Title: Classics 2200 / Final
Tags: Oresteia Eumenides RomanMyth OedipusTheKing

A: House of Cadmus in Thebes

Athenian Democracy
•Plays were written by Athenians for audience of Athenians and visitors.
•The birth of Greek tragedy is roughly simultaneous with establishment of democracy, in the late 6th century BCE.
•The plots of tragedy tend to problematize conventional ‘aristocratic’ values.
•At the same time, the tragic plots are based on stories from the mythic (epic) past, which uphold these same values.
•Tragedy often explores tensions between loyalty to the civic community (polis) and loyalty to the household/family (oikos).

Context of War
•War was an almost constant reality for Athenians throughout the 5th century BCE.
•The Persian Wars dominated the early half of the century.
•The Peloponnesian War occupied Athens for the last third of the century.
•Athenian boys were raised and trained to be soldiers.
•Aeschylus himself fought against the Persian invaders at the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE.
•Many Athenian tragedies deal with the effects of war, particularly with the adjustment to home life.
- The wars referenced were those in myth not the contemporary ones.

Oresteia
•The audience of Athenian tragedy already knew, from the Odyssey and elsewhere, the story of Agamemnon’s homecoming.
•In Athenian tragedy, well-known myths are enacted on the stage. The interest lay in artistic license.
•Some changes in details could be introduced, but major plot points were kept
•This produces a sense of inevitable fate.
•It also offers rich potential for dramatic irony, because the audience has information that the characters in the tragedy do not have.

Dramatic Irony
•Dramatic irony is a literary device, in which the full significance of a character's words or actions are understood by the audience, but not by the character.
•The audience thus has a higher level of knowledge than the characters onstage.
•The audience, because they know the future in a way that the characters do not, enjoy a god-like perspective.

Q: The wife of [...] is named [...]
A: Pelops; Hippodameia

Q: The wife of [...] is named [...]
A: Atreus; Aerope

Pelops
•Loved by Poseidon, who gave him a chariot.
•Oinomaos, king of Pisa, had a daughter, Hippodameia.
- Prophesized that his son-in-law would kill him
- He would challenge all suitors to a chariot race, and kill them if they lost.
•Pelops challenged Oinomaus to a chariot race, but he bribed Oinomaus’ charioteer Myrtilos to install the chariot wheels improperly.
•Oinomaus’s chariot crashed and Pelops won Hippodameia as his wife.
•Oinomaus cursed Pelops as he died. Denied his bribe/reward, the charioteer cursed him as well.

Atreus & Thyestes
- Sons of Pelops.
- Thyestes slept with Atreus' wife to gain power over the throne.
- Thyestes was exiled.
- Atreus later invited Thyestes home to have a reconciliation feast, but instead served Thyestes' kids to him.
- Thyestes cursed Atreus

Q: Aegisthus has [...] hatred for Agamemnon.
A: inherited

Q: Pelops was [...] by the gods.
A: put together again

Q: Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have 3 children together, [...], [...] and [...]
A: Iphigenia; Orestes; Electra

Oresteia
- Performed at the City Dionysia
- Composed of 3 plays; Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and finally Eumenides

Q: Aeschylus' Agamemnon
- [...] vs [...] (the military expedition).
A: Oikos; polis

Aeschylus' Agamemnon
•Chorus of elders of Argos: the first long choral song of the play takes the audience back in time to the departure of the Greek expedition for Troy.
- They are too old to have gone on the expedition.
•The sacrifice of Iphigeneia is remembered as a past event.
•The expedition is characterized as an agent of Zeus (like twin eagles of Zeus), bringing justice to Troy for the violation of Xenia
•The sacrilegious destruction of Troy is in turn punished by the gods.
•Clytemnestra avenges the death of Iphigeneia.

In the Odyssey, Clytemnestra is just unfaithful, but in the Agamemnon, she is pursuing revenge

Agamemnon
- The Greek fleet is gathered at Aulis.
- There is a portent: two eagles tear apart a pregnant hare
- Calchas interprets it as the eagles being Agamemnon and Menelaus and the hare being Troy.
- But, Artemis will be offended because she protects young animals

Agememnon
- The Greek Fleet is stuck at Aulis and are running out of supplies.
- Calchas tells them that Artemis is mad at Agamemnon and they will only get the wind if Iphegenia is sacrificed.

