A course taught twice, once as an entry-level discussion course (2019) and once as an upper-level seminar (2022). Course reading materials included:
Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
Ancient readings for The Lightning Thief
Apollodorus, Library: Titanomachy and Perseus
Hesiod, Works and Days: the Ages
Homer, Iliad book 5: Diomedes’ fight with Aphrodite
Homer, Odyssey book 8: Demodocus’ song
Homer, Odyssey book 9: Lotus-eaters
Homeric Hymn to Dionysus 7
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 2: Callisto
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 3: Semele and the birth of Bacchus
Vergil, Aeneid book 6: underworld journey
Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters
Ancient readings for The Sea of Monsters
Apollodorus, Library: Perseus and the Gray Sisters
Apollodorus, Library: Heracles and the Stymphalian Birds and Heracles and the Hydra
Apollonius, Argonautica book 4: Sirens
Homer, Odyssey book 9: Polyphemus
Homer, Odyssey book 10: Aeolus, Laestrygonians, Circe
Homer, Odyssey book 12: Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis
Homer, Odyssey book 19: Penelope’s ruse
Theocritus, Idyll 11
Rick Riordan, The Titan’s Curse
Ancient readings for The Titan’s Curse
Apollodorus, Library: Heracles and the Nemean Lion, Erymanthian Boar, and Atlas and the Apples of the Hesperides
Apollonius, Argonautica book 3: Jason overcomes the warriors sprung from sown teeth
Apollonius, Argonautica book 4: Talos
Homer, Odyssey book 4: Menelaus’ encounter with Proteus
Nonnus, Dionysiaca: Pan and Pitys
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 1: Apollo and Daphne, Pan and Syrinx
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 2: Callisto
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 3: Diana and Actaeon
Rick Riordan, The Battle of the Labyrinth
Ancient readings for The Battle of the Labyrinth
Apollodorus, Library: the births of Hephaestus and Athens
Apollodorus, Library: Heracles and the stables of Augeas, the mares of Diomedes, the cattle of Geryon, and Antaeus
Apollodorus, Library: Daedalus and Minos
Apollodorus, Library Epitome: Theseus on Crete, Minos, and Daedalus
Diodorus Siculus, Library: Daedalus and Minos
Homer, Iliad book 18: Thetis visits the workshop of Hephaestus
Homer, Odyssey book 5: on Calypso’s island
Homer, Odyssey book 11: Odysseus summons Teiresias and also talks with the shade of his mother
Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian
Ancient readings for The Last Olympian
Brad Thornton’s summary of the Iliad (iliadresource.weebly.com)
Hesiod, Theogony: Zeus and Typhoeus
Hesiod, Works and Days: Pandora and the jar
Homer, Iliad book 1: Achilles and Thetis
Homer, Iliad book 16: Zeus and Hera discuss the death of Sarpedon
Homer, Iliad book 18: Achilles shows himself to the troops when he learns of the death of Patroclus
Homer, Iliad book 22: the death of Hector
Ovid, Metamorphoses book 14: the Cumaean Sybil tells Aeneas about her aging
Vergil, Aeneid book 1: Aeneas complains to Venus
As general resources on myth: J. E. Zimmerman’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology (for the 2019 course) and Pierre Grimal’s Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology (for the 2022 course), as well as theoi.com.
Read for comparison/contrast in the 2019 offering of the course
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Katherine Marsh, The Night Tourist
Eva Ibbotson, The Dragonfly Pool
Read for comparison/contrast in the 2022 offering of the course
J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan: the near death and resuscitation of Tinker Bell
Kallie George, Wings of Olympus
Lilliam Rivera, Never Look Back
Ann Marie Stephens and Tracy Subisak, Cy Makes a Friend