This is a 2 hour final. The first hour is a midterm for the third section
of the course. The second hour is comprehensive.
The midterm (first hour)
Section I will require short, factual answers.
Section II will require short paragraph answers. It will include important
names, events and themes from the material covered in this section of
the course:
the House of Atreus (Agamemnon's family)
the House of Labdacus (Oedipus's and Antigone's family)
the plays by Aeschylus (Agamemnon required, and discussion
of Eumenides), Sophocles and Euripides (Medea required,
and discussion of Bacchae)
the myths of Herakles, Theseus and Jason
Section III will be ONE longer essay. There will be choice.
The comprehensive section (second hour)
There will be TWO long essays to write. There will be choice.
The Midterm Hour
The House of Atreus
Know who the following people were, and the basics of what they do/what
happens to them:
Tantalos
Pelops
Atreus and Thyestes
Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
Iphigenia, Orestes (and Electra)
Aeschylus's Plays
How does Aeschylus use the family myths in his plays? What does he emphasize/change?
What is his interest in fate--is everyone fated or do they get to make choices?
Review what the chorus say in the Agamemnon, lines 107-121, about
Agamemnon's decision to kill Iphigenia. Was he helpless in his fate, or
is he guilty and should be punished?
What other choices does Agamemnon make? To destroy the gods' temples in
Troy--sacrilege; to walk on the holy purple tapestries. How does this tie
in with the question about Agamemnon being guilty or not?
How does he characterize Agamemnon? Clytemnestra? Aegisthus?
What does Cassandra add to the play?
In the Eumenides, Orestes is beset by the Furies for killing his
mother. Why is Clytemnestra not hounded for killing her husband? Because he
was not a blood relation.
Orestes is acquitted of the murder of his mother. Why? By whom?
What happens to the Furies? They are reconciled, and become the Eumenides--kindly
ones
The House of Labdacus (Laius)
Know who the following people were, and the basics of what they do/what
happens to them:
Cadmus
Laius and Jocasta
Oedipus (and Jocasta)
Antigone
Sophocles's Plays
How does Sophocles use the family myths in his play Oedipus the King?
What does he emphasize/change?
What is his interest in fate--are Laius and Oedipus fated or do they get
to make choices?
remember the oracle to Laius? presented differently by Aeschylus and
Sophocles:
Aeschylus: If you have a son, he will kill you.
Sophocles: Your son will kill you.
Is Oedipus guilty? flawed? (see next section). Does he deserve the suffering
he undergoes? Could he have prevented his downfall?
What are Oedipus' good and bad qualities?
The legend involving Antigone:
Eteocles and Polynices, Oedipus' sons, fight over who is to rule Thebes
Polynices is thrown out by Eteocles; he returns with an army and attacks
Thebes
Creon (king, their uncle) decrees no burial for Polynices (proper treatment
for traitors)
Antigone defies the decree, for which the penalty is death
Is Antigone in the right? She claims the same age old laws of the gods as
the Furies do to justify hounding Orestes
Is Creon right? He claims the same laws of the human state as Apollo does
to justify acquitting Orestes
Aristotle on Greek Tragedy (Poetics, sec. 13)
I discussed this in class; here it is written down. It's important to understand
that there is no such thing to the Greeks as a "tragic flaw". That
phrase is a misunderstanding of Aristotle's word hamartia, which
just means an error, particularly an error of judgment. He gives the following
description of the best plot for a tragedy; he says that Sophocles' Oedipus
the King is a perfect example of it.
Aristotle says that the best tragic plot:
must imitate actions arousing pity and fear
should be about "a good man, not overly virtuous and just, whose
misfortune is brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by some error
(of judgment)" (hamartia)...e.g. Oedipus. "The perfect
plot, accordingly, must have a single, and not (as some tell us) a double
issue; the change in the hero's fortunes must be not from misery to happiness,
but on the contrary from happiness to misery; and the cause of it must
lie not in any depravity, but in some great error on his part."
Euripides' Plays
The background to the Medea is the story of Jason and the Golden
Fleece (see below)
What is Euripides interested in teaching with the play Medea?
Medea does not change through the play but our attitude toward her does
What is Jason like? Does he deserve to suffer as he does?
Does Medea deserve to go unpunished for killing her children?
The Bacchae presents a confrontation between a god, Dionysos, and
people; they react in different ways.
Some embrace his worship--what happens to them?
Pentheus rejects him absolutely--what happens to him?
What is the message of the Bacchae?
Herakles
Know the 12 labors--why did he do them?
how do the first 6 labors differ from the last 6? maybe some connecton
of 1st 6 to reality of Bronze Age?
how are the last 2 labors a quest for immortality?
What other types of deeds did Herakles do? How did he die?
What are the different views of Herakles that existed in ancient times?
Theseus
the 6 labors--made up by Athenians in 6th century BC to imitate Herakles
compare to Herakles' labors
the Minotaur story
a much older legend, probably based on the real Bronze Age of Crete
The Athenians, especially the tyrant Pisistratus in the 6th cy. and the
Democrats in the early 5th cy., exploited Theseus for propaganda purposes
Jason and the Argonauts
Jason sent away from home at birth, comes back when grown, takes over as
kin--folktale; compare Oedipus, Theseus
Quest for golden fleece
Medea falls in love with Jason, helps him (compare Ariadne and Theseus)
adventures on the way deliberately copy those of Odysseus, Herakles
General study suggestions for this midterm
Know what the textbook says is important about the topics above
Think about connections, comparisons and contrasts
miracle babies--Oedipus, Herakles, Theseus (sort of), Jason
women loved, then abandoned--Medea, Ariadne, Herakles' wife Dianeira
comparison between Herakles and Theseus: labors; connection of their
myths to the real worlde of the Greek Bronze Age
comparison between Clytemnestra (Aeschylus) and Medea (Euripides)
comparison among Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
The Comprehensive Hour
Look for recurring themes and archetypes in different myths
for miracle babies, add Romulus and Remus
for women abandoned, add Calypso in the Odyssey
compare Penelope to Clytemnestra, Medea, Antigone
different types of heroes: Achilles, Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Aeneas, Herakles,
Theseus
quests for immortality, and attempts to cheat death by returning from
Underworld: Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Aeneas, Herakles, Theseus
How do the ancient societies use myths?
moral lessons
political propaganda
Relations between gods and men
are gods models of behavior?
do they help, punish or both?
do they enforce fate?
Relations between men and women
think about women as seducers, saviors, supporters (helper-maidens),
murderers, etc.
Heroes
do the heroes from the course have things in common? do they differ
a lot?
do stories of epic heroes and tragic heroes offer different things or
lessons to ordinary people?
