TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
IDENTIFICATIONS

COMMENTS ON THE ESSAYS           CHECK TIPS ON STYLE

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
True statements are:

Question # 1:             b, c, e

• a) Minos and his family are, of course, mythic!

• b) There is no evidence of human sacrifice in Greece.  Even though it may have happened in prehistoric times, without evidence one cannot state it as a fact.

• a) In most instances when we know of a ritual  and a parallel myth, we cannot define which one precedes the other.  Generally speaking, however, rituals tend to be more ancient than myths, and these may have been created to explain the corresponding rituals.  Either, myth or ritual, may have been transmitted by a tradition without the other.

• c) The Age of the Heroes is superior to the preceding one

• The Lemnian women did what the statement says (kill all the males on the island except one), but they were not Amazons.

12.  Menelaus	Husband of Helen and brother of the commander of the Trojan expedition
10. Cassandra	Was brought by Agamemnon as a concubine at the end of the Trojan war
8. Harmonia	Wife of Cadmus; both were transformed into snakes when they died
14. Alcestis	Heracles wrestled Death for her and brought her back from the underworld
1. Penelope	Wife of Odysseus, harassed in Ithaca during her husband's absence
2. Phaedra	Fell passionately in love with Hippolytus and died accusing him falsely
3. Iphigenia	Was sacrificed by her father so the Greek fleet might sail off to Troy
11. Amazon	One of a tribe of warlike women who were allies of the Trojans
15.  Odysseus	Owed a favor to Hecuba but refused to help her
5. Apollodorus	Variants of many myths are found in a book known as The Library
6. Tantalus	Killed his son Pelops and served his flesh to the gods
4. Priam	Father of Paris
7. Neoptolemus	Son of Achilles who disobeyed Odysseus
9. Admetus	Would have died if his wife had not offered to die for him
13. Philoctetes	Received the bow of Heracles when he kindled the funeral pyre for him

ON CONTENT

B1) I did not make up this quotation: it is from a Greek website (not the official site of the Greek government).  I was glad to see that several students recognized the prejudices that these statements reveal.  The few who did not need to learn how to read CRITICALLY, as the instructions specified.

A few students' essays revealed misunderstandings.  It is not wrong to say that the Greeks shared a language (even though they spoke different dialects thereof).  It is also true that they shared fundamental panhellenic beliefs.  Specific gods were worshiped as guardians of particular city-states, but there were (more or less) twelve panhellenic Olympian gods.  Hero cults were local, and songs about their deeds had all been local once, yet  the stories of the Trojan cycle also became panhellenic.

I would not even dispute the statement that the Greek civilization has been a major leading model in the Western world.  But it is clearly an illusion that it happened because only there and then there were "men of genius, men of spirit, men of vision..."  The Western world has adopted the Graeco-Roman--not just Greek--model.  It is ignorant and short-sighted to declare that it was the only valuable one.  Other ancient civilizations, all over the globe, had cultural treasures of which most of us are less aware.  Students in this course should know (and some pointed it out) that the Greek culture did not evolve without constant and pervasive cross-cultural influences with peoples living around the Mediterranean basin.

The source statement about the "hold of death" on the ancient world "before the Greeks came into the Mediterranean world" reveals a complete lack of understanding of ancient history, mythology, and religion.

B2 and 3)  The main problem was lack of content.  Repeating the same thing so as to cover many lines is not a substitute for saying something.  Speaking about a play without having read it (and probably without having been present in class when it was discussed) is a self-defeating attempt.
 

 ON FORM

Students cannot be expected to write in perfect style during a test, but they are expected to write English sentences and to articulate their thoughts in such a way as to communicate them.  Here are some (anonymous) blatant examples of unacceptable writing.  I correct each one so that not only their authors but others who may have committed the same mistakes may learn from them.
 
 

One test at least included this faulty construction or unclear thought (I cite with misspellings corrected)	Correction
Due to their interest in expanding their power and knowledge.	[sentence fragment]  This was due to their interest...
The difference between concepts of race and ethnic group are quite simple.	[subject and verb do not agree]  The difference... is ...
So some words may have differed from others, sort of like how the Spanish are with the South Americans.	The speakers of different Greek dialects could understand one another. Just so nowadays speakers of regional dialects of Spanish, in Spain and Latin America, can communicate with one another.
As far as death and ancient rituals dedicated towards death is very interesting. I would assume since death was so prevalent then, opposed to long life today it was considered more of a religious and accepted thing.	[Subject? What is interesting? "Dedicated towards" should be "dedicated to."  Avoid "more of a..."]  The mythology of death / Rituals inspired by the desire for immortality / or, simply: Myths and rituals of death are interesting.I would assume thatin antiquity death was a widespread concern and it motivated religions because the span of life in those days was shorter than it is in our time. I would also dispute the accuracy of this point.  The span of life is longer nowadays in prosperous societies only, not throughout the world.  Furthermore, the concern with death and the desire for an afterlife do not seem to me to have diminished.
Initiation is a very important role for the transition from youth to adulthood.	[unclear: initiation is the transition, etc.; it is not a role, it has a role...]  The ritual of initiation / the first sexual experience[whatever the writer meant] has an important role in the transition...
In doing this Sophocles has built a cultural model (icon) of Philoctetes to demonstrate for the citizen, which in turn the citizens can mold their own lives into the model of the man worshiping the hero.	[convoluted style]  Thus Sophocles offers in Philoctetes a heroic model that men of his own time may admire.  The citizens of fifth-century Athens may mold their lives after that of the hero they worship.
The update of Homeric heroes places them in a situation that continues a purpose of the previous epics.	Sophocles' plot places the Homeric heroes in new situations but does not alter the characters they had in the epic tradition.