Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature
About this Course
This short literature course, based on the first half of the Masterpieces of World Literature edX MOOC, examines how civilizations and cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how that literature has continued to contribute to our understanding of those civilizations and cultures today. Cities, nations, and empires from antiquity through the middle ages drew on foundational histories and myths for their identities, relating these narratives through generations by means of oral-storytelling and new writing technologies. These epics, story collections, and novels, which take a keen interest in heroic travelers, would eventually travel themselves, finding new global audiences as the first works of world literature. Tracing developments in language, writing, and literary genre, this course also travels in time, from legendary accounts of ancient kings to histories of medieval courts and early-modern exploration. We will stop to consider how all of these texts affected the history of their own eras, but also how they have continued to find new prominence and significance in ours.Created by: Harvard University
Level: Introductory
Related Online Courses
Thanks to Joseph Haydn, the acknowledged father of the string quartet, the medium evolved into a genre. It is Haydn’s compositions for the medium above all — he composed 68 of them — that estab... more
Müssen Theologen eigentlich alles glauben, was in der Bibel steht? Oder wie gehen sie damit um? In diesem Kurs erhalten Sie grundlegende Informationen über die historischen Hintergründe zur En... more
Taught by lauded Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Justice explores critical analysis of classical and contemporary theories of justice, including discussion of present-day applications. Topics... more
Using case studies from the Harvard Business School, this course will cover the contemporary Chinese scene by focusing on five main themes in China’s development: agriculture, entrepreneurship, e... more
La psicologia della personalità cerca di spiegare il perché dell'azione umana, e come le persone mantengono una coerenza e costanza nel modo di agire. Questo corso indaga i principali temi t... more