Course Schedule

CLAS 318 – Myth, Art, & Transformation: Ovids Metamorphoses and Beyond

Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies

Greeks and Roman myths are endlessly malleable, and painters, poets, sculptors, and playwrights (ancient and modern) have all taken inspiration from and reacted against one another as they strove to emulate, imitate, and transform the characters, stories, and moments of this shared cultural repertoire. In this course we investigate the artistic processes and dynamics at play in these borrowings, re-workings, re-imaginings, and transformations, as individual artists negotiate personal artistic programs as well as cultural, religious, and political challenges.

This course will use an Artists perspective to think about the issues above using Ovid's epic poem about transformation, the Metamorphoses, as the center of our discussions, as we look backward (to see how Ovid's epic poem transforms previous art works) and forward (to see how later artists transformed Ovid's art, and inside (to see how encounters with these myths and artworks can be personally transformational). Along the way, we will explore ancient Roman culture and compare it to our own.

By the end of this course, you will join this 3000-year tradition of mythic transformation by envisioning and pitching your own transformation of Ovidian material for modern audiences, contexts, and/or problems!