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Classics 194/First Year Seminar
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All plays are translated in Ten Greek Plays.
Martin: recommended reading from Ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic
Times, Thomas Martin, 1996.
| Wk | Date | Topic | Assignments | Discussion Questions |
| 1 | W 9/8 | Introduction | . | . |
| . | F 9/10 | Iliad | Iliad books 1-6 [Martin ix-xii, 16-35] |
1. What is the primary conflict in the Iliad? |
| 2 | M 9/13 | . | Iliad books 8-9, 11, 14, 16 (summaries
of other books provided here)
[Martin, 36-51] |
Scholars have suggested that in these books Achilles rejects the 'heroic code.' Do you find evidence of this? On what terms are we expected to evaluate him? |
| . | W 9/15 |
map quiz |
Iliad books 18-18, 21-24 (summaries of intervening books here) | What do you make of the ending? How or why does this set of events conclude the story? |
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Thursday, September 16, 4:30-6pm, 4th Floor
Lounge, Old Main |
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| . | F 9/17 | Writing Workshop | Keith Hjortshoj. "What Do College Teachers Expect?" The Transition to College Writing. Boston: Bedford, 2001, pp. 77-126. | What surprises you in this discussion of college writing? What are the key types of assignments, and how do they differ from each other? |
| 3 | M 9/20 | CIT Session | Meet in Humanities 402 for an introduction to Computing & Information Technology on campus. | |
| . | W 9/22 | Odyssey | 1. Outline of Odyssey 2. Odyssey book 9 |
Who is civilized in the Odyssey? How are characters defined as civilized or not? Why? |
| . | F 9/24 | Homeric Epic as Music | Homeric Music Project | Which genres of music do you think best 'translate' Greek epic? Bring in your own comparisons on cassette or CD. |
| 4 | M 9/27 | Writing Workshop | Bring 5 copies of a draft of your essay to class for peer review. | |
| . | W 9/29 | The Archaic Period | Oswyn Murray. "Life Styles: the Aristocracy."
Early Greece. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978/1993, pp.
201-19. Book available at the reserve desk in the library.
[Martin, 51-69] |
What are the key features of the Greek symposion? How did art and literature play a role in it? In what other settings was poetry performed? |
| . | F 10/1 | Vase Painting 1st Paper Due by 5pm | Vase Painting Project
[Martin, 70-93] |
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| 5 | M 10/4 | Lyric Poetry | 1. Selections "Archaic Poetry" in Course Folder 2. Love poetry in appendix of Phaedrus translation |
1. Using your knowledge of archaic Greece, determine
the possible settings in which various poems were performed. How does a
change in context change the meaning? 2. Sappho's poems are the only surviving from this period written by a woman. How do they differ from those of the male poets? How not? |
| . | W 10/6 | Herodotus: Father of History? | Herodotus, Histories, book 1
[Martin, 94-108] |
1. What is Herodotus' overall project? What questions
drive his work? 2. How and why does Herodotus describe non-Greek peoples? |
| . | F 10/8 | From Herodotus, Histories: Darius becomes King of Persia (3.38, 3.66-88), Ionian Revolt, history of Sparta & Athens (5.35-97), Battle of Marathon (6.101-17), Xerxes becomes King of Persia (7.1-11), Battle of Thermopylae (7.201-28), Battle of Plataea (9.44-82) | 1. What is Herodotus' answer to the question of
how the Greeks were able to defeat the Persians? Are all Greeks created
equal in these terms? 2. What genre is Herodotus' work? What are some possibilities? |
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| 6 | M 10/11 | Writing Workshop | Wayne Booth, et al. "Revising Your Organization and Argument." The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, pp. 208-18. | In addition to reading this general advice on how to revise, read and consider my comments on your essay. Review in Easy Writer any grammar or punctuation problems highlighted on the comments page. |
| . | W 10/13 | Classical Athens | Introduction to the Athenian Democracy and Classical Art | |
| . | F 10/15 | Athenian Drama | Simon Goldhill. "The Great Dionysia and Civic Ideology." Nothing to Do with Dionysos? Eds. J. Winkler and F. Zeitlin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 97-120. | Complete the reader's guide worksheet to summarize the article. |
| 7 | M 10/18 | Aeschylus | Agamemnon | How does this play reflect the civic context of its production in the terms identified by Goldhill? How is this a democratic play? |
