Myth & Archaeology
What is the name for an object made or used by people in the past that archaeologists study?
Answer: An artifact.
Which Hero's Journey stage usually contains monsters, riddles, traps, and other smaller challenges?
Answer: The Road of Trials.
What type of myth explains how the world, people, animals, seasons, or other things came into existence?
Answer: A creation myth.
Which two gods originally rule the sea and sky in the Kaloneiriad?
Thalassa rules the sea, and Aratar rules the sky.
In both the Babylonian and Norse creation myths studied in class, an important part of the world is created from the body of a defeated or dead being. Name BOTH beings.
Answer: Tiamat and Ymir.
In the Enuma Elish, Marduk uses Tiamat’s body to form the heavens; in the Norse myth, the world is formed from Ymir’s body.
When studying an artifact, why should an archaeologist separate what they observe from what they think?
Observations are evidence, while thoughts are interpretations of that evidence.
What stage happens after the hero survives the Ordeal and gains what they sought?
Answer: The Reward.
What is the name of the monster of chaos does Marduk battle in the Enuma Elish?
Tiamat
What does Aratar change into birds when he creates the creatures of the sky?
Answer: Fish
If a myth includes a real ancient city but supernatural characters, what does this demonstrate about myths?
Myths can combine real places or history with fantastical elements.
Māui travels away from his village to the end of the earth. Which Hero's Journey stage does this represent?
Crossing the Threshold.
What does Marduk use to create the heavens after defeating Tiamat?
Part of Tiamat's body.
What powerful being raises the land from beneath the sea and then carries it on his back?
Answer: Halost the Strong.
Why might two archaeologists examine the same artifact and develop different theories?
Evidence can support multiple reasonable interpretations.
Māui survives danger partly by changing his form to escape. What heroic quality does the lesson suggest this demonstrates?
Cleverness.
In the Norse creation myth studied in class, the earth, waters, land, and sky are created from the body of what being?
Answer: Ymir. ( Ice giant that created them but was every )
Humans are made from wet sand, Aratar's breath, and Thalassa's seawater. What might this suggest about Kaloneiran beliefs?
Answer: Humans are connected to land, sky, and sea and depend upon all three realms.
Archaeologists discover an image of a king beside a god. Why would saying, “The king must be the god's son” be weaker than saying, “The image may suggest a connection between the king and the god”?
The first statement treats an interpretation as a proven fact without enough evidence.
Why is the Ordeal especially useful when determining what qualities a culture values in its heroes?
The hero's most important qualities are tested during the Ordeal, revealing what makes the hero worthy.
The battle between Marduk and Tiamat ends with Marduk creating the heavens from the defeated monster. What larger idea might this symbolize?
Order defeating chaos and using that victory to create an organized world.
The Kaloneiriad says that Thrasia recovered the sun and moon from the jaws of Karkaros. Based on the Hero's Journey, what stage would this event most likely represent?
Answer: The Ordeal or Reward. Fighting or confronting Karkaros could be the Ordeal, while recovering the sun and moon would be the Reward.