| Description: | The course is a general overview of ancient literature through the analysis and comparison of some of the oldest works of Western civilization. Through a reading of the most significant chapters of the Iliad and the Odyssey, students will get in contact with the aristocratic world and heroes described by Homer in 8-7th century BCE, in order to reconstruct the society of early Greece in the Mycenaean period. The stories presented in the Iliad and Odyssey, considered the "Bible" of classical civilization, show how Greeks used myth to express archetypal values which became immortal for successive generations. Myths are analyzed not only as amazing stories but also as bearers of important messages about life within society, and as primary forms of communication and instruction in a non-literate and oral society. The great influence of Greek myths on Roman legends will also be seen through the reading of some passages of the Aeneid - the national poem of Rome written by Virgil in the 1st century CE - focusing on the link between Roman history and Greek tradition. The hero of the work, Aeneas, was the survivor of the fall of Troy and the ancestor of Rome's leaders. A comparison between Aeneas' and Odysseus' wanderings will conclude the course. |