1.
Myth is something that has carried many different definitions over time. Check all that were
mentioned in lecture.
over the course of the 20th century especially, people turned to myths in their hunt for human
universals
a lie
Correct Response
this is a tried and true definition -- in both the contemporary and ancient worlds, on definition of the
term "myth" (Greek, MYTHOS) is "a lie."
a tall tale
Incorrect Response
anything spoken
Correct Response
some people think myths convey the deepest truths it's possible for us humans to find
another name for language of any kind, including the communications of all species
Correct Response
right, some see it as a window into the specifics of a certain people, nation, or culture
those who think this will value it in different ways, positively and negatively
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
2.
Of all those possible definitions of myth in question 1), our class is definitely NOT going to use...
(check all that apply).
In the context of our class we'll learn a lot about the Greeks and Romans from myth, so we'll see this
definition enacted week after week.
Especially when we develop our theoretical tools in the class, we'll consider carefully the idea that
myth preserves a form of thinking that is either rudimentary or fundamental for humans.
this is one claim about myth we won't use in the class -- myths are told by humans in human
language.
This will be hard one, but by studying myth, we'll be able to make some claims about things that are
true for either all or most humans.
a lie
Correct Response
We'll see this one -- sometimes even among the ancient myth tellers!
At many points in the class, we'll be working on trying to specify what kind of truth this might be.
anything spoken
Correct Response
Myths are tied up with language, as the ancient Greek term MYTHOS teaches us, and we'll see
strong links between myth and the spoken word.
Correct
1 / 1 points
3.
Evaluate the following statement: The versions of myths we see on contemporary television shows
are not authentic.
The statement contains a problem that makes it difficult to call it true or false.
Correct Response
For detailed consideration of the reasoning behind the correct answer to this question, see question
4).
Correct
1 / 1 points
4.
The reason why question 3) has the answer it does is because:
The TV shows play so fast and loose with the real mythology, they can't even be measured via the
category of authenticity.
The Romans already corrupted the authentic Greek versions, so when the later Europeans inherited
these stories and passed them on to Hollywood, they're already so inauthentic that you can't really
blame the TV shows for getting the true versions wrong.
To measure any version of a myth, even campy TV shows, as not authentic (or as authentic)
assumes that there is some one authentic, authorized version of these myths against which they
succeed or fail, and there really isn't one.
Correct Response
This question asks you to evaluate the use of the idea of "authenticity" to measure versions mythic
stories. The problems is, there really is not any pure, authentic version of any of these mythic
stories. Moderns borrow from the ancients, and the ancients borrowed from even more ancient
versions, prior to their own. ANY telling of a myth is going to be at root a re-telling, and also a
reshaping to meet the needs of the culture that is doing the re-telling. Myth is a living, changing
thing.
Correct
1 / 1 points
5.
True or False: Although there are many versions of myths, there is always one definitive version.
False
Correct Response
True
Correct
1 / 1 points
6.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
People make myths up under the influence of their own culture, so you'll see people making their
gods in their own images.
Euhemerism
Plato
allegory
Xenophanes
Correct Response
Aristarchus
Correct
1 / 1 points
7.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths are stories told about real people in the past who did something important. Future generations
told and retold their exploits; and through exaggeration the real people eventually became deified.
Euhemerism
Correct Response
allegory
Aristarchus
Plato
Xenophanes
Correct
1 / 1 points
8.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths contain hidden truths buried inside their strange tales. So when you run into something
strange or out of the ordinary chances are it's the poet trying to convey a hidden message.
Euhemerism
allegory
Correct Response
Aristarchus
Xenophanes
Plato
Correct
1 / 1 points
9.
This thinker re-introduces the Greek term "mythos" into modern European language. Up til then,
terms from the Latin "fabula" were the most common way of referring to the ancient tales.
Hume
Fontenelle
Heyne
Correct Response
When Heyne turned to these ancient stories, he coined the new term (German "Mythos") from the
Greek root, since he wanted to change substantially how people viewed these stories. The Latin
"fabula" was tied into a certain way of looking at these stories as quirky old tales, maybe with some
little nugget in them, but otherwise not promising much wisdom.
