DEADLINE: 4/13/01
Papers submitted late will lose half a letter grade
each class they are delayed.
TOPIC I
MONSTERS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
Names suggested for the search in Perseus:
Scylla, Charybdis, Harpies, Graeae, Ladon, Typhon (or Typhaon, or Typhoeus), Echidna, Minotaur, Gorgons, Lamia, Crommian Sow, Kerberos, Chimera, Phorcys, Thaumas, Ceto, Eurybie, Orthus, Geryon, Sphinx, Lernaian Hydra, Nemean Lion, Sirens, etc.
SUGGESTIONS:
Compress the myths: do not transcribe from your sources.
Choose three or four groups or pairs of monsters, and for each group consider what it is that makes them monstrous, frightening, sub- or anti-human.
Draw some personal conclusions on the making of these myths and the roles of monsters, immortal and/or mortal, in a culture's system of belief.
TOPIC II
DEATH IN THE GREEK, ROMAN, AND / OR THE EGYPTIAN CULTURES: COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
Compare any two of these cultures, or other cultures, as long as one of your referents is Greek or Roman.
a) Gods or goddesses of death.
b) Myths and Images Representing Death and the Afterlife. Does it include a judgment, punishment and reward, or is it a neutral ground?
c) What part of the human being is imagined to exist in the afterlife?
In addition to the other resources listed here, you may find these links useful:
Ancient Greek World. Religion and Death (U. of Pennsylvania Museum)
Death and the Romans (course at the University of Wales, UK)
Death
in Egyptian Religion (Oriental Institute, U. of Chicago)
Books: (both on reserve in the library)
Robert Garland, The Greek Way of Death
Emily Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry