Biblical & Classical Literature Topics

by Jonathan N. Courtis (November, 1996)

Texts

The Bible (Old Test): Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 &2 Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Apocrypha, Jonah; the New Testament: Matthew, Acts
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Gilgamesh)
Homer, The Odyssey (Odyssey)
Sophocles, Oedipus the King (Oedipus)
Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Agam)
Sophocles, Antigone (Antig)
Ovid, Metamorphoses (Ovid)
Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Apul)

Intervention of Deities

§ The prophets had pronounced that God controlled the fate of all nations as well as the fate of Israel. Assyria & Babylonia were successful because God used them to punish the people of Israel for their wickedness.

§ Covenants

Adam & Eve. In the Garden of Eden they can eat everything, except the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

Noah. The Lord will never flood the earth & kill its creatures again. The sign of this covenant is the Rainbow.

Abraham. The Lord said to Abraham that your descendants will own the land of Canaan. Abraham will the father of nations. The sign of this covenant is the circumcision of all males in the household.

§ The Lord appears to Moses as a Burning Bush

§ The Lord appears to Moses & Israelites as a Pillar of cloud & fire to lead them to the promised land.

§ The Lord's Miracles:

Through Moses:

staff turns into snake	diseased hand out of cloak / cured within cloak	the water of the Nile turns to blood
parting the Red Sea	bread (manna) falls from the sky in the morning to feed the Israelites

Parting of the River Jordan so Israelites can cross

§ Agents of the Lord--Angels

§ Hermes is the Messenger god for Zeus

§ The Greek gods and the gods of the Near East (Gilgamesh) intercede in the lives of mortals.

§ Dreams: Are used to influence the course of human events.

The Lord appears to Jacob in a dream (Jacob's Ladder).
Athena appears in the dreams of Nausicaa & Penelope.

Seers and Prophets have a hard time being believed by people.
Joseph is the interpreter of prophetic dreams.
The Witch of Endor (medium) can call up the spirits.
Seers: Tiresias (talks in riddles) & Cassandra (has fits--talks clearly).
Apollo is the god of prophecy at the Oracle at Delphi.
Prophets: Nathan, Samuel, Jonah, & Deborah.

Deborah--Prophetess / judge who told Barak to conquer Sisera.
Furies (Eumenides)--pursue Orestes for the crime of matricide.
Solomon: "King of Wisdom" that brought justice with the suggestion of halving the baby.
Athena--goddess of Wisdom--judged Orestes in Athens.

Athena is the goddess of Wisdom.
Solomon--King of Wisdom--he is credited with the Apocrypha.
Oracle at Delphi--"Know thy self" (Oedipus).
Pythian Oracle--Prophetess with the python snakes.

Adam & Eve ate the fruit of knowledge to know what God knows (wisdom of good & evil).
Gilgamesh sought eternal life through a plant
Tower of Babel--built to be closer to God and Heaven.
In The Odyssey, the people praise and compare each other to the Greek gods.
Lucius sought forbidden knowledge in his desire to fly like the witches (Golden Ass)
Jesus denied Satan's three temptations (Matthew 4)

Adam & Eve were tempted to taste the forbidden fruit. They ate and they fell from their state of innocence.
Odysseus' crew yielded to temptation and opened Aeolus' bag of winds & ate Helios' cattle. These acts brought forth their destruction.
Elpenor, the youngest drunk, is the epitome of the crew's foolishness (Odyssey).
Enkidu was lured by the temple prostitute and yielded to her sexual whims.
Psyche, Pandora, and Lucius all give in to temptation for forbidden knowledge (Golden Ass)
The temptation of adultery and sin.

Adam & Eve--became aware of their sexuality when they ate the forbidden fruit. They were cast out of the Garden of Eden & lost their relationship with the animals.
Enkidu (Gilgamesh)--lost his virginity with the temple prostitute & as a result the animals feared him.
Kirke--is surrounded by animals that she transformed from men. When she met Odysseus, she succumbed to her sexuality and threw herself at him.

