Monsters and Marvels: Conceptualizing Difference in the Ancient Mediterranean

Catalog description

From the Cyclops of Homeric epic to human-animal hybrids to the demons plaguing Saint Anthony in the desert, monsters and marvels haunt the texts of the ancient Mediterranean. This course will explore the thematics of monstrosity across a broad spectrum of literary production spanning roughly two millennia (ca. 1200 BCE-700 CE) to address the fundamental question of how societies determine categories such as the “real” and the “fantastic” and to what purpose such distinctions are made. We will pose questions concerning definitions of monstrosity, the creation of monsters, and their function in defining notions both of community and the individual. Class time will be centered around discussion, and students will learn to analyze ancient sources in their original contexts and to apply the concepts we explore to broader questions of identity formation.