CLAS230 Classical Mythology

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

Note: This schedule is a work in progress and is subject to frequent revision. Check this webpage for updates.

Part I: An Introduction to Myth

Jan. 15 What is a myth?

Jan. 20 Pandora's Box
Pandora and her Impact on Greek Art and Culture
Film: Women in Ancient Greece (with study questions)
Pandora's Box

Jan. 22
About Pandora

Jan. 27 "On Myths and Sisyphean Tasks" and  "The Web of Myth"
Lefkowitz 1 / Lefkowitz Study Questions
Discussion: Amazons

Jan. 29 The Goddess
Genealogy of the Gods
Read Hesiod's Theogony / Structure of Hesiod's Theogony (focus on Uranus and Gaia, Cronos and Rhea, Hecate) / Hesiod's Theogony Study Questions / Venus of Willendorf Website
Read Lefkowitz 2 /  Study Questions for Chapter 2
Discussion: The Mother Goddess and Matriarchy

Feb. 3   A survey of Greek heroines
Hesiod's Catalogue of Women
The Hero Packet
The Hero Pattern applied to Women in Myth, History and Literature

Feb. 5
 Myth of Europa / Europa the Phoenician Princess /
Discussion: Europa and Io

Feb. 10 Marie de Medici
Read Lefkowitz 4 and 5 / Study Questions for Chapter 4 / Study Questions for Chapter 5 /

Feb. 12 Worshipping Athena: Class Reports and Discussions
Read Lefkowitz 8 = Chapter 3 of Worshipping Athena

Feb. 17 A survey of Greek goddesses (especially Athena)
Greek Pantheon  / The Pantheon  / The Major Gods / The Olympian Gods: Images and Texts / Parthenon Frieze (for additional information on the Parthenon frieze, see these Course Handouts and Weblinks)
Read Lefkowitz 6 and Study Questions

Part II: Heroines and Goddesses in Homer's Odyssey

Feb. 19 Read Odyssey 1-4. Focus on Penelope, Athena, and Helen.
Analysis / Characters / Study Questions / More Study Questions / Odyssey Chronology Quiz / Struck's Odyssey Page / Homer and Epic / Art of the Odyssey
Read essay by Storz (in Odyssey pp.381-383)
Also read Lefkowitz 3

Feb. 24 Read Odyssey 5-8. Focus on Calypso, Arete, and Nausicaa.
Read essay by Dolin (in Odyssey pp.383-390)
Also read Lefkowitz 7
First Unit Exam (take home) due.

Feb. 26 Read Odyssey 9-12. Focus on Circe, Sirens, and Underworld.

Mar. 2 Fox Classics Lecture: 7:30 P.M. in Auditorium 

Mar. 3 Feb. 26 Read Odyssey 13-16. Focus on Athena and Penelope. Lefkowitz 10

Mar. 5 Read Odyssey 17-20
Due before you leave for spring break but no later that 5 PM on Friday: mid-course evaluation.

Mar. 17 Odyssey 21-24. Also read essay by Amery (in Odyssey pp.317-320) Prospectus for individualized proect due. .

Part III: Heroines and Goddesses in Greek Tragedy

Mar. 19 Read Trojan Women (in Hadas). Focus on Athena, Hecuba, Cassandra, etc.
Read Lefkowitz 9
Summary of Trojan Women

Mar. 24 Read Aeschylus' Agamemnon (in Hadas). Focus on Clytemnestra and Cassandra.
Read Lefkowitz 12

Mar. 26 Trial of Helen of Troy

Mar. 31 Read Aeschylus' Eumenides  (in Hadas). Focus on Athena.
Read Lefkowitz 13 and conclusion

April 2 Second Unit Exam

Apr. 7 Read Sophocles' Antigone (in Hadas). Also see genealogy at end of Antigone. Focus on Antigone.
Read Lefkowitz 11

Part IV: Women in Love:
As you read in this section, ask yourself where each woman belongs in Lefkowitz' book

Apr. 9 Read Euripides' Medea  (in Hadas). Focus on Medea.
Medea in Art / Magical Earth Maiden Pattern / The Magical Earth Maiden Pattern /  Earth Maiden Pattern applied to Medea

Apr. 14 Medea Cont.
Progress Report on Project Due.

Apr. 16 Read Metamorphoses I-III Focus on Daphne, (Deucalion and) Pyrrha, . Apollo and Daphne Reading Questions; also Diana (and Actaeon)

Apr. 23 Read Metamorphoses I-III Cont.. Focus  Io, Europa, (Narcissus and) Echo, Tiresias and Semele.

Apr. 28 Read Metamorphoses IV-VI. Focus on Danae and Andromeda, Persephone, Arachne, Niobe, and  Procne and Philomela .

Apr. 30 Read Metamorphoses VII-XV. Focus on Medea (again), (Philemon and) Baucis, Venus (and Adonis), Atalanta, Eurydice and Galatea.
Individualized Project Due

May 5 Third Unit Exam, including Map/Geography Quiz

May 11 Class Meeting 8-11  Oral Presentations and Course Evaluations.

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The following material has been published on the web by Prof. Tom Sienkewicz for his students at Monmouth College. If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.