Greek 310 - TOPC: ADV LIT-DEMETER & DIONYS

Authors vary from year to year, but they are generally chosen from a list that includes Plato, Homer, Aristophanes, lyric poets, tragedians, historians and orators depending on the interests and needs of the students. May be repeated for credit, provided the topic is not the same. Prerequisite: 213 or permission of the instructor.: A study of these important divinities and their place in Greek religion through readings of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and Euripides’ Bacchae, the two principal literary sources for study of these gods. The Hymn is our major source for knowledge of Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries, the oldest mystery cult in the Greek world. Euripides’ play is a deep and far-ranging meditation on the nature of Dionysus, the most complex and most fascinating of all Greek gods. Our approach will be both literary and historical.