The document outlines a lecture on classical mythology given by Dr. Michael Broder at the University of South Carolina on March 29, 2012. It discusses assignments on Theocritus' Idyll 11 about Polyphemus' love for Galateia, Lucretius' On the Workings of the Universe, and selections from Vergil's Aeneid. The lecture also reviews criteria for daily writing assignments and provides context for discussions in Plato's Symposium.

1. Introduction to
Classical Mythology
Dr. Michael Broder
University of South Carolina
March 29, 2012

2. I know that some of your are
very excited today…
…about what’
s coming to theaters tonight.

3. Introduction to
Classical Mythology
Dr. Michael Broder
University of South Carolina
March 29, 2012

4. Daily Write: Grading Criteria
• Engage with the question
– If the question relates to a passage from the text, make
sure to comment on the passage
– If the question relates to a quote from a scholarly article,
make sure to comment on the quote
– Make sure to address all part of the question
• Show knowledge of the text
– Use examples from the text to illustrate your points
Now that we are well into the second half of the
course, I am holding you to a higher standard for
your Daily Writes.

5. Daily Write #18: Review
• List 3 mythological references from Plato’s
Symposium
• Include the context in which the reference
occurs (which speaker, which speech, etc)

6. Daily Write #18: Review
• Eros is mentioned in all the speeches
• Aphrodite is mentioned by Pausanias, among others
• Zeus is mentioned by Aristophanes
• The Gorgon is mentioned by Socrates (punning on
“Gorgias,” the name of a 5th-century Athenian
sophist)
• Hephaestus is mentioned by Aristophanes
• Poros (Resource) and Penia (Poverty) are mentioned
by Diotima
• Many other possibilities…

7. Daily Write #18: Review
• However, Diotima (mentioned by many
students) is not a mythological figure
• Diotima may be a figment of Socrates’
imagination, or she may not be, but she is
presented as a real-life, flesh-and-blood,
historical woman, not a god, goddess, hero,
monster, or other figure from traditional
mythology

8. Daily Write #19
Idyll 11, by Theocritus (c. 275 BCE), is a poem in
which the Cyclops Polyphemus appeals to the Sea
Nymph Galateia, with whom he is in love. Where have
we met Polyphemus before? Compare the Polyphemus
of Idyll 11 to the Polyphemus you remember from that
other mythological text (make sure to include the title
and author of that other text). How is he similar? How
is he different? Why do you think Theocritus chose to
write about Polyphemus? Why do you think
Theocritus chose to give Polyphemus the kind of
character and personality he has in this poem?

9. Like history, philosophy was a new
alternative to mythological thinking
• Where history is a type of knowledge about
past events, philosophy is a type of
knowledge about
– The natural world (nature)
– The human world (humanity or culture)
– The rational world (mathematics, logic)
• Just as Herodotus is considered the father of
history, the father of philosophy is Socrates

10. Life of Socrates
• Born in Athens c. 469 BCE
• Little is known about how Socrates earned a living,
although some ancient sources say that he worked as a
stonemason
• Like other Athenian men, Socrates served in the military
and the government, but he was not interested in a military
or political career
– His main interest in life was philosophical inquiry
• Died in Athens in 399 BCE
– Did not die of old age or natural causes
– He was put on trial for his philosophical views and sentenced
to death by the Athenian people because his commitment to
truth and justice posed a danger to the people in power

11. Socratic Values
• Socrates placed the highest value on wisdom
and virtue
– Wisdom = the pursuit of knowledge and truth
– Virtue = the pursuit of excellence in qualities that
define humanity
• The four major Socratic virtues:
– Wisdom
– Courage
– Moderation
– Justice

12. The legacy and historical
significance of Socrates
• Socrates’ value system put him in conflict with
traditional Greek cultural values and social
norms, which valued wealth and power
• More than anything else, this privileging of
wisdom and virtue over wealth and power is
what makes Socrates the father of philosophy
and an important historical figure
• Socrates did not write; what we know of his
ideas comes from written records left behind by
his students, especially the philosophical
dialogues of Plato and Xenophon

13. Plato
• Athenian philosopher (428-347 BCE)
– Student of Socrates
– Founded a school of philosophy in Athens called
the Academy
– Wrote a series of philosophical dialogues

14. Philosophical Dialogues
• In a sense, they are like plays with all talk and
no action
• Philosophical dialogues are meant to be read,
not to be performed onstage
• The dialogues of Plato feature Socrates in
conversation with other Athenian citizens or
strangers

