MidtermFall2018

A WORD ABOUT TIMING: EACH ITEM ON THIS MIDTERM IS INTENDED TO TAKE ABOUT AS MUCH TIME AS A COMPARABLE QUESTION ON A QUIZ: SOME TAKE MORE THAN OTHERS, JUST AS ON A QUIZ, BUT WE MANAGE TO DO 5 QUESTIONS ON A 10 MINUTE QUIZ, SO I EXPECT YOU TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THIS EXAM. VERY APPROXIMATELY 2 MINUTES PER ITEM. THERE IS NO MATCHING, BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS TOO LONG AND THAT SEEMED THE LEAST EFFECTIVE PROOF OF YOUR NEWFOUND KNOWLEDGE

PUT YOUR NAME ON THIS SHEET AND THE MAP AND YOUR ANSWER BOOKLET

POSSIBLE STRATEGY: GO THRU THE WHOLE EXAM QUICKLY DOING WHAT IS 'EASY' FOR YOU as fast as you can, but come up with a way to 1) MARK any place where you have NOT done the required number of items on that first pass, and 2) if you think you may have done enough, but could say more, MOVE ON, but MARK IT and leave room there for later, just in case you have time later. Then, if you get thru to the end, go back and look for your MARKS and finish #1, then #2. Then do any extra credit you know after that.

I. Identifications

Major Characters: give full information about these characters: including, where available,

1) specific identification of what role this character plays,
2) place of origin,
3) relationship to other characters,
4) at least 3 major instances in reading for this course where character has played a major part
5) What characteristics make this character memorable

Do 2 of the following, 1 from Iliad and 1 from Odyssey 9 (Helen counts for either one):

Agamemnon
Helen
Telemachus
Patroclus

Minor Characters: give full information as above, but one instance suffices for #4.

Do 3 of the following:

Eurykleia
Polyphemos
Eumaus
Thetis

Phenomena: give full information about these phenomena, which often includes but is not limited to:

1) definition of the phenomenon
2) explanation of the phenomenon's importance and relevance to the material of this course
3) other highly relevant facets

Do 3 of the following

Orality

no writing
traditional and conservative
what you know is what you remember
requires memorizability or easy compositional technique
homeric epics formed during a time of orality
that homeric epics were oral was discovered/proven/demonstrated primarily by Milman Parry and Albert Lord
many epic poems in the world are oral
we can compare different oral cultures to make good guesses about Homeric matters
preserves things from different eras: leads to a mashup

The Heroic Code (as explained in my lecture notes on Irwin's chapter, the ones on the website)

wealth, honor, prowess, and birth are key factors in whether or not one is a hero
none are fully up to the individual
has problems in that people are praised for those things, and yet, if they are not up to the person, why do they deserve praise for them
it is not an explicit code: it is implicit in the epics

Aristeia

a type scene: a type of scene that occurs several times
one hero displays warrior prowess
usually has an arming part
and a list of people the hero kills
and maybe a spectacular killing
and perhaps vaunting over the corpse
and perhaps stripping armor off the corpse
examples of aristeiai: Agamemnon has one, Achilles, Patroclus, etc.

Dactylic Hexameter

a metrical pattern that every line of all Greek epics displays
made up of dactyls and spondees, and has a "shave and a haircut" at the end
the formula of oral poetry are words and phrases that fit into it and are hence both memorable and easily combined
English can be written in dactylic hexameter, but our translations of Iliad and Odyssey are not.

The Epic Cycle

a large complex of myths
includes the Trojan war from when the apple was cast by Eris until the last hero returns from the war
also includes the THeban cycle (Oedipus, Antigone, etc.)
also includes other myth cycles that are tangentially related to the Trojan War
consists of several works, each of which has a title: examples include Cypria, Aethiopis, Nostoi, etc.
you could explain what each work contains
most of the text of these works has been lost
we have fragments and reports and summaries of them
they contain a lot more magic and the human/divine divide is more permeable in them

Student Presentations: do 1 of the following

"How to Kill a Dragon" in Indo-European

about indo-european comparative historical linguistics
centers around the way different Indo-European languages say "the hero killed the dragon with a companion or with a weapon"
you could list members of the Indo-European family tree
author was Calvert Watkins
we can discover not just language, but also cultural things from such research
spans a geographic area from India to Ireland, from Iran to Scandinavia, from Slavic to Spanish
basically built on tracking sound changes
started out with the observation that many words from many languages are similar and the hypothesis that the similarities are due to common descent

II. Plot Questions

Do 3 of the following: as always, the more detail, the better, but mind the time.

Why can't Achilles join the fight right away after he hears of Patroclus' death, and what is done about it?