Q: Agememnon
- Agamemnon chooses violence against his [...] in order to fulfill his [...].
- He offends [...].
A: household; public duties; Clytemnestra

Iphigeneia as Bride of Death
•Iphigeneia, a virgin daughter of the king, is at the age for marriage.
• Agamemnon’s trick (in Euripides’ version, not mentioned in the Oresteia): he writes to Clytemnestra, saying that he has arranged for Iphigeneia to marry Achilles, and telling her to bring their daughter to Aulis for the marriage.
• Disruption of marriage ritual
• Distortion of sacrificial ritual

Iphigeneia as Bride of Death
• When Iphigeneia is to be sacrificed, her mouth is bound, this stops her from cursing her father.
- Her dress is died with saffron which is very expensive.
- She is called a bride of death/sacrifice.

Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Clytemnestra
•She dominates the space and directs much of the action on the stage of the Agamemnon.
•Watchman: “for such is the ruling of a woman’s hopeful heart, which plans like a man.”
•Consider her removal of Orestes, her use of the beacon signals (Hephaestus’ fire), her use of textiles, her mastery of rhetorical speech, her references to epic poetry, her role-playing, e.g. acting as if she were like Penelope.
•Compare her situation to that of Demeter, who used her powers to get Persephone back for 1/3 the year.

Clytemnestra
• Clytemnestra acts like Penelope, but in reality she is a terrible person.
• Clytemnestra uses textiles to destroy her household, but Penelope uses them to maintain her household.
• Clytemnestra invites Agamemnon to commit Hubris by standing on cloths instead of the ground.
- These cloths are for the gods and if she also does this, agamemnon has not truly returned home.

Agememnon's Nostos
- Agamemnon arrives with Cassandra, who has the gift of prophecy but no-one believes her.
- Clytemnestra makes a big speech about how much she misses Agamemnon
- Clytemnestra convinces him to commit Hubris with the cloth (expensive dye), even though he initally didn't want to.
-- Convinces him by asking what would Priam do?

Agememnon's Nostos
- Cassandra knows everything about the household and everything that is about to happen, including that she will die.
- The chorus does not understand nor believe her.
- The murders of Agamemnon and Cassandra are presented in terms of an animal sacrifice.

Clytemnestra's Revenge

Agamemnon
- Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon by first inviting him to bathe, then while he is vulnerable, she throws a cloth over him and stabs him to death, then going and stabbing Cassandra.
- Clytemnestra comes out feeling victorious and explains what she did to the chorus, describing even how she prayed to Hades

Final Scene.
•The chorus is horrified at Clytemnestra’s actions.
•She defends herself as an agent of justice.
•Aegisthus appears only at the end, also triumphant that he has had revenge for his brothers.
•Aegisthus threatens the chorus. Clytemnestra chastises him, and urges peace.

Libation Bearers
•The title comes from the chorus of Trojan slave-women, who are carrying libations to the tomb of Agamemnon, on Clytemenestra’s orders.
•Orestes has come of age in exile and returns home unannounced to Argos, accompanied by his friend Pylades.
•They have consulted the oracle at Delphi, where Apollo has commanded Orestes to kill his mother and Aegisthus, in order to avenge the murder of Agamemnon. Compare his father’s dilemma when Artemis demands the sacrifice of Iphigeneia.
•Electra, Orestes’ sister, at home in Argos laments constantly at her father’s tomb, remembering him and calling for revenge.

Ritual Funeral Lament
•The song sung over the corpse before burial, and afterwards, in regular commemoration of the dead, was considered important for the soul.
•To neglect it was to risk the displeasure of the gods or the ghost of the dead.
•Normally it was performed by kinswomen, sometimes with the addition of professional (paid) mourners.
•Ritual gestures: tearing of hair, clothing, and face, chest striking.

Offerings at the tomb
•The song sung over the corpse before burial, and afterwards, in regular commemoration of the dead, was considered important for the soul.
•To neglect it was to risk the displeasure of the gods or the ghost of the dead.
•Normally it was performed by kinswomen, sometimes with the addition of professional (paid) mourners.
•Ritual gestures: tearing of hair, clothing, and face, chest striking.

Offerings at the tomb
•Normally offered on the 3rd, 9th, and 30th days, and after a year. Also on certain festival days.
•Offerings could include locks of hair, libations (poured offerings), grains, fruits, sacrificed animals, ribbons, garlands, garments.
•Offerings were accompanied by prayers, and/or ritual lament.

