College Level Greek Mythology - Audio Study Guide

Introduction to College Greek Mythology

Important Points in this Chapter................................................................................. 195

Chapter

Course Questions and Answers ............................................................... 201

Answers to Chapter Questions ................................................................ 243

Chapter 1: Answers ......................................................................................................243

Chapter 2: Answers......................................................................................................244

Chapter 3: Questions ...................................................................................................245

Chapter 4: Answers......................................................................................................246

Chapter 5: Answers ...................................................................................................... 247

Chapter 6: Answers......................................................................................................248

Chapter 7: Answers ......................................................................................................249

Chapter 8: Answers......................................................................................................250

Chapter 9: Answers...................................................................................................... 251

Chapter 10: Answers ....................................................................................................252

Chapter 11: Answers.....................................................................................................253

Chapter 12: Answers ....................................................................................................254

Chapter 13: Answers .................................................................................................... 255

Course Questions: Answers .........................................................................................256

PREFACE

Welcome to college level Greek mythology! This course is a great peak into the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece you may have only heard a bit about. Greek mythology as we know it today represents the culmination of centuries of the religion of the Ancient Greeks.

Like many people living in ancient times, there were things they just didn't understand like how the earth was created, how to explain mysterious phenomena in nature, and what exists after death. As a result of these questions, they wove and re wove elaborate stories and myths to explain the history of the word as they knew it. What we are left with today is a fairly complete picture of stories and fantasies, some of which actually seem to be rooted in historical fact.

In chapter one of the course, we try to start as early in time as we can even before the Ancient Greeks lived as we know them. This is because few myths and religions start de novo; they are generally borrowed from somewhere else at least to some degree. If you are to understand what Greek mythology is all about, you need to know where it most likely originated. You also need to know how we know about Ancient Greek mythology at all and what the basic themes of this mythology most likely meant to the people of Ancient Greece.

Chapter two covers the story of creation according to the Greeks. Most of this information was gotten from a poem by Hesiod called Theogony or the Origin of the Gods. You will see that there have been a few variations found but that most of the available information focuses on Chaos as the void where the entire universe came out of. It will also take us up until the age of the Titans, when Cronos ruled the earth.

In chapter three of the course, you will study the life of Kronos and his offspring. He was the youngest of the initial Titans and was once the ruler over all. You will see that the very thing he was upset about with regard to Uranus, his father, was a characteristic he

had in himself. We will talk about his six offspring, only one of whom would overthrow him and become ruler of the silver age.

Chapter four covers the Golden Age of Man, when Cronus and the Titans ruled. Cronus was, of course, the ruler of the Titans but there were many other deities in this realm. These early gods and goddesses often controlled specific things in nature or the cosmos. They were like other gods in that they had their faults and major issues with each other but you'll see they also had a particular job to do as part of the Greek pantheon.

Chapter five in the course takes you on an adventure into the saga of the Olympians. These we the gods and goddesses most people know, mostly because they are deities with many stories attached to them. Zeus was their leader but other Olympians like Aphrodite, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, and many others were commonly named in the Ancient Greek myths. You will study their stories and see that they are similar to the Titans but also had their own unique characteristics.

In chapter six, you will learn about the Gigantes or giants. There were a hundred giants created by Gaea after the fall of the Titans. It is said she bore them in order to get back at the Olympians after the Titanomachy. You will study the great war they had with the Olympians, called the Gigantomachy. While there were many giants, only a few are named and have specific characteristics you will need to know about.

Chapter seven in the course introduces you to some of the more famous heroes of the Bronze Age or the "Age of Heroes". There were many more than you will read about in this chapter; these are just the most commonly known individuals who were at least partly mortal and who often had many adventures. Learn who they are in this chapter before expanding later on the myths involving them in later chapters.

Chapter eight covers the events surrounding the Trojan War. There has been a lot of interest in it, even in modern times because there is no major city named Troy nowadays. Did Troy exist at all and was there a war? What we know about it comes from the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems written by Homer between 800 and 700 BCE. We will also talk about the archaeological evidence uncovering the real history of this place.

