Tag: "Apollodorus"

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Assignment for Tuesday, 10.13.20

Dear Cinemythologists,

On Tuesday, October 13, our third unit, on Medea & Jason, officially begins. As is customary, we’ll begin with primary sources: all reading, no viewing.

READING

  • “Apollodorus” on Jason, the Argonautic expedition, and Medea.

Another excerpt from “Apollodorus”‘s Bibliotheca or Library of Greek myth, that ancient encyclopedia dedicated to cataloguing and sorting out the vast body of legends and lore associated with the Greco-Roman world.

Here you have a generous outline of the entire Argonautic legend, from the launch of the Argo to the ill-fated residency of Medea in Athens. In our third unit, we’ll expand this outline with other primary texts, starting with the very next reading.

  • Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica (selections):

    BOOK ONE: Mustering the Argonauts (pp. 3–33) / The Lemnian Women (pp. 51–77) / Heracles & Hylas (pp. 97–113)

    BOOK TWO: Polydeuces v. Amycus, Phineus & the Harpies (pp. 115–141) / The Clashing Rocks (pp. 157–161) / Meeting the Colchians (pp. 199–215)

    BOOK THREE: Goddesses conspire (pp. 217–225) / Audience with Aeetes (pp. 233–249) / Medea’s torment (pp. 275–283) / Medea & Jason (291–305) / Sowing the teeth (315–327)

    BOOK FOUR: Taking the Fleece (pp. 339–347)

These are the highlights from the Argonautica, a 3rd-century BCE epic composed by Apollonius, a poet and scholar of Egyptian Alexandria. An extremely learned poem, stuffed full with references to Homer and other epic and mythological works, the Argonautica owes its extremely expansive worldview to its era — the time after the death of Alexander the Great, who had united much of Europe and Asia.

These excerpts comprise the episodes typical in representations of the Argonauts’ voyage to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Between this text and the summary of Apollonius, you’ll have a very full view of the Medea and Jason legend.

NOTE: The e-book is from the Loeb Classical Library, which publishes Greek and Roman authors in their original languages and in English: the original is at left, the translation at right. As you come to grips with the page numbers above, remember that the total should be halved; and they are small pages at that.

In class we’ll discuss these versions of the Medea and Jason legend, and then consider two screen texts that represent the legend’s bifurcated reception: rollicking adventure versus heart-wrenching tragedy.

DC

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Assignment for Tuesday, 09.22.20

Dear Cinemythologists,

On Tuesday, September 22, our second unit, on Heracles/Hercules, officially begins. As is customary, we’ll begin with some primary sources: all reading, no viewing (apart from some optional videos in our Classical World series).

READING

  • “Apollodorus” on Heracles.

This is an excerpt from the Bibliotheca or Library of Greek myth, an ancient encyclopedia dedicated to cataloguing and sorting out the vast body of legends and lore associated with the Greco-Roman world. The author was thought to have been the famous scholar, Apollodorus of Athens (2nd century BCE), but the work is now thought to date to the 2nd century CE — hence “Apollodorus” in scare quotes.

Although you won’t need to know every last detail about Heracles’ life and career, you should try to appreciate the sheer quantity of his exploits, and what that quantity might mean. In class we’ll use “Apollodorus” as the basis for generating a rough outline of the hero’s legend, as we did for Perseus.

Sophocles, the premier playwright of Athens in the 5th-century BCE, presents a tragic episode from late in Heracles’ life. If you’ve never read a Greek play before, the dynamic between the speeches of the actors and the songs of the Chorus (which you should not ignore) will likely seem odd and artificial.

Nevertheless, this tragedy affords us an excellent point of comparison with the all-inclusive, encyclopedic approach of “Apollodorus.” In particular, consider the genre itself. What should a tragedy about Heracles focus on? Also pay attention to how Sophocles navigates the vast trajectory of Heracles’ career. What does he place in the past? In the future?

NOTE: You can read the translation in your browser, or download a PDF.

If you are new to Athenian tragedy, these videos (part of our flipped classroom in CC 200: The Classical World) will provide some orientation into the performative and civic context of the genre. Of course, entries in the the Oxford Reference database would do just as well.

In class we’ll discuss these versions of the Heracles legend, and then take a tour of how the hero appears on screen.

DC

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