Journal#6 Example

Journal#6 Example Journal#6 – Assignment Example Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence Question Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood, and it lasts from age 11 or 12 until early twenties or late teens. Puberty marks the end of childhood and it is triggered by hormonal changes. These changes can affect behavior and moods. Puberty usually lasts for four years, and it begins earlier in girls than boys (Kail & Cavanaugh 243). During this stage, both boys and girls undergo growth spurt. They begin to develop primary characteristics, which include the reproductive organs, and secondary characteristics such as growth of pubic hair around their genitalia. The leading characteristics of sexual maturity include menstruation, for females, and production of sperms, for males (Kail & Cavanaugh 296). Menarche occurs between the age of 12 and 13 while spermarche occurs at age 13. The adolescents are often concerned with their body images that lead to obsessive dieting, especially in girls. Peer pressure is more inf luential than parents’ pieces of advice and guides, and this leads to drug abuse and indulgence in criminal activities. Depression is also highly prevalent among the adolescent especially girls. Question #2First, the social environment significantly affects the onset of puberty. I have since known that the onset of puberty is standardized in spite of a teenager’s social environment. According to Belsky, Draper and Steinberge, girls whose mothers use harsh punishment on them usually experience their first menstrual cycle at a younger age. Additionally, Menarche occurs in younger girls who experience depression or chronic stress (Kail & Cavanaugh 298). I also learnt that early maturation varies across ethnic or racial groups. For instance, sexual activity, of early-maturing Latinas, was directly linked with having older boys, in the peer groups, who influence them to engage in negative activities such as smoking, drinking and sex. Question #3 From the leadership perspect ive, I learnt that adolescents’ working memory almost has the same capacity as adults’ working memory (Kail & Cavanaugh 246). This means that they are capable of storing information required for a cognitive process. The processing speed is also sufficient to process information more efficiently. Additionally, early maturing boys are likely to become leaders because of self-confidence and high self-esteem, unlike early maturing girls, who are unlikely to become leaders because of the indifferences they have in social situations. Kail, Robert V, and Cavanaugh, John C. Human Development: A Life-Span View. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.

Miller Test Used for Defining Obscenity in U.S. Courts

Miller Test Used for Defining Obscenity in U.S. Courts The Miller test is the standard used by courts to define obscenity. It  comes from the 1973 Supreme Courts 5-4 ruling in Miller v. California,  in which Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, held that obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment. What Is the First Amendment? The First Amendment is the one that guarantees Americans’ freedoms. We can worship in any faith we choose, whenever we choose. The government cannot restrict these practices. We have the right to petition the government and to assemble. But the First Amendment is most commonly known as our right to freedom of speech and expression. Americans can speak their minds without fear of reprisal. The First Amendment reads like this: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The 1973 Miller v. California Decision   Chief Justice Burger stated the Supreme Courts  definition of obscenity:  Ã‚   The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest ... (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. If a state obscenity law is thus limited, First Amendment values are adequately protected by ultimate independent appellate review of constitutional claims when necessary. To put it in laymans terms, the following questions must be answered:   Is it pornography?Does it actually show sex?Is it otherwise useless? So What Does This Mean?   Courts have traditionally held that the  sale and distribution of obscene material are not protected by the First Amendment. In other words, you can speak your mind freely, including the distribution of printed materials, unless youre promoting or talking about something obscene based on the above standards. The guy standing next to you, an Average Joe, would be offended by what youve said or distributed. A sexual act is depicted or described. And your words and/or materials serve no other purpose but to promote this obscenity.   The Right to Privacy   The First Amendment applies only to disseminating pornography or obscene materials. It doesnt protect you if you share the materials or shout from the rooftop for all to hear. You can, however, quietly possess those materials for your own use and enjoyment because you also have a constitutional right to privacy.  Although no amendment specifically states this, several amendments pay lip service to the issue of privacy. The Third Amendment protects your home against unreasonable entry, the Fifth Amendment protects you against self-incrimination and the Ninth Amendment generally supports your right to privacy because it upholds the Bill of Rights. Even if a right is not specifically stated in the first eight amendments, it’s protected if it’s alluded to in the Bill of Rights.

Pornography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pornography - Essay Example It narrates the story of the passionate and obsessive sexual affair between Kichizo Ishidaa, a hotel owner, and Sada Abe, a prostitute turned servant who works for him. By portraying the unusual relationship and obsessive love between the couple, through several sequences of sexual acts, Oshima subtly redefines the meaning of pornography and obscenity. The movie depicts an â€Å"extended repertoire of graphic sex acts† that are typical of porn movies and due to stringent censorship laws in Japan Oshima has done all the post production work in France (Williams 183). Many critics have discounted the movie as pornographic but some, including the movie’s director, defended it on the grounds that it radically attempts to extend the possibilities of pornography and challenges the â€Å"very notion of obscenity† (183). The main objective of Oshima seems to be to show the audience what they wish to see but have so far forbidden themselves from viewing. He further contend s that when the audience feels that all that they wanted to see is â€Å"revealed† the element of â€Å"obscenity disappears† and, therefore, the authorities should authorize the screening of pornographic movies (183). In her critique of the movie, writer and critic Linda Williams endorses that despite the graphic sexual acts depicted in the film, it does not â€Å"negate art† (184). People usually associate pornography and obscenity with the concept of devouring on sexual acts that people watch merely for the purpose of excitement or as a deviatory pleasure. Thus, the general notion is that pornography solely seeks to elicit erotic feelings and arouse the people who watch or read such materials. However, through the portrayal of a strong, obsessive love affair between a servant and master that finally entails in jealousy out of possessiveness, Oshima pushes the boundaries that define the term pornography and obscenity and attract the attention of the audience t o new dimensions of the term. Linda Williams attributes the film to be â€Å"too real, too hard-core† but also â€Å"too beautiful to fathom† (184). On the other hand, she further mentions the scary connotation of the castration in the movie’s climax is a befitting end, which reflects the â€Å"Lacanian allegories† of the times when the movie was made (184). Thus, Oshima has traversed beyond the normal realms of pornography and obscenity through the depiction of the tumultuous affair between the man and the woman in his movie, In the Realm of Senses. A Critical Analysis of Linda William’s Definition of Obscenity: Human cultures and civilization have evolved with the passage of time as people keep changing their perspectives based on new information and knowledge. The definition of the word â€Å"obscene,† as the humans perceive it now, has also undergone a lot of interpretation as well as transformation before it has acquired its current dim ension. In the conservative American society the word obscenity refers to any sexual representation in any art form that has been included in it simply â€Å"for sex’s sake† without adding any value the content; or in a sense it encompasses the notion of what should be â€Å"off (ob) the stage (scene) of representation† (Williams 165). Linda Williams in her essay titled, Second Thoughts on

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Management - Essay Example 8.8 2)Although senior management does not want a business case for proceeding with this project, they would like to know what some of the potential financial benefits could be from this project. Write a one- to two-page paper describing several potential financial benefits that could result from providing this system. Any technology based resource management system comes with several degrees of financial benefits that are essential to the success of any organization or company involved. Most managers have however not readily identified these benefits, which are financial because they are often embedded in other benefits that are non-fiscal. This means that the financial benefits of technology based management systems are not extrinsic but highly intrinsic (WWF, 2000). The financial benefits are always the result of the key characteristics of the systems. Three of these characteristics are known to be multi-functional, effectiveness and efficiency. The technology based resource manage ment system is said to be multi-functional because it can play several roles at a time. Unlike the orthodox system of creating different portfolios for different employees, a single system could be used to play about three to five at a time (World Conservation Union M&E Initiative, 2009). There could for instance be one system that combines the roles of recruitment, placement, orientation, salary grading and pension scheming, all at a time. In such a situation, the company benefits extensively because the amount of money that would have been spent on each of the portfolios is spared and saved in the coffers of the company. Subsequently, these monies serve as capital for starting other money making activities so as to raise and generate incomes for the company. In the case of the present system, it is even possible to advance the functions of the system so that in the nearest future, there could be several roles integrated into its work. As far as effectiveness is concerned, referenc e is being made to the fact that the technology based resource management systems are useful in generating financial returns and financial benefits by ensuring very high levels of perfection in service delivery. There is no denying the fact that no machine is 100% effective. However, studies show that most contemporary systems that have been introduced in the project management system to take care of resource management actually outweigh human perfection for close to 30% (World Conservation Union M&E Initiative, 2009 ). This means that there is a wider range of quality and perfection guarantee on the use of the technology based system as compared to using human effort. Invariably, the amount of money that would have been spent on legal litigations and other forms of inaccuracy corrections and remediation would be channeled into other profit making ventures within the organization. The effectiveness of the system is therefore another guarantee that the system is highly beneficial in terms of finances. Finally, the efficiency of the system cannot be underestimated in any way, and as