Herder
Correct
1 / 1 points
10.
This thinker was the first one in our group of moderns to consider the stories in myth to be attempts
to explain strange happenings in the natural world. Early humans were fearful of some things, like
lightning or thunder, and invented myths to explain what they saw. [Please give your answer in
terms of last name only, starting with a capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Fontenelle thought of the stories in myth as being the result of an attempt to understand
the world, and so not SO different from the mentality that all humans have.
Correct
1 / 1 points
11.
This thinker treated myth as the same thing as poetry, religion, and language itself. It was a primal
expression of what it means to be human containing the deepest meanings we humans are capable
of observing and expressing. [Please give your answer in terms of last name only, starting with a
capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Herder as a precursor to the Romantics, saw myth as a great repository of primal ancient
wisdom. It was not an attempt to explain, exactly, it was rather an automatic, profound response of a
human being to the experience of being human.
Correct
1 / 1 points
12.
Here's the definition we're going to be using as our working definition in this class. Who is the
scholar who developed it?
"Myth is a traditional tale with a secondary partial reference to something of collective importance"
(and for our class, we'll add, "...told by someone for some reason.")
Heyne
Fontenelle
Burkert
Correct Response
Correct!
Herder
Correct
1 / 1 points
13.
Which of the following accurately matches each historical period to the century in which it occurred?
Classical Rome: 2nd c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
15th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
13th c. BCE.
Correct Response
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 9th c. BCE; Trojan War:
14th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 6th c. BCE; Trojan War:
11th c. CE.
Correct
1 / 1 points
14.
What did Heinrich Schliemann find?
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
15.
What were the written forms of Linear A and Linear B used for, given the evidence that we have?
Epic
Incorrect Response
Poetry
History
Economic records
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
16.
Which of the following statements characterizes how the Greeks remembered their own involvement
in the Trojan War. Check all that apply:
As a moment when their imperial reach over the Mediterranean was solidified for generations to
come.
Incorrect Response
As a massive mistake, when the dalliance of Helen was used as an excuse to try to dominate the
Mediterranean.
Incorrect Response
As an effort characterized by excessive displays of war rage against the conquered Trojans.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
17.
Contemporary scholars have identified the number of poets behind the Odyssey, which has been
traditionally attributed to Homer, to be:
We're not entirely sure, but given the overall coherence of the story, we tend now to credit the work
to a single editorial hand endowed with great poetic insight.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
18.
Homer's text likely emerged from the following context:
A learned scribal culture that found a new medium for preserving cultural memory.
Warrior poets who wanted to make sure their exploits in war were remembered.
Correct
1 / 1 points
19.
Homer's poetry was understood to be divinely inspired . . .
. . . and so it was received as a Sacred text and read literally by ancient Greeks.
. . . insofar as the poet himself claimed the Muse was just using him as a mouthpiece.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
20.
What is the Greek word that means Odysseus is a man of twists and turns?
muthos
polymetric
nostos
polytropos
Correct Response
1.
Myth is something that has carried many different definitions over time. Check all that were
mentioned in lecture.
those who think this will value it in different ways, positively and negatively
another name for language of any kind, including the communications of all species
Correct Response
a tall tale
Incorrect Response
right, some see it as a window into the specifics of a certain people, nation, or culture
a lie
Correct Response
this is a tried and true definition -- in both the contemporary and ancient worlds, on definition of the
term "myth" (Greek, MYTHOS) is "a lie."
over the course of the 20th century especially, people turned to myths in their hunt for human
universals
anything spoken
Correct Response
some people think myths convey the deepest truths it's possible for us humans to find
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
2.
Of all those possible definitions of myth in question 1), our class is definitely NOT going to use...
(check all that apply).
Especially when we develop our theoretical tools in the class, we'll consider carefully the idea that
myth preserves a form of thinking that is either rudimentary or fundamental for humans.
In the context of our class we'll learn a lot about the Greeks and Romans from myth, so we'll see this
definition enacted week after week.
this is one claim about myth we won't use in the class -- myths are told by humans in human
language.
anything spoken
Incorrect Response
Myths are tied up with language, as the ancient Greek term MYTHOS teaches us, and we'll see
strong links between myth and the spoken word.
a lie
Incorrect Response
We'll see this one -- sometimes even among the ancient myth tellers!