Chapter nine in the course finally clears up some details on a few of the mythical creatures you often hear about as part of Greek Mythology. These are strange creatures often said to be parts of more than one animal or a normal animal with special characteristics. There are also some major figures in this chapter that pop up in the study of mythology that may be so little discussed that they have more than one possible name or origin. Lastly, you will learn about the elements, which are things like ambrosia and nectar, that have special meaning to the ancient Greeks.

Chapter ten flushes out the monsters of Greek mythology. While all monsters are creatures, not all creatures are monsters. Chapter 9 covers the creatures; this one teaches you about those that the Greeks called monsters rather than creatures. These were often the ones that heroes set out to capture and kill for various reasons. You will see that some monsters held special meaning to the Greeks, such as those they felt were responsible for certain events in nature they couldn't otherwise explain.

In chapter eleven in the course, you will be able to thoroughly examine the myths that we will have already touched on having mortals in them. Mortals interacted with the gods in ancient Greek Mythology and were often sources of lessons or morals the Greeks wanted to emphasis. Among the different types of characters in Greek mythology, mortals were most often making errors that needed to be pointed out to others who heard of their stories.

Chapter twelve explores the Greek Underworld or what we call Hades. You'll see that it differs much from the Judeo Christian interpretation of Hell and is a place where everyone in Ancient Greece ultimately ends up after death. It is much more elaborate than you'd think and has several interesting characters who interact with the dead in fascinating ways.

The final thirteenth chapter is a brief discussion of the Greek plays. These were divided into comedies, tragedies, and satyrs. They were designed to both entertain and educate the public. There were a few Greek playwrights who stand out as the greatest among the Ancient Greek interpreters of the original literature on the gods and their interactions with humans. We will talk about the three greats of their time and their impact on what we know about the Greeks of that era.

CHAPTER 1: GREEK MYTHOLOGY: ORIGINS AND

THEMES

In this chapter, we start as early in time as we can even before the Ancient Greeks lived as we know them. This is because few myths and religions start de novo; they are generally borrowed from somewhere else at least to a small degree. If you are to understand what Greek mythology is all about, you need to know where it came from. You also need to know how we know about Ancient Greek mythology today and what the basic themes of this mythology mean.

BEFORE THE ANCIENT GREEKS

It's hard to believe that there really was a civilization before the ancient Greeks. While the ancient Greeks did live a long time ago, the land they lived on was once occupied by others who most likely influenced their belief system and their culture. We cannot go back in time to say who exactly was the first civilization to live there, but we do know that the Myceneans and the Minoans we're two cultures who did.

The Myceneans thrived on the mainland of Greece between 1600 BCE and 1100 BCE. They spoke the Greek language and had their own mythology, even though we don't know much about it.

The Minoans predated the Myceneans and lived on the island of Crete just off the mainland between 2600 BCE and 1400 BCE. The Minoan people were very powerful and had a huge Mediterranean Navy. They likely traded throughout the Mediterranean Sea with other cultures. Their language was different from the Myceneans and was called linear A.

The main city on the Isle of Crete was called Knossos. there was apparently a huge palace there and as many as 10,000 residents of just that city. Greek mythology indicates that the palace of Knossos was ruled by King Minos. Archaeological evidence

shows beautiful pottery an artwork in and around the palace area. You will hear later about King Minos and the labyrinth he built there with the minotaur who lived beneath it.

The most direct ancestors of the ancient Greek people were likely the Myceneans who had large cities states throughout Greece such as Athens and Thebes. They also traded throughout the Mediterranean area and traveled to Egypt and possibly other places on the Mediterranean Sea. Eventually, the Myceneans conquered the Minoans. This weakened the Minoan civilization so that it eventually collapsed. The Minoans were also likely victim to earthquakes and other natural disasters that contributed to the fall of their culture.

