英语国家文化笔记

一．Apollo and Dionysus

1.Apollo

1)difficult birth: the floating island of Delos, 9 days in birth

2)avenger and destroyer of monster. It was Apollo, the god of light, who defeated the primordial goddess-empowered Python and installed himself as the source of oracles at the sacred precinct(区域)of Delphi. The defeat of the Python represents the classical Greek patriarchal culture’s defeat of the old chthonic and chaotic goddess power of Gaia, the firstborn of Chaos in the Greek creation myth.

3) a young man who has to prove his worth to establish his worship

4) a most unfortunate lover. the beloved youth Hyacinth who was posthumously transformed into

a flower; the posthumous transformation of the youth Cyparissus, who Apollo's tears are transformed into a cypress tree; the transformation of the mountain nymph, Daphne, who begs Zeus to protect her from the unwanted pursuit of Apollo -- Zeus turns her into a Bay or laurel tree; the killing of Coronis, mother to Apollo's son (Asclepius, father of healing).

5)the god of the sun or the light

6)patron of herds and flocks (life)

7)patron of plants (life)

8)patron of archery, dance, poetry, music, and medicine (cultural life). He plays a role as patron of the Muses, the divine beings of inspiration to human artists. He incorporates rituals of nature worship(festivals celebrating harvest) with those of rational creativity.

9)the god of prophesy and religious healing: famous oracle in Delphi (spiritual life)

10)the god of reason and intellectualism."Know Thyself" and "Nothing in Excess" are advice given by him to humans for forgetting their mortal limitations and behaving as if they were gods.

2.Dionysus

1)unnatural birth. He is called "twice-born" because he was conceived in a woman's womb, but born from the thigh of Zeus. His miraculous birthing reflects the hierarchy of Olympus :Hera's offspring as gods and goddesses and other gods and goddesses through Zeus' own actions.

2)His story also reflects the patriarchal gender roles of ancient Greece.

3)loss of sanity: madness

4)violence and death

5)a loving son: bringing his mother back from the Underworld

6)a faithful lover: Ariadne

7)the god of wine (vine) and intoxication

8)Cycle of nature. Dionysus represents the cycle of nature -- birth, growth, death, regeneration, as

a male Persephone who makes the earth produce grain and vine.

9)patron deity of agriculture

10)patron of the theatre

11)a twice-born deity: the cycle of nature -- birth, growth, death, regeneration, as a male Persephone who makes the earth produce grain and vine.

12)A liberator: instinctual life force that animates nature ;shatters conventional restraints and permits humans to act out extremes of emotion and behavior. He inspires the emotional and the