Overview:
Apollodorus of Athens lived in the 2nd century B.C. He was a scholar who studied in Alexandria, but spent much of his life working at Athens. Apollodorus wrote a number of scholarly works, including On the Gods, and he was considered quite an authority. Therefore, various forgeries were written in his name, especially the Library, a handbook of mythology which Apollodorus could not have composed. Composed at least a century after Apollodorus, the real author of the Library is unknown. Most scholars date the Library to the first or second centuries A.D from the language used in the text. We will examine the Library for its mythological content and try to determine what kind of mythographer the author of the Library was.

Goals:

· to read closely and analyze critically Apollodorus' Library

· to read scholarship on the Library and mythology

· to understand the historical and cultural context of the Library