CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology Ancient and Modern Definitions of Myth

I. Preconceptions A.

Everyone knows something about Greek mythology, from mere names (Zeus) to some details of stories (Oedipus).

B.

The word ‘myth’ has wider semantic field for us than it did for the Greeks. Myth can be used to mean falsehood.’ Interchangeable with other words like legend, fable, saga, folktale, fairy tale.

C.

There is a need to set some ground rules so we know what it is we are talking about

D.

What is a myth? (a myth, not Myth). We ought to consider specific instances before trying to determine the essence of myth.

II. How did the Greeks define Myth? A. The relevant word is mythos (Greek μῦθος) 1. etymology uncertain 2. basic meanings: ‘word, speech, thing said, story, narrative’ B. Four important opinions: 1. Homer (ca. 750) a. Mythos is an emphatic, authoritative utterance; sometimes an injunction, advice or a threat; contrasted with ἔργον. b. Mythos is a kind of story, sometimes relating a past event; relevant to the present discussion c. Mythos never implies a lack of truth.

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2. Pindar (522-438 BC) a. There is a possible distinction between a true and a false mythos b. A mythos is persuasive but potentially untrue 3. Plato (428-347 BC) a. A mythos is a traditional story of dubious truth b. Mythos contrasts with λόγος lógos ‘account,’ which accords with reason and truth 4. Aristotle (384-322 BC) a.

Mythos is a ‘false account’ or the ‘plot’ of a drama

b. Lógos is a ‘reasoned account’ or ‘analytical statement’ c. By now the two are consistently contrasted d. Mythos now thought of as a possibly untrue story that may nonetheless present some greater truth. e. There is a progressive movement to the point where mythos = falsehood. C. In spite of this, it is true to say that in many instances mythos and logos are not contrasted, but seem to be used interchangeably. At most we can say that a distinction between the two words and concepts was sometimes made, but not always. D. The Greek evidence is actually not so helpful. III. Modern definitions of myth A. There is no widespread agreement on the definition of myth or on the distinction between myth, legend, fable, folklore, saga or other similar words. B. Some would dismiss attempts to classify and just call all such stories myths. 2

C. Others use ‘folklore’ as a comprehensive term for traditional, orally transmitted literature. D. A workable modern definition of myth 1. Commonly, if vaguely, myth is viewed as a ‘traditional tale’ or narrative with some collective importance to the community in which it is told. 2. A concise definition is given by Richard Buxton. 1994. Imaginary Greece. Cambridge. p. 15: “A Greek myth is a narrative about the deeds of gods and heroes and their interrelations with ordinary mortals, handed on as a tradition within the ancient Greek world, and of collective significance to a particular social group or groups.” Wisely, Buxton wasn’t adamant about this: “a definition makes a good servant but a bad master.” a. There are four parts to this definition: i. “A Greek myth is a narrative ii. about the deeds of gods and heroes and their interrelations with ordinary mortals, iii. handed on as a tradition within the ancient Greek world, iv. and of collective significance to a particular social group or groups.” 3. The notion of tale or narrative implies a plot (as in fact mythos meant ‘plot’ for Aristotle), a. The simplest plot is merely beginning, middle, and end. It possibly includes all of the narrative devices available to its teller. b. Under narrative we should probably include not only verbal forms of expression, but, in a looser sense, also visual forms—those works of art that also communicated mythical stories. (power point on Circe, Polyphemus)

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4. ‘Traditional’ implies the following a. handed down, often orally (e.g. Homeric poems) b. traditional but changing and multiform (e.g. tale of Oedipus) c. set in the distant past d. anonymous e. important enough to endure among the group 5. May express social values, norms of behavior, the consequences of deviating from the norm. 6. The modern definition is not concerned with the issue of truth – focuses on the social origin of myth. E. Legend 1. Traditional tales about human characters with some basis, perhaps very little, in historical events 2. Usually involve a particular city or family (sagas) and the interaction between gods and heroes. Central characters human, not divine, and usually heroes/heroines, nobles, aristocracy. 3. Ex. George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, Johnny Appleseed. F. Fable A story in which the characters are usually animals with human traits. The primary purpose is moral and didactic. G. Folktale 1. Like legends, which usually handle aristocratic elements of society, but focused on lower strata of society, common people (i.e. folk) and witches, elves, giants, fairies (fairytale).

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2. The hero is often some sort of lowly victim—the youngest child, siblings of a wicked stepmother, orphaned. His or her gifts are unrecognized until some reversal of fortune brings about a happy ending. Think Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel. 3. Can also be ‘traditional’ (e.g. the multiformity of Little Red Riding Hood) 4. Folktales from around the world have been rigorously studied and broken down into several different types and motifs. a. One example is the quest (power point): hero travels to a foreign/strange land to fight a foe (dragon/monster/evil human), hero assisted by animals/spirits/deities/magical weapons, the hero is clever while the foe is brutish/stupid, the foe imprisons hero but through some trick the hero gets free and kills the foe, hero returns home and is rewarded with princess in marriage/rule of kingdom/some treasure. b. (Read plot summary of The Hobbit). Applicable to other stories (Star Wars, Perseus).

