Myth in Greco-Roman Literature
Nicole Andranovich
M/Th 11:30-12:45
FMH 316
Jan 22nd 2024,
Myth -> Greek muthos
o muthos “tale, narrative”
o [ the text/tradition itself]
Mythology -> muthos + Greek logos
o logos “word, speech, story, reason”
o [study of the text/ tradition]
Classical -> Latin classis
o Classis “group, rank, class, armed division”
o Originally = something belonging to a certain group.
o Now = something exemplifying the best qualities of a group.
o Renaissance scholars first used “classical” to describe Greek and Roman
antiquity (as the pinnacle of success in arts, politics, etc.)
o A texts survival through time is sometimes just luck and power!
Ancient Greece
Three major periods:
o Archaic (800-500 BCE)
“Homer” -> shorthand for “anonymos bards who composed and
proformed poems in the style of a poet we call “Homer” today”
Iliad and Odyssey, orally composed hexameter verse poems,
developed over generations.
Meter allowed poets to remember/combine different phrases
while telling a story – no two performances were identical!
Recitals were likely only one or two episodes from these quite
long poems.
Scholars debate precisely when/how the epics were first written
down.
Perhaps 8th century BCE, when Greeks adapted the Phoenician
alphabet to their language.
Other poems similar in style to the Homeric epics:
Homeric Hymns, poems of varying lengths dedicated to an individual
god or goddess and performed before epic recitals.
Theogony (births of the gods) and Works and Days (“how the world
works”), poems attributed to Hesiod
Homeric/Hesiodic poetry helped make sense of the Greek pantheon,
detailing the gods’ traits and relationships.
Gods could have different traits in different locations/local temples.
Early poets created an organizational framework for local gods.
, Helped transform these local gods into Panhellenic deities
(recognizable to all Greeks).
o Classical (500-323 BCE)
Many Greek writers began to expand their myths in earnest during
this period.
Linked to the revolutionary explosion in arts and sciences
(development of mathematics, philosophy, biology, etc.).
Homeric and Hesiodic poems continued to be recited at festivals in
Athens.
Aeschylus (525-ca. 456 BCE), Sophocles (497-406 BCE), and
Euripides (480-406 BCE) composed plays about and including the
gods.
Historian Herodotus composed and recited his Histories, which
contained stories about the gods among his primary topic of the
Persian Wars.
Temples like the Parthenon were constructed with elaborate
sculptures depicting the gods.
As the mythological corpus grew, others began to critique and
investigate the myths:
Protagoras (490-420 BCE) considered a universe where humans
were the center, not gods.
Plato (428-348 BCE) wanted to ban myths from the ideal republic,
noting that myths persuade their listeners to adopt ideas about the
gods and society that could be erroneous.
Palaephatus (late 4th century BCE) both collected and debunked
myths in his On Incredible Tales, trying to rationalize stories about
which audiences were increasingly skeptical.
During this period, Athenians developed and advanced logoi about the
universe, the gods, society, and humankind.
Logoi...
o ...are rational arguments.
o ...rely on logic and statements made in straightforward
prose.
o ...explain all the cosmos as accurately as human reason
allows.
Muthoi...
o ...are not rational.
o ...include stories, metaphors, symbols, and images.
o ...are inaccurate fictions that do not attempt to describe
things as they are.
o Hellenistic (323-146 BCE)
Greek scholars and teachers living in Alexandria, Egypt, began to
collect and imitate earlier Greek myths and stories.
, Callimachus (310/305-240 BCE) composed hymns dedicated to gods
and goddesses; the poems were witty, urbane, and full of obscure
mythic references.
Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BCE) composed a shorter epic
called the Argonautica, about the Quest for the Golden Fleece.
After Rome conquered much of the Mediterranean, Greeks continued
to expand/explain the mythological corpus.
Plutarch (46-120 CE) wrote biographies of famous Greek and
Roman politicians, and treatises on Greek, Roman, and
Egyptian philosophy, theology, and customs.
Pausanias (2nd century CE) traveled throughout Greece and
described its temples, buildings, and customs.
By the 5th century CE, the Roman Empire was largely Christianized,
and the Greek mythological system lay dormant.
Divided into “city states” each with its own government.
o City states warred and even enslaves one another, but also fought against
common enemies.
Ancient Near East
o Four regions:
Anatolia/Asia Minor (Turkey)
Hittite Empire rose in the 18th century BCE.
o Collapsed around 1200 BCE, when invasions, riots,
drought, earthquakes, or a combination of these swept
across the region.
o Song of Kumarbi and Song of Ullikummi, about the god
Kumarbi’s rise and fall from power, are similar to
Hesiod’s Theogony.
Phrygia thrived during the 8th century BCE.
o Eventually conquered by the neighboring Lydians, then
the Persians, then Alexander the Great, and finally
Rome.
o Phrygians fought with the Trojans against the Greeks in
the Iliad.
o Worship of the Great Mother goddess (also called
Cybele) was adopted in both Greece and Rome.
In the Iliad, Troy is located in western Anatolia.
o Scholars have suggested that the Greek god Apollo’s
origin is the Hittite god Appaliunas.
o King Alaksandus of Wilusa, whose name appears in a
treaty, may be King Alexander (Paris) of Ilios (another
name for Troy).
Egypt
Much of what we know about Egyptian mythology comes from
mortuary literature.
