Transcript Introduction to Mythology

English II
 What
is a myth?
 What makes Gilgamesh and Iliad epics?
 What are some similarities and differences
between creation stories around the world?
a
traditional or legendary story, usually
concerning some being or hero or event, with
or without a determinable basis of fact or a
natural explanation, especially one that is
concerned with deities or demigods and
explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon
of nature.
 Greeks
were polytheistic people, meaning
that they believed in the existence of Gods,
the famous 12 Gods of Mount Olympus and
numerous deities and semi gods that played
supporting roles to the original Gods.
 Ancient Greeks believed that their Gods had
enormous powers, and that they were able
to control nature in all its forms. The
interesting part is that it was Greeks
themselves who appointed all this power to
their Gods, yet, they were full of respect and
fear for them.
The oldest sources of Greek Mythology are the
two epic poems written by Homer: the Odyssey
and the Iliad, although the origins of the world
and the vast effort to explain the nature, the
surroundings and the very essence of Greek
mythology itself, lies at the texts of Hesiod,
especially Theogony:
 “At the beginning, there was chaos” he said,
explaining the Genesis of the world, the birth of
Gods, the succession of rulers, the origins of
human woes. Till today, Theogony is considered
the basis of the Greek mythology, probably the
most comprehensive literal creation of that
time.

 Greek
mythology
 Characters: Daedalus, Icarus, and King Minos
 Setting: Labyrinth of Crete
 Plot: Daedalus and Icarus are held prisoner
by King Minos because he wants to keep
Daedalus’ talent to himself
 Epic-
is a long narrative poem about a larger
than-life- hero who is engaged in a dangerous
journey, or quest, that is important to the
history of a nation or people
 Types of Epics:


Folk Epics- stories about heroes that were
originally recited or sung as entertainment at
feasts
Literary epics were written by a specific author,
usually borrowing the style and characteristics of
folk epic
 An
epic focuses on the adventures of a
larger-than life main character called the
epic hero
 Heroic quest- hero goes in search of
something of value to his people
 Divine intervention- the epic hero often
receives help from a god or some other
supernatural force
Epic usually begins with an open statement of
theme, followed by an invocation, or appeal for
supernatural help
 Story begins in medias res- readers are plunged
right into the action, and then flashbacks and
other narrative devices report on earlier events
 Serious tone
 Epic similes- comparisons using like and as
 Epithets- stock descriptive words or phrases.
Poems were originally composed and recited
orally


Kind of shorthand
 Long
Narrative Poem
 Traced to 2700-2500 BC
 Named for a Sumerian King
 Concerns: Timeless and Universal



How to become known and respected
How to cope with the loss of a dear friend
How to accept one’s own inevitable death
 Told
and handed down by Sumerians for
hundreds of years after death
 Babylonians conquered the Sumerians soon
afterward; they inherited the Sumerian
cultural tradition
 Babylonian author created the start of the
unified Gilgamesh epic

Others modified the epic, adding the prologue
and the flood story and emphasizing the
friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu
Most important search for immortality
 Gilgamesh
is the King of Uruk
 gods and goddesses in his life to provide
challenges, obstacles, and challenging tests
 Gods and goddesses Aruru creates Enkidu to
provide such a challenge to Gilgamesh
 Gilgamesh and Ekindu became engaged in a
heated wrestling match, which Gilgamesh
wins after a hard fought battle with his
opponent
 The two men became close friends
 Worried
about his mortality, Gilgamesh goes
in search of everlasting life
 Utnapishtism the sole survivor of a great
flood that had destroyed humanity centuries
before
 Gilgamesh learns for him there is no
permanence
 His death then completes the cylce of life
 An
archetype is a basic plot, character,
symbol, or idea, that recurs in the literature
of many cultures
A
plot in which an extraordinary person goes
on a difficult journey or mission
 The hero may search for a person, place, or
object of value; the answer to a problem or
puzzling question or some other kind of
special knowledge
 In Gilgamesh, a heroic king searches for the
secret of immortality
 Characterization
is the means by which
characters are created or developed
 Authors reveal characters’ personalities
through direct statements; through
characters’ actions, speech, and thoughts; or
through descriptive details
Before you read complete an overview of
Sumerian and Babylonian civilization
As you read look for details about the way the
people lived, worked, and believed
On a chart record the details that provide
clues to the culture that created this epic
 Those
who spoke Semitic languages, the
Semites, were nomadic people who had
migrated to Mesopotamia from the Arabian
Peninsula
 At the times that Sumerian civilization was
developing along the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, Egyptian civilization arose along the
banks of the Nile in Northeaster Africa.
 At first the villages along the Nile were
divided into two countries: Upper Egypt in
the south and Lower Egypt in the north
 The
history of the pharaohs, or rulers, who
then led Egypt to be divided into:




Early Dynastic Period (c. 2925-2575 B.C)
Old Kingdom (c. 2575-c. 2130 B.C)
Middle Kingdom (1938-c 1600 B.C)
New Kingdom (c. 1540- 1075 B.C)
 The
pharaohs were looked at as gods
 The pyramid that housed a pharaoh's remains
was both a symbol of the afterlife and an
image of Egyptian society




At top of pyramid was pharaoh
Beneath pharaoh were priest and nobles who
held administrative positions
Next were the middle class: artisans, merchants,
and physicians who served the ruling class
Last were the lowest and most numerous: the
peasants and slaves
 Babylonians
had a reverent attitude toward
Sumerian culture, however, they were far
more than slavish imitators
 The Babylonians reshaped the group of
Sumerian tales about a legendary king,
Babylonian scribes fashioned a brilliant work
that we know today as The Epic of Gilgamesh
 Hebrew
monotheism, or belief in a single
God, served as a basis for two other world
religions, Christianity and Islam
 Hebrew law demonstrated a greater respect
for human life than had previously existed in
the ancient North East
 Another new idea was the Hebrews’ deep
concern with moral behavior