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UPDATE: Updated Quiz 3 as a take-at-home. (11/14/24)
Postponed Quiz 2. (10/14/24)
Fixed the description of the stuff covered on Quiz 2. (10/1/24)
Downman, The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakens the
Furies
CLCV 3880: Monsters, Ghosts, and Magic
Tuesday/Thursday
2:30-3:45
Eppler Center 223
Professor:
James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
Shatzel 222
Office Hours: Tuesday12:30-1:20, or by appointment.
Office phone: 419-372-8278
e-mail: jmpfund@bgsu.edu
web-page: http://blogs.bgsu.edu/pfundblog/
Facebook: james.enge
Bluesky: jamesenge
Texts:
(links are for your convenience, not endorsements of any particular online bookseller)
Hansen, W. The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths (Princeton, 2019) (ISBN: 978-0691195926)
at AmazonOgden, D. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Oxford, 2009) (ISBN: 978-0195385205)
at Barnes and Noble
at Google Books
at Amazon
at Barnes and Noble
at Google Books
Online resources:
What is standard manuscript formatting? For the purposes of this class, refer to the link below.
https://jamesenge.com/GenericMythArgument.wordformat.pdf
The Theoi Project is a copiously illustrated and scholarly guide to Greek mythology.
Tufts University's Perseus Project: Texts, Translations, and also Images from the classical worldhttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections
Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link: Images and summaries.
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/index.html
The single best resource for urban legends (our modern myths) is Snopes.com.
https://www.snopes.com/
Here's
a list of university resources and policies. I particularly
recommend the resources.
https://jamesenge.com/BGSU.ResourcesAndPolicies.htmletc!
If you find a good resource, let me know. I'll be expanding this section as more stuff comes to my attention.
Course Expectations:
1. Expectations for Behavior: Abide by Wheaton's Law . For details, see the BGSU Codes of Conduct .
2. Expectations for Learning: This is a survey course in medieval legends, and will involve readings in translation from a variety of sources (Greek and Latin). By the end of it you should have a good sense of what myth is (as opposed to, say, religion, or magic), and what types of myth there are; you will have had a chance to read and write and think about these myths and their applicability to our culture and our time.
Survey courses are, of necessity, somewhat heterogeneous. This means that I'll be covering a lot of topics which may not obviously be related to each other, and also I will use a lot of words like "heterogeneous". You might think of the myths as the members of an extended family. They're not all the same, and none of them are exactly the same. But there is an undeniable organic relation between them, and the more of them you know the more you will see the resemblance.
3. Course Aim: To extend your opportunities to study mythology and its impact on the modern world; to give you opportunities to read and write and think about difficult cultural material; to build a bridge from the ancient to the modern world.
4. AI Use Guidelines:
Don't use generative AI (i.e. chatbots) for the assignments in this class. Setting aside the fact that chatbots routinely violate intellectual property law and are ethically and environmentally unsustainable, the technology does not work as advertised. It cannot cite required sources accurately, for instance (unless it happens to be plagiarizing a source that does). These programs don't create writing based on knowledge; they generate text using statistical probabilities and a very large database, a process that has been described as "stochastic parroting". If you've ever seen a weird autocomplete on your phone, be aware that this is what AI does routinely. It's instantly obvious to anyone who reads carefully, which is one of the things you're paying me to do.
"Aha, Pfundstein!" you may say in the silent precincts of your heart, "how will you know, know for a fact that I used AI? If not, how can you ban it?"
I don’t ban it (except insofar as it’s already banned under the intellectual honesty section of the BGSU code of conduct). But I grade for elements that generative AI can’t provide (e.g. accurate and relevant citations of specific evidence)—not to exclude text written by chatbots, but because the ability to do that stuff is a sign of actual intelligence (which, despite the name on the label, AI doesn’t have). You could generate a first draft for your paper using a chatbot, then laboriously go in and add references from the required texts. But, of course, to be useful, the references are going to have to be relevant to the argument. You could then rewrite the essay to make it more relevant to the required texts. But, if you’re looking for the quickest and easiest path to success, you might find that it’s just easier to write the damn thing yourself.
"So what do I write about?" is a question I hear a lot, and it’s a reasonable question, especially if you haven’t had a course like this before. Step one is to read the stuff. If you read the texts, you’ll find something interesting or irritating enough to say something about; just say it in print, rather than out loud. I also include topics and questions alongside the reading schedule that may jog something.
Learning Objectives:
A. Demonstrate engagement with, and appreciation of, the aesthetic richness, imaginative power, and historical significance of mythological texts and artifacts.
B. Deploy empathy, persuasion, reason, flexibility, listening, collaboration, compromise, and conflict resolution in considering authentic problems, making arguments from multiple points of view, and devising solutions.
C. Tolerate diversity, difference, ambiguity, and the absence of definitive solutions to complex issues.
D. Develop an awareness of the interconnections between the classical world, the medieval world, the modern world, and the self.
E. Produce original work of scholarship and/or creative work that engages with the classical and the modern world.
Grading:
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Assignments:
Quizzes are strictly objective (true/false, matching, short ID, visual ID, etc) based on the readings and lectures. They'll be administered in class.
