Abstract This paper presents a description of the Red Figure Amphora, dating back to 440-430 B.C. The author examines the mythological paintings and carvings depicted on the amphora, and includes information provided by the legend displayed next to the artwork in the museum. The essay also analyzes the various techniques used in drawing, painting and carving, and goes into great detail about the Greek mythological story of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, the subject of the artwork. The paper includes pictures of the amphora.
From the Paper "The Eleusinian Mysteries, held annually in honor of Demeter and Persephone, were the most sacred and revered of all the ritual celebrations of ancient Greece . They were instituted in the city of Eleusis , some twenty-two kilometers west of Athens , possibly as far back as the early Mycenaean period, and continued for almost two thousand years. Large crowds of worshippers from all over Greece (and later, from throughout the Roman Empire ) would gather to make the holy pilgrimage between the two cities and participate in the secret ceremonies, generally regarded as the high point of Greek religion. As Christianity began to spread, the Mysteries were condemned by the early Church fathers; yet the rites continued for hundreds of years more and exercised considerable influence on the formation of early Christian teachings and practices."
Abstract This paper examines the role of goddesses in Greek and Roman mythology. The author discusses how they were worshipped in polytheistic cultures, how goddesses were portrayed as virgins, mothers, wives, always in relation to male counterparts. The paper looks at such goddesses as Hera, Demeter, Gaia, Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, and more.
From the Paper "Long ago, the image of the goddess appeared. Stone was carved and bone modeled after a reflection of a maternal figure. Her curvaceous body and falling breasts seem to be humanity's first tangible image of life. From the beginning, the Great Mother was associated with nurturing and life giving. This notion, of Mother Earth as the bearer of all that is living, and the provider of sustenance of life, dates back to a time when we as humans, regarded ourselves as children of nature, and nature as divine, Baring & Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess. London : Penguin Books, 1991. pg. 5. Myths corroborate that women and goddesses were responsible for the discovery of food cultivation and ultimately the preservation of life. While the primacy of the goddess and the idea of the goddess as the creator are not seen in all civilizations, many do show evidence towards this sort of belief."
Abstract The paper analyzes the connections between the ritual calendar of the Romans and the cyclical elements contained in the myths of Demeter and Dionysus. The paper discusses the issue of whether myths or rituals came first and concludes that it is likely that the rituals preceded the myths.
From the Paper "Demeter was the Roman goddess of corn and the earth's fertility. She and Dionysus were considered to be benevolent helpers of mankind. Like many of the Roman gods and goddesses, they were honored and represented by daily activities. Demeter and Dionysus were represented by the acts of breaking bread and drinking wine. Demeter lost her daughter to Hades and Dionysus died with the coming of the cold season. It is not difficult to see the mythological connection to death and the coming of cold in the ancient world. The story of Demeter has many cyclical elements, including the compromise that Demurrer's daughter would spend only a portion of the year on earth. This coincides with the fertility cycles and winter on earth."
Abstract This paper discusses the similarities between certain wedding and funerary rituals of Athens by analyzing the iconography of ancient Greek pottery and relating these ideas to those found in the Homeric "Hymn to Demeter". The paper includes direct quotes from the hymn, as well as images of ancient vases that correspond with the text.
From the Paper "Before the Common Era, citizens of Ancient Greece created an identity for themselves based on their polytheistic religion. The Greeks' entire existence revolved around paying worship to the multiple gods and goddesses whom they trusted to take care of them in this world and the next. Political, economical, agricultural, and social aspects of Greek communities all received strong influence from religious conceptions. Without widely spread literacy, most knowledge passed from person to person through oral communication. Myths, stories explaining relations of gods with humans, nature, and each other, frequently served as an easy way to spread ideas amongst citizens of all ages. Records of ancient festivals and customs suggest that "Greek ritual is borne out and reinforced by what we find in a myth." Because so many artifacts and literary sources have been recovered in Athens, the city plays an important role in helping us analyze the extent to which mythological tales affected everyday life in the Classical period."
Abstract This paper analyzes how Homer's "Hymn to Demeter", "The Iliad", and "The Odyssey" all explore the traditional customs of providing shelter for strangers and the consequences for breaking such customs. The paper points out that, in these three tales, one can see the importance placed on good hospitality. They are a reflection of the ancient tradition of receiving guests with kindness and generosity. Breaking these traditions proved disruptive of the rest of the community, and efforts were then taken to restore order. The paper concludes that Homer's writings give us key insight into the everyday values of Greek life and culture.
