Myth and Literature

Myth and Literature

Comparative Mythology: Celtic, Norse, and Greek
Course Number: 
165
Course Catalog Number: 
25162
Course Type or Level: 
Instructor: 
Annalee Rejhon
Days: 
Tu/Th
Time: 
2-3:30
Semester: 
Location: 
255 Dwinelle

A study of Indo-European mythology as it is preserved in some of the
earliest myth texts in Celtic, Norse, and Greek literatures. The meaning of myth will be examined and compared from culture to culture to see how this meaning may shed light on the ethos of each society as it is reflected in its literary works. The role of oral tradition in the preservation of early myth will also be explored. The Celtic texts that will be read are the Irish Second Battle of Mag Tuired and The Táin, and in Welsh, the tales of Lludd and Llefelys and Math; the Norse texts will include Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, the Ynglinga Saga, and the Poetic Edda; the Greek texts are Hesiod’s Theogony and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. All texts will be available in English translation.

Course requirements include a midterm and final examination.

No prerequisites.