Offering at the tomb

Q: Functions of Lament
- To express [...], create social [...] and arouse an [...]
A: grief; unity; avenger

Changes in Funerary Practices
•From the 6th century BCE
•Elaborate kin-focused funeral displays (focused on loss and grief) begin to be limited by new laws.
•In Athens, we see a transition to public oration— epitaphios logos— delivered by a male leader (focused on praise), for soldiers fallen in battle, as a group. This oration functioned to glorify the city.
•In these speeches, women are admonished to be silent and restrained.

Dangerous Voices
•Tribal feuds among mountain clans (in Mani and Epirus) in Greek society in the beginning of the last century.
•Blood feuds were escalated by calls for revenge in women’s laments urging reciprocal violence.
•Mothers and sisters call on sons and brothers to avenge the violent deaths of their loved ones.
•In this kind of vendetta justice in Greece, men used actions, women used voices.

Electra's Dangerous Voice
•Electra’s lament keeps alive the memory of Agamemnon and his murder.
•It also includes her calls for an avenger.
•She is thus a threat to Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, who are now in power.
- Aegisthus wants to hide her away
•Her preoccupation with revenge and her dead father prevents her from moving forward in her life. Her name means ‘without a marriage bed’.

Electra, Orestes and Pylades

Orestes Kills Aegisthus (Clytemnestra behind)

Orestes Kills Clytemnestra (Fury behind)

Orestes' Deceit
•Orestes, disguised as a messenger, announces his own death, and so gains access to the palace.
•“dead hand” motif
•Electra helps in the deceit by pretending to mourn his death.
•Clytemnestra’s mixed response. She claims to be sad, but her servant reports that she is in fact happy and relieved.
- She is now corrupt in power

Q: The epitaphios logos is translated to [...] and focused on [...] those [...] of people who served the city.
A: speech over the dead; praising; groups

Q: When Orestes is unsure of if he is to kill his mother (who just showed him her [...]), [...] reminds him of what he was told to do.
A: breasts; Pylades

Q: The [...] pursue Orestes for Matricide
A: Furies (Erinyes)

Q: The [...] motif refers to how a "dead" person [...] another.
- Great example is [...] and Clytemnestra.
A: dead hand; kills; Orestes

Areophagus

Eyes of Oedipus

Sphinx

Oedipus & Sphinx

Antigone giving burial rites to her brother's body

Antigone (American Reperatory Theater)

- First lines are spoken by Pythia, Apollo’s Priestess.
- In her prayer, she references all the gods who had previously controlled the area.
  - The land went from Earth to her daughter Themis, then to Phoebe.
  - Phoebe gave the area to Phoebus (Apollo) as his birthday gift.
- Apollo is the spokesman of his father Zeus.
  - Telling Orestes to kill his mother was the idea of Zeus.
Note: In the homeric hymn to Apollo, Apollo had to fight the python for Pytho, but in this, Apollo was just gifted Delphi with no fighting. This is not a story of heroic violence.

The Furies (Erinyes)
- The Furies form the chorus of the play, and are later transformed to Eumenides (Kindly Ones).
- They are horrifying to look at; the Pythia collapses at the sight of them.
- Clothed in black, making horrible sounds like animals, dripping blood from their eyes.
- Recall Theogony
  - Furies were born from drops of blood that fell to earth from Ouranos’ castrated genitals.
  - Their function is to punish those who spill kindred blood (revenge).

Q: Orestes and the Furies
- Orestes can see the furies pursuing him but [...] can!
  - They think he is hallucinating.
- Orestes flees to the [...] for protection and cleansing of the miasma.
A: no one else; Oracle of Delphi

Orestes and the Furies

orestes

Purification
- Orestes, pursued by the furies, arrives at Delphi to supplicate Apollo to purify him of miasma.
- Apollo promises to be Orestes’ champion and puts the furies to sleep.
- The furies are described as old maidens, abominable and associated with Tartarus.
  - Hated by the Olympians and mortals alike!

Apollo and the Furies
- Chorus: We drive from their homes those who assault their mothers.
- Apollo: What about a woman who slays her husband?
- Chorus: That would not be kindred murder of a person of the same blood.
  - Husband and wife are not related, so its basically fine.

