Mythology
Hello and welcome to WizU. I am Professor Smart, and I am here to teach you a little bit about Mythology.
Please read the overview below before starting assignments!
The problem is, there is way too much that could be covered in the broad topic that is Mythology. It is impossible to cover all of this, especially in just a TADPOLE and a TOAD course. And it wouldn't work if I kept the additional Crash Course year this class previously had.
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But before I explain what is going to happen in your TADPOLE and in your TOAD year, let me first answer a few questions.
What is Mythology?
Mythology is, in its basic definition, the collected myths, especially the collected myths from a particular country, religion, or culture. This obviously covers the stories about gods and heroes from prehistoric Greece, or the Viking tale of the coming end of the world, Ragnarök. But also regional folklore, like the British legend of King Arthur. As you can already imagine, those are just three topics, from three different regions. From three regions from just one continent. Add that up and you get waaaaay too many different subtopics to realistically cover. So my goal is not to teach you everything related to Mythology, it is simply top hopefully inspire you to continue your study of Mythology after you are done taking this class.
Why should we study Mythology?
Simple answer: Mythology is everywhere, even if we don't realise it. It is part of our language, influences of it can be found in our favourite books, favourite movies, video games, and so on.
Want some examples?
Languages are filled with words with mythological origins. We have phobias, we panic. In the morning we get up, eat cereal, then go to school, study geography with an atlas or the chronology of history. We plan to fly across the ocean to travel to Europe.
The name for the days of the week have mythological origins. In English, there's Tyr's Day, Wodan's Day, Thor's Day, Frigg's Day and Saturn's Day.
Concepts from Norse mythology, like the races of dwarves and giants are used in fantasy universes, like Lord of the Rings or partially even in our own Wizarding World. And then there are the works of Rick Riordan, who made mythology modern and popular again in his Percy Jackson universe.
What will await you in this class?
First of all, let me give you a quick overview over how TADPOLE and TOAD classes work. Each class will offer 5 assignment options. To pass the course level, you need to complete at least 3, but should ideally complete all 5 of them. 3 is the bare minimum, and you will only be eligible for an A as your highest grade. If you can finish 4, the highest grade possible moves up to an E. So, to be eligible for an O as your highest grade, you need to complete all 5.
The TADPOLE year will focus on a few of the key aspects all Mythologies have in common. First a pantheon full of powerful deities, each with control over different areas. Followed by overviews over how everything created, one for everything but humans, one specifically for humans. After that, we take a look on myths about the end of the world. And in the final one we will explore the concept of death.
In each of these, I will present you the stories one mythology of my choosing tells us, and your task will then be to do some research into a mythology and tell me what those stories tell. The only requirement is that you don't pick the same mythology I chose.
The TOAD year will then partially move away from that style. There will still be two topics similar to the TADPOLE options, one about mythological instances of divination, and one about heroes and demigods. The third one will feature specifically on the Roman pantheon, which is basically an amalgamation of many smaller pantheons and individual deities, before the final two options move closer towards the main reason we are all here, the Wizarding World. In those two tasks we will cover magical creatures adopted from mythology as well as characters names after mythological figures. Should you decide to not go for only 3 TOAD tasks, you will still need to complete one of these Harry Potter related options to pass the course.
And even if I name the assignment option in the order I have them posted in the topics, it is up to you in which order you want to tackle them.
Is there a minimum word count for the assignments?
Yes, there is a minimum number of words I'd like to see.
For TADPOLE assignments, I'd like to see at least 400 words.
For TOAD assignments the number is a bit higher, and I now need you to write at least 600 words.
If you have any other questions about this class, feel free to PM me, and I'll try to answer them as soon as I see them!