1) Introduction
 

I will begin by making distinctions between the world views of mythology and the more positivistic world views of contemporary science their respective outlooks on cosmology, cosmogony, matter, life and consciousness. Within the context of cosmogonic accounts given in The Bible, the Enuma Elish, and the Theogony, I will discuss animism, ritual and the sacred structure of the universe. The discussion of Hesiod will include a brief introduction to the Olympians. From here on, the focus will be mostly Classical.
 

2) The Pantheon

Pressing onward through the ages of the world, I will next flesh out the personae of the Olympian major contenders & other lesser gods. I will, as well, treat their roles within the cosmic edifice with some attention to their observance in cult. This discussion of the gods will include readings from Ovid as well as other mythographers selected in the course reader.
 

3) The Gods, the Cosmos and Mortals.
 

The next point to explore within the mythological vision of time is the condition of mortals. Through an analysis of various accounts of their creation, I will discuss the marginal place of people in the world order. From here I will discuss the heroic age, and the comic and tragic world views implicit in the stories of Herakles, Achilles and Odysseus. We will read the Nekyia of the Odyssey and Achilles' Aristeia in the Iliad. If time permits, I would like to assign a tragedy by Euripides: Medea or The Bacchae.
 

4) Mythic and Political Visions.
 

Aeschylus, Vergil and Ovid. Ideologies, charters, irony and subversion. Mythology may be inevitable, but its necessity doesn't preclude improvisation. Here I will consider, explicitly, how different artists utilize mythological narratives in the service of particular political visions. I will consider specifically how mythology is deployed in tales of the foundings of cities and states. And I will explain how stories about the beginnings of things tend to be a direct comment upon the status quo, whether supporting or subversive. The discussion of political ideology will open into a larger critique of culture, class and gender. Readings will include Aeschylus' Agamemnon and conclusion to Eumenides, Virgil's account of Aeneas' descent to the underworld and the founding and subsequent history of Thebes as detailed in book three of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
 

5) Myth and Psyche in Philosophy and Literature
 

To what extent are we justified in considering mythology as an account of the inner life? Is the utilization of mythological language by philosophers such as Plato a deliberate, rational and self-conscious attempt to treat concretely, if symbolically, human truths essentially within the grasp of philosophy or psychology? Or is myth more or less than philosophical, the autobiography of some aspect of ourselves that can be know only through the indirection of a mythological narrative? Can there be a satisfactory account of the nature of desire in the positive or scientific language of psychology? Passages from Apuleius' account of Eros and Psyche, Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium. Comparison of Plato's Eros and Sappho's Aphrodite. Possibly a brief discussion of the use of mythology by Nietzsche and/or Freud.
 

6) Modern Mythology: Popular science and popular culture
 

How do the metaphors of popular science writing pick up the cosmogonic imagery of mythology? On the other hand, do the uncanny figures of Vampires, UFOnauts, Masonic conspiracies, etc. currently crowding the margins of popular epistemology bear comparison to the personae of the classical mythology? How do the Gothic productions of the entertainment industry ("X-files," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," etc.) mediate between the normal, positive more or less scientific vision of the late 20th-century and the alternative world view of the "fringe?" What is the popular fascination with beliefs that are so roundly disavowed by mainstream, officially sanctioned visions of common sense?
 

Tripp, A Handbook of Classical Mythology, Ovid, Metamorphoses, Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Euripides, Bacchae or Medea. Additional assignments in course readers.