Ancient Greek Mythology and Archaeology: Zeus
This is a six-week class about Zeus, the father and king of the gods, the controller of weather, the protector of social justice and order, the overseer of oaths and treaties, and the creator of kings and heroes.
Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(784)
What's included
6 live meetings
6 in-class hoursHomework
1 hour per week. At the end of the course students will be assigned an (optional) multiple-choice quiz, in order to test their memory, attention and observation. This test may also include one or two questions requiring a very short answer, in order to assess the learners' comprehension.Assessment
I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for a mythology class. However, as I often do with my one-time classes, which are always small classes, I communication with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment, especially if they complete the (optional) quiz assigned at the end of the camp.Grading
includedClass Experience
US Grade 4 - 7
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 supreme ancient Greek god. (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: All five sessions should be seen as a unit, and they will be treated as such, often using the material from a previous class on a certain aspect to build upon it the following class. A suggestive list of sub-themes to be covered in five days is the following: 1. The idea of the Twelve Gods of Olympus is a very popular one and one we take for granted. In class we are going to nuance this concept (12 or more? In Olympus or everywhere?), doubt its validity (12 gods or one god altogether?), and understand its significance (why 12 as a number is so important? Have you found number 12 again in Greek mythology and literature?). 2. Zeus as Storm/Weather God (The storm or weather god is a large category in world mythology of gods who control the weather, send storms, are leaders of all gods, dwell on high mountains, hold thunderbolt and combat giants.) 3. Zeus depicted in ancient Greek art as storm god and king of the skies 4. Zeus as a god of destiny, oracles and knowledge 5. Zeus as warrior god, dictating the winner in battles 6. The story of the birth of Zeus and his fight with Cronus (some of the most important variations of this story) 7. Battle against the Giants and Typhon 8. Zeus as the supreme sky god who protects law, order, justice and good government upon the earth 9. Zeus as the Almighty Father 1: father of major and lesser gods 10. Zeus as the Almighty Father 2: father of heroes, kings and the first men 11. Zeus of Dodona in northwestern Greece (oracle of Dodona) 12. Zeus of Olympia in southern Greece (Olympic Games) - Panhellenic Zeus 13. Zeus of Nemea in southern Greece (Nemean Games) 14. The Arcadian Zeus worshipped on top of a mountain 15. The Cretan Zeus worshipped inside a cave on a high mountain
Learning Goals
In this 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 intermediate level how the ancient Greeks were structuring their myths and some of the narrative patterns that they were employing to tell meaningful stories about Zeus.
They will learn variations of certain myths on Zeus and their purpose. And together we will try to interpret and explain them, compare them with other myths, and trace their origins. Students will see that a god or a goddess could fulfill many roles in the ancient Greek religious worldview, Zeus in particular.
We will discuss together how were these stories played out in the sanctuaries of Zeus, and their worship. What did Apollo or Artemis mean to common men and women, to priests and to artists, such as the poets, as well as to the political and social elite of ancient Greece.
We will delve into the buildings and artworks created to immortalize the image of Zeus, sometimes depicted with his servants, sometimes with his children, sometimes with other goddesses, sometimes alone.
We will finally delve into an ancient religion with respect, so as to learn from theses examples 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) I use only and exclusively ancient art, original artworks created by the ancient people whose stories I teach in my classes, and this is the reason why I spend hours finding images that are from museums and collections of art from all over the world;
(b) this course is based on what some of the ancient civilizations believed, which means that their ideas may have been based on their observations, their imagination or their fears and hopes, but not on facts;
(c) the class is about the ancient world and not modern religions, which means that I approach the ancient world, based on the work of scholars (like me) who study it historically from a secular perspective.
I have a special note to make for Greek art:
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.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined March, 2020
4.9
784reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have a B.A. and M.A. in ancient Greek and Roman history and archaeology, as well as an M.A. in history and phiosophy of religions (especially ancient religions). I have excavated in ancient Greek sites, I speak ancient and modern Greek, as well as archaic and classical Latin and I have some knowledge of ancient Egyptian (Coptic script) and I am currently finishing my PhD. Reviews
Live Group Class
$20
weekly1x per week, 6 weeks
60 min
Completed by 20 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-14
3-7 learners per class
This class is no longer offered
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