WELCOME TO ANCIENT GREEK!
Introduction to Homer
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Dr. Caroline Stark MWF 3:10 PM – 4:00 PM Online via Zoom OFFICE HOURS: |
This course is designed for students who have completed the beginning sequence of Ancient Greek and are ready to read extended passages of Ancient Greek. Each week the students will translate select passages, note important terms and poetic usages, discuss current scholarship on the passage, and formulate their own ideas based on their engagement with the text and scholarship. This course focuses on the earliest extant literary documents in the Greek language: the poems attributed to Homer. Most readings will come primarily from Homer’s Iliad but will include readings in translation as well as readings that provide insight into the cultural and historical context of the Homeric period in the Mediterranean.
Course Objectives:
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- Advanced students of Greek will learn to read the Homeric literary dialect.
- Students will become familiar with the style, conventions, and themes of Homeric epic.
- Students will explore the history, culture, and society of the Homeric world as it is reflected in and forms a context for the literature of this period.
- Students will become familiar with current trends in scholarly interpretation for Homeric Poetry, culture and society.
- Students will gain an understanding of oral tradition in Greek poetry
Required Texts:
Selections from Homer’s Iliad: with an introduction, notes, a short Homeric grammar, and a vocabulary, edited by Allen Rogers Benner; foreword by Mark W. Edwards, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN: 978-0-8061-3363-8
The Iliad of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951. ISBN:0226469409
Course Information
- Syllabus
- Online Greek Dictionary
- Online Greek Grammar
- Poetic Terms and Meter
Tentative Weekly Schedule
| Week | Chapters & Assessment |
|---|---|
| Week 1: August 23-27 | Introduction; Homeric poems and the Epic Cycle; mythological background |
| Week 2: August 30-September 3 | Introduction to Homeric poetry and meter Readings: Iliad 1 in translation from Lattimore |
| Week 3: September 6-10 | Readings: M: Labor Day W: Classes Suspended F: Classes Suspended |
| Week 4: September 13-17 | Invocations W: Homer Iliad 1.1-7 (Invocation to the Muse) F: Homer Iliad 1.8-21 (Chryses comes to Achaeans to ransom his daughter) |
| Week 5: September 20-24 | Suppliants; Captives; Plague Readings: M: Homer Iliad 1.22-42 (Agamemnon refuses; Chryses prays to Apollo) W: Homer Iliad 1.43-52 (Apollo sends plague to the Achaeans) F: Homer Iliad 1.53-67 (Achilles calls an assembly) |
| Week 6: September 27-October 1 | Power and Leadership Readings: M: Homer Iliad 1.68-100 (Calchas reveals cause of Apollo’s anger) W: Homer Iliad 1.101-122 (Agamemnon gives up Chryseis in exchange for another) F: Homer Iliad 1.123-147 (Achilles and Agamemnon feud) Assignment 1 due Friday |
| Week 7: October 4-8 | Wrath Readings: M: Homer Iliad 1.148-171 (Achilles threatens to return home) W: Homer Iliad 1.172-187 (Agamemnon threatens to take Briseis) F: Homer Iliad 1.188-205 (Athena stays Achilles’ hand) |
| Week 8: October 11-15 | M: Homer Iliad 1.206-244 (Achilles swears oath to remove himself from fighting) W: Review Exam I Friday MIDTERM GRADES DUE |
| Week 9: October 18-22 | Fate Readings: M: Homer Iliad 1.245-268 (Nestor attempts to mediate) W: Homer Iliad 1.269-291 (Nestor cont.) F: Homer Iliad 1.292-317 (Achilles’ response and Chryseis’ return) |
| Week 10: October 25-29 | |
| Week 11: November 1-5 | Assignment 2 due Friday |
| Week 12: November 8-12 | |
| Week 13: November 15-19 | |
| Week 14: November 22-26 | THANKSGIVING BREAK (W-F) |
| Week 15: November 29-December 3 | Comprehensive Review Exam II Friday |
IMPORTANT DATES
September 3 (Friday): Last Day to Register for a course
October 1 (Friday): Assignment 1 is due
October 15 (Friday): Exam I
October 15 (Friday): Midterm Grades are due
November 5 (Friday): Assignment 2 is due
November 12 (Friday): Last Day for Withdrawing from full-semester courses (Howard)
December 3 (Friday): Exam II