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In this course, you will :
- follow the young Telemachus on his tour as he comes of age, as well as his father Odysseus as he returns home after the Trojan War.
- Investigate heroism, god-human relationships, family dynamics, and the Homeric values of hospitality and resourcefulness.
- The interaction of ancient myths and rituals teaches us a lot about both of these powerful cultural forms. We'll read two of the greatest hymns to Olympian deities, which tell intimate stories about the gods while providing detailed descriptions of the rituals they want us to perform.
- Investigate these questions through a variety of topics such as the origins of the universe, the relationship between gods and mortals, human nature, religion, the family, sex, love, madness, and death.
Syllabus :
1. Introduction
- What is Myth?
- Ancient Ideas on Myth
- Ideas on Myth from the Modern Era
- The Trojan War & The World of Homer
- Trojan War Aftermath and The Homer Question
- On Reading Homer
2. Becoming a Hero
- On Reading Homer,
- Telemachus' Troubles
- Telemachus' Tour
- Odysseus on Ogygia
- Odysseus on Scheria
- Alcinous
- Knee-Grabbing
- Functionalism
- Reassembling the Hero
- Poetry and Demodocus
3. Adventures Out and Back
- Odysseus and the Cyclops
- Cycle Two: Circe
- The Underworld
- Cycle 3: The Cattle of the Sun
- Food/Not Food
- Structuralism
- Inner and Outer Worlds
- Extracting Knowledge
- Meanwhile Telemachus..
- Reunion: Father and Sons
4. Identity and Signs
- Odysseus Meets the Suitors
- Signs as a Way of Knowing
- What Does Penelope Know?
- The Scar
- Penelope's Dream
- The Bow
- Reunion (Almost)
- Reunion
5. Gods and Humans
- Introducing the Greek Gods
- Hesiod and Ancient Near East Connections
- Intro to Hesiod
- Hesiod's Opening Hymn to the Muses
- Earth and Sky
- Kronos and Rhea
- Humans and Sacrifice
- War, Cosmos, Reproduction
- Freud
6. Ritual and Religion
- Introduction to the Homeric Hymns
- Ritual and Religion
- The Hymn to Demeter
- Themes in The Hymn to Demeter
- The Hymn to Apollo: Delos
- The Hymn to Apollo: Delphi
- Myth and Ritual
7. Justice
- Family Ties, Betrayals
- Introducing Agamemnon
- Agamemnon Themes
- Ideas of Justice
- Libation Bearers
- Intro to the Eumenides
- Measuring Evil
- Historical Background
- Readings of the Oresteia
8. Unstable Selves
- Oedipus and Fate
- Oedipus and Oracles
- The Land and Identity
- Chthonic Identity
- Readings of Oedipus
- Greek and Dionysian Ritual
- Bacchae Themes
- Reading The Bacchae
9. The Roman Hero, Remade
- Myth and History
- Myth, History, and Vergil
- Aeneid Opening
- On Reading Vergil
- Landing on an Unknown Shore
- Trojan War Again
- Retelling Tales
- Two Themes
- Dido and Marriage
- Funeral Games for Anchises
10. Roman Myth and Ovid's Metamorphoses
- The Afterlife and the Underworld
- Themes in the Underworld
- Vergil and the Theories of Myth
- Ovid—Background and Themes
- Re-visiting Thebes
- Trojan War Again
- Battle for the Arms of Achilles
- The Fall of Troy and the Founding of Rome
