Ancient Greek and Roman

Archetypes: The Scarlet Titans

Kayla Bennett, Kanya McGriff, Tahj
Jackson, Frankie Larkin

The Nymph

In Ancient Greece and Rome, there were many
myths concerning nymphs. For the purposes
of this presentation we will use the well
known myth of Echo. Echo is a good example
of the nymph. She was cursed by Hera for
distracting Hera while Zeus had an affair with
a mortal woman. Hera cursed Echo to only
repeat what others said. From this we get the
word Echo.
Athlete
Greece and Rome were very athletic cultures,
therefore it is only right that they have an athletic
archetype. While the Greeks had Pheidippides,
who ran the first marathon, from Marathon to
Athens, Atalanta is a mythological universal
archetype in both cultures. She was the fastest
runner in the world, and said she would marry
the man who could beat her in a footrace.
Hippomenes beat her with a gift from Aphrodite,
three golden apples that he dropped in her path.
The Queen
The Greeks, not the Romans, had queens.
Hippolyta is a good example of this. She was
the Queen of the Amazons. When Heracles
took the belt of the Amazons, Hera convinced
the Amazons to attack him, he killed Hippolyta
in an attempt to escape.
The King
Greece had kings until the fall of the Greek
Empire to Rome in 146 BC and the Romans
had kings until between 510 and 509 BC. The
best example is Theseus. Theseus was the king
of Athens and defeated the Cretan minotaur.
The Goddess
The goddess is a universal archetype of all
polytheistic cultures, the first being China and
Egypt. In this case we will focus on the Greco-
Roman goddess Gaia. She was the mother of
Kronos, the evil Titan Lord of time, who was
the father of the Olympian Gods. A goddess
can be defined as an immortal being in charge
of a certain realm. Gaia was the goddess of
the earth, her husband Ouranos was the
original god of the sky.
The Resurrection
A great example of resurrection is the bird of
fire known as the Phoenix. The Phoenix is a
mythological creature born of the ashes of a
previous life. It is a fierce bird of fire.
The flood
A good example of a flood myth is the myth of
Deucalion. Deucalion was saved from a flood
by Zeus by Prometheus. The flood was to
destroy humanity for being evil. When he was
saved Zeus told him and his wife to throw
behind them the rocks of their mother.
Deucalion threw behind him some rocks,
bones of earth, mother of all, that
transformed into people to repopulate the
earth.
The Sage
A sage is a wise person who serves as a
mentor. A good example of an ancient Greco
Roman sage would be Socrates. The founder
of the Socratic Seminar, Socrates was a great
mentor of many ancient European
philosophers.
Quis militat sapiens matrona sapiens est. Romanum
antiquum documentum puto graeco esset Sortes.
Fundator Socraticorum Seminar Socrates Europaeus
magna Mentoris veterum philosophorum.

.
Greco Roman
. ,

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The Keeper of the Dead
While many cultures have the Grim Reaper,
ancient Greece had the god Thanatos, or Letus
if you are Roman. Thanatos was a keeper of
the dead. If you were to picture Death as
Mexico and Life as the United States, Thanatos
would be the United States Border Patrol, his
job being keep the dead dead.
The Judge
The Judge can be defined as the one who
decides whether one has done enough bad in
their life to be eternally punished, enough
good to go to the Fields of Elysium, or not
enough of anything and sends them to the
Fields of Asphodel, the ancient equivalent of
Purgatory. The one who best fits this
description is Hades, or Pluto.
The
Guide
The guide archetype is best portrayed as
Ariadne. Ariadne was the Princess of Crete
who helped Theseus navigate the Labyrinth.
She was then disowned by her father Minos.
The God
The god is someone who rules, or has power.
Our example of the god is Ouranos, the
husband of Gaia, and father of the Titans.
Ouranos was the first ruler of the universe,
but was killed by his son, Kronos.
The Saboteur
The best mythological archetype of a saboteur
is Discord. Discord (Discorda vocbant in
Rom) is the goddess of sabotage. The
definition of the saboteur is one who prevents
one faction from doing something by
damaging or destroying an important
component.
The Musician
The best example of a musician is Orpheus. The
musician is one who uses music as both an outlet
and an advantage. Orpheus certainly did this.
When his bride was bitten in the heel on their
wedding day by a snake, he sang his way into the
Underworld, however when he broke his deal
with Hades, his wife stayed dead. He also got
chopped to pieces by the followers of Dionysus
three days later. Generally, bad things happen
when you deal with nymphs.
The Poet
Poeta


The Poet is one who tells stories in a melodic
fashion. A good example of a poet would be
Sappho. He is a well known Greek poet.
The Drunkard
A drunkard is someone who constantly drinks
alcohol. The god of wine and parties,
Dionysus, is the epitome of a drunkard. He
became a god because he created wine.

The Temptress
There are several cultures with a temptress
archetype in them. In Greco-Roman culture
the best example is Circe. She turned
Odysseuss crew into pigs and tried to get him
to love her. In the end he resists with help
from Athena.
Sources
Hansen, William. "Greek Mythology." The New Book of
Knowledge. Grolier Online, 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Nardo, Don. Greek and Roman Mythology. San Diego, CA:
Lucent, 1998. Print.
Buxton, R. G. A. The Complete World of Greek Mythology.
London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Print