Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I. Review of Clytemnestra II. Tantalus III

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CLAS C205 1st Edition Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I. Review of Clytemnestra II. Tantalus III. Pelops IV. Atreus and Thyestes V. Aeschylus a. Apollo and furies b. Athena and Orestes VI. Athenian Democracy VII. The trial Outline of Current Lecture I. Euripides II. Dionysus III. Bacchae and character interactions a. Tiresias b. Pentheus Current Lecture What character appears in the Bacchae – Tiresias o From the Odyssey Euripides, Bacchae o 406 or 405 BCE (50 years after other plays) o Produced with Iphigenia at Aluis, Alchmaeon in Corinth, lost satyr paly o Won first prize Dionysus (also called Bromius, Bacchus, Liber) o God of wine, theater, animal nature and altered states of being o Son of Zeus and Semele, born in Thebes These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. o Birth story: Semele had an affair with Zeus, Hera came to Semele as an old women and was making Semele question if Zeus was who he said he was, so Semele asked Zeus to swear an oath to appear to her in his real form, his real form is a lightning bolt and he killed Semele (Hera’s plan the whole time) but Semele was pregnant at the time she was killed o Double birth of Dionysus: from Semele upon moment of death and from Zeus’s thigh . Raised by nymphs in the east . Travels throughout the east before returning to Greece o Another version of Dionysus birth: . Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Persephone . Hera convinced Titans to tear him apart and eat him . Athena saves his heart and delivers it to Zeus, who swallows it then impregnates Semele o Dionysus is a god because of the double birth from Zeus House of Cadmus, King and founder of Thebes o Actaeon came upon Artmeis bathing (who is a virgin) and turned him into a stag who got murdered by his hunting dogs Dionysus and his aunts (529) o Aunts are saying Semele was sleeping around o Dionysus puts them in a trance and turned them into Maenads (Bacchae) against their wills o Theben Bacchae and Asian Bacchae Bacchae / Maenads o Shown in long flowy robes o Have crazy hair and wear wreaths of ivy o Sacrifice animals like lions Chorus of Asian Bacchae (530) o Only surviving dithyramb – choral ode in honor of Dionysus – origin of tragedies Tiresias to Cadmus (534) o Tiresias: blind prophet living in Thebes .

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Introduction
Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-07052-3 - Magic in Western Culture: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment Brian P. Copenhaver Excerpt More information PART I INTRODUCTION © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-07052-3 - Magic in Western Culture: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment Brian P. Copenhaver Excerpt More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-07052-3 - Magic in Western Culture: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment Brian P. Copenhaver Excerpt More information CHAPTER ONE THE SCRUPLES OF J. G. FRAZER Frazer is much more savage than most of his savages. 1 1 SCAREHORSE Where chariots raced in the stadium at Olympia, part of the track was called the Scarehorse – Taraxippos. Sometimes horses galloped past it, but sometimes they panicked, ending the race at that spot in a jum- ble of wheels and harness that no one could explain. Some said that a horse-whisperer was buried there. Some claimed that the tomb was empty, built long ago to atone for a murder. Others insisted that there was a corpse – of a man who had bad luck at racing and became a malevolent spirit ( daimona ) jealous of the riders. A man from Egypt said that Pelops got the idea to bury something there from Amphion of Thebes. This Egyptian thought that Amphion and also Orpheus from Thrace worked dreadful magic ( mageussai ) so that wild animals came to Orpheus when they chanted, and rocks built them- selves into walls for Amphion. 2 The spectators at the Games were humans – mortal men – and it was they who traded tales about the Taraxippos.
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