DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
W03
• Why does Zeus hate humankind so much that he's willing to punish a “brother̶?
What are humans purpose/position in the stories of the gods?
• Why would Noah choose to curse all of Canaan instead of just Ham?
When cursing Canaan, why did he speak as if it was an actual person?
W04
• Why didn't Zeus punish Demeter for depriving the earth of crops for a year?
Why was Demeter not afraid to defy Zeus?
• Why did the soldiers abduct the mother's son from between her legs, as a mature warrior
and not a newborn?
W05
• Why does Zeus choose to trick Aphrodite into love with a mortal as punishment/revenge?
As goddess of desire, wouldn't it be more effective to take away desire from her?
• What was the point of Ishtar being trapped in the Netherworld?
Was she a hostage, getting Dumuzi back in as a sort of trade-off?
W06
ACTIVE READING NOTES
W03
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W04
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W05
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W06
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QUOTE QUIZ
Q02
1A. Great Ouranos... - Hesiod, Theogony
1B. And God said, Let there be... - “Moses” (oral tradition > written down - edited), Genesis
significance: creation (by speech) of dry land from chaos water; separation of earth
and heavens, origin of cosmos
2A. fashioned evil for men... - Hesiod Works and Days
(credit for Theogony, which also mentions Pandora)
2B. The LORD formed man... - “Moses” (oral tradition > written down > edited), Genesis
significance: creation from breathing life into clay, origin of man/woman and human suffering
Q04
1A. And hail to you also, Lady...
1. “Homer” (oral tradition > written down); 2. Pan-Hellenic 1000-700 BCE; 3. Hymn to Demeter; 4. distant mythic past when gods received their attributes; Attic harvest/fertility/ rebirth rituals at Eleusis
1B. The divine inspiration of Rumor...
1. Plutarch 2. Alexandria in Egypt; 150 CE; 3. Moralia (Isis & Osiris); 4. distant mythic past when Isis needed to reconstitute Osiris; syncretism in Byblus between Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek traditions
5. significance: origin of protection ritual for infants (high mortality rates), immortality through divine food, disguise of divinity
6. amphidromia: protective ritual held ca.7-10 days after birth; running around hearth and invoking protective deities
2A. The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem...
1. “Moses” (JEPD oral tradition > written down > edited); 2. Jerusalem 1000-530 BCE; 3. Genesis; 4. post Deluge repopulation of the Earth, origin of Judaeans
2B. Deucalion had children by Pyrrha, first Hellen...
1. Pseudo-Apollodorus 2. Athens, 100 CE, 3. Library, 4. post Deluge repopulation of the Earth, origin of Hellenes
5. significance: restart of all human race after flood; division of peoples into groups by kinship
6. eponymous ancestor: hero/leader who gives their name to an ethnic group
Q06
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