Classical Myth @ BGSU


Last updated: May 12, 2026	Classics Program at BGSU Studies in Latin at BGSU Department of World Languages and Cultures Instagram: bgsu_languages Twitter: BGSU_Languages Facebook: BGSU Languages Bowling Green State University

Achilles and
Hector
Achilles drags dead Hector behind his chariot.
(Mosaic from the Vatican Museums.)
(Photo Copyright 2006 by JMP)

CLCV 3800: Classical Mythology
online
live lecture via Zoom
1:30-2:45 Tues/Thurs;
recordings available via Zoom
(but you'll need to be signed into
the BGSU Zoom account to see them)

Professor:

James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
Shatzel 222
Office Hours: by appointment.
Office phone: 419-372-8278
e-mail for communication: jmpfund@bgsu.edu
e-mail for submitting exams: jmp.bgsu@gmail.com
web-page: http://blogs.bgsu.edu/pfundblog/
other web-page: https://jamesenge.com/engeblog/
Facebook: james.enge
Bluesky: jamesenge

Required Texts:

Ovid (Lombardo, transl.) Metamorphoses (Hackett, 2010)

This text is not in the public domain, but it's not too expensive and there are e-versions, used copies, and library copies available.
Tatlock, Jessie M. Mythology of Greece and Rome (Century, 1917)

(online at Archive.org and elsewhere)

Tatlock's is a public-domain text freely available on stable sites, so you should have no trouble getting it. If you want to get a hard copy, you may be able to find used copies online, but beware of hard copies purchased through Amazon, especially. They're likely to be rotten POD editions of electronic versions that you can get for free

Online Resources:

Can't tell the players without a scorecard: here's a PDF handout I whomped up on the so-called 12 Olympians. (There are actually 14.)

"How do I cite the required readings in the writing assignments for this class?" Follow the citation guide at the URL below.

https://jamesenge.com/CitationGuide.ClassicalMyth.pdf

The Theoi Project is a copiously illustrated and scholarly guide to Greek mythology.

Encyclopedia: http://www.theoi.com/Encyc_A.html

Galleries: http://www.theoi.com/Galleries.html

Tufts University's Perseus Project: Texts, Translations, and also Images from the classical world
http://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 Mikkelson's snopes.com.

http://www.snopes2.com/

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 course taught primarily through lectures and readings. If there's one thing that modern pedagogy agrees on, it's that lectures are very bad, and make the angels weep, and promote global warming, and bring the heat death of the universe measurably closer. Also, apparently no one reads books anymore. Okay. It's still the way I teach CLCV 3800, because the course surveys a great deal of material and people tend to assimilate it better if they get it in various media: written (in the texts), spoken (lectures and conversations), and visual (visual versions of Greek and Roman myth provided in the lecture via slideshows--I have a lot of these, but they're not the kind with bulletpoints; I hate that stuff).

Bottom line: read the texts; view the lectures (which are recorded on Zoom); ask questions and engage in conversation (with me and with your peers); complete the assignments (and don't cut corners on the ones that involve writing). You'll do well.

3. Canvas will fail us when we need it most. This is not something we hope for, but it is something that we can expect, based on experience. As I write, for instance (May 12, 2026) Canvas has been down for a week because of a ransomware attack, and even when the situation isn't that extreme, we know that the site is unreliable. (Screens freeze; uploads fail; etc, etc.) Don't panic; contact me for class issues and ITS for technical issue. Any problem Canvas creates, we can solve. But I'm designing this course to avoid Canvas as much as possible. I'm only using it as a gradebook and, if it can't get its act together, I won't even use it for that.

Assignments:

(see schedule below for due dates)

The weekly exams are half objective (true/false, matching, short ID, visual ID, etc), half essay, both halves based on the readings and lectures. The exams are open book (because there's no way to get around that for an online course). I'll send them to you to you in a PDF at the end of every week; they'll be due a week later—and that's a hard deadline. Print the PDF out; handwrite your answers onto the printout. The essays should be handwritten also; you can use blank sheets of paper or lined paper. Return images of your completed exam to me at jmp.bgsu@gmail.com.

There will be technical problems, there always are. But get in touch with me ASAP when problems arise and we'll sort them out.

The final exam is just like the weekly exams, but it'll have an extra essay question directed strictly at Ovid. Again, return images of your completed exam to me at jmp.bgsu@gmail.com.

Grading:


weekly exams final exam	60% 40%

**THE FINE PRINT**:
No makeups given due to absence without prior arrangement with the instructor.
No one can pass the course without taking Quiz 6 and turning in the Final Project.
No incompletes issued except for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor.
"The mind isn’t like a bucket that needs filling. It’s more like firewood that needs kindling." —Plutarch, On Listening
The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement (or decline) in student performance when awarding the final grade.
The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points.
The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced in class and posted on-line.