After the Myceneans conquered the Minoans, they developed their own adaptive writing style that we call linear B. the Myceneans themselves began to collapse in 1250 BCE. There is evidence of the burning of many of their major cities, although it is not known whether this was from a natural disaster or from some invader. This led to what is called a dark age in the ancient Greek time. The presence of Dark Ages In any culture essentially means that the culture is in a decline and no one participated in a great deal of art or writing.

We began to see a rise in the ancient Greek culture in what is called the Greek archaic. That began around 800 BCE. Remember this time as it is the beginning of what we now call ancient Greece. Greek culture began and evolved rapidly over a number of centuries with an increase in artistic efforts, science, technology, and literature. It is from this time period that we get the most information about ancient Greek mythology.

Figure 1 shows you the Mycenean and Minoan empires as we understand them to have existed in ancient times. You can see where the major cities were located and just how well they were positioned in the Mediterranean Sea.

Figure 1.

The time period we call Mycenean Greece was in the Bronze Age of ancient Greece. This was likely a lively culture with advanced urban organization, elaborate works of art, a complete writing system, and wealthy estates. There is no evidence to believe that they never had a time where they were not in contact with the Minoans on Crete as well as all of the other cultures along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Not only was the Mycenean period important for the development of the ancient Greek civilization, it appears as though these people shared some of the same gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks. In fact, you will see that it is this time that many of the early ancient Greek mythology seems to date from as they talk about their mythological history.

Among the Myceneans, Poseidon was considered the major god. He was connected to earthquakes and was called the " earthshaker" but he also seemed to have some of the same features as the river spirit of the Underworld. There were also ladies or mistresses

referred to in various ways as part of Mycenean mythology. This is where we see a reference to the mistress of the labyrinth on an inscription at Knossos. it is not completely clear who these ladies or mistresses were.

In an archaeological dig at Pylos, a linear B tablet was found that refer to two Queens and the king. It is believed that these were unnamed precursor goddess is of Demeter and Persephone along with Poseidon. In other settings, Demeter and her daughter Persephone we're called the two goddesses or the two mistresses, so it makes sense that this reference is about them. Both Demeter and Persephone were goddesses related somehow to agriculture.

Artemis also came out of he Mycenean period. She was a popular goddess and another daughter of Demeter. She is also thought to be connected to an earlier Minoan goddess with a slightly different name. Artemis was also connected with what was the Minoan cult of the tree, making her a popular and ancient goddess.

Athena was also an early goddess of those times. Her inscription was found in at a Knossos archaeological dig, dating from Minoan times. She was likely the palace goddess and was also someone who survived the times to be part of Ancient Greek Mythology.

Dionysos was a god who was also from pre ancient Greek times. His name means "son of Zeus". He was apparently one of the objects of an ancient cult dating from the Mycenean era. Most of his myths are located near Thebes. His own myth of dying so as to be reborn again is a theme seen in among the Minoans as well. This is even a common oriental theme from ancient times.

Other deities seen in Ancient Greek mythology that were borrowed from older times include Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, Erinya, and Eileithyia. Apollo was mentioned in Minoan writings as was Hephaestus. Others may also have been borrowed; we just don't have the archaeological evidence to prove it.

THE ANCIENT GREEKS

The time we call Ancient Greece began in 800 BCE, which is when Homer first recorded poetry. Before that, the Dark Ages lasted 400 years, where pottery existed but was only decorated with geometric designs. The Archaic Period was the beginnings of Greek culture, art, and poetry. The Classical Period followed, beginning in 480 BCE, when Alexander the Great ruled after the Persian invasion of Greece.

Athens was the center of Greek culture during this classical time. This was when the Parthenon was built. The power shifted over time to different leagues. The leagues were different alliances of small city states with limited membership and varying goals. There was the Delian or Athenian league, the Peloponnesian league near Sparta, the Boeotian league, and the League of Corinth. The great Peloponnesian War in 431 403 BCE marked a shift in power from Athens to Sparta. There were other wars that shifted power, depending on who won.

