CLAS1701 · Complex Problems and Enduring Questions

Death in Ancient Greece: Achilles to Alexander the Great

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Core Renewal Course: Enduring Questions In ancient Greece, death played a starring role in epic poetry and on the tragic and comic stage, funerary monuments lined the roadways, and dead heroes and family members alike were believed to intervene in the affairs of the living. Beginning with the "funeral mask of Agamemnon" and ending with royal Macedonian tombs, this course examines how ancient Greek responses to death addressed the universal problem of mortality while simultaneously using death as a lens for thinking about contemporary problems. We will consider throughout how the ancient materials resonate differently -- or not -- for us today.