GREEK MYTHOLOGY
SYLLABUS
Lit 310/English 588 10:15-12:15 M-Th
Summer 2007 EN 264D Florey
TEXTS
Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days,
Oxford
Homer: The Iliad,
Lattimore, trans., U. of Chicago Press
Homer: The Odyssey, Rouse, trans., Signet
Ovid: The Metamorphoses,
Melville, Oxford UP
Ten Greek Plays
in Contemporary Translations, Riverside
Classical Mythology, Morford, Oxford
To make things a bit easier for the student with little or no background in myth, I have designed this syllabus to serve as an outline to class discussion. I have underlined the names of mythic figures, objects, and places that students are expected to know for exams. Names which are not underlined on the syllabus are still important, and, while students need not memorize them for exams, they should make some attempt to familiarize themselves with them. It is essential that students complete the reading assignments before each class; otherwise they might become confused hopelessly in the myriad of detail. The class itself will consist partly of lecture and partly of discussion. Grades will be based on discussion, two exams (for graduate students, one exam and a 10-15 page paper) and a final. Graduate students will be taking different exams from undergraduate students and will be expected to contribute more to class discussion.
Because of the rapidity with which this class must proceed, we will not have the time to explore in depth the art, music, and literature that emerge from myth, nor will we have time to study adequately the sociological, psychological, and anthropological implications of Greek and Roman myth, although some class time will be devoted to these concerns. Students should realize that a knowledge of myth stories and characters, while interesting and an end unto itself, provides a background for many of the major intellectual concerns of western tradition.
| July | 2 | Introduction to the course--Definition of myth; early Greek history, |
| culture, and religious beliefs
| ||
| 3 | Greek Creation Myths | |
| Gaea, Cronus, Uranus, Tartarus, Eros | ||
| Required Reading: The first half of Hesiod's
Theogony; Morford, pp. 51-71
| ||
| 5 | The Battle of the Titans and the Rise of Zeus | |
| Zeus versus Prometheus, Cronus, The Titans, and the Flood. | ||
| New Regime of Zeus: Metis, Demeter, Muses,Mnemosyne, Leto, Hera, | ||
| Pandora, Epimetheus, Deucalion, Pyrrha | ||
| Required Reading: Second half of Hesiod's Theogony, Ovid, relevant sections | ||
| Prometheus Bound ( a play); Morford,
pp. 76-98
| ||
| 9 | The Gods on Mt. Olympus (Roman Equivalents Given in Parentheses) | |
| (n.b. We will be seeing most of the following gods and goddesses later as | ||
| characters in other myths. In reading their myths, note their chief | ||
| characteristics as well as some of the more important stories in which they | ||
| play a part) | ||
| Zeus (Jupiter, Jove): Indo-European origins--Io,Ganymede | ||
| Hera (Juno): Hera's jealousies, Callisto, Semele, Echo, Herakles | ||
| Poseidon (Neptune): Displacement of Nereus, King Laomedon, Proteus | ||
| Demeter (Ceres): Rape of Persephone (Proserpina) | ||
| Hestia (Vesta): The Vestal Virgins | ||
| Required Reading: Ovid, relevant sections; Morford, pp. 108-15, | ||
| 147-55, 307-26
| ||
| 10 | The Gods on Mt. Olympus | |
| Apollo: Delphi, the Python, Cassandra, Pan, Midas, Asclepius, the Sibyl | ||
| Artemis (Diana): Callisto, Actaeon, Niobe, Tityus, Orion, Iphigenia | ||
| Athena (Minerva): Arachne | ||
| Required Reading: Ovid, relevant sections; Morford, pp. 157-69, | ||
| 200-12, 226-45
| ||
| 11 | The Gods on Mt. Olympus | |
| Hephaestus (Vulcan): His birth and cuckolding; Ares (Mars) | ||
| Aphrodite (Venus): Anchises, Paris, Pygmalion, Adonis, Myrrha, Cupid | ||
| Hermes (Mercury): Pan and Syrinx, Hermaphroditus | ||
| Required Reading: Ovid, relevant sections | ||
| Morford, pp. 157-80, 257-72, 123-4
| ||
| 12 | The House of Hades and Dionysus and Orpheus | |
| Hades (Pluto, Dis): Styx, Lethe,Charon, Cerberus, Elysium, the Isles | ||
| of the Blessed, Tartarus and the Damned, Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, | ||
| Ixion Dionysiac Worship, Euripedes' Bacchae, Orpheus, Eurydice | ||
| Required Readings: Morford, pp. 328-34, 349-51, 354-66, 274-99 | ||
| Ovid, relevant sections; Suggested Reading: Euripedes'
Bacchae (play)