At many points in the class, we'll be working on trying to specify what kind of truth this might be.
This will be hard one, but by studying myth, we'll be able to make some claims about things that are
true for either all or most humans.
Correct
1 / 1 points
3.
Evaluate the following statement: The versions of myths we see on contemporary television shows
are not authentic.
The statement contains a problem that makes it difficult to call it true or false.
Correct Response
For detailed consideration of the reasoning behind the correct answer to this question, see question
4).
Correct
1 / 1 points
4.
The reason why question 3) has the answer it does is because:
The TV shows play so fast and loose with the real mythology, they can't even be measured via the
category of authenticity.
The Romans already corrupted the authentic Greek versions, so when the later Europeans inherited
these stories and passed them on to Hollywood, they're already so inauthentic that you can't really
blame the TV shows for getting the true versions wrong.
To measure any version of a myth, even campy TV shows, as not authentic (or as authentic)
assumes that there is some one authentic, authorized version of these myths against which they
succeed or fail, and there really isn't one.
Correct Response
This question asks you to evaluate the use of the idea of "authenticity" to measure versions mythic
stories. The problems is, there really is not any pure, authentic version of any of these mythic
stories. Moderns borrow from the ancients, and the ancients borrowed from even more ancient
versions, prior to their own. ANY telling of a myth is going to be at root a re-telling, and also a
reshaping to meet the needs of the culture that is doing the re-telling. Myth is a living, changing
thing.
Correct
1 / 1 points
5.
True or False: Although there are many versions of myths, there is always one definitive version.
True
False
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
6.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
The myths a culture chooses to tell have an influence in shaping the values of that culture.
allegory
Aristarchus
Euhemerism
Plato
Correct Response
Xenophanes
Correct
1 / 1 points
7.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths are stories told about real people in the past who did something important. Future generations
told and retold their exploits; and through exaggeration the real people eventually became deified.
allegory
Aristarchus
Euhemerism
Correct Response
Plato
Xenophanes
Correct
1 / 1 points
8.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths contain hidden truths buried inside their strange tales. So when you run into something
strange or out of the ordinary chances are it's the poet trying to convey a hidden message.
Euhemerism
Plato
Aristarchus
Xenophanes
allegory
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
9.
This thinker re-introduces the Greek term "mythos" into modern European language. Up til then,
terms from the Latin "fabula" were the most common way of referring to the ancient tales.
Heyne
Correct Response
When Heyne turned to these ancient stories, he coined the new term (German "Mythos") from the
Greek root, since he wanted to change substantially how people viewed these stories. The Latin
"fabula" was tied into a certain way of looking at these stories as quirky old tales, maybe with some
little nugget in them, but otherwise not promising much wisdom.
Fontenelle
Herder
Hume
Correct
1 / 1 points
10.
This thinker was the first one in our group of moderns to consider the stories in myth to be attempts
to explain strange happenings in the natural world. Early humans were fearful of some things, like
lightning or thunder, and invented myths to explain what they saw. [Please give your answer in
terms of last name only, starting with a capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Fontenelle thought of the stories in myth as being the result of an attempt to understand
the world, and so not SO different from the mentality that all humans have.
Correct
1 / 1 points
11.
What is considered the modern era in this course?
Correct
1 / 1 points
12.
Here's the definition we're going to be using as our working definition in this class. Who is the
scholar who developed it?
"Myth is a traditional tale with a secondary partial reference to something of collective importance"
(and for our class, we'll add, "...told by someone for some reason.")
Herder
Fontenelle
Heyne
Burkert
Correct Response
Correct!
Correct
1 / 1 points
13.
Which of the following accurately matches each historical period to the century in which it occurred?
Classical Rome: 2nd c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
15th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
13th c. BCE.
Correct Response
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 9th c. BCE; Trojan War:
14th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 6th c. BCE; Trojan War:
11th c. CE.
Correct
1 / 1 points
14.
