This article is intended for students and teachers of classical mythology. It gives an overview of the nature and the characteristics of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology, explaining what the Greek and Roman gods are and what they are not. Furthermore, the relationship between gods and humans in classical mythology is discussed.

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Reading Rape in Ovid's Metamorphoses: A Test-Case Lesson

The Nature and Characteristics of the Gods in Classical Mythology

Abstract:In his versions of the rape of Proserpina, Ovid appeals to his contemporary reader by poetically playing with the rhetoric and law of the Augustan age—a practice defined as a “poetics of legalism” in this article. In his late antique epic, Claudian follows an Ovidian model, continuing the legalistic treatment of the myth and submitting his characters to Constantinian raptus marriage legislation that would resonate with his contemporary reader. The continuity of a poetics of legalism present in the rapes of Proserpina illustrates the interconnected dynamics of law and poetry in the mythopoesis of Augustan and late antique literature.

The Poetics of Legalism: Ovid and Claudian on the Rape of Proserpina

Io and Trauma in Ovid's Metamorphoses: Rape and Transformation

Drawn from two larger ethnographic studies, this article showcases performances of grief as public interventions from teachers in social movements in Mexico and Argentina. Through Judith Butler’s conceptual apparatus of public grieving, we present findings on activists’ music of repression amplified before the edifices of the state agencies that repressed them, and a multivocal spoken word performance commemorating a teacher on the anniversary of his murder. Performances like these, that position public grieving in the political and pedagogical, are imperative units of inquiry given the surge of teachers, students, and parents organizing worldwide against racism, educational reform, and austerity, all while confronting violent responses from state- and private-sector authorities.

Performing Grief through Teacher Activism and Curriculum: Case Studies from Social Movements in Oaxaca and Buenos Aires

Teaching Ovid to incarcerated students: an experiential analysis

The coping strategies that a victim of a rape engages in can have a strong impact on the development and persistence of psychological symptoms. Research provides evidence that victims who rely heavily on avoidance strategies, such as suppression, are less likely to recover successfully than those who rely less heavily on these strategies. The present study utilized structural path analysis to identify predictors of avoidance coping following rape and examined factors in the assault itself (e.g., force, alcohol use), sequelae of the assault (e.g., self-blame, loss of self-worth), and social support as potential direct and indirect predictors of avoidance coping. From a sample of 1,253 university women, the responses of 216 women who endorsed an experience of rape were examined. Results suggested that sequelae of the assault such as feelings of self-blame and negative reactions received from others are potentially important predictors of avoidance coping. Implications of the results for future rape recovery research are discussed.

Reading Rape in Ovid's Metamorphoses: A Test-Case Lesson

Citations

The Nature and Characteristics of the Gods in Classical Mythology

The Poetics of Legalism: Ovid and Claudian on the Rape of Proserpina

Io and Trauma in Ovid's Metamorphoses: Rape and Transformation

Performing Grief through Teacher Activism and Curriculum: Case Studies from Social Movements in Oaxaca and Buenos Aires

Teaching Ovid to incarcerated students: an experiential analysis

References

Coping with the experience of rape