CLAS104-18S1 (C) Semester One 2018

Greek Mythologies

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 19 February 2018
End Date: Sunday, 24 June 2018
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 2 March 2018
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 18 May 2018

Description

This course focuses on one of the great mainstays of Western culture that has endured for over 3,000 years: myths told by the Greeks in their literature and art to explain everything from the origins of the cosmos to the end of the heroic age. Themes include: the rise of Zeus and the Olympians to power; Demeter and Dionysos; Prometheus and the origins of human technology; heroes such as Heracles, Oedipus, Achilles, Odysseus as well as figures such Medea and Helen of Troy. In addition to analysis of ancient material, there will also be discussion of the vast influence of Greek myth on subsequent western art, literature and film from Botticelli and Byron to Brad Pitt and more.

The great myths that came out of ancient Greece over 3,000 years ago have never stopped being told and have immeasurably influenced European and Western culture from Homer to Hollywood.
This course will focus on the stories told by the ancient Greeks on everything from the origins of the cosmos and rise of the gods and goddesses to the end of the heroic age. We will encounter myths concerning Olympians - Zeus, Athena, Demeter, and Dionysos, and more; we will also discuss and analyse myths about heroes such as Perseus, Heracles (aka Hercules!), Oedipus and Medea, as well as the great figures of the Trojan saga: Achilles, Odysseus and Helen, among them. We see how myths explain the natural world; how myths inform ancient political ideas, religion and cultural identity; how myths explore what it means to be a hero, as well as relations between the sexes in the Greek world. We analyse the great epic poems Iliad and Odyssey as well as the brilliant dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and explore the role of myth in Greek art and in art and culture for the Renaissance onwards. For their profundity, wit and earthy humour these stories have enriched the way people have looked at the world from antiquity to the present day - from Shakespeare to Freud, from Michelangelo to Picasso, from to Brad Pitt to JK Rowling and more.

Learning Outcomes

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Globally aware

Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Restrictions

CLAS102, CLAS103, CLAS107

Course Coordinator

Patrick O'Sullivan

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Assignment 1 20% 1000 words max
Assignment 2 20% 1000 words max
Essay 1 30% 1500 - 2000 words
Essay 2 30% 1500 - 2000 words

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

B. Powell; Classical Myth ; 8th; Pearson Education, Essex, 2015.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $746.00

International fee $3,038.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All CLAS104 Occurrences

  • CLAS104-18S1 (C) Semester One 2018
  • CLAS104-18S1 (D) Semester One 2018 (Distance)