Notes on this schedule (which is always kept up to date)

• This schedule lists class session topics and links to readings for each session.
• Not all the material is available publicly online. For the password that unlocks any private links or protected PDFs, see Brightspace.
• Readings listed for a class session should be done BEFORE that session
• You will have weekly quizzes on the readings, infinitely repeatable until the Sunday they are due. You will take them at home via Brightspace (not here on the Commons). So: Expect a quiz due most Sundays, though they’re not listed here.
• Check this schedule for every class, there may be updates!

Unit 0: Intro & Course Overview. What is (classical) myth? Definitions and Greek Context

Thurs, 8/28. Course policies and setup. Syllabus. Tour of Brightspace & CUNY Commons site. What the course does and doesn’t cover. Myth examples.

Read: No reading for this first class!

Monday, 9/1. NO CLASS (Labor Day)

Thurs, 9/4. What is mythology? What does it do?  How is it different? How can we interpret it? What does “classical” mean?

Read:

1) the sections “Approaches to the Study of Myth and Mythology” and “Functions of Myth and Mythology” (NOT the whole entry) in this encyclopedia entry

2) The “Quick Test” section plus the “Super Detailed Definition” ONLY for myth here

3) the short paragraph “Why are there so many versions of Greek myths?”

DUE Sun, 9/7. INTRO SURVEY [link to Google form] on  your background and interests

Mon, 9/8. Orienting to Ancient Greece. Greek Myth in its historical, cultural and religious context. Our sources for Greek Myth.

Read: [ … ].

Study closely: Maps here of the ancient Mediterranean and Greece specifically. [links to timeline & info on Ancient Greek history coming later]

Unit 1: Creation Stories

Thurs, 9/11. Intro to Creation Stories. Greek Creation: Hesiod’s Theogony, Part 1.

Read: [TBD—intro to theogony & creation stories, resource on how to read hard old poems. Reading guide and discussion Qs for Theogony]

Mon, 9/15. Theogony Part 2: Deep dive, close reading, class discussion.

Read: Hesiod’s Theogony in full. You can SKIP the sections “The Spirits of Night,” “The Sea Gods” and “Bestiary”—we’ll address them in class.

Thurs, 9/18. Other Greek creation stories: humankind, floods. Roman versions. Biblical stories. (creation of cosmos, humans; flood stories)

Read: The following from Hesiod, Ovid, and the book of Genesis in the Bible

1. From Hesiod’s Works and Days here, lines 116-212 on the “Ages of Man”
2. From Book 1 of the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses here…
   • lines 1-88 creation of world and of mortals
   • lines 177-292 the flood
   • lines 313-347 Deucalion and Pyrrha
3. From the Biblical Book of Genesis (any translation linked to here is fine)
   • Genesis 1-3 on the creation of the world and of humans
   • Genesis 6-8 (type “6-8” in the nav bar) on the flood / the story of Noah’s Ark

Mon, 9/22. College closed. NO CLASS.

Thurs, 9/25. Creations Compared: Ancient Near Eastern Enuma Elish and Egyptian Creation.

Read: JUST the section “Story and Structure” from this scholarly introduction to the “Enuma Elish”

Unit 2: The Gods and Goddesses Up High: Big Hits of the Greek Pantheon

Mon, 9/29. Unit 2 intro. Our sources for info on the gods. Zeus, Hera, Hades.

Read:

1. For Zeus: From the section here on Zeus in Mythoi Koinoi, read…:

• “Origins”
• ”Zeus Deliberates Whether to Defy Fate,” “Zeus Carries off Ganymede,” and “The God of the Stoics” in the section “Zeus in Action” (including the primary source translations!)
• “Art and Symbolism”, all, focusing on studying the pictures
• ”Jupiter”

2. For Hera: From the section [here] on Hera in Mythoi Koinoi, read…:

• Origins
• “Hera as Zeus’s Counterpart” and the selection from Ovid (Metamorphoses 1.622-722) given in “Hera in Action”
• “Art and Symbolism”, all
• ”Juno”

3. For Hades and the Underworld, just this entry from Mythology Unbound.

Thurs, 10/2. College closed. NO CLASS.

DUE Sun, 10/5. Unit 1 Response Paper (Submissions, prompts and guidelines on Brightspace site)

Mon, 10/6. Poseidon and Athena

Read:

1. For Poseidon: From his entry here on Theoi.com…

• The very beginning intro mini-paragraph (above “Myths”)
• ”Symbols and Attributes”
• The passage from the Orphic Hymns (only that one!) in the section “Classical Literature Quotes” on Poseidon’s page
• Click through at least 6 of the artistic representations of Poseidon in the “Ancient Greek and Roman Art” section and study them

2. For Athena

• The full entry on Athena from Mythology Unbound
• From the section “Athena in Action” in her page on Mythoi Koinoi, the sections (including primary sources) “Athena the Warrior” and “Athena and Arachne”
• The section “Art and Symbolism” from the same Mythoi Koinoi page above

3. For Athena’s Contest with Poseidon for patron deity of Athens, read paragraph 3.14.1 from the ancient author Apollodorus’s collection “Library” here (just one paragraph on this page! Do a search on the page for “3.14.1”, which starts with the words “Cecrops, a son of the soil”)

Thurs, 10/9. Apollo & Artemis

Read:

1. For Apollo…

• The full entry on Apollo here from Mythology Unbound
• From “Apollo in Action” on Mythoi Koinoi the sections with primary sources in “God of Oracles,” “God of Music,” and “Daphne.” Notice that there are two Homeric Hymns to Apollo.

