Welcome to CAMS 45 (Classical Mythology) on the Web! This course is a fully internet based class that explores a wide range of Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology. With attention on such heroes and gods as Athena, Zeus, Achilles, Antigone, Odysseus, Hercules, Medea, Artemis, Oedipus, Dionysus, Demeter, and others, this course considers both the sources of these great stories and the influence they have had on subsequent art and culture. From Shakespeare to El Greco, from Brad Pitt (Troy) and the Flash to Salvador Dalí and Michelangelo, few cultural artifacts have so contributed to the Western Tradition as Greco-Roman myth. This class, through a close study of many of the major, original classical myths in English translation, opens to the student not only a window on the societies and institutions of antiquity, but also the door to understanding the inspiration for many modern/contemporary cultural productions such as movies, TV, comic books, novels, and the plastic arts.
Course Layout:
This class is entirely online. You do not ever need to be on campus. All you need is a reliable internet connection. This course is "self-paced with deadlines." In other words, you can work at your own pace with the understanding that there are deadlines that must be observed. In semesters past, some students have done a lesson/day, other students have done three or four each weekend, some students wait and do all the lessons in the few days leading up to the midterm (this is not recommended). I do not monitor how you do you work, I just care that you complete your work on time. The self-pacing and the flexibility to be anywhere are two of the attractive features of the course. I have had students complete the course while studying abroad, while on Co-Op, while on internship, or while working full time in the summer.
View a sample syllabus!
Lesson Topics:
Lesson 0: Course Introduction
Lesson 1: Classical Myth
Lesson 2: Genesis
Lesson 3: Hesiod and Oral Poetry
Lesson 4: Floods
Lesson 5: Apollo and Artemis
Lesson 6: Hermes
Lesson 7: Thebes
Lesson 8: Dionysus and the Bacchae
Lesson 9: Oedipus the King
Lesson 10: Freud and Psychoanalysis
Lesson 11: Antigone
Lesson 12: Perseus and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Lesson 13: Ovid 5
Lesson 14: Arachne, Philomela, Jason &the Golden Fleece
Lesson 15: Medea
Lesson 16: Theseus and Hercules
Lesson 17: Pygmalion
Lesson 18: Homer's Iliad (Intro, Achilles' Rage, and Early Battles)
Lesson 19: Homer's Iliad (Ambassadors, Death, and Achilles' Return)
Lesson 20: The Shield of Achilles
Lesson 21: Virgil's Aeneid II (The Trojan Horse/Fall of Troy)
Lesson 22: Homer's Odyssey (Intro, Hospitality, and the Journeys)
Lesson 23: Homer's Odyssey (The Journeys Continue)
Lesson 24: CAMS 45 Goes to Hell (Voyages to the Underworld)
Lesson 25: Homer's Odyssey (Conclusion: Home Again)
Required Textbooks:
1. Homer. The Essential Homer. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2000. ISBN: 0872205401.
2. Ovid. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Trans. David Slavitt. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. ISBN: 0801847982.
3. Hesiod. Works and Days; Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 1993. ISBN: 0872201791.
4. Sophocles. Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra. Trans. D. F. Kitto. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. ISBN: 0192835822.
5. Euripides. Ten Plays. Trans. Moses Hadas. New York: Bantam Books, 1984. ISBN: 0553213636. [this book is cheap (around $5), but we only read 2 of the 10 plays in it]
Other required readings will be available online or through Penn State Libraries' Electronic Reserve (it is for the ER readings that you need Adobe Acrobat Reader).
The College of Liberal Arts has also created a website for all online courses offered through the college. You can visit their website here.
Other Features of the Course:
CAMS 045 Online uses iTunesU, which allows you to access and download all course audio files from iTunes (for free). You can then listen to the lectures on your computer, burn them to a CD, or sync them with your iPod or other MP3 player. All files download at *.mp3 files, which makes them fully compatible with your computer's music managing software, as well as with non-iPod portable devices. This is an optional feature of the course. The iTunes program is a free download, and you do not need to have an iPod to take advantage of this option. Since I've started integrating iTunes into the course, many students have told me that they like being able to study at the gym, driving home, or while walking to class.
Readings:
All readings for this course are available for free online. There will be books available for you to purchase in the bookstore, but these are recommended versions of the texts you are required to read. All readings have links off of the course schedule (in ANGEL), which take you to the online version. The texts available at the campus bookstore (or at most booksellers) offer better translations, and the book format might be easier than reading off of a computer screen (or using up your printing allowance!). Regardless, you have the option of using the online versions, which many students opt to do.