Advanced Ancient Greek Mythology and Archaeology: The Complete Twelve Olympians
What's included
40 live meetings
40 in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. Homework, designed to take no more than an hour in total per week, will be assigned in two forms: (a) before each meeting students will be asked to study the short hand-out which will be distributed in advance as part of their preparation, and (b) the students will be assigned a certain number of (optional) quizzes, in order to test their memory, attention and observation. These quizzes are not graded. Instead, I send my feedback individually to every singe student based on their answers as a form of communication outside the classroom time and as a second chance to correct anything from the class material that may be misunderstood.Assessment
I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for a multi-day class on mythology. However, as I often do with my one-time classes, which are always small classes (up to 5 or 6 students), I communicate with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment.Grading
includedClass Experience
US Grade 6 - 8
Advanced Level
(A) Required Experience: This is an *educational* multi-day class, suitable for learners who are genuinely interested in ancient Greek mythology or/and history, and who have zero or basic prior knowledge of mythology but are motivated to learn more, and willing to follow this multi-day class in order to acquire a deeper understading of the ancient Greek gods. (B) Teaching style and students interaction: The learning process of this class is based on a combination of a power-point presentation, a lecture that asks students to participate, class dialogue, questions based on the ongoing lecture, and new ideas based on the participants. There is not one universal solution to teach. Rather I combine techniques to achieve the maximum of my strengths and of my students. Having taught so far young kids, teenagers, University students and mature learners, I know that teachers need to approach students with understanding. After all, such a small class has the advantage of making the combined technique of ppt presentation-lecture-dialogue feasible and efficient. Thanks to Zoom, engaging students and interacting with them is always possible. (C) Class format and topics to be covered: Each class dedicated to a single god could be attended individually, but only attending all classes will give a student the chance to fully understand the major Greek gods, since they form a coherent group of powerful divine beings. By attending all classes the students will appreciate the major gods not only as separate entities, but also as a part of a pantheon (= "all the gods of a people or religion collectively"). At the same time, some gods may require more than one class, based on their popularity in ancient times (e.g. Zeus has eight parts, Athena, Aphrodite and Demeter have 4 parts each, while Poseidon and Hermes have three parts each, and Hera two parts) while others less popular are treated in one class (Hestia, Hephaistos, Ares). All classes, though, should be seen as a unit, and they will be treated as such, often using the material from a previous class on a certain god or goddess to build upon the following class on another god or goddesses. The length of the course as well as the number of classes on individual gods is due to the fact that this course is not dealing with only their myths (a typical mistake done by almost everybody today, even by specialists); instead, it combines myths with archaeology, art and architecture. This means that for each god or goddess we are going to learn how they were imagined in mythology, depicted in art, and worshipped in temples, as well as get a very good sense of ancient Greek sanctuaries and other archaeological areas. Week One: The concept of the "Twelve Gods" (Are the Major Gods 12 or 14? Why are they called "Major"? Are they all "Olympians" or not?) - Zeus Part 1 (Zeus as a Unit of 12 - Zeus as 3 - Storm God) Week Two: Zeus Part 2 (Birth of Zeus - Titanomachy) Week Three: Zeus Part 3 (Gigantomachy - Zeus of Law&Order - Zeus as King - Zeus of the Kings) Week Four: Zeus Part 4 (Zeus as Creator - Zeus as Universal Power) Week Five: Zeus Part 5 (Cult of Zeus in Crete, Attica and Nemea) Week Six: Zeus Part 6 (Cult of Zeus in Dodona, Olympia, Arcadia) Week Seven: Zeus Part 7 (Cult of Zeus in Western Greece, South Italy and Sicily) Week Eight: Zeus Part 8 (Cult of Zeus in Asia Minor) Week Nine: Hera Part 1 (Marriage - Motherhood - Judgement of Paris) Week Ten: Hera Part 2 (Cult of Hera in the Greek world - metropolis and colonies) Week Eleven: Poseidon Part 1 (Poseidon and Danger in the Sea - Poseidon and Amphitrite - Poseidon's Strange Offspring) Week Twelve: Poseidon Part 2 (Poseidon and Safety in the Sea - Poseidon and Sea Battle - Poseidon Battling Athena) Week Thirteen: Poseidon Part 3 (Poseidon and Greek Leagues - Poseidon and Isthmian Games) Week Fourteen: Hestia (Myths and Cult of Hestia - The Sacred Hearth) Week Fifteen: Demeter Part 1 (Demeter as Earth and Mother) Week Sixteen: Demeter Part 2 (Demeter and the Thesmophoria) Week Seventeen: Demeter Part 3 (Demeter and Mysteries) Week Eighteen: Demeter Part 4 (Demeter and Her Daughter - Demeter Teaching Agriculture - Demeter's Wrath) Week Nineteen: Aphrodite Part 1 (Aphrodite as Irresistible Force of Nature) Week Twenty: Aphrodite Part 2 (Aphrodite and War) Week Twenty-One: Aphrodite Part 3 (Aphrodite and the Sea) Week Twenty-Two: Aphrodite Part 4 (Aphrodite and Marriage) Week Twenty-Three: Ares (The Most Hateful God!) Week Twenty-Four: Athena Part 1 (Birth of Athena - Athena as Helper of Heroes - Athena vs Ares) Week Twenty-Five: Athena Part 2 (Athena and Trojan War - Athena attributing justice / punishing her enemies - Athena and Medicine) Week