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    The Races of Man and The Race of Women

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    Kenneth Nyu
    This document provides an overview of ancient Greek myths and literature related to the creation of humans and the early ages of mankind. It summarizes Hesiod's Works and Days, including his accounts of the five ages of man (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, Iron) and the myths of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora. It also briefly outlines Ovid's version of early human origins and ages in his Metamorphoses. Finally, it discusses the misogynistic poem "The Different Kinds of Women" by Semonides, which compares women unfavorably to various animals.

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    The Races of Man and The Race of Women

    Uploaded by

    Kenneth Nyu
    128 views46 pages
    This document provides an overview of ancient Greek myths and literature related to the creation of humans and the early ages of mankind. It summarizes Hesiod's Works and Days, including his accounts of the five ages of man (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, Iron) and the myths of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora. It also briefly outlines Ovid's version of early human origins and ages in his Metamorphoses. Finally, it discusses the misogynistic poem "The Different Kinds of Women" by Semonides, which compares women unfavorably to various animals.

    Original Description:

    CLA204H1

    Original Title

    The Races of Man and the Race of Women (1)

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    This document provides an overview of ancient Greek myths and literature related to the creation of humans and the early ages of mankind. It summarizes Hesiod's Works and Days, including his accounts of the five ages of man (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, Iron) and the myths of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora. It also briefly outlines Ovid's version of early human origins and ages in his Metamorphoses. Finally, it discusses the misogynistic poem "The Different Kinds of Women" by Semonides, which compares women unfavorably to various animals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    128 views46 pages

    The Races of Man and The Race of Women

    Uploaded by

    Kenneth Nyu
    This document provides an overview of ancient Greek myths and literature related to the creation of humans and the early ages of mankind. It summarizes Hesiod's Works and Days, including his accounts of the five ages of man (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, Iron) and the myths of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora. It also briefly outlines Ovid's version of early human origins and ages in his Metamorphoses. Finally, it discusses the misogynistic poem "The Different Kinds of Women" by Semonides, which compares women unfavorably to various animals.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 46

    The Races

    of Man &
    the Race
    of Women
    CLA204 - Week 3

    Midterms

    Multiple choice (4 choices)


    Person Identification
    Q: Mother and father of the Titans
    A: Gaia and Ouranos
    Term identification
    Q: An account of the creation of the
    universe.
    A: Cosmogony
    Short answer (refer to specific sources)
    Explain how Zeus resolved the problem of
    succession. What threats to his rule did he

    Focus on:

    Family Trees
    Important terms
    Structure/plot of specific myths
    Significant differences between accounts of
    the same myth

    The majority of test questions (but not all) will


    come from material covered during lecture.
    3

    Anthropogony
    (anthropos) human being
    (gone) - birth

    Hesiods Works and


    Epic poem Days
    Didactic
    Addressed to Perses
    Nostalgia
    Narrative of Decline

    Prometheus
    Son of Iapetos
    Forethought
    Creator and/or
    benefactor of humankind
    Trickster
    Big trouble with Zeus

    The Trick at Mekone


    Prometheus tricks Zeus
    Aetiology for sacrifices
    Beginning of mens toils

    Animal sacrifice offered


    together with libation in
    Ancient Greece. Attic redfigure oinochoe, ca. 430
    7
    425 BC (Louvre).

    Fire
    ... the devious-minded
    Prometheus had
    cheated him, and
    therefore Zeus thought
    up dismal sorrows for
    mankind. He hid fire,
    but Prometheus, the
    powerful son of
    Iapetos, stole it again
    from Zeus of the
    counsels, to give to

    Promethe
    us Brings
    Fire to
    Mankind,
    Heinrich
    Friedrich
    Fueger,
    1817

    Prometheus
    punishment

    Aeschylus,
    Prometheus Trilogy
    1. Prometheus
    Bound (survives
    in full)
    2. Prometheus
    Freed
    (fragmentary)
    3. Prometheus

    Prometheus, French engraving c. 1800 by


    Etienne Beisson
    9

    Pandora
    As a price for fire, I
    will give them an
    evil. WD 59
    Hephaistos; mud and
    water

    The Creation of Pandora, Attic Red


    Figure, Attributed to Recalls
    Kensington Classca 475 - 425 BC,
    Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Pandora, because all


    the gods who have
    their home on
    Olympos had given
    her each a gift
    10

    Epimetheus
    Son of Iapetos
    Afterthought
    Recipient of Pandora
    Nor did Epimetheus
    remember to think how
    Prometheus had told him
    never to accept a gift from
    Olympian Zeus, but always
    to send it back, for fear it
    11
    might prove to be an evil for

    Pandoras Jar
    Since before this time the races of men
    had been living on earth free from all
    evils, free from laborious work, and free
    from all wearing sicknesses
    ...but the woman, with her hands liftng
    away the lid from the great jar, scattered
    its contents, and her design was sad
    troubles for mankind.

    What is left behind in the


    jar?

