RELS 1202 Lecture Notes - Fertile Crescent, Mycenaean Greece, Chthonic

• School: Dalhousie University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 1202
• Professor: Peter O' Brien

Document Summary

Hermes gives apollo the lyre after charming him with songs. The lyre is the combination of the olympian cleverness and the chthonic nature (tortoise). A lot in common between hermes and odysseus. There"s something in the tone of the device that pierces through apollo"s heart. His first reaction is laughter, which is a kind of relaxation, and relief which softens him towards the lyre. Can be compared to the hymn to demeter when she is told jokes and begins to laugh. Hermes sings of the story of the cosmos and how it came to be. Hermes is affirming his power to express zeus" order and find his place in it. Apollo gives the gift of cattle to hermes. Originate in the 6th century or as late as the 5th century. The homeric poems were written between 800 and 600 bce.