Classical Mythology
Classics 160D2
Instructor: Professor Robert Groves (groves@email.arizona.edu)
Class Time: TR 8:00-9:15*
Office: Learning Services Building #211
Class Location: Soc. Sci. 100*
Office Hours: M 11:30-12:30, R 2:00-3:00
Discussion Leaders: Ian Dahl, Shannon Ells, Danielle “Saavak” Williams
The traditional stories of the Greeks and Romans are not only fun tales which we enjoy reading, hearing
about, or watching unfold on a movie screen. Those same stories have been used by some of history's
greatest artists and writers to describe the human condition, and by politicians and propagandists to
achieve their political ends. Psychologists and anthropologists have put forward one explanation for
these stories' popularity and endurance: they tap into some of the most fundamental and universal
aspects of society.
In this course, we will occupy ourselves with 4 basic goals:
1. To learn (some of) the Greeks'/Romans' myths and mythical characters
2. To examine why and how artists, musicians, writers, and politicians have made use of these myths.
3. To evaluate the claims of theoreticians about why these myths exist, and why they are still popular.
4. To become better readers of both texts and art, writers, analyzers, and thinkers.
Mythology, not just myth: Note: the course does NOT end at goal #1. Knowing the stories and
characters is an important part of the class, but is really only the beginning. I hope that students who are
prepared to seriously read, think, grapple, and write about the issues we discuss will find this class fun
and rewarding. Those who are hoping to just passively listen to stories will not succeed.
Required Texts:
Our main textbook and features some rather long texts as well as a large number of shorter
fragments and texts. We will spend some time orienting ourselves to this book early on in the course.
Make friends with it as soon as possible.
Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation (Trzaskoma et al.)
Ancient Texts from ancient Athens and Rome which will help provide us with longer treatments of
myths. I strongly encourage you to use these versions of the texts as these translations have been
carefully chosen for their readability and low price. Using a different version will be confusing and
you are warned to do so only at your own risk.
Metamorphoses (Ovid, Charles Martin)
The Complete Aeschylus: Volume II Persians and Other Plays (Aeschylus, Burian/Shapiro)
Four Plays: Medea, Hippolytus, Heracles, Bacchae (Euripides, Esposito)
The Essential Homer (Homer, Lombardo)
Oedipus the King (Sophocles, Berg/Clay)
A few additional things will be distributed separately for free.
Downloadable Materials (available on D2L)
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Important Notes about the Flipped Classroom:
This semester, this course will be taught using a technique called the “flipped classroom.” In a normal
class, you would come to class for the lecture portion of class, and then be expected to do your thinking
and discussion on your own. In this class, lectures (except the first) will all be delivered via video
lectures available on the course website. You will watch these lectures and do your readings outside of
class and when you actually come to class, you will be expected to participate in active learning activities
like debates and discussions.
You must choose your discussion section by going to the GROUPS tab on D2L and then enrolling
yourself in one group. Please do not enroll in more than one group, or try to change groups once
you’ve joined. Groups have a maximum of 30 students.
How to Succeed in this Class:
• Spend enough time to succeed. This course will demand an average of 9 hours a week. Students
who do not spend that much time will have trouble passing. The 9 hours breaks down as follows:
◦ Watching lectures and taking notes: 2-3 hours
◦ Reading assigned readings, and taking notes: 3-4 hours
◦ Discussion Section: 35 minutes
◦ Completing Quizzes and Assignments: varies (~15 minutes to several hours)
• Spread Your Work Out. Students who pile all the work into 9 hours in one day each week will
find that they retain less than those who do one hour each day. This takes self-discipline but will
pay off with increased mastery of material and less time spent cramming for the exams.
• Remember what GE means. Most of you are in this class to satisfy a GE requirement GE stands
for General Education. What this means is that the course does not require specialized knowledge
or skills beyond basic, college-level English reading and writing. The material is accessible to anyone.
It does not mean the course is an automatic A, or even an easy course. If you are not in the habit of
reading and analyzing literature regularly, this class will almost certainly challenge you. I hope that
these challenges will be mental workouts that make you stronger readers, thinkers, and writers.
◦ Although the class is not explicitly curved, having taught this class and others like it, I can tell
you that in general there is usually a broad spread.
▪ About 15-20% usually earn A’s.