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Plot summary of The Hobbit from SparkNotes http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/hobbit/summary.html Bilbo Baggins lives a quiet, peaceful life in his comfortable hole at Bag End. Bilbo lives in a hole because he is a hobbit—one of a race of small, plump people about half the size of humans, with furry toes and a great love of good food and drink. Bilbo is quite content at Bag End, near the bustling hobbit village of Hobbiton, but one day his comfort is shattered by the arrival of the old wizard Gandalf, who persuades Bilbo to set out on an adventure with a group of thirteen militant dwarves. The dwarves are embarking on a great quest to reclaim their treasure from the marauding dragon Smaug, and Bilbo is to act as their “burglar.” The dwarves are very skeptical about Gandalf’s choice for a burglar, and Bilbo is terrified to leave his comfortable life to seek adventure. But Gandalf assures both Bilbo and the dwarves that there is more to the little hobbit than meets the eye. Shortly after the group sets out, three hungry trolls capture all of them except for Gandalf. Gandalf tricks the trolls into remaining outside when the sun comes up, and the sunlight turns the nocturnal trolls to stone. The group finds a great cache of weapons in the trolls’ camp. Gandalf and the dwarf lord Thorin take magic swords, and Bilbo takes a small sword of his own. The group rests at the elfish stronghold of Rivendell, where they receive advice from the great elf lord Elrond, then sets out to cross the Misty Mountains. When they find shelter in a cave during a snowstorm, a group of goblins who live in the caverns beneath the mountain take them prisoner. Gandalf leads the dwarves to a passage out of the mountain, but they accidentally leave behind Bilbo. Wandering through the tunnels, Bilbo finds a strange golden ring lying on the ground. He takes the ring and puts it in his pocket. Soon he encounters Gollum, a hissing, whining creature who lives in a pool in the caverns and hunts fish and goblins. Gollum wants to eat Bilbo, and the two have a contest of riddles to determine Bilbo’s fate. Bilbo wins by asking the dubious riddle, “What have I got in my pocket?” Gollum wants to eat Bilbo anyway, and he disappears to fetch his magic ring, which turns its wearer invisible. The ring, however, is the same one Bilbo has already found, and Bilbo uses it to escape from Gollum and flee the goblins. He finds a tunnel leading up out of the mountain and discovers that the dwarves and Gandalf have already escaped. Evil wolves known as Wargs pursue them, but Bilbo and his comrades are helped to safety by a group of great eagles and by Beorn, a creature who can change shape from a man into a bear. The company enters the dark forest of Mirkwood, and, making matters worse, Gandalf abandons them to see to some other urgent business. In the forest, the dwarves are caught in the webs of some giant spiders, and Bilbo must rescue them with his sword and magic ring. After slaying his first spider, Bilbo names his sword Sting. Shortly after escaping the spiders, the unlucky dwarves are captured by a group of wood elves who live near the river that runs through Mirkwood. Bilbo uses his ring to help the company escape and slips the dwarves away from the elves by hiding them inside barrels, which he then floats down the river. The dwarves arrive at Lake Town, a human settlement near the Lonely Mountain, under which the great dragon sleeps with Thorin’s treasure. After sneaking into the mountain, Bilbo talks to the sly dragon Smaug, who unwittingly reveals that his armorlike scales have a weak spot near his heart. When Bilbo steals a golden cup from the dragon’s hoard, Smaug is furious and flies out of the mountain to burn Lake Town in his rage. Bard, a heroic archer, has learned the secret about Smaug’s weakness from a thrush, and he fires an arrow into the dragon’s heart, killing him. Before Smaug dies, however, he burns Lake Town to the ground. The humans of Lake Town and Elrond’s elves of Mirkwood march to the Lonely Mountain to seek a share of the treasure as compensation for their losses and aid, but Thorin greedily refuses, and the humans and elves besiege the mountain, trapping the dwarves and the hobbit inside. Bilbo sneaks out to join the humans in an attempt to bring peace. When Thorin learns what Bilbo has done, he is livid, but Gandalf suddenly reappears and saves Bilbo from the dwarf lord’s wrath. At this moment, an army of goblins and Wargs marches on the mountain, and the humans, elves, and dwarves are forced to band together to defeat them. The goblins nearly win, but the arrival of Beorn and the eagles helps the good armies win the battle. After the battle, Bilbo and Gandalf return to Hobbiton, where Bilbo continues to live. He is no longer accepted by respectable hobbit society, but he does not care. Bilbo now prefers to talk to elves and wizards, and he is deeply content to be back among the familiar comforts of home after his grand and harrowing adventures.

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H. These categories are often mixed. There are folktale characteristics in myth, as we will see when we study the Odyssey. I. An entirely satisfactory definition of myth is elusive. 1. The definition of myth given above is, you might have thought, a bit vague and somewhat arbitrary. Does it cover all myths (not just Greek myths?) No. Not all stories recognized as ‘myths’ recount the deeds of gods, or heroes or their contact with mortals. They may be traditional, but they are not primarily oral. 2. Are there characteristics that we can add to the definition of myth? In fact, many definitions of myth have been offered that differ from the one I gave you, and many scholars consider different factors to be important. 3. Some scholars, for example, would distinguish between serious and unserious myth, the former describing those myths that include the presence of gods. Sometimes these are called divine myths, true myths, or myths proper. a. Divine myths were often etiological, that is they served to explain why a particular thing is the way it is or why the world is as it is. b. Such myths involve creation and destruction of the gods or the universe, human institutions, customs. 4. Other scholars would limit myths to only those stories that are concerned with the sacred. 5. The simple problem with most of these attempts is the fact that there are always exceptions to definitions that are precise. a. The gods are not always serious. b. Myths do not always involve gods. c. Stories widely recognized as mythic are not always concerned with the sacred. 7

6. In fact, it has even been argued that the concept of ‘traditional,’ which we just discussed may not be appropriate. Some stories, for example, only survive in a single author and we are unable to determine to what extent that story is traditional or unique to the author. J. In the end, attempts to find some single quality that applies to all myths fail. There is a great diversity of types of myth and attempts to construct global theories to explain or define them are doomed to failure. The point of this is not to confuse ourselves with definitions and get lost in qualifications. The main point is to understand a few things: (power point) 1. It is impossible to find universals in myths 2. There are individual examples of myths. These we can fruitfully discuss. 3. It is probably impossible to form a single all-inclusive definition that adequately accounts for all myths. IV. Ideology and myth: moving from definition to function A. Consider the words of Eric Csapo, Theories of Mythology. Csapo argues that it is an arbitrary method of dealing with the problem of definition by coming up with a list of essential characteristics and defining these as myth while any story that doesn’t meet these criteria are called legend, folktale, or whatever. “Definition is never the innocent first step in a process of empirical discovery that it is sometimes made to seem: it is rather always the final precipitate of an already elaborate theory. To begin with a definition is therefore in an important sense to begin at the end, and to urge acceptance of a position before presenting the arguments or the evidence. If I begin with a discussion of the problems of defining myth, it is to urge suspicion.” B. The problems of myth are endlessly fascinating. Or maybe just endless. James G. Frazer: “The longer I occupy myself with questions of ancient mythology, the more diffident I become of success in dealing with them, and I am apt to think that we who spend our years in searching for solutions to these

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insoluble problems are like Sisyphus perpetually rolling his stone uphill only to see it revolve again into the valley.” C. In this class, this is all we have to say about what myth ‘is’. We will be more concerned to look at what myth ‘does’: 1. Myth as a function of social ideology. 2. As Bruce Lincoln says, myth as “ideology in narrative form.” Exactly what this means is the subject for the rest of this class.

The 4 major points of today’s lecture: 1. Preconceptions We all have them. We must recognize they might not fit the facts. 2. How did the Greeks define Myth? In general there was a change in meaning from ‘speech, story’ to ‘falsehood’, but without consistency. 3. Modern definitions of myth An entirely satisfactory definition of myth is elusive. Certain characteristics are common, and in general it is helpful to differentiate among myth, legend, folktale, etc. 4. Ideology and myth: moving from definition to function Myth does more than simply tell a story. It is a means to convey an ideology.

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CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology Myth in Time and Space

I. Preliminaries If we want to be able to think and speak intelligently about Classical Mythology, it is important for us to take some time before we look at the myths themselves and learn a little about the people who were responsible for those myths. Knowing some of this context, even if incompletely or imperfectly, helps us to understand how the myths functioned in ancient society and what they might have meant to the people who knew them. Today I want to talk in particular about three things in particular: space, time, and performance. II. Space/Geography A. Let’s orient ourselves geographically Major Areas Crete Peloponnesian peninsula Mainland Attic plain, Athens Boeotian plain Thessaly Thrace Asia Minor, Troy Cyclades Water Aegean Sea Ionian Sea Mediterranean B. We should keep in mind a few things. Ancient Greece was mostly a dry and barren land with small rivers that dried up in the summer, with high rocky mountains over most of the land occasionally broken up by small plains that were used for agriculture.

