CLAS 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Eileithyia, Indo-European Languages, Sophocles

• School: McGill University
• Department: Classics
• Course: CLAS 203
• Professor: Margaret Palczynski

Document Summary

Comparative archeology and comparative linguistics aim at reconstructing myth before writing. Early figurines (6500-5700) of females emphasizing fertility found in graves) >magical power of woman to produce new life and always in focus. >on basis of archeological remains it is hard to determining which details in myth are old/new. Reconstruction of indo european: had words for religious concepts. >name of sky god preserved in many ie languages. >the fact that this root is found in so many different languages shows that it was important word in their culture and society. Linear b tablets: list the names of gods as recipients of offerings in mycenaean cult. Some easily identifiable: zeus, hera, poseidon, athena, artemis, hermes, enyalius a very (ares), paean (apollo), eileithyia, dionysus as well as other deities. >stories begin in this age as oral stories, will eventually be recorded as written develops. >most of knowledge of myth derives from this and later periods.