From the Paper "These traditions are also highlighted in the breaking of them by the characters in Homer's tales. He highlights the action which broke these taboos, but also a negative response to it by the other figures in the story. When Demeter refused to allow healthy harvests, Zeus had to step in to stop her from taking the lives of millions of people in order to save her single daughter, (Morford and Lanardon 313). This shows the general negative attitude towards disregarding the health and welfare of strangers. Another prime example of breaking this taboo is the account of Achilles and his actions towards Hector's body. Many cultures showed respect to guests, even forced guests as in the case of prisoners of war. It was custom out of respect for fallen soldiers to return the body in order to get the proper funereal rites. In The Iliad, Achilles refuses this custom when he drags Hectors body and refuses to surrender it to the Trojans, (Homer Book 22, line 494). This was a taboo, despite the fact that Hector was an enemy."
Abstract This paper summarizes the story of Edwidge Danticat's "Breath, Eyes, Memory," and clearly links the novel to that of the life of the author. It correlates the Greek mythological story of Demeter and Persephone to that in the book in the context of a mother and daughter relationship and link. It also examines the connections mothers, daughters, and women have throughout a bloodline that extends for generations.
From the paper:
"Running throughout this book is a sense that this is the darker version of the Demeter and Persephone story. The connection of these divinities is so great that they cannot bear to be parted, which is something like what happens in this Haitian story. But the story of Demeter's love for Persephone is bound up with images of fertility and lushness while Sophie's mother is a force for virginity and sterility. This contrasting set of pairs ? joy and fertility in the Greek myth and sorrow and sterility in the Haitian story may be seen to be a commentary on the nature of what happens to women's bodies when they are colonized."
Abstract This paper examines how the ancient Greeks determined who would win the pentathlon, a competition of professional athletes who participated in numerous sporting events in Olympia. The author discusses the Olympiad Games, who was allowed to participate, particular events-javelin, discus, wrestling, etc., festivities, and awards presented to victors.
From the Paper "An event that was intended to show all-round development was the pentathlon. Five events were included in this activity. They were running, long jumping, discus throw, javelin throw, and wrestling. The exact order of events and the precise method of determining a winner are not known. Wrestling is believed to have been the last event and may have decided the winner of the pentathlon if a participant did not have a clear advantage in the first four events. Historians have somewhat been able, with some degree of certainty, to determine how the winner of the pentathlon was actually decided. If a point system had been employed, as in our modern games, there would be no difficulty in crowning a champion; however, no evidence has been produced to support a point system in the Greek pentathlon. With the absence of such a scoring system, we are able only to present some theories and assumptions about the Greek pentathlon."
From the Paper " In one of those peculiar but enduring distinctions that exist between the worlds of high and low culture, the stories of the people of classical Greece have come down to us as "myths" rather than "folktales" - and so are to be considered in general of greater consequence. However, for the purposes of this essay on the importance of food in fairytales, we shall set aide this distinction for the moment because it is from Greek "myth" that comes the archetypal story of food and folklore.
The particular story being referred to is that of Demeter who was for the Greeks the goddess of corn and the harvest. When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, Demeter's grief was so great that she neglected the land; no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. Dismayed at this situation, Zeus, the ruler of the universe, demanded that..."
Abstract This paper explains that the Eleusinian Mysteries and their magical initiation rites, begun in a city called Eleusis, were held on an annual basis in honor of the most sacred ritual celebrations of all of ancient Greece. The author points out that the mysteries and the rituals that surrounded them were repeated for more than 2,000 years and were as important to those living in that time as Christmas is to Christians today. The paper relates that the only people who were allowed to participate in the rituals were those who spoke Greek and had never shed blood or had been purified after doing so.
From the Paper "Historians believe that the Eleusinian Mysteries were derived from this earlier practice. Demeter had promised if the Eleusinians built a temple to her honor she would teach them magic rituals that would create a better existence for them. They built the temple but she did not appear. The world suffered from famine and other ills. Eventually she relented and a poem was written that promised followers a rich reward in this life and in the next life as long as they remained loyal."
