Myth of Greeks Paper (1200-1500 words)

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the following guidelines and instructions are given by the instructor.

Write a referenced essay addressing one of the following topics.The sources to be used are Hesiod’s Theogony, Apollodorus’ Library, Hyginus’ Fabulae, and/or Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as appropriate for the topic. If you would like to use Euripides’ Medea, a perfectly fine translation by C.A.E. Luschnig is available at http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/medea.trans.shtml. The line numbers are on the right-hand side of the screen. Direct quotations are not allowed in this paper. The purpose of this assignment is to gain practice in using and accurately documenting sources without resorting to the “quote-quilt” approach. You are to extract information and express it in your own words, while at the same time accurately directing the reader to the underlying source of information. Citations will follow the system used for ancient sources explained in the syllabus and used in the last essay. The “works cited” list may use MLA, APA, or Hesperia format. If you use the APA style for the list, you do NOT need to include an abstract page

The essay should be 1200-1500 words in length; it must be typed and double-spaced. Margins should be 1.5 inches on the left and 1 inch on the others. Use a 12-point font and black ink/toner only; do not use a cursive font. Be sure to include a separate “Works Cited” page with the title of the work in the appropriate format for the documentation style that you selected. In addition to the hard copy you will turn in to me, upload a copy to Turnitin.com and to Livetext.com, using the course information provided in the syllabus. Submission of the assignment is not complete until you have turned in a hard copy to me AND performed the necessary uploads.

After submitting the assignment, I will return it to you with corrections, suggestions, and comments. You must then revise the paper and re-submit it within a week of its return. Both draft and final paper will be graded on a 100-point scale, and the two grades averaged for the recorded grade.

The topics:

1) What do the myths we have examined so far indicate about Greek cultural attitudes toward women? Be careful that you do NOT turn this into an essay about goddesses: deal with the different character types of human women we have encountered. To your mind, is the representation of women positive or negative, or can we even make such a generalization?

2) An aphorism inscribed on the wall of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was mēden agan “nothing too much.” The philosopher Aristotle developed the idea of the “Golden Mean,” the idea that many virtues were an intermediate state between two extremes, e.g., courage is a mean between cowardice and extreme rashness.

Using the idea of the Golden Mean, analyze the lives of 5-6 major characters whom we have encountered in this section of the course. Can the idea of them straying from the “Golden Mean” account for the bad ends some of them come to? Can the idea of adhering to the mean explain good fate or happiness? Are there some characters to whom this idea does not seem to apply in terms of explaining their fates?

3) Consider to what degree the mythical world of the Greeks is structured to be just. By “just,” here, I mean a universe in which “good” people who act virtuously are either helped or rewarded, and “bad” people who commit evil are hindered or punished. Be sure to employ specific examples.

The following is the the system used for ancient Greek or Roman sources explained in the syllabus

Citing ancient sources in papers:

Part of the goal in “Writing Across the Curriculum” classes is to learn disciplinary conventions, and learning how Classical Greek and Roman works are cited is a course objective. Many ancient authors’ works are available in scores of original-language editions and translations into a variety of modern languages. Most academic works about Greek and Roman literature and history have usually assumed, rightly or not, that the reader can read the texts in the original languages or at least find a translation after being provided with a reference to a passage. Standardized ways of referencing the basic original-language text have been developed over time. These are far more useful in practice than citing the page number of a translation that may not be readily available. Hesperia uses the system described below as its standard, so whether you are employing it, MLA, or APA for your documentation system, you will need to read the section below and follow it.

Greek and Latin texts are usually cited in an abbreviated form, with the name of the author first, the name of the work second, followed by some information that sends the reader to the correct place in the text. Some lengthy texts were divided in antiquity into “books”; long poems and plays also are able to use the natural divisions of lines. Collections of short poems generally organize them into a certain order, with a number assigned to each of the poems. At some point in the Middle Ages, divisions of books into chapters and/or sections were made for non-poetic works. Exactly who made these divisions is generally not known, but they are always indicated in an original-language text and often in a translation. One usually finds these divisions on the outer side of the page. Major divisions into chapters have sometimes been given with Roman numerals and minor ones with Arabic numerals. It is standard now to indicate all book/chapter/section/line in Arabic numerals. Line numbers may be on the inner sides of the page. If these re-start the numbering at the top of each page, they are generally not part of the standard divisions, but only there for the convenience of the reader.

