Tuesdays: 4 - 5 PM

Instructor: Kevin McKeown

Course Description:

As people of the modern world, it is easy for us to think about mythology as nothing more than the fantastical attempts by ancient people who lacked science to describe the world, or as stories exaggerating the adventures and deeds of their ancestors. But viewing mythology with this modern, critical lens overlooks the most important part of myths: they are stories, created to entertain, or to teach. Myths and legends are the ancestors of our novels, movies, TV shows, comic books, and even video games.

In this course, we will explore ancient mythology, and analyze it like we would any other piece of literature or media we encounter in our everyday lives. Students will learn how to engage with stories, ancient and modern, through their narrative elements, and build skills to analyze stories from different eras through archetypes and tropes. The ultimate goal will be for each student to find a modern “myth” to analyze and relate to the ancient myths we will read during the course.

Course Objectives:

Familiarize students with the mythological world of Ancient Greece and Rome through reading excerpts from the works of classical authors such as Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, and Ovid.
To build a vocabulary of literary elements, archetypes, and tropes through which students can analyze, compare, and contrast the stories of the ancient and modern world.
Teach students how to explore the goals of different myths and stories: Do they entertain? Do they explain? Provide a moral, or lesson?
Explore how the perspective of different authors or treatments of the same story (or type of story) can change our experience as readers or spectators. Are heroes always heroes, and villains always villains?

Materials:

All assigned materials will be provided, including the texts, informational and historical documents, and instructional materials. Students will be expected to read the relevant texts and background documents before each class, where they will then be asked to engage with the readings alongside new materials. Students will receive each week’s readings at the end of the prior week’s class.

Course Readings will be based on the following sources:

Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days
Homeric Hymns
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Apollodorus’ Library and Argonautica
Robert Grave’s The Greek Myths

Course Policies

If a student misses one of the course dates, they can reach out to me directly to catch up on what they missed, and to access the necessary materials.
Students are expected to be respectful of each other during class discussions.

Course Schedule

Week 1: Introductions to the World of Mythology, and to the Basic Literary Elements

MYTHS:
1. Creation of the World, the Titans, and the First Olympians
2. The Later Olympians:
  1. Artemis and Apollo
  2. Hermes
  3. Dionysus
-Introduction to Central Literary Elements:
1. Character
2. Plot/Conflict
3. Setting
4. Theme
5. Point of View
6. Tone
-Introduction to Myth categories, Archetypes, Tropes

Week 2: Myths about the Early Days of Human Civilization

MYTHS:
1. Prometheus, the Creation of Humans and the Gift of Fire
2. Pandora and her box
3. Deucalion and the Flood
4. The Descendants of Deucalion
LITERARY ELEMENTS OF FOCUS:
1. Types of Characters
2. Types of Conflicts

Week 3: Cultural and Foundational Myths

MYTHS:
1. Demeter, Persephone, and the Eleusinian Mysteries
2. Apollo and Delphi
3. Cadmus and Thebes
LITERARY ELEMENTS OF FOCUS:
1. Setting
2. Theme

Week 4: Heroics: Monsters, Challenges, and Magical Prizes

MYTHS:
1. Zeus and Typhon
2. Hercules
3. Jason and the Argonauts
4. Perseus
LITERARY ELEMENTS OF FOCUS:
1. Point of View
2. Tone

Week 5: Love and Tragedy

MYTHS:
1. Echo and Narcissus
2. Daedalus and Icarus
3. Orpheus and Eurydice
4. Jason and Medea
LITERARY COMPARISONS:
1. Different Treatments of Myths and Tropes