Tags: sacred, practice, temple, hierarchy, festival
Abstract This paper first discusses real-life, Ancient Greek marriage rituals and Greek attitudes towards marriage in order to demonstrate how many of the aspects of marriage in Greek myth paralleled aspects of marriage in real life. The paper then discusses three different Greek works and compares each one's depiction of marriage.
From the Paper "Indeed, many of the things we see in Greek myths happened in real life as well. For example, the Greek girls usually married quite young, around the age of 14, which was meant to ensure that the girl was a virgin and pure in mind and body. "Marriage to a family member was an acceptable alternative and occasionally encouraged in order to consolidate family wealth" - if we look at many of the marriages between gods (taking only this example), we will notice that many of them were affiliated. Remember, for example, that almost all of the Olympian Gods were in some way related, most of them being brothers and sisters, and that many of them were married, like Zeus and Hera, for example."
Abstract This paper expounds on Joseph Campbell's explanation of how myths are intended to teach individuals about the society in which they function. Through examples from Campbell's text in which Campbell talks about the Greek story of Persephone and Demeter, Arthurian legends, and religious myths, this paper demonstrates Campbell's contention that myths have served as a way of either bolstering the status quo of a culture or society or of teaching that deviation from the status quo will bring ruin.
From the Paper "In terms of Greek and Arthurian heroes, the resolution of problems such as the acceptance of duality and harmony often pitted the individualist nature of the hero against a sort of guiding patronage system instilled by either the gods, royalty, or both. Campbell uses the Greek story of Persephone and Demeter as a guiding example, but there are many other examples in Greek myth of the gods acting as intercessors in the mortal realm and providing the sort of conservative instruction advocated by myths. Love in Greek myth is often something that is aligned with supernatural fate, as when the mortal woman who is chased by a god finds herself turned into a dryad, or into some other representational totem. Love is also the source of problematic blame in terms of the battles surrounding Troy in Greek myth and legend. But in any case, the heroes of these myths, when they are acting alone, show that they are stemming from an individual response which must be tailored by the intercession of the gods. If the hero is too individualist and denies the patronage system of the gods and oracles, as Oedipus did, the results are generally tragic."
Abstract The period covered by the term 'Ancient Greece' is a long one, encompassing the Mycenaean period and the subsequent so-called 'Dark Age' (c.1600-900 B.C.), the Archaic Period (c.900-480 B.C.), the Classical period (c.480-323 B.C.) and the Hellenistic period (c. 323-146 B.C.). This essay discusses the Mycenaean, Archaic and Classical periods, using the literature of some of the richest cultural epochs in Ancient Greek history to illuminate questions of freedom in the society of Greece during that time. Works examined include Homer's "The Iliad" and "Hymn to Demeter", Socrates' "Apology" and Sappho's "Hymn to Aphrodite".
From the Paper "Socrates was a man; no woman could have been brought before a court to face the charges he faced because no woman had the freedom to travel, to question, and to speak in public. Women were perhaps the largest class of the Ancient Greek population to be excluded from the exercise of many of the freedoms we would recognize as important today: political participation, ownership of property and wealth, pursuit of education and careers. Women in the classical period were restricted in their free choice of marriage partners; any dowry was effectively the property of the husband, denying the woman financial independence (Sealey, 67, 77); these restrictions were less evident by the later Hellenistic period, in which women possessed more freedom in their personal lives and control of their own financial affairs (Sealey, 94)."
Abstract This paper explains that the six strong women in Phillip Grove's novel "Settlers of the Marsh" can be categorized into four different literary archetypes found in many examples of literature: the Earth Mother, the Greater Mother, the Lesser Mother and the Old Crone. The author relates that these roles also resemble some of the major Greek mythological women, such as the Goddesses Gaia, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Athena and Persephone. The paper concludes that being able to categorize these women into these four literary archetypes provides the reader with greater insight into the author's use of symbolism associated with the Canadian prairies.
From the Paper "Ellen had her father take away her minimal femininity and social life by embedding her with farming skills and putting her to work on the farm. Given these challenges, Ellen became a Lesser Mother. The community saw Ellen as a farmer, not as someone embracing herself as a young woman. These faults in her character as a woman make Ellen a Lesser Mother in literature archetypes. With these qualities Ellen mirrored the goddess Demeter; Demeter was the goddess of harvest. Ellen lives for planting and harvesting her farm, putting her pride into her claim this was all Ellen knew just as Demeter does."