What did Heinrich Schliemann find?
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
15.
What were the written forms of Linear A and Linear B used for, given the evidence that we have?
History
Epic
Poetry
Incorrect Response
Economic records
Correct
1 / 1 points
16.
Which of the following statements characterizes how the Greeks remembered their own involvement
in the Trojan War. Check all that apply:
As a moment when their imperial reach over the Mediterranean was solidified for generations to
come.
Correct Response
As an effort characterized by excessive displays of war rage against the conquered Trojans.
Correct Response
As a massive mistake, when the dalliance of Helen was used as an excuse to try to dominate the
Mediterranean.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
17.
Contemporary scholars have identified the number of poets behind the Odyssey, which has been
traditionally attributed to Homer, to be:
We're not entirely sure, but given the overall coherence of the story, we tend now to credit the work
to a single editorial hand endowed with great poetic insight.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
18.
Homer's text likely emerged from the following context:
Warrior poets who wanted to make sure their exploits in war were remembered.
A learned scribal culture that found a new medium for preserving cultural memory.
Correct
1 / 1 points
19.
Homer's poetry was understood to be divinely inspired . . .
. . . insofar as the poet himself claimed the Muse was just using him as a mouthpiece.
Correct Response
. . . and so it was received as a Sacred text and read literally by ancient Greeks.
Correct
1 / 1 points
20.
What is the Greek word that means Odysseus is a man of twists and turns?
polymetric
muthos
nostos
polytropos
Correct Response
1.
Myth is something that has carried many different definitions over time. Check all that were
mentioned in lecture.
a tall tale
Correct Response
some people think myths convey the deepest truths it's possible for us humans to find
over the course of the 20th century especially, people turned to myths in their hunt for human
universals
anything spoken
Correct Response
another name for language of any kind, including the communications of all species
Incorrect Response
a lie
Correct Response
this is a tried and true definition -- in both the contemporary and ancient worlds, on definition of the
term "myth" (Greek, MYTHOS) is "a lie."
those who think this will value it in different ways, positively and negatively
right, some see it as a window into the specifics of a certain people, nation, or culture
Incorrect
0 / 1 points
2.
Of all those possible definitions of myth in question 1), our class is definitely NOT going to use...
(check all that apply).
a lie
Incorrect Response
We'll see this one -- sometimes even among the ancient myth tellers!
anything spoken
Incorrect Response
Myths are tied up with language, as the ancient Greek term MYTHOS teaches us, and we'll see
strong links between myth and the spoken word.
Incorrect Response
This will be hard one, but by studying myth, we'll be able to make some claims about things that are
true for either all or most humans.
this is one claim about myth we won't use in the class -- myths are told by humans in human
language.
Especially when we develop our theoretical tools in the class, we'll consider carefully the idea that
myth preserves a form of thinking that is either rudimentary or fundamental for humans.
At many points in the class, we'll be working on trying to specify what kind of truth this might be.
In the context of our class we'll learn a lot about the Greeks and Romans from myth, so we'll see this
definition enacted week after week.
Correct
1 / 1 points
3.
Evaluate the following statement: The versions of myths we see on contemporary television shows
are not authentic.
The statement contains a problem that makes it difficult to call it true or false.
Correct Response
For detailed consideration of the reasoning behind the correct answer to this question, see question
4).
Correct
1 / 1 points
4.
The reason why question 3) has the answer it does is because:
The TV shows play so fast and loose with the real mythology, they can't even be measured via the
category of authenticity.
The Romans already corrupted the authentic Greek versions, so when the later Europeans inherited
these stories and passed them on to Hollywood, they're already so inauthentic that you can't really
blame the TV shows for getting the true versions wrong.
To measure any version of a myth, even campy TV shows, as not authentic (or as authentic)
assumes that there is some one authentic, authorized version of these myths against which they
succeed or fail, and there really isn't one.
Correct Response
This question asks you to evaluate the use of the idea of "authenticity" to measure versions mythic
stories. The problems is, there really is not any pure, authentic version of any of these mythic
stories. Moderns borrow from the ancients, and the ancients borrowed from even more ancient
versions, prior to their own. ANY telling of a myth is going to be at root a re-telling, and also a
reshaping to meet the needs of the culture that is doing the re-telling. Myth is a living, changing
thing.
