Philosophy and Religious Studies
Greek Mythology
Coordinator: Dr. Rodney Blackhirst
Greek Mythology introduces the student to the cultural foundations of Classical and Western thought. The course focuses on an exposition of the mythic background of The Odyssey. Students learn to engage and evaluate the various ways of reading and interpreting text: literal, symbolist, allegorical, metaphysical. The Odyssey is explored through both art and literature. The notion of myth as aetiology is investigated through a consideration of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries. With this groundwork laid the student is introduced to Plato’s account of transcendence and the soul’s journey after death.
The course has three key aims:
- to make students aware of the influence of ancient Greek myths on almost all aspects of Greek civilisation: on their philosophic systems, on all the branches of their arts, and on their religious cults;
- to examine different ways of interpreting myths and to explore one of these ways, the Platonic or metaphysical, at length; and
- to educate students to evaluate their own responses, and to foster an awareness of those responses to the myths which are themselves works of art.
Assessment:
1 x 2500 word written assignment; 1 x multiple choice test;1 x short answer test
Texts:
Homer, The Odyssey (trans. E. Rieu, rev. D.C.H. Rieu, Penguin Books).
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (trans. H. Tredennick, Penguin Books)
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