Mythic Madrid: Greek and Roman Tales in The City

Catalog description

Mythic Madrid will anchor the study of Classical narratives in the "reception history" of traditional tales, primarily through the unmatched artistic and cultural resources in the city's superb museums. Each week, the class will meet one day at a relevant site-- the Prado, the Museo Arqueologico Nacional, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Cerralbo Museum or the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, for example. We will examine together paintings, graphic arts, sculptures, or video installations that explicitly feature one or more Classical myth. During the other 90-minute class session each week, intellectual backgrounds to the narratives will be analyzed in illustrated lectures and class discussions. Reading material will comprise primary ancient sources in translation; several accessible scholarly analyses of the given tales; and a selection focused on the reception of myth (for instance, operatic renditions of the Orpheus story; dramas built around the Trojan saga; iconic modern dances centered on Medea, etc). Evaluation by two short papers and final oral exam.