Classics 170 Greek and Roman Mythology Professor Hugh Lee

1
Classics 170 Greek and Roman Mythology
Professor Hugh Lee

• No oversubscription. You must go through the
  registration process to be enrolled in this
  course.
• Please take a syllabus.
• Your first assignment for discussion is on the
  syllabus, p. 5.
• You must learn how to use WebCT.
• Go to http//www.courses.umd.edu/
• Click Student Resources.
• Follow the instructions.
• Get help at 5-1500(M-F 8-6) or e-mail Ulysses
  (see syllabus p. 1)

2
Rooms for discussion sections.

• 0101 F 1 MMH 3418
• 0102 Th 11 JMZ 2207
• 0103 Th 11 ARM 0105
• 0104 Th 12 JMZ 0118
• 0105 Th 1 JMZ 0118
• 0106 F 10 ARM 0101
• 0107 F 11 HZF 0106
• 0108 F 12 ARC 1101

• 0201 F 10 ARM 0120
• 0202 Th 10 JMZ 2207
• 0203 Th 11 ARM 0103
• 0204 F 9 MMH 0108
• 0205 Th 9 JMZ 2117
• 0206 F 12 TYD 2110
• 0207 Th 12 MTH 0303

3
HERCULES

• Hercules (Roman) Herakles/Heracles (Greek)
• A hero of Greek and Roman myth
• Hero? Semi-divine, lived in the heroic age-
• Greek?
• Roman?
• Myth?

4
Herakles. Greek red-figure vase, c. 490 BC
5
(No Transcript)
6
Red-figure vase, c. 490 BC.
7
Herakles Amazons,black-figure,525 BC
8
Drunken Hercules. Herculaneum, Italy. House of
the Stags, 1st C. AD
9
ANCIENT GREECE

• Greeks share (a) language (b) religion (c)
  common institutions, e.g. the Olympic Games
• Not a nation state but many city-states
• Extends to the w. Mediterranean, Africa, the
  Black Sea

10
(No Transcript)
11
A SENSE OF TIME

• Second Millennium BC (2000-1000)
• ----Trojan War, about 1250 BC
• First Millennium BC (1000-1)
• Archaic Period 800-480 BC
• Homer and Hesiod about 700 BC
• Classical Period 480-323 BC.
• Greek tragedies 472 -405 BC.
• Hellenistic Period 323-31 BC
• Roman period.
• Ovid 45 BC-17 AD. Metamorphoses.

12
DEFINITIONS OF MYTH

• Mythos plot of a story, story
• Myth traditional story
• Gods (myth proper)
• Heroes (legend or saga). Historical kernel.
• Folk tales/Fairy tales

13
Theseus slays the Minotaur.Red-figure vase, 490
BC
14
Truth and Myth

• In colloquial usage, myths are falsehoods.
• To the Greeks myth history. To us moderns, myth
  / history.
• In what sense are myths true?
• Myths reflect cultural concerns or values.
• The power of a myth does not reside in its
  truth or falsehood.

15
Assignment

• See the syllabus for the readings.
• Learn to use WebCT.