At College Year in Athens Nina teaches Greek Drama and Ancient Greek Mythology and Religion. Her aim is to bring out the myths’ diverse interpretations and she focuses on their significance, value, and relevance in both antiquity and modern times, tracing the ways in which Greek myth has been received, interpreted, and reimagined across time. The course includes numerous field trips both to archaeological sites (the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus in Athens, the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis, the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron) and to modern reimaginings of these myths (from Poreia Theatre’s productions of Electra and Prometheus Bound to Cherubini’s opera Medea at the Greek National Opera). Nina hopes that the stories of the Greeks can help students place their own experiences within a larger framework and can eventually assist them in dealing with their personal struggles and difficulties – injustice, isolation, disease, death, loss, intergenerational conflicts, family tensions, peer struggles – issues that the Greek myths are keenly interested in and issues that we are all required to face at some point in our lives.
CYA Spring 2022 student, Sarah Reid, discusses her experience in Nina’s Mythology course in her blog piece It was Impossible to Stay Uninterested: Studying Myth and Religion at CYA.
CYA Spring 2023 student, Meredith Neid, writes about how the study of myth helped her in gaining a better understanding of Modern Athens. Read her piece here: “Understanding Modern Athens through the Study of Greek Myth”.
CYA Fall 2024 student, Max Wright, writes about their experience studying Greek Theater in Athens and the value of seeing ancient drama live. Read their full piece here:
From Michigan to the Odeon: How Seeing Greek Theatre Live Changed My Perspective
Nina believes that studying the Ancient Greeks – their literature and culture – can instigate discussion on significant issues, can help us understand human nature and human difference, gain a deeper appreciation of ourselves and others, and think deeply about the way we operate and co-exist in our societies. Nina is also driven by her goal of teaching the Ancient Greeks to elicit sympathy and compassion for human beings across time and across the globe in order to help students become responsible citizens of the world.
Read more about her thoughts on the value of teaching Classics in the 21st century in her piece Awakening Compassion Through the Greeks. The piece, slightly modified, is also available in Greek here. An earlier version of the article appeared in the Connecticut College Magazine here.