Nicole Andranovich
M/Th 11:30-12:45
FMH 316
Jan 22nd 2024,
Myth -> Greek muthos
o muthos “tale, narrative”
o [ the text/tradition itself]
Mythology -> muthos + Greek logos
o logos “word, speech, story, reason”
o [study of the text/ tradition]
Classical -> Latin classis
o Classis “group, rank, class, armed division”
o Originally = something belonging to a certain group.
o Now = something exemplifying the best qualities of a group.
o Renaissance scholars first used “classical” to describe Greek and Roman
antiquity (as the pinnacle of success in arts, politics, etc.)
o A texts survival through time is sometimes just luck and power!
Ancient Greece
Three major periods:
o Archaic (800-500 BCE)
“Homer” -> shorthand for “anonymos bards who composed and
proformed poems in the style of a poet we call “Homer” today”
Iliad and Odyssey, orally composed hexameter verse poems,
developed over generations.
Meter allowed poets to remember/combine different phrases
while telling a story – no two performances were identical!
Recitals were likely only one or two episodes from these quite
long poems.
Scholars debate precisely when/how the epics were first written
down.
Perhaps 8th century BCE, when Greeks adapted the Phoenician
alphabet to their language.
Other poems similar in style to the Homeric epics:
Homeric Hymns, poems of varying lengths dedicated to an individual
god or goddess and performed before epic recitals.
Theogony (births of the gods) and Works and Days (“how the world
works”), poems attributed to Hesiod
Homeric/Hesiodic poetry helped make sense of the Greek pantheon,
detailing the gods’ traits and relationships.
Gods could have different traits in different locations/local temples.
Early poets created an organizational framework for local gods.
, Helped transform these local gods into Panhellenic deities
(recognizable to all Greeks).
o Classical (500-323 BCE)
Many Greek writers began to expand their myths in earnest during
this period.
Linked to the revolutionary explosion in arts and sciences
(development of mathematics, philosophy, biology, etc.).
Homeric and Hesiodic poems continued to be recited at festivals in
Athens.
Aeschylus (525-ca. 456 BCE), Sophocles (497-406 BCE), and
Euripides (480-406 BCE) composed plays about and including the
gods.
Historian Herodotus composed and recited his Histories, which
contained stories about the gods among his primary topic of the
Persian Wars.
Temples like the Parthenon were constructed with elaborate
sculptures depicting the gods.
As the mythological corpus grew, others began to critique and
investigate the myths:
Protagoras (490-420 BCE) considered a universe where humans
were the center, not gods.
Plato (428-348 BCE) wanted to ban myths from the ideal republic,
noting that myths persuade their listeners to adopt ideas about the
gods and society that could be erroneous.
Palaephatus (late 4th century BCE) both collected and debunked
myths in his On Incredible Tales, trying to rationalize stories about
which audiences were increasingly skeptical.
During this period, Athenians developed and advanced logoi about the
universe, the gods, society, and humankind.
Logoi...
o ...are rational arguments.
o ...rely on logic and statements made in straightforward
prose.
o ...explain all the cosmos as accurately as human reason
allows.
Muthoi...
o ...are not rational.
o ...include stories, metaphors, symbols, and images.
o ...are inaccurate fictions that do not attempt to describe
things as they are.
o Hellenistic (323-146 BCE)
Greek scholars and teachers living in Alexandria, Egypt, began to
collect and imitate earlier Greek myths and stories.
, Callimachus (310/305-240 BCE) composed hymns dedicated to gods
and goddesses; the poems were witty, urbane, and full of obscure
mythic references.
Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BCE) composed a shorter epic
called the Argonautica, about the Quest for the Golden Fleece.
After Rome conquered much of the Mediterranean, Greeks continued
to expand/explain the mythological corpus.
Plutarch (46-120 CE) wrote biographies of famous Greek and
Roman politicians, and treatises on Greek, Roman, and
Egyptian philosophy, theology, and customs.
Pausanias (2nd century CE) traveled throughout Greece and
described its temples, buildings, and customs.
By the 5th century CE, the Roman Empire was largely Christianized,
and the Greek mythological system lay dormant.
Divided into “city states” each with its own government.
o City states warred and even enslaves one another, but also fought against
common enemies.
Ancient Near East
o Four regions:
Anatolia/Asia Minor (Turkey)
Hittite Empire rose in the 18th century BCE.
o Collapsed around 1200 BCE, when invasions, riots,
drought, earthquakes, or a combination of these swept
across the region.
o Song of Kumarbi and Song of Ullikummi, about the god
Kumarbi’s rise and fall from power, are similar to
Hesiod’s Theogony.
Phrygia thrived during the 8th century BCE.
o Eventually conquered by the neighboring Lydians, then
the Persians, then Alexander the Great, and finally
Rome.
o Phrygians fought with the Trojans against the Greeks in
the Iliad.
o Worship of the Great Mother goddess (also called
Cybele) was adopted in both Greece and Rome.
In the Iliad, Troy is located in western Anatolia.
o Scholars have suggested that the Greek god Apollo’s
origin is the Hittite god Appaliunas.
o King Alaksandus of Wilusa, whose name appears in a
treaty, may be King Alexander (Paris) of Ilios (another
name for Troy).
Egypt
Much of what we know about Egyptian mythology comes from
mortuary literature.