SCHEDULE
Weeks	Readings	Assignments	Topics & Arguments
Week 1 May 19, 21	Ovid: Books 1-2 Tatlock chs. 1-4 (Olympians)	Exam 1 (lectures & readings for week 1) due Friday May 29, 11:59 PM	creation myth vs. succession myth types of myth polytheism vs. monotheism Can immortal gods be heroic? What’s an iconic attribute? What’s a sphere? Attack or defend: Zeus will not reign forever. Attack or defend: Zeus is Teshub. Attack or defend: Zeus is both the oldest and the youngest child Olympian. patriarchy and pre-patriarchy Why are there female gods in a patriarchal religion? Attack or defend: Hera should get a divorce. Attack or defend: the Greek gods are bound by moral laws. Three is a magic number.
Week 2 May 26, 27 Mon. May 25: Memorial Day	Ovid: Books 3-5 Tatlock chs. 5-9 (Olympians continued) handout on the (so-called) 12 Olympians	Exam 2 (lectures & readings for week 2) due Friday June 5, 11:59 PM	6 + 8 = 12. Discuss. interpretatio Romana Attack or defend: Odin is Mercury. Attack or defend: Cupid is more powerful that Apollo. Attack or defend: Deucalion is Noah. Is Zeus good or evil? Why? What about other gods in the myths? Attack or defend: bears have tails. Why do sexual relations between gods and mortals always seem to result in harm to mortals? Attack or defend: Ovid approves of sexual violence. Was Niobe right or wrong? Attack or defend: the story of Cupid & Psyche is not a myth.
Week 3 June 2, 4 June 6: D-Day	Ovid: Books 6-8 Tatlock chs. 10, 11, 13.3 (death; heroes of Argos & Corinth) The Raglan Scale	Exam 3 (lectures & readings for week 3) due Friday June 12, 11:59 PM	Attack or defend: all religions have pretty much the same idea about the afterlife. Measure a hero on the Raglan scale. How does guilt culture influence notions of the afterlife? Attack or defend: Hades is not an Olympian. Attack or defend: Tantalus deserved what happened to him. (You could also argue this about Sisyphus, Ixion, Tityus, the Danaides, etc.) Attack or defend: No real myths from Greek antiquity survive. Who’s the greater hero, Perseus or Bellerophon? Is a hero someone you’re necessarily supposed to admire and imitate? Are the gods people you’re necessarily supposed to admire and imitate?
Week 4 June 9, 11	Ovid: Books 9-10 Tatlock chs. 15, 12 (Thebes; Hercules)	Exam 4 (lectures & readings for week 4) due Friday June 19, 11:59 P	What is overdetermination and how does it relate to myth? Attack or defend: Thebes is the Greek city that’s most like Rome. Was Oedipus morally responsible for his crimes? Attack or defend: Oedipus was a greater hero than Cadmus. Consider Zeus’ sexual partners and the variety of ways he gets together with them. Does he have some sort of problem? Attack or defend: Amphion & Zethus are 1 hero in 2 parts. Attack or defend: Creon was a better king than any member of Oedipus’ family. Hercules, or Jerkules? Attack or defend: Heracles is the least Greek of all the Greek heroes. How many different versions of Heracles are there? So: athloi and parerga. What’s the difference? What’s the best Heracles adventure? What’s the worst? Did Heracles ever travel to Rome? What’s the common theme in the labors of Heracles (if there is one)?
Week 5 June 16, 18 June 19: Juneteenth!	Ovid: Books 11-13 Tatlock chs. 13, 14, 16, 17 (assorted heroes before the Trojan War; the Trojan War)	Exam 5 (lectures & readings for week 5) due Friday June 26, 11:59 PM	Theseus: half the hero that Heracles was? Theseus had two fathers. Discuss. What’s the common theme in the labors of Theseus (if there is one)? Would you want your friend to date Theseus? Why or why not? Attack or defend: Daedalus was a hero. The Minotaur was a monster, half-man and half-bull. Which half made him a monster? Attack or defend: Ariadne was a kinslayer. "ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLE!" Crossover stories in Greek myth. Attack or defend: Althaea was a good mother. "Forty or fifty feral hogs": what’s with all these pig monsters? Attack or defend: Atlanta was transgender. Attack or defend: Jason was the least important hero on the Argo. Attack or defend: Medea was a pre-patriarchal hero, who became a monster in patriarchal storytelling. The female descendants of the Sun share some striking features. What are they? Why are they like that? The Epic Cycle Attack or defend: the Trojan War has more causes than are really necessary, for storytelling purposes. Attack or defend: Achilles was a big bloodthirsty baby who never grew up. How old is Achilles when the war begins? How old is Neoptolemus when he enters the war? Was Agamemnon the dumbest character in Greek mythology, or the dumbest character in any mythology? Discuss. If Odysseus told you something, would you believe him? Attack or defend: Hector is a greater hero than Achilles. Who deserved to win the armor of Achilles? Is the Trojan War an anti-war story or a pro-war story, or something else?
Week 6 June 23, 25	Ovid: Book 14-15 Tatlock 19-20 (the returns from Troy; the Romans)	Exam 6 (objective: lectures & readings for week 6 essay: Ovid, Ovid, and more Ovid) due Monday July 6, 11:59 PM	Attack or defend: Ovid was a vegetarian. Attack or defend: the Metamorphoses is a satire at Augustus’ expense. Was Ovid a fan of Vergil? Apotheosis: did Ovid really believe in it? If not, why does he talk about it? “Omnia mutantur; nihil interit.” Discuss. Attack or defend: the Metamorphoses is one big commercial for the Roman Empire. Attack or defend: most Roman myths are legends. If someone compared you to Romulus, would you be flattered? Like Dionysus, like Heracles, like Aeneas, like Romulus, like Julius Caesar, Hippolytus was a mortal man who became a god. Discuss.


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