C205: Classical Mythology
Section 0885 meets from 9:30A-10:45A Tuesday & Thursday in WH 101
This section carries culture studies credit.

This introduction to Classical Mythology will focus on how myths, with
their many layers, provided ancient poets and dramatists with a rich
repertory for ever-new performances of the big metaphors of life.  We
will consider the universal and not-so-universal sides of stories
about gods and humans that express values and fears, stories about our
interior human world and the often greater-than-human forces and
impulses that act upon us.  Some attention will also be given to the
religious practices in which the ancient Greeks observed a ritual
remembrance of mythical stories by acting them out to mark the
progress of their own lives.

We will use the "Classical Mythology" textbook by Harris and Platzner
(3rd edition), because it allows us to encounter the myths in their
natural setting: in complete works of literature, or lengthy excerpts,
which are arranged to emphasize the development over time of Greek
literature (and its use of myth in new and original ways).  This will
help us respect the fact that Greek mythology does not consist of
ready-made stories or beliefs set down in an authoritative
"scriptural" tradition, but is a living and changing tradition of
telling the old stories in creative adaptations to the here and now.
While the focus will be on the uses of myth in Archaic and Classical
Greek literature (Hesiod, Homer, and tragedy), we will also study the
afterlife of the Greek stories in Roman (and later) literature.

Weekly participation in an online discussion forum will be required.