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C. It was the isolation of the plains areas, which became centers of civilization, that often led to the independent organization of local affairs. D. Only about 1/5 of area cultivatable. They grew grains, vines, olives (cleansing, lamp oil), cultivated bees, kept goat, sheep, pigs, horses (scarce). E. Most metals were imported, though Greece had some gold and silver mines. What it had in abundance was marble, which no doubt was crucial to developing an excellence in sculpture, and extremely fine clay, which provided material for some of the greatest pottery ever made. F. The sea played a very important role in Greek culture both as a source of food and, since overland travel was difficult, as a means of transportation and trade. Most people lived near the coast. G. Greece located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean H. Most of these factors will play some role in the myths we study this term. 1. The fact that Greece was located at a crossroads meant that their literature and mythology was influenced by neighboring non-Greek peoples. This is true of Homer and the early cosmologies. 2. Many Greek legends focus on those local isolated places we just mentioned, recalling stories of their founders or early rulers. This isolation also accounts for the fact that there are sometimes so many different versions of a Greek myth. 3. The sea figures big in Greek mythology, for example, in the stories of Odysseus and Jason and the Argonauts, both of which we will read later. 4. Gold was rare and highly prized. Even though it is a soft metal, in Homer’s Iliad gold armor is treated as though it is better than bronze or iron. III. Chronology A. For our purposes, we should keep in mind a broad division of ancient Greek history into the following periods:

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Paleolithic Neolithic Early/Middle Bronze Age Late Bronze Age Dark Age Archaic Period Classical Period Hellenistic Period

before 7000 6000-3000 BCE 3000-1600 BCE 1600-1150 BCE 1150-800 BCE 800-490 BCE 490-323 BCE 323-30 BCE

B. Greece was occupied in the Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age before 7000 BCE, but little is known of inhabitants. C. Neolithic 6000-3000 BCE remains of houses, pottery, stone tools, graves. Agricultural society. 1. Evidence is slight, ambiguous (ceramics, pottery, painted images, clay figurines), hard to interpret. 2. What survives is haphazard, accidental. 3. Modes of behavior, ideas only comprehended indirectly. 4. Burkert, “More can be known of burials than of life itself.” D. Early Middle Bronze Age, 3000-1600 BCE 1. Inhabitants of mainland Greece in the Early Bronze Age were not Greek. From archaeological evidence it is clear that their cultural traditions were different, though we know nothing about their race or language. They were farmers. 2. We know considerably more about the inhabitants of Crete at this time, known as Minoans, and we will talk about them in more detail in Thursday’s lecture. 3. The centers settled in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age became Mycenaean centers, and later centers of the great myth cycles of classical Greece.

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E. Late Bronze Age, 1600-1150 BCE 1. This period is characterized by a number of huge stone fortresses erected in the Peloponnesus, extremely wealthy tombs, and the first evidence of a written language identifiable as Greek. 2. This is also called the Mycenaean age, named after a huge citadel in Mycenae. We will also discuss the Mycenaeans in greater detail in a coming lecture. 3. For now it is good to know simply that almost all of the centers of power in the Mycenaean Age play important roles in later Greek myth. 4. Although none of the writing from this period is literature, it is mostly just palace inventory lists, it is likely that many Greek legends and myths originated during this period. F. Dark Ages, 1150-800 BCE 1. By 1150 BCE, most of the Mycenaean palaces on the mainland had been destroyed by fire. 2. The cause of the destruction is controversial – we will pick this up again in a later lecture, but the following period known as the Dark Ages is often characterized as impoverished and socially disorganized. The archeological record is now much different: no indication of writing, no large building complexes, less extensive trading. 3. It was a period of extensive migration to the East 4. Euboea was an important cultural center at this time and appears to have been exceptional. Recent archaeology has uncovered rich burials and evidence of direct trade with the Near East. G. Archaic Period, 800-490 BCE 1. The Archaic Period is characterized by political and cultural revival that includes three vital ingredients: a. The invention of the Greek alphabet, adopted in large part from the Phoenicians 13

b. The development of the polis, a politically independent city-state. Rather than defining group status by family connections, the members of the polis were a social connection among a small number of individuals based on geographical proximity. Aristotle, “Man is a political animal.” i. With the polis came the ideas of citizenship, constitution, law, military personnel, and taxation. ii. By 800 BCE most poleis were ruled by the aristocracy, a small number of wealthy families who replaced earlier kings. iii. The aristocracy maintained power by controlling land. This led to emigration and colonization among the lower classes as a means to making a living. Control overseas of colonies and the growth of trade, which was controlled by the lower-classes (since the aristocracy generally did not participate in trade), created a new middle class. The wealthier they grew, the greater their demand to share in the political power. iv. From about 650-500 many poleis were subject to the reign of a tyrant supported by the new wealthy class. Tyrant in this case means merely an unconstitutional ruler, not necessarily a despot. c. The resumption of commerce and trade. Coinage. H. Classical Period, 490-323 BCE 1. 508 BCE at Athens Cleisthenes reorganizes the polis and places executive powers in the hands of the adult male citizens. The first democracy. 2. 490 BCE the Persian army invade mainland Greece and are defeated at Marathon, about 25 miles NE of Athens. 10 years later the Persians were defeated in a decisive naval battle. The initial defeat conveniently marks the beginning of the classical period. 3. It was during the classical period, an age of stunning advances in philosophy, literature, politics and art, that some of the greatest thinkers of Greece lived: Herodotus, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, all living in Athens. 14

4. After the Persian Wars, the Greek world fell into two rival leagues, the Spartan League, a military state ruled by an aristocracy, and the Athenian League, which was democratic. 5. From 431-404 the two fought in the Peloponnesian War, from which Greece never really recovered. 6. The old ways of Greece and the polis system was altered irrevocably when Philip II of Macedon seized power in 338 BCE. 7. When Philip died in 336, his son Alexander, later Alexander the Great, took the throne, conquered the Persian empire and territories as far as India. 8. Alexander died in 323, of a fever or by poisoning. His death marks the transition to the Hellenistic period. I. Hellenistic Period, 323-30 BCE 1. After Alexander’s death, although the empire fell apart, Greek culture spread everywhere across the Mediterranean and Near East. 2. The new cultural capital was Alexandria, in Egypt. 3. In 146 BCE the mainland was conquered by Rome, in 30 BCE Alexandria also fell to Rome, when Cleopatra, the last descendant of Alexander’s generals, committed suicide. III. Performance A. By performance I mean not only the physical locations in which myths were told or enacted, but I intend also in a metaphorical sense those realms of culture in which myth made a significant contribution. B. The domestic sphere is the most obvious place to begin, with tales told to little children mostly, according to our ancient sources, by mothers, nurses and old women. One such group of stories involved female bogey monsters like Gorgo or Lamia. Lamia kidnapped and murdered little children.

