Monsters, Dragons, Giants, Beasts and Mythical Tribes in Ancient Greek Mythology
In this biweekly, 5-weeks course the students will explore the well known, yet poorly understood world of legendary creatures, dragons, giants, beasts, and monsters of the Ancient Greek Mythology, with the use of ancient Greek art
Spyridon (Spiros) Loumakis
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(774)
What's included
10 live meetings
10 in-class hoursClass Experience
This is a 5-week course suitable for learners who are genuinely interested in ancient Greek mythology, motivated to learn more, and willing to follow this class in order to acquire a deeper knowledge about all these misunderstood animal, bestial and monstrous characters of ancient Greek mythology. In this 5-week journey through Greek mythology we are going to use ancient Greek art to imagine with the help of ancient Greek artists these imaginary creatures and acquire a deeper knowledge of them. Therefore, these ten meetings are dedicated to the following thematic subunits: Class 1: Introduction - The Grips (or Griffins) Class 2: Dragons and Chimaera Classes 3 and 4: Giants - Typhon Class 5: Beasts (particularly against Herakles) Class 6: Beasts (particularly against Theseus) - Minotaur Class 7: Monsters of the Forest (especially the Sphinx and the Centaurs) Class 8: Monsters of the Sea (especially Scylla and the Sirens) Class 9: Monsters beyond the Sea (especially the Cyclopses and Medusa) Class 10: The Amazons and other Mythical Tribes - Legendary Creatures 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 dynamic of the group. 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, and that is why I try to keep my classes small (up to 7 students), in order to work with every single one of the participants. After all, a small class has the advantage of binding the group better, and making the combined technique of ppt presentation-lecture-dialogue feasible and efficient. Thanks to Zoom, engaging students and interacting with them is always possible.
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 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 ancient Greek art, and especially in relation to the lifes and deeds of ancient Greek heroes who often, so many of them, fought these creatures.
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
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
774reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have a B.A. and M.A. in ancient Greek history and archaeology, as well as an M.A. in history and phiosophy of religions. I have excavated in ancient Greek sites, I speak ancient and modern Greek and I am currently finishing my PhD. Reviews
Live Group Class
$180
for 10 classes2x per week, 5 weeks
60 min
Completed by 28 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 11-14
3-8 learners per class
