A Generic Category
The main character of a tragedy's terrible mistake that leads to his or her downfall
What is hamartia?
In a Greek tragedy, the reversal of fortune
What is peripeteia?
The Roman practice (especially common among the military) of training your desires to not be focused on yourself as an individual, but on your community and those around you
What is disciplina?
"Let her pray to the one god she worships. Death--who knows?--may just reprieve her from death. Or she may learn at last, better late than never, what a waste of breath it is to worship Death."
Who is Creon?
Gassire's encounter with the talking guinea hen is an example of this cosmology, which contends that the material world contains magical powers and spiritual entities
What is animism?
Han Solo, Maui, and Dido are all this type of character
What is a shapeshifter ally?
A story's plot or shape
What is mythos?
The Roman republic -- made up of the executive branch of consuls, the legislative branch of the Senate, and the democratic branch of the plebeians -- is an example of this type of government
What is a mixed regime?
Fill in the blank: "The hard will of _____ it is ... that overthrows the splendor of this place and brings Troy from her height into the dust."
Who are the gods?
These enabled the Empire of Gana to establish trade routes across the Sahara connecting Carthage with south and western Africa
What are camels?
What Aeneas's adventures in Book 6 would map onto on the Hero's Journey
What is the supreme ordeal/inmost cave?
The values, customs, and constitution of a particular people, closely related to the Greek word for "city"
What is politeia?
Part of the reason the ancient Roman middle class lost faith in their government is because, after their farms were destroyed by Hannibal, rich Romans bought up their land and created large estates called this Latin word
What are latifundia?
"You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers. Come, listen to me -- do what the plague demands: you'll find relief and lift your head from the depths."
Who is Oedipus?
One reason it would be hard to argue that Gassire's Lute is a tragedy is because it lacks this important figure, often a woman, who mediates between the main character and the second most important character
Who is the tritagonist?
The keeper and performer of the Dausi
Who is the griot?
Excellence, especially moral excellence
What is arete?
The heroic farmer from Livy's History of Rome, who repelled Rome's enemies and rescued the city from destruction before giving up his supreme power after only sixteen days
Who is Cincinnatus?
"Gassire, you are rushing to meet your fate. No one can stop you. And since you will not be a king, you shall be a bard."
Who is Kiekorro?
A close parallel to Roman pietas, except that this generosity of spirit extends to everyone, not just those who have authority over you
What is gacce?
According to Aristotle, the best tragedies have these two things happen at the same time
What is the scene of recognition and the reversal of fortune?
Character, whether in the fictional sense ("that character Ryan Gosling played is literally me") or the moral sense ("some historians argue that Genghis Khan lacked character")
What is ethos?
What is a maniple?
What aspect of Rome's cosmology, its vision of the universe, is this quote discussing? "Aeneas asked what river flowed there and what men were those in such a throng along the riverside ... Anchises told him: 'Souls for whom a second body is in store.'"
What is its eschatology?
The language group in which Gassire's Lute was written
What is mande?