midterm vocab Flashcards
(50 cards)
Achaemenids/Achaemenid Empire
founded by Cyrus, defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE; found in Herodotus; CONTEXT
Aeschylus
wrote Persians and Suppliants, from Athens, fought in Marathon, had an epitaph, father of Greek tragedy
apostrophe
turning away from one’s main audience to address someone or something else; seen in the Odyssey: “Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered the holy town of Troy…” introduces the story a little but before we get right into it, possibly acknowledges that this is a story and not really based on a real event
autobiography
a literary genera, especially on tombs of ancient Egypt; found in Tales of Sinuhe
barbarian
a foreigner who doesn’t speak Greek; found in Persians (among others); became important during and after the Persian wars; seen in Odyssey
catalog
list of people/heroes; seen in the Odyssey: when they are doing the challenges at the king’s home there is a list of all the men participating in the sporting activity, this was seen as a poet showing off when they would orally tell stories
chorus
singers and dancers in a play, main format of exposition, in drama; seen in Persians and Suppliants
Croesus
the last king of Lydia, attacked Ephesians and all Ionian and Aeolian cities, hosted Solon and asked him about the happiest person (learned that the happiest person was someone who had a good life and a good death), dreamed about the death of his son and ultimately assisted in this prophecy (prevented him from interacting with weapons, his mind was changed, the son was killed by Croesus’ guest-friend); seen in Herodotus
culture hero
someone who teaches religious rules and ceremonies and establishes the community’s institutions and traditions after creation - the hero who brings the culture; mentioned during Suppliants, examples are Zeus, Odysseus, Danaids
Cyrus
major conqueror of the time (during Achaemenid Empire), founded the Achaemenid empire and was the Persian king; seen in Herodotus
Danaids
daughter of Danaus, few of them have names, chorus of the Suppliants, punished in the underworld, killed 50 husband-cousins, Egyptian, descended from Io; seen in Suppliants
Danaus
father of the Danaids; seen in Persians
Delphi
a state in Greece, was home to the oracle of Delphi who made many predictions in Herodotus, this was one of the oracles that Croesus tested and the one oracle that performed the best, the oracle predicted that Croesus’ line would rule Persia until a mule became king, Croesus sent many gifts to Delphi because the predictions were so successful
divine kingship
a religious and political concept where a ruler is seen as an incarnation, manifestation, mediator, or agent of the sacred or holy (in Egyptian religion, the king is not immortal, but he is given a special relationship with the gods); found in Sinuhe
drama
term for performances in which actors impersonate the actions and speech of fictional or historical characters (or non-human entities) for the entertainment of an audience, either on a stage or by means of a broadcast, usually expected to represent stories showing situations of conflict between characters, major genera of literature; seen in Persians
epic
a long, narrative poem containing heroes, quests, and superhuman battles or voyages, a genera; the Odyssey
epic simile
an extended simile, found in the Odyssey; “Just as a mountain lion trusts its strength, and beaten by the rain and wind, its eyes burn bright as it attacks the cows or sheep, or wild deer, and hunger drives it on to try the sturdy pens of sheep–so need impelled Odysseus to come upon the girls with pretty hair, though he was naked”
epiphany
when a god reveals his presence or manifests his power to a mortal or group of mortals who ‘see’ or ‘recognize’ the god, the gods may appear in anthropomorphic form, disguised as ordinary mortals, as a disembodied voice, or as an animal; seen in Odyssey, “Bright-eyed Athena flew away, transformed into an ossifrage. Astonishment seized all the people watching, even Nestor.”
euhemerism
explaining a myth in practical, real-world terms; found in Herodotus; can help the reader understand the history/origin of the myth and understand it better
eulogy
a speech given in praise of someone or something; found in Sinuhe
Feminist criticism/theory
a mode of literary and cultural discussion and reassessment inspired by modern feminist thought; a debate about the relations between literature and the socio-cultural subordination borne by women as writers, readers, or fictional characters within a male-dominated social order/ a system of ideas that takes gender as its central focus and attempts to explain differences and inequalities centered predominantly on the relative positions of women and mean with inequality; seen in Suppliants; can impact how the characters are seen and understood by readers and watchers; seen in Suppliants
folktale motif
a motif that includes individual details within a folktale (character, setting, object, action); example - monster, witch in the woods, magical object; seen in Odyssey
foreshadow/foreshadowing
point to a future event; seen in Herodotus
formulaic language
set phrases that are repeated, ready-made linguistic items which are stored and retrieved as a whole item rather than by having been generated by any grammatical rules or processes; seen in the Odyssey; makes verbal stories easier to tell
