Description
How have artists kept ancient myth alive? How have ancient myths inspired the arts? This course examines the influence of ancient mythology on the visual arts. Each week, we will examine a myth in its original social, historical, artistic, and literary context. Students in the course will then travel to local collections to analyze, face to face, how later generations of artists grapple with Greco-Roman mythology. Standing before works of art, we will investigate the ways that myths change their shapes to fit new audiences and artistic interests. Topics of study will include depictions of various gods like Zeus and Aphrodite, the Birth of Venus, Persephone and the Underworld, Theseus and the Minotaur, Hercules, Jesus, and the Cyclops.