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1. We are told that the story of Theseus and Ariadne, which we will study later, was a favorite. 2. “Old wives tales” were usually disparaged by ancient authors C. Local festivals were also the occasion for the telling of myths. 1. During the rites performed at some of these festivals the children took part in recitation of poetry or where told particular myths that supposedly explained the origin of the rituals that were performed. 2. Choral singing, boys’ and girls’ choirs, often took mythical themes as its subject. Choral training was often the only form of schooling adolescents received. Choral training could last as long as up till the age of 30 for young men and competition in singing took place annually in some regions in the theatre. 3. Festival performances of Homer and Hesiod. 4. Festival performance = publication D. Schools, which were rare until the 5th century and which only the wealthy could afford, taught rote learning of mythological poetry and fables. Homer was required reading then as it is now. Story of Alcibiades (student of Socrates, general in Persian war). E. Athletic victories were celebrated by especially commissioned odes that would praise the victor against the backdrop of the deeds of gods and heroes. Pindar, whom we mentioned earlier, was one of the greatest composers of these victory odes and is a rich source of myth for us today. F. Myths also figured big in the lives of adults. In the so-called social rituals of conviviality such as banquets, symposia, marriage celebrations, songs and stories about the gods and heroes were especially frequent. G. Visual arts. Mythical themes were painted on all kinds of ceramic ware: wine jars, wine coolers, pouring vessels, drinking cups, and jewelry boxes. Painted walls and statuary depicted mythical scenes.

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H. Lyre singers, whose repertoire included Homeric verses and mythological themes, competed at major festivals throughout the year and throughout Greece. I. The development of Athenian tragic drama in the 6th century is hard to overestimate in terms of contribution to mythical repertoire. 1. We will deal with this in greater detail when we read some works of tragedy, but simply note for now that the subject matter of tragedy is without exception mythic material. 2. The surviving tragic plays form one of our best sources of Greek myth J. To a lesser extent, fifth and fourth century Attic comedy often mentioned mythic subjects. K. Mythic associations or mythic stories were often a part of religious ritual. L. In sum, it is not too much to say that myth saturated every-day life in ancient Greece.

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CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology The Indo-European and Near Eastern background

Today we are going to fill in the background to our study of myth by looking at 3 major influences in classical, and especially Greek, mythology: I. The Indo-European background II. The Near Eastern background III. The Minoan and Mycenaean background I. The Indo-European background A. 18th century awakening to languages of the East 1. Synopsis of origin of Historical Linguistics a. Greek and Roman Tradition b. Middle Ages: spread of Christianity and increased knowledge of different languages c. 1498 Vasco de Gama discovers sea-route to India e. Renaissance: i. Search for the original language ii. Growing awareness of languages iii. Increased knowledge of languages of the East iv. The ‘discovery’ of Sanskrit Greek ‘father’ patēr ‘mother’ mētēr ‘is’ esti

Latin pater mater est

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Sanskrit pitā mātā asti

‘seven’ ‘foot’ ‘god’

hepta pod—

septem peddeus

saptam paddevas

2. Sir William Jones, from the Third Anniversary Discourse, On the Hindus, 2 February 1786: “The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists: there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit; and the Old Persian might be added to the same family, if this were the place for discussing any question concerning the antiquities of Persia.” 3. Overhead of Rg-veda, Gothic 4. Overhead of various reconstructions 5. Overhead of map of IE language map; cf. Fortson p. 11, full list of languages on p. 10. B. After the establishment of a common language family has come the recognition of a common culture and attempts to identify relics of a common mythology. Some Kurgan characteristics: 1. Seasonal settlements 2. Semi-subterranean dwellings 3. Pastoral economy 4. Hierarchic social structure 5. Strongly patriarchal familial system

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6. Aggressive warfare 7. Burial of dead in a hut-like chamber beneath a tumulus (Russian kurgan) 8. Animal sacrifice 9. Use and veneration of the horse 10. Use of wheeled vehicles 11. Worship of solar deities C. Some relevant characteristics of IE mythology: 1. Worship of solar deities (e.g. Deus, Aurora) 2. Patriarchal hierarchy 3. Georges Dumézil’s trifunctionalism a. PIE society divided into three functions i. sovereignty and religion: priests, kings, keepers of religious and legal order ii. martial force: warrior class iii. fertility: pastoralists and producers of goods b. Certainly some truth to this but the trifunctionalism has been the source of many incredible theories and it is debated how extensively the theory can be applied. c. Applies clearly in the ancient Indian caste system, where the division was priestly, warrior, and herder-cultivator classes, plus a fourth class originally made up of subjugated non-Indian peoples. d. Also applies to early Celtic society, which included a three-fold division into Nobles, Men of Art, and an Order of Farmers.

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4. Fortson mentions three myths or types of myths in particular, which we will have opportunity to discuss in further detail later in the semester a. Dragon-slaying myth b. Creation myths c. Theft of Fire d. He also mentioned fire-worship, the horse sacrifice, a figure known as the “grandson of the waters” E. Note also the elevated position of the poet in IE society, a theme which survives in depictions of the bard in Homer. Bardic training in guild association; evidence in Vedic literature it was a family affair, in Old Irish of training of adolescent males. II. The Near Eastern background A. Increasingly, scholars are recognizing the debt Greek culture owes to earlier Near Eastern and Mesopotamian society. This is especially true in the area of mythology. Puhvel p. 22, “. . . it is not always easy to say where ancient Greece ends and the Near East begins, owing to extensive cultural interpenetration.” B. We’ve talked about the Indo-European inheritance of some of the content of Greek myth, when we turn to the Near East we must recognize something different. In particular we are going to focus on Mesopotamian sources and Hittite sources. Today we will just talk about the Mesopotamian sources, in a later class we will pick up on Hittite. C. Mesopotamian Literature 1. Wide variety of literature 2. Epic of Gilgamesh, story of a universal flood: such stories, it was soon realized, were borrowed heavily by the later accounts in the biblical book of Genesis. 21

3. Creation and origin myth, battle of the gods. 4. In his chapter on chapter Creation Myth in the Ancient Near East Jan Puhvel makes a number of points, I want to highlight seven of them (especially since the chapter is a difficult read) a. “Traditions of origin and creation tend to be the most mythical matter of all.” b. cosmogony – creation of the cosmos theogony – creation of gods anthropogony – creation of humans c. Judeo-Christian tradition of time as teleology vs. Near Eastern and Classical culture’s cyclical worldview d. Judeo-Christian tradition of monotheism and “insurmountable gulf separating divinity and humanity” vs. Oriental and Classical culture’s notion of dying gods, semidivine beings, and heroes e. Two contrasting traits of Creation Myth Since creation myths supposedly deal with universal truths, they have the potential to spread internationally , but they can also be used locally to serve nationalistic or dynastic purposes. f. The ancient Near East was a melting pot of civilizations. The diffusion of myths of all types among these cultures. Two important sources of myth from Mesopotamia: i. Sumerians: α. Lived in a broad area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. β. They flourished ca. 3000 BCE, unknown race.

