Dying God: First Lecture

Not the first lecture of the course, but the first lecture I got to, on Sept. 16, 2009

Dying God Figures

 * Perhaps these figures should be called lamented gods, or mourned gods
 * Male dying figure
 * Female mourning figure


 * Dumuzi/Tammuz:
 * The names are differentiated by Attican/Babylonian dialects of same concept
 * Wife Ishtar laments


 * Ba'al
 * Word meaning "Lord"
 * Worshipped in Canaanite eventually Phoenician communities
 * Sister Annete laments


 * Osiris
 * Egyptian death god
 * Lamented by Isis, his wife-sister


 * Attis
 * Lamented by Cybele


 * Adonis
 * Greek tradition
 * Aphrodite mourns him

Lucian

 * Greek writer
 * Living around same time as plutarch
 * Circa 100 AD

Selected Chapters

 * Lucian takes us on a 'field trip'
 * To Syria, where he visits a temple of 'Hera'
 * Syncretism -> Amalgamation of formerly distinct traditions
 * MELQART -> Major Syrian Hero/God
 * Connected to Heralces/Herucles in Greek Tradition


 * So Where Is Lucian?
 * Let's say broadly the far eastern shore of the Mediterranean


 * Lucian does some interesting things in the text
 * 1) Uses the Ionian dialect though he usually writes in Attic
 * 2) This suggests a certain Herodotus parody/homage
 * 3) Takes on a certain touristic parody


 * He tells a story of a head that travels from Egypt to Byblos


 * WHY ARE THE GREEKS INTERESTED IN THIS?
 * Lucian was himself Syrian (or Assyrian) -> So he opted into Greek Culture
 * Greek was made a sort of Universal language by Alexander the Great's dominance and intellectual/culture of Greece accompanied it


 * WE NEED TO ASK IF BYBLOS & ADONIS ARE REALLY SO CONNECTED

Walter Burkert

 * Offers a more critical perspective on the experience of the people who were surrounded by Myth