The Hellenistic period in ancient Greece lasted from 323 BCE to 146 BCE. This was a time of Greek expansion into the middle East. It was after this that the Romans took over much of the power in the region. If you get a chance to study Roman mythology, you will see many similarities. Again, few mythologies start de novo; many have borrowed features from other cultures. The end of the time of Ancient Greece is said to have occurred in 529 CE, when the area was Christianized.

GREEK THEOLOGY

There was really no central authority telling the Greeks what they should or shouldn't believe. There was no real "Greek religion" only a diverse set of local beliefs that we now associate with Greek mythology and Greek religion. You can think of it as many dialects or denominations that were similar to one another only because the existed in the same locale.

As for their theology, the ancient Greeks were polytheistic, which means they shared a belief in many gods and goddesses. As you will see, there is a hierarchy to these deities as well as lesser beings thought to have had supernatural powers. For much of the time,

Zeus was the king of the gods, even though he was not at all an "almighty god". Zeus ruled the sky and sent down lightning or thunder when angry, while Poseidon ruled earthquakes and the sea. Hades was the god of the Underworld and Helios was the god over the sun. Aphrodite was the goddess of love. All of these were considered humans who could transform into animals some of the time.

The Greek gods were immortal but we're not at all good and not at all powerful. All gods, just as all people, had to away fate or Moirai, which was an all-abiding concept that overrode anyone's power or divine will. An example was the fate of Odysseus after the Trojan War. The gods could not prevent Odysseus from doing this but could make it harder for him.

Greek gods and goddesses we're definitely not perfect. They had simple human vices and would interact with humans in ways that sometimes produced God/ human mortals as their children. You will see later that they did not always agree with one another and often supported opposite sides of a war.

Because of the lack of a central authority over theology, certain gods and goddesses were linked with specific areas. These include the following:

• Athena Athens

• Delphi Apollo

• Olympia Zeus

• Corinth Aphrodite

• Troy add Ethiopia Poseidon

• Thrace Ares

Interestingly, few ancient Greek sources talk about the actual belief systems they had. This is because the ancient Greeks we're more concerned with what someone did than what they actually believed. As you study this course further, you need to think about the belief system behind the stories, because it is through those stories that you have the best understanding of what they believed.

AFTERLIFE IN GREECE

You are probably aware of Hades and the Underworld in Greek culture. The concept of Hades, who was the brother of Zeus, was widespread in ancient Greece. The afterworld was actually called the Place of Hades. Tartarus was actually a different place than Hades. This was a place for the damned, where individuals were tormented and tortured. In contrast, there was Elysium, which was a place where the virtuous could have pleasures for all of eternity. This concept was not the same as it was in Mycenae, where everyone went to Hades after death. It wasn't until later that the separate places for the dead were identified in ancient Greece.

The Greeks believed that a few of their number, such as Achilles, Ganymede, Peleus, add many others who fought in wars were immortalized and came together to live in their version of heaven, which was Elysium. The two main sources of this information and of all information from ancient Greece came from the writings of Homer and Hesiod. Whether other beliefs existed, we do not know, as we only have information from a few writers. Most scholars believe that the ancient Greeks generally felt that death meant you were a soul without a body for all of eternity. Where you went as that soul was not completely clear. There were a few Greek philosophers, including Plato and Pythagoras, who felt that reincarnation happened after death. Epicurus believed that souls were made of atoms that dissolved when a person died. This meant that you ceased to exist after death.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

The Greeks had a lot of stories and myths about their gods and the ways they connected with people on earth. The gods and many others were heroic in their actions. Some stories were intended to exalt the deity, while others were based on morality, or tried to explain natural phenomena. There are a lot of different species to remember. Not everyone was just god or human. Humans and gods mated to have half human half god individuals, other species based on two separate other species, nymphs of nature, monsters, and other creatures. The

satyrs, for example, were half goat and half man. The dryads were tree nymphs and the nereids were sea nymphs. Perhaps you remember the one eyed cyclops or the part bull minotaur? These were a few other Greek creatures. The Ancient Greeks did not have a specific creation myth. Instead, different cults had their own idea of how the earth was created. Hesiod wrote his own version in which there was only one deity in the beginning of the world called Chaos. Out of Chaos came the gods of Eros, Tartarus, and Gaia. More gods call the Titans were created who gave birth to the Olympians.

