Pandora Reading Greek Mythology

Introduction

Similar to Eve in the garden of Eden the Greek myth of Pandora also blames a woman for all the misfortunes of mankind. The misogyny of these tales is unacceptable to a modern audience, and luckily, people tend to see mythologies as nothing more than old stories. Myths are nevertheless important stories, especially for historians and philologists. The historians can use myths as evidence to explain how people in the past looked at the world around them. Myths are often the cornerstone of a culture. It are shared stories and convictions that bring people together who would otherwise how little in common. Mythes are traditions transmitted from generation to generation. In this respect Greek mythology is very special. Not only did people in the Eastern Mediterranean around 1000 BC to 500 BC invent a corpus of mythologies that would spread from Athens to Rome and from Rome to London. Ever since the Renaissance, Western culture has been profoundly inﬂuenced by the rediscovery of Greek Mythology.

The goal of this lesson is to introduce Greek Mythology and its impact on Western Culture by means of the myth of Pandora. After this lesson you are familiar with the story of Pandora and you understand the basic concepts of Greek mythology. Furthermore you will have used Greek mythology to look and interpret history.

Instruction

This assignment consists of three tasks and a homework assignment. Use the text and the internet to complete the following tasks.

1. First we will read the myth of Pandora and learn about the plagues she supposedly unleashed on the world. (15 min.) 2. Secondly you will answer a number of questions about Greek culture and the text individually. 3. Your main task however, is to relate to the subject matter of this 3000 year old myth. You will do this by means of comparing the misfortunes unleashed by Pandora to events in history. You will choose one of the ten historic periods and ﬁnd examples of Pandora’s plagues for the period in question. Use your text book and research the internet to ﬁnd examples of the various plagues and misfortunes typical of the period you chose.

Homework assignment

Hope! The story of Pandora is about hope. Your homework assignment is to each write an essay or short story where you give an example (1) of the hope treasured by people of a certain time period. For example, if you choose the Middle Ages, hope can be embodied by religion. Yet if you choose the enlightenment, you could opt to explain how science and philosophy were the principle inspiration for hope in the 18th century. Secondly, argue why (2) a source of hope was typical to the period you chose. Why did a philosophers from the Enlightenment believe science could improve mankind? Finally, also explain how (3) hope for people in the period in question was not only a blessing but perhaps also a curse.

Lack inspiration? Look at the material at the end of this reader.

The lay-out of your paper (500 words):

1. Introduction 2. Example of hope in your time period 3. Explain why your example of hope is typical to the period in question 4. Example how hope was also a curse 5. Conclusion

Text: the Myth of Pandora source: http://myths.e2bn.org/index.php

Has your curiosity ever got you into trouble? Have you ever been so desperate to know a secret that you took no notice of a warning? All through history there are stories of people being told not to open doors, caskets, cupboards, gates and all sorts of other things and, in so many of the stories, the people just did not listen. One person who did not listen was Pandora. Her story comes from Ancient Greece and her curiosity brought a whole heap of trouble!

In ancient Greece there were two brothers named Epimetheus and Prometheus. They upset the gods and annoyed the most powerful of all Gods, Zeus, in particular. This was not the ﬁrst time humans had upset Zeus, and once before, as punishment, he had taken from humans the ability to make ﬁre. This meant they could no longer cook their meat and could not keep themselves warm.

However, Prometheus was clever and he knew that, on the Isle of Lemnos, lived Hephaestos, the blacksmith. He had a ﬁre burning to keep his forge hot. Prometheus travelled to Lemnos and stole ﬁre from the blacksmith. Zeus was furious and decided that humans had to be punished once and for all for their lack of respect.

Zeus came up with a very cunning plan to punish the two brothers. With the help of Hephaestos, he created a woman from clay. The goddess Athene then breathed life into the clay, Aphrodite made her very beautiful and Hermes taught her how to be both charming and deceitful. Zeus called her Pandora and sent her as a gift to Epimetheus.

His brother Prometheus had warned him not to accept any gifts from the gods but Epimetheus was completely charmed by the woman and thought Pandora was so beautiful that she could never cause any harm, so he agreed to marry her. Zeus, pleased that his trap was working, gave Pandora a wedding gift of a beautiful box. There was one very, very important condition however, that she must never opened the box. Pandora was very curious about the contents of the box but she had promised that she would never open it.

All she could think about was; what could be in the box? She could not understand why someone would send her a box if she could not see what was in it. It seemed to make no sense at all to her and she could think of nothing else but of opening the box and unlocking its secrets. This was just what Zeus had planned.

Finally, Pandora could stand it no longer. When she knew Epimetheus was out of sight, she crept up to the box, took the huge key off the high shelf, ﬁtted it carefully into the lock and turned it. But, at the last moment, she felt a pang of guilt, imagined how angry her husband would be and quickly locked the box again without opening the lid and put the key back where she had found it. Three more times she did this until, at last, she knew she had to look inside or she would go completely mad!

