Introduction to Mythology.

«By studying mythology, we are not dealing with ancient times or exotic cultures. We are studying our own perception of the world» - this thesis made Alexandra Leonidovna Barkova's course forever memorable to her students. Ancient legends about gods and... heroes appear in her lectures as parts of a unified complex of ideas that spans across centuries and peoples. The mythological systems of Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and India are revealed in their interrelation, which makes the individual traits of each culture more visible. Special attention is paid to mythological universals that manifest through centuries and millennia. The lively language, imagery, and sometimes ironic presentation of the most serious material create the effect of direct communication with the professor, in whose lectures not a single student has fallen asleep in a quarter of a century.