Ishtar, impressed with Gilgamesh, throws herself at him. He rejects her with a degrading song.
Kalypso captures Odysseus and forces him to be her lover. He rejects her and wishes to return home.
Kirke falls for Odysseus and throws herself at him.
Lucius falls hard for Fotis

Echo, infatuated with Narcissus, chases him. He in turn flees.
The Elders are taken with Susannah and try to force her into a sexual situation.
Potiphar's wife desires Joseph, & when he flees she accuses him of attempted rape.
The suitors court Penelope and are a constant threat to her & her family.
Lucius lusts after Fotis (Golden Ass)
Zeus (Jove) lusts after nymphs and mortal women
Apollo lusts after Daphne and Cassandra
Mars and Venus lust after one another (Homer & Ovid)

§ Witches & Sorceresses:

The Witch of Endor
Kalypso: Sea Nymph
Kirke: sorceress
Medea (Jason & Medea: Ovid)
Meroe, Panthia, Pamphile (Golden Ass)

§ Women Left at Home:

Klytemnestra: adultery & murder of her husband.
Bathsheba (Old Test): adultery.
Helen of Troy: left with Paris willingly?
Jael, slayer of Sisera.

§ Women Aren't To Be Trusted:

Proverbs 3: beware of woman.
Eve was tempted and drove her man astray.
Agamemnon's advice: don't tell everything to a woman.

§ Good Women Left at Home:

Proverb 31--the virtuous woman.
Penelope: the good & faithful wife.
Euryklaia (Odyssey): the good & faithful nurse.

§ Women For Pleasure:

David & Solomon have harems.
Gilgamesh--". . . who hoards the girls of other men for his own purpose."
Suitors in The Odyssey are looking for fun, food, & females (esp. Penelope).
Lucius regards Fotis as his mistress

Esau & Jacob:

Sibling rivalry lead to jealousy & resentment. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a cup of broth. This shows how little Esau regarded his birthright. Jacob later impersonates Esau in order to receive their father's blessing. Esau feels slighted once again & vows to kill his brother. As a result of this vow, Rebecca sent Jacob to stay with her brother.

Authority to Stand By Father:

Telemakos
Orestes

Lord favors shepherds--Abel, Joseph, David.
Lord favors Abel (shepherd) over Cain (agriculturist)
Lord and the father tends to favor the second born (or the younger) over the first:

Abraham: Isaac
Isaac: Jacob (father favors Esau; mother favors Jacob)
Jacob: Joseph (youngest of 12)

§ Israel, when blessing the sons of Joseph, places his right hand on the head of the second born--Ephraim's--and his left hand on the head of his first born, Manasseh (Genesis 48.17-22)

The Lord, to test Abraham's faith, asks him to sacrifice Isaac, his favorite son, to him. The Lord stops him at the last minute and provides a lamb.
Laius & Jocasta, fearing what the Oracle predicts, sacrifice their son Oedipus in order to save their own lives.
The Lord & the Greek gods demand that libations be burned for them.

The Greek gods & the Near Eastern gods (Gilgamesh) are pagan gods of mythology.
Solomon, influenced by his many wives, worshipped these idols & pagan gods.
Aaron creates a bull calf out of gold for the Israelites to worship.
Daniel proves that Bel & the Dragon (snake) are false gods that should not be worshipped. He then introduces the Lord, the living God, to kingdom he is visiting.

The Lord is a jealous god & wants to be the only deity worshipped.
Cain was jealous of the favor that the Lord showered on Abel.
Joseph's brothers were jealous of Joseph's dreams and their father's favor.
Saul was jealous of David's success on the battlefield and popularity with the people.
Jacob was jealous of Esau's birthright, so he fooled him into selling it. Jacob was also jealous that Esau was going to get their father's blessing, so, he tricked him out of that too. Esau then held much resentment for his brother.
Jealous people tend to curse the object of their jealousy.