Greek mythology evolved overtime as more was added to this and the later Roman mythology. Most likely, the mythology of the Greeks began in an oral tradition but was then written down in poetic form, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, or plays that people went to theaters to see. In Europe, it remained popular two read this poetry and attend plays that were written by ancient Greeks.

When we look further at Greek mythology, you will see that there is a great deal of morality written into the works. The Greeks were fearful of committing hubris. Hubris could mean a lot of things, including murder, desecrating a dead body, or rape. Pride and vanity were things not considered sinful, but we're meant to be enjoyed in moderation. Eating and drinking in excess were also not sinful but were not considered proper. Athletics were important to the Greeks as well as intelligence, so the competitions they had included both of these features.

THE FIVE AGES OF MAN

It is nearly impossible to have an accurate depiction of history described within Greek mythology. Many things are just guesses or were written down on a limited basis. The five ages of man were written in poetic form by Hesiod, who was a farmer or shepherd. The earliest written word on ancient Greek mythology came from Hesiod and Homer, who worked on his own poetry at about the same time in the 8th century BCE. It is believed that one or both of these men based their poetry on legends from Mesopotamia or possibly Egypt.

Legend tells us that Hesiod was tending his sheep and met the Greek muses. There were nine muses who were the daughters of Zeus and memory, who was called Mnemosyne. These 9 muses were divine women who inspired all Greek poetry and are always invoked at the beginning of any epic Greek poem.

On the day in question, the muses were said to have inspired Hesiod to write a poem called Works and Days, which was an 800-line piece of epic poetic work. There are three separate myths within this body of work. There is the story of Prometheus, the tale of Pandora's box, and the five ages of man. These five ages of men trace the different lineages or races throughout history from the beginning of time to the current time in Hesiod's era. it is helpful to keep this succession in mind as we talk about the different myths within Greek mythology. Let's look at them in succession:

• The Golden Age - this was the first period of mankind. This was when the Titans ruled and when people were formed by titan called Cronus. Cronus is the same as Saturn in Roman mythology. Mortal humans lived in idyllic life and never died tragically. No individual had to work and death simply meant falling asleep. It was spring eternally in this time and people actually aged backward, becoming demons at the time of death. This age ended when Zeus defeated the Titans. Interestingly, because gold was significant to the Greeks and meant good fortune or blessedness, this fits with what this age was called. It is also related to the sun.

• Silver Age – this was the age of the Olympians, where the Olympic god, Zeus, primarily ruled over the time. Men were no longer glorious and were far inferior to the gods, who had much more wisdom than mankind. Now there were Four Seasons and the need to work for grain and to seek some type of shelter. On the other hand, a child could be a child for at least 100 years before they grew up. Because people did not always honor the gods, Zeus destroy them and made them spirits of the Underworld. The metal silver was considered to be related to the moon.

• Bronze Age this was the third age of man. Zeus created men out of trees, particularly ash trees, which were used at that time to make Spears. Men of this

age were warring individuals who were not very nice. They wore armor made out of bronze and subsisted on meat rather than bread. Because these men were considered terrible, they were destroyed by a large flood. They also went to the Underworld after death. The use of the word bronze is likely related to the Babylonians and to the fact that some individuals used bronze as part of weapons and warfare.

• The Age of Heroes – this is the only age not named after a metal. The age of heroes referred to the Myceneans and to the stories that Homer told about them. This was a time of brave men who were demigods, heroic, brave, altruistic, and strong. This was also a time of great wars. Some men who died in these wars went to the Underworld, while others landed on the Islands of the Blessed Ones after death.

