14:014 Hero, God, Mortal in Greek Literature

Syllabus



Assignments are due on day listed

Week 1
 Tues. Aug. 22  Introduction to course
 Th. Aug. 24  Homer's Iliad: Themes and Background
**read Iliad, books 1-3

Week 2
 Tues. 29

The gods in the Iliad: their power and their accessibility; male vs. female kleos

**Iliad, books 4-7

Th. Aug. 31 Achilles' anger and his disavowal of human nature; Agamemnon's aristeia
**Iliad, books 8-11

Week 3
Tues. Sept. 5 Homeric warfare: a kind of immortality?
**Iliad, books 12-14
Th. Sept. 7 The plan of the gods vs. human attachments: Patroclus and Achilles
**Iliad, books 15-17

Week 4
Tues. Sept. 12 Achilles' grief and his madness: the gods join battle
**Iliad, books 18-21
Th. Sept. 14 Death and knowledge; memory and lament
**Iliad, books 22-24

Week 5
Tues. Sept. 19 Human-divine communication: the performance of Dedications
**xeroxed handout
Th. Sept. 21 The nature of divinity and the aristocratic ideal
**Homeric Hymn to Apollo

Week 6
Tues. Sept. 26 Heroes and hero cult: the power of mortality
**TBA
Th. Sept. 28 Female models of fame: Death and the Maiden
**Sappho, Alcman
EXAM I: in sections

 

Week 7
Tues. Oct. 3 Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis
Th. Oct. 5 Victory and mortality: the Olympic Games
**Pindar

Week 8
Tues. Oct. 10 The New Heroism: the political life
Solon 2, 3, and 4, and Simonides 6.
Th. Oct. 12 Models of Devotion: Antigone

PAPER #1: due in sections

Week 9
Tues. Oct. 17 Antigone, cont.
Th. Oct. 19 The Limits of Knowledge: Oedipus the King

Week 10
Tues. Oct. 24 Oedipus, cont.
Th. Oct. 26 Knowledge and Immortality: Oedipus Heroized
Oedipus at Colonus

Week 11
Tues. Oct. 31 Recognizing the Divine
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Th. Nov. 2 The Power of Divinity
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

Week 12
Tues. Nov. 7 Euripides' Hippolytus
Th. Nov. 9 The God of Transformation
**Homeric Hymn to Dionysus
Euripides' Bacchae

Week 13
Tues. Nov. 14 Bacchae, cont.
Th. Nov. 16 Hymns to mortals: Demetrius in the Parthenon
**"Hymn to Demetrius Poliorketes," xeroxed handout

Week 14
Tues. Nov. 21

New Heroes and New Gods?
**Apollonius' Argonautica

PAPER #2 due

Th. Nov. 23 Holiday

Week 15
Tues. Nov. 28 Apollonius, cont.
Th. Nov. 30 Apollonius, cont.

Week 16
Tues. Dec. 5 Apollonius, cont.
Th. Dec. 7 Apollonius, cont.

EXAM II: The Final Exam will be held on Wednesday, December 13 at 9:45 a.m.


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