Literature / Mythology: Solar Power

From Atum to Horus, Helios to Apollo, Shamus, to Suryos to Sól, numerous solar deities have risen and fallen over the course of world mythology’s evolution along with the civilizations that worshipped them. On this online 10-week course we will read, explore and enjoy stories from an array of the great texts that belong to the mythical traditions of the Classical world and wider antiquity that relate to the sun as well as looking into their other facets. We will consider the hold that mythology continues to have over the modern mind, to ask how and why these works and stories still resonate today and have persisted for so long, as well as setting them against their own time and seeking to understand their original intent. In doing so we will think about genre, style and form, as well as considering authorship and culture through appraising the backgrounds and context of each text, and particular writers, whilst also looking into more modern art and culture that has been influenced by and reworked these shining myths, this will add crucial context but also dive into the modern reading of the texts and myths. All texts will be read in English translation