Western literature/week11

A. Introduction
Medea

In Greek mythology, Medea /mɪˈdiːə/ is a sorceress who was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason abandons Medea when Creon, king of Corinth, offers his daughter Glauce. The play tells of Medea avenging her husband's betrayal by killing their children.
B. mythology

	Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth. Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the main religious focus for its unrestrained consumption.
	Semele is the daughter of the Boeotian hero Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.

	The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War, around 1300 BC, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts" literally means "Argo sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area.
	Satyr is one of a troop of ithyphallic male companions of Dionysus with goat-like features and often permanent erection.[3] Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but in 6th-century BC black-figure pottery human legs are the most common.

C. Others
Theatre of ancient Greece


The ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and military power during this period, was its center, where it was institutionalised as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus.

Tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres to emerge there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies and allies in order to promote a common cultural identity.