Week3 西概

 
(1)Golden apple ：Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis(father and mother of Achilles). Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited for her troublesome nature, and upon turning up uninvited, she threw a golden apple into the ceremony, with an inscription that read: "To the fairest". Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Zeus not wanting to get involved, he  assigned the task to Paris of Troy.

Zeus gave the apple to Hermes and told him to deliver it to Paris and tell him that the goddesses would accept his decision without argument. As each goddess wanted to receive the apple, each of the goddesses offered Paris a gift as a bribe in return for the apple; Hera offered to make him the king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered him wisdom and skill in battle, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife, Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite, a decision that ultimately led to the start of the Trojan war.


(2)Achilles' heel：In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water. But as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after.

Cow：
heifer =>female
cub => kid
ox =>male

The name from south Europe should read the tail
For example：Persephone/i/(Hades' wife and Demeter's daughter)、Penelope/i/(she is Odysseus' wife)


Persephone  is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, and is the queen of the underworld. Because she eat the  pomegranate in underworld, she had to live  underground in half of the year. This is season's story.

 
 pomegranate: it means the blessing of having many descendants




Greek immortals and hero

Demeter = Ceres

Hades = Pluto

Zeus = Jove  

Odysseus = Ulysses


Priam, father of Paris

Hecuba, mother of Paris

Cassandra, sister of Paris
A common version of her story is that Apollo gave her the power of prophecy in order to seduce her, but when she refused, he spat into her mouth cursing her never to be believed.


Patroclus , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and Achilles's beloved comrade and brother-in-arms.


Homeric epithet ：
A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, as in "rosy-fingered" dawn or "swift-footed" Achilles. Epithets are used because of the constraints of the dactylic hexameter (i.e., it is convenient to have a stockpile of metrically fitting phrases to add to a name) and because of the oral transmission of the poems; they are mnemonic aids to the singer and the audience alike.

the patrons in homer：
Iliad - Apollo
Odyssey -  Athena 

Fate VS. Destiny：
Fate is what happens to you and out of your control
Destiny is what results from your actions.

fatal woman：A woman causing or capable of causing death.


muse：A state of reflection.
Muse：Greek Mythology Any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science.

plague：A virulent, infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (syn. Pasteurella pestis) and istransmitted primarily by the bite of fleas from an infected rodent, especially a rat. In humans it occurs in bubonicform, marked by lymph node enlargement, and in pneumonic form, marked by infection of the lungs, and canprogress to septicemia.

change.：A crucial or decisive point or situation, especially a difficult or unstable situation involving an impending