Myth and Religion in the Ancient City

University of Galway

Course Description

  • Course Name

    Myth and Religion in the Ancient City

  • Host University

    University of Galway

  • Location

    Galway, Ireland

  • Area of Study

    Classics, Religion

  • Language Level

    Taught In English

  • Course Level Recommendations

    Lower

    ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.

    Hours & Credits

  • Contact Hours

  • Overview

    This module provides an introduction to the study of Antiquity by focusing on myth and art from early Greece and beyond.

    Art and Society in the Ancient City

    In these lectures we will explore society in the ancient Greek world in terms of civic architecture, artistic development and social constructs. We will assess artworks in terms of pictorial expression, social meaning, and archaeological context. Avenues for investigation will include myth, gender, religion, social development, status and rites of passage in the Greek world.

    Myth and the Fighting Male

    This strand of the module is focused on early Greek myth, especially the concept of the hero as a figure poised between men and gods, concentrating on artistic evidence from vase-painting and narrative evidence from early epic poetry. The principal sources studied are the Odyssey of Homer, and the mythological corpus as transmitted in ancient compilations like the Library of Apollodorus. We will also look at the renewal of Greek myth in later ages, including its recreation in Irish literature.

    Required texts

    Homer, Odyssey translated by R. Fagles (Penguin Classics) or M. Hammond (Duckworth)

    Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World?s Classics)

    T. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (London: Thames & Hudson, 1991)

    A. Stewart, Classical Greece and the Birth of Western Art (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

    Merugud Uilix: a Medieval Irish Version of the Odyssey Myth (text will be supplied)

Course Disclaimer

Courses and course hours of instruction are subject to change.

Credits earned vary according to the policies of the students' home institutions. According to ISA policy and possible visa requirements, students must maintain full-time enrollment status, as determined by their home institutions, for the duration of the program.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits are converted to semester credits/quarter units differently among U.S. universities. Students should confirm the conversion scale used at their home university when determining credit transfer.

Please reference fall and spring course lists as not all courses are taught during both semesters.

Please note that some courses with locals have recommended prerequisite courses. It is the student's responsibility to consult any recommended prerequisites prior to enrolling in their course.

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