Download Greek and Roman Myth Lecture

GREEK AND ROMAN
MYTH
Background – Greek Civilization
–Minoan (Crete) 2200-1450 BC
–Mycenean
1450-1100 BC (“good old days”)
–Dark Ages (no record) 1100-700 BC
–Homer, Hesiod 800-700 (beg. of writing)
–Greek Drama
500-400 (height of Gr. Civ.)
Background -Roman Civilization
• Roman Civilization - 200 BC-300 AD
• Christianity 300 AD
Greek Cosmogony/Cosmology
Greek Mythology
• Begins Orally
• Heavily borrowed from earlier nearby cultures—
esp. Sumerian and Egyptian
• Separate City-States, Islands, geography leads to
fragmentary, overlapping stories
• First written in Homer, Hesiod 800-700BC
• Most Important Characteristic:
HUMANISM
– “The Greek Miracle”
– “Anthropomorphic”
Greek Creation Stories
• Hesiod, “Theogony”
• Greek Deity Family Tree (handout)
Botticelli – “Birth of Venus”
The Original
Dysfunctional
Family –
Goya - “Saturn
Devouring His
Son”
Zeus – The Ultimate Pick-up Artist?
Da Vinci,
“Leda and
the Swan”
“Rape of Europa” - Titian
Greek Gods and Their Human
Characteristics
• What are the primary attributes/personality traits
of the major gods?
• How many of these could be seen as human
failures/fallible behavior?
• Discuss: compare Greek creation story and Greek
Gods with their fallible, human characteristics to
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Monotheism and
notion of God’s perfection
– “How does one worship a fallible god?”
– “What different attitudes of worship and religious belief
might result from such different Deities?”
Rubens - “The Judgment of Paris”
Breughels – “The Fall of Icarus”