Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology

Week 1

What is myth?

mythos

(word, speech, story)

Simple Definition of Myth

A traditional story

How are myths transmitted?

• Oral• Literature• Painting• Sculpture• Music• Dance• Drama• Cinema

Types of myth• Divine myth, true myth

• Saga or legend

• Folktale

Reasons for Myths

Often “etiological”– Causes, origins, explanatory

Saga or legend• Humans, usually aristocracy

• Rooted in fact

• “History”

• Saga = “spoken”

• Legend = “to be read”

Folktale• Ordinary humans and animals

• Universal experiences

• Fantastic adventures

• Fable = animals

• Fairytale = traditional, magical, moral

Myth and Religion• “Closely entwined”

Greek Sources• Homer (epic): Iliad, Odyssey• Homeric Hymns• Hesiod: Theogony• Lyric: Pindar• Tragedy: Aeschylus, Sophocles,

Euripides• Comedy: Aristophanes

Roman Sources• Vergil (epic): Aeneid

• Ovid: Metamorphoses

Other Sources• Vase paintings

• Wall paintings

• Sculpture

Vase Paintings

Wall Paintings

Sculpture

Historical Background of Classical Mythology

Chapter 2

Heinrich Schliemann

Sir Arthur Evans

Bronze Age

• 3000 – 1100 B.C.– Early: 3000 – 2000– Middle: 2000 – 1600– Late: 1600 – 1100

Crete = Minoan

Islands = Cycladic

Mainland: Helladic

Minoan Civilization

• Crete

• Cnossus (Knossos)

• thalassocracy

• Minos

• Sir Arthur Evans

• minotaur

• labyrinth

• Theseus

Minoan pinnacle: 1600 -1400 B.C.

Minoan pinnacle: 1600 -1400 B.C.

Minoan pinnacle: 1600-1400 B.C.

Minoan pinnacle: 1600 -1400 B.C.

Mycenaean Age

• Mycenaeans dominate Minoans.

• Fortified palaces on mainland.

Mycenaean pinnacle: 1600–1100 B.C.

• Mycenae

• Tiryns

• Pylos

• Heinrich Schliemann

Mycenaean Age

Mycenaean Age

Trojan War

• Asia Minor

• Hellespont

• Heinrich Schliemann

• Hissarlik

• Fall of Troy: 1184 B.C.

• Troy VI: 1250 B.C.

Trojan War

Trojan War

Iron Age: 1100-ca. 800 B.C.

“Dorian” Invasion

• Dark Age

• Homer, ca. 750 B.C.

• Greek alphabet

Age of Colonization: 800 – 600 B.C.

City States

• Athens and Sparta

• Parthenon: 438 B.C.

Athens

Athens

Hellenistic Age: 323-30 B.C.

• 323 B.C.: Alexander’s death

• 30 B.C.: Final defeat of Cleopatra and end of the Ptolemaic dynasty

Rome

• 753 B.C.: Romulus and Remus

• 27 B.C. – 14 A.D.: Age of Augustus

Rome

Rome

Rome