2. For Artemis…

• The entry on Artemis here from Mythology Unbound
• The story told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses of Diana (the Romans’ name for Artemis) and Actaeon, lines 138-252 of Book 3 here (NOT the whole page here, which is the whole book!)

Mon, 10/13. NO CLASS.

Thurs, 10/16. Aphrodite & Ares

Read:

1. For Aphrodite, the whole entry from Mythoi Koinoi BUT, of the primary sources, ONLY the “Homeric Hymn 5: To Aphrodite” and Sappho’s poem in “Aphrodite in Action.” Pay special attention to the Roman’s political uses of Venus.
2. For Ares, the full (pretty short!) entry on him from Mythoi Koinoi, including the two primary sources in “Ares in Action”

Mon, 10/20. NO CLASS.

Thurs, 10/23. Demeter and her daughter Persephone

Read: The full entry on Demeter and Persephone in Mythoi Koinoi, focusing on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and on “Art and Symbolism”. Use the Reading Guide here [up soon] for the hymn to get oriented and check understanding.

Thurs, 10/23. MIDTERM made available on Brightspace on this date.

Mon, 10/27. Hermes

Read:

1. The full (short) entry on Hermes from Mythology Unbound
2. From the Mythoi Koinoi entry on Hermes, view the images with descriptions in the sections “Art and Symbolism”, and “Mercury”
3. In the same entry as (2), read ONLY the sections, with primary sources, “Hermes and the Invention of the Lyre” and “Hermaphroditus” from “Hermes in Action”
4. PDF on Brightspace for a discussion of a scholarly theory of the “trickster god” type

Thurs, 10/30. Dionysus & unit wrap

Read: From the entry in Mythoi Koinoi on Dionysus (Roman: Bacchus)…

• “Origins” section, all
• ”Dionysus and Cybele” and “The Bacchae (Euripides)” from “Dionysus in Action”
• “Art and Symbolism”, all

SUNDAY, 11/2: MIDTERM EXAM due via Brightspace (on Units 1-2)

Unit 3: The Politics of Greek Heroes and Heroines

Mon, 11/3. Unit 3 intro: What makes a Greek hero? Herakles Part 1

Read:

1. PDF on Brightspace for a definition and discussion of what makes a GREEK hero, specifically.
2. From the Mythoi Koinoi entry on Herakles, the sections ”Birth”; “Megara” section under “Early Adventures”; “Deianeira” section under “Other Adventures.” Make sure to read the primary sources included in these sections!
3. For an introduction to the Labors of Herakles, read from here the INTRO section AND click through and study any 6 of the 12 labors linked to on this page.

Thurs, 11/6. Herakles Part 2: Interpreting His Story.

Read:

1. A bit more on Herakles’s story: the full sections “Death and Apotheosis” and “Art and Symbolism,” again from the Mythoi Koinoi entry on Herakles
2. For philosophical interpretation: In that same entry, the section “Encounter with Virtue and Vice” in that same entry (above) under the section “Other Adventures”
3. This article from Eidolon Journal discussing the sources of Herakles’ violence in a modern societal context. Content advisory: descriptions of gun violence.

Unit 2 Response Paper due Sunday, November 9 via Brightspace

Mon, 11/10. Theseus & the politics of hero myths. 

Read: The full entry on Theseus from Mythology Unbound

Thurs, 11/13. Heroes wrap-up/overflow & compared with Heroines.

Read:

1. PDF on defining Heroines (vs heroes) on Brightspace
2. From the Roman Poet Ovid’s Heroides (“Heroines”) printed at this site, read letters 9 (Deianira to Hercules), 10 (Ariadne to Theseus) and 12 (Medea to Jason) (click on the relevant links in the Table of Contents on the right side of the page)
3. If you have extra time, start reading Euripides’ tragedy Medea in full here

Mon, 11/17. Intro to Greek tragic plays. Euripides’ tragedy, Medea discussion.

Read: the FULL PLAY Medea here

Thurs, 11/20. More Medea: discussion wrap. Versions & reception in art and performance. 

Unit 4: Epic Tales: Homer and the Ancient Near East

Note: Readings will be added later in the summer for this last unit.

Mon, 11/24. Intro to Epic and Homer’s Epic Cycle. Iliad & Odyssey background. Relation of epic to previous units.

Thurs, 11/27. NO CLASS (Fall Break!)

Mon, 12/1. Homer’s Iliad; war heroes and epic. Epic as myth source.

Thurs, 12/4. Homer’s Odyssey and quest heroes.

Mon, 12/8 Modern Reception of Homer’s epics, especially Odyssey. Intro to ANE epic in comparison.

Thurs, 12/11. The Ancient Near Eastern Epic of Gilgamesh, in comparison. Unit 4 wrap. 

Mon, 12/15: Course wrap-up. Final exam review. (Last class!)

Read: Nothing new! Re-read material so you can ask questions.

Unit 3 OR 4 Response Paper  Due Sunday, 12/21 via Brightspace

FINAL EXAM posted on 12/15, DUE 12/21

December 21st: FINAL deadline for ANY AND ALL assignment submissions. No assignment submitted after this date will be counted towards your final course grade.