He has no armor: Hector stripped it off of Patroclus: Thetis goes to get him armor from Hephaestus: he stands on the wall and shouts, which frightens the Trojans

How does the Odyssey end after Odysseus kills the suitors?
Who is caught up in a net? tell the basic story.

Ares and Aphrodite are committing adultery: Hephaestus, who is Aphrodite's husband, devises a net and acts as if he is leaving town: Ares and Aphrodite get togetther and are caught by the net: the gods come and mock them: the story is told by Demodocus on the island of Phaeacia.

How did Hector die and what happened to his body?

A god disguised as Deiphobus convinces him to take a stand against Achilles: the god abandons him: Achilles kills him and drags the body around Troy behind his chariot: the body does not get damaged because the gods protect it: Priam goes to ransom the body at night and brings it back to Troy

Recount in a several large chunks the entire plot of the Iliad, including all major episodes you can.
Recount the return voyages of 2 of the Greeks who fought at Troy aside from Odysseus (as recounted in Homer, not later, mind you, if there's a difference).

several possibilities

III. Snippets

Very briefly, identify the passage in terms of 1) plot and structure of the work; 2) any literarily important devices, with specifics; 3) applications of other phenomena we have learned about in this course.
DO 3:

1. Well, stranger,
you seem a brave and clever man; you know
that Zeus apportions happiness to people,
to good and bad, each one as he decided.
Your troubles come from him, and you must bear them.
But since you have arrived here in our land,
you will not lack for clothes or anything
a person needs in times of desperation.
I will show you the town."...
And then she called her slaves with braided hair.
"Wait, girls! Why are you running from this man?
Do you believe he is an enemy?
No living person ever born would come
to our land with a hostile mind,
since we are much beloved by the gods.
2. They would have wept till sunset, but he stopped them,
and said, "Stop now; if someone steps outside
and sees you crying, they may tell the men.
Go in, not both at once but taking turns,
first me, then you, then you. And this will be
our sign: when all the noblemen refuse
to let me have the bow and set of arrows,
then you must bring them through the hall
and put them in my hands. Command the women
to shut up tight the entrance to the hall,
and go to their own quarters."
4. 'My good fools, poor abuses, you women, not men, of Achaia,
let us go back home in our ships and leave this man here
by himself in Troy to mull his prizes of honor
that he may find out whether or not we others are helping him.
And now he has dishonored Achilleus, a man much better
than he is. He has taken his prize by force and keeps her.
But there is no gall in Achilleus' heart, and he is forgiving.
Otherwise, son of Atreus, this were your last outrage.'
So he spoke, abusing Agamemnon
the shepherd of the people. But brilliant Odysseus swiftly
came beside him scowling and laid a harsh word upon him;
'Fluent orator thought you be, stop, nor stand up alone against princes.
Out of all those who came beneath Ilion with Atreides
I assert there is no worse man than you are.'
5. For I know this thing well in my heart, and my mind knows it:
there will come a day when sacred Ilion shall perish,
and Priam, and the people of Priam of the strong ash spear.
But it is not so much the pain to come of the Trojans
that troubles me, not even of Priam the king nor Hekabe,
not the thought of my brothers who in their numbers and valor
shall drop in the dust under the hands of men who hate them,
as troubles me the thought of you, when some bronze-armored
Achaian leads you off, taking away your day of liberty,
in tears; and in Argos you must work at the loom of another.
6. 'Were you killed on dry land by enemies as you

were poaching their fat flocks of sheep or cattle,
or fighting for their city and their wives?'
He answered right away, 'King under Zeus,
No, Poseidon did not rouse up a dreadful wind
to wreck my ship. No hostile men on land
killed me in self-defense. It was Aegisthus
who planned my death and murdered me, with help
from his own wife.'

IV. Map Labeling and Dates

Fill in the dates:

Trojan War	the traditional date given by Ancient Greeks is ______ BC (but they had no good evidence).
Mycenaean Greece	about ____-______ BC: the last part of the Greek Bronze age
Collapse of Palace Culture of Mycenaean Age	______________BC
Greek Dark Age/Geometric Period	________ - ________BC
Greek Archaic Age	circa ______ BC to _____ BC (when the Persians were repulsed for the second time)
Homer	if there was a "Homer," he lived in the ______th century BC

Put your name on the accompanying map and label the following:

Troy
Aulis (the Greeks sailed from here to Troy)
Crete
Ithaca
Peloponnese

Extra Credit: do not attempt this unless and until you have done the rest of the exam (they are not worth that much).

Give full information as for a minor character.

Talthybius
Theoklymenos
Machaon
Demodocus
Machaon
Elpenor
Eurymachos