Twenty-Six: Athena Part 3 (Athena and Athens - Panathenaic Games) Week Twenty-Seven: Athena Part 4 (Athens and City Defence [Acropolis], beyond Athens) Week Twenty-Eight: Hephaistos (Myths and Cult of Hephaistos - Mastering Fire) Week Twenty-Nine: Hermes Part 1 (Hermes in Arcadia - Birth of Hermes in a Cave - Hermes as pastoral, rustic god) Week Thirty: Hermes Part 2 (Hermes and Travellers - Hermes and Messengers - Hermes as protector and guide - Hermes Leading the Souls) Week Thirty-One: Hermes Part 3 (Hermes as Deceiver and Charmer - Hermes the Magician - Hermes and Youth - Hermes and Gymnasia - Hermes and Oracle by Lot) Week Thirty-Two: Leto-Apollo-Artemis (Leto and Her Children - Delos - Letoon of Xanthos) Week Thirty-Three: Artemis Part 1 (Artemis in Ephesos, Magnesia and Sardis) Week Thirty-Four: Artemis Part 2 (Artemis Brauronia - Women - Pregnancy and Medicine) Week Thirty-Five: Artemis Part 3 (Artemis Orthia - Elaphebolos - Amarynthia - Wrath of Artemis) Week Thirty-Six: Apollo Part 1 (Apollo and Music - Apollo and Civilization) Week Thirty-Seven: Apollo Part 2 (Apollo in Love) Week Thirty-Eight: Apollo Part 3 (Apollo in mainland Greece and the Cyclades) Week Thirty-Nine: Apollo Part 4 (Apollo in Delphi - Pythian Games) Week Forty: Apollo Part 5 (Apollo Didymaios - Klaros) For reasons of logical structure of the course, Hades (not technically an Olympian himself) belongs to a separate multi-week course on the Undersorld anf After-Life in ancient Greece. Similarly, Dionysos (a late arrival on Olympus) is part of a multi-day course on ancient Greek theatre, since the earliest theatrical performances were made to honor Dionysos.
Learning Goals
In this multi-day class students will understand that the magic of myths lies not only in the stories themselves, fascinating as they are, but in the logic behind them and in their deeper meaning. Myths will be appreciated as a system of beliefs and a way of thinking about the world, as it was created by the ancient Greeks.
The goal for the students is to learn at an introductory level how Greeks were structuring their myths and some of the narrative patterns that they were employing to tell meaningful stories about their gods.
We will discuss together how were these stories played out in the sanctuaries of the gods, and in their worship, and how ancient Greek artists depicted them. What did they mean to priests and to worshippers, as well as to the political and social elite of ancient Greece.
We will finally delve into an ancient religion with respect, so as to learn from this example two very important lessons: that there is no absolute truth, and that nothing unchangeable in time, when it comes to religious traditions, old and new.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
(A) In the ancient Greek arts gods are depicted often (but not always) naked. The Greek word for a naked man is "gymnos" and that is why in English today we say "gymnastics" or "gym" although our children and athletes wear uniforms. This being said, any artistic reproduction in ancient art should be expected to show nude gods. I try to use as less as possible, but it is not always within my hands since this is the nature of the ancient Greek art itself. Since, it is an art that comes from an era where there were no photographs, or videos, the art is found only on painted vases, wall paintings and sculpture. Nudity was never meant to provoke, but to tell to the ancient viewer that gods are not mortal humans and, thus, they do not need clothes. As you may very well understand, I cannot change the history of art, nor my preference as teacher of mythology to show students the original art from ancient times.
(B) From my experience at Outschool the past couple of months and after having taught around 900 students, I know how to make sure the class material is age-appropriate. However, all ancient mythologies, without exception, contain important stories that are violent or sexual in nature, and often touch on sensitive social questions of their times, such as the place of women, slavery-based economy, immoral behavior and the ethics of war. I have never received a negative feedback because I touched upon any of the previous topics, despite the fact that there were times when the class dynamic and the maturity of students in fact allowed their discussion. Sometimes the students themselves started a discussion on one or more of these serious subjects. I never forced them into this discussion, but I also never stopped them. On the contrary, I guided them in order to balance their judgement between an ancient society and our own experience. If this happens during this multi-day class, I will, once again, guide them on how to understand myths that concern sensitive aspects of the ancient Greek society. This is the whole point of mythology. As a specialist in the scientific understanding of mythology and a trained historian of ancient societies, I teach that the myths are not just to amuse, but also to explain the world. If there is something wrong in the ancient Greek world, the myths will most certainly reflect it.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have a B.A. in Archaeology and History, an M.A. in Archaeology and History of Art, with specialization in the ancient world, a second M.A. in History and Philosophy of Religions, with specialization in ancient religions, and I am currently a PhD candidate in Religions and Cultures. I speak ancient Greek and Latin, and I am trained in archaeology, in history of art and architecture, as well as in the study of ancient incriptions and ancient coins, which I always use to explain ancient myths or history.
Reviews
Live Group Class
$20
weekly or $800 for 40 classes1x per week, 40 weeks
60 min
Completed by 13 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 11-14
2-6 learners per class