This topic was day one of a five part introduction to the European Galleries of the British Museum run at the City Lit and the Museum on 23 July 2013. I had hoped to re-run the course in summer 2014 but instead parts of it were run separately; this part as Myth in Ancient Greece on Tuesday 22nd July.
An introduction to 3000 years of Greek history and mythology from the Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations from the 3rd millennium BC to the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic eras to the death of Cleopatra. The Elgin Marbles are the iconic masterpieces of the British Museum’s Greek collection and tell us much about how the ancient Athenians saw themselves. Works examined include the Minoan Bull Leaper, the Sophilos Dinos, the Exekias Achilles and Penthesilea amphora, the Harpy Tomb, the Parthenon sculptures, the Nereid monument, the Caryatid from the Erechteion, the Mausoleum, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Spinario.
Below are copies of the handouts from the course
Greek Gods
Greek Games
Heracles and Theseus