Ancient Greek Mythology And Archaeology: Herakles And Theseus
In this 17-week online course, students will learn about the origins, the life, the deeds and the death and after-life of Herakles and Theseus, through their stories in mythology and their depiction in art.
Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(776)
What's included
17 live meetings
17 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 7 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
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 heroes. (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 weekly topics to be covered: Attending this class will give a student the chance to fully understand the major Greek heroes, since they form a coherent group of uniquely powerful and/or skillful humans. By attending all classes the students will appreciate the major heroes not only as separate entities, but also as an integral part of ancient Greek religion. At the same time, some heroes may require more than one class, based on their popularity in ancient times (e.g. Herakles has eight parts, the family of Oedipus or the family of Odysseus has two parts each). 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 hero to build upon the following class on another hero. Week One: Birth of Herakles - Young Herakles in Thebes Week Two: Herakles on Olympus - The Cult and the Miracles of Herakles Weeks Three and Four: The Tragic Family of Herakles and More Tragic Stories of Herakles Week Five: Herakles and Eurystheus - The Nemean Lion (Labor 1) Week Six: Labors 2 to 6 Week Seven: Labors 6 to 10 Week Eight: Labors 11 and 12 Week Nine to Twelve: Herakles' Extra Labours (in Four Parts) Week Thirteen: Theseus and his Youth Labours Week Fourteen: Thesus in Athens - Theseus vs the Minotaur Week Fifteen: Theseus and his family (Ariadne - Phaidra - Hippolytos) Week Sixteen: Theseus as the Hero of Athens Week Seventeen : Political Theseus - Theseus, the First King of Athens
Learning Goals
In this multi-day class students will learn that the stories of the heroes can basically be divided into four categories:
One category is that of heroes who are related to the Trojan Cycle (Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus, Helen etc).
The second category includes those heroes who are related to the Theban Cycle (e.g. Oedipus).
The third category brings together all tragic heroes who suffered in their lives because of their skills (seers and prophets), or disappeared (by jumping into the Sea, by falling from the Sky, or by being taken up by Eos or Selene and the like).
The final category is about women heroes (aka the heroines, like Medea and may more Tragic heroines)
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 heroes.
We will discuss together how these stories were played out in ancient Greek society, 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 heroes 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 heroes are not normal humans and, thus, they looked like the gods who were also depicted nude. 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 an entire year and after having taught around 1300 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 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.
Joined March, 2020
4.9
776reviews
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
$22
weekly or $374 for 17 classes1x per week, 17 weeks
60 min
Completed by 3 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 11-14
3-8 learners per class
