The use of Classical texts, ideas, images and cultural material in contemporary contexts became a study field developed over the last twenty years and categorized as Reception Studies. Although the anti-Classical character of Israeli art, mythological subjects and classical images can be distinguished in works of Israeli artists of the last three decades. Those images are loaded with meanings related to classical antiquity, and when applied in contemporary art, their meanings and symbolism become profound, subversive and complicated. The Dionysian aspect is prominent in Israeli contemporary art. This course  aims to explore the classical presence and modes of reception of concepts, images and contexts in Israeli contemporary art, such as: mythology and its symbolism, aesthetic values and the meaning of the ‘beauty’ in art, the principles of idea, kalokagathia, kalos thanatos, mimesis, Eros, hedonism, metamorphosis, catharsis, apotheosis and the sublime.