Arguments are 500-word (minimum) essays based on the readings, lectures, and discussions as listed in the schedule. They should include a brief thesis statement ("Classical myths are really about potatoes!"), defended by an argument ("Because potatoes are the only thing that appear in every one of the myths that we saw in this section!") supported by evidence ("[Potato-Myth 1], [Potato-Myth 2], [Potato-Myth 3]," etc.) documented by precise citations ("...in reading 117 of Ogden", "on p. 227 of Hansen", etc). You'll submit them online through Canvas. The assignments will go go live the Monday before they're due. (Don't email them to me, or send me hardcopies via carrier pigeon, etc.)
Cite the source of anything you quote or paraphrase, and always cite as specifically as possible. For a modern book this means page numbers. Ogden and Hansen both If you're using an e-copy of a book without page numbers (a) make sure that there aren't actually page numbers, then (b) use the electronic location number instead. Don't cite sources other than the required readings unless you have some very strong reason for doing so: I want you to show me that you know the assigned material, not that you know how to google stuff. If you've finished the assignment without mentioning any of the required readings, go back in and include citations from these sources.
Use standard manuscript formatting for the arguments and the final project.
The Final Project: a 1000-word paper (which can be a longer version of the argument-style essay, or some other project as negotiated with the instructor). The assignment will go live on Canvas the Monday before it's due.
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THE FINE PRINT : |
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No makeups given due to absence without prior arrangement with the instructor. |
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No one can pass the course without passing the final quiz and turning in the final project. |
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No incompletes issued except for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor. |
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"Outside of a dog, a
book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's
too dark to read"—Groucho Marx |
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The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement (or decline) in student performance when awarding the final grade. |
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The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points. |
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The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced in class and posted on-line. |
SCHEDULE
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CLASS DATES |
READINGS |
TOPICS |
ARGUMENTS |
ASSIGNMENTS |
| Week 1: August 27, 29 |
Hansen: introduction Ogden: pp. 3-16; introduction, readings 1-10 |
History, Myth, Legend,
Folktales shamans
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Attack
or defend: All storytelling is a kind of myth. Romans and Greeks were part of the same culture. Magic workers are always outsiders. There is good magic and bad magic. |
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| Week 2: September 3, 5 |
Hansen: reading 1 Ogden: pp.17-40; readings 11-44 |
Cupid & Psyche sorcerers, mages, beggar priests, psychagogoi, ventriloquists, Persian Mages |
Attack
or defend: Cupid is a rotten husband. Psyche is a bad wife. Psyche's sisters were justified. Predicting the future is not the same as magic. Ghosts know the future because they are a kind of god. All magic comes from somewhere else. |
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| Week 3: September 10, 12 |
Hansen: readings 2-13 Ogden: pp. 41-54; readings 45-53 |
stories about royalty,
epiphanies Chaldeans and Syrians, Egyptian magic/wisdom |
Attack
or defend: Famous people are more interesting than ordinary people. Epiphanies are proof that people have beliefs, not proof of those beliefs. Astrology is a form of magic. Astronomy is a form of magic. |
Thursday September 12 : Quiz 1 (readings & lectures weeks 1-3) |
| Week 4: September 17, 19 |
Hansen: readings 14-38 Ogden: pp. 55-82; readings 55-66 |
lower mythology,
shape-changers, ghosts, wonder-workers alien sorcerers; rivals of Jesus; Apollonius; Alexander of Abonouteichos; Simon Magus; Medea & Circe |
Would
it be fun to be a werewolf (or other shapechanger)? Are male wonderworkers are categorically different from female wonderworkers? Where does this leave people who are intersex or ninbinary? Attack or defend: The great god Pan is dead. Ghosts are people too. Medea was libelled by Euripides. |
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| Week 5: September 24, 26 |
Hansen: readings 39-70 Ogden: pp. 83-108; readings 67-88 |
wonderworkers continued;
magicians and witches; divination and seers; Fate;
Jews, Christians, & Pagans; captures/sightings of
mythical beings; in love with a statue Medea & Circe; witches in Greco-Roman literature; sisters of Circe; Deianeira; Andromache; witches various; Simaetha |
Attack
or defend: Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman polytheism are effectively the same religion. It is not possible to be in love with a statue. Everybody wants to be a magic worker. Everyone wants to see a ghost/god/something supernatural. |
Friday |
| Week 6: October 1, 3 |
Hansen:
readings 71-107 |
exotic biology &
reproduction; sex changes; ecstacy and its absence;
irony and poetic justice; amazing animal stories;
folktales about children, friends, tyrants Medea continued; Simaetha; Theocritus and Vergil; witches in Latin literature; Canidia; Erictho; misogynistic slander--I mean satire; Thessaly; Tibullus; pimps or witches? Socrates (not that one) and Meroe |
Attack
