1. Introduction to
Classical Mythology
Dr. Michael Broder
University of South Carolina
April 10, 2012

2. Extra Credit Opportunity
• Dr. Joy Connolly, Professor of Classics at New York
University, delivers the Annual Classics Lecture:
Telephonic Politics: the Case of the Roman Republic
Thursday, April 12
4:00 PM
Wardlaw 126
A reception will follow the lecture
• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily
Writes, depending on how complete and
comprehensive the report is

3. Daily Write #20: Review
Why do you think Lucretius begins On the Workings
of the Universe by invoking Venus? Which goddesss
(or goddesses) have you seen invoked at the
beginnings of poems before (e.g., Hesiod, Homer)?
Which Greek goddess is Venus the Roman
equivalent of? Why is Venus a fitting goddess to
invoke at the beginning of this poem?
Make sure you answer all parts of the question
and make sure your answer shows familiarity with
the text.

4. Daily Write #20: Review
• Why do you think Lucretius begins On the Workings of the Universe by
invoking Venus?
– Because his subject matter is very new and different, he wants to begin his
poem in a way that links it with familiar traditions from Greek epic poetry
• Which goddesss (or goddesses) have you seen invoked at the beginnings
of poems before (e.g., Hesiod, Homer)?
– Muses (Hesiod, Homer, mentioned by Theocritus)
– Homeric hymns were dedicated to Demeter and Aphrodite, although they
were invoked as targets of praise, not as sources of inspiration
• Which Greek goddess is Venus the Roman equivalent of?
– Aphrodite
• Why is Venus a fitting goddess to invoke at the beginning of this poem?
– Venus is the goddess of sexual reproduction and the poems is all about how
atoms combine and recombine to form everything in the world
– As the mother of Aeneas, she is the patron goddess of Rome

5. Daily Write #21: Review
Using examples from Aeneid 2.1-558 (today’s reading),
describe how Vergil’s epic combines elements from Greek
sources, such as Homer’s Odyssey or the Homeric Hymn to
Aphrodite, to create a mythological foundation story for
Rome. Try to address both the heroic (having to do with
heroes) and divine (having to do with gods and goddesses)
aspects of Vergil’s narrative. Do not feel limited to epic
sources; feel free to include examples from as many different
genres as you think are relevant—historiography, tragedy,
philosophy, etc.
Make sure you answer all parts of the question and make
sure your answer shows familiarity with the text.

6. Daily Write #21: Review
Using examples from Aeneid 2.1-558 (today’s reading), describe how
Vergil’s epic combines elements from Greek sources, such as
Homer’s Odyssey or the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, to create a
mythological foundation story for Rome. Try to address both the
heroic (having to do with heroes) and divine (having to do with gods
and goddesses) aspects of Vergil’s narrative.
•Trojan War/Wooden Horse
•Heroes familiar from the Trojan War (Odysseus, Menelaus, Achilles)
•Gods and goddesses/divine intervention (Venus, Minerva, Jupiter)
•Heroes/Hero takes a journey
•Religious practices (Prophecy, sacrifices to the gods)
•Hero as a guest telling his story to a royal host
•Aeneas (from Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite)

7. Daily Write #22
Compare Aeneas’s journey to the underworld in Aeneid
6.237-755 to other underworld journeys we have read about,
such as that of Odysseus in Book 11 of Homer’s Odyssey, that
of Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, or those in
Euripides’s Herakles and Alkestis (where they are implied
more than dramatized). Feel free to discuss whichever
similarities and/or differences seem most striking to you. Do
not feel obligated to discuss all of the texts listed above; you
may choose to discuss one, two, or more as you see fit and as
time allows.
Make sure you answer all parts of the question and make
sure your answer shows familiarity with the text.

8. Classical Multiculturalism
• Hellenic Culture
– Greek culture from 750-323 BCE
• 750 BCE = Homer
• 323 BCE = Death of Alexander the Great
• Hellenistic Culture
– Greek culture from 323-31 BCE
• Begins in 323 BCE – death of Alexander the Great
• Ends in 31 BCE – Augustus Caesar defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the
battle of Actium
• Roman Culture
– Livius Andronicus (c. 280 – c. 200 BCE.), earliest Roman poet
known by name
– Death of Marcus Aurelius (180 CE)
– After this point, Roman culture is less and less classical and more
and more Christian

9. Review: Hellenic Uses of Myth
• Epic use of myth
– Hesiod, Theogony
– Homeric Hymns to Demeter and Aphrodite
– Homer, Odyssey
• Historiographic use of myth
– Herodotus, Histories
– Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
• Tragic use of myth
– Euripides, Herakles and Alkestis
• Philosophical use of myth
– Plato, Symposium

10. Review: Hellenistic Uses of Myth
• Pastoral use of myth
– Theocritus, Idyll 11
• Epic use of myth (not covered in class)
– Apollonius, Argonautica (c. 250 BCE)
• Story of Jason and the Argonauts
• Quest for the Golden Fleece
• Love of Jason and Medea

11. Review: Roman Uses of Myth
• Philosophical use of myth
– Lucretius, On the Workings of the Universe
• Epic use of myth
– Vergil, Aeneid

12. Rome in a Nutshell
• Rome began as a kingdom
– Village in central Italy, founded c. 750 BCE
• Romans expelled their last king in 509 BCE and
established a republic
• The Roman Republic developed a vast empire, first
gaining control of Italy, then the entire Mediterranean
world (Europe, North Africa, Middle East)
• The Roman Empire became a principate in 27 BCE
– Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome when he defeated his
rivals Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE
– In 27 BCE he adopted the title “Princeps” (leading citizen), a
title held by all subsequent rulers of the Roman Empire (where
we get the English word “prince”

13. Vergil (70–19 BCE)
• Member of the literary circle around the
Emperor Augustus
– Horace, friend and fellow poet
– Maecenas, friend and literary patron
– Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, poets,
friends and literary executors

14. Aeneid
• Begun in 29 BCE, commissioned by
Augustus
• Unfinished at Vergil’s death in 19 BCE
• Published with minimal editorial changes by
Varius and Plotius

15. Aeneid
• Consisted of 12 books
– Books 1-6 modeled on Homer’s Odyssey
– Books 7-12 modeled on Homer’s Iliad
– Influenced by Apollonius’s Argonautica
• Love of Aeneas and Dido in Book 4 is inspired by
the love of Jason and Medea

16. Extra Credit Opportunity
• Dr. Joy Connolly, Professor of Classics at New York
University, delivers the Annual Classics Lecture:
Telephonic Politics: the Case of the Roman Republic
Thursday, April 12
4:00 PM
Wardlaw 126
A reception will follow the lecture
• A 2-page report gets you credit for up to 2 Daily
Writes, depending on how complete and
comprehensive the report is

17. Upcoming Assigments
• 4/12—Ovid, Heroides 1 (Penelope to Ulysses),
in ACM, pp. 306-9
• 4/17—The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, 3-28
• 4/19—The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, 28-54

18. Introduction to
Classical Mythology
Dr. Michael Broder
University of South Carolina
April 10, 2012