CC 303/352 Intro to Classical Mythology

Abbreviations:

Buxton = R. Buxton, The Complete World of Greek Mythology.
Cashford = The Homeric Hymns, trans. Cashford. Penguin.
Humphries = Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. R. Humphries. Indiana.
Essential Homer = The Essential Homer, trans. Lombardo. Hackett.

Maps:

Buxton has excellent maps, including:

pp.12-13: Comprehensive Map of Greece and the Mediterranean
p. 109 "The Voyage of the Argo"
p. 116: "The Labours of Herakles"
p. 181: "Mountains"
p. 188: "Rivers and Springs"

Here are some online versions:

Modern Map of the Mediterranean Region	Eastern Mediterranean
Greece and Asia Minor	Greece and the Aegean
Sicily, Greece, and Asia Minor	Peloponnese
Map of Argonauts' Voyage Part I	Map of Entire Argonauts' Voyage
Greece and Asia Minor, Different Version	BLANK MAP (PDF) for Practice

Charts:

Buxton, p. 8: "Chronology of Greek Myth-Telling"
Hero Myth Chart

Chart of Greek and Roman Gods

Buxton, p. 69: "Greek Divinities and their Principal Attributes"
Buxton, pp. 44-45: "Genealogy of the Gods"
Buxton, p. 218: "'Equivalences' Between Greek and Roman Divinities"
Buxton, p. 154: "Metamorphoses"
List of Animal Terms that you may not be 100% familiar with

Other Myth Websites:

Theoi Greek Mythology Project
On-line Dictionary of Classical Myth

Assignments:

Lecture outline webpages are linked to the appropriate lecture titles.
There you will also find relevant images and key terms that you are expected to learn.

Week 1

Wed, Aug 26: Welcome and Orientation

Buxton: "Introduction: Myths in Context": pp. 6-13 (esp. the Chronology (p. 8) and Map (pp. 12-13))

Fri, Aug 28: Introduction: What is Myth?

Buxton: "Contexts, Sources, Meanings": pp. 14-41 (esp. "What is a Myth" (p. 18))

Week 2

M Aug 31: The Beginning: Uranus, Cronus, Zeus

Buxton: "Cosmogony": pp. 44-49
Web Reading: Hesiod, Theogony: Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus
Ovid: Met. Book I: The Creation (pp. 3-5 Humphries)

W Sept 2: Prometheus

Web Reading: Hesiod's Two Versions of Prometheus and Pandora: Version 1
Web Reading: Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound: Prometheus and the Invention of the Arts
Web Reading: Plato, Protagoras: Prometheus and the Creation of Humans
Ovid: Met. Book I: Jove's Intervention, Lycaon, The Flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha (pp. 8-16 Humphries)

F Sept 4: Pandora; Aristophanes' Origin of Love

Buxton: "Origins of Humanity": pp. 54-59
Web Reading: Plato, Symposium: Aristophanes' Speech on the Origin of Love
Web Reading: Hesiod's Two Versions of Prometheus and Pandora: Version 2 (Scroll down page)

Week 3

M Sept 7: NO CLASS (LABOR DAY)

No readings assigned

W Sept 9: Zeus/Jupiter/Jove and Hera/Juno (Io and Ovid)

Buxton: "Powers and Spheres of Influence": Zeus, Hera: pp. 68-72; "Io": p. 98; "Rivers and Springs": pp.188-189; "Ovid": pp. 223-224
Ovid: Met. Book I: Jove and Io (pp. 21-27 Humphries)

F Sept 11: Apollo

Buxton: "Homeric Hymns: Apollo": pp. 49-50; "Apollo": pp. 73-75; "The Muses": pp. 85-86; "The Loves of Apollo": pp. 100-101; "Daphne": pp. 189-190
Homeric Hymns: III. To Delian Apollo (pp. 27-37 Cashford)
Ovid: Met. Book I: Python, Apollo and Daphne, Apollo and Hyacinthus (pp. 16-20; 239-241 Humphries)

Week 4

M Sept 14: Artemis/Diana and the Hunt

Buxton: "Artemis": pp. 75-76; "Kallisto": pp. 99-100
Homeric Hymns:XXVII. To Artemis (pp. 133-135 Cashford)
Ovid: Met. Book II: Jove in Arcady, Book III: Actaeon; Book X: Atalanta (pp. 40-45, 61-64, 252-257 Humphries)

