Greek mythology
The Greek world knew of several important myths that involved heroes in myths of collective actions, and they attempted to create a single history for them, with these episodes arranged in an invented chronological order. Later authors, such as Ovid and Apollodorus, attempted to create world histories beginning with creation and descending through the ages based on this tradition.
The main expeditions – myths of collective actions
Argo
Led by Jason, the Argonauts voyage to Colchis on the eastern edge of the Black Sea to recover the Golden Fleece.
The Calydonian Wild Boar
Artemis sends a wild beast to the countryside of Calydon. King Oeneus calls for help. Atalanta wounds the beast, and Meleager kills it. Meleager presents the prize to Atalanta. Conflict ensues and Meleager is magically killed by his mother in an episode involving placing a firebrand back in the fire.
The Seven Against Thebes
Sequel to the myth of Oedipus. His two sons are Eteocles and Polynices. Eteocles refuses to share power with Polynices who raises an army of Argive warriors to overthrow him. The Thebans win the war, but Eteocles and Polynices both die.
The Epigoni
The sons of the Argive captains of the first Theban war successfully lead an assault against Thebes, under Laodamas, son of Eteocles.
The Trojan War
The story of the sack of Troy for the sake of Helen.
The Return of the Trojan Heroes
Stories of the return and Death of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Neoptolemus, Diomedes and others. The story of Orestes.
The main expeditions – myths of collective actions
Argo
Led by Jason, the Argonauts voyage to Colchis on the eastern edge of the Black Sea to recover the Golden Fleece.
The Calydonian Wild Boar
Artemis sends a wild beast to the countryside of Calydon. King Oeneus calls for help. Atalanta wounds the beast, and Meleager kills it. Meleager presents the prize to Atalanta. Conflict ensues and Meleager is magically killed by his mother in an episode involving placing a firebrand back in the fire.
The Seven Against Thebes
Sequel to the myth of Oedipus. His two sons are Eteocles and Polynices. Eteocles refuses to share power with Polynices who raises an army of Argive warriors to overthrow him. The Thebans win the war, but Eteocles and Polynices both die.
The Epigoni
The sons of the Argive captains of the first Theban war successfully lead an assault against Thebes, under Laodamas, son of Eteocles.
The Trojan War
The story of the sack of Troy for the sake of Helen.
The Return of the Trojan Heroes
Stories of the return and Death of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Neoptolemus, Diomedes and others. The story of Orestes.
Questions
1. What historical content, if any, may be found in these myths of collective actions?
2. How was the legendary history of the "age of the heroes" compiled?
2. How was the legendary history of the "age of the heroes" compiled?
Second Extract
Nestor. The Greeks were aware of the notable anomaly of the lifespan of Nestor, who at Troy lead the forces from Pylos, and was famous equally for his wisdom and long-winded vanity. He is the son of Neleus, and therefore was born in the seventh generation in the table; the war of Troy takes place in the twentieth generation, that is approximately 325 years later. Nestor was old indeed. The anomaly is so enormous, that from the very first mention of Nestor in the Iliad, Homer is obliged to offer an explanation.
"But Nestor now leapt up, Nestor, that master of the courteous word, the clear-voiced orator from Pylos, whose speech ran sweeter than honey off his tongue. He had already seen two generations come to life, grow up, and die in sacred Pylos, and now he ruled the third."
An understatement, for he is a contemporary also of Telemachus in the twenty-first generation of the list, making him around 350 years old at the time of their meeting.
"But Nestor now leapt up, Nestor, that master of the courteous word, the clear-voiced orator from Pylos, whose speech ran sweeter than honey off his tongue. He had already seen two generations come to life, grow up, and die in sacred Pylos, and now he ruled the third."
An understatement, for he is a contemporary also of Telemachus in the twenty-first generation of the list, making him around 350 years old at the time of their meeting.
Question
1. What do the anomalies in the construction of the Greek genealogies tell us about the construction of Greek myth?
Third extract
Heracles is another hero who enjoyed the company of older women. He is placed in the list within the nineteenth generation, but as his mother, Alcmene is the daughter of Electryon, he could belong to the twentieth, that is the generation of the Theban and Trojan wars, in which he significantly plays no part at all. But his wife, Deianira, is a daughter of Oeneus, putting her into the twelfth generation, and making her a youthful 200 years old when Heracles won her by wrestling the river-god, Achelous. The character who is displaced is more likely to be Heracles, who originally belonged to the older stratum, to which all commentators agree he should truly belong, for he is an “older hero”. How he came to be inserted into the genealogy of the Argive kings is the matter to be explained, nor shall we have to look far for an answer to that riddle. He has many wives, and Chalcicope is the great-great granddaughter of Oeneus, putting her into the fifteenth generation, and only about 100 years old when she met the youthful Heracles of the nineteenth generation. But his wife, Megara, daughter of Creon, does belong to the nineteenth generation.
Question
1. What do the anomalies in the myth of Heracles tell us about that myth?
Fourth extract
This illustrates a possible mechanism of myth formation during the Dark Age. The legend of Theseus is largely sourced from Plutarch’s account of his “life”. The mother of Theseus is Aethra, and when Theseus abducts Helen he places her in the authority of his mother at Aphidnae. It is Plutarch who observes the anomaly when Homer placed Aethra at Troy.
"This news from the goddess [Iris] filled Helen’s heart with tender longing for her former husband and her parents and the city she had left. She wrapped a veil of white linen around her head, and with the tear-drops running down her cheeks set out from her bedroom, not alone, but attended by two waiting-women. Aethra daughter of Pittheus, and the ox-eyed lady Clymene."[1]
A goddess who is also called “ox-eyed” is Hera. The Greeks constructed glosses to explain how Aethra, the mother of Theseus, and Clymene a daughter of Aethra by Hippalces ended up in Troy. We conclude that the original locus of the myth of Troy was Aphidnae in Attica.[2]
[1] Homer, Iliad. III. 139-145.
[2] At the time of writing the population of Aphidnae is 1,008 people.
"This news from the goddess [Iris] filled Helen’s heart with tender longing for her former husband and her parents and the city she had left. She wrapped a veil of white linen around her head, and with the tear-drops running down her cheeks set out from her bedroom, not alone, but attended by two waiting-women. Aethra daughter of Pittheus, and the ox-eyed lady Clymene."[1]
A goddess who is also called “ox-eyed” is Hera. The Greeks constructed glosses to explain how Aethra, the mother of Theseus, and Clymene a daughter of Aethra by Hippalces ended up in Troy. We conclude that the original locus of the myth of Troy was Aphidnae in Attica.[2]
[1] Homer, Iliad. III. 139-145.
[2] At the time of writing the population of Aphidnae is 1,008 people.
Questions
1. Is it possible that the myth of the abduction of Helen by Paris was a later construction built upon the original myth of the abduction of Helen by Theseus?
2. Is the original locus of Troy, Aphidnae in Attica?
2. Is the original locus of Troy, Aphidnae in Attica?