1. Introduction to Mythology

2. Terms to Know Oral Tradition Epic Poem / Saga Religion
collection of stories shared within a culture
Epic Poem / Saga
usually a central story of oral tradition
may be very complex
very changeable
Religion
beliefs and customs shared within a culture

3. Stories, stories....
folklore
legend
fable
fairy-tale
myth

4. Folklore told, not written focus: common people
may contain magic, supernatural
explain some element of shared culture

5. Legend told, not written focus: possibly a real person/event
usually don’t contain magic, supernatural
“folklore in historical moments”
“tall-tales” are a version of these

6. Fable short story with magical elements
talking / anthropomorphic animals
tells a MORAL tale or shows a MORAL lesson

7. Fairy-Tale not many in Greek / Roman longer than fables, but similar
typically N. European
often contain witches, elves, dwarves, goblins, mythical beasts
some versions Christianized
longer than fables, but similar
fantastical compared to legends, but similar

8. Myth legend like story dealing with gods, heroes, ancient ancestors
explain a natural, cultural, psychological phenomenon
often deal with origins of something

9. Sources... where do we get these stories? ancient texts
Homer
Hesiod
Apollodorus
Ovid
Virgil
are all these writers (and dozens more) consistent?
can anything be learned through archaeology??

10. Greek Myth: Characteristics
origins of universe
Theogony : birth of the gods
creation of the earth, animals, humans
Age of the Gods
“settling down” of the universe
Olympians defeat the Titans
Age of Gods / Mortals
gods and men mix quite a bit
birth of a lot of demigods
Age of Heroes
fewer god interactions

11. Part II
Birth of the Universe

12. Theogony In the beginning, there was Chaos..... Gaia/Ge (Earth)
Earth then divides herself
Ouranos – Heaven
Mountains
Sea (produces many monsters)
Tartaros (Darkness)
Eros (Desire)

13. Theogony From Ouranos and Earth (Gaia) comes:
the 12 Titans
Hekatoncheires (who have 100 hands)
Cyclopes (who are friendly engineers)
One of the Titans (Cronos), tired of Father Ouranos’ rule....um....
castrates him

14. Making monsters
mixing of all those early elements creates ‘unnatural’ creatures
Crazy broods of monsters from the sea
making enemies for Zeus
Many ‘female’ monsters
Typhaon/Typhoeus will return as the final opponent of Zeus
youngest “son” of Gaia
But the Titans are NOT monsters

15. Phorcys (son of the Sea and Gaia) and god of disasters at sea
Z34.3A PHORKYS & KETOMuseum Collection:ﾊBardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia 
Catalogue Number: TBA
Type: Mosaic
Context: -- 
Date: -- 
Period: Late RomanSUMMARYA sea god, probably Phorkys, carries a Nereid Nymphe across the sea. The red-skinned god is depicted as a merman, with coiling fish-tail and lobster-claw "feet" and horns. His arms and chest are decorated with spines. He holds a box (of salt?) in one hand and a flaming torch in the other, and is draped with a wreath of seaweed (?). The fish-tail in front of him belongs to the next figure in the train, the fish-tailed god Triton. The goddess riding on his back may be one of the Nereides or, perhaps his sea goddess wife Keto.
NB In another mosaic discovered at Antioch, a similar red-skinned sea-god with lobster-claw feet, holding a flaming torch, is labelled Phorkys in Greek lettering. He is here showing carrying a Nereid named Dynamene.ARTICLESPhorkys, Keto, Nereides

16. Medusa (daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, killed by Perseus)

17. Hydra (killed by Herakles and Iolaus, offspring of Typhaon and Echidna))

18. Chimaera (defeated by Bellerophon, offspring of Typhaon and Echidna)

19. Kerberos (overcome by Herakles, offspring of Typhaon and Echidna)

20. Sphinx (riddle solved by Oedipus)

21. Vase painting of Zeus and Typhaon
Zeus had one final opponent before he was truly the undisputed master of the universe; the being known as Typhon (or Typhoeus ), a hideous dragon-serpent creature conceived through the mating of Gaea (Earth) and Tartarus (the Underworld). After a long and violent struggle, Zeus eventually defeated the fire & smoke-breathing monster. Their epic battle is seen here on a black-figure vase painting found in Etruria (n. Italy), but probably by a Greek artist, c. 525 B.C.

