古希臘文學與考古學：伊阿宋與阿爾戈英雄

First and foremost in my series of ancient Greek and Roman literature classes, the most important goal is for young students, who genuinely love mythology, to read not a modern book about mythology (as they most often do) but an ancient Greek or Roman work containing the original myths.

In this course in particular, we are going to learn the story of the quest of Jason and the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece and of Jason’s relations with the Colchian princess Medea which clearly belong to the very early strata of Greek myth. We are going to decode the detailed allusions throughout the “Argonautica” of the ‘prehistory’ of the story. 

At the same time, the audience of “Argonautica” is expected to know the subsequent history of Jason and Medea, whose story is more fully explored in the classical Athenian drama of Euripides “Medea”. With my help, students will be introduced to this tragic aspect of Jason’s life which mesmerised the Athenians in the various versions of the story played in the ancient theatre.

Jason’s story, also, resembles that of Orestes and Theseus, who had to succeed in terrible challenges before claiming their rightful royal inheritance. In order to do that, Apollonius reworks the poems of Homer in a creative new way in his “Argonautica”. In this course we will not fail to draw comparisons between Jason and other heroes of Greek mythology.

The “Argonautica” was so successful that had an enormous impact on Roman poetry, influencing Ovid and Virgil, and imitated by Valerius Flaccus in his own version of “Argonautica”. Our last class will be dedicated to these influences.

Finally, in the course we will explain the significance of the author of the “Argonautica” Apollonius from Alexandria as the Royal Librarian under Ptolemy II Philadelphus (perhaps ca. 270-245 BCE) and a tutor to the future king Ptolemy III Euergetes. In the wake of Alexander’s conquests (334-323 BCE), the centre of literary gravity shifted from Athens and mainland Greece (where the “Odyssey” and the “Iliad” were born), to the new, cosmopolitan city of Alexandria in Egypt. It is an era characterised by the Hellenic literary past as something to be collected, preserved and studied, especially in the Museum and the Library of Alexandria. The Hellenistic poets, like Apollonius, faced with this staggering amount of great literary activity in the past, found themselves with the challenge to make new poetry. Thus, the “Argonautica” reflects the centuries-old Greek exploration of the ancient world and the recording of its geography and ethnography, it explores new psychological dimensions of individual gods, local divinities and heroes, it depicts the spread of Greek civilization and the taming of hostile forces and people.