Greek and Roman Mythology

Mythology is the study of the legends about the origins and history of a people, their deities, ancestors and heroes. The stories of the gods and legendary heroes of the Greco‐Roman tradition have provided the fountainhead for literature and the arts in the service of religious and political imagery down to the present. While the emphasis will be primarily literary, with extensive readings of such writers as Homer and Vergil (noting, in passing, the influence upon later literature), the visual depiction of these myths will also be studied. A field trip to a museum in Rome may be required.