An ancient device used to manipulate forces beyond human control.
The suitor's hysterical laughter (end of Book 20)--they were doomed from the beginning.
Oedipus was cursed by Fate/ Oracle.
Oedipus cursed his sons (family) for giving him a bad piece of meat.
Agamemnon's family was cursed by Thyestes. Atreus cooked the sons of Thyestes in a stew & fed it to him -- the Feast of Thyestes. When he discovered that he ate his sons, he cursed the House of Atreus.
Apollo curses his gift of prophecy to Cassandra. Now no one would believe her predictions.
The Lord curses David's family with internal problems.

> Joshua's Curse:

"May the Lord's curse light on anyone / who comes forward to rebuild this / city of Jericho: / the laying of its foundations shall cost / him his eldest son, / the setting up of its gates shall cost him / his youngest" (Joshua 6.26).

§ Biblical Flood:

The Lord sends the Flood because he's disappointed with all of humanity.
He selects Noah & his family to build an ark and survive with a pair of all the animals.
Noah sends out a raven, then a dove, the dove again (brings back an olive leaf), the dove a third time and it doesn't return. Noah then unpacks the ark.

* Promise of Peace--the covenant marked by the rainbow.

§ Flood of Gilgamesh:

Enlil sends the flood because he's offended/angry at one human.
Utnapishtim builds an ark & fills it with the animals.
He sends out a watchbird, a swallow, & a raven (doesn't return)
There is a continued threat--no promise of peace.

§ Deucalion & Pyrrha

§ Poseidon:

God of the sea & storms.
Carries the trident.
Creates a storm to destroy Odysseus & his crew by flooding their ship.

Moses's staff--turned into snake; (swallowed up magicians' snake staffs).
(*) The Egyptian magicians could perform the first three curses
The Nile turned to blood, stank, & fish died. All the water in Egypt turned to blood for 7 days.
Frogs infiltrated the land & covered it.
Dust became maggots.
Dense swarms of flies infested Egypt.
Egyptian livestock perished.
Soot--fine dust over Egypt--festering boils on man & beast.
Hailstorm--killed both men and animals.
Locusts--devour vegetation.
Three days of darkness over Egypt.
Passover--kill all the first born. (To prevent this from happening in the homes of the Israelites, they must put the blood of a lamb on the 2 doorposts & on the lintel of their houses).

§ Passover
§ Oedipus (infant) shackled & was meant to die.
§ The Pharaoh says to kill all new-born male Israelites--nurses say no.
§ Moses was put in a rush basket & sent down the river.
§ Both Oedipus & Moses were adopted by royalty

§ Names:

* Moses: "I drew him out of the water"
* Oedipus: "swollen foot"

Adam & Eve: first humans, first marriage, first man & woman, first family, first sin.
Eve's sin causes labor in childbearing.
Cain & Abel: first sibling rivalry, first jealousy, first murder.
Lamech: first bigamist.
Lamech's offspring: creators of several "firsts" (cultural heroes)
Tower of Babel: creation of languages.
Israelites don't eat the sinew that is on the hollow of the thigh--a man struck Jacob there.
Passover: first month of the year.
Saul: first king of the Israelites.
Echo (woman in Ovid whose voice becomes explanation of echoes)
Many other explanations of origins in Ovid through the transformations.
Cupid & Psyche (Apuleius): origin of soul's desire for demystifying love

The Bible views cities as very bad; for example: Enoch, Jericho, Sodom & Gomorrah, Babylon
The Kyklopes had no civilization. They lived in caves and were laws unto themselves. They didn't associate with each other. They were pastoral, but the negative ideal.
In the so-called "Dark Ages," just prior to Homer's time, civilization was destroyed. During Homer's time, the rebuilding of cities was taking place. Cities were places where people came together to exchange ideas under common, human laws. Cities were seen as culture & were regarded as good.

