Quiz 1: Introduction to the Course

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Quiz 1: Introduction to the Course
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Quiz 1: Introduction to the Course
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1.Question 1
Myth is something that has carried many different definitions over time. Check all that were
mentioned in lecture.

1 / 1 point

a primitive form of thought

Correct
those who think this will value it in different ways, positively and negatively

anything spoken
Correct
this is a sense built right into the Greek work MYTHOS

a special language spoken among car mechanics to isolate electrical problems

another name for language of any kind, including the communications of all species

a tall tale

Correct
this is a sense built right into the Greek work MYTHOS

a story with a truth specific to some particular culture

Correct
right, some see it as a window into the specifics of a certain people, nation, or culture

a lie

Correct
this is a tried and true definition -- in both the contemporary and ancient worlds, on definition of the
term "myth" (Greek, MYTHOS) is "a lie."

a story with a profound truth in it.

Correct
some people think myths convey the deepest truths it's possible for us humans to find

a story with a truth about something universal to all of humanity

Correct
over the course of the 20th century especially, people turned to myths in their hunt for human
universals
2.Question 2
Of all those possible definitions of myth in question 1), our class is definitely NOT going to use...
(check all that apply).

0 / 1 point

a thing that floats around in space

Correct
this is one claim about myth we won't use in the class -- myths are told by humans in human
language.

a primitive form of thought

anything spoken

a story with a truth specific to some particular culture

A story with a truth about something universal to all humanity

a lie

This should not be selected

We'll see this one -- sometimes even among the ancient myth tellers!

a story with a profound truth in it

3.Question 3
Evaluate the following statement: The versions of myths we see on contemporary television shows
are not authentic.

1 / 1 point

This statement is false.

The statement contains an assumption that makes it difficult to call it true or false.

This statement is true.

Correct
For detailed consideration of the reasoning behind the correct answer to this question, see question
4).

4.Question 4
The reason why question 3) has the answer it does is because:

1 / 1 point

The TV shows play so fast and loose with the real mythology, they can't even be measured via the
category of authenticity.

The Romans already corrupted the authentic Greek versions, so when the later Europeans inherited
these stories and passed them on to Hollywood, they're already so inauthentic that you can't really
blame the TV shows for getting the true versions wrong.

To measure any version of a myth, even campy TV shows, as not authentic (or as authentic)
assumes that there is some one authentic, authorized version of these myths against which they
succeed or fail, and there really isn't one.

Correct
This question asks you to evaluate the use of the idea of "authenticity" to measure versions mythic
stories. The problems is, there really is not any pure, authentic version of any of these mythic
stories. Moderns borrow from the ancients, and the ancients borrowed from even more ancient
versions, prior to their own. ANY telling of a myth is going to be at root a re-telling, and also a
reshaping to meet the needs of the culture that is doing the re-telling. Myth is a living, changing
thing.

5.Question 5
True or False: Although there are many versions of myths, there is always one definitive version.

1 / 1 point
False

True

Correct

6.Question 6
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.

People make myths up under the influence of their own culture, so you'll see people making their
gods in their own images.

1 / 1 point

Euhemerism

Aristarchus

allegory

Plato

Xenophanes

Correct

7.Question 7
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.

Myths are stories told about real people in the past who did something important. Future generations
told and retold their exploits; and through exaggeration the real people eventually became deified.

1 / 1 point

allegory

Plato
 Xenophanes

Aristarchus

Euhemerism

Correct

8.Question 8
Match the statement with the most appropriate theorist / theory from antiquity.

Myths contain hidden truths buried inside their strange tales. So when you run into something
strange or out of the ordinary chances are it's the poet trying to convey a hidden message.

0 / 1 point

Plato

Aristarchus

allegory

Euhemerism

Xenophanes

Incorrect
Incorrect -- Xenophanes thought that people make myths up under the influence of their own culture.

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 1.3 Ancient Ideas on Myth

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 9.Question 9
This thinker re-introduces the Greek term "mythos" into modern European language. Up til then,
terms from the Latin "fabula" were the most common way of referring to the ancient tales.

