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My notes on Io & Prometheus
 Io is a girl who is turned into a cow and is sad. She meets Prometheus on
top of the mountain where he is bound.
 Zeus sends dreams in which he tells her…
 Zeus covers the earth in a dark cloud to hide him and Io from Hera.
 Hera finds Zeus quickly; Zeus turned Io into a cow before Hera can catch
them.
 Hera asks for the cow and Zeus has to agree b/c he has no “logical” reason
to refuse.
 Argus who has 100 eyes is Io’s baby-sitter. (Monster’s Ink character…)
 Zeus feels helpless & knows that Io is in misery
 Zeus sends Hermes disguised as a shepherd who plays a reed; He sings,
plays music, and tells stories in to order to make Argus fall asleep so he can
kill him. At first it doesn’t work…but when Hermes tells the story about Pan
& the girl who didn’t want him (history of reeds), he succeeds.
 When Argus falls asleep, Hermes kills him, and Hera takes his eyes and puts
them on the tail feathers of a peacock. (Aetiological myth: myth that
explains something natural through a super-natural story…Why do peacock
have an eye-like shape on their feathers? Oh, I know the story of Argus!  )
 When Io is free of Argus, Hera makes her “mad”=crazy by having a gad-fly
chase her around
 Prometheus tell her the future: 1. Ionian sea will be named for her 2.
Bosphorus sea will be named for her 3. In the Nile, Zeus will restore her to
human & give her a son 4. Hercules, her descendant, will free Prometheus!
Yay!
 Prometheus is a Titan whose name means, “fore-thought.” He gave fire to
men & Zeus punished him: Prometheus’ liver is eaten each day by Zeus’
eagles only to have it grow back and start over each day.
 Aeschylus is a Greek writer who is grave and direct.
 Ovid is a Greek writer who is light and amusing.
 Lessons from this story: 1. Don’t cheat. 2.Don’t fall for a married man, or a
powerful one, or believing sweet-talk or lies
My notes on Europa:
 Alexandrian Poet wrote this myth: Moschus
 Europe is named for her
 Unlike Io she is not punished b/c Zeus loves her
 Aphrodite is responsible for what happens to Europa
 Zeus appears to her as a sweet-smelling bull who makes sweet music:
She goes willingly on his back: He runs to sea, leaps over the ocean,
not in it. Then Poseidon and a bunch of water gods, nymphs,
dolphins, join their party. She figures out he’s a god & she fears she
will be abandoned.
 Europa has a basket (made by Hephaestus)with Io’s story illustrated
on it.
 Zeus took Europa to Crete, the island where he had been hidden as a
baby from his father, Cronos. He marries her.
 Europa’s sons became the judges of the dead
 Lessons: 1. Sometimes trusting powerful people pays off?
My Notes of the Cyclops, Polyphemus from Homer’s “The Odyssey”:
 The Odysssey” is a poem w/lines & stanzas NOT paragraphs
 The protagonist & narrator of the adventure story is Odysseus
“Wiley Odysseus” : clever, smart, tricky
 The narration is 1st point of view b/c narrator uses “we” & “I.”
 The Cyclops is directly characterized…the ANTI-Greeks BAD
o As ignorant
o Mean to wife & kids
o Primitive
o Lawless
o Lazy
o Ungrateful/wasteful
o No tradition
o Anti-social; loner
Odysseus takes 12 best men and wine/brandy which is
watered down 1 cup w/20 cups of water—no one turns it
down
Odysseus brings goatskin of the rarest brandy (Xenia: guest/host
relationship: hospitality: hosts will feed and care for any guest who
needs it. Guest: will do no harm to my host) -he comes prepared not
be offered food.
Odysseus’ men want to steal goats, sheep, cheese. He says no b/c he
wants to see the monster. (Curiosity getting the better of him.)
Cyclops asks where the ship is…O says, it’s broken, we don’t have
one. It’s a lie. So C won’t destroy it, or know his exit strategy.
Imagery: simile visual/kenetic imagery: “like squirming puppies.”
2nd period
C eats 2 men. O wants to kill him, but he THINKS and remembers the
big rock in front of the door.
In the morning, he eats 2 more men. Leaves, but closes the door.
Uses an olive tree, 6 feet long, sharpens one end, toughening in the
fire, gets four people to help with the stabbing.
O offers the drink to C. He drinks 3 bowls. C asks for his name &
promised him a gift. O tells him his name is “Nobody.” The gift was to
be eaten last.
C passed out. They poked out his eye. He cried to his brothers for
help, but they heard that nobody hurt him, so they told him to tell it
to daddy.
C opens the door and waits b/c he thinks they will run for it. O is too
smart for that. He forms a plan. He hides his men each under one
sheep with one on either side. He ties himself under the best ram.
When O tells C his real name, we learn that C always knew O would
blind him because it was his “weird: fate; destiny.”
C prays to Poseidon that O won’t see home or family OR if he’s fated
to go home, then all companions die and that it be a long dark road
until he does.
The Lotus-eaters
Odysseus’ leadership.
The men are in the midst of a major storm @ sea. The effect on them
is, “worn out, sick at heart, tasting our grief.”
3 men eat the lotus and lose their will to go home. He drags them to
the boat, ties them to their benches, and assures that they will again
have “hope of home.”
Theme: A good leader takes control of his men when they lose hope,
or when they’re lost, or when they make bad decisions for
themselves.
Aeolus God of the Winds
Lesson, trust your leader, do what you’re told, and don’t be greedy.
Punishment is harsher than the crime.
The Land of the Dead
Purpose of the trip to the land of the dead is to talk with Tiresias
about how to get home.