Judicial Activism Essay Example for Free

Judicial Activism Essay It is perhaps unsurprising that the liberal court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1953 to 1969 invalidated federal, state and local laws at almost twice the rate of the Roberts court. But the more conservative court that followed, led by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1969 to 1986, was even more activist, striking down laws in almost 9 percent of its cases, compared with just over 7 percent in the Warren court and just 4 percent in the Roberts court. The court led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist from 1986 to 2005 was also more activist than the current one, at 6.4 percent. In a new book, â€Å"Terms of Engagement,† Clark M. Neily III of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group, calculated that the Supreme Court struck down just 103 of the 15,817 laws enacted by Congress in the half-century ending in 2002. â€Å"It is implausible,† he wrote, â€Å"to suppose the federal government hits the constitutional strike zone 99.5 percent of the time.† Mr. Neily urged the Supreme Court to be more active but rejected the phrase â€Å"judicial activism.† After the Supreme Court argument in the case in the spring of 2012, with things looking grim for the fate of his law, Mr. Obama tried to shift the terms of the discussion back to activism. â€Å"I’d just remind conservative commentators,† he said, â€Å"that for years what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint — that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.† Three months after Mr. Obama’s remarks, Chief Justice Roberts broke with his usual conservative allies and voted with the court’s four liberals to uphold the law. In a joint dissent, the four conservatives said the majority was wrong to portray its ruling as â€Å"judicial modesty† when â€Å"it amounts instead to a vast judicial overreaching.† In a recent essay, â€Å"Why We Need More Judicial Activism,† Suzanna Sherry, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, said the Supreme Court had erred more often in sustaining laws than in striking them down. â€Å"Too much of a good thing can be bad,† she wrote, â€Å"and democracy is no exception.† The article’s central claim is based upon political science research showing that the Roberts Court has been more likely to reach â€Å"conservative† decisions than its predecessors. Liptak reports: In its first five years, the Roberts court issued conservative decisions 58 percent of the time. And  in the term ending a year ago, the rate rose to 65 percent, the highest number in any year since at least 1953. The recent shift to the right is modest. And the court’s decisions have hardly been uniformly conservative. The justices have, for instance, limited the use of the death penalty and rejected broad claims of executive power in the government’s efforts to combat terrorism. But scholars who look at overall trends rather than individual decisions say that widely accepted political science data tell an unmistakable story about a notably conservative court. This distinction is important because the data presented by Liptak suggests that the Roberts Court is such a â€Å"conservative minimalist† court. Indeed, it appears to be the most restrained – or least â€Å"activist† (if â€Å"activism† is defined as willingness to overturn federal statutes or prior precedents) – Court since World War II. According to the data presented with the article in this chart, the Warren, Burger and Rehnquist Courts overturned precedents at an average rate of 2.7, 2.8 and 2.4 per term, respectively. The Roberts Court, on the other hand, has only overturned an average of 1.6 precedents per term. The record on striking down laws shows a similar pattern. The Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts struck down an average of 7.9, 12.5, and 8.2 laws per term, whereas the Roberts Court has only invalidated an average of 3 laws per term. Liptak acknowledges this data at the close of his article, but downplays it with his description: â€Å"The Roberts court is finding laws unconstitutional and reversing precedent — two measures of activism — no more often than earlier courts.† So, while the majority of the Roberts Court’s decisions are â€Å"conservative,† the data Liptak summarizes does not appear to have resulted in a more â€Å"conservative† legal regime, as the Roberts Court has done relatively little to change the law (at least thus far) compared to its predecessors. This is important, because it effectively refutes claims that there is anything particularly radical or â€Å"activist† about the Roberts Court, even if one accepts that it is notably â€Å"conservative.† There is no evidence as yet that the Roberts Court is as willing to challenge federal power as the Court was under Burger (National League of Cities v. Usery) or Rehnquist (Lopez, Morrison, Boerne). There are exceptions, such as some of the Court’s Miranda decisions – which have certainly made the law less protective of criminal suspects and defendants – and Citizens United, but these exceptions are balanced by aggressive liberal opinions in areas like executive power and the death penalty. In sum, even if most of the Roberts Court’s decisions are â€Å"conservative† a substantive analysis of the Roberts Court’s decisions does not reveal a significant rightward shift in the law.

The Long Road To Manhood :: essays papers

The Long Road To Manhood While most people might think that becoming a man is much easier than becoming a woman, this is not true of all cultures around the world. According to Gilmore, becoming a man is problematic (1990). Accordingly, in some cultures, such as the Sambia of New Guinea and the Samburu tribe in Africa, becoming a man constitutes a tremendous amount of rituals. In other cultures, such as the Mundurucu tribe of Brazil, becoming a man, while a lot more complicated than becoming a woman, is not as ritualistic as the Sambia and the Samburu. In most of the societies discussed in class, the road to manhood involves such rituals as circumcision, blood letting, and living in seclusion for a period of several years. The Samburu tribe of Africa force their boys to engage in several rituals, on their voyage to becoming men. â€Å"Samburu males must pass through a complicated series of age-sets and age-grades by which their growing maturity and responsibility as men in the light of these tribal values are publicly acknowledged† (Gilmore, 133:1990). The first initiation into manhood is the circumcision ceremony, which is preformed at the age of fourteen to fifteen. The young boys of the Samburu tribe are taken away from their mothers after the circumcision ceremony, and sent out onto their voyage to manhood. There are a series of different ceremonies that the boys must engage in before they are allowed to move onto the next level of their voyage. Their voyage ends after about twelve years, in which the boys have proved themselves as men, by successfully completing all the different tasks asked of them, they are allowed to take on wives and start their own families. However, the tests of manhood are not limited to the rituals in which the young boys engage in. Even after completing the rituals, a man must always prove his manhood to the others in the tribe. The Sambia, which are similar to the Samburu tribe in their manhood rituals, engage in a majority of the same acts in regards to the transforming young boys into men. However, while circumcision is a major role for the initiation into manhood, the Sambia believe that in order for a boy to start maturing as a male, he must swallow semen. The Sambia â€Å"are firmly convinced that manhood is an artificially induced stat that must be forcibly foisted onto hesitant young boys by ritual means† (Gilmore, 147: 1990).

