Syllabus
winter semester
- Introduction to profane iconography and mythology: literature and sources
- The principal gods of Olympus: Olympus, Jupiter (loves of Zeus: Danae, Semele, Io, Leda, Europa), Juno, Apollo, Bacchus and Ariadne, Ceres, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Minerva, Neptune, Pluto, Venus, Vulcan, Gaia
- Hercules and his stories
- Hesiodos and themes related to time: personification of time (Chronos, Saturn), ages of mankind, seasons, months, phases of the day
- Time: human age, life, death. Space: chaos, vertebrae, moon, earth, continents, four elements, winds, rivers, human temperaments, senses
- Ancient Greek epic: Argonauts, Jason, journey to Colchis, golden fleece, Medea; Theban cycle: Oedipus, Seven against Thebes, Antigone
- Homer, Ilias; Trojan cycle: the Hesperides, Helen, Peleus and Thetis, Paris, the trial of Paridus, Hébé, Achilles, the Trojan Horse, the Trojan War, Hector, Philoctetes, Laocoon, the Sacrifice of Polyxena, etc.
- Homer, Odyssey: Odysseus, Calypso, Kirke, Penelope, Polyphemus, Sirens, etc.
- Vergil, Aeneas
Annotation
This course covers the topic of secular iconography in the visual arts from the classical antiquity to the 20th century. Attention will be paid to classical mythology, allegories, personifications, basics of emblematics, intermingling of secular and sacred iconography at selected works of art.