▪ About 30% usually earn B’s (This makes a B-/C+ grade AVERAGE)
▪ About 30-35% usually earn C’s
▪ About 20% usually earn D’s or F’s.
◦ I tell you this so that you understand that both A’s and F’s are common and achievable,
depending on the level of your work, time, and engagement.
• Do not miss class or arrive late. You now only have class about once per week. If you miss that
day you will have missed a week of class. Our class is early, but by signing up for it, you have
committed to attending. Students who regularly miss my classes almost NEVER get A’s and very
rarely get B’s or C’s. More often than not, they do not pass. Set extra alarm clocks. Remind
yourself. Make your success a priority.
• Do NOT Hesitate to Seek help! Come to office hours. Email me. Contact your discussion leader.
Whether you have questions about an assignment, need clarification on what I meant in a lecture, or
want to practice names, you are welcome to seek our help on any or all of these. Students who take
charge of their own education almost always perform better than those who are passive observers.
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Grades and Assignments:
The class will not be curved, and a standard scale will be used:
Excellent/Outstanding Work: A ≥ 900 points
Good Work: B = 800-899 points,
Average/Acceptable Work: C = 700-799 points,
Poor Work: D= 600-699,
Unacceptable Work: E<600
Your grade will be based on your performance on the following assessments and activities:
Discussion Section:
(20%)
Attendance
100 points
Participation
100 points
Examinations:
(50%)
Online Orientation Exam
50 points
Weekly Quizzes:
120 points
Midterm Exam:
150 points
Final Exam:
180 points
Writing Assignments:
(30%)
Response Micro-Papers
120 Points
Expansion Paper :
180 points
Total:
1000 points
(100%)
Attendance is exactly what it says. You can earn 15% of your grade in this class simply by coming
every day to your scheduled discussion section. This will be calculated by dividing your hours in class by
the scheduled hours in class. If you are here for all scheduled hours, you will receive 100%. You can
make up as many as 2 discussion sessions of attendance by coming to your discussion leader’s office
hours and spending time discussing class with them.
Participation means a range of things. This is best illustrated by examples, which are obviously not
comprehensive but suggest the breadth of possibilities.
 Emily is physically in class, but spends almost all the time asleep or on her phone. She has
basically no awareness of what is happening around her. She earns 1% of the total 10%.
 Daniel comes to class and pays attention but never engages or participates in an active way.
She earns a 6% of the total 10%
 Carlos comes to class and pays attention. He occasionally makes very superficial comments
and participates in group work. He earns 7.5% out of 10%
 Belinda comes to class and pays attention. She only occasionally makes comments but they
tend to be interesting. She is a key member of her group for group work. She earns 8.5%
out of 10%
 Addy comes to class and pays attention. She regularly makes insightful comments and is a
dynamic member of her group during group work. She earns 10% out of 10%.
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We will have an online orientation exam, which will help ensure that everyone understands the
syllabus and the course website, and is oriented to the times and places we’ll be discussing. This exam
will be held at your convenience on D2L and must be completed by January 22. Students who add the
course later than January 23 will be eligible to take the exam within the first week of their D2L eligibility,
if they notify the professor they would like to do so. This exam will be open note but should be
completed without consulting other students.
We will have one midterm exam, which will cover the material from the first half of the class. This
will be given in class on 3/12 and you will have the entire class period to complete it. The exam will be a
multiple choice (scantron) exam, but do not be deceived; it will not be easy unless you are well prepared.
You should expect to be able to identify characters, events, texts, and authors from the readings and
from lecture. Given a passage from one of the readings, you should be able to identify it and its subject.
Given a name you should be able to identify important information about that person/event. See note in
policy section for details about make up exams.
The final exam will cover the entire course, but will HEAVILY weight things since midterm. The
final’s format will be the same as the midterm with the addition of one extra section. You will be asked
to both provide details on specific materials and to integrate and synthesize across the course. See note
in policy section for details about make up exams.
The Response Micro-Papers will ask you to respond to one of several prompts at the end of each
module. These are due IN DISCUSSION at the beginning of class on the day and time your discussion
meets. Late submissions will be accepted for credit. Your (~100 word, hand-written) micro-paper
should NOT be summaries! They should answer, in your opinion one of the questions asked at the end
of each module. For full credit, you should back up your opinion with at least one cited quote from the
texts. You should be prepared to share this opinion with your classmates in discussion. Papers that
mainly summarize, do not engage with the text, or do not present your opinion will receive 0’s.