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γ. Language known as Sumerian; unrelated to any others. Living language in 3rd millennium, survived in schools until the 1st. Used cuneiform writing. δ. Polytheists with hundreds of gods. ε. Anthropomorphic gods whose society is similar to that of humanity’s. The gods are related to each other, devoted/capricious, angry, lustful, gossips, etc. constantly fighting amongst themselves. ii. Semitic sources: α. By 2000 Sumer was overtaken by Semites, originally probably a semi-nomadic group. The term Semitic indicates a linguistic group with unique cultural patterns. Akkadian is the oldest attested Semitic language, dating back to 2500 BCE, named after the city of Akkad. Spoken by 2nd and 1st millennium Babylonians. Two major dialects, that of Babylonia (South Mesopotamia) and Assyria (North Mesopotamia). β. The Semitic Akkadians adopted Sumerian culture and myths, which the refashioned, and preserved them in cuneiform tablets. γ. The Babylonian Akkadians were responsible for the Enūma élish. The Mesopotamian pantheon: Sumerian

Akkadian/Babylonian

Area of influence

An

Anu

god of the heavens

Innana

Ishtar

goddess of sexual love, fertility, war

Enlil

Ellil, Marduk

storm god

Enki

Ea

god of sweet water, trickster type, arts and crafts

Ninhursag, Ki

—

mother goddess

Ereshkigal

—

goddess of death, underworld

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Utu

Shamash

sun god

g. Elements of creation myth: overthrow, usurpation, succession, challenge, consolidation p. 26, “A shadowy first god is succeeded by one whose name means heaven. ‘Heaven’ is deposed and castrated by his son, who in his turn feels threatened by his unborn or newborn offspring and tries cannibalism as a prophylactic. But nothing avails; he is overthrown by his son, who becomes the ruling storm-god. The deposed father creates a monstrous enemy as his last-ditch champion, but the storm-god and his cohorts eliminate this threat and consolidate their rule.” We find this in Theogony of Hesiod.

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CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology The Minoan and Mycenaean Background

I. Minoan and Mycenaean Greece A. We are going to look closer at two civilizations that flourished in the Bronze Age, the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. B. Beginning of archeology 1. Heinrich Schliemann, German merchant b. 1822, from 1870-1890 excavates at Troy, Mycenae, mainland Greek to prove the reality of Homer’s Trojan War. a. Boyhood determination b. Grocer c. Made fortune in Russia and US 2. Sir Arthur Evans excavated from 1900 on, uncovering an earlier non-Greek palace culture named Minoan after the legendary king Minos. a. Wealthy family b. In pursuit of script C. Minoans 1. Begin with maps of Crete. Point out main cities. Note small size of island. 2. We date different periods of Cretan Minoan history based on the building and destruction of the palaces. First human habitation in Crete ca. 7000-6000 Pre-Palace period ca. 3100-1925 Old Palace period ca. 1925-1725

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New Palace period ca. 1725-1380 Post-Palace period ca. 1380-1000 3. The old Palace period came to an end with a violent earthquake that destroyed the palaces on the island. They were quickly rebuilt in a more lavish style that ushers in the New Palace period. 4. The New Palace Period is generally considered the flowering of Minoan civilization. a. We know a lot less than we would like to about this period, mostly because all we have to go by is the archeological record. b. There were some written records, which we will discuss in a moment, but they are still undeciphered. c. During this period large palaces were constructed, the largest on Knossos, Mallia, Phaistos, and Kato Zakro. These were administrative, ceremonial, manufacturing, and storage centers. d. Evidence suggests they were a strong naval power. e. It is difficult to say anything certain about Minoan religion. All we have to go by is the art left behind. f. We assume that the bull and the double ax, were important in their religious worship. The ax may have been the instrument by which the bull was sacrificed. g. They appear to have worshipped a fertility goddess sometimes known as the snake goddess. 5. The New Palace period came to an end suddenly and somewhat mysteriously. a. It used to be supposed that an immense volcanic explosion on Thera, modern Santorini, 69 kilometers north of Crete brought about the destruction of the palaces on Crete. But it now seems that the eruption must be dated to an earlier period.

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b. In fact, there is evidence for widespread destruction at the time of Minoan collapse throughout the Aegean and it is now generally supposed that it is attributable to invasion from a mainland people, the Mycenaeans. 6. The importance of Minoan culture for the study of myth a. Theseus and the Minotaur, Minos b. Labyrinth c. Cretan Liar appears in the Odyssey D. Mycenaeans 1. With Mycenaean we are talking about a mainland culture, as opposed to Minoan Crete. The name Mycenaean was given to the period after the site of Mycenae, one of the earliest recovered cites and one of the most important. 2. Schliemann, you will remember, was driven by the desire to prove that the Homeric stories were historically valid. His big idea was to go dig around what was thought to the site of ancient Troy, to see if there were any ruins, and then to Mycenae, where king Agamemnon was said to have ruled. 3. Few at this time would have been able to predict the startling success of this venture. a. Schliemann discovered the walls of Troy and a hoard of golden ornaments. b. At Mycenae he discovered a series of burial mounds and graves and a spectacular hoard of gold, including a series of golden death masks placed over bodies. 4. Subsequent years of study have revealed a network of Mycenaean palaces on the mainland, in places like Pylos and Tiryns and Knossos on Crete, and detailed studies of Mycenaean art, architecture, sculpture, painting and pottery. 5. The Mycenaean period is usually broken down as follows:

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Early Helladic Middle Helladic Late Helladic I and II (Mycenaean) Late Helladic IIIA (Mycenaean) Late Helladic IIIB (Mycenaean) Late Helladic IIIC and Sub-Mycenaean

3000-2000 2000-1675 1675-1425 1425-1340 1340-1190 1190-1020

6. What we know of Mycenaean culture: a. kingship with tremendous palace bureaucracy, elaborate social organization based mainly on agriculture and trade. b. warlike people, fortified cities (unlike Minoans), advanced architecture, sophisticated art, highly decorated palaces, advanced ivory and metal working c. religion elusive, many of later gods found on tablets. d. Linear A and B tablets discovered in Crete and now all over mainland e. Linear B deciphered by Michael Ventris in 1952. Story of Ventris. 7. Mycenaean civilization came to an end in the 12th century with a series of catastrophes, major centers were destroyed or abandoned, population numbers dropped, there was widespread emigration to different areas. 8. The causes of this are hotly debated among scholars of the period. 9. Significance for mythology: a. All of the major Mycenaean cites figure prominently in later mythology as homeland of heroes of Greek legend b. Many Greek legends probably originated in Mycenaean period c. Trojan War Site to visit: http://www.stoa.org/metis/

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CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days Read: Hesiod’s Theogony, Works and Days pp. 37-46

I. Introduction to Hesiod’s Theogony A. First author of a (somewhat) systematic mythology. 1. From Ascra in Boeotia, lived in late 8th century (750-700 BCE) 2. He tells us his father came from Cyme and made a living by sea trading 3. Brother Perses 4. Poetic inspiration from Muses while a shepherd, poetic competitions 5. Attachment to Zeus B. No agreed account of origin in early Greek thought. C. No standard or orthodox version of a myth; Hesiod was influential but not universally accepted. D. Nature of oral poetry and dactylic hexameter Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hiawatha On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry . . . . E. The ‘Kingship of Heaven’ myth 1. Myth of successive generation culminating in organization of the cosmos under Zeus. Usually 3 generations, 3rd sets his fate by overcoming a monster. 2. Active metaphor is the family/human society. 3. Birth as a manifestation of power

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II. Prologue: Invocation of the Muses pp. 3-6       

Muses of Helicon and Hesiod’s inspiration Importance of poetic inspiration The Muses know lies and truth Origin of the Muses, daughters of Zeus and Memory. Names them on p. 5 Muses and mortals: “Every man is fortunate whom the Muses love” Ring composition

III. Theogony begins with primordial gods and their offspring, pp. 6-7 

Begin with Chaos/Chasm, Earth, Tartara, Eros o Chasm bears Erebos, Night o Night and Erebos bear Air and Day o Earth bears Heaven, Mountains, Nymphs, and Sea

IV. Earth and Heaven bear the Titans: Oceanus, Koios, Kreios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Memory, Phoebe, Tethys, Kronos, the Cyclopes, the Hundred-Handers (Kottos, (O)briareos, Gyges) 

Note that the primordial gods are not created or born, they just are from the beginning.



