Dr. Terry L. Papillon (Classics)
Office: Major Williams 304 Phone: 231-8319
E-Mail: Terry.Papillon@vt.edu
Office Hours: 10-11 MWF, 3-4 MW
and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course is intended to serve as an interdisciplinary and multimedia introduction to Greek Culture and its importance to the Western heritage. It will use a variety of artifacts from the ancient Greeks as a basis for exploring the ways in which the Greeks understood themselves and the world around them. As such, they introduce to us ways we still use to ask and answer questions.
The students will spend a good deal of time reading primary (ancient) materials, looking at images, and thinking about the implications of them for the Greeks themselves and for each individual student herself or himself. The outcome of the course will be a deeper understanding (and appreciation?) of this source of Western civilization and its legacy to modern society as well as a different outlook on the world by each student.
COURSE DESCRIPTION?
"A culture is not a flow, nor even a confluence; the form of its existence is struggle, or at least debate -- it is nothing if not a dialectic"
Lionel Trilling
"Reading in America"
Struggle, debate, dialectic. These are the things which made Greece the society that is at the foundation of so many Western ideas and ideals. Yet these three things are what make a flow as well. As we shall see, "The Classical Age of Greece" is really the result of a flow of peoples and their ideas which engaged in struggle, debate and dialectic. In order to understand what the idea of "The Classical" means for our study, we must be aware of its context: what is before it, around it, and after it. Therefore, we shall spend time in our course not only on "The Classical Age of Greece," (479-323 B.C.), but also what is before it in Greece, what is around it in other cultures, and what follows it both in Greece and elsewhere.
Struggle, debate, dialectic. We will see the Greeks struggle in various ways with those around them (the Near East, the Trojans, the Persians, the Romans) and with themselves (in the great civil war called the Peloponnesian Wars, in the Greek Enlightenment, and the questions of foreign policy). We will see them engage in debate as they forge a radical democracy in the fifth century out of former tyrannies. And we will see them take up dialectic in the fourth century as they seek to find out what is most important about being human.
Yet the dialectic of the fourth century is merely one high point in the ongoing attempt of the Greeks to decide what it means to be human. This question haunts and drives them throughout their history. We will see them asking this question -- and answering it in different and incomplete ways -- during the Bronze, Archaic, and Classical periods of Greek history; in the visionary images of epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry; in the concrete, yet abstract, images of sculpture, painting, and architecture; and in the voices of history, oratory, and philosophy. This question -- what does it mean to be a human being in relation to all that is around -- remained in the forefront of their thought. It should remain in the front of our minds too as we follow our path through those artifacts which represent different aspects of the question and different attempts at the answer. For it is, after all, a very modern question and one which, to me personally, is very intriguing and very, very important.
COURSE GOALS:
-To introduce students to the culture of Classical Greece through poetry, art, archaeology, history, oratory,
and philosophy
-To consider the contributions of the culture to modern Western thought
-To develop skills in reading comprehension through analysis of a variety of genres of written texts
-To develop skills in writing through reading, preparation of two papers, and the writing of an in-class final examination (essay, in part)
-To contemplate some issues such as life, death, love, devotion, god, gods, humanity, beauty, honesty, responsibility, freedom, public, private
-To consider the thoughts and images of the ancient Greeks and whether they will have any effect on how each student organizes her or his life
BEHAVIORAL ORGANIZATION:
-Students will read, view, and contemplate the day's assignments. You should have the day's material in clear view in your mind and be able to ask intelligent questions and make intelligent comments about it.
-The course will be a combination of lecture and discussion. You should show your active participation in the course not only through speaking up, but through thoughtful listening to your comrades (and instructor) as well.
-The course will be evaluated on the basis of daily work, two papers, three hour exams, and a cumulative final exam. Specifically:
Daily work 5%
3 Examinations 15% each
2 Papers 15% each
Final examination 20%
-Grades for late papers will be lowered one grade per class period late. Missed examinations will not be made up unless prior approval is given or a doctor's written medical explanation is provided.
COURSE DETAILS:
-The course is heavily dependent on class time. I expect you to attend every class. My comments in class will not be very helpful if you have not read the assignment, so make every effort to have assignments completed for the given class period.
-If you get behind, or get confused, make sure to see me as soon as possible. So much of the material builds on prior information that it is crucial to solve problems right away. Either come to my office or grab me after class.