Correct
1 / 1 points
5.
True or false: in lecture we discussed the claim that the Mediterranean is a corrupting sea.
False
True
Correct Response
In lecture we mentioned a recent work of scholarship that made this case. For those who wise to
pursue the topic, it was the scholars Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell who dubbed the
Mediterranean "The Corrupting Sea," by which they meant that the sea created a rich network of
links, through trade and warfare, through which many ancient cultures shared many parts of their
cultures.
Correct
1 / 1 points
6.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
People make myths up under the influence of their own culture, so you'll see people making their
gods in their own images.
Xenophanes
Correct Response
Euhemerism
allegory
Aristarchus
Plato
Correct
1 / 1 points
7.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths are stories told about real people in the past who did something important. Future generations
told and retold their exploits; and through exaggeration the real people eventually became deified.
Euhemerism
Correct Response
Aristarchus
allegory
Plato
Xenophanes
Correct
1 / 1 points
8.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths contain hidden truths buried inside their strange tales. So when you run into something
strange or out of the ordinary chances are it's the poet trying to convey a hidden message.
allegory
Correct Response
Aristarchus
Euhemerism
Xenophanes
Plato
Correct
1 / 1 points
9.
This thinker re-introduces the Greek term "mythos" into modern European language. Up til then,
terms from the Latin "fabula" were the most common way of referring to the ancient tales.
Hume
Fontenelle
Herder
Heyne
Correct Response
When Heyne turned to these ancient stories, he coined the new term (German "Mythos") from the
Greek root, since he wanted to change substantially how people viewed these stories. The Latin
"fabula" was tied into a certain way of looking at these stories as quirky old tales, maybe with some
little nugget in them, but otherwise not promising much wisdom.
Correct
1 / 1 points
10.
This thinker was the first one in our group of moderns to consider the stories in myth to be attempts
to explain strange happenings in the natural world. Early humans were fearful of some things, like
lightning or thunder, and invented myths to explain what they saw. [Please give your answer in
terms of last name only, starting with a capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Fontenelle thought of the stories in myth as being the result of an attempt to understand
the world, and so not SO different from the mentality that all humans have.
Correct
1 / 1 points
11.
This thinker treated myth as the same thing as poetry, religion, and language itself. It was a primal
expression of what it means to be human containing the deepest meanings we humans are capable
of observing and expressing. [Please give your answer in terms of last name only, starting with a
capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Herder as a precursor to the Romantics, saw myth as a great repository of primal ancient
wisdom. It was not an attempt to explain, exactly, it was rather an automatic, profound response of a
human being to the experience of being human.
Correct
1 / 1 points
12.
Here's the definition we're going to be using as our working definition in this class. Who is the
scholar who developed it?
"Myth is a traditional tale with a secondary partial reference to something of collective importance"
(and for our class, we'll add, "...told by someone for some reason.")
Herder
Fontenelle
Burkert
Correct Response
Correct!
Heyne
Correct
1 / 1 points
13.
Which of the following accurately matches each historical period to the century in which it occurred?
Classical Rome: 2nd c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
15th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
13th c. BCE.
Correct Response
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 9th c. BCE; Trojan War:
14th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 6th c. BCE; Trojan War:
11th c. CE.
Correct
1 / 1 points
14.
There are many chapters to the story of the Trojan War both before and after the hostilities. In one of
them, prior to the war, a mortal marries an immortal. Who were they? Check the two appropriate
boxes:
Paris
Correct Response
Helen
Correct Response
Achilles
Correct Response
Aphrodite
Correct Response
Thetis
Correct Response
Peleus
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
15.
The Greek term "NOSTOI" means
Journeys home
Correct Response
Marriage
War rage
Shame
Correct
1 / 1 points
16.
Which of the following statements characterizes how the Greeks remembered their own involvement
in the Trojan War. Check all that apply:
As an effort characterized by excessive displays of war rage against the conquered Trojans.
Correct Response
As a massive mistake, when the dalliance of Helen was used as an excuse to try to dominate the
Mediterranean.
