The course is an upper-level survey of the written and
visual traditions of Classical mythology during the Greco-Roman period (c. 8th
cent B.C.- 4th cent A.D.), the first, the most important, and the most
brilliant phase of its long history. Classical mythology was a storehouse of
fantastic stories that shaped ancient perceptions of the divine, that explained
the origins and workings of natural phenomena, that elucidated the meanings of
past and present human experiences, desires, expectations, anxieties and fears.
Throughout Antiquity Classical myths were at the center of religious cult and
ritual, exploited in political and military propaganda, part of the core
curriculum in school and a fixture in any form of public or private
entertainment, celebration or commemoration. They were heard and seen in
sanctuaries, theaters, sport venues, public squares, markets, shops, banqueting
halls, palaces, villas, town houses and cemeteries. They were recited, acted,
sung and danced, modeled in clay, carved in wood, bone, marble and limestone,
worked in bronze, silver and gold, painted on walls and on vases of every shape
and form. They were, simply put, ubiquitous.

            By
the time of Homer (mid-8th century BC), the main lines of many of the
narratives that make up what we now call Classical mythology were familiar to
many Greeks. Yet from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD, new myths were
not only added to the canon, but the pre-existing stories and characters were
re-adapted, re-presented and even re-invented to meet the specific and always
evolving religious, political and social realities of the Greeks, Romans and
the other civilizations that inhabited the Ancient Mediterranean. This kind of
flexibility and versatility across space and time is a key feature of Classical
mythology and is its greatest strength. The ability to explain, teach,
criticize, inspire and console in almost any circumstance in Antiquity also
provides a critical insight into classical mythology’s enduring power and
popularity from the Middle Ages to this day. With the help of modern
scholarship, Greek and Latin texts in translation, and investigations in Greek
and Roman art, we will explore this extraordinarily rich and varied tradition.