The First Trial by Jury for Homicide
- Apollo tells Orestes to flee to Athens.
  - Unusual scene change in Athenian tragedy.
- Orestes travels for a year and arrives in Athens, where he supplicates Athena.
  - (Note the heroic elements of Orestes’ biography).
- He is pursued by the Furies, who are driven on, like hunting dogs, by the vengeful ghost of Clytemnestra.
  - Clytemnestra is the only character who is present in all three plays!

The First Trial by Jury for Homicide
- Older gods (furies) versus younger Olympians (Apollo and Athena).
- Athena arrives from the site of Troy, where she has been taking possession of the land conquered by Agamemnon.
- Orestes’ supplication puts Athens at risk from the furies.
  - Suppliant asks for something that if given up by the person in power, will cause them some sort of issue.
- Athena institutes the first trial by jury on the Areopagus.
  - Ancient site of the Amazonomachy, the battle between Theseus and Amazons.
- Furies argue that if Orestes goes unpunished, people will feel free to commit all sorts of crimes.
  - Apollo argues against the position of the furies, speaking on behalf of Orestes.
- Two sides: Apollo vs. the Furies. Athena presides.

Apollo’s Defense of Orestes
- The mother is not a real parent, the father plants his seed in the stranger woman and she gives birth to the offspring.
  - Her only job is to receive the seed and protect the baby (LMAO).
- Apollo gives evidence from myth that fathers can procreate without a mother.
  - Zeus gave birth to the amazing Athena.
- Thus, the father is more important, and Orestes was right to kill his mother to avenge his father.
- Aristotle, a century later writes a scientific theory on the conception of children.
  - The male seed provides the determining contribution which results in the child, while the woman provides merely the material (seed in a field).
- Acquittal of Orestes.
  - Athena’s vote breaks the jury’s tie vote. She explains that no mother gave birth to her and she commends the male.

Transformation of the Furies
- The Erinyes (Furies) are very angry.
  - Threaten to punish Athens with blight and infertility.
- They are slowly persuaded by Athena to let go of their anger.
  - Transformed into Eumenides (Kindly Ones).
- They are given special powers, great honours, and a home in a cave in Athens. They are Chthonic (underground) goddesses.
- Their role is to “Help friends, harm enemies”.
  - A working definition of justice in Classical Athens.
- Finally, a procession and celebration of the glories and virtues of Athens.

A New Order is Established
- Change of clothing for Eumenides – they are now dressed in robes dyed with purple.
  - Recall, the cloth that Clytemnestra uses to kill Agamemnon.
    - The textiles are now in their rightful place, being worn by a god.
- Ritual procession by torchlight to their new home in the city.
- Worship of the Eumenides is instituted in Athens.
- Perpetual peace is established between Athens and Argos.
- Justice is transformed from reciprocal violent revenge to trial by jury in court, a democratic institution.
- Who, of all the characters, is left unsatisfied in this resolution?
  - The ghost of Clytemnestra. She disappears and is ineffectual.

Q: Oedipus: Intellect, Faith, Fate and Tragedy
- Painting: His [...] have failed him, in his search for the [...] and use of his brain he causes so many issues.
  - Painting was done after WWII, technology causes disaster.
A: Eyes; truth

This Myth Engages with Two Fundamental and Universal Taboos
1. Parricide (killing one’s father)
- An obliteration of one’s origin.
1. Incest with one’s mother.
- Crime against time, erasing of whence you came.
- Confusion of cause and effect.
- Oedipus is fated to commit both.
  - Does so unconsciously and innocently.
  - Nevertheless, stained with miasma and considered an abomination.
  - His human drive to know about himself conflicts with the horror of the truth.
    - His use of his mind, his curiosity, all leads to him discovering the truth.

Sigmund Freud, A Founder of Psychoanalysis
- Dreams are manifestations of our deepest desires and our daily life.
- Everyone has sexual impulses with their mom and hatred towards their father.

Oedipus and the Tragedy of Philosophy
- Philosophy means ‘love of knowledge’. A distinctively human activity.
  - There is a tragic dimension to this drive toward knowledge.
- Philosophers strive to understand the truth about the world and about the nature of knowledge itself, including its limitations.
- In Plato’s Dialogues, Socrates, an early philosopher, used logical argumentation to challenge commonly accepted opinions, and thus caused discomfort and anxiety.
  - Socrates pushed people to the point where they realized they had errors in their thinking and were actually wrong about things.

