Ancient Literature and History week of Jan.30 to Feb. 3
This week I want you to read pages 372 to 382 in Hamilton's mythology and answer the following questions:
Questions only on House of Thebes
1.What were the circumstances leading up to the founding of Thebes?
2. Who was Europa?
3.Who founded Thebes? .
4.Thebes is located in Boetia. What does this name mean?
5.What obstacle did Cadmus face in founding Thebes?
6.Who was his wife and who were her parents?
7.What gift did Aphrodite give Harmonia that brought disaster in a later generation?
8. What was the fate of each of their 4 daughters? (note they also had 1 son?)
9. What happened to Cadmus & Harmonia after the death of Penteus?
10. How did Laius (descendent of Cadmus) die and how was this a fulfillment of
Apollo’s prophecy? .
11. Who was the Sphinx and what was she doing to Thebes at the time Laius died?
12. Who saved Thebes and how?
13. What were the riddle and the answer?
14. Why had Oedipus left his home of Corinth?
15. The Thebans made Oedipus their king and he married Laius’s widow, Jocasta. When their 2 sons were grown a terrible plague came to Thebes. What did Apollo say was necessary to stop the plague?
16. After Oedipus pressured him who did the blind seer Teiresias say was the murdered?
17. With horror Jocasta and Oedipus soon have confirmed that Oedipus was indeed the son of King Laius and Jocasta and the murderer of Laius. What was the response of each?
Write a 50-100 word paper on the author of Oedipus Tyrannus who is Sophocles
Read Oedipus Tyrannus through for fun. I have posted below the4 discussion questions for the 2nd week we spend on this play. If you want to read through them before reading the play that is OK. These answers to these questions will not have to be turned in. Take notes only to aid you in discussion. Again these are for the week of 2/5/06 to 2/10/06. I posted them early because I thought they might help in your first reading of this play.
Discussion Questions on Sophocles
1. Who or what does the chorus represent in this play?
2. Oedipus means “swollen foot”. Leithart says there are many puns in the play related to this. Do you know what any of them are?
3.The Greek Title is Oedipus the Tyrant; the Latin is Oedipus the King. Do tyrant and king mean the same thing? If not, why the discrepancy? Oedipus was certainly a king. Was he also a tyrant?
4.Was Oedipus a religious man?
5. What would you say this play is primarily about?
6. What do you think of Laius’s and Jocasta’s original decision to get rid of Oedipus? Was that an accepted practice in Greece?
7.Do you detect any improbabilities in the play?
8.In the Eumenides we discussed the political message of the city replacing the
House, contract replacing blood. Do you see a political message in Oedipus Rex?
9.Leviticus 16 speaks of sending out a scapegoat from the camp on the Day of
Atonement. There was a similar Greek religious rite called pharmakos. Do you see any connections between Oedipus and a scapegoat?
10.The Greek view of life as stated by Protagoras was that “Man is the measure of all
things.” Is that the message of this play?
11. Can you name any sin on Oedipus’s part?
12.In this play the truth leads to despair. Does the Bible verse “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) have any relevance to this play?
13.In about lines 122-125 Creon says there were several robbers and Oedipus speaks of one. Do you see any significance to this?
14.What two crimes did Oedipus commit and how was each an attack on the city
15.Contrast Creon and Oedipus in lines 532-633.
16.Why doesn’t Oedipus realize that Teiresias is speaking truth in line 353, “you are
the land’s pollution?
17.In lines 435-440 Teiresias says the Oedipus needs to solve a riddle, but the answer
will destroy Oedipus. What is the riddle?
18. What does Oedipus mean when he says, “O generations of men, how I count you
as equal with those who live not at all!”?
19.How is Oedipus like Teiresias at the end of the play?
20.Do you see a connection between “mountain bull” in 478 and Oedipus’s actions in 1253-1271?
21.What is significance of Creon saying in line 1522, “Do not seek to be master in everything.”
22.Do the concluding lines of the chorus (1524-1530) remind you of any scripture?
