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As the next step in our introduction to
our broad topic here of Greek and Roman

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mythology.
I thought it would be good for us to take

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a look at a real ancient hero, and focus
in on that character.

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And then, talk about that for just a
second.

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So, soon enough, momentarily the lecture's
gonna pause.

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And then there's gonna pop up a screen
with a link on it.

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Just click on that link, have a look at
the pictures there.

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And then, come on back to course, and
we'll talk about what you just saw.

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So.
Wait a minute, you're saying that's not a

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real ancient hero that we just saw.
That's just this guy, Kevin Sorbo, who

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played Hercules in a campy United States
version of a TV drama for kids back in the

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1990's, produced by Sam Raimi.
Good, good Sam, excellent good work there.

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But you kind of wonder this has nothing to
do with this course right.

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This is just a version of the hero that
has nothing to do with the ancient

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version.
I mean you look at him and he's got this

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wispy hairstyle that's clearly an artifact
of his time.

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He is bulky like a hero would be but his
muscles are not chiseled.

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He doesn't seem to be too violent.
He kind of approachable, He seems to be

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kind and gentle even.
Ancient heroes are tough and there is a

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lot blood, and they are cunning, and they
are extraordinarily effective in this kind

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of businesslike way when it comes down to
getting down, comes time to getting down

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to business.
This guy doesn't seem like that at all.

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So that can't have something to do with
our course, can it?

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Well, let's advance a little bit and take
a look at another version of this figure

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we're talking about.
Okay.

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You will recognize here another version of
what Hercules is all about.

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In this one, we're thinking to ourselves,
well this looks a little bit more ancient.

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There it is, carved in stone.
That's something that's clearly ancient.

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Looks like he's kind of a chiseled figure
and a little bit frightening.

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So, okay, fair enough.
And we see that he's got a lion skin

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there.
And there's a club right next to him.

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And knowing what we know about Hercules,
that's, clearly these are aspects of, of

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the real Hercules.
So, this thing must be closer to what the

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real Hercules is all about than that,
Kevin Sorbo thing that we saw.

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So, all this.
All seems to be a little bit better.

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But let's take a little bit of a closer
look at this representation.

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Well, you know.
First of all what we have in front of us

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is actually, not a statue is it?
It is just a well it's a computer image of

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a, representation of a statue that was
originally.

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You can see here looking at the details
involved an etching.

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And this etching is made in the nineteenth
century.

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And looking over the details of this
particular figure focusing in on the

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middle parts for example, there's a fig
leaf right there.

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Well the Greeks didn't do fig leaves.
At the time that this etching was made it

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seemed to be the parts in the middle were
thought to be a little bit naughty.

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So they were covered up well Greeks and
Romans didn't think that.

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So, we've already got kind of one removed
from our you know, what we think is gonna

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be our real hero.
We'll take another half step back and

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think about this for a second.
The etching that this is a representation

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of on your computer screens was itself,
made of some real ancient statue.

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Isn't that true?
Well, yes and no.

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It was made of a Roman version of an
ancient statue.

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So we go back one more representation and
the etching is made of a real Roman

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statue.
And, and the Romans had ideas about

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Hercules.
In fact, they invented the name Hercules.

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He was made up on a Greek precedent of the
Roman figure who dates back well before

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the Romans.
So if we're looking for the real Hercules,

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we're going to have to go back, earlier
than this Roman, statue.

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Well, the Roman statue is actually a copy
of a Greek original that exists, many

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hundreds of years before the Roman statue
that made up the, the subject matter for

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our etching.
So the Greek original that must be where

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the real Hercules lived, right?
And, in fact knowing what we do know we'll

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turn back the page one more set of
centuries and see that the Romans are the

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first that invented the name Hercules.
They base it on a Greek original, but the

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Greek original's pronounced differently.
It's Heracles, close enough, but that

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wasn't a euphemus sounding, Roman kind of
name.

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So they, just went ahead and changed it.
So if we're looking for the true.

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Hercules.
We're gonna have to go back to Heracles,

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which is the Greek original on which the
Roman copy is based.

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Well, taking, liberty and assuming that
our Roman copy is a utterly faithful Roman

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copy of a Greek original.
And we're thinking to ourselves, okay.

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So we've got a etching of a Roman copy of
a Greek original statue.

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And that Greek original statue surely must
be what the real Hercules was about.