Oedipus and the Tragedy of Philosophy
- The Delphic oracle was said to have proclaimed Socrates to be the wisest person.
  - Socrates said that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing.
- Socrates was put to death by the Athenians in 399 BCE.
- Oedipus’ heroic virtue, his drive to learn the truth, causes his tragic downfall.
  - It is not the fact that he killed his father and had sex with his mother, but rather finding out the truth years later which causes his downfall.

Oedipus’ Past
- Born in Thebes (doesn’t know this).
- Raised in Corinth.
- Meets the Oracle of Delphi in Delphi.
- Returns to Thebes (doesn’t want to go to Corinth).
- Kills himself in Athens.

Royal House At Thebes
- Jocasta, like Zeus has sex with people at multiple generations within a family tree.
Thebes
- A site of difference, the other.
- Stories of tyranny, incest, intrafamilial murder.
  - Inability to progress from past to future.
- Negative model of city, society and personal self.
- A closed system of tragedy (incest is a closed system), without possibility of escape.
  - Opposed to time and progress.

Q: Royal House At Corinth
- [...] and [...] adopt Oedipus.
A: Polybus; Merope

Oedipus’ Heroic Biography
- Exposure at birth.
  - His parents are told of the prophecy and leave him on a mountaintop.
  - Pierce his ankles and tie them together, to prevent his ghost from walking.
  - Oedipus means swollen foot.
- Comes of age away from home (Corinth).
- Kills an enemy encountered while travelling.
- Returning to birthplace.
- Destroys a female monster (Sphinx)
  - Does this through human reason.
- Marries the queen and rules as king
- His oikos is destroyed but the health of his polis is restored.
  - Thebes blossoms under his leadership, but he has to pay through the cost of killing his father and marrying his mom.
- He undergoes exile, suffering (Oedipus at Colonus).
- Supernatural death and foundation of hero cult (Oedipus at Colonus)

Q: The Riddle of the Sphinx
- What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon and on three legs in the evening?
  - The answer is [...]! Oedipus says this and the Sphinx just [...].
  - Interestingly, the answer to the riddle is also [...], when he was a baby he couldn’t walk due to his pierced legs and he has a cane when he blinds himself.
A: man; dies; himself

Q: [...] made 3 plays about the house of laius.
A: Sophocles

Q: Apollo
- God of harmonious order and proportion, healing, purification and prophecy.
  - Apollo also brings plagues.
- [...], his prophet, lived in Thebes.
- Delphic inscription: “[...]”
  - Know your limits!
A: Tiresias (Teiresias); Know yourself

Prophecy in Oedipus’ Story
1. To Laius, about his son.
2. To Oedipus, about his fate.
  1. He will kill his father and marry his mom.
1. To Creon, about the miasma in Thebes.
2. To Oedipus, about his death.
  1. He hears about where he will die.
3. To Thebans, about the bones of Oedipus
  1. Whoever has possession of Oedipus’ bones will win the civil war.

Aristotle’s Poetics
- Oedipus the king is the perfect tragedy.
  - Hero who is noble, but nevertheless makes a mistake (hamartia) which causes his downfall.
- Anagnorisis: Recognition.
  - Recognition of the truth.
- Peripeteia: Reversal.
  - Reversal of fortunes from being in a great position to a very poor one.
- These occur simultaneously in Oedipus the king.

Oedipus the King
- First word: as king, Oedipus addresses the suppliant Thebans as ‘children’.
- The city is afflicted by plague and blight.
  - Compare Iliad Book One
  - Also historical context of series of deadly epidemics at Athens, 430-426 BCE.
- Oedipus is celebrated as the saviour of the city, called the ‘first of men’.  He identifies with the state. “None is as sick as I.”
  - I feel sick because you are sick, doesn’t realize he is the source of miasma.
- He sends his brother-in-law Creon to consult the oracle at Delphi.
- Oracle to Creon: the cause of the plague is the presence of the murderer of Laius. He is a source of miasma.

Oedipus, Creon, and Iocaste
- Unable to confront the truth spoken by Tiresias, Oedipus attacks Creon as his enemy. He accuses him of trying to take the throne and threatens him with death and exile.
- Iocaste intervenes. She tells Oedipus that oracles don’t always come true – she tells the story of Oedipus’ birth and Laius’ death:
- Oedipus interrogates Iocaste aggressively and begins to fear that he killed Laius. He sends for the only surviving witness of Laius’ murder.