Greek Mythology

Greek mythology in western art and literature With the rediscovery of classical antiquity in Renaissance, the poetry of Ovid became a major influence on the imagination of poets and artists and remained a fundamental influence on the diffusion and perception of Greek mythology through subsequent centuries. [2] From the early years of Renaissance, artists portrayed subjects from Greek mythology alongside more conventional Christian themes.Among the best-known subjects of Italian artists are Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Pallas and the Centaur, the Ledas of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Raphael's Galatea. 2] Through the medium of Latin and the works of Ovid, Greek myth influenced medieval and Renaissance poets such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante in Italy. [1] In northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature. Both Latin and Greek classical texts were translated, so that stories of mythology becam e available. In England, Chaucer, the Elizabethans and John Milton were among those influenced by Greek myths; nearly all the major English poets from Shakespeare to Robert Bridges turned for inspiration to Greek mythology.Jean Racine in France and Goethe in Germany revived Greek drama. [2] Racine reworked the ancient myths — including those of Phaidra, Andromache, Oedipus and Iphigeneia — to new purpose. [3] The 18th century saw the philosophical revolution of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe and accompanied by a certain reaction against Greek myth; there was a tendency to insist on the scientific and philosophical achievements of Greece and Rome.The myths, however, continued to provide an important source of raw material for dramatists, including those who wrote the libretti for Handel's operas Admeto and Semele, Mozart's Idomeneo and Gluck's Iphigenie en Aulide. [3] By the end of the century, Romanticism initiated a surge of enthusiam for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain, it was a great period for new translations of Greek tragedies and Homer, and these in turn inspired contemporary poets, such as Keats, Byron and Shelley. 4] The Hellenism of Queen's Victoria poet laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson, was such that even his portraits of the quintessentially English court of King Arthrur are suffused with echoes of the Homeric epics.The visual arts kept pace, stimulated by the purchase of the Parthenon marbles in 1816; many of the â€Å"Greek† paintings of Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema were seriously accepted as part of the transmission of the Hellenic ideal. [5] The German composer of the 18th century Christoph Gluck was also influenced by Greek mythology. 1] American authors of the 19th century, such as Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, believed that myths should provide pleasure, and held that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of English and Americal literatu re. [6] According to Bulfinch, â€Å"the so-called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men; they belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste†. [7] In more recent times, classical themes have been reinterpreted by such major dramatists as Jean Anouilh, Jean Cocteau, and Jean Giraudoux in France, Eugene O'Neill in America, and T.S. Eliot in England and by great novelists such as the Irish James Joyce and the French Andre Gide. Richard Strauss, Jacques Offenbach and many others have set Greek mythological themes to music. [1]References 1. ^ a b c d â€Å"Greek Mythology†. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. 2. ^ a b c â€Å"Greek mythology†. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. * L. Burn, Greek Myths, 75 3. ^ a b l. Burn, Greek Myths, 75 4. ^ l. Burn, Greek Myths, 75-76 5. ^ l. Burn, Greek Myths, 76 6. ^ Klatt-Brazouski, Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, 4 7. ^ T. Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythol ogy, 1 Greek Mythology Greek Mythology,  set  of  diverse  traditional tales told by the ancient Greeks about the exploits of gods and heroes and their relations with ordinary mortals. The  ancient  Greeks  worshiped many gods within a culture that tolerated diversity. Unlike other belief systems, Greek culture recognized no single truth or code and produced no sacred, written text like the Bible or the Qur’an. Stories about the origins and actions of Greek divinities varied widely, depending, for example, on whether the tale appeared in a comedy, tragedy, or epic poem.Greek mythology was like a complex and rich language, in which the Greeks could express a vast range of perceptions about the world. A  Greek  city-state  devoted itself to a particular god or group of gods in whose honor it built temples. The temple generally housed a statue of the god or gods. The Greeks honored the city’s gods in festivals and also offered sacrifices to the gods, usually a domestic animal such as a goat. Stories about the gods varied by geographic location: A god might have one set of characteristics in one city or region and quite different characteristics elsewhere. II A A1PRINCIPAL FIGURES IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY Greek  mythology  has  several distinguishing characteristics, in addition to its multiple versions. The Greek gods resembled human beings in their form and in their emotions, and they lived in a society that resembled human society in its levels of authority and power. However, a crucial difference existed between gods and human beings: Humans died, and gods were immortal. Heroes also played an important role in Greek mythology, and stories about them conveyed serious themes. The Greeks considered human heroes from the past closer to themselves than were the immortal gods. GodsGiven  the  multiplicity of myths that circulated in Greece, it is difficult to present a single version of the genealogy (family history) of the gods. However, two accounts together provide a genealogy that most ancient Greeks would have recognized. One is the account given by Greek poet Hesiod in his Theogony (Genealogy of the Gods), written in the 8th century BC. The other account, The Library, is attributed to a mythographer (compiler of myths) named Apollodorus, who lived during the 2nd century BC. The Creation of the Gods According  to  Greek  myths about creation, the god Chaos (Greek for â€Å"Gaping Void†) was the foundation of all things.From Chaos came Gaea (â€Å"Earth†); the bottomless depth of the underworld, known as Tartarus; and Eros (â€Å"Love†). Eros, the god of love, was needed to draw divinities together so they Greek Mythology might produce offspring. Chaos produced Night, while Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of the heavens, and after him produced the mountains, sea, and gods known as Titans. The Titans were strong and large, and they committed arrogant deeds. The youngest and most important Titan was C ronus. Uranus and Gaea, who came to personify Heaven and Earth, also gave birth to the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who made thunderbolts.See also Creation Stories. A2 A3 A4 Cronus and Rhea Uranus  tried  to  block any successors from taking over his supreme position by forcing back into Gaea the children she bore. But the youngest child, Cronus, thwarted his father, cutting off his genitals and tossing them into the sea. From the bloody foam in the sea Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love, was born. After  wounding  his  father and taking away his power, Cronus became ruler of the universe. But Cronus, in turn, feared that his own son would supplant him. When his sister and wife Rhea gave birth to offspring—Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon—Cronus swallowed them.Only the youngest, Zeus, escaped this fate, because Rhea tricked Cronus. She gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow in place of the baby. Zeus and the Olympian Gods When  ful ly  grown,  Zeus forced his father, Cronus, to disgorge the children he had swallowed. With their help and armed with the thunderbolt, Zeus made war on Cronus and the Titans, and overcame them. He established a new regime, based on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. Zeus ruled the sky. His brother Poseidon ruled the sea, and his brother Hades, the underworld.Their sister Hestia ruled the hearth, and Demeter took charge of the harvest. Zeus married his sister Hera, who became queen of the heavens and guardian of marriage and childbirth. Among their children was Ares, whose sphere of influence was war. Twelve  major  gods  and goddesses had their homes on Mount Olympus and were known as the Olympians. Four children of Zeus and one child of Hera joined the Olympian gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Ares. Zeus’s Olympian offspring were Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Athena. Hera gave birth to Hephaestus. The Offspring of ZeusZeus  had  numerous   children by both mortal and immortal women. By the mortal Semele he had Dionysus, a god associated with wine and with other forms of intoxication and ecstasy. By Leto, a Titan, Zeus fathered the twins Apollo and Artemis, who became two of the most important Olympian divinities. Artemis remained a virgin and took hunting as her special province. Apollo became associated with music and prophecy. People visited his oracle (shrine) at Delphi to seek his prophetic advice. By the nymph Maia, Zeus became father of Hermes, the Olympian trickster god who had the power to cross all kinds of boundaries.Hermes guided the souls of the dead down to the underworld, Greek Mythology carried messages between gods and mortals, and wafted a magical sleep upon the wakeful. Two  other  Olympian  divinities, Hephaestus and Athena, had unusual births. Hera conceived Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, without a male partner. Subsequently he suffered the wrath of Zeus, who once hurled him from Olympus for coming to the aid of his mother; this fall down onto the island of Lemnos crippled Hephaestus. The birth of Athena was even stranger. Zeus and Metis, daughter of the Titan Oceanus, were the parents of Athena.But Gaea had warned Zeus that, after giving birth to the girl with whom she was pregnant, Metis would bear a son destined to rule heaven. To avoid losing his throne to a son, Zeus swallowed Metis, just as Cronus had previously swallowed his own children to thwart succession. Metis’s child Athena was born from the head of Zeus, which Hephaestus split open with an axe. Athena, another virgin goddess, embodied the power of practical intelligence in warfare and crafts work. She also served as the protector of the city of Athens. Another  of  Zeus’s  children was Persephone; her mother was Demeter, goddess of grain, vegetation, and the harvest.Once when Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow, Hades, god of the underworld, saw and abducted her, taking her do wn to the kingdom of the dead to be his bride. Her grief-stricken mother wandered the world in search of her; as a result, fertility left the earth. Zeus commanded Hades to release Persephone, but Hades had cunningly given her a pomegranate seed to eat. Having consumed food from the underworld, Persephone was obliged to return below the earth for part of each year. Her return from the underworld each year meant the revival of nature and the beginning of spring.This myth was told especially in connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred rituals observed in the Greek town of Elevsis near Athens. The rituals offered initiates in the mysteries the hope of rebirth, just as Persephone had been reborn after her journey to the underworld. Many  Greek  myths  report the exploits of the principal Olympians, but Greek myths also refer to a variety of other divinities, each with their particular sphere of influence. Many of these divinities were children of Zeus, symbolizing the fact that they belonged to the new Olympian order of Zeus’s regime.The Muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, presided over song, dance, and music. The Fates, three goddesses who controlled human life and destiny, and the Horae, goddesses who controlled the seasons, were appropriately the children of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of divine justice and law. Far different in temperament were the Erinyes (Furies), ancient and repellent goddesses who had sprung from the earth after it had been impregnated with the blood of Uranus’s severed genitals. Terrible though they were, the Erinyes also had a legitimate role in the world: to pursue those who had murdered their own kin.A5 Disruptive Deities Human  existence  is  characterized by disorder as well as order, and many of the most characteristic figures in Greek mythology exert a powerfully disruptive effect. Satyrs, whom the Greeks imagined as part human and part horse (or part goat), led liv es dominated by wine and lust. Myths depicted them as companions of Dionysus who drunkenly pursued nymphs, spirits of nature represented as young and beautiful maidens. Many of the jugs used at Greek symposia (drinking parties) carry images of satyrs. Equally  wild,  but  more threatening than the satyrs, were the savage centaurs.These monsters, Greek Mythology depicted as half-man and half-horse, tended toward uncontrolled aggression. The centaurs are known for combat with their neighbors, the Lapiths, which resulted from an attempt to carry off the Lapith women at a wedding feast. This combat was depicted in sculpture on the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena in Athens. The  Sirens,  usually  portrayed as birds with women’s heads, posed a different sort of threat. These island-dwelling enchantresses lured mariners to their deaths by the irresistible beauty of their song.The seafaring Greek hero Odysseus alone survived this temptation by ordering his compani ons to block their own ears, to bind him to the mast of his ship, and to ignore all his entreaties to be allowed to follow the lure of the Sirens’ song. B B1 B2 Mortals The  Greeks  had  several myths to account for the origins of humanity. According to one version, human beings sprang from the ground, and this origin explained their devotion to the land. According to another myth, a Titan molded the first human beings from clay. The Greeks also had