The third exam, although given during the time slot of the final exam, is a one-hour exam. The exam format will, of necessity, be somewhat different from the last two.

Part I of the exam will give you the opportunity to review the major myths. The format will be familiar from the other exams: either short questions, or a prompt (such as names, or part of the story, or a new image) to which you will be asked to tell the story of this myth.

Below, you will find a list of the myths that will be "fair game" for the exam.

For examples, see the two previous exams.

Part II of the exam will cover the readings and conceptual matter we've worked through since the second hour exam: "Myth as Thought" and "Theories of Myth". For this section of the exam, you will be presented with important passages from our readings, and will be asked identify the passages, and to comment on the significance, or to explicate the underlying concepts. (See examples below.) For the theory part, you will be asked to write on a theory other than the theory you worked on for your paper. The format for this section will be short answer, short essay.

Examples:

I. Short answer

1. Explain the difference between the Way of Truth and the Way of Opinion (the two parts of Parmenides' poem).

II. Short essay: quoted passages

For each passage, (1) Identify the author and work, (2) Describe the context, (3) Comment on the significance of the passages. You should consider "significance" in both narrow terms (that is, within the context of the work) and broad terms (that is, within the larger context of the significance for the study of myth, or in terms of the development of intellectual history and the like.)

1. "The Phoenicians, however, as regards Io, vary from the Persian statements. They deny that they used any violence to remove her into Egypt; she herself, they say, having formed an intimacy with the captain, while his vessel lay at Argos, and perceiving herself to be with child, of her own free will accompanied the Phoenicians on their leaving the shore, to escape the shame of detection and the reproaches of her parents. ... Whether this account be true or whether the matter happened otherwise, I shall not discuss further. "

List of the mythological stories you're expected to know. You should know the stories and relationships behind these names; where the bare name is given with an asterisk, be able to identify who the people are, and to what tale (e.g. the Trojan War) they are attached. For the gods, you are expected to have a detailed idea of who they are, and what divine power they represent. (Where I give additional hints about the stories in parenthesis, that is simply to help you recall which story is meant: these hints will NOT be part of what you will be given in the exam.)

Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the journey to the forest (Humbaba)

Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim, and the search for immortality (including the story of the flood)

Judgement of Paris and the abduction of Helen

*Menelaus and Agamemnon

Iphigenia and the sacrifice at Aulus

The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles

*Achilles and Thetis

*Hector and Andromache

The Trojan Horse (Laocoon)

Odysseus and Polyphemus

Odysseus and Circe

Odysseus and the Sirens

Odysseus and Scylla & Charybdis

The contest for Penelope

*Homer

*Hesiod

Uranus, Cronus, & Gaea: the birth of Aphrodite

Cronus, Rhea, and the birth & ascension of Zeus

Birth of Athena (Metis, Zeus)

Prometheus & the tricking of Zeus (sacrifice, fire, punishment)

Pandora (Prometheus, Epimetheus)

Deucalion and Pyrrha

*Aeschylus

*Sophocles

*Euripides

Tantalus, Pelops, and the feast of children

Atreus and Thyestes and the feast of children

Murder of Agamemnon (Clytemnestra, Aegisthus)

*Cassandra

Orestes' revenge (Electra, Clytemnestra)

*Erinyes

Oedipus: story of his birth

Oedipus: riddle of the Sphinx

*Jocasta

*Antigone, Ismene, Polyneices, Eteocles

Oedipus: killing of Laius

Oedipus: discovery of the horrible truth of his marriage

Zeus and Europa

Pasiphae & the bull (offspring = Minotaur [Minos' bull])

Theseus, the Minotaur, Ariadne (string, Minotaur, Naxos)

Daedalus and Icarus

Birth of Heracles

Heracles, Megara, and the killing of his children

Heracles and Lernaean Hydra

Heracles and the Augean stables

Heracles and the Horses of Diomedes

Heracles and the Apples of Hesperides

Heracles and Cerberus

Nessus and Deianira

Death of Heracles

Jason and the Argonauts: the capture of the golden fleece

*Harpies

*Symplegades

Medea and the killing of Asyrptus

Medea and the killing of Pelias

Medea and the killing of her children (according to Euripides)

Perseus, Danae and the Shower of Gold

Perseus the Gorgon Slayer (Medusa)

*Graeae

*Pegasus

*Zeus Xenios (and its significance)

*Moerae

*Graces

*Muses

*Dione

The Rape of Ganymede

*Poseidon

*Hades

Zeus and Io (Hera, Argus, Hermes Argeiphontes, Prometheus, Epaphus)

The Danaids and their husbands (sons of Aegyptus)

*Eleusinian mysteries

*Demeter

The Rape of Persephone

*Hermes

*herm

*Apollo

*Delphi

*Pythia

Apollo and Daphne

Apollo and Hyacinth

Hermes and the cattle of Apollo

*Pan

*Dionysus

The Birth of Dionysus (Semele, the "twice born" god)

Dionysus and the pirates

Pentheus and Agave

*sparagmos and homophagia

*enthousiamos and ekstasis

*Hera

*Athena

Athena and Arachne

*Artemis

The children of Niobe

Artemis and Actaeon

*Aphrodite

*Eros

Pygmalion and the statue

Seduction of Anchises (Aeneas)

The Seven against Thebes

The death of Eteocles and Polynices

The burial of Polynices and death of Antigone (Creon, Haemon)

The Amazonomachy (Theseus)

Phaedra and Hippolytus

Theseus, Pirithous, and the journey to the underworld