Classical Mythology Isn’t (Just) for Kids

Amy Barr

The Lukeion Project has offered two semesters of Classical Mythology for about a decade. Class size is typically on the smaller side and parents often push somewhat younger students into the class even though we suggest it is best for 10^th grade and up. Thanks to Classically inspired authors like Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series) and feature-length films by major animation studios, this generation has consigned Classical Mythology to the “young children’s stories” for good reading and viewing material. Aside from a few tremendous battles between heroes and vile monsters (who doesn’t like those?!), nothing could be further from the truth.

Classical Mythology categorizes the largest body of preserved Classical literature and includes all epic, almost all tragedy, and a fair amount of poetry and even comedy. If one were to omit all other genres from one’s Classical reading list, it wouldn’t shrink much, and mythology would still vividly represent both major world cultures so well that we could maintain a very good picture of the complexity and sophistication of both Greece and Rome.

Classical mythological literature artfully presents our eternal human struggle with questions of good and evil, darkness and light, wisdom and foolishness. Perhaps even more importantly, Classical mythology forces us to grapple with the massive grey zones in between.

The experience of visiting tales of the worst-case-scenarios through myths was termed katharsis by Aristotle. One of the best ways of describing katharsis is “education for the emotions.” The Greeks embraced the curative power of strong story-telling so much that they facilitated the performance of tragedies and comedies at major healing centers like Epidaurus and Pergamum. You can still visit the most impressive intact Greek theaters at both these places.

The Iliad isn’t a story about a war, it is about the fight to weigh the value of one’s own life against death, glory against self-preservation, community against individualism.  The Odyssey isn’t a collection of monster stories, it is about the value of hospitality as a window to the soul. The Greek tragedy Hecuba asks if all really is “fair” in love and war. The tragedy Medea proves when two people behave monstrously, absolutely no one wins.

Sophocles 's Oedipus Rex, termed the perfect tragedy by Aristotle, together with the Iliad, showcase all the ideal parts of an excellent Greek story. These elements still frame what we believe make excellent novels and movies more than two-thousand years later.

So, to equate Classical mythology to “children’s literature” is to miss all its power and most of its artistry. Of all the unique parts of Classical studies, choose mythology first. Still today I find I must coax and push my most advanced AP Latin students to “please” take Classical Mythology! It is the context for almost everything we are still reading and watching today.