwork: Sleep condenses disparate elements of an understanding of our world, exaggerates
     them, then represents them through symbols that we can interpret.
     2. Oedipus Complex: A male childs first sexual feeling is attraction towards his mother, and envy
     for his father.
- Jung: society has a collective unconscious that we tap into, independent of our individual unconsciousness reserved for our personal lives.
     1. Archetypes: traditional symbols of expression are universally recorded by dreamers.
     2. Electra Complex: A female childs' first sexual feeling is attraction towards her father, and envy
     for her mother.

V. Structural: Myth can be broken down empirically into narrative structures that can be interpreted.
- Propp: All stories are composed of functional units of storytelling ("motifemes") arranged algebraically in prose.
- Levi-Strauss: myth is a mode of reconciliation between binary elements
- Burkert: Myth is a contextualized representation of a traditional tale. Because it has a historical subdimension, they reflect biological or cultural spins on human understanding at time. The identity of the tale is recognized now through motifemes.