After Spring Break, you will receive the assignment for The Expansion Paper. This paper will ask
you to expand your thoughts on one of the shorter paper topics and write a fuller, more well established
essay. Your grade will be based on the quality of your argument, the way you use of both primary and
secondary sources to support that argument, and on how well you achieve the standards of college-level
writing proficiency. More information about the expansion paper will come out shortly before they are
due.
Two notes on Assignments:
1.) Some of the readings may be unusual, weird or challenging. This is to be expected. College will ask
you to expand your horizons, both in terms of the variety of materials you encounter and in their
complexity and foreignness. Do your best to follow the main plot lines and ideas; do not sweat it if there
are things you do not understand! This is an important skill to develop!
That said, if there are things you do not understand, ASK questions! The most important
difference between this course and you just reading a book on the subject is that you have intelligent,
passionate, living, breathing people who can help you better understand. Use us!
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2.) We know that things like Wikipedia and Sparknotes exist, but here is why they are a poor
replacement for actually reading/ watching the primary sources: We are not just interested in the
content of the books we read and films we watch, but also the WAY in which the information is
presented. It’s not just important that Oedipus blinds himself, but also how Sophocles tells the story.
While the former is easy to get from Wikipedia or Spark notes, the latter is not as easy. Furthermore, the
time you spend reading a full source actually MAKES YOU LEARN the material. Shortcutting the
reading means you’ll be less prepared for the exams and essays.
FURTHERMORE: As we’ll see, there are a variety of alternative versions of myths, and of false
information on the internet about myths. The more sources you read that aren’t approved by class, the
more likely you are to confuse yourself which will set you back.
Trigger Warning: In this course we will discuss sensitive issues including rape, suicide, (homo-, inter-,
trans-) sexuality, gender, mental illness, murder, religion, slavery, and racism. We will also, from time to
time, use “bad” words. While I acknowledge that such issues can be difficult to deal with, by choosing
to stay in this course, you commit to wrestling with all material this course engages with, even if doing so
may make you uncomfortable. If you do not feel you can do this without serious anguish and you want
to avoid that anguish, I encourage you to find another course.
In discussing such topics, I hope you will present your own opinions in honest and open ways
even when (and in fact, especially when) they conflict with your classmates’ opinions (or mine, or your
discussion leader’s. Just remember that the university is a place for respectful exchange of ideas and that
while ideas can and should be challenged, people should not be insulted or demeaned for their ideas.
Threatening behavior in particular is prohibited (http://policy.web.arizona.edu/threatening-behaviorstudents).
Schedule of Topics and Assignments:
Note that the module should be complete before your discussion section in the listed week.
Also Note that the symbols before each reading correspond to the textbook in which you will find
each.
Week 0 (R 1/15)
Lecture in Soc. Sci. 100: A Brief Introduction to the Course, Time, and Space.
Week 1 (T 1/20 | R 1/22)--Module 1: Meeting and Hymning the Gods
Assigned Readings:
Homeric Hymns 6, 8-13, 18, 20-25, 27-29
Homeric Hymns 3, 4 | Diodorus of Sicily 5.66-5.73 | Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus
Week 2 (T 1/27 | R 1/29)--Module 2: Creation
Assigned Readings:
Hesiod, Theogony
Hesiod, Works and Days | Semonides 7
Metamorphoses 1.1-606
Near Eastern Cosmogonies
Week 3 (T 2/3 | R 2/5)—Module 3: Threats to Zeus’ Order
Assigned Readings:
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Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound
Homeric Hymn 5 | Sappho 1 | Sophocles 941 |
Sappho 31
Metamorphoses 3.453-658 (Narcissus & Echo), 10.311-857 (Pygmalion, Myrrha, Adonis,
Atlanta)
Week 4 (T 2/10 | R 2/12)—Module 4: Is Desire Desirable?