a story about the destruction of humanity, similar to the biblical deluge.The Creation of Human Beings Conflicting  Greek  myths tell about the creation of humanity. Some myths recount how the populations of particular localities sprang directly from the earth. The Arcadians, residents of a region of Greece known as Arcadia, claimed this distinction for their original inhabitant, Pelasgus (see Pelasgians). The Thebans boasted descent from earthborn men who had sprung from the spot where Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, had sown the ground with the teeth of a sacred dragon. According to another tale, one of the Titans, Prometheus, fashioned the first human being from water and earth.In the more usual version of the story Prometheus did not actually create humanity but simply lent it assistance through the gift of fire. Another  tale  dealt  with humanity’s re-creation. When Zeus planned to destroy an ancient race living on Earth, he sent a deluge. However, Deucalion, a son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha—the Greek equivalents of the biblical Noah and his wife—put provisions into a chest and climbed into it. Carried across the waters of the flood, they landed on Mount Parnassus. After the waters receded, the couple gratefully made sacrifices to Zeus.His response was to send Hermes to instruct them how to repopulate the world. They should cast stones behind them. Stones thrown by Deucalion became men; those thrown by Pyrrha, women. The Greek People According  to  myth,à ‚  the various peoples of Greece descended from Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. One genealogy related that the Dorian and the Aeolian Greeks sprang from Hellen’s sons Dorus and Aeolus. The Achaeans and Ionians descended from Achaeos and Ion, sons of Hellen’s other son, Xuthus. These figures, in their turn, produced offspring who, along with children born of unionsGreek Mythology between divinities and mortals, made up the collection of heroes and heroines whose exploits constitute a central part of Greek mythology. C C1 C2 C3 Heroes Myths  about  heroes  are particularly characteristic of Greek mythology. Many of these heroes were the sons of gods, and a number of myths involved expeditions by these heroes. The expeditions generally related to quests or combats. Scholars consider some of these myths partly historical in nature—that is, they explained events in the distant past and were handed down orally from one generation to the next.Two of the most important of the semihistorical myths involve the search for the Golden Fleece and the quest that led to the Trojan War. In other myths heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had to overcome fearsome monsters. Jason and the Golden Fleece Jason  was  a  hero  who  sailed in the ship Argo, with a band of heroes called the Argonauts, on a dangerous quest for the Golden Fleece at the eastern end of the Black Sea in the land of Colchis. Jason had to fetch this family property, a fleece made of gold from a winged ram, in order to regain his throne.A dragon that never slept guarded the fleece and made the mission nearly impossible. Thanks to the magical powers of Medea, daughter of the ruler of Colchis, Jason performed the impossible tasks necessary to win the fleece and to take it from the dragon. Afterward Medea took horrible revenge on Pelias, who had killed Jason’s parents, stolen Jason’s throne, and sent Jason on the quest for the fleece. She tricked Peliasâ€⠄¢s daughters into cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron. Medea’s story continued to involve horrific violence.When Jason rejected her for another woman, Medea once more used her magic to avenge herself with extreme cruelty. Meleager Jason  and  the  same  generation of heroes took part in another adventure, with Meleager, the son of King Oeneus of Calydon and his wife Althea. At Meleager’s birth the Fates predicted that he would die when a log burning on the hearth was completely consumed. His mother snatched the log and hid it in a chest. Meleager grew to manhood. One day, his father accidentally omitted Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, from a sacrifice. In revenge Artemis sent a mighty boar to ravage the country.Meleager set out to destroy it, accompanied by some of the greatest heroes of the day, including Peleus, Telamon, Theseus, Jason, and Castor and Polydeuces. The boar was killed. However, Meleager killed his mother’s brothers in a quarr el about who should receive the boar skin. In her anger Althea threw the log on to the fire, so ending her son’s life; she then hanged herself. Heroes of the Trojan War The  greatest  expedition of all was that which resulted in the Trojan War. The object of this quest was Helen, a beautiful Greek woman who had been abducted by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy.Helen’s husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon led an army of Greeks to besiege Troy. After ten Greek Mythology years, with many heroes dead on both sides, the city fell to the trick of the Trojan Horse—a giant wooden horse that the Greeks built and left outside the gates of Troy while their army pretended to withdraw. Not knowing that Greek heroes were hiding inside the horse, the Trojans took the horse into the city. The hidden Greeks then slipped out, opened the city gates and let their army in, thus defeating Troy. The Iliad, an epic poem attributed to Greek poet Homer, tells the story of the T rojan War.The story continued with the Odyssey, another long poem attributed to Homer, in which the Greek hero Odysseus made his way home after the Trojan War. Odysseus returned to his faithful wife, Penelope, whereas Agamemnon returned to be murdered by his faithless wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover. Historians  considered the Trojan War entirely mythical until excavations in Turkey showed that there had been cities on the site of Troy and that fire had destroyed one of these cities at about the time of the Trojan War, sometime from 1230 BC to 1180 BC. C4 C5 Heracles and TheseusThe  deeds  of  the  heroes Heracles (see Hercules) and Theseus exemplify a central theme in Greek mythology: the conflict between civilization and wild savagery. Each hero confronted and overcame monstrous opponents, yet neither enjoyed unclouded happiness. Heracles  had  been  an  Argonaut but left the expedition after being plunged into grief at the loss of his companion Hylas. In anoth er story, a fit of madness led Heracles to kill his own wife and children. But he is best known for his feats of prowess against beasts and monsters, which began soon after his birth.The most difficult of these feats are known as the 12 labors, which are believed to represent efforts to conquer death and achieve immortality. Although Heracles died, his father, Zeus, gave him a place on Mount Olympus. Theseus  successfully  slew the Minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull. On his voyage home to Athens, however, he forgot to hoist the white sails that would have signified the success of his adventure. According to one tale, Theseus’s heartbroken father Aegeus, seeing black sails, believed his son had died, and committed suicide. The Aegean Sea in which he drowned is presumably named after Aegeus.Oedipus No  hero  of  Greek  mythology has proved more fascinating than Oedipus. He destroyed a monster, the Sphinx, by answering its riddle. Yet his ultimate do wnfall served as a terrifying warning of the instability of human fortune. As a baby, Oedipus had been abandoned on a mountainside by his parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, because of a prophecy that the child would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Saved by the pity of a shepherd, the child—its identity unknown—was reared by the king and queen of the neighboring city of Corinth.In due course, Oedipus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy, matching the horrific crimes he had committed with the equally ghastly self-punishment of piercing his own eyes with Jocasta’s brooch-pins. Greek Mythology III A Gods and Goddesses B THE NATURE OF GREEK GODS AND HEROES In  many  respects  the  gods and goddesses of Greek mythology resembled extraordinarily powerful human beings. They experienced emotions such as jealousy, love, and grief, and they shared with humans a desire to assert their own authority and to punish anyone who flouted it.How ever, these emotions and desires took supernaturally intense form in gods and goddesses. As numerous literary descriptions and artistic representations testify, the Greeks imagined their gods to have human shape, although this form was strongly idealized. The  Greeks,  moreover, modeled relationships between divinities on those between human beings. Apollo and Artemis were brother and sister, Zeus and Hera were husband and wife, and the society of the gods on Mount Olympus resembled that of an unruly family, with Zeus at its head. The gods could temporarily enter the human world.They might, for example, fall in love with a mortal, as Aphrodite did with Adonis; Apollo with Daphne; and Zeus with Leda, Alcmene, and Danae. Or they might destroy a mortal who displeased them, as Dionysus destroyed King Pentheus of Thebes for mocking his rites. Not  all  Greek  divinities resembled human beings. They could also be uncanny, strange, and alien, a quality made visible in artistic re presentations of monsters. For example, the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa had a stare that turned her victims to stone. The Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, were gray-haired old crones from birth.They possessed but a single tooth and a single eye between them. Typhoeus was a hideous monster from whose shoulders grew a hundred snakeheads with dark, flickering tongues. Even  the  major  deities of Olympus showed alien characteristics at times. A recurrent sign of divine power is the ability to change shape, either one’s own or that of others. Athena once transformed herself into a vulture; Poseidon once took the form of a stallion. This ability could prove convenient such as when Zeus assumed the form of a swan to woo Leda. Zeus turned Lycaon, a disrespectful king, into a wolf to punish him for his wickedness.The ability to exercise power over the crossing of boundaries is a crucial feature of divine power among the Greeks. Heroes Greek  mythology  also  told how divini ties interacted with heroes, a category of mortals who, though dead, were believed to retain power to influence the lives of the living. In myths heroes represented a kind of bridge between gods and mortals. Heroes such as Achilles, Perseus, and Aeneas were the products of a union between a deity and a mortal. The fact that the gods often intervened to help heroes—for example, during combat—indicated not the heroes’ weakness but their special importance.Yet heroes were not the equals of the gods. With  a  logic  characteristic of Greek myth, heroes typically possessed a defect to balance out their exceptional power. For example, the warrior Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, was invulnerable except in the heel. The prophet Cassandra, who warned the Trojans of dangers such as the Trojan Horse, Greek Mythology always prophesied the truth but was never believed. Heracles constituted an extreme example of this paradox: His awesome strength was balanced by his t endency to become a victim of his own excessive violence.Nevertheless, the gods allowed Heracles to cross the ultimate boundary by gaining admission to Olympus. IV A B THE FUNCTIONS OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Like  most  other  mythological traditions, Greek myths served several purposes. First, Greek myths explained the world. Second, they acted as a means of exploration. Third, they provided authority and legitimacy. Finally, they provided entertainment. Explanation Greek  myths  lent  structure and order to the world and explained how the current state of things had originated. Hesiod’s Theogony narrated the development of the present order of the universe by relating it to Chaos, the origin of all things.By a complex process of violence, struggle, and sexual attraction, the regime led by Zeus had eventually taken over. Another poem by Hesiod, Works and Days, explained why the world is full of trouble. According to the poem the first woman, Pandora, opened a jar whose lid she had been forbidden to lift. As a result of her disobedience all the diseases and miseries previously confined in the jar escaped into the world. Such a myth also makes a statement about relationships between the sexes in Hesiod’s own world.Scholars assume that he composed the poem for a largely male audience that was receptive to a tale that put women at the root of all evil. One  of  the  commonest  types of explanation given in myths relates to ritual. Myths helped worshipers make sense of a religious practice by telling how the practice originated. A prime example is sacrifice, a ritual that involved killing a domesticated animal as an offering to the gods. The ceremony culminated in the butchering, cooking, and sharing of the meat of the victim. Hesiod recounts the myth associated with this rite.According to this myth, the tricky Titan Prometheus tried to outwit Zeus by offering him a cunningly devised choice of meals. Zeus could have either an apparently unappetizing dish—an ox paunch, which had tasty meat concealed within—or a seemingly delicious one, gleaming fat on the outside, which had nothing but bones hidden beneath. Zeus chose the second dish, and ever since human beings have kept the tastiest part of every sacrifice for themselves, leaving the gods nothing but the savor of the rising smoke. Exploration Myths  charted  paths  through difficult territory, examining contradictions and ambiguities.For instance, Homer’s Iliad explores the consequences during the Trojan War of the Greek leader Agamemnon’s decision to deprive the warrior Achilles of his allotted prize, a female slave. Achilles feels that Agamemnon has assailed his honor or worth but wonders how far he should go in reaction. Is he right to refuse to fight, if that means the destruction of the Greek army? Is he justified in rejecting Agamemnon’s offer of compensation? One of this poem’s themes explores the limits of ho nor. Greek Mythology The  dramatic  genre  of tragedy provides the clearest example of mythical exploration (see see Greek Literature; Drama and Dramatic Arts).The great Athenian playwrights of the 5th century BC— Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—wrote tragedies that explored social questions by placing them, in extreme and exaggerated form, in a mythical context. Sophocles’s tragic play Antigone concerns just such an extreme situation. Two brothers have killed each other in battle: Eteocles defending his homeland, and Polynices attacking it. Their sister Antigone, in defiance of an edict by the city’s ruler, attempts to bury her ostensibly traitorous brother Polynices. Sophocles raises several moral issues. Is Antigone justified in seeking to bury her brother?Which should prevail, a religious obligation to tend and bury a corpse, or a city’s well-being? The answers to these moral issues are far from clear-cut, as we might expect from a wo rk whose subtlety and profundity have so often been admired. C D V A Legitimation Myths  also  had  the  function of legitimation. A claim, an action, or a relationship acquired extra authority if it had a precedent in myth. Aristocratic Greek families liked to trace their ancestry back to the heroes or gods of mythology. The Greek poet Pindar, who wrote in the early 5th century BC, offers ample evidence for this preference. In his songs Pindar raised the exploits of current victors in the Olympian Games by linking them with the deeds of their mythical ancestors. In addition, two Greek city-states could cement bonds between them by showing that they had an alliance in the mythological past. Entertainment Finally,  myth  telling was a source of enjoyment and entertainment. Homer’s epics contain several descriptions of audiences held spellbound by the songs of bards (poets), and recitations of Homer’s poems also captivated audiences. Public performances of tr agic drama were also hugely popular, regularly drawing some 15,000 spectators. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK MYTHOLOGYOur  knowledge  of  Greek mythology begins with the epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which date from about the 8th century BC even though the stories they relate probably have their origins in events that occurred several centuries earlier. Scholars, however, know that the origins of Greek mythology reach even farther back than that. Origins of Greek Mythology Linguists  (people  who study languages) have concluded that some names of Greek deities, including Zeus, can be traced back to gods worshiped by speakers of Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit languages.But it would be misleading to regard the people who may have spoken this language as originators of Greek mythology because many other elements contributed. Greek Mythology Archaeologists  have  shown that many of the places where mythical events presumably took place correspond to sites that had historical importance during the Mycenaean period of Greek history (second half of the 2nd millennium BC). Scholars thus consider it likely that the Mycenaeans made a major contribution to the development of the stories, even if this contribution is hard to demonstrate in detail.Some scholars have argued that the Minoan civilization of Crete also had a formative influence on Greek myths. The myth of the Minotaur confined in a labyrinth in the palace of King Minos, for example, might be a memory of historical bull-worship in the labyrinthine palace at Knossos on Crete. However, there is little evidence that Cretan religion survived in Greece. Nor have any ancient inscriptions confirmed that Minos ever existed outside of myth. Scholars  can  demonstrate influence on Greek mythology from the Middle East much more reliably than influence from Crete.Greek mythology owed much to cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, e specially in the realm of cosmogony (origin of the universe) and theogony (origin of the gods). To take one example, a clear parallel exists in an early Middle Eastern myth for Greek poet Hesiod’s story about the castration of Uranus by his son Cronus and the subsequent overthrow of Cronus by his son Zeus. The Middle Eastern myth tells of the sky god Anu who was castrated by Kumarbi, father of the gods. The weather and storm god Teshub, in turn, displaced Anu. Scholars continue to bring to light more and more similarities between Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies.B Development of Greek Mythology Our  knowledge  of  Greek myths comes from a mixture of written texts, sculpture, and decorated pottery. Scholars have reconstructed stories that circulated orally by inference and guesswork. Homer’s  epics,  the  Iliad and the Odyssey, stand at the beginning of Greek literary tradition (see Greek literature), even though they almost certainly depended on a lengt hy previous tradition of oral poetry. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War; it focuses on the consequences of a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, two of the leading Greek warriors.The Odyssey is about the aftermath of the Trojan War, when the Greek hero Odysseus at last returns to his home on the island of Ithaca following years of wandering in wild and magical lands. The Trojan War later provided subject matter for many tragic dramas and for imagery on countless painted vases. Hesiod’s  Theogony,  composed in the 8th century BC at about the same time as the Homeric epics, gave an authoritative account of how things began. The creation of the world, described by Hesiod in terms of passions and crimes of the gods, is a theme that later Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Plato developed but took in new directions.This connection serves as a reminder that mythology was not a separate aspect of Greek culture, but one that interacted with many other fields of ex perience, particularly the writing of history. For example, in the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus employed numerous themes and story patterns from Greek epics and tragedies in writing his historical account of the war between Greeks and Persians (see Persian Wars). Although  the  authority of Homer and Hesiod remained dominant, the poetic retelling of myths continued throughout antiquity.Myths were constantly remade in the light of new social and political circumstances. The Hellenistic period of Greek history (4th century to 1st century BC) saw many new trends in the treatment of myths. One of the most important was the development of mythography, Greek Mythology the compilation and organization of myths on the basis of particular themes (for example, myths about metamorphosis). Such organization corresponded to a wish of newly established Hellenistic rulers to lend legitimacy to their regimes by claiming that they continued a cultural tradition reaching back into a g reat past.Artists,  too,  portrayed myths. Statues of gods stood inside Greek temples, and relief sculptures of scenes from mythology adorned pediments and friezes on the outside of these temples (see Greek Art and Architecture). Among the best-known examples are the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens. These reliefs include depictions of combat between centaurs and Lapiths. Other  visual  representations of mythology were more modest in size and scope. The best evidence for the use of mythology in Greek painting comes from painted ceramic vases.The Greeks used these vases in a variety of contexts, from cookery to funerary ritual to athletic games. (Vases filled with oil were awarded as prizes in games. ) In most cases scholars can securely identify the imagery on Greek vases as mythological, but sometimes they have no way of telling whether the artist intended an allusion to mythology because myth became fused with everyday life. For example, does a representation of a woman weaving signify Penelope, wife of Odysseus who spent her days at a loom, or does it portray someone engaged in an everyday activity?The  Greeks  retold  myths orally, as well as preserving them in literary and artistic works. The Greeks transmitted to children tales of monsters and myths of gods and heroes. Old men gathered to exchange tales in leschai (clubs or conversation places). Storytelling, whether in writing, art, or speech, was at the heart of Greek civilization. VI A THE LEGACY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Mythology  formed  a  central reference point in Greek society because it was interwoven with ritual and other aspects of social existence.Yet the question of how far people believed the myths is a difficult and probably unanswerable one. Some intellectuals, such as Greek writer Palaephatus, tried to interpret the myths as having figurative (nonliteral) meanings. Writing in the 4th century BC, Palaephatus interpreted the stories of Diomedes, a king devoured by his own mares, and of Actaeon, a hunter torn apart by his own hounds, as concealing perfectly credible accounts of young men who had spent too much money on their animals and so been figuratively eaten alive by debt.Other  thinkers,  such  as the 4th-century-BC philosopher Plato, objected to some myths on moral grounds, particularly to myths that told of crimes committed by the gods. Yet such skepticism seems hardly to have altered the imaginative power and persistence of Greek myths. As late as the 2nd century AD, the Greek traveler and historian Pausanias described the myths and cults in the places he visited as if they constituted a still-living complex of religious discourse and behavior. Ancient Rome and Early ChristianityThe  ancient  Romans  eventually took over Greek civilization and conquered Greece. In the process, they adapted Greek mythology, and myths remained a vehicle for reflecting on and coping with the Greek Mythology world. In his poem the Aeneid, wri tten in the 1st century BC, Roman poet Virgil used the theme of the wandering Trojan hero Aeneas and his eventual foundation of a settlement that became Rome. The Aeneid not only continues story patterns developed in Homer’s epics, but it also makes frequent and detailed allusions to the texts of Homer and other Greek writers.The long poem Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid embraces an enormous number of Greek myths, reworked into a composition that later had unparalleled influence on European culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Greek  mythology  survived during Christian antiquity by its interpretation as allegory (expressive of a deeper or hidden meaning). Early Christians incorporated pagan stories into their own worldview if they could reinterpret the story to express a concealed, uplifting meaning.In the 5th century AD, for example, Latin mythographer Fulgentius gave an allegorical reading of the Judgment of Paris. The Greek myth told of a young Trojan shepherd faced with a choice between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Each goddess tried to bribe Paris to name her the most beautiful: Hera offering power, Athena offering success in battle, and Aphrodite offering a beautiful woman. Fulgentius explained that the choice was actually a moral one, between a life of action, a life of contemplation, and a life dominated by love.The allegorical approach to the myths has never died out; we find it today in the writings of those who regard myths as expressions of basic, universal psychological truths. For example, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, borrowed from Greek mythology in developing his ideas of human psychosexual development, which he described in terms of an Oedipus complex and an Electra complex. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that certain psychic structures he called archetypes were common to all people in all times and gave rise to recurring ideas such as mythological themes. BEuropean Art, Music, and Lite rature The  influence  of  Greek mythology on Western art, music, and literature can hardly be exaggerated. Many of the greatest works of painting and sculpture have taken myths as their subject. Examples include the Birth of Venus (after 1482) by Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, a marble sculpture of Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) by Italian baroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, a terrifying Cronus Devouring One of His Children (1820-1823) by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, and Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (about 1558) by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel.In the Bruegel painting peasants continue with their daily toil oblivious of the mythological drama being played out in the sky above. Musicians  too,  especially composers of opera and oratorio, have found inspiration in ancient myths. Operatic dramatizations of these stories begin with Orfeo (Orpheus, 1607) and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland, 1641) by Italian comp oser Claudio Monteverdi.They continue into the 20th century with Elektra (1909) by German composer Richard Strauss and Oedipus Rex (1927) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. The  impact  of  Greek  mythology on literature has been incalculably great. In the 20th century the story of the murderous revenge of Orestes on his mother Clytemnestra (for killing his father, Agamemnon) has inspired writers as diverse as American dramatist Eugene O’Neill (in Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931), American-born poet and playwright T. S.Eliot (in The Family Reunion, 1939), and French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (in Les Mouches [1943; The Flies, 1946]). Among the Greek Mythology most notable of all literary works inspired by Greek mythology is Ulysses by Irish writer James Joyce. In this intricate novel, Ulysses (Odysseus) becomes Dublin resident Leopold Bloom, while Bloom’s wife, Molly, combines characteristics of faithful Penelope (wife of Odysseus) and seducti ve Calypso (a sea nymph who holds Odysseus captive on his journey home).The  influence  of  Greek mythology shows no sign of diminishing. Computer games (see Electronic Games) and science fiction frequently use combat- or quest-oriented story patterns that have clear parallels in classical mythology. Greek myths developed in a specific ancient society, but the emotional and intellectual content of the stories has proved adaptable to a broad range of cultural contexts.

