CC 303: Classical Mythology, Honors

University of Texas, Department of Classics
Fall, 2000, Garrison 200, MWF 9-10
Unique Number: 27590
Instructor: Timothy Moore
Office Hours: MWF 10-11:30 and by appointment, Waggener 211; 471-5742
email: timmoore@mail.utexas.edu

Description:

The myths of the Greeks and Romans are not only inherently interesting, but they are an incomparable starting point for the study of Greek and Roman culture, and they have offered numerous images and paradigms to modern poets, artists, and theorists. This course will provide an introduction to the content of the major classical myths, to the role of the myths in literature and art, and to modern ways of interpreting and using myths.

Grading:

(this course has a substantial writing component):
6 Short Papers (2-3 pages each; lowest grade will be dropped): 40%
Research paper (10-15 pages; may be rewritten once if original grade is C or lower): 30%
Class participation: 30%
There will be no exams.

Required Books:

(these books and the assigned readings from the course packet are also on reserve in the Undergraduate library):

• Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, transl. by Michael Simpson. Amherst, Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1976.
• Aeschylus I: Oresteia, translated by Richmond Lattimore. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1953.
• Sophocles II: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra and Philoctetes, translated by John Moore, Michael Jameson, and David Grene. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1957.
• Euripides I: Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, Hippolytus, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Rex Warner, Ralph Gladstone, and David Grene. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1955.
• Euripides II: The Cyclops and Heracles, Iphigenia in Tauris, Helen, translated by William Arrowsmith, Witter Bynner, and Richmond Lattimore. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1952.
• Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae, translated by Emily Townsend Vermeule, Elizabeth Wycoff, and William Arrowsmith. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1959.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Rolfe Humphries. Bloomington, Indiana Univ. Press, 1955.
• Homer, The Odyssey, transl. by Robert Fagles.
• Hesiod's Theogony, transl. by Richard S. Caldwell. Focus Information Group, 1987.
• Homer, The Iliad. transl. by Robert Fagles. Penguin, 1990.
• The Homeric Hymns : translation, introduction, and notes by Apostolos N. Athanassakis. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
• Course packet, available from University Duplicating Service, in the School of Business (GSB 3.136).

The following books are also on reserve in the Undergraduate Library.

• Mark Morford and Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology (a good basic source of "who did what to whom" in Greek and Roman myths)
• Lowell Edmunds, editor, Approaches to Greek Myth (good supplementary readings on various schools of interpreting myths).
• Claude Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology (Lévi-Strauss' structuralist view of myth first-hand).

Schedule of Assignments

August
30: Introduction
September
Beginnings
1 Apollodorus, Chapter 1

4 Labor Day Holiday
6 Ovid, pages 1-16;
8 Hesiod, Theogony

11 Hesiod, Theogony
13 Hesiod, Works and Days, Lines 1-201 (Appendix A of Caldwell, Hesiod's Theogony); Caldwell, Hesiod's Theogony, pages 85-100 (Interpretation);
Zeus and his family
15 Homeric Hymns 23 (Zeus), 12 (Hera), 22 (Poseidon); Ovid 21-26, 40-45, 86-87; Paper 1 Due

18 Homeric Hymns 8 (Ares), 20 (Hephaistos), 24 & 29 (Hestia); Ovid 86-87
Apollo and Hermes
20 Homeric Hymns 3, 21 & 25 (Apollo); Ovid 16-20, 45-54, 133-142, 239-241, Max Müller, Comparative Mythology, pp. 116-120
22 Homeric Hymns 4 & 18 (Hermes);

Goddesses, Chaste and Not

25 Homeric Hymns 5 & 6 (Aphrodite); Ovid 241-243, 251-258
27 Homeric Hymns 9 (Artemis), 11 & 28 (Athena); Ovid 61-64, 129-133
29 Euripides, Hippolytus; Paper 2 Due

Dionysos
October
2 1, 7 & 26 (Dionysos); Ovid 64-80
4 Euripides, Bacchae
Hades and Demeter: Death and Afterlife
6 Homer, Odyssey, Book 11, Vergil, Aeneid, Book 6

9 Homeric Hymns 2 & 13 (Demeter); Ovid, 115-128; Jung, "The Psychological Aspects of Kore," in Essays on a Science of Mythology, pp. 217-245.
Heroes
Perseus
11 Apollodorus, Chapter 4; Ovid 100-114; Lord Raglan, The Hero, chapters 16-17, pp. 173-195
Theseus
13 Apollodorus, Chapter 9; Ovid 186-190; Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale, Chapter 3: The Functions of Dramatis Personae, pp. 25-65; Paper 3 Due

Jason and Medea
16 Apollodorus, Chapter 3; Ovid 153-167
18 Euripides, Medea
The Theban Saga
20 Apollodorus, Chapter 6, Ovid 54-61, 99-100; Edmund Leach, "The Structure of Myth," from Claude Lévi-Strauss, pp. 57-91 (course packet).

Heracles
23 Homeric Hymn 15 (Heracles); Apollodorus, Chapter 5; Ovid 209-219
25 Walter Burkert, "Heracles and the Master of Animals," in Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual, pp. 78-98
The Trojan War
27 Apollodorus, pp. 171-172, 177-178, Chapter 11; Paper 4 Due

30 Homer, Iliad 1, 3, 6
November
1 Homer, Iliad 9, 14, 16
3 Homer, Iliad 18, 22, 24

6 Sophocles, Ajax; Ovid 305-318
After the War
8 Apollodorus, Chapters 12 & 13; Ovid, 319-326
10 Apollodorus, Chapter 10, Aeschylus, Agamemnon

13 Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers
15 Aeschylus, The Eumenides
17 Euripides, Electra

20 Euripides, Helen; Term Paper Due (no rewrites will be allowed on term papers handed in after this date)
22 Homer, Odyssey 9-13
24 Thanksgiving Holiday

27 Euripides, Cyclops
29 Sophocles, Philoctetes
Roman Myths and Legends
December
1 Ovid 326-392; Paper 5 Due

4 Vergil, Aeneid, Books 1-2;
6 Vergil, Aeneid, Books 3-4
8 Vergil, Aeneid, Books 8, 12

18 Paper 6 Due; Last day to turn in rewrites of Term Papers

A word to the wise

Please note the importance of class participation in your grade. This means that you will be richly rewarded for consistent attendance and preparation, but repeated absences and/or lack of preparation for class will cost you dearly.

Scholastic dishonesty

Scholastic dishonesty on any graded assignment will result in a failing grade (Zero), which you may not drop. Scholastic dishonesty includes any kind of cheating; if you are unsure about the exact definition you should consult the appropriate sections of "A Student's Guide to Living in the Heart of Texas" or the General Information Bulletin.

Academic disabilities

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 or 471-4641.

Missed and Late Work

Papers will be lowered one letter grade for each week they are late.

last modified September 1, 2010 by timmoore@mail.utexas.edu