0 / 1 point

Fontenelle

Herder

Heyne

Hume

Incorrect
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 1.4 Ideas on Myth from the Modern Era

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10.Question 10
This thinker was the first one in our group of moderns to consider the stories in myth to be attempts
to explain strange happenings in the natural world. Early humans were fearful of some things, like
lightning or thunder, and invented myths to explain what they saw. [Please give your answer in
terms of last name only, starting with a capital letter! Spelling counts!]

1 / 1 point
Fontenelle
Correct
Correct! -- Fontenelle thought of the stories in myth as being the result of an attempt to understand
the world, and so not SO different from the mentality that all humans have.

11.Question 11
This thinker treated myth as the same thing as poetry, religion, and language itself. It was a primal
expression of what it means to be human containing the deepest meanings we humans are capable
of observing and expressing. [Please give your answer in terms of last name only, starting with a
capital letter!]
1 / 1 point
Herder
Correct
Correct! -- Herder, as a precursor to the Romantics, saw myth as a great repository of primal ancient
wisdom. For Herder, myth was not so much an attempt to explain as it was an automatic, profound
response of a human being to the experience of being human.

12.Question 12
Here's the definition we're going to be using as our working definition in this class. Who is the
scholar who developed it?

"Myth is a traditional tale with a secondary partial reference to something of collective importance"
(and for our class, we'll add, "...told by someone for some reason.")

1 / 1 point

Heyne

Fontenelle

Herder

Burkert

Correct
Correct!

13.Question 13
Which of the following accurately matches each historical period to the century in which it occurred?

1 / 1 point

Classical Rome: 2nd c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
15th c. BCE.

Classical Rome: 1st c. CE; Classical Athens: 5th c. BCE; Homeric period: 8th c. BCE; Trojan War:
13th c. BCE.
Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 9th c. BCE; Trojan War:
14th c. BCE.

Classical Rome: 1st c. BCE; Classical Athens: 4th c. BCE; Homeric period: 6th c. BCE; Trojan War:
11th c. CE.

Correct

14.Question 14
The legendary number of Greek warriors sent to battle troy is:

1 / 1 point

10,000

1000

1,000,000

100,000

Correct

15.Question 15
What happens after 10 years of fighting in order to allow the Greeks to conquer Troy?

1 / 1 point

Astyanax throws himself over the walls of Troy

Agamemnon rapes Cassandra on the altar of Athena in Troy

Helen opens the doors to the citadel

Diomedes and Odysseus steal the Palladium, a statue of Athena

Correct

16.Question 16
Which of the following statements characterizes how the Greeks remembered their own involvement
in the Trojan War. Check all that apply:

0 / 1 point

As a moment when their imperial reach over the Mediterranean was solidified for generations to
come.

This should not be selected

As an effort characterized by excessive displays of war rage against the conquered Trojans.

As an effort characterized by extraordinary heroic prowess on the battle fields.

Correct

As an effort characterized by deadly internecine feuds.

As a massive mistake, when the dalliance of Helen was used as an excuse to try to dominate the
Mediterranean.

This should not be selected

17.Question 17
Contemporary scholars have identified the number of poets behind the Odyssey, which has been
traditionally attributed to Homer, to be:

1 / 1 point

We're not entirely sure, but given the overall coherence of the story, we tend now to credit the work
to a single editorial hand endowed with great poetic insight.
 7

Correct

18.Question 18
The writing down of Homer's text:

0 / 1 point

Coincided with the arrival of the technology of the alphabetic script into Greece.

Caused the invention of the alphabet.

Had to be transferred from a first attempt to record it in the earlier writing system of Linear B.

Was undertaken by a scribe named Homer, which is where we developed the idea of Homer as a
poet.

Incorrect
Incorrect

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 1.3 Ancient Ideas on Myth

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19.Question 19
Homer's poetry was understood to be divinely inspired . . .

0 / 1 point
 . . . and so it was received as a Sacred text and read literally by ancient Greeks.

. . . insofar as the poet himself claimed the Muse was just using him as a mouthpiece.

Incorrect
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 1.3 Ancient Ideas on Myth

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20.Question 20
What is the meaning of the first word of the Odyssey in the original Greek?

0 / 1 point

Sing

Rage

War

Muse

Man

Incorrect
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 1.4 Ideas on Myth from the Modern Era

Video • 15 min