The Baderman Island Resort Word Processing Software Upgrade

Smith Systems Consulting is IT services provider delivering business and office automation solutions country wide. We have expertise in project management, software application design, deployment and support. We also provide computing hardware and network installation services. To provide Baderman the most suitable word processing solution, our experts have worked out a plan comprising of three staged project plan based on time tested proprietary standards. Need Assessment Our experts will be involved in identifying current as well as future word processing needs for all users at Baderman.This activity will include documenting all features currently used such as word processing, desktop publishing, web publishing etc. Consultants will conduct interviews throughout the organization to document and compile an exhaustive in-use feature list. We will also collect valuable information about the current hardware and software configurations such, versions of operating systems, memory and pr ocessing power, currently used word processing software etc. Our IS auditors will collect all policies, procedures and guidelines governing the purchase, use and upgrade of computer hardware and software at Baderman.The objective of need assessment is to document all the requirements from various business units. It is an essential element of developing a business-case for any recommended solution. This business-case will help management understand the utility of such an investment, and create the executive’s buy-in necessary for the success of such a project. Product Identification Following need-assessment we will provide details of product(s) identified to best suit the current and future needs at Baderman. Our goal during this phase will be to provide a choice of options supported by data collected during need-assessment.The management may decide to opt for mix of products for different department such as word processing software for many and desktop publishing, web author ing systems for communication and marketing etc. Our proposed solution will accommodate such possibilities to avoid any repeat of work. As standard procedure we will also submit an impact analysis for each of the chosen products, on the currently deployed infrastructure. This will help develop accurate budget and expenditure forecast. Implementation The implementation phase will be further divided into three stages.Each stage will target a group of workers chosen to minimize loss of productivity in operational activities. First group will comprise of top managers from all the various business units. Installation and training will be provided to these leaders and consultants will monitor the progress continuously. These managers will provide the necessary momentum required to successfully implement the change at lower level. This exercise will create stake holders at department level ready to take a lead in adopting new solutionNext in line will be line managers reporting to lead man agers, and lastly all the knowledge workers using word processing software will be targeted. Following a strict step by step regime will allow deployment and training teams to focus attention on groups. This will deliver measurable and repeatable process for adoption of upgrades or new technology. We strive to provide the best quality of service to all our customers. Our planners, consultants and engineers will provide the right mix of skills and expertise to deliver favorable results.

