Professor: Casey Dué Hackney (e-mail: cldue@mail.uh.edu). Office hours: 11AM-12PM Mondays and Wednesdays or by appointment, Agnes Arnold Hall room 454. MCL Dept. phone number: (713) 743-3007, but e-mail is always preferable.

Course Web Page: An essential resource -- use it regularly.

Required Reading:

Sourcebook: You can purchase the sourcebook at the UH Copy Center beginning the first week of classes. The sourcebook contains: Homer, Iliad; Proclus' summaries of the Epic Cycle; the poems of Sappho; Aeschylus, the Oresteia trilogy (Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides); Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis and Hecuba. Also included: "Heroes and the Homeric Iliad," by G. Nagy.

Flavius Philostratus: On Heroes. Translated by E. Aitken and J. Maclean. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002. This book will be available for purchase at the UH bookstore in early fall.

Components of Course Grade: Hour exams (3).

*Attendance Policy: Although attendance is not calculated as part of the course grade, is crucial for your success in this class. I reserve the right to drop you from the course after 3 absences.*

Important Dates:

First hour exam 9/30

Second hour exam 10/28

Third hour exam 12/4

 

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES, READINGS, AND SECTIONS

Lectures 1 and 2 will introduce the Iliad. Beginning with the second week, you should complete the assigned reading BEFORE the first lecture of the week.

 

*Week 1

Reading: "Heroes and the Homeric Iliad" by Gregory Nagy; Homer, Iliad scroll I

8/26 Lecture 1: The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization

8/28 Lecture 2: The anger of Achilles

 

*Week 2

Reading: Homer, Iliad, scrolls III, VI

9/2 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

9/4 Lecture 3: Oral poetry and performance

 

*Week 3

Reading: Homer, Iliad, scroll IX, XVI, XVIII

9/9 Lecture 4: The shield of Achilles part I; the story of Meleager

9/11 Lecture 5: The death of Patroklos

 

*Week 4

Reading: Homer, Iliad, scrolls XIX, XXII-XXIII

9/16 Lecture 6: The shield of Achilles part II

9/18 Lecture 7: The tomb of the hero

 

*Week 5

Reading: Iliad scroll XXIV; Proclus, summaries of the Epic Cycle; Selections from Sappho

9/23 Lecture 8: The end of the Iliad

9/25 Lecture 9: After the Iliad: oral poetry and performance II; Women's song and dance traditions

 

*Week 6

Reading:

9/30 Hour Exam 1 on the Iliad, Epic Cycle, and Sappho

10/2 Lecture 10: Introduction to Greek tragedy and the tragic hero

 

*Week 7

Reading: Aeschylus, Agamemnon

10/7 Lecture 11: Atê and the curse of the house of Atreus

10/9 Lecture 12 Aeschylean metaphors and riddles, part I

 

*Week 8

Reading: Aeschylus, Libation Bearers

10/14 Lecture 13: Aeschylean metaphors and riddles, part II

10/16 Lecture 14: The return of Orestes

 

*Week 9

Reading: Aeschylus, Eumenides

10/21 Lecture 15: Aeschylean metaphors and riddles, part III

10/23 Lecture 16: The agenda of hero cult as transformed into the social agenda of the City State

 

*Week 10

Reading: Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis

10/28 Hour Exam 2 on Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides

10/30 Lecture 17: Sacrificial virgins I

 

*Week 11

Reading: Euripides, Hecuba

11/4 Lecture 18: Myth in tragedy

11/6 Lecture 19: Sacrificial virgins II

 

*Week 12

Reading: Philostratus, On Heroes (first half)

11/11 Lecture 20: The mysterious world of heroes: continuity and change

11/13 Lecture 21: The power of the cult-hero in death

 

*Week 13

Reading: Philostratus, On Heroes (second half)

11/18 Lecture 22: Home for the hero

11/20 Lecture 23: The immortalized Achilles

 

*Week 14

Reading: Virgil, Aeneid Book 2

11/25 Lecture 24

11/27-11/30 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

*Week 15

12/2 Review

12/4 Hour exam 3

 

*Week 16

12/9 Exams returned, wrap up session