Classical Studies 200
Comparative Literature 200
Classical Mythology
University of Pennsylvania
Spring 1996
Contents
General Information
Calendar
Schedule
Grading
Directory of Online Resources
General Information
-
Instructor:
-
Joseph
Farrell, Department of Classical
Studies and Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory
Office hours: M 2 - 4 Wms 708 and by appointment
-
TAs:
- Kellee Barnard, Ancient History Graduate Group
- Daniel Beale, Classical Studies Graduate
Group
- William (Brad) Hafford, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean
World Graduate Group
- Kristin Holland, Classical Studies Graduate Group
- Catherine Keane, Classical Studies Graduate Group
- Julia Shear, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
Graduate Group
-
Time and place of class meetings:
-
- Lectures: Monday and Wednesday, 11 - 12, Leidy Lab, Room 10
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- Recitations:
-
Books:
-
NB: The following titles haave been ordered and are available in the
Pennsylvania Book Center at 38th and Walnut. Online versions of some
titles are available, and in such cases hotlinks have been provided on
this syllabus. You are welcome to use these or any other online editions
of the texts we will be reading instead of purchasing the printed
editions. Be advised, however, that the available online versions
differ, often substantially, from the printed trade editions.
- Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Shield, tr. Athanassakis
(online versions available)
- The Homeric Hymns, tr. Athanassakis
(online versions available)
- Veyne, Did the Greeks Believe in their Myths?
- Sophocles (1), Three Tragedies, tr. Grene et al.
(online versions available)
- Aeschylus (2), including Seven against Thebes and
Prometheus Bound, tr. Grene
(online versions available)
- Ovid, Metamorphoses,
tr. Melville
(online versions available)
- Ovid, Fasti, tr. Nagle
- Seznec, The Survival of the Ancient Gods
Grading
Your grade will be determined by how well you perform on each of:
- two short papers
- a midterm hour exam
- a two hour final exam
- participation in recitation sections
Each of these components is worth 20% of your grade.
Schedule of: first paper due date; midterm hour exam; second paper due date
Calendar
Schedule
Part 1: The Greek Myths in Context
(Weeks 1 - 5, January 15 - February 16)
Week 1: Introduction
Monday, January 15
Wednesday, January 17
Lecture: "Greek Myths: An Overview"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, January 18, and
Friday, January 19
Recitation: "Comparing Variations on a Mythic Theme"
Reading Assignment:
Week 2: Myth in Greek Literature, Art, and Cult
Monday, January 22
Lecture: "Mortal Hero, Immortal God"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, January 24
Lecture: "Mythic Basis of Social Organization"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, January 25, and
Friday, January 26
Recitation: "Mythic Past and Historical Present"
Reading Assignment:
Week 3: Myth, Society, and the Individual
Monday, January 29
Lecture: "The Oedipus Saga (part 1)"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, January 31
Lecture: "The Oedipus Saga (part 2)"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, February 1, and
Friday, February 2
Recitation: "Variations over Time and Across Genre"
Reading Assignment:
Week 4: Myth and Rationalism
Monday, February 5
Lecture: "Mythology and the Greek Philosophers"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, February 7
Lecture: "Allegorization of Traditional Mythology"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, February 8, and
Friday, February 9
Recitation: "Translations between Mythic and Rational Thought"
Reading Assignment:
Week 5: Syncretism and the Idea of Universal History
Monday, February 12
Lecture: "Ancient 'Sources' for Greek Myths"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, February 14
Thursday, February 15, and
Friday, February 16
Recitation: "The End of Greek Mythology?"
Reading Assignment:
First paper due in recitation sections
Part 2: The Roman Appropriation of Greek Mythology
(Weeks 6 - 8, February 19 - March 8)
Week 6: Rome in the Hellenistic World
Monday, February 19
Lecture: "Romans are not Greeks!"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, February 21
Lecture: "Linearity and Circularity in Mythic Time,
(The Return of) the Myth of (the Return of) the Golden Age"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, February 22, and
Friday, February 23
Recitation: "Ovid's Metamorphoses and Fasti"
Reading Assignment:
Week 7:
Monday, February 26
Lecture: "The Loves of the Gods (part 1)"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, February 28
Lecture: "The Loves of the Gods (part 2)"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, February 29, and
Friday, March 1
Recitation: "The Abduction(s) of Proserpina"
Reading assignment:
- Ovid, Fasti 3 - 4, especially 4.417 - 620, and
review
Metamorphoses 5.260 - 678
Outline of Fasti 3-4 and of the
Persephone episodes in the Fasti and the
Metamorphoses.
Week 8
Monday, March 4
Lecture: "...To Our Modern Times"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, March 6
Thursday, March 7, and
Friday, March 8
Spring break
(Week 9, March 11 - 15)
Part 3: Pagan Myths in Christian Europe
(Weeks 10 - 12, March 18 - April 5)
Week 10: Why Did the Greek Myths Survive?
Monday, March 18
Wednesday, March 20
Lecture: "Classical Learning in the High Middle Ages"
Guest lecturer: Prof. James J. O'Donnell
Reading assignment:
Thursday, March 21, and
Friday, March 22
Recitation
Reading Assignment: none
Week 11: Classical Mythology in Renaissance Humanism
Monday, March 25
Lecture: Uses of Mythology in the High Middle Ages
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, March 27
Lecture: Greek Myths and Renaissance Humanism
Reading assignment:
Thursday, March 28, and
Friday, March 29
Recitation
Reading Assignment: none
Week 12: The Modern Idea of Antiquity
Monday, April 1
Lecture: Greek Myths and the Romantic Imagination
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, April 3
Lecture: Ethical Philosophy
Reading assignment:
Thursday, April 4, and
Friday, April 5
Part 4: The Greek Myths in Modern Thought
(Weeks 13 - 15, April 8 - 26)
Week 13: The "Transcendent Significance" of Myth
Monday, April 8
Lecture: "Mythology and the Individual Psyche"
Reading assignment:
- Bulkpack: selection from Freud, The Interpretation of
Dreams
- Bulkpack: Jung, "The Analysis of Dreams"
Notes and Supplements
Wednesday, April 10
Lecture: "Mythology and the Collective Unconscious"
Reading assignment:
- Bulkpack: selections from Nietzsche, The Birth of
Tragedy
- Bulkpack: Jung "The Apollinian and the Dionysian"
Notes and Supplements
Thursday, April 11, and
Friday, April 12
Recitation
Reading Assignment: none
Week 14: Anthropological Approaches to Mythology
Monday, April 15
Lecture: "Cultural Anthrolpology and Structuralism"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, April 17
Lecture: "After Structuralism"
Reading assignment:
- Bulkpack: Bremmer, "Oedipus and the Greek Oedipus Complex"
- Bulkpack: selection from Artemidorus, "The Interpretation of
Dreams"
Notes and Supplements
Thursday, April 18, and
Friday, April 19
Recitation
Reading Assignment: none
Week 15: The Greek Myths in 20th Century Culture
Monday, April 22
Lecture: "Mythology and the Modernist Aesthetic"
Reading assignment:
Wednesday, April 24
Lecture: "Mythology in Popular Culture"
Reading assignment:
Thursday, April 25, and
Friday, April 26
Recitation: Review
Reading Assignment: none
Reading days
Monday, April 29 - Wednesday, May 1
Final Examination
Friday, May 3, 11 am - 1 pm (location TBA)