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Well, there's another problem with that.
The Greek original on which the Roman

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copy, was based is only dates from, the
end of classical times in ancient, Greece.

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And really [inaudible].
It really wasn't too mythic times for the

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Greeks.
Those were already many, many centuries

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prior to classical Greece.
So, where's the real Pericles and where

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are we gonna find him?
Chances are we're really never gonna find

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him.
A myth is a story that is always being

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retold.
Searching around for some original

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moments, some originary version from which
we can then talk about all the others as

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just being made up of Creatians.
We're not gonna be able to do that.

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We're not gonna find ground truth when it
comes to myth.

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In fact, I think myth defies our attempts
to Try to find some pure authentic

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representation of any of the great stories
we're interested in.

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Myth is always going to be not just a
telling but a retelling.

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These stores have existed functionally
forever, and have been told and retold

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over generations.
Subject matter they focus on has to do

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with our figure right here, this amazing
person Heracles.

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Look at his strength, his capability.
He's got right there his lion skin next to

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him as a trophy for a wild beast that he
killed.

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He's got his club, so there's violence
involved.

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There's edginess to what we're going to
see these heroes are utterly really

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capable; their hands are incredibly
strong.

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They just get stuff done.
And they do it without thinking a lot

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about things.
They're crafty, they're clever when they

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need to be, but when things need to get
done, they just get it done.

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Or heroes are gonna be someone that we
spend lots of time talking about.

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And when we talk about our figures like
Odisius, or we'll talk about Oedipus, or

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any of the other arrestings, any of the
other figures we're gonna talk about,

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we're gonna talk about versions of them by
different poets, different myth tellers

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who go ahead and add their version of the
story to long traditions.

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We're never gonna find very original.
One, as we've already talked about, Homer,

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that great poet, Homer was already working
at a time when lots of traditional

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versions were around him.
His versions became extremely

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authoritative.
But it's not, in any way the case that

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we're gonna be saying that Homer is the,
kind of final answer, or Ovid is the final

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answer, or, Virgil is the final answer.
All of the different versions of the myths

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we're gonna be seeing are just that.
They're versions.

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And they're gonna help us get a window
into what it is we're looking at.

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Now, in terms.
As a subject matter, we're going to see

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lots of stuff in these myths.
The thing that probably is most prominent

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in all of them is you and me.
This species, of what it is to be human.

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This kind of question of what it is to be
human is going to animate these

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storytellers and bring them to some of
their highest heights.

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We're pretty amazing creatures.
I mean, look at this, fellow right here.

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It seems like he's gonna hurl that discus
five miles.

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He's got an amazing physique, beautiful
form, worthy of representation.

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Not only can you appreciate the physical
form behind the representation, but then

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you can also add a certain wonder at the
representational art itself.

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Humans are capable of the great feats that
this fellow represented is and also the

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feat of representation that the artist who
made this statue represents for us.

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So, we're going to be front and center, we
as humans, the human family are going to

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be front and center, in our midst.
We're also going to spend a lot of time

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looking at this little fellow and his,
brethren.

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Pigs, cows, bulls, animals of all kinds
are going to populate our mythic stories.

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They're interesting to these ancients.
They want to know how these.

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Animal tick, and particularly where you
and I as human beings fit in relation to

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them.
Also, there will be times when you and I

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as humans are gonna rely on animals to
help us out.

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We can see here a famous characterization,
those of you who already know the story of

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the cyclops will recognize Odysseus using
a ram to help him escape the evil attack

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of the monster, the cyclops.
And you and I as human beings are gonna

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rely on these animals to help us and
having some connection with them is a

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beneficial thing.
Heroes demonstrate that they have that.

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So, we're looking at humans, we're looking
at animals and then lest we think that,

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that line between the two of us.
As a groupings is distinct and utterly has

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never transgressed.
Just have a look at the figure behind me

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here.
Famously represented in Greek art you'll,

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you'll know there are these creatures that
are half human and half animal.

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They're looked at with usually a certain
kind of spookyness to them.

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They might have a role to play in society
but they're not quite like you and I and

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we don't hang around with them.
But we do hear about them and they will

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populate some interesting corners of our
mythic tails.

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Now the other side of us on the one hand
we've got the animals down beneath us.

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And then the half.
Human, half animal mid-level creatures.

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On the other side we're going to meet the
gods.