W Sept 16: Athena/Minerva and Myths of Divine Punishment

Buxton: "Athene": pp. 79-80; "Competing with the Gods": p. 90 (Marsyas); Images of Niobe: pp. 156-157
Homeric Hymns: XXVIII To Athena (pp. 136-137 Cashford)
Ovid: Met. Book VI: Minerva and Arachne, Niobe (pp. 129-143 Humphries)

F Sept 18: Aphrodite/Venus

Buxton: "Aphrodite": p. 78; "Divine Sexuality": p. 94; "Aphrodite's Lament for Adonis": p. 95
Homeric Hymns: V. To Aphrodite (pp. 85-97 Cashford)
Ovid: Met. Book X: Pygmalion, Cinyras and Myrrha, Adonis, The Fate of Adonis (pp. 241-252; 257-258 Humphries)

Week 5

M Sept 21: Poseidon/Neptune, Ares/Mars, Hephaestus/Vulcan

Buxton: "Poseidon": p. 72; "Ares and Hephaistos": 82-84; "The Sea": pp. 192-193
Homeric Hymns: VIII. To Ares (pp. 106-107 Cashford); XX. To Hephaestus (p. 125 Cashford); XXII. To Poseidon (p. 127 Cashford)
Homer's Iliad (NOT Odyssey): Book 18 (lines 504-661 (in trsl.)) = pp.183-187 Essential Homer
Ovid: Met. Book IV: Mars and Venus (pp. 86-87 Humphries)

W Sept 23: Hermes/Mercury, Pan, Priapus

Homeric Hymns: IV. To Hermes (55-84 Cashford); XIX. To Pan (119-124 Cashford)
Homer's Odyssey (NOT Iliad): Beginning Book 5 (pp.269-272 Essential Homer); beginning Book 24 (p.466 to line 16 Essential Homer)
Ovid: Met. Book I: Pan and Syrinx, Book IV: Salmacis, Book XI: Midas (pp. 24-25, 90-93, 261-265 Humphries)
Buxton: "Same-Sex Eroticism": pp. 174-177

F Sept 25: Demeter/Ceres and Persephone/Proserpina

Buxton: "Demeter": pp. 72-73
Homeric Hymns: II. To Demeter (5-26 Cashford)
Ovid: Met. Book V: Ceres and Proserpina; Book VIII: Erysichthon (pp. 118-125; 204-208 Humphries)

Week 6

M Sept 28: Hades/Pluto, the Underworld, Orpheus

Buxton: "Tantalos, Sisyphos, Ixion": pp. 89-90; "Orpheus and Eurydice": pp. 171-173; "The Underworld": pp. 206-213
Homer: Odyssey 11 (lines 596-675 = pp. 349-351 Essential Homer)
Ovid: Met. Book X and XI: Orpheus & Eurydice; Death of Orpheus (pp. 234-236; 259-261 Humphries)

W Sept 30: MIDTERM I

F Oct 2: Perseus and Bellerophon

Buxton: "Perseus": pp. 104-105; "Danaos and His Kin": pp. 158-159; "Proitos, Sthenoboia and Bellerophon": pp. 160-161
Homer: Iliad 6 (lines 120-245 = pp. 70-73 Essential Homer)
Ovid: Met. Book IV and V: Perseus (pp. 100-114 Humphries)

Week 7

M Oct 5: Heracles (Part I)

Buxton: "Heracles": pp. 114-123
Web Reading: Apollodorus, Library of Mythology: Heracles' Early Life and the Labors
Ovid: Met. Book IX: Achelous' Duel; Hercules, Nessus, Deianira; Hercules' Birth (pp. 209-219 Humphries)

W Oct 7: Heracles (Part II)

Sophocles: The Women of Trachis (pp. 161-208 Roche)

F Oct 9: NO CLASS

Week 8

M Oct 12: NO CLASS

W Oct 14: Jason and the Argonauts

Buxton: "Jason, the Argonauts and Medea": pp. 108-113
Ovid: Met. Book VII: Jason and Medea (pp. 153-167 Humphries)

F Oct 16: Jason and Medea

Euripides: Medea (pp. 334-390 Roche)

Week 9

M Oct 19: Theseus and the Minotaur

Buxton: "Theseus and the Heroic Athenian Past": pp. 124-129
Ovid: Met. Book VII: Crete and Athens; Book VIII: Labyrinth & Ariadne (pp. 167-174; 186-187 Humphries)