Creation account in Book of Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let is separate the waters from the waters.” 7So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 

Hebrew account generally considered an edited version based on earlier sources, perh. reaching its final form ca. 400 BCE.

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Note that this text, like Mesopotamian antecedents thinks of creation mostly as a process of separation.

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Also similar in that the watery mass split into two parts making heaven and earth.

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Unlike antecedents, the elements of nature are not deified.

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Like the Hesiodic account we begin with Chasm/Void.

V. Heaven hides his children but is overthrown by Kronos, pp. 7-9 

Heaven hides his children under the Earth.

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Earth encourages her children to revolt against their father, Heaven.

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Kronos hides in ambush and cuts off Heaven genitals with a sickle.

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Note that the sickle theme is reminiscent both of Kumarbi biting off the genitals of Anu but also of Ea cutting Ullikummi off at the base.

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From the dismembered members grow Erinyes, the race of Giants, the Meliai, and Aphrodite

VI. The Children of Night, pp. 9-13 Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, the tribe of Dreams, Cavil, Misery, Hesperides, Fates, Furies, Resentment (Nemesis), Deceit, Intimacy, Old Age, Strife. VII. The Children of Strife: Toil, Neglect, Starvation, Pain, Battles, Combats, Bloodshed, Slaughter, Quarrels, Lies, Pretences, Arguments, Disorder, Disaster, Oath. 

It is hard to know whether these are traditional genealogical material or something invented by Hesiod himself.



Note at least that the offspring of Night and Strife make thematic sense.

VIII. The Offspring of Sea: 31

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Nereus (the old man of the Sea), Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia o The 50 daughters of Nereus (Nereids) o Thaumas and Electra bear Iris, the Harpies (Aello and Ocypeta) o Phorcys and Ceto bear the Old Women (Graiai, Pemphredo and Enyo), the Gorgons (Sthenno, Euryale, Medusa)  Medusa and Poseidon bear Chrysaor and Pegasus  Chrysaor and Callirhoe (< Oceanus) bear three-headed Geryoneus o Ceto bears Echidna (nymph/serpent)  Echidna with Typhaon bear Orthos (dog), Cerberus (dog), Hydra (serpent)  Echidna or Hydra bore Chimaera  Chimaera and Orthos bear Sphinx, Nemean Lion o Ceto and Phorcys bear serpents

IX. Offspring of the Titans, pp. 13-16   

   

Tethys and Oceanus bear the Rivers, the Nymphs (3,000 Oceanids) Thea and Hyperion bear Sun, Moon, Dawn Kreios and Eurybia (< Sea) bear Astraeus, Pallas, Perses o Dawn and Astraeus bear Winds (Westerly, Northerly, Southerly), Morning Star, other stars Styx (< Oceanus) and Pallas bear Aspiration, Victory, Power, Strength Phoebe and Koios bear Leto, Asteria o Perses and Asteria bear Hecate Rhea and Kronos bear: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus pp. 15-16 on Hecate o Odd addition to pantheon. She comes from Asia Minor, perh. family tradition of worship with Hesiod o In later sources she is usually represented as a ghoulish sort of demon but here she is only given positive attributes.

X. Kronos devours his children but is overthrown by Zeus, pp. 16-18 Kronos devours his children as they are born except Zeus, who is raised in secret. When he grows up he overthrows Kronos and brings up all the children Kronos swallowed and sets free the Cyclopes whom Kronos had imprisoned

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Recall the fact that Kumarbi, from the Hittite Song of Kumarbi, wanted to swallow his children after they were born and at one point bites something hard, perhaps also a stone. XI. The story of Prometheus, pp. 18-21 

(Tyrrell & Brown) Sacrifice as a means of defining civilization by hierarchy; animals sacrificed and eaten, men sacrifice and eat cooked meat, gods receive sacrifice and eat no meat. Every sacrifice an enactment of this division.

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Etiology sacrifice, fire.

XII. The story of Pandora 

Iapetos and Clymene (< Oceanus) bear Atlas, Menoitios, Prometheus, Epimetheus.

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Pandora not named here

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Etiology of women

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Pandora mirrors the bones wrapped in fat; deception

XIII. Titanomachy, pp. 21-25 

Zeus and the Hundred-handers fight against the Titans, who are banished to Tartarus

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Zeus persuades the Hundred-handers to fight with the children of Kronos against the Titans. The Titans are banished to Tartarus.

XIV. Description of the Underworld, pp. 25-27 Tartarus, Chasm, Atlas, Sleep and Death, House of Hades, Cerberus, Styx XV. Typhoeus, pp. 27-29 Earth and Tartarus bear Typhoeus who rises up but is defeated by Zeus and cast into Tartarus. 33

XVI. Zeus declared king, privileges allotted to other gods, pp. 29-31 Recall the theme of consolidation mentioned by Puhvel and seen in the Babylonian Creation poem with Marduk. XVII. Zeus’s wives:       

Metis (‘cunning’), whom he eats as she is about to bear Athene Themis, who bore the Horai (‘Watchers’), Lawfulness, Justice, Peace, the Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos; the same Fates said to be children of Night above) Eurynome, who bore three Graces (Aglaïa, Euphrosyne, Thalia) Demeter, who bore Persphone Memory, who bore the nine Muses Leto, who bore Apollo and Artemis Hera, who bore Hebe, Ares, Eileithyia, Hephaestus

XVIII. Athene is born from Zeus’s head  Maia, who bore him Hermes  Semele, who bore him Dionysus  Alcmene, who bore him Heracles XIX. Offspring of other Olympians:  Amphitrite (< Nereus) and Poseidon bear Triton  Cytherea and Ares bear Terror, Fear, Harmonia  Hephaestus weds Aglaïa  Dionysus weds Ariadne  Heracles weds Hebe  Perseïs and the Sun bear Circe and Aeetes o Aeetes and Idyia bear Medea XX. Close of poem, invocation of the Muses, pp. 31 XVI. List of immortal women who wed mortal men:  Demeter and Iasius bear Wealth  Harmonia and Cadmus bear Ino, Semele, Agaue, Autonoe, Polydorus  Callirhoe and Chrysaor bear Geryoneus  Dawn and Tithonus bear Memnon, Emathion  Dawn and Cephalus bear Phaëthon  Medea and Jason bear Medeios 34

    