15. Plato’s Symposium
• A dialogue about Eros, the god of love and
desire
• Setting is a symposium, or drinking party, in
which a group of Athenian men meet for
dinner and drinks and make speeches in
honor of the god Eros

16. The symposium is a very typical
ancient Greek social custom
• Only men attended symposia; respectable Greek
women did not attend symposia as guests
• Hosted at the home of an Athenian citizen
• Dinner would be served, then drinking would
begin
• Guests might sing songs or recite poems
• Other kinds of entertainment might include
music, dance, or acrobatics
• Prostitutes, both female and male, might also be
present, either for sex or companionship

17. Plato’s Symposium…
• In the symposium Plato writes about (set in
416 BCE)
– There are no prostitutes, entertainers, singing,
dancing, or poetry
– Rather, each of the participants makes a speech
in honor of Eros, the god of love and desire

18. Participants in the Symposium
• Agathon, the host, a young, handsome tragic
playwright who has just won his first prize for his first
entry in the annual festival of Dionysus (416 BCE)
• Phaedrus, Athenian citizen, friend of Socrates
• Pausanius, Athenian citizen, lover of Agathon
• Eryximachus, Athenian citizen and medical doctor
• Aristophanes, famous Athenian comic playwright
• Socrates, Athenian citizen, philosopher, and friend of
Agathon
• Alcibiades, Athenian citizen, statesman, and military
leader, and admirer of Socrates

19. Opening Scene of the Symposium
• Dialogue between a friend of Socrates named
Apollodorus and an unnamed friend (called
“Comrade” in our text)
• The Comrade wants Apollodorus to tell him
about the symposium at Agathon’s house
where Socrates and the other guests made
“erotic speeches,”
• Erotic speeches can mean
– Speeches about the god Eros (It’s a floor wax!)
– Speeches about the concept of desire (It’s a
dessert topping!)

20. Structure of the Symposium
• Apollodorus explains that he heard about the
symposium from his friend Aristodemus, who
was present at the symposium when it took
place, about 15 years earlier
• Apollodorus then recounts the speeches in
order, as he heard them from Aristodemus
• The first half of the dialogue includes the
speeches of Phaedrus, Pausanius, Eryximachus,
Aristophanes, and Agathon, in that order
• Then Socrates takes the floor

21. Structure of the Symposium
• Socrates questions Agathon
– Typical example of the Socratic method of
philosophical inquiry through question-and-answer
intended to reveal weaknesses in the logical argument
of the person with whom Socrates is speaking
• Then, Socrates recounts an encounter he had
with Diotima, a wise woman from whom he
learned everything he knows about erotics
– First, Diotima questions Socrates using the
“Socratic” method
– Then, Socrates recounts Diotima’s speech on Eros

22. Structure of the Symposium
• Just as Socrates finishes speaking, Alcibiades
enters, drunk, and makes a speech of his own,
not in praise of Eros, but in praise of Socrates
• Alcibiades’ speech is followed by a brief
concluding section in which the party breaks
up, with some participants going home, and
others falling asleep drunk

23. The Speeches: Phaedrus
• “I can hardly point to a greater good for someone to
have from youth onward than a good lover, and for
a lover, a beloved.”
• Eros drives both lover and beloved to virtue,
because neither wants to be seen as unmanly or
cowardly or in any other way shameful in the eyes of
the other
• Mythological examples of great loves
– Alcestis and Admetus
– Orpheus and Eurydice
– Achilles and Patroclus

24. The Speeches: Pausanias
• Two Aphrodites
– Uranian (“Heavenly”)
• Born from the severed genitals of Uranus
– Pandemus (“Common to all people”)
• Born to Zeus and Dione
• The existence of two Aphrodites implies the
existence of two Erotes (plural of Eros)

25. The Speeches: Pausanias
• Common Eros is shameful, while Heavenly
Eros is honorable
• Common Eros is heterosexual, while Heavenly
Eros is homosexual
• Common Eros should be against the law
• Note that Pausanias and Agathon are lovers, so
when Pausanias describes a same-sex
relationship that is long-term, committed, and
honorable, he is talking about Agathon and
himself

26. The Speeches: Pausanias
• Homosexual Eros is considered shameful in some
parts of Greece, honorable in others
• In Athens, it is considered honorable to purse a boy
honorably, and shameful to pursue a boy shamefully
• In Athens, it is considered honorable for a boy to
submit to a lover honorably, and shameful to submit
to a lover shamefully
• Eros is valuable to the city, because he compels
lover and beloved alike to make virtue their central
concern

