This powerpoint highlights information introduced in the course textbook.

1. Chapter 1

2. History
Classical Myths and Contemporary Questions
Classical Mythology in Context

3. 1.1 Odysseus sacrifices a ram at the entrance of the Underworld. Bas-relief from an
Etruscan sarcophagus. Pepper tree wood. Probable copy of a fifth-century BCE painting.
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Orvieto, Italy. Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY ART200190.
What is a myth?
William R. Bascom
• American anthropologist
• Myths have high emotional content
• Discuss the sacred
• Happen in the remote past
Don Cupitt
• British theologian
• Myths discuss the sacred
• Represent traditional beliefs
• Are passed down by oral tradition

4. Table 1.1
What is a myth?

5. Both Bascom’s and Cupitt’s definitions are exclude:
• Myths in form of visual art, drama, poetry
• Works with a known author
• Stories that do not include supernatural beings
• Stories that do not describe the sacred
A more inclusive definition was developed by William G. Doty, who
focused on the importance of the context of the mythological corpus to
understanding myths
• Myths can be told in many forms that are always rich in metaphors and
symbols
• Myths are defined by the values and meanings they promote
• Myths serve a purpose for individuals, groups, or societies
What is a Myth?

6. Theory
Classical Myths and Contemporary Questions
Classical Mythology in Context

7. 1.2 Fragment of the Odyssey. Papyrus with Greek script. Egypt. 285–250
BCE. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art
Resource, NY, ART378594.
Myths from Ancient Greece
• Classical mythology refers to the myths of ancient Greece
and Rome
• Ancient Greece was not a nation, but refers to places
where Greeks lived
• Many of the poems that tell these myths originated in the
Archaic Period, including the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the
Homeric Hymns, and Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and
Days
• These were not considered sacred texts but are important
for making sense of Greek gods and goddesses

8. Myths from Ancient Greece
In the Classical Period, Greeks began to examine their myths, expressing
skepticism about the gods
• Tragedians wrote plays about the gods, and the Histories of Herodotus
contains stories about them
• Philosophers began to question myths using rationalism
During the Hellenistic Period, Greek scholars began to collect myths
• Roman scholars continued this practice of recording antiquity
• By the fifth century CE the Roman Empire had become Christianized, and
the mythological system became quiescent

9. Map 1.1 Greece, the Ancient Near East, and the Mediterranean
The Ancient Near East

10. 1.3 Lion from the Processional Wall of the Ishtar Gate,
Babylon. Enameled tile and brick. Detail. 575 BCE. bpk,
Berlin/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Staatliche Museen Berlin/Olaf
M. Tessner/Art Resource, NY, ART478723.
Myths from the Ancient Near East
• Greece was a relative
newcomer compared to the
empires of the ancient Near
East
• The Hittite Empire ruled
Anatolia from the 18th
through the 14th centuries
BCE
• Hittite creation myths share
similarities with Hesiod’s
Theogony
• The Hittites may have had
contact with early kings of
Troy

11. Myths from the Ancient Near East
• The religious and cultural ideas of the Levant were spread throughout the
Mediterranean by the Phoenicians
• They were skilled sailors who developed a powerful trading empire
• The Israelite residents of the Levant were isolated by their monotheistic
beliefs
• There are still similarities between Greek and Hebrew ideas of a moral
universe and between stories like that of the flood
• The Epic of Gilgamesh was a Sumerian myth, though it was written down
during the Babylonian Empire
• Gilgamesh and the Atrahasis have similar narrative patterns to Greek myths
• Early contact between Greece and Egypt is well documented, and scholars
question how much African influence, through Egypt, made its way into
Greece

12. 1.4 Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf. Rome, Italy.
Timothy McCarthy / Art Resource, NY, ART165537.
Myths from Ancient Rome
• Rome’s mythological system
was transformed by contact
with Greece
• Roman stories like that of
Romulus and Remus
predate contact with the
Greeks, but most Roman
myths have obvious Greek
origins
• Most Roman myths are not
sacred narratives, but this
does not make them not
myths

13. Comparison
Classical Myths and Contemporary Questions
Classical Mythology in Context

14. Making Sense of Classical Myths
• Each chapter is divided into four sections
• History addresses the form and content of myths and provides an overview
of the chapter’s subject in context
• Theory surveys the ways scholars have explained the function of myth
• Comparison looks at myths from neighboring societies to offer a regional
perspective
• Reception studies modern and contemporary art that depicts and interprets
Greek myths

15. Reception
Classical Myths and Contemporary Questions
Classical Mythology in Context

16. 1.5 Romare Bearden, “Realm of Shades.” In this image from modernist artist
Romare Bearden’s Black Odyssey, Odysseus (left) enters the Underworld.
Bearden evokes Christian imagery with the flames and frightening figures that
are not a part of the Greek conception of the Underworld. ©Romare Bearden
Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery,
New York.
Why Study Classical Myths?
• Mythic forms of thinking still
inform how we view and
understand the world in the
21st century, according to
philosopher Mary Midgley
• Understanding our myths is
the first step toward not
being controlled by them