ONLINE SEMINAR
March 18 | Gods of the Greeks: Titans and Olympians in Aeschylus, Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns
$350.00
This seminar is now FULL. If you would like to be put on a waiting list, please email us.
Ancient Greek literature and art portrays a world filled with heroes and heroines, nymphs and satyrs, fantastical hybrid creatures, giants and monsters—and above all, by gods. Who were these divine beings? What did the gods mean to the Greeks? What was it like to live in a world ruled by them? Did the Greeks really believe all the stories they told about their gods? In this seminar, we’ll turn to some of our oldest written sources to see how the Greeks talked about these super-human beings with big passions, fearsome powers—and lots of time on their hands.
The poems of Hesiod, from the 8th century BCE, were as well-known and influential as those of his near-contemporary Homer. His Theogony tells of the origins, relationships, and battles among three generations of Greek gods. It describes the great war between Titans and Olympians that led to the ascendancy of the latter under the reign of the mighty Zeus. Hesiod’s Works and Days shows a different side of this ruler of the Olympians, as a god who oversees justice and right action among mortals.
The Homeric Hymns recount in beautiful verse some of the best-known tales of Demeter, Persephone, Apollo, Aphrodite and Hermes. And Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound dramatizes the punishment of the rebel Titan Prometheus, who disobeys Zeus and brings fire and learning to mortals.
When: Six weekly sessions on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, starting March 18, 2021.
Duration: 2 1/4 hours per session, with a short break mid-way.
Cost: C$350 plus 13% HST (approx. US$273 plus 13% HST)
Group Size: 12-participant limit
How: We will be using Zoom; you will receive instructions on how to join upon registration. For your privacy, all our Zoom seminars are password-protected and are never recorded.
All seminar payments are nonrefundable. If you are interested in applying your Toronto Pursuits 2020 deposit to this seminar, please contact us.
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Description
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LEADER
Mark Cwik is the education manager for Classical Pursuits. He is a longtime Toronto Pursuits and trip leader and has been an organizer of adult great books discussion groups for 25 years. He specializes in literature from the ancient, mythic and religious world. Mark lives in London, England, where he also leads seminars with the London Literary Salon.
BOOKS
The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, and the Shield of Herakles, translated by Barry B. Powell
(University of California Press, 2017)
ISBN-13 : 978-0520292864
The Homeric Hymns, translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 3rd edition, 2020)
ISBN-13 : 978-1421438603
Prometheus Bound, translated by Deborah H. Roberts
(Hackett, 2012)
ISBN-13 : 978-1603841900
Please be sure to obtain these translations.
We encourage you to support local bookstores or other independent sellers. In the US, try Bookshop.org. In Canada, try McNally Robinson or Indigo.
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Ancient Greek literature and art portrays a world filled with heroes and heroines, nymphs and satyrs, fantastical hybrid creatures, giants and monsters—and above all, by gods. Who were these divine beings? What did the gods mean to the Greeks? What was it like to live in a world ruled by them? Did the Greeks really believe all the stories they told about their gods?
In this seminar, we’ll turn to some of our oldest written sources to see how the Greeks talked about these super-human beings with big passions, fearsome powers—and lots of time on their hands.
The poems of Hesiod, from the 8th century BCE, were as well-known and influential as those of his near-contemporary Homer. His Theogony tells of the origins, relationships, and battles among three generations of Greek gods. It describes the great war between Titans and Olympians that led to the ascendancy of the latter under the reign of the mighty Zeus. Hesiod’s Works and Days shows a different side of this ruler of the Olympians, as a god who oversees justice and right action among mortals.
The Homeric Hymns recount in beautiful verse some of the best-known tales of Demeter, Persephone, Apollo, Aphrodite and Hermes. And Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound dramatizes the punishment of the rebel Titan Prometheus, who disobeys Zeus and brings fire and learning to mortals.
All online seminar payments are nonrefundable.
Image credit: Ricardo André Frantz
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Additional information
| Choose registration type | Standard registration, Toronto Pursuits 2020 credit |
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