Mythology
October 16, 2006
Hesiod’s Works and Days
Hesiod’s Five Ages
Golden Age
o (classical mythology) the first and best age of the world, a time of ideal
happiness, prosperity, and innocence; by extension, any flourishing and
outstanding period
Silver Age
o (classical mythology) the second age of the world, characterized by
opulence and irreligion; by extension, a period secondary in achievement
to a golden age
Bronze Age
o (classical mythology) the third age of the world, marked by war and
violence
Age of Heroes
Iron Age
o (classical mythology) the last and worst age of the world
Golden Age
Age of Kronos (Saturn)
No work, grief, old age
Easy death
Land brought forth food spontaneously
Peace and prosperity
Now spirits who roam the land dispensing justice
Silver Age
100-year infancy with mother
Witless, painful adulthood
Hurt each other
Godless (no sacrifices or service to gods)
Zeus got angry and destroyed them
Bronze Age
Not to be confused with historical “Bronze Age”
Monstrous, heavy, war-loving
Ate no food
Strong and wild
Everything made of bronze
Killed each other off
They are forgotten
Age of Heroes
Race before Hesiod’s age
Heroes died in battles commemorated in myths
o Trojan War
o Oedipus cycle
Enjoy afterlife in Isles of the Blest
Three harvest seasons per year for them here
Iron Age
Hesiod’s contemporaries
Full of troubles
Prediction of destruction when:
o Children are born grey-haired
o Fathers fight with sons, hosts with guests, brothers with brothers
o Children dishonour parents
o No justice
o War
o Oath-breaking, violence, envy
o Shame and Nemesis will leave the earth
People will no longer feel shame for doing bad
Nemesis is a goddess who punishes evil
Hesiod
Theogony
o Divine myth
o Evolution of improving world-order; culminating in Zeus as established
ruler
Works and Days
o Human history
o Deterioration of human life
Deucalion and Pyrrha
Story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Pandora and Epimetheus produce Pyrrha
Prometheus has a son Deucalion
These two marry and grow old together
Because of their virtue, they are the sole survivors of a flood sent by Zeus (Jove)
They repopulate the earth on instruction of the oracle of goddess Themis (the
Titaness who was goddess of justice in ancient mythology)
Beyond the age of being able to have children
Go to the ruins of the oracle
Tells tem to throw the bones of their mother over their shoulder
Pyrrha is very upset by this – would be sacrilegious
Deucalion understands this to be the stones of Mother Earth; throws them over
their shoulders
Men come from the stones thrown over Deucalion’s shoulder and women from
Pyrrha
Prometheus at Athens
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound
Origins of Greek Drama
Ritual worship of Dionysus (god of wine and fertility and drama; the Greek name
of Bacchus)
o Identified as “The Other” against which the Greek male defined himself
o Breaks down boundaries
o Human mother, Zeus was father
o In some paintings dressed in oriental style clothing
Choral lyric song and dance with story
Eventual enactment of story
Gradual movement of emphasis from chorus to acted episodes
City Dionysia (from ca. 533 BC)
An orgiastic festival in ancient Greece in honour of Dionysus (= Bacchus)
Annual Athenian festival held in spring
Sponsored by city; a political festival as well as a religious festival
Public business shut down
Ceremonies included
o Procession and sacrifices to Dionysus
o Display of tribute
Other cities that relied on Athens for protection would send
ambassadors to bring tribute to the festival
Would be held in sailing season
Visual sign of the power and prestige of Athens in the Greek world
o Presentation of hoplite armor to sons of war-dead
Expectation that the future generation would carry on the work of
the fallen soldiers; continued military dedication to city
o Recognition of benefactors
The Chorus
A company of actors who comment (by speaking or singing in unison) on the
action in a classical Greek play
Positioned in the orchestra – means dancing place
No female performers
Performances
Dithyrambs
o Choruses of 50 men or boys
o Presented by each of ten tribes
Three tragedies and one satyr place by the same playwright (tetralogy)
o One tetralogy on each of three days
Three to five comedies by different playwright
Prizes awarded (highly competitive)
Performers
Athenian citizens wrote, produced, acted, and formed chorus of plays
Not professionals
Training at expense of wealthiest citizens chosen by archon (choregos, liturgy)
o Form of taxing the wealthiest
o Cost was equivalent to that of maintaining a warship over a year
Only male performers (citizens)
Presence of women in audience is debated