Psamathe (< Nereus) and Aeacus bear Phocus Thetis and Peleus bear Achilles Aphrodite and Anchises bear Aeneas Circe and Odysseus bear Agrius and Latinus Calypso and Odysseus bear Nausithous and Nausinous

I. Hesiod’s Works and Days A. Preliminaries 1. Varied content, disordered; stream-of-conscience toward the end 2. Wisdom literature, West calls it ‘moral-didactic poetry’ 3. Addressed in particular to his brother Perses, who seems to have cheated Hesiod of his share of the family estate and then reduced to poverty through laziness. 4. Also addressed to kings or local nobles, bribe takers. 5. May be a literary device. Oriental parallels also often come from the point of view of a victim. 6. Other Near Eastern influences seen in animal fable, myth of the ages of man, calendar of good and bad days 7. Gloomier stories of Prometheus and Pandora, who is not simply evil for men but releases all sorts of evils into the world B. Outline 1. Invocation of Muses; pp. 37-40 Note how this invocation sets the scene and lays out the main themes for what is to follow; Zeus humbles the powerful and strengthens the weak 2. Dispute with Perses a. Two strifes 35

Alteration of his earlier poem b. Perses encouraged to work c. Prometheus’ theft of fire Food concealed Fire concealed Pandora given to Epimetheus i. The entire episode of Prometheus is now told to illustrate why men must labor and that it is impossible to escape the sight of Zeus, who sees all evil doers and punishes them accordingly. ii. The point for Perses is that he must stop being lazy and that he and the Kings can expect to be punished for wrong-doing. iii. The story is an aetiology: why men have fire, but why they must labor for food, why the bones of an animal are sacrificed to the gods (not real reason), where woman comes from, where the evils of the world come from. iv. Hesiod has covered up the fact that in the original story Zeus really was tricked. v. The strange episode with Hope/Expectation. What does it mean? 2. Five ages of Man: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes/Demigods, Iron; pp. 40-42 a. This theme taken from the Near East but the age of Heroes stuck in by Hesiod or Greek source. Note the heroes are better than those of the Bronze age – disrupts the flow of the pattern from best to worst. Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream in the Book of Daniel 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 2:32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 36

2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 2:34 Thou sawest still that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 2:44

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And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 3. The Just and Unjust; pp. 42-46 a. Fable of the hawk and nightingale i. The fable adapted somewhat ineptly to Hesiod’s point. The crucial point, the moral, is given by the eagle, which is simply that there is no point in competing against the stronger. ii. Hesiod tells the story, then uses it to make the point that the strong will be punished b. The repayment of the Just and Unjust c. The value of being industrious

4. Moral imperatives; pp. 46-49 theft, adultery, treatment of relative, sacrifice, hospitality, thrift, work. 5. The ordering of the house pp. 49-55 home, woman and ox, timber, plow, oxen, workers, when to plough, work during winter, spring and summer, and harvest 6. Sea-faring; pp.55-57 7. More advice; pp. 57-61 Acquiring a wife, making friends and enemies, cleansing and bodily functions, various superstitions, good and evil days of the month (probably also Near Eastern influence)

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CLCV 2000 Classical Mythology Enūma eliš

I. Background A. The poem is a cult hymn, a part of the liturgy sung or chanted by a priest in the holiest part of the main temple of Marduk, the supreme god, directly in front of his statue, at the annual New Year’s festival (beginning around March 21, the spring Equinox), an 11-day festival celebrated at Babylon. B. It recounts a divine myth, the making of the world and its present arrangement. C. The poem is an account of creation, a cosmology. Other cosmologies known at this time—this not the only one. D. Takes its name from first words of the text: enūma élish lā nabū shamāmu sháplish ámmatum shúma lā zákrat ‘When there was no heaven , no earth, no height, no depth, no name . . . .’ E. Probably dates to well before the 12th cent. BCE, perhaps as early as the 20th. F. Written on 7 tablets. Discuss colophons. II. Outline of the Enūma élish A. Tablet One 1. The birth of the gods Apsu (male primeval sweet waters), Tiamat (female primeval bitter waters), and Mummu (a vaguely defined male ‘original form’) Apsu and Tiamat give birth to:

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Lahmu and Lahāmu (male and female silts), who give birth to Anshar (horizon of the sky) and Kishar (horizon of the earth), who give birth to Anu (heaven; sky god), who gives birth to (Nudimmud-)Ea (god of sweet waters and wisdom), who is father of Marduk 2. Discord among the offspring 3. Apsu and Mummu decide to destroy the children 4. Nudimmud-Ea revolts He binds Apsu and kills him, imprisons Mummu. Introduction of Damkina, wife of Ea, and Marduk, their son 5. Physical description of Marduk 6. Anu and other gods stir up Tiamat against Ea They plot against Ea and make monsters to use in battle Qingu appointed by Tiamat as her war commander B. Tablet Two 1. Ea consults Anshar, who counsels Ea to kill Qingu 2. Ea approaches Tiamat for reconciliation, but fails 3. Anshar next bids Anu to reconcile with Tiamat 4. Anu also fails to confront Tiamat 5. The Council of the Anunnaki (rebel gods), plans to overthrow Tiamat a. The gods decide that only Marduk can overcome Tiamat

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b. Marduk agrees to kill Tiamat on the condition that he is given supreme authority over gods and creation C. Tablet Three 1. Anshar sends his adviser, Kakka to Lahmu and Lahamu (the primordial silts) to call them to feast with the younger gods and confirm the destiny of Marduk 2. The gods in assemble in Ubshukinna, The Chamber of Destinies. 3. There is a banquet and festivities D. Tablet Four 1. Marduk enthroned, sceptered, robed 2. The constellation scene 3. Marduk sets off armed with a bow, mace, net and the seven winds (including Imhullu) and Abuba, four horses, etc. 4. Qingu flees at the sight of Marduk 5. Marduk and Tiamat engage in one-on-one combat Marduk drives the winds into Tiamat’s belly He shoots an arrow into her distended belly 6. Marduk rounds up the rest of the gods fighting with Tiamat, chains the monsters, mashes Tiamat’s skull 7. Marduk splits Tiamat’s body in half, creates the sky from one half, stations himself above the abyss and marks it out. E. Tablet Five 1. Marduk establishes order: a. makes places for gods in the heavens, measures time, establishes celestial bodies, 41

b. creation of nature (bodies of water, clouds, mountains, springs, founded temples 2. The gods receive Marduk with ceremony 3. Marduk makes Usmu warden of the sanctuaries of Eridu 4. Gods declare Marduk king 5. Marduk announces creation of earth and the city of Babylon F. Tablet Six 1. Marduk creates humans out of the corpse of Qingu 2. Marduk allots to the gods their positions in Heaven or under earth 3. The gods build the tower of Babel 4. More festivities 5. The naming of the bow 6. Marduk’s authority ratified by oath 7. Recitation of the 50 names of Marduk (continued on 7th tablet) III. Interpretation A. The following is one possible interpretation of the Enuma elish. B. It relies on the idea that, as stated earlier, the poem is a cult hymn, a part of the liturgy sung or chanted by a priest in the holiest part of the main temple of Marduk, at the annual New Year’s festival in Babylon. C. The meaning of the poem is tied directly to the ritual during which it was sung. Think of this not as a poem to be read, but as a song to be performed for a specific occasion and for a specific purpose.

