Classics 102 Mythology

Study Outline

Download this file as a PDF - click here

---

I can't be too specific here, or I may as well tell you the questions. And what's wrong with that, you ask? The bean counters and bureaucrats wouldn't be happy with a class average of 90%, and I'd soon be out of a job, that's what.

Anything I mentioned in class or anything in the assigned readings is fair game for an exam question.

The mid term exam will cover all material up to and including the last regular class before the exam, and the associated readings. Where we actually get to is the important thing - never mind the official lecture schedule.

The final exam covers the entire course and the associated readings, with greater emphasis on material after the mid term. The final exam format is identical to the mid term, just longer.

This probably looks more intimidating than it really is.

The web site for your textbook also has useful chapter and section summaries:

http://www.classicalmythology.org/chaptertopics/

---

• Definitions and Technical Terms Ch 1 - not in great detail, just know the basics; for example, you should be able to explain in a sentence or two Freud's ideas about Oedipus, or Jung's about archetypes.
  • Myth as opposed to Saga or Folk Tale
  • Myth and History
  • Myth and Religion
  • Myth and Truth
  • Psychology - Freud and Jung
  • Anthropomorphism
  
  
• Etiological (or Aetiological) Myths
  • these are myths that explain how something came to be
  
  
• The Creation and Succession Stories, and the like
  • what happened, in what order
  • the different generations of gods
  • Titanomachy, Gigantomachy
  • Zeus's rise to power
  • The Creation of Mortals (Ages of Man)
  
  
• The 12 Olympians
  • who are their parents
  • their birth story (or stories)
  • their sphere of influence (e.g. war, love, weaving)
  • animals associated with them, if any
  • plants associated with them, if any
  • their epithets and titles (e.g. Pallas, Cloud Gatherer)
  • major myths involving them (those talked about in class or in the assigned readings)
  
  
• Same as above for certain non-Olympians and other characters, where applicable
  • Dionysus
  • Hades
  • Persephone
  • Pan
  • Midas
  • Pygmalion
  • Cybele and Attis
  • Echo and Narcissus
  • Cupid and Psyche
  
  
• Ideas of the Afterlife and the Underworld
  • Homeric view - where is it, how do you get there, what does it look like
  • Later ideas
    • Location
    • Description
    • Morality - reward/punishment
    • Plato's Myth of Er
    • Vergil
  • Parts of the soul (thumos, ker, psyche, menos)
  
  
• The Mystery Religions
  • General characteristics
  • Orpheus and Orphism
  • Mithras
  • Demeter and Persephone - The Eleusinian Mysteries
  • Others - Isis, Dionysus, Cybele and Attis etc.
  
  
• The Hero
  • General ideas
  • The Ten Characteristics
    1. Unusual parentage/birth/childhood
    2. Opposition from birth
    3. Enemies impose challenges
    4. Helper/Ally (human or divine)
    5. Huge obstacles/quest
    6. Conflict
    7. Taboos
    8. Conquest of Death
    9. Material rewards
    10. Spiritual rewards - enlightenment, purification, rebirth, redemption, deification
  
  
• The Sagas and Heroes
  • The Theban Saga - Laius, Oedipus, 7 Against Thebes
  • The Mycenaean Saga - the thrice-cursed House of Atreus
  • The Trojan Saga - the Iliad, Achilles, and the fall of Troy
  • The Nostoi - the Returns
  • The Odyssey - the ten-year journey of Odysseus
  • Perseus
  • Heracles
  • Theseus
  • Jason and the Argonauts

Back to Top

---

Copyright © Michael Ward 1999 - 2009