(Summer Camp) Ancient Greek Mythology and Archaeology (Age 12-14)

This is an *educational* summer camp, suitable for learners who are genuinely interested in ancient Greek mythology, motivated to learn more, and willing to follow this summer camp in order to acquire a deeper knolwedge about the ancient Greek gods. This is a summer camp for those learners who believe that learning mythology is fun.

In this summer camp we are going to discuss five important cases of Greek mythology to get a short but concise overview of the bigger picture of what Greeks called *cosmos* (the entire universe inhabited by divine beings, humans, animals, beast, plants, stars, planets and the earth, all united into one thing). In this five-day 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. 

Having taught many classes on OutSchool related to Greek mythology the past couple of years (18-week class on all mythology, 18-week class on the Olympians, 15-week class on Heroes, 9-week class on Monsters and Beasts, 7-week class on the Underworld etc), I have decided this summer to build this camp around five thematic subunits (one each day), specifically chosen in order to enable students to understand a lot more about Greek mythology in general:

1) The major creator-goddess Gaia, mother of the mountains and the sea, animals and plants, humans and beasts, monsters and giants. How can Gaia be the mother of so many contradicting kinds of offspring? There has to be a reason why Greeks created such a story? What are they trying to tell us?

2) The three brothers Zeus - Poseidon - Hades as rulers, judges and protectors of the Air, the Sea and the Underworld; of the world of humans, dead or alive. Why are they so similar, despite their obvious differences? Why does the human world need them? What do they bring to human societies that is so important? And why three?

3) The goddesses Hera and Demeter, as great examples of family and food, two concepts of paramount importance in the entire mythology. Why ancient Greeks focused so much on these two concepts, which were in fact connected to many more goddesses, major and minor, as well as spirits and nymphs? Greek mythology is definitely more about securing healthy family life and feeding humans than anything else (despite what you may think!)

4) The Nymphs: Why are they so many and why are they everywhere? So, if this is the case, are the Greek gods exclusively on mount Olympus (which does not make sense, considering their superhuman and supernatural powers)? Is nature alive in the ancient Greek imagination? And if yes, was it friendly or life-threatening? Or both? 

5) 5) War: Everybody knows that Ares is the god of war. However, this is far from being accurate. We will learn about the real god of war, Zeus; about other warrior gods: Athena, Nike, Eris, Aphrodite, Apollo. We will also try to see from the ancient Greek perspective what war was really to them! So, why Ares is a god they avoid, and they never pray to, or even try to placate and keep him afar?

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 or 8 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.