She took the key, slid it into the lock and turned it. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and slowly lifted the lid of the box. She opened her eyes and looked into the box, expecting to see ﬁne silks, gowns or gold bracelets and necklaces or even piles of gold coins.

But there was no gleam of gold or treasure. There were no shining bracelets and not one beautiful dress! The look of excitement on her face quickly turned to one of disappointment and then horror. For Zeus had packed the box full of all the terrible evils he could think of. Out of the box poured disease and poverty. Out came war, out came ignorance, out came sadness - all shaped like tiny buzzing moths.

The creatures stung Pandora over and over again and she slammed the lid shut. Epimetheus ran into the room to see why she was crying in pain. Pandora could still hear a voice calling to her from the box, pleading with her to be let out. Epimetheus agreed that nothing inside the box could be worse than the horrors that had already been released, so they opened the lid once more.

All that remained in the box was Hope. It ﬂuttered from the box like a beautiful dragonﬂy, touching the wounds created by the evil creatures, and healing them. Even though Pandora had released pain and suffering upon the world, she had also allowed Hope to follow them.

Task II: questions

Use wikipedia and the text about Pandora to answer the questions below.

General Questions

1. Describe in your own words what you think a myth is exactly?

2. Do you know any other myths?

3. Many cultures have a mythology. Give an example of a myth from the following cultures: a. Ancient Egypt b Ancient Greece c Medieval Europe d And do you know by any chance a contemporary myth, a myth people still take seriously today?

4. Explain why myths were important to people in the past. Why where myths not just ferry tales? In other words, what was the exact function of mythes, what did they explain?

5. How is a myth different from a legend?

6. What are the protagonists of a myth called?

7. The myth of Pandora is about the creation of the ﬁrst woman. Do you know other creation mythes with a similar theme? Could you list the similarities and differences?

8. What is you favorite myth?

Questions about the text

9. Why was Zeus upset with Prometheus?

10. Greek mythology was based on a polytheistic religion: a group or pantheon of Gods also known as the Olympians. Which Gods contributed what to the creation of Pandora?

11. Epimethus warned Prometheus not to accept gifts from the Gods. Why did Prometheus still accept a gift from Zeus and marry Pandora?

12. Why would Zeus give Pandora a box she is not allowed to open as a wedding gift? Choose the correct answer.

A. Because Zeus is cheap B Because Zeus is a cruel and vindictive God. C. Because Zeus planned to punish humanity D All of the above

13. What did Pandora expect to ﬁnd in the box?

14. List the terrible evils Zeus packed in the box?

15. How was hope shaped different from the terrible evils?

16. Why do you think did Zeus put hope in a box together with terrible evil?

Task III: Examples of Pandora’s plagues in history

Use the scheme below to compare the misfortunes unleashed by Pandora to events in history. You will choose one of the ten historic periods (see list) and ﬁnd examples of Pandora’s plagues for the period in question. Use your text book and research the internet to ﬁnd examples of the various plagues and misfortunes typical of the period you chose. For each plague you will also answer a when, who and why question. Pandora’s Example When did the plague take Who were mainly affected Why is this example Plaques place? by the plague in question? typical to the period?

Disease

Poverty

War

Ignorance

Sadness

Time periods

1. Hunters and Gatherers (till 3000 BC) 2. Greek and Romans (3000 BC - 500 AD) 3. Monks and Knights 4. Cities and States 5. Explorers and Reformers (1500 - 1600) 6. Monarchy and Republic (1600 -1700) 7. Periwigs and Revolution (1700 - 1800) 8. Burghers and Engines (1800 - 1900) 9. World at War (1900 - 1950) 10. Television and Computers (1950 - 2000) Homework assignment

The lay-out of your paper (500 words):

1. Introduction 2. Example of hope in your time period 3. Explain why your example of hope is typical to the period in question 4. Example how hope was also a curse 5. Conclusion

Need more information or inspiration, look at the example of obvious internet resources you could us:

Deﬁnition

Source: google

Hope personiﬁed

In Greek mythology, Elpis (Ancient Greek: ἐλπίς) is the personiﬁcation and spirit of hope (usually seen as an extension to suffering by the Greek, not as a god), perhaps a child of Nyx and mother of Pheme, the goddess of fame, renown and rumor. She was depicted as a young woman, usually carrying ﬂowers or cornucopia in her hands.

Source: wikipedia Famous people on hope:

Napoleon

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

Obama

“Hope -- Hope in the face of difﬁculty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us...A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.”

Erasmus

“The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth”

Voltaire

“Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.”

Source: brainy quotes

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Special thanks to Nicholas Iacovelli