• The Iron Age the Iron Age was the time of Hesiod and of modern man. It was said that all of these modern men were made by Zeus and were filled with sorrow and weariness as well as selfishness and a strong capability to be evil. There were a few virtues among mankind and so the gods left the earth in abandonment.

According to Hesiod, Zeus will come back someday and destroy this lesser race of man. Iron is considered a very hard metal forged in fire, which fits with this particular time of man.

Notice that Hesiod is describing a continuing degeneration of mankind and of people who began life innocent and full of springtime and degenerated into evil. Only the age of heroes described good and virtuous men. He also describes some type of end time when Zeus will destroy mankind. In these next few chapters, we will go through these times of man in more detail as you learn about the different gods, their specific features, and how mankind existed during the different ages. You will learn about Homer and his contribution to Greek mythology as well.

IMPORTANT POINTS IN THIS CHAPTER

• Before the ancient Greeks, there were the Myceneans and Minoans in that area of the Mediterranean Sea, who lived before the Greeks and influenced ancient Greek culture.

• The time of the ancient Greeks began in the 8th century BCE after a 400 year period of the dark ages.

• Most of the early writings of Greek mythology came from the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, although the writing was added to over time.

• There is no specific creationist story that all of the ancient Greeks believed in.

• Greek mythology represents the best representation of Greek religion, even though there is no specific belief system but rather a series of stories that describe actions of gods and goddesses.

• There are many different species in Greek mythology that were part God, part human, and part animal or other creature.

• The five ages of man described by Hesiod are the best example we have of some type of history related to the Greek myths.

CHAPTER 1: QUESTIONS

1. Which culture on mainland Greece most influenced the ancient Greeks?

a. Minoans b. Mycenaeans c. Babylonians d. Mesopotamians

Answer: b. The Myceneans lived on mainland Greece prior to the age of the ancient Greek civilization and most likely had the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture.

2. In which city did King Minos have his labyrinth? a. Knossos b. Thebes c. Athens d. Cairo

Answer: a. The palace in the city of Knossos was where King Minos was said to have built a labyrinth for the minotaur.

3. When do we assume that ancient Greece began in time? a. 1300 BCE b. 1100 BCE c. 200 BCE d. 800 BCE

Answer: d. It isn't until 800 BCE that we first recognize classical ancient Greece after a few centuries of the Greek dark ages.

4. There was a hierarchy in Greek mythology. Who was considered the king of the gods?

a. Helios b. Zeus

c. Poseidon d. Hades

Answer: b. Through most of Greek mythology, Zeus was considered the king of the gods.

5. The various gods of ancient Greece were associated with specific cities. Which city was mainly linked to Apollo? a. Olympia b. Corinth c. Delphi d. Thrace

Answer: c. The ancient Greek God of Apollo was mainly associated with the city of Delphi.

6. Which Greek God or goddess would have been most honored in the city of Corinth? a. Aphrodite b. Apollo c. Zeus d. Demeter

Answer: a. Aphrodite was the goddess most linked to the city of Corinth in ancient Greece.

7. When the ancient Greeks talk about the minotaur, what animal is at least part of this creature? a. Goat b. Bull c. Deer d. Whale

Answer: b. The minotaur is a monster that is at least part bull.

8. The Ancient Greeks talk about a one eyed monster. What is this creature's name?

a. Satyr b. Minotaur c. Nereid d. Cyclops

Answer: d. A cyclops in Greek mythology is a one-eyed monster.

9. In which age of man were men strong and terrible warring creatures?

a. Heroes b. Silver c. Iron d. Bronze

Answer: d. In the Bronze Age, men were terrible warring creatures who wore bronze and made homes out of bronze. They were ultimately destroyed by a large flood.

10. When Hesiod writes about the different ages of man, what feature most describes the progression of these ages?

a. They describe the normal life stages of a human being b. They describe the mastery of man over the gods c. They describe the degeneration of mankind d. They describe a more loving relationship between mankind and the gods

Answer: c. Hesiod writes about the different ages of man and indicates a slow and gradual progression toward the degeneration of mankind over time.