Social Media ROI How to Prove It With Google Analytics

Social Media ROI How to Prove It With Google Analytics Social media is an essential part of any marketing mix. But, what happens when your boss or client asks you to prove organic ROI for your campaigns? â€Å"I don’t know is not a good enough answer. In fact, â€Å"I don’t know† should not be in the vocabulary of your social media team. Fortunately, you can prove your ROI with some hard work and the right tools. And by the right tools, I mean Google Analytics and . The following blog post is going to walk you through how to: Set up tracking UTM tags on your social media messages. Create a custom report in Google Analytics. Set goals in Google Analytics to track your ROI. This may seem like a daunting task, but once your team falls into a rhythm and starts seeing results, you’ll never look at social media the same way again. How To Prove Your Organic Social Media ROI With Google AnalyticsFirst Things First: Get Your Social Media ROI Report Template Before you continue reading, download our social media channel ROI report template. Itll help you track everything you need to prove to your organization that social media marketing is paying off (and show that youre earning your paycheck). Did You Know†¦ can save you time with our Google Analytics  and bit.ly  integrations by doing all the hard work for you. automatically creates trackable URLs that integrate with your Google Analytics custom reports.Start a trial or schedule a demo today and try it yourself. Why Is Tracking Organic Social Media ROI Important? Your bottom line is the heart and soul of your business. It’s what keeps the doors open and the lights on. Tracking your ROI helps prove to your organization and your clients that investing their dollars in social media campaigns is contributing to that bottom line. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that your efforts are worth both your time and your company’s time. Because if your team is investing their precious time in something you can’t prove is working, that’s just a waste of resources. And nobody wants that. If you can't prove your social media marketing is working, then you're just wasting resources.Step 1: Goal Setting In Google Analytics Setting up goals is going to be your first step in using Google Analytics to track your organic ROI. Goals are a way to have Google Analytics record conversions that are being generated from social media. What are conversions? Conversions are an event that is triggered by a customer, audience member or fan following through with an action that you wanted them to take. Conversions can be anything from: Buying a product Signing up for an email list Subscribing to your podcast Downloading an e-book you wrote This list could go on. Setting up goals in Google Analytics allow you easily track those conversions and prove to your team that the messages that you are sending out on your social media channels are driving your customers to take action. To start open your Google Analytics account and scroll down to Admin: Scroll across to Views: Select Goals and then click on Create New Goal: In the new window, name your goal. Be specific and try to remember as you’ll need to search for this name later: Next, you’re going to select your goal type. There are three different goal types in Google Analytics: Custom Template Smart For this example, we’re going to focus on custom goals (destination, duration, pages/screens per session and events): Click Continue and another drop down menu will appear. In this section, you’re going to put in the URL of the landing page that you want your customers to end up on. For example, say that after purchasing a product a thank you landing page appears. If that landing page surfaces it means someone bought something from you. Therefore a conversion that you need Google Analytics to track has happened: Under Value, toggle the button to On and enter the monetary value that your company will earn if that conversion happens: Click Save and your destination goal will be tracked. Step 2: Create Your Custom Report The next step in your social media ROI tracking process involves creating a custom report in Google Analytics that will allow you to easily find and track data coming in from the goals you set up earlier. To start, go back to your home screen and select Customization: Select Custom Reports: Select New Custom Report: Your new report template will appear, and the first thing you need to do is title it: The next step is to add your metrics. First, click +add metric. Then select Goal Conversions: Then find your goal and select the one that says [title of your goal] completions. You need to make sure that it says completions as you’ll want to know how many people went all the way through and converted: The second metric you need to add is the value. Adding only one will give you only half of the metrics you need to see. And the value you’re getting from each conversion is the important part! To add it into your report, select Goal Conversions, then [goal title] value: Now you need to add your dimension drilldowns. First click + Add Dimension, the search for Source: From source, add your second dimension which should be Medium: Your final dimension should be Campaign: Your report should populate and show you all the conversions and the value that you made through people ending on your intended link: Step 3: Set Up Your Custom URL Tags The final step in your process is setting up your URL tags for each of your social media messages. These URL links allow Google Analytics to track where your audience is coming from once they have completed the assigned conversion. To get started,  open this campaign URL  builder from Google Analytics: The second thing you need to do is enter the URL your Google goal is tracking: Next, you need to fill in your campaign Source. This is a vital part of your URL because if you scroll back up to the custom report section, source is part of your drilldown dimensions: Campaign Medium  is the next part of your URL building process and is going to refer to the social channel that your audience is coming from: Campaign Name refers to the keywords that you want this link to rank for in Google Analytics: Campaign Term is used for paid search, and since we’re focusing on organic content, it won’t need to be filled in for this example. Campaign Content is used for A/B testing targeted ads which are also outside our focus for this post. After you have all of that information filled in Google will generate a URL at the bottom of the page. That URL seems long right? That’s where URL shortener like bit.ly come in handy. To use bit.ly  you need to create an account. Once you’re logged in, you’ll see their main page: Paste your link into the bar and copy the shortened URL link: The shortened URL can now be added to your social media messages and tracked by Google Analytics. Recommended Reading: 3 Hidden Google Analytics Reports to Help You Understand Your Audience Step 4: Record Your Results The last step in your ROI tracking process is going to be looking at your report and recording your results after your social media campaign has ended. The first thing you need to do is adjust the time and date on your custom report to reflect the length of your campaign. This can be found in the upper right-hand corner. As you page through your results, look for things like: Total conversions generated Total ROI generated Breakdown of ROI generated per channel Breakdown of conversions generated per channel Use that data to help you adjust your efforts in your next campaign. Recommended Reading: How to Build a Marketing Report Quickly (Free Template) Remember The Report You Downloaded Earlier? Let’s run through that quick. Your social media channel ROI report will allow you to pull the information that you’ve grabbed from Google Analytics and create a robust breakdown of what’s happening on each of your social media channels. In the report you’re going to see a tab for each social channel: Record the name of your campaign in the first column of your report and the dates your campaign ran in the second: The next three columns are going to play a major role in your report. Did you notice the graphs on the left side of your report. These are recording and collecting data based on your messages sent, conversions and ROI. The first graph is gathering data from your total at the bottom of your spreadsheet: As you continue to add numbers for each on of your campaigns, they will adjust and automatically update your graphs. The second graph is a per channel breakdown of each of your campaigns. To edit this chart and add more information your need to click on the graph and then select Chart Design and Select Data: A pop-up window will appear. You need to change the data range by adding the next column of information that you just plugged into the spreadsheet. You can do this by highlighting the new range of data you would like to include: Then you need to rename each campaign that you added to your graph: You will also need to update the Horizontal Axis  labels in the bottom of the pop-up window: Now For A Short Cut Building all those URLs kind of sounds like a time suck right? Granted, it’s a time suck that’s worth it, but what if I told you that has built-in integrations that work with both Google Analytics  and Bit.ly so that all you need to do is set up your goals and custom report in Google? To start you need to turn on both the bit.ly and the Google Analytics integrations. To do this go to Settings and then Integrations: Now that the integrations are turned on Google Analytics will begin to gather data from every social media message you send. To find that data collection, open your analytics account select Acquisition then Campaigns. In campaigns click on to see a full breakdown of your post analytics. It’s that easy. Schedule a demo  and see how can get you moving farther, faster.

