CLA 2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Dyaus Pita, Minoan Civilization, Aegeus
27 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Intro to Course:
The Contextual Approach
Three gods that are friendly to humans (overlap in agricultural resources):
*valuable products to trade
Mediterranean Triad:
- Dionysus (male)
o Wine
o Grapes
- Athena (female)
o Wisdom
o Daughter of Athens?
o Gave an olive tree to Athens
o Goddess of technology – weaving, ship building
- Demeter (female)
o Harvest
o Wheat
o Barle
TAs:
Joey Ficocelli
Ted Malcomson
Lecture 1:
The Land of Greece
- Lots of mountains lining the side of Greece closest to Italy
- Islands are mountain tops (continuity from Greece to what is now known as Turkey (Asia
Minor))
- Greek habitations in Western Turkey until 1922
- Greeks went to the sea to trade, fish, join the navy, etc.
- Reliance on the sea
o God of the sea – Poseidon
o Man of the sea - Marius
o Protectors of the sea – Athena, Aphrodite
- Types of land
o Only 20% is farm land
o 10% hillside
- Lack of food was always an issue in Greece
- Prime grain – wheat, tastes good, hard to grow
- Often grew barley
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Also often ate beans, peas, NOT meat (unless you were rich)
- Home of Gods - Mount Olympus
- Individual gods are associated with other mountains as well
- Nymphs – semi divine, purity
- Mountains contained a lot of limestone
o Limestone can be a good building material (coating on a building)
o Compressed limestone – marble (geologically)
o Natural limestone creates cave features
o Can be carved
o Zeus was born in a cave
o Greeks believed that there was an entrance to the underworld (through Cave
Tarma) in the Greek Peninsula – Hell mouth)
- Ancient Greece and modern Greece have few lakes and rivers
o Not very many accessible pools of water
o Lack of water was an issue
o Mass migration was part of Greek history
- Climate
o Summer is too hot and dry, rain stops, hardly no vegetation left
o Winter is mild and rainy, can snow (like mid-April in Ottawa)
- Grain Harvest (opposite to Ottawa)
o sowed grain October
o germinated after
o harvest in May
o Praying to Zeus (thought this was part of their necessity of life) – just as
important as sowing the grain
- Socrates was executed for going against the gods
- Animals
o Oxon was used to plow fields
o Sheep kept for wool, meat
o Pigs were kept in the city
o All domestic animals were good to eat
- Pg. 69 chart of all major gods and their attributes
- Items for trade
o Olives, barley, grapes
- What did the Egyptians have to offer?
o Wine
- Demetrius (human) comes from Demeter (god)
o Women would name their son after this god
- Could be a MIDTERM Q: Dionysius (human) comes from Dionysus (god)
o Dennis is commemorating Dionysus
- Spelling of Ancient Greece – spell correctly on exams (use one form or the other)
o K (Greek form)
▪ Kadmos (English form) – Cadmus (Latin form)
▪ Knossos (Major city on island of Crete – English) – Cnossus (Latin)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Three gods that are friendly to humans (overlap in agricultural resources): Athena (female: wisdom, daughter of athens, gave an olive tree to athens, goddess of technology weaving, ship building. Lots of mountains lining the side of greece closest to italy. Islands are mountain tops (continuity from greece to what is now known as turkey (asia. Greek habitations in western turkey until 1922. Greeks went to the sea to trade, fish, join the navy, etc. Reliance on the sea: god of the sea poseidon, man of the sea - marius, protectors of the sea athena, aphrodite. Types of land: only 20% is farm land, 10% hillside. Lack of food was always an issue in greece. Prime grain wheat, tastes good, hard to grow. Also often ate beans, peas, not meat (unless you were rich) Tarma) in the greek peninsula hell mouth)
