CLASSICAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY BACKGROUND

1. CLASSICAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY BACKGROUND • Ancient Greece & Greek Society • Sources of Greek Mythology • Period of Greek Mythology • Characteristics of Greek Mythology • Greek & Roman Mythology

2. ANCIENT GREECE AND THE GREEK SOCIETY • Human History • Society • Culture • Politics • Economy

3. HUMAN HISTORY IN GREECE • 45,000-40,000 BC:Homo sapiens sapiens first moves out of Africa into southwestern Asia and Europe • 20,000 BC: Human habitation begins in southeastern Greece • 10,000-8,000 BC: Beginning of agriculture and permanent settlements • 4,500-2,000 BC: Indo-European peoples move into Europe • 1,500 BC: Greeks (Mycenaeans) are a linguistically identifiable group

4. CULTURE IN ANCIENT GREECE • 950-750 BC: Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet • 750-500 BC: Writing down of oral literature such as Odyssey and Iliad • 776 BC: First Olympic Games, to be held every four years, in honour of Zeus • 700 BC: Greeks began to write down the myths • Religion as the core of all community activities

5. ANCIENT GREEK SOCIETY • A patriarchal society • Social stratification • The rich elite • Free people • Slaves • Rulers, priests, soldiers, craftsmen, farmers • Monogamy was a rule • Nuclear family structure the most common form

6. POLITICS IN ANCIENT GREECE • 750 BC: Greek city-states (polis) beginning to organise (Athens, Sparta etc.) • 750-500 BC: Greek colonies formed all around the Mediterranean Sea region • Polis included fortified urban centre + the small settlements in the countryside • A protector or patron god/goddess for each polis (Athena for Athens) • Only free men had political rights • Forms of oligarchy, tyranny and democracy observed

7. ECONOMY IN ANCIENT GREECE • An agricultural society • Olive Livestock • Wine Fishing • Grains • A trading society • Trade colonies in Spain, N. Africa, Black Sea Coast • Advanced handicrafts • Metallurgy • Pottery • Textile

8. SOURCES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY • Apollodoros: Author of The Library the earliest collection of myths. • Homer: Author of the epic poems Odyssey and Iliad. Stories that originate in the Trojan War. • Hesiod: Author of Theogony, Works and Days, the Catalogue of Women. • Ovid: Roman author of Metamorphoses. • Virgil: Roman author of the epic work Aeneid.

9. PERIOD OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY • “The times before recorded history began and beyond reliable oral tradition, in the para-history (Dowden, 1992).” • Trojan War (circa 1240-1230 BC) is the only link between Greek mythology and factual “history.”

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY • Includes gods, goddesses,demi-gods, and mortals • Explains natural phenomena • Includes magic and superhuman powers • Gods and goddesses often appear in disguise and interfere with the lives of the mortals • Gods and goddesses are anthropomorphic(human-shaped) and they have human emotions • Very often gods and goddesses are involved in incest and adultery, almost to the point of moral corruption Adapted from www.danbury.k12.ct.us/midweb/bms/Clusters/BMS61/gammytc.htm

11. GREEK & ROMAN MYTHOLOGY • Romans were also a pagan society with a polytheistic religion, but their beliefs were not as systematised as those of the Greek. • No definite personification of gods. Gods were hardly more than a “those that are above” (Hamilton, 1940). • Romans were influenced by Greek culture and changed their deities to resemble their Greek counterparts. • Romans also changed the characters of some Greek deities in their own version.