Jane Fonda in North Vietnam - Myths of Womens History

Jane Fonda in North Vietnam - Myths of Women's History They started coming in the winter of 1999: emails asking me to do something about the book, written by Barbara Walters, already published and the basis of a television special reviewed on this site: 100 Women of the Century. (Ive never been clear how one does something about a book thats already been published and sold. I dont think these people really wanted to seize and destroy all copies, did they?) The protest was over the inclusion of Jane Fonda in the book and special. Id quoted Fonda in my review, this way: Who did Jane Fonda say popped into her mind as the most influential woman of the century? Coco Chanel! Fonda explains: And heres why: She freed us from the corset. Frankly, I thought anyone reading that quote was likely to come away with this conclusion: Jane Fonda was not exactly the brainiest commentator on the history of women in the 20th century, and not exactly a prime candidate for selection as one of the 100 most influential women of the century! But, I guess because I included Jane Fonda in that review, these Jane Fonda emails started to pour in. There are fewer of them now, though they continue to come, and unfortunately I suspect Ill get more after publishing this article, from correspondents who dont read carefully. An example of one I received, after writing the above words, from a Carl R. Brucker, includes these words: How can a woman who patronized the Vietnamese Army during war time be honored? You media publicicts need to have your heads examined and your patriotism questioned, maybe even your citizenship! What upset these writers so much? Heres the email that they sent to me - its also reproduced in many places on the web: Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the 100 Women of the Century. Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam. Part of my conviction comes from personal exposure to those who suffered her attentions. The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilots name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison - the Hanoi Hilton. Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJs, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American Peace Activist the lenient and humane treatment hed received. He spat at Ms. Fonda, and was clubbed and dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward upon the camp Commandants feet, which sent that officer berserk. In 78, the AF Col still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying days) from the Vietnamese Cols frenzied application of a wooden baton. Col Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4Es). He spent 6 years in the Hilton - the first three of which he was missing in action. His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned/fed/clothed routine in preparation for a peace delegation visit. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his SSN on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a camera man, she walked the line, shaking each mans hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: Arent you sorry you bombed babies? and Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors? Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their slivers of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge... and handed him the little pile of p apers. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Col Carrigan was almost number four. But he survived... which is the only reason we know about her actions that day. I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968 and held for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary confinement, one year in a cage in Cambodia, and one year in a black box in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time I weighed approximately 90 lbs  - my normal weight is 170 lbs. We were Jane Fondas war criminals. When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with Jane Fonda. I said yes, that I would like to tell her about the real treatment we POWs were receiving, which was far different from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by Jane Fonda, as humane and lenient. Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees with outstretched arms with a large amount of steel placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane every time my arms dipped. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda for a couple of hours after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She did not answer me. This does not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of 100 Years of Great Women. Lest we forget...100 Years of Great Women should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Janes participation in blatant treason is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget. For starters: any email that says Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can is probably at best an exaggeration, at worst an outright scam. (I always check similar emails at  http://urbanlegends.about.com  before passing them along, and I check out allegations of viruses at  http://antivirus.about.com  as well. Most of those panicked forward this everywhere emails are hoaxes or long-expired petitions.) Checking It Out When I started getting these Jane Fonda emails, I forwarded one to David Emery, Abouts Guide to Urban Legends.  David carefully checked out the stories  in the Jane Fonda  email,  and discovered that  the first two are false  - the ones where servicemen actually died. I repeat -   those stories have been debunked, and their falsehood confirmed by the supposed sources of the stories. The last one - where a serviceman was beaten because he said hed meet with Jane Fonda and tell her honestly about conditions in a POW camp - is confirmed as  true,  but did not involve Fondas direct action at all. Its fascinating, though, to see how persistent these Jane Fonda legends remain, despite the attempts of Davids site and others to debunk them. I vividly remember Jane Fondas trip to North Vietnam, as reported in the media. I remember proponents and opponents of the war alike finding her actions distasteful, ill-thought-out, and profoundly disrespectful of Americans serving in Vietnam. But I certainly didnt think that her act would generate such energy nearly thirty years later. When I wrote the review of Barbara Walters book in 1999, I thought that including Jane Fonda as one of the most influential women of the twentieth century was rather silly, an example of the preference for entertainers that Walters showed in her selections. Barbara Walters included several women even more notorious than Jane Fonda: Madame Mao and  Leni Riefenstahl, for instance. The book was about influential and important women - not simply wonderful women who should be held up as role models. Walters says in the book that she included Fonda for her contribution to bringing exercise into wide practice among women - not for her political views! Nevertheless, I didnt think Jane Fonda deserved inclusion as one of the 100 most influential women of the century. But the persistence of this Jane Fonda email, and the clear passion of the many who continue to distribute it and who continue to believe that Jane Fonda should be tried for treason for her trip to North  Vietnam,  have convinced me otherwise. Jane Fonda is influential far beyond what Id  thought,  if she can continue to generate this level of activity! The  whole  story on this email legend and why the first two-thirds is not believable:  Hanoi Jane Rumors Blend Fact and Fiction Update As of this writing, several years after first publishing this article, the waves of distribution of the Jane Fonda email have diminished somewhat. Perhaps this article has been able to play a part in getting people to think more carefully about an issue that carries a lot of emotional  weight. But whenever Jane Fonda is in the news, the erroneous emails return. To use the example of Mr. Brucker, whose email I excerpted on page 1 of this article: Hes still apparently convinced that Im honoring Fonda despite reading an earlier version of this article, failing to understand the difference between writing about someone and honoring them (or still being confused about the difference between myself and the author of a book I mentioned). Worse than his misunderstanding is the implication that anyone who publishes something about Fonda may need to have their citizenship questioned. What an insult to those people who have served in Americas military, thinking they were doing so to promote a free society, in which dissent is possible, and certainly where the writing about a controversy isnt reasonable grounds for challenging ones citizenship or patriotism. Whats next? Burn Barbara Walters book, bringing to mind  Fahrenheit 451? Burn Barbara Walters, bringing to mind medieval witch hunts or the Inquisition? I wish I could say that Mr. Bruckers tirade was unusual, and indeed some correspondents do read and write more carefully and without advocating closing down free speech. But unfortunately, too many seem to have difficulty understanding two major points: (a) listing several people as influential is not necessarily an honor, much less mentioning that a book listed someone as influential;  and in this case  the continuing venom only demonstrates Fondas continued influence; and(b) even if someone did honor Fonda for her other achievements, proposing to punish disagreement with the authors perspective by removing a writers citizenship or shooting the writer is not exactly in keeping with the reasons that many served bravely in Americas wars. On the other hand - whether Jane Fondas actions in North Vietnam fall into the realm of treason is still a matter of debate. The 2002 book  Aid and Comfort: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam,  by attorneys Henry Mark Holzer and Erika Holzer (compare prices) comes down on the side of yes. Fondas had few defenders recently - her fitness videos of the 1970s and 1980s (compare prices) have largely been replaced by newer videos by new fitness gurus, and Thomas Kiernans 1982 biography,  Jane Fonda: Heroine for Our Time  (compare prices), is out of print. Barbara Walters 1998 book,  100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century  (compare prices), in which Jane Fonda plays a minor role, is still a readable if light version of 20th century womens history, in which celebrities play a disproportionate role and which includes a few women who were influential but not exactly positive role models (Madame Mao and  Leni Riefenstahl, for instance). A Later Update This story has unfolded over many years.  I get far fewer emails now - because the email has morphed since the 2008 election into a story about Barack Obama instead of me co-writing this book with Barbara Walters.  I think I should be honored to be transformed into a President.  Dont believe that Obama is responsible for this, either.  Its you who will look ignorant.

Evaluate Bribery in the context of International Strategic Marketing Essay

Evaluate Bribery in the context of International Strategic Marketing - Essay Example As it is, international corporate actions are governed by multitudes of responsibilities, codified procedures, and negotiated contracts, strategic alignments with other entities and political groups, joint responsibilities and the likes. The complexities of operations of these international corporations as well fierce market competition often push these entities to resort to drastic measures to achieve their goals. As it is, many of these companies include bribery and cartels as an unwritten part of their marketing strategies. Bribery in itself is considered as illegal in most countries around the world. There are many international as well as local laws and regulations that prohibit this act. Business ethic standards also dictate that bribery and cartels should be avoided. As stated by the Court in the celebrated case of Verizon Communications Inc. v. law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, 540 U.S. 398 (2004), bribery and cartels are the supreme evil of antitrust and companies should beware about using these strategies to crush their competitors. However, despite the many laws and regulations that attempt to curve this practice, companies still manage to use this tactic to get ahead. The advancement in communications makes it even easier for companies to perform acts of bribery and conceal these acts from the public. Of course there are cases when companies are caught giving bribes as in the case of Siemens in Germany but these incidents are too few compared to the actual number of business entities that are p racticing bribery. Bribery is a complex thing and it comes in many shapes and forms. It can happen between private businesses and government entities. Bribery can also take place between two or more private companies. When it comes to its application, bribery can be an overt act as in the case of outright political corruption and influence peddling or it can be indirect

Participation Exercise #5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Participation Exercise #5 - Assignment Example Calculation of a breakeven also aids the business owner in learning the different costs both fixed and variable to easily determine the much they need as capital and that aside to propel the business to profitability. These provide the advantages of calculating the breakeven point before starting a business. The point that aids the business owners realizes the returns from their efforts. The point that defines their real profits the business earns (Rodriguez). During the calculations if the resulting breakeven point indicates a performance below the needed breakeven point, a number of options may aid improve the position. The increase in the selling prices may allow the company to improve the position and increase in volumes of sales provides another option. The circumstances surrounding the business environment determine the action to take with the option to increase the selling price much determined by the competitor’s prices among other factors. An increase in volumes sold will provide a more viable option to improving the position on the breakeven point. Rodriguez, George. Is Your Business successful? 3 Indicators of Success. Powerhomebiz. Viewed on May 1, 2015 from