Classics 101: greek mythology

CLASSICS 101: GREEK MYTHOLOGY Spring 2013, CSULB J. Mark Sugars, Ph. D. Sec. 06 Course #1364 TuTh 1230-1345 My office: MHB – 611 DESN — 112 j. marksugars@csulb. edu Mailbox (Dept. of Comp. World Lit. & Classics): MHB-517 Course Objectives: Greek myths have inspired and influenced literature, music, and the rest of the arts, especially in the West, for three millennia. They have been for people all over the world a source of ideas and allusions. Our goal in “ Introduction to Greek Mythology” is to acquire a solid background in the myths of the ancient Greek world, and to become acquainted with the gods, goddesses, monsters, heroes and others who figure in those myths. This knowledge will help you to better understand and appreciate a significant part of the world’s cultural heritage. We shall examine and critique some of the ways people have tried to determine the origins of myths and to interpret their meaning; we shall also explore what we can learn from Greek myths about the values, attitudes, and practices both of the ancients who first told them, and of the moderns who have retold them over the years (and retell them still). Texts: Trzaskoma et al., Anthology of Classical Myth (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004); Sophocles, Antigone and Oedipus the King (Oxford: OUP); possibly, other texts available on-line. My office hours: MW 1230-1330, Tu 1730-1830. Here is the schedule (subject to future revision) of reading assignments (from Anthology of Classical Myth, unless noted). Do not expect there to always be a close relationship between what we are discussing in class and the readings for that week; the idea is that you will read about something first, and then we will talk about it later in the semester. Be sure to read the Introduction, and pay particular attention to pp. xxi-xxii, which explains the layout of the book, and enables you to make sense of this reading schedule: Week 1, January 22 – 24: Introduction xvi-xxiii; Diodorus of Sicily 3. 56; Homeric Hymns 30, 31 and 32; Hesiod, Theogony; Hyginus 142, 143, 144, 151 and 152; Lucretius 2. 589 — 2. 660; Apollodorus A1 and A2; Hellanicus 88; Antoninus Liberalis 28; Apollodorus D1 and D2; Eratosthenes 9; Aeschylus 161; Babrius 70; Eratosthenes 27 and 28; Diodorus of Sicily 5. 66 — 5. 73 Week 2, January 29 – 31: Acusilaus 23; Hesiod, excerpt from Works and Days; Palaephatus 34; Plato, Symposium 189d — 193b; Apollodorus E1; Aeschylus 193; Herodorus 30; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 5; Critias, excerpt from Sisyphus; Plato, Protagoras 320c — 322d; Hyginus 153; Apollodorus E2 and E3; Conon 27; Hellanicus 125; Semonides 7; Sophocles 583; Euripides 660; Diodorus of Sicily 2. 45 — 2. 46; Palaephatus Prologue and 32; Pausanias I and J; Lucretius 5. 1161 — 5. 1240; Plato, Republic 2. 376d — 2. 380c; Sallustius 3 and 4; Lucian, On Sacrifices; Aelian 8. 3; Theophrastus 16 Week 3, February 5 – 7: Hyginus 139; Homeric Hymns 25; Pausanias F; Herodorus 34; Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus; Antonius Liberalis 36; Apollodorus B1 and B4; Apollodorus H; Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 11; Hyginus 138, 145, 149, 150, 155, 176 and 177; Palaephatus 42; Archilochus 122 and 177; Babrius 68; Aeschylus 70; Pausanias D and M; Cornutus 2 and 3; Homeric Hymns 12 Week 4, February 12 -14: Pausanias K; Apollodorus C; Hyginus 146 and 147; Homeric Hymns 13 and 2; Callimachus 6; Eratosthenes 21; Antoninus Liberalis 34; Homeric Hymns 24 and 29; Heraclitus 56; Pausanias H; Homeric Hymns 22; Hyginus186, 187 and 188; Homeric Hymns 8; Hyginus 148; Homeric Hymns 20; Fulgentius 2. 11; Lucretius 1. 1 — 1. 101; Hyginus 197; Sappho 1; Sophocles 941; Antoninus Liberalis 34; Hyginus 58; Bion, Lament for Adonis; Heraclitus 69; Homeric Hymns 6, 10 and 5; Hyginus 94 Week 5, February 19 – 21: Homeric Hymns 9 and 27; Hyginus 180 and 181; Palaephatus 6; Pausanias L; Eratosthenes 7; Antoninus Liberalis 17; Homeric Hymns 3, 21 and 25; Hyginus 53, 55, 140 and 202; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 9 and 16; Hyginus 203; Parthenius 15; Hyginus 49, 51 and 191; Apollodorus B3; Parthenius 15; Hyginus 28, 49 and 50; Homeric Hymns 18 and 4; Horace, Odes 1. 10; Pausanias I; Hyginus 201; Homeric Hymns 19; Longus 2. 34 and 3. 23; Sophocles 1130; Hyginus 179, 167, 184; Homeric Hymns 7, 26 and 1; Hyginus 129, 130, 131, 132, 133 and 134; Cornutus 30; Fulgentius 2. 12; Horace, Odes 2. 