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| Daphne becomes a laurel tree to escape Apollo's clutches (Wikipedia) |
Note: If you had been educated in the 19th century (or before), you would certainly have read the stories of Ovid in Latin. Alas, we "threw the baby out with the bathwater": in not requiring Latin, we lost our familiarity with these great stories, too!
Get Ready: Can you think of an interesting story in which NOBODY changes?
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| Loki with a fishing net on an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript (Wikipedia) |
Note: The Loki we see in the Marvel movies is nothing like the traditional figure--but his impetuous behavior is still a problem!
Get Ready: What is the value of a person's life?
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| The sacrifice of Iphigenia, a wall painting in Pompeii (Wikipedia) |
Note: No one did tragedy--or the power of redemption--like the Greeks. This is one of the great stories they produced.
Get Ready: What penance could possibly repay the killing of a close relative, like a daughter or a mother?
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| The Fall of Phaeton (Rubens) (Wikipedia) |
Note: The story of Phaeton feels like modern accounts of "climate chaos"--but this was caused by a spoiled son-of-a-god!
Get Ready: how do you think human action has affected global weather patterns?
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| Rhiannon as Pwyll first saw her (Wikipedia) |
Note: The Welsh myths found in The Mabinogion contain many wonderful stories. This is one of my favorites.
Get Ready: If a friend asks you for a favor, would you say "yes" without knowing what the favor was? What would you do for a stranger?
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| Romulus, Remus, and "the Capitoline Wolf" (Wikipedia) |
Note: Many great cities have their origins in the "mists of time," and stories are concocted to account for their existence. Here's the story of Rome.
Get Ready: What do you know about the founding of your city, or the nearest large city to where you live? Is the account of the founding strictly historical, mostly historical, mostly imaginary, or entirely imaginary?
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| "Setanta Slays the Hound of Culain" (Wikipedia) |
Note: Setanta, better known as Cu Chulainn or "The Hound of Chulainn," may be the most important hero you've never heard of. Lend an ear.
Get Ready: If you were a soldier, would you rather fight in a troop or in single combat?
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| The Adarna Bird (Wikipedia) |
Note: This is one of the few works of Filipino literature that virtually every schoolchild knows. Sadly, it's not widely available online in English.
Get Ready: Can you think of any stories where the third son (or pig, or...) emerges victorious where the first two have failed?
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| Hades and Persephone with Cerberus (Wikipedia) |
Note: The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but here it features rivers, a boatman, and an unusual dog!
Get Ready: What mild curses do you sometimes use?
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| An ancient depiction of Enkidu (Wikipedia) |
Note: Gilgamesh goes on a quest to find the secret of immortality--with mixed results.
Get Ready: Are you afraid to die?
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| A man holding a snake and a lion is believed to be Gilgamesh (Wikipedia) |
Note: The oldest known epic is a cracking good "buddy movie," one which explores friendship, love, loss, death, and immortality.
Get Ready: Should a person be punished for wrongs committed in a moment of exuberance?
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| Icarus falling, a print by Hendrick Goltzius (ca. 1588) (Wikipedia) |
Note: The famous fall of Icarus may be an allegory for the dangers of pride, or simply a warning for what happens when a boy disobeys his dad.
Get Ready: Is there such a thing as too much ambition? Can we go to far in our desire to excel?
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| Jason and Medea by John William Waterhouse (1907); she is concocting a potion to enable Jason to complete his tasks. (Wikipedia) |
Note: Greek playwrights like Euripides were drawing on a much larger body of traditional literature. While Medea's cruelty is infamous, there's more to her story than that. Let's find out!
Get Ready: What are the limits to what a person would do for love? Should one to harm or even kill others in the name of love?
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| Pluto carries away Proserpine (Wikipedia) |
Note: Ancient peoples often created stories to "explain" various aspects of nature. here's one that explains how we got agriculture, and why we have winter.
Get Ready: Do you know what causes the seasons? Why do we have summer? and winter?
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| "I will kill thee, for in truth thou art an ugly monster" (Gutenberg) |
Note: Few culture heroes have made an impression like that of Siegfried in the Nordic tales. Here he slays a dragon and receives a very special gift.
Get Ready: If you could understand the language of just one kind of animal, what would it be?
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| Sisyphus, Ixion, and Tantalus on an antique Roman sarcophagus (Wikipedia) |
Note: Sisyphus, Tantalus, and Ixion are just three of the many denizens of Tartarus. Let's see what they did, and how they were punished for their actions.
Get Ready: What tantalizes you?
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| The water nymphs save Syrinx from Pan (Getty Art Collection) |
Note: Panpipes are found the world over, but Greco-Roman mythology gives them a unique origin.
Get Ready: Do you know the sound of panpipes? If not, what do you imagine they would sound like?
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| Reconstitution of the Sphinx of the Naxians at Delphi, from 560 BCE (Wikipedia) |
Note: You may know of the magnificent statue of the Sphinx in Egypt. But do you know about the Sphinx in Greece?
Get Ready: Do you know any good riddles? For example,
You'll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
(Answer below)
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| Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the chimera (Wikipedia) |
Note: Have you ever seen a picture of a flying horse? This is probably Pegasus, a winged horse from Greek mythology. Here is his story.
Get Ready: Why would it be wrong for a mortal human to try to reach the place where the gods live?
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| Theseus and the Minotaur (Wikipedia) |
Note: The Hero Theseus was just the man to best the monstrous Minotaur and save the youths and maidens of Athens. But how to find his way out of that labyrinth?
Get Ready: Theseus was both strong and clever. if you could only choose one virtue or the other, which would it be?
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