Extracurricular Education Program "The Charm of Greek Mythology" (11/16)

Implementation report by KYOPRO student staff

On Monday, October 25, 2021, we held an extracurricular education program, "The Fascination of Greek Mythology Continued to be Told," online via Zoom. In their education up to high school, students are rarely exposed to mythology, and even those students who have some exposure to mythology through video games and animation are unlikely to know much about it. However, Greek mythology has had a great influence on the modern world in terms of cultural aspects such as constellations and the Olympic Games. That is why we have organized this program to provide an opportunity to learn about the relationship between Greek mythology and the modern world. This program focused on reading Greek myths from multiple perspectives related to the present day, with the aim of learning about their relevance to the present day.

The lecturer was Mr. Daisuke Shoko, a part-time lecturer at Kansai University, specializing in ancient Western history and Western mythology. The program began with a group work session in which students discussed their images of Greek mythology, confirming that the main image they had of Greek mythology was that of a story in a game or a novel. In the lecture that followed, the lecturer talked about "the process of formation of Greek mythology" and "the influence of mythology on the modern world. There were many discoveries about the influence of mythology on the modern world. For example, I was surprised to learn that the Olympics, a world-class event, originally originated as a festival of athletics and arts in a sacred area to worship Zeus, the almighty god, one of the 12 Olympian gods. I was also surprised to learn that the origin of the Olympics was a festival of athletics and arts in a Shinto sanctuary to worship Zeus, the almighty god, one of the 12 Olympians.

We hope that this program will provide students with an opportunity to become familiar with Greek mythology, to experience the culture anew, and to broaden their own perspectives.

Report by KYOPRO staff] Keitaro Kaneko (2nd year, Department of SociologyFaculty of Social Sciences )