Introduction to Western Literature and Arts (¦è¬v¤å¾Ç·§n)
1st Semester, 2005
Topic 1. The Olympian Gods and Goddesses
Topic 2: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1, Book 3
| Greek Name | Roman Name | Related Activities | Related animals and plants | Related objects |
| Zeus | Jupiter, Jove | prophecy, weather, justice | eagle, bull, oak | lighting, aegis, throne |
| Apollo | Apollo | prophecy, medicine, archery, music, moderation, law | snake, laurel, hyacinth
¡@ |
sun, lyre, bow &arrow ¡@ |
| Dionysus | Bacchus | prophecy, tragedy, ecstasy, violation of limits | bull, snake, panther, ivy | wine, thyrsus, fawnskin |
| Hermes | Mercury | messenger, traveller, leads souls to Hades, trickster
¡@ |
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | hat, winged sandals, wand
¡@ |
| Artemis | Diana | chastity, hunting, protecting young, childbirth | bear, deer | bow&arrow, moon |
| Athena | Minerva | wisdom, war, weaving, chastity | owl, snake, olive tree | aegis, armor |
| Aphrodite | Venus | love, sex | dove, goose | XXXXXXXXXX |
See : Table of the Olympian Divinities
II. The Following questions are based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1. Answer the questions briefly. 10% x 4 = 40%
1. What are the four ages before the flood?
Which age characterizes the Mycenaean culture?
Answer: Golden Age, Silver Age, the Age of Bronze, the Age
of Iron,
The Age of Iron
2. Compared with other beings, what is the unique characteristic
of human ?
Answer: "Man, alone, erect, can raise his face toward
Heaven." (Human beings are capable of worshiping divinities. or Capable of
spiritual activities.)
3. What is the reason of the flood? And what
story explain this reason?
Answer: The flood is meant to punish the profanity,
immorality, and cruelty of mankind.
The Story of Lycaon.
4. In the catastrophic flood, there were only a
man and a woman survived. Who are they? Following the oracle of Themis, how do
they regenerate human beings after the flood?
Answer: Deucalion and Pyrrha.
They
throw the stone of the earth behind them. "Go from the temple, / Cover your
heads, loosen your robes, and throw / Your mother's bones behind you!" (Face to
the hardship and cultivate the earth.)
¡@
III. The Theban cycle contains stories which
are ironical and paradoxical. The destiny of the house of Cadmus was closely related to "Serpent." The
transformation of the family of Cadmus concerns about "vision" & "forbidden
seeing."
Fill in the blank: 3% x 10 = 30%
| Name | Ironical Reversal | Forbidden Seeing & Mystery | Transformation. |
| Cadmus | The destroyer of serpent was turned into a serpent. The gazer (of the Serpent) was gazed by other (as serpent). | killed a monstrous Serpent, which was sacred to Mars | both Cadmus and Harmonia --> serpent |
| Actaeon | The hunter was hunted by his hounds. | Voyeur the bath of Diana | -->dappled dear, (or boar) |
| Tiresias | The judge was judged. | He saw two snakes mating twice. | change of sex (two
times) blindness vs insight |
| Narcissus | A self-lover, who adored his own sight, became a flower (a mere sight). | Obsessed with his own self image | --> flower |
| Echo | A talkative speaker became the voice of the other (echo= mere imitating sound). | She saw Zeus's affair but did not told Hera | --> "echo" |
| Pentheus | An unbeliever was frightened by what he saw. | He saw the Dionysian mysteries with uninitiated eyes. | -->deformation His deformation is contrast of Bacchus's deformation. |