Introduction to Greco-Roman Mythology

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Do gods care about humans? Can the will of gods be understood? Is it worth fighting for one's homeland and giving one's life for the good of the community? What is true love ? Lust, friendship or marital love? How was the world created? In Ancient Greece and Rome it is through myth that humans found fascinating and complex answers to all these questions. What is myth? A collection of traditional stories about the life of ancient gods, heroes, humans and monsters. This class will explore the most important ancient Greek and Roman myths by reading poems, tragedies, novels and philosophical dialogues. Among others, we will consider Hesiod's Myth of the Ages, the tragic stories of Prometheus and Medea, and Plato's myths of the Cave and the civilization of Atlantis. When discussing ancient myths, we will engage in close analysis of the structural components of the selected literary works, focusing especially on how ancient Greeks and Romans intensely related myths to their own historical and cultural concerns. For example, we will explore how Euripides' Trojan Women, with its reflection on the dramatic costs of war, cannot be understood but in the context of the imminent fall of Athenian democracy. Since ancient myth is still relevant to our society, the discussion of ancient texts will be combined with a focus on modern or contemporary echoes of the same myths, starting from Freud's Oedipus complex and the modern use of Prometheus as a metaphor for scientific progress. Furthermore, the final weeks of this class will be dedicated to Native-American Myths and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a twentieth-century masterpiece which combines Greek with Celtic, Persian and Christian mythology.