Myth and the Ancient World

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Identify and critically assess scholarly views and arguments.
• Draw connections between different historical periods.
• Analyse critically a diverse range of primary material.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The significance of medium, including genre and literary context, for the retelling of a myth.
• The shifting nature of myths and how variations are created to meet the specific needs of different communities or individuals.
• The political and religious context of a number of important Greek myths and variants of myths.
• The key trends in modern scholarship for understanding and interpreting myths.

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Analyse different types of sources, written and non-written and evaluate how their form (genre, function of object etc) affects their transmission of the myth.
• Critically analyse a range of primary and secondary material.
• Analyse the relationship between myths and their political, social, and cultural contexts
• Make connections between the study of myth and the study of History.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• gather and digest relevant primary and secondary source materials including via electronic and web resources
• put forward your ideas and arguments in group discussions, and consider the arguments put forward by your fellow students
• develop orally and in writing sound and well supported arguments.
• engage in independent study and research.
• elaborate and express your ideas and critical reflections in essays, using primary and secondary sources.

This course will cover topics including:

Introduction. Multiform deities

Making Sense of the World/Myths as Identity: Creation and Foundation Myths

Heroes and Monsters

The Underworld

Fate and Retribution

Myth and Mystery

Myth transformed

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods will include:

• weekly one-hour lecture and one-hour seminar
• directed individual and group activities around primary sources
• short presentations given by students on the module
• group discussions including feedback from the tutor

Lectures are designed to introduce you to key themes, historical debates and historians' approaches. Further reading and seminar discussions of primary and secondary source material are designed to consolidate your knowledge and understanding. In seminar discussions you will be expected to engage in critical analysis of primary sources and to formulate and articulate arguments. And you will be encouraged to express your own ideas about a topic.

Learning activities will include:

• independent study, reading and research in preparation for each seminar
• putting together and delivering short presentations as directed by the lecturer
• in-depth study of textual and visual primary sources
• participation in small group and whole seminar discussions

This module, like all of the 15 credit History modules offered to second year students, will be research led and it will focus heavily on primary sources. You will study an individual source in depth each week. As such, this module will provide you with a sound preparation for the source-based work undertaken in year 3 during the Special Subject and the dissertation.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

H. Versnel (2011). Coping with the Gods. Leiden-Boston.

R.D Woodard (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology.

K. Dowden (1992). The Uses of Greek Mythology.

J. Bremmer (1998). Interpretations of Greek Mythology.

M. Morford and R. Lenardon (1995). Classical Mythology.

Clay, J.S. (2003). Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge.

L. Edmunds (1990). Approaches to Greek Myth.

Marcel D. (2003). The Writing of Orpheus: Greek Myth in Cultural Context. Translated by JanetLloyd. Baltimore: : John Hopkins University Press.

J-P. Vernant (1983). Myth and Thought Among the Greeks. London.

J-P. Vernant (1980). Myth and Society in Ancient Greece. Sussex.

F. Graf (1993). Greek Mythology: an introduction.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External