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 people (Greeks, Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians).

The goal for the students is to learn at an introductory level how ancient people were structuring their myths and some of the narrative patterns that they were employing to tell meaningful stories about how the world was created acocrding to each ines observation and imagination. 

We will discuss together how were these stories played out in ancient art, and especially in relation to a world that is inhabited by living beings and, in particular, by humans; often the latter depicted as a creature superior to animals and plants, favored by the creator gods, as in the Greek mythology. 

We will finally delve into ancient religions 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. 

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. 

Homework Offered
Homework, designed to take no more than 30 minutes per day, will be assigned in two forms: 

(a) before each of the twelve meetings students will be asked to study a short hand-out which will be distributed in advance as part of their class preparation (each hand out will be uploaded 24 hours in advance), 
and 
(b) 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. 
0 - 1 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for a course on mythology. 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 course.
Grades Offered

A great source of information created by a group of leading scholars of ancient mythology and literature is the book Ancient Cosmologies, edited by Carmen Blacker and Michael Loewe (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975), based on lectures given at Cambridge University in 1972 by prominent scholars such as W.G. Lambert (Cosmology of Sumer and Babylon), G.E.R. Lloyd (Greek Cosmologies) and J.M. Plumley (Cosmology of Ancient Egypt). 
Any recent scientific contributions in the study of cosmologies (especially through the translation and publishing of more ancient texts since 1975) will be incorporated in my lectures and power-point presentations. 
A few more advanced books are the following:
David Sedley, Creationism and Its Critiques in Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007)
Andrew Gregory, Ancient Greek Cosmogony (London: Duckworth, 2007)
Wayne Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2011)
Jan J. W. Lisman, Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogeny in Sumerian Texts (Munster, Germany: Ugarit Verlag, 2013)
James P. Allen, Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts (Yale Egyptological Studies 2; Yale University Press, 1988)
Eric Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1999) [note: the tombs are the greatest textual and artistic sources for Egyptian stories about the world]