When Queen Jocasta of Thebes gave birth to Oedipus, a grim air seized the occasion. Her husband, King Laius, had received a prophecy from Apollo's oracle foretelling that he would die at the hands of his own son. Determined to escape...

In which Mike Rugnetta teaches you about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and how a lot of their work was influenced by myth and mythology. While Freud and Jung aren't quite as revered as they once were, they were undoubtedly a huge...

In which John Green teaches you about one of the least family-friendly family dramas in the history of family dramas, Oedipus Rex. Sophocles' most famous play sees it's main character, who seems like he's got it all together, find out...

The story goes something like this: A royal, rich, or righteous individual - who is otherwise a lot like us - makes a mistake that sends his or her life spiraling into ruin. It's the classic story arc for a Greek tragedy, and we love it...

Do we really have free will? Today Hank explores possible answers to that question, explaining theories like libertarian free will and it’s counterpoint, hard determinism.

What can some of literature's most famous heroes teach us? From the epic hero (like Beowulf) to the tragic hero (like Oedipus), each has something distinctive to share. April Gudenrath describes the many faces of the fictional hero --...

The original sad man, Sophocles mined the depths of human misery to leave his mark on the theatrical world. While the two time general almost certainly drew upon his experiences in war, his works are not completely depressing. They also...

This video discusses Hamlet's hesitation to exact revenge on Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet. It explores the psychological and moral complexities that delay his action, including doubts about the ghost's honesty and his own fear of sin.

In this episode, we examine the Fates - three shadowy figures who seem to have a near omnipresent influence in the goings-on throughout the Greek mythical universe - and who show up in stories and religions from cultures whose time and...

While many of his theories have been debunked and disproven, Freud continues to have a massive influence on literary criticism. How did a man who was never fully focused on literature forever alter the way we discuss it? And what are we...

It's time to dive into clinical psychology! To discuss this topic we must first discuss Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. The whole lying down on a couch and talking to a therapist thing? That's Freud's. But he also had some...

This video discusses the differences between fiction and nonfiction and how they can be used to communicate information. It uses the example of a classic tragedy to illustrate the power of storytelling and the importance of facts and...

Throughout my traditional education I hated ancient tragedies. But years down the road, I was told I had to teach Antigone... This video explains how I went from hating to loving Greek tragedies, and how, by putting the works into some...