CLAS220 - Lecture Notes for April 5, 2012

Introduction to Classical Mythology

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

April 5, 2012

Extra Credit Opportunity

• Dr. Joy Connolly, Professor of Classics at New York University, delivers the Annual Classics Lecture:

Telephonic Politics: the Case of the Roman Republic

Thursday, April 124:00 PM

Wardlaw 126A reception will follow the lecture

• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily Writes, depending on how complete and comprehensive the report is

Daily Write: Grading Criteria

• Engage with the question– If the question relates to a passage from the

text, make sure to comment on the passage– If the question relates to a quote from a

scholarly article, make sure to comment on the quote

– Make sure to address all part of the question

• Show knowledge of the text– Use examples from the text to illustrate your

pointsNow that we are well into the second half of the course, I am holding you to

a higher standard for your Daily Writes.

Daily Write #20: Review

Why do you think Lucretius begins On the Workings of the Universe by invoking Venus? Which goddesss (or goddesses) have you seen invoked at the beginnings of poems before (e.g., Hesiod, Homer)? Which Greek goddess is Venus the Roman equivalent of? Why is Venus a fitting goddess to invoke at the beginning of this poem?

Make sure you answer all parts of the question and make sure your answer

shows familiarity with the text.

Daily Write #20: Review

Why do you think Lucretius begins On the Workings of the Universe by invoking Venus? Which goddesss (or goddesses) have you seen invoked at the beginnings of poems before (e.g., Hesiod, Homer)? Which Greek goddess is Venus the Roman equivalent of? Why is Venus a fitting goddess to invoke at the beginning of this poem?

Make sure you answer all parts of the question and make sure your answer

shows familiarity with the text.

Daily Write #21

Using examples from Aeneid 2.1-558 (today’s reading), describe how Vergil’s epic combines elements from Greek sources, such as Homer’s Odyssey or the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, to create a mythological foundation story for Rome. Try to address both the heroic (having to do with heroes) and divine (having to do with gods and goddesses) aspects of Vergil’s narrative. Do not feel limited to epic sources; feel free to include examples from as many different genres as you think are relevant—historiography, tragedy, philosophy, etc.

Make sure you answer all parts of the question and make sure your answer shows familiarity with

the text.

Classical Multiculturalism

• Hellenic Culture• Hellenistic Culture• Roman Culture

Hellenic Culture

• Greek culture from 750-323 BCE– 750 BCE = Homer– 323 BCE = Death of Alexander the

Great

Athens was the cultural center of Hellenic Greece

• Panathenaea, festival where the Homeric epics were recited

• Dionysia, festival where the tragedies and comedies were performed

• Birthplace of democratic form of government

• Birthplace or home of most of the great poets and historians

• Birthplace of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the first great philosophers

Hellenistic Culture

• Greek culture from 323-31 BCE• Begins in 323 BCE – death of Alexander the

Great• Ends in 31 BCE – Augustus Caesar defeats

Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium• Extends Greek culture from Greece to the

rest of the Mediterranean World– Europe– North Africa– Middle East– Southwest Asia

Hellenistic Culture

• Centered in the city of Alexandria in Egypt

• New forms of poetry• New schools of philosophy• New religious movements• Advances in art, architecture,

science, and medicine

Roman Culture (300 BCE – 200 CE)

• Livius Andronicus (c. 280 – c. 200 BCE.), earliest Roman poet known by name

• Death of Marcus Aurelius (180 CE)• Rome was highly influenced by

Greek civilization and culture– Poetry– Mythology– Philosophy

Review: Hellenic Uses of Myth

• Epic use of myth– Hesiod, Theogony– Homeric Hymns to Demeter and Aphrodite– Homer, Odyssey

• Historiographic use of myth– Herodotus, Histories– Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian

War• Tragic use of myth

– Euripides, Herakles and Alkestis• Philosophical use of myth

– Plato, Symposium

Review: Hellenistic Uses of Myth

• Pastoral use of myth– Theocritus, Idyll 11

• Epic use of myth (not covered in class)– Apollonius, Argonautica (c. 250 BCE)

• Story of Jason and the Argonauts• Quest for the Golden Fleece• Love of Jason and Medea

Review: Roman Uses of Myth

• Philosophical use of myth– Lucretius, On the Workings of the

Universe

• Epic use of myth– Vergil, Aeneid

Rise of Rome

• Rome began as a village in central Italy, founded around the time of Homer (c. 750 BCE)

• Rome was a kingdom from its beginnings until about 509 BCE

• In 509, the Romans expelled their last king and established a republic

Roman Republic

• Rome was a republic from 509 BCE until 27 BCE

• Republic comes from the Latin term res publica = public affairs

• Republic government is a kind of representative democracy

• Representative democracy means elected or appointed leaders represent the people and rule on their behalf– The United States is a representative democracy,

similar in some respects to the Roman Republic– Direct democracy, as in Athens, means the entire

body of citizens can vote on each and every government decision

Roman Empire

• During the republican period, Rome acquired an empire that extended over much of the Mediterranean World– Europe– North Africa– Middle East

Rome Principate

• Rome became a principate in 27 BCE• Principate means rule by a single leading

citizen, the princeps (source of the English word prince)

• In English, we call this person the “emperor”• The first emperor of Rome was Augustus

Caesar• Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome

when he defeated his rivals Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE

Vergil (70–19 BCE)

• Member of the literary circle around the Emperor Augustus– Horace, friend and fellow poet– Maecenas, friend and literary patron– Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius

Tucca, poets, friends and literary executors

Aeneid

• Begun in 29 BCE, commissioned by Augustus

• Unfinished at Vergil’s death in 19 BCE

• Published with minimal editorial changes by Varius and Plotius

Aeneid

• Consisted of 12 books– Books 1-6 modeled on Homer’s

Odyssey– Books 7-12 modeled on Homer’s

Iliad– Influenced by Apollonius’s

Argonautica• Love of Aeneas and Dido in Book 4 is

inspired by the love of Jason and Medea

Extra Credit Opportunity

• Dr. Joy Connolly, Professor of Classics at New York University, delivers the Annual Classics Lecture:

Telephonic Politics: the Case of the Roman Republic

Thursday, April 124:00 PM

Wardlaw 126A reception will follow the lecture

• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily Writes, depending on how complete and comprehensive the report is

Upcoming Assigments

• 4/5—REVIEW: Vergil, from The Aeneid, in ACM, pp. 410-20

• 4/10—READ: Vergil, from The Aeneid, in ACM, pp. 421-30

Introduction to Classical Mythology

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

April 5, 2012