Gods, Heroes, and Monsters: An Introduction to Classical Mythology, Part I

FROM CHAOS TO THE AGE OF HEROES Before Marvel, before Star Wars, before every hero's journey in modern storytelling—there were the myths of ancient Greece and Rome. If you've encountered these stories through Percy Jackson, Hades, or Madeline Miller's novels, you already sense their power. But the original sources offer something adaptations can only hint at: stranger, darker, funnier, and more profound than any retelling. This introductory course takes you directly to the ancient texts themselves—accessible, vivid, and often surprisingly modern in their concerns. We begin where the Greeks began: with Chaos, and the violent emergence of the cosmos. We witness the Titans' reign and their overthrow by the Olympians, and encounter the gods as complex, contradictory forces whose personalities shaped how an entire civilization understood power, desire, and fate. Through ancient hymns and Ovid's transformations, we meet Zeus the schemer, Hermes the trickster, Dionysus the liberator and destroyer. We follow the great heroes and discover that their original stories are wilder and more morally ambiguous than their superhero descendants. No prior knowledge required: only curiosity about the stories that shaped the Western imagination, and a willingness to discover the originals. ISM PROFESSIONAL & STUDENT MEMBERS GET $50 OFF REGISTRATION COST Email info@ismythology.com for your discount code REVIEWS FROM PAST COURSES TAUGHT BY DR. JASON BATT “I also took your AI class… and loved it so much I wanted to continue learning from you. … Thank you so much for all the work you put in - learning from you is truly a delight.” -Monique SUGGESTED READING LIST* *This list will be expanded during the course Hesiod, Theogony Hesiod, Works and Days Homeric Hymns (selections: Hymns to Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite) Ovid, Metamorphoses (selections: Books I, III, VI, VIII) Apollodorus, Library Sophocles, Oedipus Rex Euripides, Bacchae Karl Kerényi, The Gods of the Greeks