Fall 2008 Classics Courses

Course Number: CLA 3023

Course title: Classical Myths and Literature
Instructor: Christensen
Class Time: 11:00 am - 11:50 am MWF
Class Location: MB 0.222
 

Course Description: This course is designed for students who enjoy the topic of mythology, have excelled in a course like UTSA’s Introduction to Classical Mythology (CLA2323) and wish to delve more deeply into the cultural importance and function of myth. While the specific texts covered in the course will vary from year to year, this course is meant to provide a critical examination of ancient Greek and Roman myths and their functions in literary texts and ancient societies as well as particular attention to current theories and methodologies of mythic analysis.

Content and Goals: This intensive course emphasizes the importance of studying myths in their original contexts and, alongside applying modern theories of myth, its primary goal is apprehending how the ancient Greeks viewed and used their traditional stories. We will be considering especially how ‘stories’ become appropriated as part of what we now refer to as ‘literature’, what the shared elements of myth and literature may be, and to what extent contradictions in our definitions of ‘myth’ and ‘literature’ lead us to misinterpret both categories. Instead of reading texts in chronological order by date of composition or focusing on popular stories, we will follow the trajectory of Greek myth from the creation of the world as reflected in Hesiod's Theogony through the establishment of individual gods in the Homeric Hymns, the last gasp of the race of heroes in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, to the picture of life in the Archaic age offered by Hesiod's Works and Days. In the final week of the course will examine plays from classical Athens that recapitulate myth in a new performance and political context.  Topics will include the definition of myth and its social, political, and religious (i.e., ritual and sacrificial) contexts; the development of heroic and divine myth, with particular attention to myths of origin (cosmogony and theogony).While daily discussion and readings will focus primarily on ideas and methodology, students will be expected to display knowledge of details on the exams.

Requirements: Prerequisite: Completion of the Core Curriculum requirement in literature.

Texts:
A. Athanassakis (tr.). The Homeric Hymns (Johns Hopkins).

A. Athanassakis (tr.). Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield. (Johns Hopkins)

R. Lattimore (tr.). The Iliad of Homer (Chicago).

R. Lattimore (tr.). The Odyssey of Homer (Chicago).

R. Lattimore and D. Grene (eds.).  Aeschylus I (Chicago), containing The Oresteia.

Course Number: GRK1114
Course title Introductory Classical Greek 1
Instructor: Christensen
Class Time: 9:00 am - 9:50 am MWF
Class Location: HSS 2.01.08
 

Course Description: This course, part of a two-semester introduction to Ancient Greek, provides an intensive overview to the grammar and vocabulary of Attic Greek—the primary Greek dialect of the Ancient World. By the end of two semesters, students will be prepared to start reading texts like Plato’s Apology and Herodotus’ Histories in the original language.

Content and Goals: This course will consist of daily explanations of the syntactical and semantic features of Attic Greek. Class time will also be spent discussing the major authors and genres of Greek Antiquity. Students will work on vocabulary and form drills during class and in required weekly groups outside of class. Quizzes will be administered each week; there will be two midterms and a final exam. 

Requirements:

Texts: Hardy Hansen and Gerald Quinn. Greek: An Intensive Course. New York: Fordham University Press, 1992. ISBN 0823216632.