Some Greek authors have special systems. Works of Plato and Plutarch typically are referenced by their so-called “Stephanus pagination.” An early publisher of some complete works in printed book form was Henri Estienne, a French scholar; his Latinized name was “Henricus Stephanus.” Stephanus divided his single printed pages of Plato into five sections, a-e, although some had fewer than five. If you see a reference to a Platonic work that resembles “Pl., Phd, 58b,” you are looking at a Stephanus page reference (Plato, Phaedo, p. 58, section b). For Aristotle, “Bekker pagination” (named after the German scholar Immanuel Bekker) is used. Bekker divided each of his pages into two columns, “a” and “b.” A Bekker reference has the page number in his edition, column, and line, e.g., “1254b7.”

In English scholarship, the abbreviations for authors and works provided by the Oxford Classical Dictionary are the standard ones, although some particular journals specify the abbreviations used by the bibliographical reference L’Année Philologique. References to authors who only have a single preserved text, such as Herodotus or Thucydides, usually omit the name of the work. Other kinds of historical evidence (such as inscriptions, papyrus fragments, or compilations of material quoted by ancient authors from sources that are no longer extant) are usually cited using the name of the corpus within which they appear, with whatever number they have been assigned. I will put a copy of the Oxford Classical Dictionaryabbreviations in the “Information” section of the Blackboard site for this course.

Examples:

Hom. Il .2.100 = Homer, Iliad, Book 2, line 100.

Myth of Greeks Paper (1200-1500 words) c

Verg. Aen. 3.110-156 = Vergil, Aeneid, Book 3, lines 110-156.

Hdt. 2.91.3 = Herodotus, Histories, Book 2, Chapter 91, Section 3.

Xen. An. 1.10.6 = Xenophon, Anabasis, Book 1, Chapter 10, Section 6.

Plaut. Mil. 2.3 = Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, Act 2, Scene 3.

Plut. Vit.Flam. 2.3 = Plutarch, Life of Flaminius, Chapter 2, Section 3.

Suet. Vesp. 19 = Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, Chapter 19.

Callim. Hymn 2.50 = Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo, line 50.

Tac. Ann.4.38 = Tacitus, Annals, Book 4, Chapter 38.

Even in a footnote-style documentation system like that of Hesperia, citations to ancient primary sources are placed inside parentheses within the text, rather than the footnotes. The author’s name is spelled out in full when it is part of the actual sentence and not inside parentheses.

Some translations omit any divisions except ones into books. For the great majority of sources, you can find the standard divisions by consulting the work in the Loeb Classical Library series, which we have in the UE library. These editions give the ancient text on one side of the page, indicating the divisions, and an English translation on the other.

Note on the texts we are using:

Hesiod’s Theogony is a Greek poem divided into lines. The Theogony, along with Homer’s Iliadand Odyssey are the earliest extant pieces of Greek literature, dating to the 8th century BC.

Apollodorus’ Library is a Greek prose work divided into books and sections. The sections are given by numerals in bold type within the text. There are three regular books in which all or most of the original text has been preserved. The section on Phineus and the Harpies, for example, would be cited as 1.120 (i.e., Book 1, section 120). There is an also an epitome(summary) of sections that are incomplete or lost. Readings from the epitome are prefaced with a capital “E.” The section on the Judgment of Paris would be cited as E3.2 (i.e., Epitome, section 3.2). Virtually nothing is known about Apollodorus himself, and the date of the work is uncertain but probably falls within the 1st or 2nd century AD.

Hyginus’ Fabulae is a Latin prose work that starts with a theogony (origin of the gods) at the beginning, and then each story is numbered sequentially. Heracles’ labors, for example, are listed in Hyginus 30. As with Apollodorus, practically nothing is known about Hyginus for certain and the date of the work is the 1st or 2nd century AD.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a long Latin poem divided into books and lines. Ovid lived in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC and was a contemporary of the Roman emperor Augustus. Numerous poems of Ovid survive, but the Metamorphoses is by far the best known and was the primary source of Classical mythology for people living in the Middle Ages.

