Home » Free Online Courses » Free Online Course on Ancient Greek Hero

Free Online Course on Ancient Greek Hero

The Harvard University is offering free online course on Ancient Greek Hero. You will gain access to supportive learning community led by Professor Gregory Nagy and his Board of Readers, who model techniques for “reading out” of ancient texts.

In this seventeen week course, applicants will discover the literature and heroes of ancient Greece through the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, the tragedies of Sophocles, the dialogues of Plato, and more. This course will start on January 11, 2018.

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)

Course At A Glance 

Length: 17 weeks
Effort: 5-8 hours pw
Subject: Art and culture
Institution: Harvard University and edx
Languages: English
Price: Free
Certificate Available: Yes, Add a Verified Certificate for $150
Session: Course Starts on January 11, 2018

Providers’ Details

Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty is engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge.

About This Course

In this introduction to ancient Greek culture and literature, learners will experience, in English translation, some of the most beautiful works of ancient Greek literature and song-making spanning over a thousand years from the 8th century BCE through the 3rd century CE: the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; songs of Sappho and Pindar; dialogues of Plato, and On Heroes by Phil stratus.

Why Take This Course?

Students will gain access to supportive learning community led by Professor Gregory Nagy and his Board of Readers, who model techniques for “reading out” of ancient texts. This approach allows readers with little or no experience in the subject matter to begin seeing this literature as an exquisite, perfected system of communication.

Learning Outcomes

  • To read “out of,” rather than “into,” a literary text, which is the art of close reading
  • The definition of a “hero” in the Classical Greek sense, contrasted with modern concepts of heroism
  • The relationship between epic and lyric in the ancient Greek tradition
  • To explore the interaction of text and image in the ancient Greek tradition
  • About hero cult and the role of heroes as objects of worship in ancient Greece
  • About the connection between myth and ritual in ancient Greece
  • The concept of the hero as conveyed in dramatic performance and as activated through the Socratic dialogue

Instructors

Gregory Nagy

Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature
Harvard University

Leonard Muellner

Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies, Brandeis University, and Director for IT and Publications, Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies
Brandeis University

Kevin McGrath
Associate of the Department of South Asian Studies
Harvard University

Keith Stone

CHS Fellow in Instructional Design and Comparative Ancient Texts, Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies
Harvard University

How To Join This Course

  • Go to the course website link
  • Create an edX account to SignUp
  • Choose “Register Now” to get started.
  • EdX offers honor code certificates of achievement, verified certificates of achievement, and XSeries certificates of achievement. Currently, verified certificates are only available in some courses.
  • Once applicant sign up for a course and activate their account, click on the Log In button on the edx.org homepage and type in their email address and edX password. This will take them to the dashboard, with access to each of their active courses. (Before a course begins, it will be listed on their dashboard but will not yet have a “view course” option.)

Apply Now