This is a 14-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 14-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. As the great J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) once said about monsters in medieval Anglo-Saxon literature:
“I would suggest, then, that the monsters are not an inexplicable blunder of taste; they are essential, fundamentally allied to the underlying ideas of the [story], which give it its lofty tone and high seriousness.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, “Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics” in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (London and Dublin: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006), p. 19)

Therefore, with Tolkien's words in our mind, this course is divided into the following eleven thematic subunits:

Week 1: Introduction and the Grips (Griffins)

Week 2: Chimaera - Colchian Dragon - Ismenian Dragon

Week 3: Dragons vs Herakles - Dragons vs Apollo - Legendary Dragons

Week 4: Herakles vs Giants

Week 5: Zeus and Apollo vs Giants

Week 6: Gigantomachy

Week 7: Beasts Part 1 (Beasts related to Herakles)

Week 8: Beasts Part 2 (Beasts related to Theseus) - The Minotaur

Weeks 9 and 10: Monsters of the Forest (especially the Sphinx and the Centaurs)

Week 11: Monsters of the Sea (especially Scylla and the Sirens)

Weeks 12 and 13: Monsters beyond the Sea (especially the Cyclopses and Medusa) 

Week 14: The Amazons and other Mythical Tribes

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.