Sophocles’ Theban Plays are three separate Greek plays performed at different dramatic festivals. Each play is divided into lines. These works were written and performed somewhere between 440-401 BC, with the last play Oedipus at Colonus actually finished in 406 BC, the year of Sophocles’ death, but not performed until several years later.

Aeschylus’ Oresteia is a Greek trilogy of plays (Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, and Eumenides) performed at the same dramatic festival in 458 BC. Each play is divided into lines.

Greek and Latin poetry does not work on the basis of rhyme or sequences of stressed syllables, as English poetry does. Rather, it works by sequences of long and short syllables. Hesiod’s Theogony and Ovid’s Metamorphoses are written in a meter called dactylic hexameter. The plays by Aeschylus and Sophocles use a base meter called iambic trimeter for dialogue, and a great variety of other meters for the parts sung by the chorus.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Myths of Greeks – Outline
Thesis statement: This essay will explain the degree to which the mythical world of the Greeks
is structured to be just. The idea of comparing gods to man and animals makes it rather
interesting when talking about being just. The embodiment of the gods and man before and
during the reign of Zeus helps us understand the different degrees of being just.
I.
II.

Introduction
Consider to what degree the mythical world of the Greeks is structured to be just. By
“just,” here, I mean a universe in which “good” people who act virtuously are either
helped or rewarded, and “bad” people who commit evil are hindered or punished. Be sure
to employ specific examples.

III.

Conclusion


Running head: MYTH OF GREEKS

1

Myth of Greeks
Name
Institution

MYTH OF GREEKS

2
Myth of Greeks

Myths help people understand their origin and how certain events ended up being in a
particular way. It allows people to have a sense of belonging, to understand where they came
from and how their forefathers approached different situations. It can be represented in any
forms, either through poetry, a form of a story or, ancient painting, among others. The myth of
Greeks covers their different gods who engaged in different scenarios, which either proved to be
just or unjust (Graves, 2017). This essay will explain the degree to which the mythical world of
the Greeks is structured to be just. The idea of comparing gods to man and animals makes it
rather interesting when talking about being just. The embodiment of the gods and man before
and during the reign of Zeus helps us understand the different degrees of being just.
Consider to what degree the mythical world of the Greeks is structured to be just. By
“just,” here, I mean a universe in which “good” people who act virtuously are either helped
or rewarded, and “bad” people who commit evil are hindered or punished. Be sure to
employ specific examples.
The mythical world of the Greeks is portrayed as an unjust entity as punishments are
based on whether a god hates the other or not. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Uranus is s a very harsh
father and husband. His children who are born very innocent and have done nothing wrong are
pushed back into their mother’s womb simply because he hates them as much as they hate him
(Mueller, 2016). He does not care of whether he hurts his wife or whether or not they are
deserving of that pain. Even when Uranus pushes the Hecatoncheiries back to their mother’s
womb, he believes that it would teach them a lesson they would never forget, to fear and respect
him. Gaea suffers a lot during this instance, and it makes her plot revenge for the pain and
suffering that has been caused to her by her husband (Hesiod, Theogony 485). However, when

MYTH OF GREEKS

3

the timing is right, he gets them out. No one is brave enough like her lastborn, Crocus, to seek
revenge for her mother. Crocus cuts off his father’s genitals when he least expects it, throws it
off in the sea, and it brings life to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It shows that in the mythical
world of the Greeks, gods used their power as a way of demanding respect and impacting fear on
others rather than advocating for a “just” environment for themselves (Hesiod Theogony 535). In
this context, it is evident that the mythical world of the Greeks is most unjust to those who are
involved because the beings fall victim to harsh treatment of those in power. This situation leads
the victims to look for a way out to ensure that they avoid mistreatments.
Moreover, Gaea and Uranus foresee Crocus being killed by one of his sons. This
prophecy leaves him with no desire to have children in his life. Even after being a leader of the
gods and marrying his sister, Rhae, he still does not want children because he fears to become a
victim of their betrayal (Hesiod, Theogony, 145). Whenever his sister gives birth, he swallows
and keeps them in him to avoid being killed by one of them. This deed shows how unjust Crocus
was to his sister. He does not care how Rhae feels whenever he swallows any of her children.
Furthermore, the children do not deserve to be consumed because they are innocent. It is like
Crocus summons his fate because when his sister saves the last of their children, Zeus, he comes
back to kill his father because he wants to free his other brothers and sisters. Zeus succeeds him
later. Crocus is unjust to both his wife and his children when he swallows each one of them each
time they were born.
It is also not just for Crocus to confine the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to Tartarus
when he becomes king only for him and only allows the Titans to produce many offsprings. As
his brothers and sisters, it is only fair that he allows them all to participate in ensuring that he has
established great leadership. Confining them away from his leadership means that he either did

