Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece

This section of the First Year syllabus in Classical Studies consists of the following eight topics:

1. The Gods of Mount Olympus
2. Heroes of Ancient Greece
3. The Story of Theseus
4. The Theban Cycle
5. The Story of the House of Atreus and the Trojan War
6. The Return of Greek Heroes from Troy
7. An Introduction to Athens
8. The Journey of Aeneas.

Five of these topics should be covered, and it is recommended that a story-centred approach should be used in dealing with them. The story, however, should also be used as the basis for concurrent exploration and discussion of various relevant aspects of Greek civilisation. It should be noted that the myths and legends described below may have different interpretations, depending on the sources from which they are taken. The amount of detail given in these Guidelines for each topic varies. Teachers are not to interpret from this that one topic is more important than another. All topics are of equal importance. In these Guidelines reference has been made principally to the following two Source books:

Robert Graves: "The Greek Myths"
Edith Hamilton: "Mythology"

Where other materials are available reference to them is also given.