Oedipus’ autobiography, as told to Iocaste (his wife and mother)
- He is the son of the Corinthian king and queen.
- A drunk taunted him about his birth, saying he was adopted.
- Oedipus travelled to Delphi to ask about who his parents were.
- He heard a terrible prophecy about parricide and incest with his mother.
- He decided to never return to Corinth.

New Information
- A messenger arrives from Corinth to announce the death of king Polybus.
  - Doubt is cast on oracles and prophecies, Polybus died of old age.
- Iocaste addresses the worry that Oedipus could still sleep with his mother, by referring to dreams.
  - All men have dreams about having sex with their mother.
- The messenger informs them that Oedipus was adopted.
- Oedipus becomes distracted with the new question of who his birth parents are.
  - For him this is a separate question from who killed Laius.
  - He thinks he might have killed Laius, but doesn’t realize he was his son.
- Iocaste, realizing the full truth, disappears into the house.
  - Tells Oedipus not to question any further, but Oedipus replies thinking that she worries he comes from humble beginnings.

Oedipus Interrogates the Old Servant
- Anagnorisis and peripeteia together.
  - Oedipus is told to look at his ankles, he was the baby who was saved by the messenger from the mountaintop and given to the Corinthians.
- Oedipus enters the house.
- A messenger comes out to report what happened inside.
  - Oedipus wanted to kill Iocaste, violently bursting the bolts of the doors to their bedroom.
  - He finds her already dead of suicide.
  - He breaks off the pins from her clothing and blinds himself.
    - Now similar to Tiresias.
- Oedipus appears from inside, imploring that he be exiled in accordance with his own decree.

Creon in Charge
- Creon sends Oedipus back into the house.
- Creon will consult the oracle about the best course of action.
- Oedipus entrusts the care of his daughters Ismene and Antigone to Creon, since he believes that no-one will want to marry them.
- The city will be cured of the plague.
- The house of Laius has been fully destroyed.

Q: Chorus’ Final Words
- See what happened to Oedipus, he had a great life but it ended in tragedy.
  - Count no man as [...] until he has [...].
A: lucky; died

Q: Three Influences on Roman Myth
1. [...] religion on the Italian peninsula
2. [...] myth and ritual
3. [...] colonization of Italy
A: Native; Etruscan; Greek

The four areas of interest in Italy were occupied by the etruscans (largest), sabines, latins (rome) and the greeks (sicily)

Native Italian (Latin) Traditions
•Countless divine numina (numen): ‘nodders’, they nod their heads to the requests from humans.
- Were not anthropomorphic, and each very limited in function.
- Eg. Janus, the numen of doors.
- Eg. Robigo, the numen of mildew.
- Eg. Lares, the numen of household members.
- Eg. Penates, the numen of household property.
•Sacrificium: (‘making sacred’) a transfer of goods into the ownership of a numen, who was expected to give something in return. (do ut des: ‘I give in order that you may give.’)

Etruscan Influences
•The Etruscans were a culturally sophisticated and politically powerful nation.
- Characterized as tyrannical, and socially immoral in myth (the other)
•They dominated a large part of the Italian peninsula until the Roman revolt of 509 BCE.
•They are the source of the names of several Roman gods, e.g. Minerva, Juno, Jupiter
•They are also the source of many Roman rituals and superstitions
–Specific forms of augury and omens

Greek Influences
•Greek colonization of Southern Italy in the Archaic period.
•Direct influence (and also indirect influence through Etruscan culture)
• Eventual conquest of the Greeks by the Romans in the 2nd century BCE.
•In cultural matters, the Romans admired Greece, adapting Greek art and literature to meet their own ideological needs.
•Important Roman deities eventually took on the personalities of the Greek gods.

Roman Pantheon
- Building began during reign of Augustus, commissioned by the statesman Agrippa.
- Concrete rotunda fronted by a pronaos in the style of a Greek temple
- Innovative and impressive Roman engineering combined with  Classical Greek aesthetic

Origins of Rome
•Aeneas, the Trojan prince and warrior mentioned in the Iliad, was the son of Aphrodite and Anchises (review the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite)
•Aeneas escaped the ruins of Troy with his father, son and a group of refugees. They embark on a long journey, that eventually takes them to a new home in Italy.
•Latin legends fill in the the chronological gap in the historical narrative. The historian Livy (59 BCE-17 CE) is a major source for these legends.