MYTH OF GREEKS

4

not want them or did not believe in them. Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to Tartarus help him
to eliminate Uranus as they had all suffered when they were pushed back to their mother’s
womb. These instances still show the unfairness of the mythical world of the Greeks because it
dismisses good deeds weak gestures when compared to power.
In the mythical world, “just” depends on what is perceived by the gods. The mythical
world of the Greeks does not bring about equal treatment to those who deserve it. It gives the
gods authority of the power to decide who does wrong and who is more deserving of a
punishment than the other. Zeus feels threatened by Prometheus. Prometheus wants to stop Zeus
because he believes that the ruling of Zeus can bring destruction to human beings. He uses his
deceptive and cunning nature to trick Zeus (Hesiod, Theogony, 475). The gods believe that it is
their right to be given sacrifices by men. Prometheus uses this as a way of getting back at Zeus.
He prepares two bundles of the meat he divided from an ox he curved, one with the best meat
hidden in the animal’s stomach and the other one with bones wrapped in juicy fat. Zeus
perceives the bundles with bones as the best. When he discovers he is tricked, he is angered by
Prometheus and sees it as an act of degrading the gods. Zeus punishes him by taking away the
fire away from human beings. Zeus believes that this action is just, but in real the sense, it is
unjust to the people of the entire world. The action of one person affects other innocent people.
Therefore, in the mythical world of the Greeks, any man could be punished even if he did good
for human beings, provided he annoyed any of the gods, he would face the wrath. The gods
would decide whether or not human beings were fit to be exempted from punishment.
Human beings and the animals are almost on the same level, what separates them is only
the fact that human beings do not eat each other. Despite Zeus’ punishment to Prometheus, the
latter is brave enough to steal the fire back from Mount Olympus where Zeus keeps it because he

MYTH OF GREEKS

5

believes that it is the right thing to do. Prometheus is seen as a hero by human beingsfor bringing
back fire to them. He faces all challenges including Zeus’ wrath (Hesiod Theogony 790).
However, when Zeus sees the shining light from the world which he knows is fire, he is furious.
Prometheus is then punished and bound to a rock and an eagle to eat a piece of his liver, daily,
for doing well for human beings but angering Zeus. In Greek mythology, any person was bound
to face the wrath of the gods, and he or she was a mere subject to the gods just as the animals.
Also, the gods used pleasing objects or people to lure human beings into a punishment.
This unawareness of human beings proves unfairness in the Greek mythology. After Prometheus
steals fire from Zeus and is punished, the gods come together to build something destructive.
Zeus has a woman, Pandora, who was created by Hephaestus out of clay and he makes all the
gods and goddesses come and make her irresistible from all human beings. For example, Hermes
makes her a smooth-talker so that she can attract as many people as possible by her beautiful
speech (Hesiod Theogony 740). Zeus on the other hand gives her a jar full of all the awful things
in the world and tells her not ever to open it, knowing very well that one day, curiosity would
lead her to do the exact thing. Pandora becomes Epimetheus’ wife, and Epimetheus is
Prometheus’ brother. Zeus is wise and believes that this will be the only way that he punishes
human beings greatly even after arresting Prometheus. He is dissatisfied with what he does to
Prometheus. He is still not happy seeing human beings living in happiness and peace...


Anonymous
Excellent resource! Really helped me get the gist of things.

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