Euripides: Hippolytus
Metamorphoses 1.628-1037 (Daphne, Io, Syrnix), 2.1143-3.12 (Europa), 4.372-533
(Salmacis), 6.590-1038, (Tereus et al., Boreas), 10.152-283, (Cyparissus, Ganymede,
Hyacinth) 12.249-312, 678-786 (Caenis/Caeneus)
Sophocles 583
Week 5 (T 2/17 | R 2/19)—Module 5: Death
Aeschylus 161
Essential Homer: Iliad 9.420-429
Essential Homer: Odyssey 4.583-599, 11 (all), 24.1-16
Inscription G and H (Appendix 2)
Vergil, Aeneid 6.237-end
Metamorphoses 1.628-1037 (Daphne, Io, Syrnix), 2.1143-3.12 (Europa), 4.372-533
(Salmacis), 6.590-1038, (Tereus et al., Boreas), 10.152-283, (Cyparissus, Ganymede,
Hyacinth) 12.249-312, 678-786 (Caenis/Caeneus)
Week 6 (T 2/24 | R 2/26)—Module 6: The Mysteries of Life
Homeric Hymns 2, 7, 19
Metamorphoses 8.1022-1036 (Ceres)
Euripides: Bacchae
Cornutus 30 | Fulgentius 2.12
Week 7 (T 3/3 | R 3/5)—Module 7: Heroes
Apollodorus I, J1-2, M1 (Perseus, Cadmus, Bellerophontes) | Palephatus 28 | Conon 37,
40
Apollodorus (Heracles) K1-21 | Xenophon (the choice of Heracles) | Apollodorus
(Theseus) N1-7
Week 8—Module 8: An Athenian Hero
Euripides: Heracles
***Review Session on 3/10 for All Students***
***3/12: Midterm Exam in Social Science 100***
Week 9 (T 3/17 | R 3/5)—Module 9: The Theban Cycle
Oedipus the King
Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes
Week 10 (T 3/24 | R 3/26)—Module 10: Sing, Goddess, the Rage
Proclus, Chrestomathy A-D
Essential Homer: Iliad 1-3, 5
Essential Homer: Iliad 6, 9, 12-14
Week 11 (T 4/7 | R 4/9)—Module 11: The Rage Ends and Continues
Essential Homer: Iliad 16, 18-22
Essential Homer: Iliad 23, 24
Lucian, Judgment of the Goddesses | Statius, Achilleid |Vergil, Aeneid 2a-i
Week 12 (T 4/14 | R 4/16)—Module 12: The End of the Rage and its Aftermath
Metamorphoses TBD (Ajax, Philoctetes, etc.)
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Apollonius, Argonautica 1
Week 13 (T 4/21 | R 4/23)—Module 13: Speak, Muse, of the Man
Essential Homer: Odyssey 1, 4-6
Ovid, Heroides 1
Essential Homer: Odyssey 8-10, 12-13
Theocritus, Idyll 11
Week 14 (T 4/28 | R 4/30)—Module 14: Aftermath of the Journey
Selections from Apollonius, Argonautica 3 and 4
Euripides: Medea
Week 15—Module 15: Journey’s End
Essential Homer: Odyssey 16-24 (SELECTIONS TBD)
Hyginus 127 (Telegonus)
Cavafy, Ithaka
***Review Session on 5/5 for All Students***
Final Exam: Thursday, 5/14, 8-10am, Social Science 100
Extra Credit Opportunities:
Discussion Forum: Students may earn up to 20 points (2%) extra credit by participating regularly on
the course’s question forums. There is a link to the forum for each module as part of that module, or
you can find them in the “discussions” tab. You may participate by asking a question, or by responding
to someone else’s. You’ll earn 1 point for each time you participate, but no more than 2 points per
week (NOTE: per week, not per module. If you want full credit, you’ll need to participate consistently
throughout the class).
Extra Credit Paper/Project: Students may earn up to 30 points (3%) extra credit by doing one of
the following activities and then writing a short paper (2 full pages) in which they discuss the activity in
the light of what they have learned in the course. Papers are due on the day of students’ final discussion
section. Activities include:
o Watching a serious film which engages with Greek and Roman myth in some way. Films
aimed at children (i.e. Disney’s “Hercules”) are not eligible. Students are challenged to
find interesting and serious movies rather than recent Hollywood blockbusters in order
to receive full credit. (While you can get some points for talking about Dwayne
Johnson’s “Hercules,” You’ll get more for writing about “Black Orpheus.”)
o Attending a performance of a Greek Tragedy.
o Creating an original work of art (drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, poem, or
song) based on the material of the course. In this case, the paper will be very brief,
merely explaining the work of art’s connection to the class. The best versions of this will
be artistically successful AND be transformative, innovative, and interesting on their
own, not mere illustrations.