Origins of Rome
•After arriving in Italy and winning a war, Aeneas founded the city of Lavinium.
•His son, Ascanius (also called Iulus) founded the city of  Alba Longa.
•There follows a long line of legendary kings of Alba Longa.

Origins of Rome
•Brothers and rivals for the throne of Alba Longa
•Amulius unjustly drove Numitor out.
•Amulius appointed Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvia (or Ilia), as a Vestal Virgin, to serve the goddess Vesta.
- Strategic decision, because it meant she could not have children (vengence).
•Mars, the god of war, rapes Rhea Silvia and she gives birth to the twins Romulus and Remus.
•Amulius exposes the babies to die, placing them in a basket on the stream of the river Tiber.
•They are washed up on the banks of the river, and suckled by a she-wolf until they are found and raised by shepherds.

Origins of Rome
•The twins come of age and rid the land of robbers.
•They then avenge their grandfather Numitor and put a replacement on the throne.
•After this, they quarrel over the founding of a new city; Romulus kills Remus (a story of a foundation sacrifice).
•Romulus founds Rome.
•Rome, founded by a descendant of both Mars and Venus, has its origins in fratricide.
•Rome grows its population by offering asylum to fugitives.

Origins of Rome
•The Romans, without any prestige, were unable to attract wives.
•Romulus invited the neighbouring Sabines to a lavish festival.
•The Sabines came unarmed, with their families, expecting a party.
•The Romans seized the daughters of the Sabines, taking them from their families.
•There followed a long war between the Romans and the Sabines, which was ended by the women themselves (who at this point had become wives and mothers).

Sabine Women

Lucretia

Augustus

Image of Augustus
-Breastplate reference his military and political accomplishments.
-Cupid by his leg references claim he is descended from venus.
-Barefoot suggests he is a god

Q: Apotheosis of Romulus
•Romulus, after ruling Rome for many years and growing old, disappeared in a [...].
He was said to have undergone apotheosis as [...] and was worshipped as a Roman [...] god
A: cloud; Quirinus; warrior

Roman Myth
•Has strong Links to Roman history (legend).
•Roman legend has fewer supernatural elements than Greek legend.
•Patriotic, in support of the Roman state.
•Reflects Roman patriarchy, and Roman pragmatic and military values.

Augustus
•Caesar Augustus
•He put an end to generations of civil war, but also to the Republic.
•He appeased the Republican party by preserving its institutions (e.g. the Senate), and by keeping peace and prosperity.
•He sponsored a vast program of cultural development, including art, architecture, and literature.
•Two of the many ‘Augustan’ poets are Virgil and Ovid.

Lucretia and the Origins of the Republic
•Before 509 BCE, an Etruscan monarchy ruled Rome.
•The last Etruscan king was Tarquin the Proud (Tarquinius Superbus).
•His son, Sextus Tarquin, while on military service with the Roman soldier Collatinus, heard about the virtue of Collatinus’ wife Lucretia.
- His own etruscan wife had wild parties in his absence and was not virtuous.
•Tarquin gained access to Lucretia’s home as a guest while her husband was on duty and coerced her into sex, after threatening her with death and dishonour.
•Afterwards, Lucretia summoned her husband and his friend Brutus, told them her story, and killed herself, so she was not a model of infidelity.
•Brutus, as a result of what happened to Lucretia, led a revolt against the Etruscan monarchy and founded the Roman Republic and Senate.

Overview of Rome
•The Roman Republic grew over time into a large empire.
•264-146 BCE: Punic (Phoenician) Wars: Rome against Carthage in north Africa.
- In myth, the war origins in a love affair between aeneas and dido
•Greece itself became a Roman province in 146 BCE.
•88-31 BCE: a series of devastating civil wars in Rome.
•47-44 BCE: Julius Caesar, a great military strategist and general, ruled as dictator in Rome.
•He was assassinated by senatorial party supporters on the Ides (15th) of March.
•Octavian (Augustus), the nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, briefly shared the rule of Rome with Mark Antony, but they soon become enemies.
•Mark Antony and his ally Cleopatra of Egypt were defeated at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BCE.
- In myth, she seduced him into betraying his country.
•Octavian, now titled Augustus Caesar, reigned as emperor 27 BCE - 14 CE
•Roman empire continued for centuries