Classical Mythology

For the Greeks and Romans, a multitude of gods, demigods and heroes explained the origins of life, the cosmos, the forces of nature, the seasons, death, fertility, war and peace. 
This will be the focus of this "Classical Mythology" course with archaeologist Filomena Barata, who, through the myths presented in various works of art over the centuries, will offer us a better understanding of Classical Culture and its influence on society over the centuries.
By approaching Myth and its narratives, we gain another perspective on Classical Culture and on ourselves.

 

1st session • 07 Nov • What is Mythology?

We will learn about the various currents of thought surrounding Mythology and the importance it assumes in each of them. This first session will also focus on the primordial myths – Cosmogony. Through Hesiod's Theogony, written around the 8th century BC, we will approach the Greek origin myth, which conceives of Chaos as the beginning of creation.

2nd session •​​​​​​​ 09 Nov •​​​​​​​ Mythology and Nature

Myths are associated with natural accidents and phenomena, stars and planets, plants and animals. Nature has been understood to have sacred qualities at least since mankind created cave paintings in which the Sun appears as a divine entity, which being a source of energy, conditions life on earth, thus having been revered by many cultures and traditions, as we will see in this second session. We will talk about Dionysus, Ceres and Proserpine; about the deities and spirits of the Forest such as Fauns, Satyrs and Nymphs; and about Pomona, protector of gardens and trees. We will also discuss the myriad deities of the woods, mountains, seas, farms and annual seasons, Faunus and Fauna, Flora and Pan, and Silvanus, a god of Italic origin who brings together animal and plant nature.

3rd session • 14 Nov • Eleusinian Mysteries and the agrarian cycles of Bacchus/Dionysus

The Mysteries of Eleusis underpinned a religious festival in honour of Demeter, the goddess of grain and fertility. The festival commemorated the abduction of the goddess' daughter Persephone (or Core) by Hades (the god of the dead), and the young woman's reunion with her mother as a way of celebrating the cycle of life and death and the cycle of nature.
As for Dionysus/Bacchus, mythology credits him with extracting the juice from grapes and producing wine. Because he was another illegitimate son of Zeus/Jupiter and a mortal woman, Semele, the goddess Juno (Hera in the Greek pantheon) turned Bacchus into a madman who wandered the world.  

4th session • 16 Nov • The Gods of the Olympus

The Olympian gods, the twins Apollo and Artemis (the solar and lunar gods), the birth of Athena and Apollo and their entourage, the Muses, will be the focus of this final session.