W Oct 21: Hippolytus, Europa, Scylla and Minos, Daedalus and Icarus

Buxton: "Daidalos and Icarus" and "Teiresias": pp. 92-93; "Crete": pp. 194-199
Ovid: Met. Book II: Europa; Book VIII: Nisus & Scylla; Daedalus & Icarus (pp. 54-56; 181-186; 187-190 Humphries)
Euripides: Hippolytus (46-99 Roche)

F Oct 23: Cadmus and Thebes (Tiresias, Echo and Narcissus)

Ovid: Met. Book III: Cadmus; Tiresias; Echo & Narcissus; The End of Cadmus (pp. 57-61; 67-73; 99-100 Humphries)

Week 10

M Oct 26: Dionysus

Buxton: "Dionysus and his followers": p. 81-82
Homeric Hymns: VII. To Dionysus (pp. 100-105 Cashford)
Euripides: Bacchae (pp. 392-456 Roche)
Ovid: Met. Book III: Semele; Pentheus (pp. 64-66; 73-80 Humphries)

W Oct 28: Oedipus

Buxton: "The House of Laius": pp. 162-166
Sophocles: Oedipus the King ( NOT Oedipus at Colonus) (pp. 209-264 Roche)

F Oct 30: Antigone, the Seven against Thebes, and the Calydonian Boar Hunt

Buxton: "Meleager, Atalanta, and the Kalydonian Boar": pp. 106-107; "Eteokles and Polyneikes", "The Capture of Thebes", and "Antigone": pp. 166-168
Ovid: Met. Book VIII: The Calydonian Boar; The Brand of Meleager (pp. 190-198 Humphries)

Week 11

M Nov 2: MIDTERM II

W Nov 4: Some Pretty and Not So Pretty Myths

Buxton: "Tereus, Prokne, and Philomela": pp. 154-155; "Admetos and Alkestis": pp. 170-171
Ovid: Met. Book IV: Pyramus & Thisbe; Book VI: Tereus, Procne, and Philomela (pp. 83-86; 143-151 Humphries)
Euripides: Alcestis (pp. 3-43 Roche)

F Nov 6: The Trojan War: Pre-Homerica

Buxton: "The Trojan War": pp. 130-135
Homer: Iliad Books 1, 3, 6, 9 (pp. 1-19, 28-42, 69-82, 92-106 Essential Homer)

Week 12

M Nov 9: The Trojan War: Homer's Iliad

Buxton: "The Iliad": p. 135-136
Homer: Iliad Books 15-16, 22, 24 (pp. 141-174, 205-221, 230-240 Essential Homer)

W Nov 11: The Trojan War: Post-Homerica

Sophocles: Philoctetes (pp. 107-160 Roche)
Homer: Odyssey Book 4 (pp. 255-269 Essential Homer)

F Nov 13: The Trojan War: The Sack of Troy

Buxton: "To the Fall of Troy" and "The Wooden Horse" and "The Greeks Return Home": pp. 136-140; "Troy": pp. 200-205
Ovid: Met. Book XIII: After the Fall; Polyxena; Polydorus & Hecuba; Memnon (pp. 319-326 Humphries)

Week 13

M Nov 16: The Odyssey: Phaeacian Tales

Buxton: "The Odyssey", "Polyphemos", "Aiolos": pp. 140-141
Homer: Odyssey Books 8-12 (pp. 294-365 Essential Homer)

W Nov 18: The Odyssey: Phaeacian Tales, Part 2

Buxton: "Circe", "Underworld", "Aiolos", etc. : pp. 141-143
Homer: Odyssey Books 16 (pp. 378-388 Essential Homer)

F Nov 20: The Odyssey: Homecoming, Recognition, and Revenge

Buxton: "Odysseus' Return" and "After the Odyssey": pp. 143-145
Homer: Odyssey Books 18-19, 21-23 (pp. 399-465 Essential Homer)

Week 14

M Nov 23: The House of Atreus: Oresteia

Buxton: "The House of Pelops": pp. 148-153
Sophocles: Electra (pp. 53-106 Roche)

W Nov 25: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

F Nov 27: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

Week 15

M Nov 30: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

W Dec 2: Myth, Romance, and Burlesque

Ovid: Met. Book XIII: Galatea, Polyphemus, Acis (pp. 330-335 Humphries)
Euripides: Cyclops (pp. 515-545 Roche)
Euripides: Iphigenia in Tauris (pp. 279-331 Roche)

F Dec 4: Amazons

Buxton: "Present and Future": pp. 244-245

T Dec 15, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM: FINAL EXAM

Final will take place in our regularly scheduled classroom

Course Reading Schedule