| . | W 10/20 | . | Laura McClure. Spoken Like a Woman, Chapter One: The City of Words: Speech and the Athenian Polis. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 3-29. | This reading introduces McClure's book-length argument, so it concludes with her thesis. What is this thesis? How might her argument apply to the Agamemnon? |
| . | F 10/22 | Euripides | Bacchae | Is this play pro-religion or anti-religion? How does it help explain why drama was performed in honor of Dionysos? |
| 8 | M 10/25 | . | Helene Foley. "The Masque of Dionysus." Transactions of the American Philological Association 110 (1980) 107-33. | Complete the reader's guide worksheet. |
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Monday Evening, October 25 |
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| . | W 10/27 | no class | ||
| . | F 10/29 |
FALL BREAK
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| 9 | M 11/1 | Writing Workshop | Bring a complete draft of your second paper to class. Note that you should have already revised your paper in the manner suggested by Booth et al. | |
| . | W 11/3 | Searching for Amazons | Meet in the Bibliographic Instruction room on the second floor of the library for an introduction to resources for conducting research. | |
| . | F 11/5 |
2nd Paper due by 5pm |
Complete the search worksheet given to your group, and prepare a 5 minute presentation on what you discovered (more information is provided on the worksheet). | |
| 10 | M 11/8 | Athenian Iconography | Amazons in Athenian Iconography Project | |
| . | W 11/10 | Aristophanes | Lysistrata | 1. How does Athenian comedy differ from tragedy?
What are the rules of the genre? How is it also a product of the democracy?
2. What is funny? What is mocked? |
| . | F 11/12 | Performance of Student Tragedies | ||
| 11 | M 11/15 | Thucydides | 1. introduction to translation, pp.
ix-xix 2. History of the Peloponnesian War, Introduction (i.1-23, pp. 1-15 in translation) and Pericles and the Plague (ii.35-54, pp. 39-50) |
1. What does Thucydides see as the major factors
affecting the development of states and interstate relations? How is he
similar to Herodotus, how different? 2. What are the things Pericles boasts about Athens? How do they fit or not fit the picture of the democracy we have been developing? |
| . | W 11/17 | . | 1. Thucydides, History, Mytilenean Debate
(iii.37-51), Second Preface (v.26), and Melian Dialogue (v.84-116) 2. translator's summary of the end of the war (pp. 155-60) |
1. In the dialogue, what are the shared assumptions
of the speakers about the nature of empire? 2. Why does Thucydides use such unusual narrative strategies to present these events? What does he expect his readers to conclude from these accounts? What genre is he writing? |
| . | F 11/17 | Reports on Pre-Socratic Philosophers | ||
| 12 | M 11/22 | Plato | 1. introduction to translation (pp. ix-xxix) 2. Phaedrus 227A-257B (pp.1-48) |
What narrative strategies does Plato employ here? Why? What genre is he writing? |
| . | W 11/24 | . | Phaedrus 257B-279C (remainder of dialogue) | Find Plato's harsh critique of writing. What is he doing criticizing writing in a written work?? How does this affect how we read the entire dialogue? |
| . | F 11/26 |
THANKSGIVING BREAK
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| 13 | M 11/29 | Writing Workshop | Introduction to 3rd Essay Assignment | |
| . | W 12/1 | Oratory: Political Speeches | Demosthenes, Third Philippic | Who are the 'bad guys' in the speech? What particularly Athenian ideals of self and city does the speaker appeal to in order to persuade his audience? |
| . | F 12/3 | Oratory: Law Courts |
link to full text of speech |
What are the specific charges in Against Neaera? Does the prosecutor address them? |
| 14 | M 12/6 | Aristotle
Article Summaries due by 5pm |
Aristotle, Politics, book 1 | What is Aristotle's method of analysis? How does he make arguments and draw conclusions? |
| . | W 12/8 | . | Aristotle, Poetics, book 1 | What does Aristotle include under the category 'poetry'? Do you agree with his analysis of the various genres? Does anything surprise you about his interpretations? |
| . | F 12/10 | Greek Myths in America | Sheri Tepper, Gate to Women's Country, revisited | Why did Tepper choose to use the Greek story of the Trojan War in this novel? |
| 15 | M 12/13 | Reports on Post-Socratic Philosophers | ||
| . | W 12/15 | Wrap-Up 3rd Paper Due in Class |
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Final Exam: Friday, December 17, 10:30am-12:30, in our regular
classroom
Amazons Homepage ~ Classics Department ~ Macalester College
