Course Syllabus Pages:  Class Schedule  Course Information  Website Information General Help Pages:  Making a Great Web Post  Copyright Statement  Privacy Statement  About Lectures Materials:  Outline of the Iliad  Ancient Readers on the Myths  Modern Theories Chart  Jung Tips  Levi-Strauss reads Oedipus  Vladimir Propp help page  Vergil timeline and Aeneid summary More on Myth:  Other Links  Typos Catchers Display:  Configure Display   Return to Front Page Dictionary: Blackboard: Display:	ClSt / ComL 200: Mythology Peter Struck   I. Course Description   Myths are traditional stories that have endured many years. Some of them have to do with events of great importance, such as the founding of a nation. Others tell the stories of great heroes and heroines and their exploits and courage in the face of adversity. Still others are simple tales about otherwise unremarkable people who get into trouble or do some great deed. What are we to make of all these tales, and why do people seem to like to hear them? This course will focus on the myths of ancient Greece and Rome as a way of exploring the nature of myth and the function it plays for individuals, societies, and nations. We will also pay some attention to the way the Greeks and Romans themselves understood their own myths. Are myths subtle codes that contain some universal truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses of a particular culture? Are they entertaining stories that people like to tell over and over? Are they a set of cultural blinders that all of us wear, though we do not realize it? We will investigate these questions through a variety of topics including: the creation of the universe and the structure of the cosmos, relations between gods and mortals, religion and divination, justice, society, family, sex, love, madness, and death.   II. Academic Integrity   Cheating will not be tolerated. I will throw the book at you.  You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with and following the University of Pennsylvania's Code of Academic Integrity. Exams Collaboration with your fellow mythologists during exams counts as cheating. Specific things that count as cheating include but are not limited to: having someone else take the exam for you copying an essay or any part of an essay from any one else's work -- including friends, aquaintances, any writing online or on paper -- and claiming it as your own, without proper attribution If you're the kind of person who, in a moment of panic and weakness, would even consider doing something like this, I don't want you in my class. Online assignments Collaboration with your fellow mythologists in the course's weekly online assignments is allowed and encouraged in every way EXCEPT: having someone else fill in your weekly worksheet having someone else write your write your writing assignments on your section's bulletin board downloading an essay from any one of the bloodsucking commercial sites that will sell you garbage for $11.95 / page and using it, or any part of it, as any part of your writing -- these people are the lowest of the low and they don't care if you get kicked out of college for using their site, they just want your money and they prey on your anxiety -- I hate them. This kind of cheating is not only a breach of University's the Code of Acdemic Conduct, it is also stupid. Putting time into the online worksheets is your best preparation for performing well on the short answer sections of the midterm and final. Questions in these sections will surely include, though they are not limited to, material drawn from the worksheets. Putting time into your weekly web post is your best preparation for performing well on the essay sections of the exams. If you're the kind of person who, in a moment of panic and weakness, would even consider doing something like this, I don't want you in my class.   III. Grading   Activity 50% Final: Essay question that asks you to solve a problem of major difficulty from an deeply informed perspective. 10% Weekly worksheets on web units: 8 out of 11 worksheets completed on time = full 10%, less than 8 completed on time = you will earn percentage points toward your final grade equal to the number of worksheets completed on time multiplied by 1.25. 5% Participation: Based on cumulative performance in discussions, exercises, quizzes, and (not least!) attendance. 35% Writing Assignments: You will be responsible for writing assignments throughout the quarter, usually every week, sometime times a paragraph, sometimes slightly longer. You will submit these electronically on the Elluminate site. 100%   IV. Required Texts All books are available at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore Greek Tragedies, Vol. I, ed. by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: University of Chicago Pr., 1991) ISBN 0226307905 Greek Tragedies Vol. III, ed. by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: University of Chicago Pr., 1991) ISBN 0226307913 Hesiod, Theogony (Oxford World's Classics), M. L. West, trans. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) ISBN 0192839411 Homeric Hymns, Susan Shelmerdine, trans. (Cambridge, Mass.: Focus Information Group, 1995) ISBN 1585100196 Homer, The Odyssey, Robert Fagles, trans. ISBN 0140268863 Virgil, The Aeneid, Robert Fitzgerald, trans. ISBN 0679729526 Roland Barthes, Mythologies (Noonday Press, 1973) ISBN 0374521506   V. Teaching Staff Professor: Peter Struck Office: Logan 201 Phone: 898-7425 Office Hours: by appointment email Teaching Assistant: Dan Harris-McCoy, Graduate Group in Classical Studies email
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