    Pandora, John William Waterhouse, 1896

    12

    The Ages of Man


    Metals of decreasing worth
    Gold
    Silver
    Bronze
    Heroes
    Iron
    Process of increasing distance from the gods
    Narrative of decline

    13

    Historical
    Periods
    Early Bronze Age
    Late Bronze Age
    Dark Ages
    Archaic Period
    Classical Period
    Hellenistic Period
    Roman Period

    Mythical
    Ages
    Golden Age
    Silver Age
    Bronze Age
    Age of Heroes
    Iron Age

    14

    Golden Age
    Kronos/Saturn
    Peace, prosperity, eternal youth
    Bountiful earth (no agriculture necessary)
    Why is there no Old Age, no Strife, no Death
    (think about the Theogony)?
    15

    Silver Age

    Zeus/Jupiter

    Childhood lasted 100 years


    Short, painful adult life
    Violent crime
    Sacrifices neglected
    Zeus wipes out wicked
    The Fruits of Jealousy (The Close of the Silver
    humans
    Age), Lucas Cranach the Elder, c. 1530, oil on oak, 16

    Bronze Age
    Bronze weapons, houses, and tools
    Life dominated by war and fighting
    No food
    Killed each other off
    ( Dont mix up with Historical Periods - Late and
    Early Bronze Ages)

    17

    Age of Heroes
    Zeus, son of Kronos, created yet another fourth
    generation on the fertile earth, and these were
    better and nobler, the wonderful generation of
    hero-men, who are also called half-gods, the
    generation before our own on this vast earth.
    Demigods (half-god, half-mortal)
    Great wars (Troy, Thebes)
    Isles of the Blessed

    18

    Iron Age
    The Age in which Hesiod lives
    Worst of them all
    Hard work, pain, weariness
    Mine for metal, hard labor for food
    Doomsday prediction
    Zeus will destroy this generation of mortals
    also, in the time when
    19

    The Rest of the Works and


    Days
    Instructions for Perses on:
    Justice
    Truth
    Labor
    Piety (holy days)
    Community

    20

    Ovids Creation of Man


    Then man was made, perhaps from seed divine
    formed by the great Creator, so to found a better
    world, perhaps the new-made earth, so lately
    parted from the ethereal heavens, kept still some
    essence of the kindred sky--earth that
    Prometheus moulded, mixed with water, in
    likeness of the gods that govern the world--and
    while the other creatures on all fours look
    downwards, man was made to hold his head erect
    in majesty and see the sky, and raise his eyes to
    the bright stars above.

    21

    Ovids Ages of Mankind


    (Metamorphoses Book 1)

    Golden Age: abundance, peace, stability;


    eternal spring
    The Silver race: Jupiter replaces Saturn;
    four seasons; need for shelter; agriculture
    The Bronze race: Of fiercer temperament,
    more readily disposed to war, yet free from
    wickedness.
    The Iron race: all evil breaks out; men
    explore the seas; lands divided by borders;22

    Representations of Women
    Who are our sources?
    What was the status of women in
    the ancient Mediterranean?
    Ideology v. Lived Experience
    23

    Semonides
    Late 7th century BCE
    From the Greek island
    Amorgos
    Invective poem
    The Different Kinds of
    Women
    24

    The Different Kinds of Women


    Fragmentary
    First 118 lines survive
    The god made womens minds separately
    in the beginning
    Categories of comparison: Animals, Earth,
    Sea
    What anxieties about women does this
    poem demonstrate?
    25

    1.Pig
    One he made from the
    bristly sow: everything in
    her house lies in
    disorder, smeared with
    dirt, and rolls about on
    the floor, while she
    herself, unbathed, in
    unwashed clothes, sits
    upon
    theDirty
    dung heap and
    growsfat.
    Lazy
    Gluttonous
    26

    2. Fox
    Another the god made from
    the wicked vixen, a woman
    who knows all things.
    Whether bad or good,
    nothing escapes her notice;
    for often she calls a good thing
    bad and a bad thing good; her
    mood keeps
    changing.
    Nosy
    Liar/Ignorant
    Fickle

    27

    3. Dog

    CAVE CANEM, floor mosaic,


    Pompeii

    Another is from the bitch, a


    mischief-maker just like her
    mother, who wants to hear all
    things and see all things.
    Peering and roaming
    everywhere, she yelps even
    when she sees no person there;
    and no man can stop her,
    either by uttering threats or, in
    a fit of rage, by knocking out
    her teeth with a stone, or yet by
    speaking to her gently, even if
    to
    Disobedie
    she happens
    be sitting with
    nt keeps up her
    guests--no, she
    Noisyhowling. 28
    constant useless

    4. Mud
    Another the Olympians fashioned out of earth
    and gave to man with wits impaired; for such
    a woman understands nothing, bad or good.
    The only thing she knows how to do is eat: not
    even when the god brings on a bad winter does
    she feel the cold and draw her stool nearer to
    the fire.
    Unintelligent
    Gluttonous
    Insensate
    29

