A Companion to Greek Mythology

647 Pages·2011·10.053 MB·English

by  Ken Dowden, Niall Livingstone

A COMPANION TO GREEK MYTHOLOGY
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A COMPANION
TO GREEK
MYTHOLOGY
Edited by
Ken Dowden and Niall Livingstone
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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This edition first published 2011
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A companion to Greek mythology/edited by Ken Dowden and Niall Livingstone.
p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to the ancient world)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-1178-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Mythology, Greek. 2. Greece–Religion.
I. Dowden, Ken, 1950– II. Livingstone, Niall.
BL783.C66 2011
398.20938–dc22
2010041346
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs [ISBN 9781444396942]; Wiley
Online Library [ISBN 9781444396928]; ePub [ISBN 9781444396935]
Set in 11/13.5pt Galliard by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
1 2011
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
List of Maps xi
List of Tables xii
Notes on Contributors xiii
To the Reader xviii
Acknowledgements xxi
Glossary xxii
Abbreviations xxv
Approaching Myth 1
1 Thinking through Myth, Thinking Myth Through 3
Ken Dowden and Niall Livingstone
PART I Establishing the Canon 25
2 Homer’s Use of Myth 27
Françoise Létoublon
3 Telling the Mythology: From Hesiod
to the Fifth Century 47
Ken Dowden
4 Orphic Mythology 73
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
PART II Myth Performed, Myth Believed 107
5 Singing Myth: Pindar 109
Ian Rutherford
6 Instructing Myth: From Homer to the Sophists 125
Niall Livingstone
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vi Contents
7 Acting Myth: Athenian Drama 141
Jean Alaux
8 Displaying Myth: The Visual Arts 157
Susan Woodford
9 Platonic ‘Myths’ 179
Penelope Murray
10 Myth in History 195
Alan Griffiths
PART III New Traditions 209
11 Myth and Hellenic Identities 211
Fritz Graf
12 Names and Places: Myth in Alexandria 227
Anatole Mori
13 The Myth of Rome 243
Matthew Fox
14 Displaying Myth for Roman Eyes 265
Zahra Newby
15 The Myth that Saves: Mysteries
and Mysteriosophies 283
Ken Dowden
16 Myth and Death: Roman Mythological Sarcophagi 301
Zahra Newby
17 Myth in Christian Authors 319
Fritz Graf
PART IV Older Traditions 339
18 The Indo-European Background
to Greek Mythology 341
Nicholas J. Allen
19 Near Eastern Mythologies 357
Alasdair Livingstone and Birgit Haskamp
20 Levantine, Egyptian, and Greek Mythological
Conceptions of the Beyond 383
Nanno Marinatos and Nicolas Wyatt
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Contents vii
PART V Interpretation 411
21 Interpreting Images: Mysteries, Mistakes,
and Misunderstandings 413
Susan Woodford
22 The Myth of History: The Case of Troy 425
Dieter Hertel
23 Women and Myth 443
Sian Lewis
24 Mythology of the Black Land: Greek Myths
and Egyptian Origins 459
Ian Rutherford
25 Psychoanalysis: The Wellspring of Myth? 471
Richard H. Armstrong
26 Initiation: The Key to Myth? 487
Ken Dowden
27 The Semiotics and Pragmatics of Myth 507
Claude Calame, translated by Ken Dowden
PART VI Conspectus 525
28 A Brief History of the Study of Greek Mythology 527
Jan N. Bremmer
Bibliography 549
Index of Texts Discussed 605
Index of Names 613
Index of Subjects 635
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Illustrations
8.1 Herakles with the Hydra and Iolaos. Attic black-figure neck
amphora, 540–520 BC by the Swing Painter. Tarquinia, Museo
Nazionale 1748. © Copyright: Soprintendenza per i beni
archeologici dell’Etruria Meridionale, foto n. 26332. 158
8.2 Bellerophon riding Pegasos, attacking the Chimaira. Attic
black-figure cup, c. 550 BC. Kiel, Kunsthalle zu Kiel,
Antikensammlung B 539. Photo: Museum. 159
8.3 Gigantomachy: Athene and Zeus fighting giants. Attic red-figure
hydria shoulder, c. 480 BC by the Tyszkiewicz Painter. British
Museum. © Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum. 160
8.4 Areas for decoration on a temple. Drawing by Susan Bird after
Woodford 1986: 27–8. 161
8.5 Artemis and Aktaion. From a metope on Temple E,
from Selinunte, Sicily. Museo Nazionale Archeologico,
Palermo. Photo Hirmer 571.0446. 163
8.6 Hekate and Artemis fighting giants. From the Great Altar,
Pergamon c. 180–160 BC. Antikensammlung, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
Photo: Museum. 164
8.7 Herakles and Apollo struggling for the tripod c. 525 BC.
Pediment of the Siphnian Treasury, Delphi. Delphi Museum.
Photo: Alison Frantz Collection, American School of Classical
Studies, Athens. 165
8.8 Olympia, Temple of Zeus, west pediment. Drawing
by Kate Morton. 165
