In this multi-day 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 the sanctuaries of the gods, and in their worship, and how ancient Greek artists depicted them. What did they mean to priests and to worshippers, as well as to the political and social elite of ancient Greece.

We will finally delve into an ancient religion with respect, so as to learn from this example two very important lessons: that there is nothing unchangeable in time, when it comes to religious traditions, old and new. 

I have a B.A. in History and Archaeology (Athens, Greece), an M.A. in Archaeology and History of Art (Athens, Greece), as well as an M.A. in History and Philosophy of Religions (Concordia, Montreal, Canada). I speak modern and ancient Greek, archaic and classical Latin and I have worked on many aspects of the material world of ancient Greece (art, architecture, coins, ppayri, inscriptions). 

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Homework will be assigned in various forms: 

(a) at certain points of the nineteen meetings students will be asked to study a short hand-out which will be distributed in advance as part of their preparation (each hand out will be uploaded a few days in advance),  
(b) at certain points of the nineteen meetings students will be assigned a short (optional) multiple-choice test to be filled out under parental supervision, in order to test their memory, attention and observation (six of them in total), 
(c) in case students love to express themselves in writing, I can assign, upon request, some writing assignments, as I do in my historical classes, in the form of an essay, and
(d) students can also choose to express themselves in an artistic way, like writing poetry, and even present their work in the class if they feel comfortable about.
授業以外に週あたり 0 - 1 時間の学習が期待されます
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I do not believe that a letter grade is meaningful for an on-going class on mythology. However, as I often do with my one-time classes, which are always small classes (up to 5 or 6 students), I communicate with the parents and the children directly, providing my personal comments, private feedback and an informal assessment.
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