Ancient Ideas on Myth

Catalog description

Ancient readers were puzzled by their myths. The myths conveyed authoritative stories, many thought, but they did this in sometimes baffling ways. Heroes are not all that heroic, gods do things it seems they shouldn’t, and strange creatures and behaviors abound. This course will survey views on the myths among Greek philosophers, historians, and mythographers, and try to piece together what they think myth is and how it works. Texts will be read in Greek. Introductory and Intermediate Greek, or the equivalent, are pre-requisites.