Aims of the course:
- To introduce the ancient Greek and Roman myths and show how they developed and absorbed elements of different Mediterranean cultures.
- To show that individual myths are contained within a meta-narrative which has a beginning, middle and end
- To analyse the nature of the myths, common themes and what the myths tell us about the societies which created them
- To learn something of the ancient approach to religion and religious thought.
Course content overview:
The course will largely concentrate on translations of the original ancient texts and will attempt to understand the nature of myth in a non-technical and jargon free manner.
Schedule:
Orientation Week : 9-15 January 2023
Teaching Weeks: 16 January-19 February 2023
Feedback Week: 20-26 February 2023
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
Week 0 - Orientation week, preparing to study this course
By studying this week the students should have:
• Become familiar with navigating around the VLE and from VLE to links and back
• Tested their ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sorted out any problems with the help of the eLearning team
• Investigated the ICE Online Resources repository
• Learnt how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
• Used Qmail to introduce themselves to other students and discuss why they are interested in the course and what they hope to get out their studies.
• Contributed to a discussion forum in response to News item sent out on behalf of the tutor.
• Understood the format of each weekly module
Week 1 - The nature of ancient gods
By studying this week the students should have:
• A knowledge of how Greek and Romans saw their Gods
• An appreciation of how classical culture interacted with the divine
• A grasp of the henotheism, polytheism and monotheism and what differentiates a religion from a cult.
Week 2 - The nature of Creation myths
By studying this week the students should have:
• A knowledge of the key Greek texts, particularly Hesiod
• An understanding of the common elements of a creation myth
• An appreciation of ancient understanding of time
Week 3 - The Gods
By studying this week the students should have:
• Familiarity with gods Olympian, cthonic and foreign
• An understanding of the nature of ritual and prophesy in the ancient world
• An appreciation of the complementary nature of myth and religion
Week 4 - The heroes
By studying this week the students should have:
• An understanding of the basic heroic quest
• A knowledge of the main Greek heroes and the concomitant chronology and ancestry
• An appreciation of the social questions and conflicts that the myths tried to identify and explain
Week 5 - The Trojan war and the aftermath (Aeneid and Odyssey)
By studying this week the students should have:
• A good understanding of three of the most important texts in literature
• An appreciation of the effect of these texts on ancient and modern society
• An understanding of the world of Odysseus
• An appreciation of how the material studied earlier in the course comes together in the final week