§ Agriculture:

Odyssey--bad with the Kyklopes, good with the people
Bible--bad with Adam & Cain; not necessarily bad in some other contexts

§ Greek Cities:

Thebes: city of unreason (founded by Cadmus)
Athens: city of wisdom
Delphi: city of prophesy
Mykenae (Argos): city of gold (and Helen)
Troy: doomed city
Miletus: city of witchcraft

Antigone. Wished to bury her brother, against the wishes of the king, her uncle Creon. She sprinkled him with soil, was discovered, & was locked in a jail where she died.

Exodus. The Israelites, at Moses' behest, wish to leave Egypt to go and worship the Lord. They are met with opposition from the pharaoh. The Lord's plagues eventually convince him to allow the Israelites to leave. However, he realizes what he did, & he pursues them. The Lord, through Moses, parts the Red Sea and the Israelites escape. The Egyptians follow them & the sea falls back into place & drowns them.

God's Laws. The Ten Commandments vs. what the human ruler says is law.

Don't worship any other god besides the Lord (no idols).
Don't use the Lord's name in vain.
Sunday is for worship & rest -- don't work.
Honor your mother & father.§ Don't commit murder.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't steal.
Don't spread rumors about your neighbor
Don't covet your neighbor's wife.
Don't covet your neighbor's property.

David had faith in the Lord and was willing to confront Goliath of Gath, the Philistine champion, a bigger, stronger opponent.
Odysseus put his faith in Athena, and allowed her to call the shots during his homecoming.
Antigone had faith in the gods, and desired to follow their laws; so she attempted to bury her brother Polyneices.

Polyneices died and required a proper burial that is befitting him and demanded by the gods.
Elpenor fell off of Kirke's roof and died. When Odysseus and his crew encountered Elpenor in Hades, his ghost asked for a proper burial that would put his shade to rest.Shades: Ghosts from under the ground.
The shades cannot be touched. They are souls (ghosts, spirits, phantoms) and are insubstantial. They are perceived as a shadow of what they were in life.
Odysseus encountered many shades when he and his crew traveled to Hades. Among the shades he met: Elpenor, Agamemnon, Tiresias (seer), Antikleia (his mother), Achilles, Tantalus(Agamemnon's great-grandfather), Sisyphos (lifting a boulder for eternity), Herakles, Alkemene (Herakles' mother), & Jocasta (Epikaste).
Saul & the witch of Endor summon up the spirit of Samuel the prophet.
Klytemnestra's shade appears to the napping Furies, urging them to continue their pursuit of Orestes.

Humbaba, guardian of the forests (Gilgamesh)
Goliath, the giant Philistine (Old Test)
Polyphemos, the Kyklops (Odyssey)
Sirens: singing women (Odyssey)
Kharybdis, the Whirlpool (Odyssey)
Skylla, with the 6 heads & 12 tentacles (Odyssey)
Bull of Heaven, the earthquake (Gilgamesh)
Great Fish that swallowed Jonah (Old Test)
Sphinx, huge part lion part woman with wings (Oedipus)
Satan (Jesus and the Three Temptations: Matthew 4)

Hairy Men

Enkidu is covered with hair, much like the animals he roamed with.
Esau is very hairy, especially on his neck and hands.

Eyes

King Zedekiah of Jerusalem had his eyes put out
Oedipus put his eyes out as punishment for his sins
Kyklopes have only one eye
Tiresias has no eyes (blind)
Argos, a monster who served Juno, had 100 eyes. Mercury killed him (Ovid).

Moses & Israelites to Canaan (later Israel), the promised land.
Odysseus returns to Ithika after 20 years.
Agamemnon returns after the Trojan War & is murdered by his wife.
Oedipus returns to Thebes, the city of his birth, after leaving it as a baby. Leaving: § Exodus: the Israelites leave Egypt for the promised land (c. 1250 B. C. E.).
Trojan War: the Greeks left Greece for Troy to win back Helen from Paris. Odysseus, Agamemnon, Achilles, and other heroes fought there (1250 B. C. E.).

