Ancient Myth and the Modern World
CLS-STDY 109
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
This course is an introduction to the study of Greco-Roman mythology. Our primary goal will be to familiarize ourselves with some of the core texts that form this tradition. As we become "mythologically literate" in this extended universe, we will also pursue our second goal, surveying how modern readers have approached and responded to these myths. We will consider how the same set of myths can mean radically different things to different people in different periods, and how they have been appropriated to speak to contemporary concerns. At the same time, we will be looking for commonalities across the different instantiations of these myths, as we attempt to answer the more general questions, "What is myth?" and "What does myth mean to us today?"
Available for Harvard Cross Registration