19; Antoninus Liberalis 10; Pausanias B Week 6, February 26 – 28: Callimachus 5; Hyginus 164; Homeric Hymns 11 and 28; Heraclitus 54; Cornutus 20; Hyginus 46, 165 and 166; Archilochus 130; Babrius 20 and 117; Xenophanes 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 23, 24, 25 and 26; Parthenius 29; and from the Oxford University Press edition, Sophocles, Oedipus the King Week 7, March 5 – 7: Antoninus Liberalis 6; Arrian 4. 10. 5 — 4. 11. 8; Antoninus Liberalis 9; Pausanias G; Homeric Hymns 16; Appendix Two: Inscriptions O; Apollodorus B2; Diodorus of Sicily 4. 25; Plato, Republic 10. 614a — 10. 621d; Vergil, Aeneid 4. 453 — 4. 527; Palaephatus 33 Week 8, March 12 -14: Antoninus Liberalis 41; Hyginus 45; Aelian 13. 1; Parthenius 13 and 20; Hyginus 185, 206, 189 and 204; Conon 27; and from the Oxford University Press edition, Sophocles, Antigone Week 9, March 19 – 21: Apollodorus I; Hyginus 57; Euripides 286; Palaephatus 28; Hyginus 171; Apollodorus F; Antoninus Liberalis 2; Bacchylides, Ode 5; Hyginus 175 Week 10, March 26 — 28: Hyginus 168, 169, 169a and 63; Horace, Odes 3. 11; Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 12; Simonides 543; Hyginus 64; Apollodorus J1; Pherecydes 10; Apollodorus J2; Pherecydes 11; Conon 40; Pherecydes 12 Week 11, April 9 – 11: Hyginus 29; Apollodorus K1 and K2; Hyginus 30; Palaephatus 45; Apollodorus K3; Eratosthenes 12; Apollodorus K4; Palaephatus 38; Eratosthenes 11; Apollodorus K5, K6, K7, K8, K9 and K10; Palaephatus 40; Apollodorus K11 and K12; Palaephatus 24; Apollodorus K13; Hyginus 99; Palaephatus 39; Antoninus Liberalis 26 and 4; Andron 10; Herodorus 13 and 14; Xenophon, Memorabilia 2. 1. 21 — 2. 1. 34; Hyginus 31; Apollodorus K14, K15, K16, K17, K18, K19, K20 and K21; Hyginus 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36; Homeric Hymns 15 Week 12, April 16 – 18: Hyginus 1, 2, 3, 4 and 62; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 9; Palaephatus 30; Eratosthenes 19; Hyginus 12 and 13; Apollodorus G1 and G2; Hyginus 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21; Apollodorus G3 and G4; Hyginus 22 and 23; Ovid, Heroides 12; Apollodorus G5; Aelian 5. 21; Hyginus 24, 25, 26 and 27; Pausanias C; Palaephatus 43 Week 13, April 23 – 25: Hyginus 178; Eratosthenes 14; Palaephatus 15; Aeschylus 99; Apollodorus L1; Hyginus 39 and 136; Palaephatus 21; Apollodorus L2; Hyginus 40 and 198; Euripides 473; Palaephatus 2; Hyginus 41, 37 and 38; Apollodorus N1, N2, N3 and N4; Bacchylides, Dithyramb 17; Hyginus 42, 43 and 44; Pausanias A; Apollodorus N5; Plutarch, Life of Theseus 24. 1 — 25. 2; Ovid, Heroides 10; Apollodorus N6 ; Hyginus 47; Apollodorus N7; Ovid, Heroides 4; Hyginus 59 Week 14, April 30 — May 2: Hyginus 75 and 85; Pindar, Olympian Odes 1; Hyginus 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74 and 72; Apollodorus M1; Conon 37; Hyginus 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10; Apollodorus M2, M3, M4, M5; Hellanicus 157; Palaephatus 41; Apollodorus M6; Palaephatus 4; Pausanias N and O; Apollodorus M7, M8, M9 and M10 Week 15, May 7 – 9: Hyginus 54, 52, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87 and 88; Pausanias E; Homeric Hymns 17 and 33; Eratosthenes 10 and 26; Hyginus 77, 78, 79, 80, 89, 91, 96 and 98; Hellanicus 115; Herodotus 1. 1 – 1. 5; Thucydides 1. 1 — 1. 12; Acusilaus 39; Heraclitus 5; Proclus A; Statius 1. 242-262 and 1. 819 — 1. 885; Herodotus 2. 113 — 2. 120; Sophocles 432; Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 7; Hyginus 92; Lucian, Judgment of the Goddesses; Antoninus Liberalis 27; Hyginus 93; Ovid, Heroides 3; Hyginus 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 and 121; Proclus B; Parthenius 4; Hyginus 106 and 107; Proclus C; Conon 34; Proclus D; Aelian 3. 22; Hyginus 108, 109, 110 and 111; Vergil, Aeneid 2. 1 — 2. 558; Hyginus 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123 and 135; Proclus E; Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead 23; Hyginus 95, 105, 125 and 199; Ovid, Heroides 1; Parthenius 2 and 3; Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 2; Hyginus 126, 127 and 141; Theocritus 11; Parthenius 12; Proclus F; Heraclitus 70; Herodotus 1. 23 — 1. 