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The gods typically appear to us in visions
so when we see mythic times representing a

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kind of usual interaction between humans
and gods the gods will come down

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disguised.
They may come down in dreams they may come

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down in a vision during the day with some
kind of disguise on so they're

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representing themselves as if they were a
mortal girl, or an old man, or whatever it

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might be.
These disguises let them walk among us

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without us quite knowing.
Usually what we'll see in the myths is

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that the smart people, the, the smartest
people and the greatest heroes, they kind

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of know anyway.
They can kinda tell when the gods are

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around.
Dumb people never can.

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But when those gods are around, they have
important things to do.

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And they're interested, interestingly, in
you and I.

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This figure here, pretty imposing guy.
Hello, Apollo.

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The fact that I'm looking at him
eye-to-eye right now is already an

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offense.
Sorry Apollo.

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I didn't mean to do that.
You don't want to get Apollo mad at you.

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Gods are going to exist up there.
Yeah, they'll come down, we'll see visions

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of them, but mostly their world is not our
world.

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You and I are different from the gods.
Real humans, in order to really know what

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they're all about, know that they're
different from the gods.

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And when they speak of the gods they're,
they speak with awe, reverence.

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The gods are in, in a world apart.
And we usually don't see eye to eye with

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them in any way.
We try to keep our distance in a

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respectful way and when we do have
interactions with them, the gods call the

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shots.
As they control what's happening.

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And you and I need to always respect that.
Now another class of beings that we have

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to get ready for before we move on this
fellow right next to me here.

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We saw Odysseus escaping his cave in the
earlier slide.

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Our friend here, the cyclops.
You can see the eye in the middle of his

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forehead.
This guy is gonna run into some nasty

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treatment in our epic.
We're gonna read Homer's Odyssey for, at a

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kind of nice slow and deliberate way the
first few weeks of class.

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And it'll give us a wonderful introduction
to all kinds of mythic themes, it'll also

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introduce us to some of our most memorable
ugliness, scenes of ugliness in ancient

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myth, including our monsters.
In this figure the Cyclops is among the

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most famous of those.
Cyclops, poor guy, one had one eye in the

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middle of his forehead.
He's giant, he's huge.

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He's very strong but he's just not too
bright; makes the mistake of crossing

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Odysseus.
And you don't really want to do that.

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It's a bad thing.
Odysseus gets the better of him.

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And, we, we'll have, occasion to learn all
the details of his story when we move

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through, The Odyssey.
Now, I wanted to take a little bit of a

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minute It's taking a step back, and
thinking about.

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So what does it mean to study myth in a
contemporary world?

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In our class.
I mean, we're obviously not quite in the

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ancient past, are we?
We're quite a far bit different from them.

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You and I live in a world of microchips.
We're, our interaction right now has been

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enabled by, almost, a fantasy like,
scientific technology that's so

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extraordinarily sophisticated that all of
us are [inaudible] rightly in a sense of

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awe and wonder at our own capacities to
connect with one another.

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It's really amazing.
I mean I say this with utter sincerity.

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The world that we live in is absolutely
different from our mythic world it has

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it's own magic, and it's own amazingness.
And it's built on, isn't it this sense of

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connection and interconnectedness.
We live in a deeply networked world made

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possible by the technology of silicon such
as is seen behind me.

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Now it's also the case though, that in the
past there have been other times when

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people have talked about the deep
connectedness of their world.

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Lets just back up here and have and have a
look at our scene.

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Imagine, in the 1930s, it was thought
that, yes, indeed people out there in the

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wider world would benefit from the
knowledge of our tweety professor here.

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I seem to lack facial hair.
But, I hope to be as authoritative as this

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person looks, in the representation.
Looking up at a technology called the

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blackboard, and using something called a
television pickup and a transmitter, he's

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gonna beam out from his university, all
the wondrous, knowledge that he has to

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share through the technology of the
television receiver and the loudspeaker.

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There'll be people out in their homes that
are gathering that information.

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For a professor, and amazing things are
going to happen.

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Now having a look back at this picture and
the fantasies of the 1930's that vision of

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connectedness that animates this pictures.
Well, surely at the time it was understood

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to be Utopian, transformative, quite
amazing and like nothing before.

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Because all of a sudden we were able to
use this medium of radio waves to send

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signals all the way across the air.
So what we now look to silicon to do for

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us to make us interconnected, back then
they were amazed by the capacity.

