For Thursday: Reading Exam #1

Remember, no reading for Thursday's class. Instead, we're going to have our first Reading Exam over the material. We'll have one every other week after going through a good chunk of reading from the books in the class. There are three things I'm looking for in your Reading Exam:

1. I can tell you've done the reading for the class (most of it, anyway)

2. I can tell you've listened attentively to our class discussions and can respond to some of the ideas/conversations we've introduced 

3. You can respond to these ideas with your own opinions/ideas, while still repsonding to what you read and what we said about it

Each Reading Exam will have two questions, and will ask you to choose one and write about it using your book to support your ideas. You must quote from the book to get full credit, so I can see that you understand the general ideas in the book and can use them to support/illustrate your ideas. So again, bring your book to class! 

If for any reason you can't make it to class on Thursday, it's your responsibility to make it up. Just e-mail me and we can arrange a time for you to take it. 

ALSO: Next week we're going to start a new book by the ancient Greek poet Sappho called Stung With Love. Make sure you have this, since I'll give you reading for Tuesday's class. We'll come back to Hamilton's Mythology in a week or two, so don't sell or lose it in the meantime!

If you have any questions, e-mail me at jgrasso@ecok.edu. 

For Tuesday: Hamilton, Mythology: “Cupid and Psyche” & “Eight Brief Tales of Lovers” (pp.121-159)

Edward Burne-Jones, painting of Pygmalion and Galatea (as statue)

NOTE: We're going to skip a few chapters and go to Part Two of the book, reading Chapter 5: "Cupid and Psyche," and Chapter 6, "Eight Brief Tales of Lovers." After this (on Wednesday) we'll have our first Reading Exam, which is an open-book (1) essay question. So come ready to write! The best preparation for the exam is simply to read the chapters, do the questions, and listen to our class discussions. I pull everything from these three areas. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: The myth of Cupid and Psyche seems to play on the idea that "love is blind," since Psyche is never allowed to see Cupid's true form. But isn't the nature of a real relationship to truly know and understand the other person? So what lesson or idea might the Greeks have seen in this story? What do you feel it represents about love or marriage? 

Q2: Though a Greek story, "Cupid and Psyche" was only written down by Ovid, a Roman poet who lived from 43 BCE to around 17 AD. As Hamilton notes in the opening, "The writer is entertained by what he writes; he believes none of it" (121). How might we see that the story as recorded here is somewhat critical or mocking of Greek beliefs and/or the gods? Why might we read this as a "civilized" writer's version of a "primitive" story?

Q3: Why might it be significant that most Greek love stories are tragic (or have unhappy endings)? Did the Greeks not believe in "happily ever after"? Which story seems to best capture the Greek philosophy of love for you?

Q4: The myth of "Pygmalion and Galatea" is one of the most famous, and modern writers have been obsessed with it, turning it not only into a play (by George Bernard Shaw), but also a musical (My Fair Lady, with Audrey Hepburn). Why do you think this story has haunted the Western world for so long? What makes it such an interesting and/or powerful statement about love (especially as it ends happily)? 

For Thursday: Hamilton, Mythology: Part 2, "The Two Great Gods of Earth" & Part 3, "How the World and Mankind Were Created"

As before, answer TWO of the following for class on Thursday. Think about some of the ideas we discussed in class, too, and see how they might help you answer these questions or see new possibilities. 

Q1: According to Hamilton, most of the Greek myths contain "two ideas...a primitive, crude idea and one that was beautiful and poetic" (27). How might the myths of the two 'Earth' gods, Demeter and Dionysus, be an attempt to make poetry out of the raw, 'primitive' facts of nature? In other words, why might each one be an attempt to translate the cruel realities of life into something more beautiful and civilized? 

Q2: Despite their message of resurrection and immortality, Hamilton calls Demeter and Dionysus "suffering gods" and even "tragic gods." Why might this make them unique about the Olympian pantheon, and how might it explain why people were so drawn to them (more than say, Ares or Aphrodite)? 

Q3: In most creation myths, the gods create the universe and populate it with man. The Greeks, as usual, saw it differently. Why do you think the Greeks might have created the gods as upstarts, sons of the Titans out for revenge? In other words, why make the story of the gods so violent and bloodthirsty? 

Q4: The myth of Pandora has some striking resemblances to that of Eve in the Old Testament. Are they basically two versions of the same story: a woman's curiosity dooming all of mankind? Or is the Greek version somewhat different than the Bible's? Is there a more charitable or hopeful way to read Pandora's story?

For Tuesday: Hamilton, Mythology, "The Gods" (17-50)

For Tuesday's class, be sure to read all or as much as you can of Chapter 1, "The Gods," which runs to page 50. It reads quickly and isn't very dense, so you should fly through it. However, try to resist skimming it just to get to the end...read so that you understand it and can answer the questions below. I want you to bring your answers to these questions to class on Tuesday so we can discuss them (and this way, you'll have something to say). Give more than a yes/no answer, and try to 'think out loud' as you answer, even if you're not 100% sure of your answer. Try to have fun with them.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Based on how Hamilton introduces and discusses the Greek pantheon of gods, would you say Greek mythology is a religion, or more a set of beliefs? What might be the difference? Though the Greeks obviously worshipped their gods in a sense, what might make this worship different than our own? In other words, what makes the Greek gods more complicated if we consider it as the basis of a religion?

Q2: Many scholars consider myths not as literal representations of this or that god, but as "ideological projections." In other words, many people believe that the gods are supposed to be more symbolic or allegorical. How might we see this in some of the stories Hamilton tells us? What god or goddess might represent a set of beliefs or a perspective rather than a living, immortal being?

Q3: The Greeks have a very interesting relationship with love, and most of their poems and plays revolve around this concept. We see this in the character of Eros, who is "a mischievous, naughty boy, or worse...evil his heart, but honey-sweet his tongue,/No truth in him, the rogue" (35). Why might the Greeks characterize love as sweet but evil, pretty but false? Why does love "lie"?

Q4: Hamilton is very critical of the Romans, and claims that they "were a people of deep religious feeling, but they had little imagination...They wanted useful gods" (47). Why might the Greek gods be less "useful" but more "imaginative"? Based on this, why does Hamilton feel the Greeks are ultimately a more interesting people/culture? (do we see evidence of this in the myths themselves?)

Welcome to the Course!

 This is the official blog for General Humanities I, where you can find all your class readings, questions, assignments, and other announcements. As I mentioned in class, you won't have to post or interact with this blog; it's more of a virtual bulletin board to keep you connected to the class. Check often for announcements and other material, especially when you have to miss class. 

In the meantime, be sure to buy the books for class, since we'll be starting our reading next week with Hamilton's Mythology. The books are all fairly cheap and we'll be reading all of them, so don't try to limp through the class without them. 

If you have any questions, feel free to come to my office (HM 348) any time before or after class, or during my normal office hours. Or e-mail me at jgrasso@ecok.edu. 

See you in class! 

NOTE: Don't worry about the posts below this one--they're from the Fall of 2020, the last time I took this course. Feel free to look through them, though none of the work will reflect the work I assign this semester.