Greek Mythology Setting the Scene

ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY: SETTING THE SCENE

Thursday, Sept 10, 2015THEO 226

WHAT YEAR IS IT?(IN THE WESTERN WORLD)

2015 AD = (Anno Domini = “in the year of our Lord [Jesus Christ]”) BC = Before Christ BCE = Before Common Era CE = Common Era

GREEK MYTHOLOG

Y(WESTERN)

ANCIENT GREECE

8TH C. BCE – 1ST C. CE

CLASSICAL GREECE

5TH C. BCE – 4TH C. BCE

HOMER & HESIOD: ANCIENT GREEK POETS

Homer (12th – 8th C. BCE) Hesiod (8th – 7th C. BCE)

HOLLYWOOD GOES GREEK

[Homer’s] Odyssey miniseries (1997) [Homer’s Iliad] Helen of Troy (1956;

2003) Troy (2004) [Homer’s] Ulysses (1955) Hercules (2014) 300 (2006; Rise of an Empire: 2014) Clash of the Titans (2010) Wrath of the Titans (2012) The Immortals (2011)

COSMOGONY & THEOGONY: THE ORIGIN OF ALL THINGS

Chaos, Gaea, Tartarus, Eros Chaos: Darkness & Night

Air, Light & Day Gaea (Earth): Uranus

(Heaven), Mountains, Sea

BIBLICAL MYTHOLOGY (EASTERN)

ANCIENT NEAR EAST

&

PALESTINE /

ISRAEL

THE (CHRISTIAN)

BIBLE

=

HEBREW BIBLE (OLD

TESTAMENT)+

NEW TESTAMENT

ABRAHAM, THE “FATHER” OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Genesis chapters 12 – 25 (c. 2,000 BCE)

Abraham Isaac

Jacob (Israel) 12 Patriarchs ( = 12

tribes)

THE HEBREW BIBLICAL TRADITION

The Hebrew Bible most probably took its present form around the 6th C. BCE (6th C. BCE: neo-Babylonian/Persian

period) (4th C. BCE: Alexander the Great would

conquer the Persian Empire, including Judaea [Palestine])

BIBLICAL CREATION MYTH

1 God who exists prior to anything else (cf. Gn 1.26ff); the origins of this God are not explained

The situation prior to creation: the Earth was “without form and void”; darkness; abyss (waters)

God creates by speaking order into this situation of chaos

Light, Heaven, Earth and Seas are created during the first 3 days of the “week of creation”

CREATION MYTHS COMPARED

Hesiod’s Theogony Chaos, Gaea, Tartarus,

Eros Chaos: Darkness & Night

Air, Light & Day Gaea (Earth): Uranus

(Heaven), Mountains, Sea Creation by reproduction

Biblical Creation Myth 1 God who exists prior to anything

else (cf. Gn 1.26ff); the origins of this God are not explained

The situation prior to creation: the Earth was “without form and void”; darkness; abyss (waters)

God creates by speaking order into this situation of chaos

Light, Heaven, Earth and Seas are created during the first 3 days of the “week of creation”