Beginnings

ANCS/RLST 210
Classical Mythology
Professor Timothy Phin

Welcome!

Classical Mythology

Face to Face

Tuesdays from 1:00-4:10

Thursdays from 1:00-4:10

Sherman Hall 003

Welcome!

Professor Tim Phin

Office: PAHB 442

Office Hours: TTh from 11:00

AM-12:50PM

email: tphin@umbc.edu

Assignments

Class Discussion

2 phases

small groups

class-wide

30% of the grade

TO BRING TO CLASS:

2 questions

2 comments

Assignments

Quizzes (30% of the grade)

7 of them

ALL online

20 minutes

2 chances

READ THE QUIZ GUIDE

Assignments

Blog

20% of the grade

Divided into groups

3 posts (2 ancient, 1 modern)

Assignments

Blog

What does ancient mean?

The object must have come into

existence prior to 500 AD/CE.

What about modern?

The object must have come into

existence after 1500 AD/CE.
More modern is better (20th
century), and contemporary
(21st century) is best.

Assignments

Mythmaker

20% of the grade

You write you own myth. The myth

must have some basis in the
stories and topics weve
discussed in class, but it is
otherwise your own. Let your
creativity thrive.

3-4 pages

12 pt, reasonably font

double-spaced

DUE DATES (some)

Quiz 1 - 1/8 @ 11:59 PM

Quiz 2 - 1/8 @ 11:59 PM

Quiz 3 - 1/10 @ 11:59 PM

Blog 1 - 1/10 @ 11:59 PM

Quiz 4 - 1/13 @ 12:00 PM

Blog 2 - 1/14 @ 11:59 PM

Any questions?

Beginnings

What is a myth?

Definitions of myth

mythos - authoritative speech, story, plot

traditional story with collective importance

Myth as story

Stories have: beginnings, middles, and ends.

Stories have: characters.

Zeus is NOT a myth. Zeus is a character in a

myth.

Types of Myths

Divine myths

Legends (also known as sagas)

Folktales

Religion and Myth

Myths are traditional stories.

Religion is belief and the course of action that

follows from belief.

Religion and Myth

An example.

The Greeks believed that Zeus caused the rain

to fall.

Therefore, they sacrificed animals in times of

drought to persuade him to bring rain.

Myth as explanation

aitia

etiological tale - explains the cause of something

Time

Early/Middle Bronze Age (3000-1600 BCE)

The Late Bronze Age (1600-1150 BCE)

origin of the Greeks; Indo-Europeans; Minoans

Mycenaean Age; Linear B

The Dark Age (1150-800 BCE)

Time

The Archaic Period (800-480 BCE)

The Classical Period (480-323 BCE)

The Hellenistic Period (323-30 BCE)

Greek Myths

local

Panhellenic

Key words

cosmogony

theogony

anthropogony

genealogy

anthropomorphic

polytheistic

Opening Lines

There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called

Ilvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy
Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and
they were with him before aught else was made.
And he spoke to them, propounding to them
themes of music; and they sang before him, and
he was glad.

The Silmarillion, by JRR Tolkien (1977)

In the beginning

When at first God created the heavens and the

earth, the earth was a formless void and
darkness covered the face of the deep, while a
wind from God swept over the face of the
waters. Then God said, Let there be light; and
there was light. And God saw that the light was
good; and God separated the light from the
darkness. God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And there was
evening and there was morning, the first day.

Hesiod

Theogony

8th c./7th c. BCE

Boeotia

dactylic hexameters

Evangeline, Longfellow

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines

and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green,

indistinct in the twilight

RAGE:
Sing, Goddess, Achilles rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades dark,
And left their bodies to rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus will was done.
Begin with the clash between Agamemnon-The Greek warlord--and godlike Achilles.

Iliad, Book 1


, ,

,
, ,

.
Iliad, Book 1

More Key Words

formulae

epithets

From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing,

who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon,
and dance on soft feet about the deep-blue
spring and the altar of the almighty son of
Cronos, and, when they have washed their
tender bodies in Permessus or in the Horse's
Spring or Olmeius, make their fair, lovely
dances upon highest Helicon and move with
vigorous feet.

Theogony of Hesiod

Creation and Succession

In the beginningChaos, Gaia

The children of GaiaOuranos, Titans (Kronos,

Rhea, etc.)

The children of RheaZeus, Hera, Hades,

Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia

Kronos overthrows Ouranos.

Zeus overthrows Kronos.

Announcements

NO Face to Face session on JANUARY 8.

See QUIZ GUIDE and SYLLABUS for the weeks

assignments.

Readings this week: first four chapters of

Exploring Greek Myth & selections from the first
and second chapters of Gods, Heroes, and
Monsters