**The different course books rest at the very centre of the curriculum.  They will serve as the focal point for our bi-weekly seminars and for several different assignments.  It is fundamentally important that you acquire these books and then access them throughout the semester.  They are available for purchase at the NIC Bookstore.  I have also provided links to e-text editions below.  The Sanders translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh is available on-line in an audio edition.

1.  Compare creation myths from a variety of cultures.

2.  Identify and analyze the major gods, heroes and legends of Sumerians, Egyptian, Classical, Celtic, Norse, Mayan, Aztec and Northwest Coast mythology.

3.  Discuss the complex relationship between the gods and the mortals, and between life and death, within those mythic traditions.

4.  Relate mythologies to the historical and societal contexts out of which they emerged.

5.  Describe the various academic theories of myth and apply these to course curricular content.

6.  Compare and contrast different mythic traditions, with particular attention to recurring motifs and themes.

7.  Assess the extent to which mythic imagery, language and stories continue to influence contemporary culture, art and thought.

8.  Better understand how the continuing study of mythology might be effectively integrated into a lifetime of independent learning.

Homework Assignment #1:

Homework Assignment #2:

Week 5

Optional Extras:

Seminar Note Due:  Oedipus Rex

Audio Edition:  Epic Of Gilgamesh

Reading Assignment:

Optional Extras:

Francisco Del Rio Sanchez, "Opening The Floodgates: 'The Epic Of Gilgamesh,'" National Geographic History (January/February 2018): 90-93.

"Gilgamesh and The Flood," Histocrat, December 1, 2021.  (132 mins)

"Epic Of Gilgamesh," In Our Time, BBC Radio Four, November 3, 2016.

Homework Assignment #4:

Reading Assignment:

Reading Assignment:

Homework Assignment #5:

Reading Assignment:

Reading Assignment:

Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in Yggdrasil Discussion Topic

a)  Lecture: Welcome To Middle Earth -- Norse Mythology (II)

b)  Discussion: Norse Mythology

Monday, November 25

a)  Discussion: Egyptian Mythology

b)  Lecture:  The Way To Eternity -- Egyptian Mythology

a)  Discussion:  Pandora's Jar

Monday, December 2

a)  Final Exam Review

Seminar Note Due:  Popol Vuh

Final Exam Preparation Materials:

Final Seminar Note Due:  Pandora's Jar

a)  Letter of Introduction (1%)

Write a short letter of introduction to me at the beginning of the semester.  This should be at least 100 words in length and is designed to give me a beginning idea of who you are and how I might best serve you as a teacher, and to provide me with an opening snapshot of the class as a whole.  You need not use the following questions as cues but they may be helpful.  Who are you?  Where are you from?  How might you begin to describe your community and what life is like there if you've come to NIC from far away?  What do you miss and what do you think would most surprise me if I were to visit your hometown?  What are your interests?  Why are you taking this course?  What are your thoughts and reflections as you begin HIS 135?  What is myth and what is the importance of studying it?  Are there topics associated with the course that you know will be of potential interest?  Do you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions?  This is an assignment I ask of students in each of my classes.  Although this is not a graded assignment, I would appreciate it if you took several minutes writing a thoughtful introduction.  If you are enrolled in more than one class with me this semester, a single letter of introduction will suffice, but mention something about each of the courses.  If you have taken a class with me before, please update what you wrote before and complete a new letter of introduction.

b)  Seminar Notes (45%) [5 different short seminar notes in total]

c)  Homework Assignments (14%)

The five seminar notes are the most important writing assignments in this course.

However, they will be  will be complemented by a series of small Homework assignments that will be coordinated with some of our other class discussion.  Typically these exercises will ask you to browse extensively within resources associated with different mythological traditions and then take some notes and offer some commentary upon resources of particular interest.

You will arrive at the relevant class sessions with these notes and use them to share your findings with your fellow students.  I will collect these materials in individual student folders and evaluate these based upon the promptness and consistency of the submissions, and upon the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the work itself.  I will also ask you to provide self-evaluation in regards to your efforts here.

d)  Class Participation And Contributions (20%)

The class participation grade will be based upon attendance; pre-class preparation; and the willingness to contribute thoughtfully to small-group and full-class discussion.

HIS 135 will combine lectures and documentaries with extensive discussion.  Several times during the semester, we'll devote an entire course period to a seminar discussion about one of our core texts.  It is expected that you will demonstrate during these particular classes that you have directly engaged with each of the books and then struggled to offer your own interpretations of these stories.  At other times, we will have shorter but focused full-class or small-group conversations about particular topics.

I would like to encourage a classroom environment in which all are eager to share their ideas an in which lectures are accompanied by thoughtful dialogue.  This will be dependent not just upon your willingness to speak, but your pre-class preparation and your willingness to listen.  The significant class participation component derives from my belief that the most engaging and successful courses are not ones in which knowledge is merely transferred from instructor to student but in which a genuine learning community exists in which all participants share their perspectives and insights.

Although attendance is not required, I will take roll, and those who are not in class regularly will both receive a poor grade for this part of the course and deprive others in the class of their own insights.

I do appreciate that some students are shy or for other reasons may find it intimidating to speak in our full-group setting.  I do want these students to push themselves to nonetheless fully engage with the class and participate in discussions.  I will nonetheless be understanding of these students so long that they can clearly demonstrate to me by other means that not only do they come to class but they do so well-prepared and are engaged with the course material.

e)  Final Exam (20%)

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