Correct Response
As a moment when their imperial reach over the Mediterranean was solidified for generations to
come.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
17.
Contemporary scholars have identified the number of poets behind the Odyssey, which has been
traditionally attributed to Homer, to be:
We're not entirely sure, but given the overall coherence of the story, we tend now to credit the work
to a single editorial hand endowed with great poetic insight.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
18.
Homer's verse is written in this meter:
Dactylic penameter
Iambic pentameter
Iambic trimeter
Dactylic hexameter
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
19.
Homer's poetry was understood to be divinely inspired . . .
. . . and so it was received as a Sacred text and read literally by ancient Greeks.
. . . insofar as the poet himself claimed the Muse was just using him as a mouthpiece.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
20.
The Greek word POLYTROPOS means. Be careful in your answer -- be sure you read all
options before you make you selection.
resourceful
tricky
crafty
all of these
Correct Response
1.
Myth is something that has carried many different definitions over time. Check all that were
mentioned in lecture.
anything spoken
Correct Response
a lie
Correct Response
this is a tried and true definition -- in both the contemporary and ancient worlds, on definition of the
term "myth" (Greek, MYTHOS) is "a lie."
those who think this will value it in different ways, positively and negatively
a tall tale
Correct Response
another name for language of any kind, including the communications of all species
Correct Response
over the course of the 20th century especially, people turned to myths in their hunt for human
universals
Correct Response
some people think myths convey the deepest truths it's possible for us humans to find
right, some see it as a window into the specifics of a certain people, nation, or culture
Correct
1 / 1 points
2.
Of all those possible definitions of myth in question 1), our class is definitely NOT going to use...
(check all that apply).
At many points in the class, we'll be working on trying to specify what kind of truth this might be.
anything spoken
Correct Response
Myths are tied up with language, as the ancient Greek term MYTHOS teaches us, and we'll see
strong links between myth and the spoken word.
Especially when we develop our theoretical tools in the class, we'll consider carefully the idea that
myth preserves a form of thinking that is either rudimentary or fundamental for humans.
this is one claim about myth we won't use in the class -- myths are told by humans in human
language.
In the context of our class we'll learn a lot about the Greeks and Romans from myth, so we'll see this
definition enacted week after week.
a lie
Correct Response
We'll see this one -- sometimes even among the ancient myth tellers!
This will be hard one, but by studying myth, we'll be able to make some claims about things that are
true for either all or most humans.
Correct
1 / 1 points
3.
Evaluate the following statement: The versions of myths we see on contemporary television shows
are not authentic.
The statement contains a problem that makes it difficult to call it true or false.
Correct Response
For detailed consideration of the reasoning behind the correct answer to this question, see question
4).
Correct
1 / 1 points
4.
The reason why question 3) has the answer it does is because:
The TV shows play so fast and loose with the real mythology, they can't even be measured via the
category of authenticity.
To measure any version of a myth, even campy TV shows, as not authentic (or as authentic)
assumes that there is some one authentic, authorized version of these myths against which they
succeed or fail, and there really isn't one.
Correct Response
This question asks you to evaluate the use of the idea of "authenticity" to measure versions mythic
stories. The problems is, there really is not any pure, authentic version of any of these mythic
stories. Moderns borrow from the ancients, and the ancients borrowed from even more ancient
versions, prior to their own. ANY telling of a myth is going to be at root a re-telling, and also a
reshaping to meet the needs of the culture that is doing the re-telling. Myth is a living, changing
thing.
The Romans already corrupted the authentic Greek versions, so when the later Europeans inherited
these stories and passed them on to Hollywood, they're already so inauthentic that you can't really
blame the TV shows for getting the true versions wrong.
Correct
1 / 1 points
5.
True or False: Although there are many versions of myths, there is always one definitive version.
False
Correct Response
True
Correct
1 / 1 points
6.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths are stories, told to be good stories. So when you run into something strange and out of the
ordinary in the poem, don't expect that there's some hidden meaning in it. It's just poets being poets.