8.9 The Judgement of Paris. Attic white-ground pyxis, c. 460 BC
by the Penthesilea painter. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Rogers Fund 1907 (07.286.36). After Gisela M.A. Richter
and Lindsley F. Hall, Attic Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New Haven, CT 1936).
Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 168
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Illustrations ix
8.10 The Judgement of Paris. Attic red-figured hydria, 420–400 BC,
by the Painter of the Carlsruhe Paris. Badische Landesmuseum,
Karlsruhe. Photo: Museum. 169
8.11 Bellerophon riding Pegasos and slaying the Chimaira,
380–370 BC. Pebble mosaic from Olynthos.
After D. M. Robinson 1933: pl. 12. 171
8.12 Infant Herakles strangling snakes (silver coin of Thebes).
AR stater. Early fourth century BC. British Museum.
© Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum. 172
8.13 Laokoön and his sons attacked by snakes. First century BC/AD.
Probably a Roman copy (or variation) of a Hellenistic original.
Musei Vaticani, Vatican City. Photo: Vatican Museums. 173
14.1 Terracotta plaque showing the contest between Apollo
and Hercules, from the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine.
Palatine Museum, Rome. Photo by permission of il
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali – Soprintendenza
Archeologica di Roma. 268
14.2 Farnese Bull, from the Baths of Caracalla, Rome.
Naples Archaeological Museum. Photo: Z. Newby,
by permission of la Soprintendenza per i beni archeologici delle
province di Napoli e Caserta. 269
14.3 Garden painting of Orpheus. House of Orpheus,
Pompeii VI.14.20. Photo: Z. Newby, by permission
of la Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei. 271
14.4 Portrait of the emperor Commodus as Hercules. Rome
Palazzo dei Conservatori. Photo: Z. Newby, by permission
of la Sovrintendenza Comunale di Roma. 273
14.5 Reconstruction of the sculptural decoration of the cave
at Sperlonga. After Conticello and Andreae 1974: fig. 11,
redrawn with additions. 274
14.6 Wall paintings in room n in the House of the Vettii, Pompeii
VI.15.1. Photo: Z. Newby, by permission of la Soprintendenza
per i beni archeologici delle province di Napoli e Caserta. 277
16.1 Garland sarcophagus showing Theseus and Ariadne.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
purchase by subscription, 1890 (90.12). Photo:
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 304
16.2 Niobids sarcophagus. Vatican, Galleria degli Candelabri
inv. 2635. Photo: Rossa, DAI Rome Neg. 1976.0605. 306
16.3 Orestes sarcophagus. Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Profano
inv. 10450. Photo: Singer, DAI Rome Neg. 1971.1775. 307
16.4 Medea sarcophagus. Basel, Antikenmuseum und Sammlung
Ludwig BS 203. Photo: Claire Niggli, Antikenmuseum Basel. 308
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x Illustrations
16.5 Mars and Rhea Silvia, Endymion and Selene sarcophagus.
Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Profano inv. 9558. Photo: Rossa,
DAI Rome Neg. 1974.0535. 312
16.6 Adonis sarcophagus. Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Profano
inv. 10409. Photo: Singer, DAI Rome Neg. 1971.1762. 313
16.7 Achilles and Penthesileia sarcophagus. Vatican, Cortile
Belvedere inv. 932, 933. Photo: Singer, DAI Rome
Neg. 1972.0572. 315
18.1 The succession myth in the Theogony and part of Arjuna’s
family tree: a diagrammatic comparison. 351
20.1 Reconstruction of the Babylonian World Map. (British
Museum 92687) Nanno Marinatos, after Wyatt 2001: 81. 386
20.2 Reconstruction of the Homeric Beyond. Designed
by Nanno Marinatos, drawn by Briana Jackson. 401
20.3 The World of Mimnermos. Reconstruction by Nanno
Marinatos and Catherine Chatton. 403
20.4 The Homeric Beyond situated in the sky. Designed
by Nanno Marinatos, drawn by Catherine Chatton. 405
20.5 The Heavenly Cow from Tutankhamun’s tomb.
From Wallis Budge 1904: 1.368 (illus. 32). 406
21.1 Ajax and Achilles playing a game. Attic black-figure amphora
540–530 BC, by Exekias. Musei Vaticani, Vatican City.
Photo: Vatican Museums. 414
21.2 J. H. W. Tischbein, engraving of an ‘ancient vase’.
Hamilton 1795: pl. 6. 418
22.1 Plan of the citadel of Troy VI (1700–1300 BC) with its mighty
fortification wall and the so-called north-west bastion in squares
J/K/L 3/4. After Easton 1990, fig. 8. 436
22.2 The northern corner of the stone base of the so-called
north-west bastion of Troy. Photograph by D. Hertel
(around 1990). 437
22.3 Plan of the citadel of Troy VIIa and VIIb (1190–1020 BC),
with the reinforcements of the fortification wall in the E and SE
region from the time of Troy VIIb1. After Hertel (2003):
fig. HVa (at the back of the book). 438
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