I. STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Do the myths, rituals and sacred titles of Apollo reveal any
connections between Apollo and:
a. Crete?
b. the Minoan male consort?
c. fertility (agricultural, human, animal)?
2. Thus far we have concentrated on the poems of Hesiod. Today we
are going to meet with two new genres of Greek poetry: (1) the
Homeric hymns and (2) Greek tragedy.
HOMERIC HYMNS. The thirty-three Homeric hymns were composed by
different poets from different centures. They are not the works of
Homer. For the most part we do not know the names of the poets who
composed the different hymns. Some of the hymns may be as early as
the 7th century B.C. Each of the hymns honors a single god or
goddess. They are a rich source for myth. They were perhaps composed
fro recitation during religious festivals.
GREEK TRAGEDY. Greek tragic poetry was a uniquely Athenian
phenomenon. Like the Homeric hymns tragic poetry seems to have
developed in a religious context. In the 5th century B.C. the people
of Athens began to hold dramatic competitions during a festival in
honor of Dionysus. Greek myths provided the stories for the plays.
Each playwrite composed a trilogy of three tragedies all of which
dealt with the same myth. These trilogies were presented in
competition. The tragedies of three playwrites survive: Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides. A tragedy is not merely a play with an
unhappy ending. Rather, tragedies explore how man grapples with
conflicting forces often beyond his control. The tragedy which you
will read for next time, The Eumenides by Aeschylus, belongs to a
trilogy called the Oresteia.
3. The Structure of the Homeric hymn to Apollo. The first 213
lines of the hymn describe the birth of Apollo, his spheres of
influence and how he is honored. The second part of the hymn narrates
how he came to possess the oracle at Delphi.
PART ONE:
lines 1-139: the birth of Apollo
lines 140-213: the poet proclaims how Apollo is honored
PART TWO:
lines 214-299 :Apollo leave Mt. Olympos and goes off in search of a
site for his temple and oracle.
lines 294-299: Apollo builds his temple.
lines 300-374: Apollo defeates the former inhabitant of Krisa, a
monstrous she-serpent.
lines 391-end: Apollo takes the form of a dolphin, hijacks a merchant
vessel from Minoan Knossos, and takes the ship and its crew to Krisa,
below Delphi. There, the crew become his first priests.
4. Would you call Apollo "lucky in love" or "unlucky in love"?
Why?
II. APOLLO, "MOST GREEK OF THE GODS"
III. ORIGINS
A. Family
1. 1Leto
2. Zeus
3. Artemis
B. Paiwon
IV. SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
A. God of Rationality 2
1, 3
2, 4
3
1. maxims at Delphi
a. "nothing in excess"
b. "know thyself"
B. God of the 5
Lyre
1. Hermes
2. paean
3. Apollo
Mousagetes
a. muses
4. 6
Marsyas
a. satyr
b. Dionysus
c. Midas
C. God of 7
Prophecy
D. God of Purification
V. BIRTH MYTH
A. Homeric hymns and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo
1. 8
Delos,
2
B. The "Myth of the Ephebe"
1. Pattern
a. withdrawal (spatial and social dislocation)
b. devastation (agon)
c. return (spatial and social reintegration)
2. Apollo's Route
3. Apollo's 9
Bow
4. Apollo's Loves
VI. APOLLO AND PROPHESY
A. Homeric Hymn to Apollo
1. 10
Delphi
2. Mt. Parnassus
3. 11
omphalos
4. Pytho
5. Pythia
6. 12
Apollo
Pythios
B. Eumenides
1. Gaia
2. Themis
3. Phoebe (Phoebus Apollo)
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