    5. Sea
    Another is from the sea: she has two minds. One day she smiles
    and beams with joy; a stranger, seeing her in the house, will praise
    her; There is no woman more estimable than this among all
    humankind, nor one more beautiful. The next day, though, she is
    unbearable to lay eyes on or to come near to; at that time she rages
    unapproachably, like a bitch with puppies, proving implacable and
    repulsive to everyone, enemies and friends alike. So too the sea
    often stands in unmoved calm, harmless, a great joy to sailors, in the
    summer season; but often too it rages, borne along by loudthundering waves. This is what such a woman most resembles in
    Inconsiste
    mood; the sea too has its different
    natures.

    nt
    Wild
    Dangerous

    30

    6. Donkey
    Another is from the ash-gray
    obstinate ass. Under
    compulsion and rebuke,
    reluctantly, she puts up with
    everything after all and does
    acceptable work; meanwhile,
    she eats in the innermost room
    all night and all day, and she
    eats beside the hearth; just so,
    as her companion in the act of
    love, shealso welcomes any
    Stubborn
    man whocomes.
    Gluttonous
    Oversexed
    31

    7. Weasel

    Another is from the weasel, a wretched,


    miserable sort. She has nothing beautiful or
    charming about her, nothing delightful or
    lovely. She is mad for bed and lovemaking,
    but any man who lies with her she sickens
    with disgust. Her thieving does great harm to
    her neighbors, and she often eats up offerings
    left unburned.
    Ugly
    Oversex
    ed
    Thievin

    32

    Another the delicate, long-maned


    mare brought forth. She turns away
    from menial tasks and trouble; she
    wont lay a finger on a mill, nor pick
    up a sieve, nor throw the dung
    outside the house, nor, being anxious
    to avoid the soot, sit near the oven.
    Yet she compels a man to be her own:
    every day she washes herself clean
    twice, sometimes three times, and
    rubs herself with perfumes; she wears
    her mane of thick long hair wellcombed and shadowed with flowers. A
    beautiful sight indeed is such a
    woman to others; to her husband,
    though, she proves disastrous,
    unless he is a tyrant or a sceptered

    8. Horse

    Lazy
    Vain
    Proud
    33

    Another is from the ape. This is, above


    all others, the greatest evil that Zeus
    has given to men. Her face is ugly in
    the extreme: when such a woman
    walks through the city, everyone
    laughs at her. Shes short in the neck;
    she moves with difficulty; shes
    rumpless, nothing but legs. Pity the
    wretched man who holds in his arms a
    calamity like that! She knows all arts
    and wily ways, just like an ape, and
    doesnt mind being laughed at. She
    wont do anyone a kindness; all her
    attention, allher
    planning throughout
    Ugly
    the day is fixed
    on this: how she can do
    Ridiculous
    a person the greatest possible
    Malicious
    harm.

    Harambe (R.I.P.)

    9. Ape
    34

    10. Bee

    Ancient Greek coin from Ephesus

    Another is from the bee. Happy


    is he who gets her, for on her
    alone no censure settles. In her
    care his property flourishes and
    prospers; she grows old loving a
    husband who loves her, a mother
    of noble and illustrious offspring.
    She is conspicuous among all
    women, and a godlike grace
    suffuses her. She takes no
    pleasure sitting among women in
    places where they tell tales of
    lovemaking. Such women are the
    and
    Industrious
    best
    wisest wives that Zeus
    in
    hisMother
    graciousness bestows on
    men.

    Uninterested in

    35

    The Poems
    Conclusion

    No greater plague than this has


    Zeus createdwomen...and he
    has bound us to them with
    unbreakable shackles.
    36

    What are the unbreakable


    shackles - why cant
    human men live without
    women?
    What characteristics
    showed up multiple times?
    What anxieties about
    women do these

    37

    Content
    Advisory
    38

    Rape in Ancient Myth


    Very common for male gods to
    pursue and assault mortal women
    Many demi-god heroes are the
    product of nonconsensual sex
    The gods are not moral examples
    39

    Rape in Ancient Law


    No word for rape (the Latin verb
    rapere means to seize )
    Treated as a form of theft property damage to guardian
    Resolutions: marriage, payment
    of fine
    Sliding scale of punishment
    40

    Jupiters Assaults
    60 women, both
    mortal and divine
    pursuit;
    transformation;
    deception
    3 narratives from
    Ovid:
    Io

    Greek red-figure vase painting

    41

    Apollo and Daphne

    Sculpture by Bernini, 1620s


    Roman mosaic, 2nd-3rd c. C.E., Hatay Archaeological Museum

    42

    Proserpine and Pluto


    (= Persephone and Hades)

    Bernini, 1620s

    Hellenistic wall painting

    43

    Pygmalion

    Kriegers virtual girlfriend, TV show


    Archer 2009-present
    Pygmalion and Galatea, Pecheux, 1784

    Ex Machina, 2015 movie

    44

    Pyramus and Thisbe

    Love story between young


    mortals
    Disapproval of parents
    Tragic misunderstanding

    45

    Summary of
    todays themes
    & next weeks
    focus

    46

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