Honors Contracts: Honors students may contract this course to receive Honors credit. This option
requires students to research an aspect of myth that is not covered by the course and to prepare a
presentation of that material to the course at large via the same video software I use. Under consultation
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with the professor, they will pick a topic early in the semester (no later than 2/19). Between 2/19 and
3/26, the students will do research and create an outline for their project. During the week of 3/30,
honors students will meet with the professor and each other to present their findings and begin
developing their presentations. All presentations will be recorded and ready for display no later than
4/30. Honor Students will be assessed based on intellectual curiosity and energy displayed by their
project.
Policies:
On Make-up Exams: Make-up Exams will be granted for students who miss the regularly scheduled
exam ONLY at the discretion of the professor. Students with a valid excuse may be permitted to take
the exam prior to its normally scheduled time. Students with documented major illness or injury
(usually requiring hospitalization) or documented death in the close family will be permitted to make up
the exam for full credit, provided they contact the professor promptly and make up the exam as soon as
possible.
Students with minor illness (i.e. cold, headache, etc.) who miss the exam or who have some
other excuse will be allowed to make up the exam for partial credit only. For each day late the student
takes the exam, the student should expect to forfeit 15% of his/her grade on that exam. Note that the
make-up exam or essay may not be the same difficulty as the regular exam; it may in fact be harder. This
policy is meant to allow those who are mild or moderately ill to make informed decisions; the choice
about whether to take the exam while ill or wait a day or two is yours.
On Late Papers: While meeting deadlines is an important skill and allows the graders time to grade all
projects in a timely way, I certainly understand that one can easily miss a deadline or be overwhelmed. I
will therefore accept late writing assignments with a penalty of 5% per 24 hour period. This is assessed
through multiplication. Thus, a paper which would have earned a 75% but was turned in 3 days late
(penalty = -15%) receives a .75*.85= 63.75%. Note that while a low D is not nearly as good as the C the
paper would have earned, it is VASTLY better than a 0 for an unsubmitted assignment, an F for a
horribly done assignment, or an instant failure of the class for a plagiarized assignment.
On Academic Honesty: I am HIGHLY devoted to maintaining the UA's Code of Academic
Integrity. Cheating and Plagiarism are not only dishonest, they destroy the value of the system of which
we are all parts. Submission of any work that is not wholly your own or properly cited violates this policy
and will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy. This explicitly includes borrowing ideas from sites like
Sparksnotes, Wikipedia, or other online sources, EVEN IF YOU CHANGE SOME WORDS. As a
baseline, if you are found guilty of any kind of academic honesty violation, you should expect to
fail this class instantly. Further penalties for severe or repeat cases include permanent notation on
your transcript or expulsion from the university. Please contact me if you have any questions about what
is fair or appropriate. You should also familiarize yourself with the information found here:
https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/academicintegrityforstudents and here:
http://www.library.arizona.edu/tutorials/accidental_plagiarism/
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NOTE: Most cases of academic misconduct I have encountered were the result of students’
starting the assignment too late or not getting help before exams. There are two ways to avoid
this: start assignments early, and if you find yourself in a crunch, take a zero or the late penalty
rather than plagiarizing. Better to fail one assignment than an entire class (and possibly earn
further disciplinary action).
Contacting You:
Your Discussion Leader and I will make regular announcements via the course website (D2L)
which you should also use to find your assignments watch lecture, etc. Be sure that you have
access to this website and that your email is correct and that you check it regularly.
Contacting me:
Email (groves@email.arizona.edu) is the best way to get a hold of me. I check it often and
will reply as quickly as I can. That said, do not count on me responding to my email immediately.
It may take as long as 24 hours. Please see the “How to email a Professor” document on D2L.
Your TA will also be a valuable resource and he will tell you how to contact her. While I'm
happy to answer most quick questions by email, any substantive discussion of course material or
performance on a paper or exam is best handled in person in office hours!
On Disability Accommodation and Access: It is the University’s goal that learning experiences
be as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on
disability, please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to
contact Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to establish reasonable accommodations.
Please be aware that the accessible table and chairs in this room should remain available for
students who find that standard classroom seating is not usable.
On the syllabus: The information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading and absence
policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the
instructor.
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