Does this play teach truth or untruth?
Questions only on House of Thebes
1.What were the circumstances leading up to the founding of Thebes?
2. Who was Europa?
3.Who founded Thebes? .
4.Thebes is located in Boetia. What does this name mean?
5.What obstacle did Cadmus face in founding Thebes?
6.Who was his wife and who were her parents?
7.What gift did Aphrodite give Harmonia that brought disaster in a later generation?
8. What was the fate of each of their 4 daughters? (note they also had 1 son?)
9. What happened to Cadmus & Harmonia after the death of Penteus?
10. How did Laius (descendent of Cadmus) die and how was this a fulfillment of
Apollo’s prophecy? .
11. Who was the Sphinx and what was she doing to Thebes at the time Laius died?
12. Who saved Thebes and how?
13. What were the riddle and the answer?
14. Why had Oedipus left his home of Corinth?
15. The Thebans made Oedipus their king and he married Laius’s widow, Jocasta. When their 2 sons were grown a terrible plague came to Thebes. What did Apollo say was necessary to stop the plague?
16. After Oedipus pressured him who did the blind seer Teiresias say was the murdered?
17. With horror Jocasta and Oedipus soon have confirmed that Oedipus was indeed the son of King Laius and Jocasta and the murderer of Laius. What was the response of each?
Write a 50-100 word paper on the author of Oedipus Tyrannus who is Sophocles
Read Oedipus Tyrannus through for fun. I have posted below the4 discussion questions for the 2nd week we spend on this play. If you want to read through them before reading the play that is OK. These answers to these questions will not have to be turned in. Take notes only to aid you in discussion. Again these are for the week of 2/5/06 to 2/10/06. I posted them early because I thought they might help in your first reading of this play.
Discussion Questions on Sophocles
1. Who or what does the chorus represent in this play?
2. Oedipus means “swollen foot”. Leithart says there are many puns in the play related to this. Do you know what any of them are?
3.The Greek Title is Oedipus the Tyrant; the Latin is Oedipus the King. Do tyrant and king mean the same thing? If not, why the discrepancy? Oedipus was certainly a king. Was he also a tyrant?
4.Was Oedipus a religious man?
5. What would you say this play is primarily about?
6. What do you think of Laius’s and Jocasta’s original decision to get rid of Oedipus? Was that an accepted practice in Greece?
7.Do you detect any improbabilities in the play?
8.In the Eumenides we discussed the political message of the city replacing the
House, contract replacing blood. Do you see a political message in Oedipus Rex?
9.Leviticus 16 speaks of sending out a scapegoat from the camp on the Day of
Atonement. There was a similar Greek religious rite called pharmakos. Do you see any connections between Oedipus and a scapegoat?
10.The Greek view of life as stated by Protagoras was that “Man is the measure of all
things.” Is that the message of this play?
11. Can you name any sin on Oedipus’s part?
12.In this play the truth leads to despair. Does the Bible verse “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) have any relevance to this play?
13.In about lines 122-125 Creon says there were several robbers and Oedipus speaks of one. Do you see any significance to this?
14.What two crimes did Oedipus commit and how was each an attack on the city
15.Contrast Creon and Oedipus in lines 532-633.
16.Why doesn’t Oedipus realize that Teiresias is speaking truth in line 353, “you are
the land’s pollution?
17.In lines 435-440 Teiresias says the Oedipus needs to solve a riddle, but the answer
will destroy Oedipus. What is the riddle?
18. What does Oedipus mean when he says, “O generations of men, how I count you
as equal with those who live not at all!”?
19.How is Oedipus like Teiresias at the end of the play?
20.Do you see a connection between “mountain bull” in 478 and Oedipus’s actions in 1253-1271?
21.What is significance of Creon saying in line 1522, “Do not seek to be master in everything.”
22.Do the concluding lines of the chorus (1524-1530) remind you of any scripture?
Does this play teach truth or untruth?
posted by Ancient Literature & History at 4:51 AM
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