DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
W03
• Why does Zeus hate humankind so much that he's willing to punish a “brother̶?
What are humans purpose/position in the stories of the gods?
• Why would Noah choose to curse all of Canaan instead of just Ham?
When cursing Canaan, why did he speak as if it was an actual person?
W04
• Why didn't Zeus punish Demeter for depriving the earth of crops for a year?
Why was Demeter not afraid to defy Zeus?
• Why did the soldiers abduct the mother's son from between her legs, as a mature warrior
and not a newborn?
W05
• Why does Zeus choose to trick Aphrodite into love with a mortal as punishment/revenge?
As goddess of desire, wouldn't it be more effective to take away desire from her?
• What was the point of Ishtar being trapped in the Netherworld?
Was she a hostage, getting Dumuzi back in as a sort of trade-off?
W06
• Why ?
What ?
• Why ?
When ?
ACTIVE READING NOTES
W03
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W04
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W05
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W06
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QUOTE QUIZ
Q02
1A. Great Ouranos... - Hesiod, Theogony
1B. And God said, Let there be... - “Moses” (oral tradition > written down - edited), Genesis
significance: creation (by speech) of dry land from chaos water; separation of earth
and heavens, origin of cosmos
2A. fashioned evil for men... - Hesiod Works and Days
(credit for Theogony, which also mentions Pandora)
2B. The LORD formed man... - “Moses” (oral tradition > written down > edited), Genesis
significance: creation from breathing life into clay, origin of man/woman and human suffering
Q04
1A. And hail to you also, Lady...
1. “Homer” (oral tradition > written down); 2. Pan-Hellenic 1000-700 BCE; 3. Hymn to Demeter; 4. distant mythic past when gods received their attributes; Attic harvest/fertility/ rebirth rituals at Eleusis
1B. The divine inspiration of Rumor...
1. Plutarch 2. Alexandria in Egypt; 150 CE; 3. Moralia (Isis & Osiris); 4. distant mythic past when Isis needed to reconstitute Osiris; syncretism in Byblus between Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek traditions
5. significance: origin of protection ritual for infants (high mortality rates), immortality through divine food, disguise of divinity
6. amphidromia: protective ritual held ca.7-10 days after birth; running around hearth and invoking protective deities
2A. The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem...
1. “Moses” (JEPD oral tradition > written down > edited); 2. Jerusalem 1000-530 BCE; 3. Genesis; 4. post Deluge repopulation of the Earth, origin of Judaeans
2B. Deucalion had children by Pyrrha, first Hellen...
1. Pseudo-Apollodorus 2. Athens, 100 CE, 3. Library, 4. post Deluge repopulation of the Earth, origin of Hellenes
5. significance: restart of all human race after flood; division of peoples into groups by kinship
6. eponymous ancestor: hero/leader who gives their name to an ethnic group
Q06
1A. From that very moment, goddess, when I first set eyes on you...
1. “Homer” (oral tradition > written down); 2. Pan-Hellenic 1000-700 BCE; 3. Hymn to Aphrodite; 4. Aphrodite inflicts lust upon other, Zeus inflicts it upon Aphrodite who lust for Anchises of Troy
1B. Here gatekeeper, open your gate for me...
1. Sumero-Akkadian (Mesopotamian) scribe; 2. MB 2000 BCE Ur | Early Iron 650 BCE Nineveh; 3. Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld; 4. distant mythical past, timeless; Ishtar descend to the netherworld to redeem her beloved Damuzi
5. significance: perils of divine-human union; overwhelming destructive power of the divine forces
2A. Then he cried in the Abyss when he did not see his mother...
1. Egyptian scribes | Roman transcription; 2. 3000 BCE Esna or 550 BCE Saïs | 150 CE Esna; 3. Cosmogony of Esna; 4. demiurge Neith creates cosmos by speech (intent, gaze), emergence of primordial mound, creation of gods and humans; parthenogenesis
2B. This is why we call this place the rock and hill of Ares...
1. Aeschylus of Athens; 2. 458 BCE Athens; 3. Eumenides (part of Oresteia trilogy); 4. distant heroic past (post Trojan War); Orestes, who went to Delphic to remove pollution due to avenging the death of his father by killing his mother (with lots of other retribution before), here cleared by the Athenian judicial system; vengeance vs justice
5. significance: etymological puns in myths of origin; how persons/places/things get their names
3. The pun with “tears” and “mankind” indicates an _etymological_myth_.
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in a perfect world, text like this would not exist. but this is not a perfect world...
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