Classical Mythology - Week 11

Reading and Listening Assignments

First, read the class Deity of the Week page, featuring Apollo. And take a look at The Hero's Journey, our second class magazine. I'm not going to require a response to an article in the magazine this week, as I did in Week Seven, but here's a "heads up": I will do so next week, so you might want to choose your favorite article now.

Note: Once you've accessed one of the magazine's articles, click the link at the bottom of the article that says "return to the index" and you'll be taken to a version with a navigation bar along the side for easier browsing.

Reading Assignments in Harris and Platzner, Classical Mythology:

    Chapter 5, pages 149-151 and Chapter 7, pages 199-225. This is the material on Apollo.
    Read also chapter 16, 687-753, including Oedipus the King.*

    * Note: Albert S. Cook, the translator of this edition of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, has chosen to use the Latin word "Rex" in the place of the original "Tyrannus." This is traditional in western culture, but not quite accurate: a Greek "tyrant" was a ruler who had come into power by any means, either birth or merit or conquest, and does not have any connotation of royal birth. Also, it does not carry our negative connotation of our word "tyrant," since Greek history and legend includes a number of fair and just tyrants, including Oedipus himself; the negativity crept in at about the same time the Athenians became negative about single-person rule in general and moved toward democracy. I prefer the English word "King" to the Latin "Rex," even though it's still a little problematic. I realize that the more accurate Oedipus the Tyrant would sound unnecessarily negative in our modern language.

Elizabeth Vandiver Lecture 9, "Apollo and Artemis," and Lecture 20, "The Tragedies of King Oedipus"

You can stop Lecture 9 when you get to the Artemis part if you want to, as I will not ask any quiz questions on Artemis until next week. The lecture has a very strong divided structure where the two gods are described in turn; Vandiver does not mingle any information about these twin deities except in her opening statements.

Regarding Oedipus: On page 695, our textbook mentions a "witty revision" of the Oedipus and sphinx myth by poet Muriel Rukeyser. Since it's a very short poem, I offer it here in its entirety:

Myth

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads. He smelled a familiar smell. It was the Sphinx. Oedipus said, "I want to ask one question. Why didn't I recognize my mother?" "You gave the wrong answer," said the Sphinx. "But that was what made everything possible," said Oedipus. "No," she said. "When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered, Man. You didn't say anything about woman." "When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women too. Everyone knows that." She said, "That's what you think."

-- Muriel Rukeyser

This week's deadlines:

On or before Wednesday, March 31, make your first discussion post on the discussion board.

On or before Friday, April 2, make your second post.

On or before Saturday, April 3, take this week's quiz. As usual, the quiz will be graded on a straight percentage: 90% and above is an A, 80% and above is a B, 70% and above is a C, 60% and above is a D.

Information on what I expect to see in your posts, and on how the posts will be graded, can be found here.

All discussion posts and quizzes throughout the semester are due at midnight on the deadline date.

Discussion posts and quizzes will be accepted up to 24 hours after the deadline, but these late assignments will earn only half of the points that they would have received had they been turned in on time. After 24 hours, you will not receive credit for late assignments. And I do mean exactly 24 hours. Posts that are time stamped one minute past midnight on the night they're due will still receive only half credit. Posts that are time stamped one minute past midnight on the night after the deadline will receive no credit at all.