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Air to make us connected.
Well, this actually prompts us to maybe

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take a second look at this ancient world
and ask ourselves, well, yeah, sure, we're

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different but how different exactly are
we?

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We're connected, you and I by silicone.
[inaudible] lets us, have our

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interconnectedness.
Back, back in the'30s is it was radio

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waves.
Well, back in Homer's day, there was

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indeed, amazing technology available to
people to stay connected.

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To actually make contact with people in
distant far away lands that they'd only

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ever heard of.
That they may never have met before.

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And that, no two human beings from these
cultures had ever even seen one another.

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The technology they used was shipping.
And they used, the medium that they used

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was the sea.
The Mediterranean Sea is another kind of

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character in our story of Greek and Roman
myth.

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It is a great connecting force in the
ancient world.

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A recent, scholarly treatment of the
Mediterranean Sea dubbed it the.

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Corrupting sea, which, is a wonderfully
apt, description of what the

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Mediterranean, what role the Mediterranean
plays in antiquity.

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Those who are searching for purity of
culture, for example, some.

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Peel back the window on some pure Greek
[inaudible] through this course, I'm

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probably looking for the wrong kind of
thing.

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The purity in the Ancient Mediterranean is
ephemeral.

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It doesn't really exist.
Cultures around the great Mediterranean

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Basin are always interacting with one
another.

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Its part we think, of what makes the
Mediterranean such a special place, is its

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inter-connectedness.
A connected mind is an intelligent mind

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and the Greeks, yes, were.
Indeed interconnected with cultures all

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around the Mediterranean via shipping
links that had them trading for many, many

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generations.
Before our historical records starts they

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had contact with cultures in the far
Western Mediterranean and definitely in

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the Far Eastern Mediterranean.
And if you think about it and go around

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the Mediterranean in your mind say that
you went to Rome and rented a motorcycle,

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think of all the amazing cultures that you
would see from the Italians to the French

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to the Spanish to the North Africans the
ancient Carthage you would pass on your

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way past North Africa.
You could go to Egypt, the ancient

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[inaudible].
The Israelites you'd see Turkey, you'd see

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back to Greece just extraordinarily rich
and ancient societies.

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Now each of them has their own distinctive
ways of doing things, but all of them

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share this Mediterranean background, and
as we press forward in our course we're

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going to see not only that the stories
that we're concentrating on giving us a

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window into Greece or Rome, they're also
gonna open us up to broad Mediterranean

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themes that are relevant across this body.
Now what we're gonna do for most of the

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course is focus in this.
Earlier you noticed my Greek and Roman

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Mythology class has mostly Greek with the
couple of weeks closing on the Romans that

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just happens to be my expertise, so that's
we'll be focusing on, so we're going to

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spend a lot of time looking at this Greek
world and understanding how it works, its

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different ways.
Some of the things we're going to see are

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going to remind us of things that are
immediately accessible to us we can

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understand the kinds of rules that are
made, the kinds of values that are being

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held, other things are going to be
Exceedingly strange.

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We're gonna wonder how in the world they
could have thought that or how in the

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world they could have valued this over
that.

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So keeping track of both what's similar
and what's different is gonna be one of

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the most interesting pieces of what this
course is all about.

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What we're really going to be doing is
joining our friend here.

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We are.
Yes.

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Indeed I think.
In many ways, quite like [inaudible], in

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so far as we're just trying to figure
something out.

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We're curious by nature.
Human beings like to know stuff.

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And Oedipus is a wonderful example for
myth of someone on a, a human being on a

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quest for knowledge, trying to figure this
out.

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And here he is interviewing the Sphinx.
And indeed, sometimes, like Oedipus, we're

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gonna get the better of the world and
we're gonna figure out more than the

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Sphinx ever knew.
We're gonna solve the Sphinx's riddle and

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make it go away.
We might win one or two of these contests

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of knowledge.
But then also, the story of Oedipus

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introduces us to some other things.
We human beings [inaudible; The more

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ignorance are going to make mistakes.
Mistakes will be a, a theme in our course

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of the mistakes that people make.
And we'll also, in our own attempt to

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piece together this rich, complex world.
We're going to make our own share of

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mistakes and try to figure it out.
But I think back to that theme of

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connectedness, that connected mind is an
intelligent mind.

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So let's all stay connected.
And we're looking for your own jumping

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into the course through the forum and
other ways for us to share what thoughts

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we have.
This vibrant ancient world of mythic