Classical Myth in the Arts - Questions

1. What is the basic chronological framework for the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age?

2. What kinds of artwork are seen in each of these ages?

3. What is our working definition of myth?

4. Distinguish between myth proper, legend, and folktales.

1. How do you distinguish between myth and religion in general?

2. What are the four general functions of myth?

3. Characterize the five central "what" theories about myth. Who instigated each of these theories?

1. Identify the proponents of the major interpretive schools of the “why” theorists (2 psychological theorists, 4 structuralists plus Joseph Campbell), and briefly relate what they are about.

1. What is Hesiod’s account of creation?
2. What are the characteristics of the four main primal gods/goddesses?
3. What are the important myths about the Titans?
4. Relate the succession myths from Ouranus to Cronus to Zeus.

1. What are the details of Zeus’ rise to power?
2. Describe Athena's birth, and how she came to emerge from Zeus's head.
   
3. What are Zeus's domains of power?
4. What is Typhon's story?
   

1. Describe the myths of Prometheus and Pandora.
2. How might the myth of Prometheus be a tragedy about the heroic struggle of Western civilization's first guilty conscience?
3. What does the myth of Prometheus/Pandora say to you about the Greek perception of women?
   

1. Relate the myth of Demeter and Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

2. What does it tell you about marriage, death and the attitude and relation of the gods to humans?

1. How does Homer portray the Underworld?
2. What is Plato’s Myth of Er, and what are its implications?
3. Relate the details of Virgil’s depiction of the Underworld.
4. Identify the traditional elements in the realm of Hades.

1. Draw a quick scene from the story of Phaëton. (15-20 minutes)

1. Summarize the multiple attributes of the god Apollo. What did he oversee?
2. Describe Apollo's maxims, and how Niobe transgressed these.

1. What is the story of Actaeon?

2. What are the character, appearance, and roles of Artemis?

1. Relate the myth of Hermes’ birth and his quarrel and reconciliation with Apollo.
2. Describe the nature, character and appearance of Hermes and his domain.What characteristic ties all his domains together?
   
3. What are the significance of herms and their association with Hermes?

1. Relate the myth of Dionysos’s birth, his historical origins, and the nature of his worshipers.
2. What are Dionysos's domains, and how are they related to one another?

1. What is Aphrodite's hold over Zeus? Why is he angry with her?

2. Why is Anchises afraid of having sex with Aphrodite? What happens to his offspring? What happens to him afterwards?

3. Relate the story of Aphrodite and Adonis.

1. What are the significant features of Hesiod’s myth of the Five Ages of Man?
2. How does Ovid's tale of the Ages or Races of Man differ from Hesiod's? Where do humans come from in his account?
   
3. What were the three primary meanings of "hero" to the Greeks?