24; Hyginus 56, 60, 61, 65, 137, 152a, 154, 190, 192, 193, 195, 196, 200 and 205 There are some websites to which I would like to draw your attention. The Perseus website is a massive collection of resource material about classical Greece and Rome. A search within the site for a character from Greek mythology will turn up original texts, dictionary entries, and images from ancient art relevant to that character. The home site is www. perseus. tufts. edu, and there are two mirror sites, perseus. uchicago. edu and perseus. mpiwg-berlin. mpg. de. Carlos Parada’s Greek Mythology Link is a large site devoted to every aspect of Greek mythology, with primary emphasis on the ancient sources. Almost every mythological character in the ancient texts has an entry; there are summaries of all the important myths, and many examples of art work from ancient times to early modern times. This site can be found at http://www. maicar. com/GML/index. html. A former student of mine and I have been working on a site called Genealogy of Greek Mythology, at www. csulb. edu/~dbouvier/Entities/. As the name implies, it deals mainly with the family trees of the characters in Greek myth. If you wanted to find out very quickly how all the gods and heroes in a given myth are related to each other, this site would be useful to you. At the current time the site has been taken down; should it return, I will tell you about it. If there are any texts for you to read that are not in your course textbooks, they will either be on BeachBoard or (probably) on the Perseus website: www. perseus. tufts. edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman. html I try to make as much supplementary course material (including study guides) as possible available on-line. We may be viewing various images in class, as well as portions of several films, including: Gods and Heroes of Greece and Rome, and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). It is tentatively, although remotely, possible, but still rather unlikely, that we shall also watch scenes from some of the following films: Helen of Troy (1956), Ulysses (1954), Oedipus Rex (1968), and Euripides’ Medea (1986). I have been known to show in class an episode from the TV series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Grading: Students will be responsible for all material presented in the readings, lectures, and visual presentations. Do not ask, regarding anything I discuss in class, “ Will this be on the test? ” My tests will include some items that can be found in the books, but which I will not mention in lecture; my tests will occasionally involve topics that I lecture on, but which the books say nothing about; but if something is in the book, and I talk about it in class, it has a good chance of showing up on a test. Tests in my class are somewhat cumulative, but emphasizing the most recently-learned material. They will usually take the form of short quizzes, which I will give at the end of class, about every other week. There will be true/false, short answer and multiple-choice type questions based on reading and lectures; no, you will not need Scan-trons; yes, I will warn you when I have planned a quiz for the following class session. You will not be needing Scan-trons for the final exam, either. The final will have true/false, multiple-choice, short answer and short essay questions. I shall soon make available to you a study guide, which will help you prepare both for the quizzes and for the final exam. The study guide deals predominantly with material in Anthology of Classical Myth, and the questions follow the order of the material in the book as arranged in the weekly reading assignments, supra. I require one essay from you this semester, at least four pages long, due on May 2. You will get to pick the topic yourself, but I must approve your topic beforehand in order for you to receive credit for it. You may submit a proposal for a topic via e-mail, or discuss topics and research with me during my office hours. All tests together will be worth 40% of your grade. Short Essay or (Possibly) Project, due May 2: 30% Final exam, Tuesday, May 14, 1230 hrs — 1430 hrs: 30% The University’s Withdrawal Policy: It is the responsibility of the student who wishes to withdraw from a class to do so. Instructors are under no obligation to drop students who do not attend class. Withdrawing during the final four weeks of instruction is not permitted except in cases such as accident or serious illness where the circumstances causing the withdrawal are clearly beyond the student’s control and the assignment of a grade of “ Incomplete” is not practical. Ordinarily, withdrawal in this category will involve total withdrawal from all classes, except that a “ Credit/No Credit” grade or an “ Incomplete” may be assigned for courses in which sufficient work has been completed to permit an evaluation to be made. Request for permission to withdraw under these circumstances must be made in writing on forms available in Enrollment Services. The requests and approvals will state the reasons for the withdrawal. These requests must be approved by the instructor, department chairperson, and dean of the school. Copies of such approvals are kept on file in Enrollment Services. For a list of the various registration and drop deadlines, see: http://www. csulb. edu/depts/enrollment/dates/index. html