| ||
| 16
|
FIRST EXAM
| |
| 17 | The Heroic Age | |
| The House of Danaus; Perseus, Medusa, Andromeda, Pegasus, | ||
| Bellerophon , Herakles, Amphitryon, Alcmene, The Twelve Labors of | ||
| Herakles, Alcestis, Deianira, Nessus, Admetus, Augean Stables, | ||
| miscellaneous myths; Required Readings: Ovid, relevant sections; | ||
| Morford, pp. 505-18, 519-45; Euripedes' Alcestis (play) PAPER ASSIGNED (Graduate Students Only) | ||
|
| ||
| 18 | The House of Minos and the Descendants of Erichthonius | |
| Europa and the Bull, Minos, the Minotaur, Daedalus, Icarus, Procne | ||
| and Philomela, Procris and Cephalus, Scylla; Theseus and his labors, | ||
| the Minotaur, Ariadne, Aegeus, Hippolytus, Phaedra, Pirithous. | ||
| Required Reading: Ovid, relevant
sections; Morford, pp. 548-70
| ||
| 19 | The House of Cadmus | |
| Cadmus, Harmonia, Semele, Oedipus, Jocasta, Tiresias, Creon, Ino, Agave, | ||
| Autonoe, Phrixus, Helle | ||
| Required Reading: Sophocles' Oedipus (play), Ovid, relevant sections | ||
| Morford, pp. 375-402
| ||
| 23 | The House of Cadmus (continued) | |
| Oedipus at Colonus, The Seven Against Thebes, Polyneices, Eteocles, | ||
| Ismene, Antigone, Creon | ||
| Required Reading: Sophocles'
Antigone (play)
| ||
| 24 | The Descendants of Aeolus--Jason and the Argonauts | |
| The Calydonian Boar Hunt, Atalanta, Hippomenes (Meleager), | ||
| The Golden Fleece, Medea, Jason | ||
| Required Reading: Ovid, relevant sections;
Morford, pp. 573-600
| ||
| 25 | The Iliad and the Trojan War | |
| Peleus, Thetis, Achilleus, Aias (Ajax), Telemon, Teucer, Atreus, Thyestis, | ||
| Electra, Orestes, Aegisthus, Polydeuces, Castor, Priam, Menelaus, Paris, | ||
| Agamemnon, Leda, Tyndareus, Clytemnestra, Hektor, Deiphobus, Helenus | ||
| Troilus, Cassandra, Tithonus, Hecuba; the ante-Homerica--The Wedding | ||
| of Peleus and Thetis, The Judgement of Paris, Aulis, Philoctetes, Homer | ||
| and the Epic | ||
| Required Reading: The Iliad, Books
I-III, Morford, pp.436-80
| ||
| 26 | Second Exam Required of Undergraduates Only. For Graduate Students There | |
| Will be a 10-15 Page Paper Due Instead
|
||
| 30 | The Iliad (continued) and Post Homerica | |
| The Heroes: Achilleus (Achilles), Diomedes, Aias (Ajax), Hektor, Paris, | ||
| Helen, Odysseus (Ulysses), Agamemnon, Menelaus, Patroklos, Nestor, | ||
| Briseis, The Death of Achilleus, the battle for his arms, the death of | ||
| Paris, Philoctetes | ||
| Suggested Reading: The Iliad, Books
VI, XIV, XVI, XVIII, XXII, XXIV
| ||
| 31 | The Odyssey | |
| Odysseus, Penelope, Laertes, Telemachus, the Cyclops, Aeolus, the Sirens, | ||
| Calypso, Circe, the Lotus Eaters, Nausicaa, Scylla, Charybdis | ||
| Required Reading: The Odyssey, Books IX, XII, XXI, XXIV; Morford, | ||
| pp. 482-501
| ||
| 1 | The Homecomings | |
| The return of Menelaus, The Oresteia, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, | ||
| Aegisthus, Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia, the Furies | ||
| Required Reading: Aeschylus'
Agamemnon (play); Morford, pp. 404-34
| ||
| 2
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FINAL EXAM
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FINAL EXAM: Thursday, August 2
OFFICE NUMBER: Engleman 274D
OFFICE HOURS: M-Th 12:30-2:30
PHONE (203) 392-6733--Please note. I do have
voice mail. In the event that I am
not in my office to receive
your call, please leave your name and number (including area
code), the time
you called, and the time when you can be reached during the day.
GRADING POLICY Your grade will be based as follows: (1) For undergraduates: two exams--50%; for graduate students exam plus 10-15 page paper--50%;(2) final exam--25%; (3) class participation (including arriving to class on time)--25%
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES POLICY If you have a documented disability, please contact me during the first week of class to discuss appropriate accommodations to ensure equity in grading, classroom experiences, and outside assignments. If necessary, I will meet with you and staff members of the Student Services Center to formulate a written plan for appropriate accommodations.
ON-LINE LINK For an interesting site that gives you a daily list of archaeological finds throughout the world, check
If you have comments or suggestions, e-mail me at floreyk1@southernct.edu