23. Birth of Zeus
Kronos (head Titan, who had overthrown his father Ouranos) hears a prophesy that he will be overthrown by his son
So he eats his kids
Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter
But he is tricked by Rhea, his wife-sister

24. "Cronus Devouring His Children" by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)
what is this story?
"Cronus Devouring His Children" by Francisco de Goya ( )
n a time when European artists were producing dignified portraits of ancient myths and classical figures, the Spaniard, Goya, was giving full vent to his interest in the fantastic and bizarre. Here he portrays Cronus--or, Saturn, as the Romans called him--with wild eyes, chewing up one of his children. The story first appears in Hesiod's Theogony . The face shows Cronus's anxious determination to put away another potential threat to his rule. (The blood on the trunk of the victim is a touch of realism at odds with the ancient account. No blood flowed in the veins of Greek gods, but an immortal substance called "ichor." Why do you suppose Goya added it?) This painting is exhibited in the Prado Museum of Madrid, the home of many works by court artists. Every age reveals itself in the way it portrays the ancient myths. What does Goya's portait of Cronus say about his view of the world?

25. “Cronus devours his children,” Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640)
Rubens’ Cronus devourting his childern
sparagmos

26. Attic Red-Figure Vase depiction of Rhea’s trick, ca 475 - 425 BC
Rhea handing cronus a rock

27. Relief of Rhea’s trick

28. Omphalos stone from Delphi (Roman Copy) the stone Kronos swallowed?

30. Zeus, King of the Gods

31. Zeus: King of the Gods SKY GOD!!!!! Indo-European parallels (sky/day)
Dyaus Pitar (ancient Hindu god)
Iuppiter (Dyeus-pater)
Tyr (Tiw)
Mesopotamian storm-god
Birth and accession to power
Raised in Crete, had to hid from Daddy Cronos

32. Zeus, Authority, Justice
“King of Gods and Men”
Gives kings the right to rule
Concerned with justice, order, law
An ancient song about Zeus:
“Yours is the rulership of Heaven
You oversee the deeds of men
Villainous and lawful; you care about
The outrage and right-doing of beasts”

33. Some epithets Zeus Gamelios
NB: Greek deities may have multiple epithets
location
attribute
province
‘versions’ of the gods may be worshipped only in very specific places, or in specific contexts, or invoked for special reasons
syncretism
Zeus Olympios
Zeus as he rules over the gods (on Mt. Olympos)
Zeus Xenios
Zeus as he watches out for travelers, hospitality, and the rules of xenia
Zeus Polieos, Zeus Boulios
Zeus as he watches over the workings of city
Zeus Horkios
Zeus as he protects oaths and punishes oath breakers
Zeus Dikaios
Zeus as he governs Justice
Zeus Kataibates
Zeus’ lightning bolts
Zeus Gamelios
Zeus as protector of marriage

34. Iconography primary symbols almost always bearded eagle thunderbolt
scepter/staff
throne
oak
almost always bearded
he is the father god after all

35. Zeus with thunderbolt and eagle

36. Zeus with thunderbolt, staff
K1.2 ZEUSMuseum Collection:ﾊAntikensammlungen, Munich, Germany 
Museum Catalogue Number:ﾊTBA
Beazley Archive Number:ﾊTBA
Ware:ﾊAttic Red Figure
Shape:ﾊAmphora, Panathenaic
Painter:ﾊ--
Date:ﾊca 480 BC
Period:ﾊLate Archaic / Early ClassicalSUMMARYZeus stands holding a lightning bolt in one hand and a royal sceptre in the other.ARTICLES

37. Zeus enthroned (staff, eagle, thunderbolt, throne)
Section of a Greek vase paintings showing Zeus enthroned, with Hera seated next to him. Nike (with the wings) stands opposite them pouring from a pitcher into a libation bowl. Zeus holds his thunderbolt (note how different it is from our "thunderbolt" icon) and staff with eagle. The throne is elaborately decorated with little figures of Sirens -- monsters with women's heads and bird bodies -- and wrestlers.

38. Zeus and Hera enthroned
Slide 1: Vase painting of Zeus and Hera seated (look at the LOWER image)

39. Statue of Zeus[?] (thunderbolt lost)