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1. The New Year and Cosmic renewal a. The occasion for the festival was the New Year b. Significance of the New Year i. I want to borrow some insights from a well-known historian of religions named Mircea Eliade, who also wrote a great deal about myth. ii. Eliade studied a wide range of ancient and modern cultures and was particularly interested in the role of the New Year in aboriginal cultures of America and Australia. iii. Eliade thought that in these cultures the New Year served not just as a time of renewal but as a means, actually, of recreating the world anew. iv. This belief had ramifications in the cosmos. It meant that everything was re-created. “The greatest of renewals takes place at the New Year, when a new time cycle is inaugurated. But the renovation effected by the new Year ritual is, basically, a reiteration of the cosmogony. Each New Year begins the Creation over again.” Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 41 v. Eliade detected a strong belief in these cultures in the idea of annual renewal. This annual renewal was tied directly to a cosmogony or creation of the universe: Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 42 “. . . the archaic peoples believe that the World must be annually renewed and that this renewal is brought about by following a model—the cosmogony, or an origin myth that plays the role of a cosmogonic myth. . . .” vi. It was clear to Eliade that the ancients felt a certain need for renewal. “. . . the ‘return to the origin’ that makes it possible to relive the time when things were first manifested is an experience of primary importance for the archaic societies.” Eliade, p. 34 43

Why? “The return to origins gives the hope of a rebirth . . . . We get the impression that for archaic societies life cannot be repaired, it can only be re-created by a return to sources. And the “source of sources” is the prodigious outpouring of energy, life, and fecundity that occurred at the Creation of the World.” (Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality p. 30) “In other words, the cosmogony is the exemplary model for every creative situation: whatever man does is in some way a repetition of the preeminent “deed,” the archetypal gesture of the Creator God, the Creation of the World.” (Eliade, p. 32) vii. What Eliade is working toward is this; that the ultimate function of myth is to act as a sort of time machine, taking a person into the time of myth and, most importantly, bringing him/her closer to god. “But since ritual recitation of the cosmogonic myth implies reactualization of that primordial event, it follows that he for whom it is recited is magically projected in illo tempore, into the ‘beginning of the World’; he becomes contemporary with the cosmogony.” Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, p. 82 2. The Role of Ritual a. Eliade would push his theory even further, by claiming that there was much more to all this than just an annual story-telling festival. As he says: “There is more than a mere theoretical curiosity here. It is not enough to know the ‘origin’, it is necessary to re-establish the moment when suchand-such a thing was created.” Eliade, p. 37 b. One re-establishes such moments through ritual. “A ritual is a complex of actions effected by, or in the name of , an individual or a community. These actions serve to organize space and time, to define relations between men and the gods, and to set in their proper place the different categories of mankind and the links which bind them together.” Zaidman & Pantel.

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c. The claim is that not only does one re-enact cosmogony at the New Year, but that through one’s actions one creates the universe anew at New Year. “For us there is an essential difference between an act and a ritual or symbolical performance. But this distinction was meaningless to the ancients. . . . It would be meaningless to ask a Babylonian whether the success of the harvest depended on the skill of the farmers or on the correct performance of the New Year’s festival. Both were essential to success” (Frankfort, H. and H. A. Frankfort. 1949. Before Philosophy. The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Penguin. p. 22). d. We can think of this in a different way. i. J. L. Austin, an Oxford philosopher in the 1930s, was the founder of something now known as Speech-act theory. ii. Austin argued that it is untrue that a declarative sentence always describes some state of affairs or some fact (descriptive fallacy). iii. Many sentences do not describe, report, or state anything. iv. Sentences like “I do” at a marriage ceremony, or “I name this ship the Queen Elizabeth” uttered by the appropriate person smashing a bottle against the hull of a ship, or “I bequeath my watch to my brother” written in a will, or “I bet you five bucks it will rain tomorrow” are all statements that do not describe what you are doing but actually constitute doing it or are part of doing it. v. Austin calls these performative utterances, because they actually are or are part of the doing of some action. vi. The Enuma elish hymn is one of these performative utterances. It is not simply the description of a myth, it is part of creating the cosmos anew every New Year. 3. The Babylonian The New Year’s festival 

Background of the city: shipping the statues of the gods in processional from temples to Babylon; entering through the gate of kingship; Ishtar gate as processional way. 45

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Babylon 3-4 ½ kilo. wide, 900 hectares (Carleton 62 hectares), largest city until Rome. Located on Euphrates in the plain.

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City surrounded by moat and the Euphrates, looked as if it rose out of the sea (made from Tiamat).

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Glowing walls of the Ishtar gate, Esagila (‘House whose Top is High’) temple, Etemenanki (tower).

“The gods’ visit had both a cosmic and a political meaning. In cosmic terms it repeated the gathering of the gods described in the Babylonian creation myth. That composition was important in the New Year’s festival, and it was recited in the evening of the fourth day” Marc van de Mieroop, p. 271. a. “This was above all a time of cosmic renewal when the whole natural and divine order—sun, moon, stars and all their gods—were confirmed in their nature and functions; the moment, both in time and out of time, when the cosmic order was secured with the participation of king, priests and, in a lesser degree, people.” N.K. Sandars b. The New Year festival is especially concerned with establishing a prosperous year to come. The performance of the ritual is part of a process devoted to ensuring that it will be so. c. The poem also recounts the establishment of absolute celestial monarchy ruled by Marduk and by recounting the story it re-establishes a world order that would last for the coming year. The poem is naturally concerned with the establishment of political hierarchy and the stability that follows from that hierarchy. This is reflected in the fact that poem is about the ordering of chaos into a hierarchically governed universe. Creation is depicted as a matter of forming and ordering, not creating ex nihilo. Aside: comment on the low place of humans in this creation—substitute labor for the rebel gods, formed out of Tiamat and Qingu. d. The directly relates to the earthly king, too. Eliade, p. 40 46

“It is clear how the cosmogonic scenario of the New Year can be incorporated into the coronation ceremony of a king. The two ritual systems pursue the same end—cosmic renewal. Stephanie Dalley p. 232 “All of these subjects would have listened to the epic, and its recital would have impressed upon them how an orderly universe and its kingship should be organized: an ideal state of affairs used for propaganda purposes. When the king’s subjects kiss his feet, they are doing no less than the great gods of heaven and earth did for Marduk. There is no question of rivalry; loyal support is absolute.” e. The poem involves a sort of propaganda to show that the Esagila temple is the most important, and that Babylon is the most important city and center of the empire, that Marduk is the supreme god, that the king is divinely protected. f. “Three aspects of time merged together: the specific moment, the cyclical, and the eternal. The specific was the moment at the beginning of time when the gods in assembly decreed the fate of Marduk to become their king. The cyclical was the annual repetition of that event during the New Year’s festival. The eternal was the constant presence of a divine assembly in Marduk’s temple, constantly re-establishing the god’s function as king.” Marc van de Mieroop, p. 271.

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