CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

MOL 210.201
Winter 2007, Tu, Th 11:50-1:20
McGaw 313A
Instructor: Peter DeRousse, Ph.D.
Office: McGaw 300A Telephone: (773) 325-1881 pderouss@depaul.edu

Office Hours: Tu 1:30-2:30, W 10:00-11:00 and by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This literature course uses a cross-cultural comparative approach in order to introduce the
primary translated texts that preserve classical Greek and Roman myths.

The course is organized:

according to several broad categories
which roughly trace the stages of life: birth, humanity/divinity, nature/culture,
individual/society, procreation, death and the afterlife.
Non-Greco-Roman myths are used for illustrative purposes, as are images of
material culture.
Emphasis is placed on the stories themselves, their structures, stock themes,
compositional features, the distinction between oral story telling (mythos) and written
story telling (logos), and the effect of transmission from the former to the latter. We will
learn to read myths as an expression of theological beliefs, political leanings, and
profound psychological and social forces that have survived to influence western
civilization. An ongoing theme will be how and why the same story can be told in
revised form down through the ages, whether in contemporary art, literature or film.

OBJECTIVES
The aims of this course are threefold:

a) to learn to critically evaluate primary sources within their social and historical context;
b) to learn to analyze and compare myths according to plot, character and structural
features
c) to develop writing and public speaking skills. Emphasis will be on ancient primary
evidence. From this foundation, students will be able to critically evaluate versions of
classical myths that persist until our own day in a variety of media, as well as some
theories of modern scholars who have sought to explain the nature of myth.

COURSE STRUCTURE
I use lectures in order to expand upon assigned readings and to introduce basic facts and
methods. Essays are meant to help students to formulate their own thoughts about key
topics and to encourage class discussion. In order to benefit from the course, your active
participation in these discussions and in occasional group work is necessary, and
expected.
Books:
1. S. Dalley, trans, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation the Flood, Gilgamesh, and
Others (Oxford World Classics, 1989) = MM
2. H. Evelyn-White, trans., Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica (Cambridge,
Harvard University Press, 1982) = HHH
3. R. Humphries, trans., Ovid, Metamorphoses (Indiana University Press
Bloomington, 1983) = Met.
4. A. Weissman, trans., Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (New York, Dover
Publications, 1995)
5. D. Green and R. Lattimore, trans., Sophocles I : Oedipus the King, Oedipus at
Colonus, Antigone; The Complete Greek Tragedies, Vol. 1 (Chicago, University of
Chicago, Press, 1992)
6. S. Appelbaum, trans., Euripides, Bacchae (New York, Dover Publications, 1997)
7. R. Warner, trans., Euripides, Medea (New York, Dover Publications, 1993)

Optional:
1. M. Morford, Classical Mythology (Oxford University Press, 1998)
2. M. L. West, Homeric Hymns, Homeric Apocrypha, Lives of Homer (Cambridge,
Harvard University Press, 2003)
[16]
Introduction: Sources; Theseus and the Minotaur; Some Characteristics of Myth
READ: Met., p. 1-16

Cosmogony [38+49]
Deucalion and Pyrrha; Hesiod’s Theogony
READ: HHH 78-155
Enuma Elish, Genesis
Group Work: Comparison of the Four Creation Myths
READ: MM 228-277; Genesis 1.1-1.10

Divine and Human [42+28]

The Olympians; The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus; The Homeric Hymn to Delean Apollo;
The Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo; The Homeric Hymn to Hermes
READ: HHH 429-433, 325-405
The Eleusinian Mysteries and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter
READ: HHH 289-325; Met., p. 118-128

The Tragic Hero [31+41]

Hesiod’s Works and Days
READ: 3-65
Gilgamesh
READ: MM 36-77

The Tragic Hero [47+8]

Gilgamesh; Milman Perry’s Theory of Formulaic Composition
READ: MM 78-135; Handout
Milman Perry’s Theory of Formulaic Composition; The Epic Cycle; Hero Cult; Herakles
READ: Met., p. 212-219

Civilization and its Discontents [1 play]

Prometheus
READ: Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound

Enlightenment [1.5 plays]

Oedipus; Echo and Narcissus
READ: Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex; Met. 67-73
Bacchic Cult in Classical Athens [1 play]
Euripides’ Bacchae
READ: Met. 73-80; Euripides’ Bacchae
Settling Down [1.5 plays]
Euripides’ Bacchae; Jason and Medea
READ: Euripides’ Bacchae; Met., 153-167; Euripides’ Medea
Group Work: Trial of Medea; Tereus, Procne and Philomela
READ: Euripides’ Medea; Met. 143-152

“What is a Classic?” [51+18]

The Augustan Revolution; Apollo and Daphne; Jove and Io; Phaethon; Jove in Arcady;
The Raven; Ocyrhoe; Mercury; Envy; Europa; Cadmus; Actaeon; Semele; Tiresias
READ: Met., 16-67
The Augustan Revolution; Pyramus and Thisbe; Mars and Venus; Leucothoe; Salmacis;
The End of the Daughters of Minyas; Athamas and Ino; Minerva and Arachne;
READ: 81-99

Alexandrian Poetics [45+31]

Nissus and Scylla; Daedalus and Icarus; Eurysichthon; Caunus and Byblis; Orpheus and
Eurydice; Cyparissus; Ganymede; Apollo and Hyacinthus; Venus’ Anger; Pygmalion;
Cinyras and Myrrha; Adonis; Atalanta; Building of the Walls of Troy
READ: Met., p. 181-190, 204-208, 223-229, 234-258, 265-266

Death of Orpheus; Midas; Ajax an Ulysses; After the Fall of Troy; The Pilgrimage of
Aeneas; The Pilgrimage of Aeneas Resumed; The Pilgrimage of Aeneas Resumed
(again); The Narrative of Diomedes; Venulus; the Diefication of Aeneas; Legendary
History of Rome
READ: Met., p. 259-265, 305-320, 326-327; 340-344; 352-357

Death and Afterlife [16]

Numa; Myscelus; Pythagoras; the Deification of Caesar; Epilogue; Review
READ: Met., p. 367-379; 388-392