Monday September 12, 2011
Preliminary points
religion has psychological and spiritual aspects for individuals, but also cultural and societal functions
mechanism for coping with the uncanny, the random power of nature and unseen or unexplained forces
mechanism for consolidating and validating social arrangements, hierarchies, customs and values; for defining man's relation to the natural world and esp. to animals; for identifying one's community as distinct from other human communities
A. hymn to Zeus: celebration of his triumph and the order he has established
1. the abstract powers personified: Chaos, Eros, Erebos, Night, Pontos, Okeanos (esp. lines 104-138)
2. the female powers: Earth (Gaia), Rheia (esp. lines 154-210 and 453-506)
3. the three male rulers, Ouranos, Kronos, and Zeus (esp. lines 154-210 and 453-506)
4. rivalries of fathers and sons, husbands and wives, strength and cunning
5. Aphrodite = Cythereia and Cyprus-born (lines 188-206)
B. the Prometheus story (lines 535-616)
1. separation of kinds, origin of sacrifice, constituting of hierarchy of god, man, beast, imposition of suffering by gods
2. creation of woman (no name) constituting system of marriage, oikos, inheritance
3. woman as economic drain, but necessity of marriage, 592-607
4. metaphor of belly, interiority and hollowness
A. explaining the necessity of work and justice
1. gods have concealed livelihood for man (bios)
2. men are different from animals, are supposed to have the benefit of justice (fable of hawk and nightingale, not in reader)
3. ages of mortal beings: gold, silver, bronze, iron (not in reader)
4. threat of destruction
B. Pandora
1. gifts of all gods, and releaser of all bad "gifts"; emphasis on deceptive appearance, adornment as prototype of bride
2. Epimetheus
3. elpis (hope) left in the storage jar
A. Demeter/Persephone
1. goddesses represent women's connection to earth, fertility, the dead (Eleusinian Mysteries)
2. rape of Persephone shows patriarchal autonomy of Zeus
3. Demeter's wrath and withdrawal force negotiation of power between male and female gods
4. representation of mother-daughter tie
Wednesday Sept. 14, 2011
B. Aphrodite
1. goddess of sex and reproduction, essential to workings of the world of mortals
2. poem emphasizes limits: three virgin goddesses at opening; Zeus's turning the table on Aphrodite in making her love Anchises; Aphrodite's recognition of limit, Anchises' need to keep silent
3. ending mixture of divine and mortal races
4. demonstration of folly of tampering with system of contrast between immortal and mortal: Zeus can tamper (Ganymede, 202-214, deathless and ageless), others cannot (Tithonus, 218-238, deathless but not ageless; tree-nymphs, 258-272, ageless, but not deathless)
A. emphasis more on ritual and practice than on belief
B. lack of central authority: local cults, local myths, ritual action possible for many people, despite some types of experts (seers, exegetes, oracular spokesmen)
C. polytheism acknowledges multiple inconsistent forces, makes ample room for uncertainty
D. typical ritual actions and their accompaniments: prayer, libation, offering and sacrifice; procession, hymn, choral dance; banquets, contests
A. Geometric vases: relation to epic
1. monumentality
2. repeated motifs
3. complex additive structure
4. conception of the human figure
5. interest in processions, funeral, battle
B. small-scale figure sculpture in bronze: stylized bodies, unnatural proportions, unrefined technique
C. lost work: wooden sculpture; aniconic cult-statues
D. earliest temples
Friday Sept. 16, 2011
A. prehistory: megaron?; house-like structure for the god; early forms in mud-brick, wood, and thatch, stone foundations may survive
B. Egyptian influence on stonework and use of stone columns
C. development of standard plan: rectangular chamber surrounded by columns; possible divisions of the rectangle (pronaos, naos, opisthodomos); variations for interior columns, OR double rows of columns [PLAN of named parts]
D. the Doric and Ionic orders
E. huge temples: Ephesus (Artemis)[4th c. replacement was one of Seven Wonders of the World], unfinished Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
A. architectural sculpture
1. pediments: in the gable
2. friezes: continuous relief band
3. metopes: separate squares of relief, between triglyphs
4. akroteria: on the center and edges of roof
B. free-standing life-sized figures
1. the Egyptian models
2. kouros and kore: male nudity, female adornment; idealized youth
3. advances in bronze casting
A. orientalizing motifs (animals, monsters)
B. human figures and heroic stories
C. black-figure vs. red-figure technique
D. potters' and painters' signatures