Exile: Nubuchadnezzar conquers Judah and takes Jews to Babylon (587 B. C. E.).
Oedipus exiled himself from Thebes when he learned of his origins & sins.

Wanderers:

Cain
Odysseus
Israelites in the Wilderness

The Guest-Host Relationship:

Guest expects gifts
Identity of guest revealed after dinner.
Zeus hates to see this relationship violated
Polyphemos: eats his guests
Eumaios: very generous & welcomes with all honors.
Alkinoos, Menelaos, Nestor: good hosts.
Lot (Old Test): places his guests above all else. He offers the angry citizens his 2 virgin daughters in order to protect his guests.

Singing:

Miriam & the Israelites sing praise to God for their defeat of the Egyptians (Song of Moses)
Deborah & Barak sing of victory over Sisera (Song of Deborah)
David plays the lyre & is credited with many of the Psalms. David relieves evil spirits plaguing Saul by singing & playing.
Women sing more praise to David than to Saul--causes Saul to become jealous.
Demodokos (Odyssey)--blind bard sings praises to heroes of the Trojan War.
Sirens sing to entice men to their deaths.
Orpheus sings sweetly to the gods for his dead wife to return to him & the living.

Dancing:

David dances before the Lord with abandon.
The Bacchae dance wildly for Dionysos.

Alcohol and Drugs Weapons:

Used to subdue the people of Troy while the Greeks hid in the wooden horse.
Odysseus used wine to get Polyphemos drunk so he could stab him in the eye.
Kirke used wine to paralyze the crew so she could transform them into swine.
Helen drugs the wine so her guests would forget the sadness of Troy.
Proverb 31--drinking.

Trickery:

Abraham (Abram) & Sarah (Sarai) fool the pharaoh into thinking that they are siblings and not spouses.
Jacob and Rebecca deceive Isaac with Esau's clothing & with the goat skins draped across his neck & hands.
Moses outwits the Egyptian magicians with the power of the Lord.
Odysseus is crafty & dresses as a beggar to disguise himself from his household & the suitors.

Agamemnon's Death:

§ Homer: Aegisthos (with the help of Klytemnestra) killed Agamemnon.
§ Aeschylus: Klytemnestra (with the aid of Aegisthos) murdered him.
§ History: both of them did it together.

Faithful People from the Odyssey:

Penelope
Eumaios
Faithful servants
Telemakos
Cowherd
Argos (dog)
Euryklaia nobly born.

Epic Simile:

Odyssey: Bow string; Point enters Polyphemos' eye
Agamemnon--Helen is described as a lion cub.

Sharp Projectiles that kill & wound:

§ David's sling shot & stone strike Goliath between the eyes & brings him down.
§ Jael's tent peg kills Sisera through the temple.
§ Odysseus blinds Polyphemos with a stick through his eye.

Mountains in Classical Literature:

Mount Sinai is the mountain of the Lord
Mount Olympos is the abode of the Greek gods
Mount Ida: (1) Mount near Troy where Paris made his famous Judgment for Aphrodite; (2) Mount on Crete where Rhea hid Zeus from his cannibalistic father Cronos

Adam & Eve: Cain, Abel, Seth
Line from Cain (wicked inventors); line from Seth
Noah: Shem, Ham, Japheth
Abraham & Hagar (slave girl): Ishmael § Abraham & Sarah: Isaac § Isaac & Rebecca: Esau, Jacob
Laius & Jocasta: Oedipus Oedipus & Jocasta: Eteocles, Polynices, Ismene, Antigone § Creon & Eurydice: Haemon (fiancee to Antigone)
Tantalus--Pelops--Atreus, Thyestes Atreus--Agamemnon, Menelaus (marries Helen) Agamemnon & Klytemnestra--Orestes Thyestes--sons, Pelopia Pelopia & Thyestes (her father) ---- Aegisthus (the lover of Klytemnestra).