Required Text: Barry B. Powell, Classical Mythology, 8th ed., (Boston: Pearson, 2015) [Powell]
Myth as mythos. Our term myth derives from the Greek word mythos, which has several meanings. Prominent among these in Homer and Archaic
Greek poetry is “authoritative speech act.” This term describes an act of speaking that is so powerful that it can bring itself into
effect. (E.g. Agamemnon’s commands to Chryses, priest of Apollo, in Iliad, Book I, presented in the first lecture.) Select one myth or set
of myths from Homer, Hesiod, or the Homeric Hymns (all Archaic Greek texts) and explain how this definition of mythos is (or is not)
helpful for understanding it. What does the connection between myth and mythos tell us about early Greek culture?