Dying God

The figure of the dying god (like Adonis, Osiris, or Attis), embodying both beauty and tragedy, has exerted a fascination from ancient times to the present day. His worship was sometimes central to the community, sometimes marginal, yet compelling in its "outsider" status. His myths invited meditations on love and death in various modes from comedy to epic. This course, through the great mythological texts of Greece and Rome as well as modern literature and art, will explore the figure in all its variety, along with Christian adaptations and recent interpretations. There will be writing assignments.