27. The Speeches: Eryximachus
• Medicine is the science of the effects of Eros on
repletion and depletion of the body
• Music is the science of the effects of Eros on rhythm
and harmony
• Divination is the science of the effects of Eros on
justice and piety
• The power of Eros is greatest when Eros is directed, in
moderation and justice, toward the good in all affairs,
both earthly and heavenly
• The gifts of Eros include happiness, good fortune, the
bonds of human society, and harmony with the gods

28. The Speeches: Aristophanes
• People used to be male, female, or
androgynous
– andro=related to men (Greek anēr, man)
– gyno=related to women (Greek gynē, woman)
• People used to be round, made up of two
halves each, either both male, both female, or
one of each
– The male kind was the offspring of the sun
– The female kind was the offspring of the earth
– The androgynous kind was the offspring of the
moon

29. The Speeches: Aristophanes
• When mankind challenged the power of the gods, Zeus
cut them in half
• Apollo turned the backward facing heads towards the
front so mankind could see its wound and remember the
punishment for its hubris (arrogance against the gods)
• Each human being longed for its severed half
• Zeus relocated their genitals toward the front and invented
interior reproduction, by the man in the woman
• “Love is the name for the desire and pursuit of the
whole.”

30. The Speeches: Agathon
• Eros is the happiest god
• Eros is the youngest god
• Eros is the most delicate god
• Eros is the most beautiful god
• Eros partakes of the four Socratic virtues
– Wisdom
– Courage
– Moderation
– Justice

31. The Speeches: Summary
• Phaedrus: Eros produces shame when the
lover/beloved acts shamefully and pride when the lover/
beloved acts honorably
• Pausanias: Eros compels the lover and the beloved to
act virtuously
• Erixymachus: Eros is the desire for what is good in
every aspect of nature or culture
• Aristophanes: Eros is the desire for
wholeness/completion with another human being
• Agathon: Eros is the divine embodiment of youth,
beauty, and the Socratic virtues of wisdom, courage,
moderation, and justice

32. The Speeches: Socrates
• Eros wants all good things forever
• Since Eros wants all good things forever,
Eros also wants immortality
• In order to achieve immortality, lovers must
reproduce
• Since immortality is godlike and the gods are
beautiful, we seek to reproduce in beauty

33. The Speeches: Socrates
• Earthly lovers are pregnant in body and seek to
produce children in a beautiful partner
• Heavenly lovers are pregnant in soul and seek to
reproduce wisdom and virtue in a beautiful partner
• Heavenly lovers climb a ladder of Eros
– Love of one beautiful body
– Love of all beautiful bodies
– Love of beautiful souls
– Love of virtuous deeds and ideas
– Love of beauty itself, which is always and everywhere
eternal, perfect, and complete

34. The Speeches: Alcibiades
• Socrates loves Alcibiades and compels him to virtue
• Even though Alcibiades knows that wisdom and
virtue are more important than wealth and power, he
refuses to change his own life
• Alcibiades thus feels shame in the presence of
Socrates
• Alcibiades thought he could offer Socrates his own
youth and beauty in exchange for Socrates’ wisdom
and virtue
• Socrates, however, was impervious to Alcibiades’
charms

35. The Speeches: Alcibiades
• Once Alcibiades realized that he could not exchange
his youth and beauty for Socrates’ wisdom and
virtue, he became distraught
• Socrates pursues beautiful boys like a lover, but once
the beautiful boys get to know Socrates, they fall in
love with him, not because he is young or beautiful,
but because he is wise and virtuous
• Even though Alcibiades represents this as a “dirty
trick,” it is exactly what Uranian Eros is supposed to
do: develop wisdom and virtue in the soul of the
beloved

36. Next time, we’ll talk about
Theocritus’ Idyll 11…
…and Lucretius’ On the
Workings of the Universe

37. Upcoming Assigments
• 4/3—REVIEW: Theocritus, Idyll 11
(Polyphemos’ Love for Galateia), in ACM, pp.
398-401
• 4/3—READ: Lucretius, from On the Workings
of the Universe, in ACM, pp. 298-305
• 4/5—READ: Vergil, from The Aeneid, in
ACM, pp. 410-20
• 4/10—READ: Vergil, from The Aeneid, in
ACM, pp. 421-30

38. Introduction to
Classical Mythology
Dr. Michael Broder
University of South Carolina
March 29, 2012