In this class we continue with our discussion of coalition narratives in the development of heroic myth. We start by focusing on destruction myths, a topic usually treated separately from heroic myth but treated here because at many places in the epic tradition the end of the race of Heroes is positioned as the destruction … More Classical Mythology Class, Day 14
The ‘heroic’ narratives explored in today’s class are united thematically in their use of ‘coalitions’ of heroes to meet the challenges of the world. From the perspective of cosmic history, this moves us away from a pre-political world in which heroes simply make the world safe for human beings by killing the dangerous parts of … More Classical Mythology Class, Day 13
In this class we return to individual heroes, Bellerophon and Theseus. These narratives return us to a more traditional heroic narrative with important developments. Bellerophon in particular invites us to think about the “hero’s fall” while Theseus offers the model of hero as law-maker and civilizing force. Both heroes also ask us to reflect more … More Classical Mythology, Day 12
This class takes a break from considering single heroes to take a multi-generational view of one family. Such a view can help us to understand (1) how motifs and stages from the so-called heroic pattern can be recycled from one generation to the next and how (2) the Greeks integrate a theme of ‘ritual pollution’ … More Classical Mythology Class, Day 11
In this class we move from the exceptional figures who follow the heroic pattern and receive immortality to the more ‘classic’ heroes who go through challenges, overcome them, and then live mortal lives. The narratives of Perseus and Oedipus exhibit two shared patterns: both are ‘exiled’ from their proper social positions because of prophecies and … More Classical Mythology, Day 10
This is our second class to examine the narrative patterns and cultural effects of the ‘hero’. In the first class, we take a broad overview of a range of interpretive approaches to what we will call the heroic pattern and discuss some problems presented by this pattern (primarily its limited view of human life and … More Classical Mythology, Day 9
In this class we continue a tour through cosmic history and land in our next stage, the race of ‘heroes’. As we will talk about in class, the word hero when used in the study of myth means several different things apart from the modern connotation. It points to a specific generation of people after the … More Classical Mythology, Day 8
In this class we consider two broad themes: the creation of human beings and the misogynistic heritage of stories about the bifurcation of the human race into two genders. In the first discussion, we will consider the multiform tales of the creation of human beings in the Greek tradition in comparison to tales from the … More Classical Mythology, Day 7
In this class we continue are examination of the establishment of a Panhellenic pantheon from the ‘microcosmic’ (or dramatic) perspective afforded by the Homeric Hymns. Unlike the previous investigations of Aphrodite, Hermes, and Demeter, the cases of Apollo and Athena present interpretive challenges and important opportunities for thinking about the diverse and sometimes conflicting roles … More Classical Mythology, Day 6
This class continues our exploration of the establishment of the Olympian Pantheon begun with Hesiod’s Theogony. As proposed by Barbara Graziosi and Johannes Haubold in Homer: The Resonance of Epic (2005), we can conceive of Homeric and Hesiodic poetry as functioning in a complementary fashion to describe the steps taken to create the universe as understood by … More Classical Mythology, Day 5