or defend: Someone should send a basic biology text through a time portal back to the ancient world. It is satisfying when the biter gets bit. Children want justice; adults prefer mercy. Horace was a rat-bastard. Every scholar of the ancient world is essentially Erictho in disguise. A murderer who used magic would never be caught. |
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| Week 7: ----, October 10 |
Hansen:
readings 108-124 |
trials; tricksters; hoaxes Zatchlas and his nose; corpse-watches and corpse-stealing witches; Thelyphron revived; shape-changings witches; ghosts of the untimely dead |
Attack
or defend: It is satisfying to see a mark get swindled... unless the mark is you. Magic workers steal corpses because death is not really death. Ghosts are looking to settle unfinished business. |
October 7-8 |
| Week 8 October 15, 17 |
-------- |
ghosts who die by
violence; ghosts who murder; haunted houses; putting
ghosts to rest; hobbling ghosts; ;
Judaeo-Christian/Pagan exorcism; human sacrifice in
magic; werewolves |
Attack or defend: Belief in ghosts is socially necessary. Ghosts are a public-health hazard. It would be a nightmare to be a werewolf. |
Thursday
October 17: Quiz 2 (readings weeks 4-7 & lectures weeks 4-8) |
| Week 9: October 22, 24 |
Ogden: pp. 149-178; readings 112-143 | seducers and cuckolds; incest
by affinity; the widow of Ephesos necromancy; evocation; oracles of the dead; incubation; reanimation; magic code-words; skulls and necromancy; lecanomancy |
Attack
or defend: It is hilarious to see someone seduce someone else's partner... unless it's your partner. People should date outside their family. (We're looking at you, Barry Allen.) |
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| Week 10: October 29, 31 |
Hansen: readings
125-134 |
more tricky seducers; romance
via dream; tragic dumb lovers; bad marriages;
anecdotes about artists, pots, and strongmen lychnomancy; Homer as I Ching; binding curses |
Attack
or defend: People in love are connected in a way we don't yet fully understand. Tragic young lovers should be less tragic and make better plans. All ghosts are dreams, but not all dreams are ghosts. Every wizard should have a skull or two around the house. Magic is just a secret language for science. |
Friday
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| Week 11: November 5, 7 |
Hansen: readings 135-170 Ogden: pp. 206-218; readings 165-184 |
more wrestlers and strongmen; snappy lines
and striking deeds
prayers for justice; the evil eye vs. the phallus; erotic magic; drawing down the moon; iunx and rhombos; hippomanes; abortion and contraception
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Attack
or defend: Famous people are not more interesting than ordinary people. It's better to come up with a one-liner that people will remember than to win the Nobel Prize. All books are magical. Some kinds of magic ought to be illegal. |
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| Week 12: November 12, 14 |
Hansen:
readings
171-190 |
anecdotes about character(s);
slanders and rumors about famous people; punchlines
and taglines; funny things happening on the way to
fora; famous last words; famous deaths voodoo dolls & magic images; magical law of similarity; amulets: erotic, healing, protective; invisibility |
Attack
or defend: Nero (or Cleopatra, etc) was not such a bad guy. Entertaining stories are more impactful than true histories. All magic is really about sex or death. We need more magical protections against the evil eye. All magic is really a form of astrology. |
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| Week 13: November 19, 21 |
Hansen: readings
191-287 Ogden:
pp. 219-244; readings 185-237
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more famous bucket-kickers;
sages and philosophers; conversion narratives; pluses
and minuses of philosophy; the philosopher as wise
fool; rap-battles of the philosophers; education;
inventions and discoveries laws against magic; suppression of religious rites; attempts to suppress astrology; witch-burning |
Attack
or defend: Plato was a damn liar. "If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let them become a fool, so that they may be wise." Everyone would use the power of invisibility to do evil. Conversion narratives show that it's important to be able to change your mind. Similar causes produce similar effects. |
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| Week 14 November 26, ---- |
Ogden: pp. 245-290; readings 236-299 | origins of
evil/misfortune; sword of Damocles; Midas; does money
buy happiness?; should we grieve for the dead?;
drinking stories; beast fable |
Does money buy
happiness? Should we grieve for the dead? Attack or defend: Human beings do evil by their own choice. Beast fables teach us about the natural world. The state cannot effectively suppress a religion. |
November 27-29 Thanksgiving Break (no classes) |
| Week 14: December 3, 5 |
Hansen: readings 288-323
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more Aesopian fables; jokes
at the expense of dumb people; jokes at the expense
of fancy people ancient terms for these stories; credence stories; modern terms for these stories Apuleius: philosopher accused of sorcery; Libanius: prosecution of a lying sorcerer; more tales of wonderworkers; be careful where you take a slash; how to kill a dragon; assorted witches and ghosts; Medea stories; haunted houses; resurrections; magical heads; the Theodosian code regarding magic and sorcery |
Attack
or defend: Astrology is not magic. All jokes are based on cruelty. All jokes are based on fear. Jokes are a form of wisdom. Laws against magic are invariably used for persecution. Apuleius was guilty. BURN HIM! Medea was libelled. (I know this is a repeat.) The human body is a repository of magic. Well, this course was a big waste of time. The internet has always existed; it just used to transfer through human networks. |
Thursday
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Finals Week:
December 9-13
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Final Project Due: |