Topic Eight: The Most Unforgetable Character in the Story of “Helen of Troy”

Topic Eight (2010/11/1~2010/11/8):  The Most Unforgetable Character in the Story of “Helen of Troy”

Please pick one person from the following list and elaborate on the reasons why he/she is your choice of the most  unforgetable character in the story of the Helen of Troy.

1.      Helen’s parents: Zeus (in disguises of the fog and the swan) and Leda, who gave birth to two eggs

2.      Sisters: Helen and Clytemnestra

Brothers: Castor and Polydeuces (The Gemini)

3.      Two brothers: Agamemnon (King of Mycenae) and Menelaus (becoming King of Sparta after marrying Helen)

4.      Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, bearing three children: Iphigeneia (sacrificed by Agamemnon in exchange for sea wind), Orestes (later to kill his mother to avenge his father), Electra

5. Menelaus married Helen, bearing Hermione

Love triangle: Hermione, Neoptolemus (Achilles’ son), and Orestes (Agamemnon’s son)

6.      Priam (King of Troy) bearing Hector (the Crown Prince of Troy), Cassandra (a seer and priestess for Apollo), Paris, and other 50 sons.

7.       Aphrodite and Anchises (a royal prince of Troy), bearing Aeneas (to be the forefather of Rome)

8.      Two great couples at Troy:  Hector and Andromache, Helen and Paris

9.      Peleus (King of Phthia) married Thetis (a Neried, sea nymph)

10.  Achilles’ son Neoptolemus captured and deserted Andromache after the Trojan War to marry Hermione, daughter to Helen and Menelaus.

Topic Seven: The Deep Structure of Roman/Greek Mythology

Topic Seven (2010/10/25~2010/11/1):

After the classroom discussions on the following speech outline, please choose one specific point to elaborate on your viewpoint.


The topic of the speech:
The Deep Structure of Roman/Greek Mythology in Social, Cultural, and Psychological Spheres

希臘羅馬神話故事的深層結構:社會,文化,心理

Zeus

1.   象徵大自然力量的神力呼應人類社會權力結構

The Olympian gods and goddesses embody natural forces and their power structure runs parallel to that of human society.

Apollo

a.   Patriarchy: father and son

b.   Centralized “I” and marginalized “Other”

c.   Gender and sex

d.   The fatal and the uncontrollable: temptations

e.   God and man

f.   Life and death

g.   Crime and punishment

The Three Graces

2.   象徵大自然力量的神力呼應人類文明的結構與分工

The power embodied in each god/goddess and his/her role in the Olympian community can find its counterpart in human social structure.

a. A city and its patron god/goddess

b. A profession and its guardian god/goddess

c. Social role and responsibilities

d. Cooperation and competition

e. Community and alienation

f. Generation after generation

Prometheus stealing fire

3.   眾神與人類英雄的偉大功績呼應人類種族的生存奮鬥

The great deeds of god/goddesses and human heroes reveal the hardship and ordeal of human survival.

a.   Tasks that require physical prowess

b.   Adventures that need intellectual wits

c.   Development that falls out of control

d.   Love that transcends life and death

Dionysius

4.   眾神與人類英雄荒腔走調的行徑表現出人類心靈的暗影

The off/tracking behaviors of god/goddesses and human heroes can be seen as the expressions of the unconsciousness or the dark shadow of human psyche.

a.   Sexual violence

b.   Insanity

c.   Cultural and social taboos

d.   Guilt

e.   Transgression and excess

f.   Uncanny transformations

Perseus slaying minotaur

5.   不知名的怪物奇獸與其不可思議的奇幻力量象徵人類文明所可能遭遇到的困境與挑戰

Those fantastic creatures and animals carry with them supernatural powers, which can be interpreted as the symbols of great challenges and crises posed to humanity, especially in the future.

a.   From the inside

b.   From the outside

c.   From nowhere

d. From the future

Athena:  the Goddess of Wisdom

She helped many human heroes accomplish difficult tasks.

 

Topic Six: Great deeds of Greek Heroes

Topic Six (2010/10/18~10/25): Great Deeds of the Heroes in Greek Mythology 

Please identify the hero depicted in each of the following artwork and describe his/her heroic deeds.

A. The hero was fighting with a monster in the labyrinth.

B. The hero was carrying something heavy on his shoulders.

C. The hero was fighting with a monster with many heads.



D. The hero was chained on the mountain top.



E. The hero brheaded the monster with the help of Athena.

F. The hero was falling from the sky.

G. The hero was punished to push a big stone up the hill.

H. The hero had his crew tie him to the mast of the ship.

Topic Five: Metamorphosis in Greek Mythology

Topic Five (2010/10/11~10/18): Transformation from one life form to another

The Term "Metamorphosis" refers to the changes in external appearances as well as the internal structure of a living being. For examples, a butterfly undergoes three phases of transformation it its entire life and the mythical creature phoenix is believed to gain new life from its very own ashes. 

In Greek mythology, there are many cases of life form shiftings or transformations. In the book entitled Metamorphosis written by the Roman poet Ovid, we can find many short stories  describing vividly (1) how these trandformations happened , (2) to whom these changes occurred, and (3) what these form-shiftings might mean.

Discussion Topics:
In the following, there are groups of images featuring metamorphosis, can you identify

(1) the characters involved in the story,

(2) to whom the transformation happened, and

(3) the significance or the meaning of the metamorphosized life form (or, the importance of the life form after the metamorphosis).



Case One: The chase

Case Two:

Case Three:

Case Four:

Case Five:

Case Six: the fatal touch

Topic Four: Zeus' Many Lovers and Children

Topic Four (2010/10/4~10/11): Zeus' many lovers and their heroic offsprings

In addition to natural forces like lightning and rain, the Almighty Zeus is also associated with

human reproductive power.

Defined as a diety of pertility, Zeus' long history

as a womanizer and his role as a loving father

to many illegimate children,

many of whom were great historical characters,

then can be understood and accepted.

Topic for discussions:

(1) Can you name at least three of Zeus' lovers and tell the stories about how they were seduced?

(2) Can you name at least three of Zeus' off-springs produced from these extra-marrital affairs and tell the stories of their great deeds?

Topic Three: The power of Zeus

Topic Three (2010/9/27~10/4):  What is the nature of Zeus' power?

Zeus is the most powerful among the Olympian dieties.  First of all, he holds a lethal weapon, i.e., the lightning or thunder bolt. Secondly, he is the god of rain (or fog), which proves to be vital to all creatures on Earth. 

However, added to these qualities is his special skill in transforming his physical forms.  What surprises people is the purpose of this transformation, i.e., to seduce women in various forms of disguises.

For example, he transformed himself into a golden shower to visit one of his mistresses, i.e., Danae.

All these women bore him sons and daughters, who later on became great heroes and horoines in history.

Topics for discussions:

(1) Why was Zeus "unfittingly" characterized as a womanizer?  He is the most almighty god on Mt. Olympia after all.

(2) What is the driving force for Zeus to have seduced so many women?  Is it simply lust?  Does he  intend to find a woman of his true love? 

(3)Does Zeus have the desire to produce more children by different mortal mothers? In this case, do you think Zeus can be considered also as a god of fertility?

(4)What is the nature of his power?  Is it natural, intellectual, reproductive, or supernatural?