-If there is any physical condition which inhibits or alters your participation in the course, please inform me after the first class meeting so that you and I can make plans for solving any difficulties.
-I always encourage students to meet in informal study and discussion groups to help make the material more clear and more enjoyable.
-When it comes to written work, however, (papers, exams) you should do your own work. Never represent the ideas of others as your own (this is true in oral work as well). Please read the section in the Undergraduate Catalog on the Honor System. I take this issue very seriously.
-The instructor reserves the right to adjust the syllabus for pedagogical reasons if it is deemed necessary.
REQUIRED TEXTS: ($61.95 new, $49.90 used)
Homer, The Iliad tr. M. Hammond.
Penguin Books, 1987.
Aeschylus, The Oresteia, tr. R. Fagles.
Penguin Classics, 1977.
Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, tr. R. Fagles.
Penguin Classics, 1982.
Euripides, The Bacchae and Other Plays,
tr. P. Vellacott. Penguin Books, 1973.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays,
tr. A.H. Sommerstein. Penguin Classics, 1973.
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War,
tr.R. Warner. Penguin Books, 1972.
Saunders, A.N.W., Greek Political Oratory.
Penguin Classics, 1970.
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates, tr. H. Tredennick.
Penguin Classics, 1954.
MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES: (with syllabus abbreviations)
[Perseus] Perseus: Interactive Sources and Studies on Ancient Greece, ed. G. Crane. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1992.
[HO] Historical Overview by T.R. Martin in Perseus System.
RECOMMENDED TEXT: (with syllabus abbreviations)
Pollitt, J.J., Art and Experience in Classical Greece.
Cambridge, 1972. ($16.25 new, $11.50 used)
Syllabus:
** Paper due
DATE TOPIC READINGS
AUG 21 M Introductions
23 W Classicism
[Pollitt 1-2]
25 F Minoans
28 M Myceneans Perseus handout #1
30 W Perseus Perseus "Life of Homer"
SEPT 1 F Geometric Thought (begin Iliad?) [Pollitt
3-9]
4 M Homeric Poetry Iliad, Books 1-3
6 W Honor Iliad, Books 4-6
8 F Pride? Iliad, Books 9, 11
11 M Remorse Iliad, Books 16, 18-19
13 W Revenge Iliad, Books 20-22
15 F Reconciliation Iliad, Book 24
18 M EXAMINATION I
20 W Transitions Perseus "Life of Pindar" Pindar
Olympian I (handout) HO IV A
22 F Tragic Poetry Perseus "Life of Aeschylus" Aeschylus
Agamemnon HO IV B 1-4
**(ACHILLES) 25 M Families Agamemnon (cont.)
27 W Blood Guilt Aeschylus Libation Bearers
29 F Art and Politics Aeschylus Eumenides
OCT 2 M Rise of the Polis HO I, II, III A-B
[Pollitt 9-14, 15-36]
4 W Changing Art
[Pollitt 36-63]
6 F Pericles & the New Confidence HO III C-D [Pollitt
64-70]
9 M The Parthenon HO III D6-7 [Pollitt 71-97]
11 W High Classical Art HO IV C [Pollitt
97-110]
13 F EXAMINATION II
16 M High Classical Drama Sophocles Oedipus the King HO IV B 5
18 W Human Greatness Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus
20 F Devotion Sophocles Antigone
23 M "A Man is the Measure" HO V A & B
25 W Peloponnesian War Thucydides I HO VI A, B1-4
** 27 F Athens & Pericles Thucydides II
30 M Foreign Policy Thucydides III
NOV 1 W Downfall Thucydides V
3 F Euripides Euripides Women of Troy
6 M The Irrational Eur. Bacchae [Pollitt 111-135]
8 W Escape Euripides Helen
10 F EXAMINATION III
13 M Comedy HO VI B5-8 Aristophanes Lysistrata
15 W Education & Philosophy Aristophanes Clouds
17 F Socratic Dialectic Plato Euthyphro
27 M Plato and the Individual Plato Apology of Socrates
29 W Plato and the State Plato Crito
DEC 1 F Oratory & Democracy Demosthenes Philippics I & III
4 M Democracy & Freedom Isocrates Philip
6 W The Fourth Century: Retrospect & [Pollitt
Prospect 136-194]
13 W 4:25-6:25 FINAL EXAMINATION