Plato
Xenophanes
Aristarchus
Correct Response
allegory
Euhemerism
Correct
1 / 1 points
7.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths are stories told about real people in the past who did something important. Future generations
told and retold their exploits; and through exaggeration the real people eventually became deified.
Xenophanes
Euhemerism
Correct Response
Aristarchus
allegory
Plato
Correct
1 / 1 points
8.
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.
Myths contain hidden truths buried inside their strange tales. So when you run into something
strange or out of the ordinary chances are it's the poet trying to convey a hidden message.
Euhemerism
Plato
allegory
Correct Response
Xenophanes
Aristarchus
Correct
1 / 1 points
9.
This thinker re-introduces the Greek term "mythos" into modern European language. Up til then,
terms from the Latin "fabula" were the most common way of referring to the ancient tales.
Hume
Herder
Fontenelle
Heyne
Correct Response
When Heyne turned to these ancient stories, he coined the new term (German "Mythos") from the
Greek root, since he wanted to change substantially how people viewed these stories. The Latin
"fabula" was tied into a certain way of looking at these stories as quirky old tales, maybe with some
little nugget in them, but otherwise not promising much wisdom.
Correct
1 / 1 points
10.
This thinker was the first one in our group of moderns to consider the stories in myth to be attempts
to explain strange happenings in the natural world. Early humans were fearful of some things, like
lightning or thunder, and invented myths to explain what they saw. [Please give your answer in
terms of last name only, starting with a capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Fontenelle thought of the stories in myth as being the result of an attempt to understand
the world, and so not SO different from the mentality that all humans have.
Correct
1 / 1 points
11.
This thinker treated myth as the same thing as poetry, religion, and language itself. It was a primal
expression of what it means to be human containing the deepest meanings we humans are capable
of observing and expressing. [Please give your answer in terms of last name only, starting with a
capital letter!]
Correct Response
Correct! -- Herder as a precursor to the Romantics, saw myth as a great repository of primal ancient
wisdom. It was not an attempt to explain, exactly, it was rather an automatic, profound response of a
human being to the experience of being human.
Correct
1 / 1 points
12.
Here's the definition we're going to be using as our working definition in this class. Who is the
scholar who developed it?
"Myth is a traditional tale with a secondary partial reference to something of collective importance"
(and for our class, we'll add, "...told by someone for some reason.")
Heyne
Fontenelle
Herder
Burkert
Correct Response
Correct!
Correct
1 / 1 points
13.
Which of the following accurately matches each historical period to the century in which it occurred?
Classical Rome: 2nd c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
15th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
13th c. BCE.
Correct Response
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 9th c. BCE; Trojan War:
14th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 6th c. BCE; Trojan War:
11th c. CE.
Correct
1 / 1 points
14.
What did Heinrich Schliemann find?
Correct
1 / 1 points
15.
What happens after 10 years of fighting in order to allow the Greeks to conquer Troy?
Correct
1 / 1 points
16.
Which of the following statements characterizes how the Greeks remembered their own involvement
in the Trojan War. Check all that apply:
As a massive mistake, when the dalliance of Helen was used as an excuse to try to dominate the
Mediterranean.
Correct Response
As a moment when their imperial reach over the Mediterranean was solidified for generations to
come.
Correct Response
As an effort characterized by excessive displays of war rage against the conquered Trojans.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
17.
Contemporary scholars have identified the number of poets behind the Odyssey, which has been
traditionally attributed to Homer, to be:
We're not entirely sure, but given the overall coherence of the story, we tend now to credit the work
to a single editorial hand endowed with great poetic insight.
Correct Response
Correct
1 / 1 points
18.
Homer's verse is written in this meter:
Dactylic hexameter
Correct Response
Iambic pentameter
Iambic trimeter
Dactylic penameter
Correct
1 / 1 points
19.
Homer's poetry was understood to be divinely inspired . . .
. . . insofar as the poet himself claimed the Muse was just using him as a mouthpiece.
Correct Response
. . . and so it was received as a Sacred text and read literally by ancient Greeks.
Correct
1 / 1 points
20.
What is the meaning of the first word of the Odyssey in the original Greek?
War
Sing
Man
Correct Response
Muse
Rage