This final class builds off the last class’s emphasis on fantastic literature and moves from the cultural position held by horror to the function of science fiction, comic books, and fantasy. Important aspects of these genres include: their ability to function as etiological narratives, their flexibility in response to historical and cultural change, and the … More Classical Mythology, Class 24
From Hellenistic Greece to the Modern Day This class covers over two thousand years in one day, emphasizing instead of detail general trends that characterize the transformation and persistence of myth from Ancient Greece to the modern day. We start by discussing how Classical Greek myth was decontextualized and de-ritualized when it was exported during … More Classical Mythology, Day 23
In this class we turn from the interaction between myth and religious belief to intellectual and philosophical responses and adaptations. We spent some time discussing the so-called “rationalizing revolution” in Archaic Greece and the subsequent tradition of philosophers criticizing and appropriating myth. After looking at the use of myth in Plato, we will turn to … More Classical Mythology, Day 22
In this class we continue to examine the relationship between storytelling and human life in the Archaic Age and later by considering the relationship between stories about death, dying, and the afterlife and Greek ritual practices and cultural beliefs. We start by reconsidering the poetics and meaning of Greek ideas of mortality and immortality before … More Classical Mythology, Day 21
In this class we continue to examine the relationship between storytelling and human life in the Archaic age by paying special attention to Greek ‘Religion’, separated into parts that include ritual, sacrifice, and divination. We will move between theories of ritual and religion and textual and archaeological evidence for actual practices. In closing, we will … More Classical Mythology, Day 20
Corinna, fr.644 (Apollonius Dyskolus, Pronouns) “I sing of the virtues of heroes and heroines.” ἱώνει δ᾿ εἱρώων ἀρετὰς / χεἰρωάδων In this lecture we turn back to the age of heroes to reconsider myth from the perspective of heroic women. In most cases from the ancient world, the stories of heroic women are told from the … More Classical Mythology, Day 19
In this class we begin to turn from ancient Greek heroic myth as it is generally narrated to consider the relationship between stories and their historical contexts more deeply. in order to do this, we will look at two broad themes: the way that story patterns we know from myth are instrumentalized in narratives of … More Classical Mythology, Day 18
In the final of three classes on Trojan War narrative, we will move from the end of the Iliad through the end of the Odyssey. First, we will cover the major episodes that were considered to follow the Iliad, including the arrival of Trojan allies, Memnon and Penthesilea, the Trojan Horse, the Sacking of the City, and the … More Classical Mythology, Day 17
In this second of three classes on the Trojan War we move from the general background of the war to the conflict itself. We will cover the general events before the war as episodes–the gathering of the armies, the becalming at Aulis, the battle before Mysia–but we will spend the bulk of the class discussing … More Classical Mythology, Day 16
In this first class of three on the Trojan War narrative, we focus on establishing historical and mythical backgrounds for Trojan War myths with special attention on the sources that provide ‘the whole story’. While our best evidence for the Trojan War comes from the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, these epics actually only cover short periods … More Classical Mythology, Day 15
