Professor: Casey Dué Hackney (e-mail: Casey.Due@mail.uh.edu). Office hours: 9-11AM Fridays 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 or you may download it as a very large microsoft word document by clicking the link. The sourcebook contains: Homer, Iliad; Proclus' summaries of the Epic Cycle; the poems of Sappho; Sophocles, Ajax; 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 at the UH bookstore.

Components of Course Grade: Hour exams (3). The three hour exams consist entirely of essays and passages for analysis. Weekly writing exercises and discussion sessions will help students who are new to Classical literature learn to express their ideas and analyze texts.

*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 9/29

Second hour exam 10/27

Third hour exam 12/3

 

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES AND READINGS

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

8/25 Lecture 1 The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization

8/27 Lecture 2 The anger of Achilles

 

*Week 2

Reading: Homer, Iliad, scrolls III, VI

9/1 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

9/3 Lecture 3 Oral poetry and performance

 

*Week 3

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

9/8 Lecture 4 The shield of Achilles part I; the story of Meleager

9/10 Lecture 5 The death of Patroklos

 

*Week 4

Reading: Reading: Homer, Iliad, scrolls XIX, XXII-XXIII; Selections from Pindar (handed out in class)

9/15 Lecture 6 The shield of Achilles part II

9/17 Lecture 7 The tomb of the hero

 

*Week 5

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

9/22 Lecture 8 The end of the Iliad

9/24 Lecture 9 After the Iliad: oral poetry and performance II; Women's song and dance traditions

 

*Week 6

Reading: Sophocles, Ajax

9/29 Hour Exam 1 on the Iliad, Epic Cycle, and Sappho

10/1 Lecture 10 Introduction to Greek tragedy and the tragic hero

 

*Week 7

Reading: Aeschylus, Agamemnon

10/6 Lecture 11 Atê and the curse of the house of Atreus

10/8 Lecture 12 Aeschylean metaphors and riddles, part I

 

*Week 8

Reading: Aeschylus, Libation Bearers, Eumenides

10/13 Lecture 13 The return of Orestes

10/15 Lecture 14 Aeschylean metaphors and riddles, part II

 

*Week 9

Reading: Aeschylus,Eumenides

10/20 Lecture 15 Justice transformed

10/22 Lecture 16 Overview and review of the Oresteia

 

*Week 10

Reading: Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis

10/27 Hour Exam 2 on Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides

10/29 Lecture 17 Sacrificial virgins I

 

*Week 11

Reading: Euripides, Hecuba

11/3 Lecture 18 History and tragedy

11/5 Lecture 19 Sacrificial virgins II

 

*Week 12

Reading: Philostratus, On Heroes (first half); Selections from Herodotus

11/10 Lecture 20 The mysterious world of heroes: continuity and change

11/12 Lecture 21 The power of the cult-hero in death

 

*Week 13

Reading: Philostratus, On Heroes (second half); Virgil, Aeneid Book 2

11/17 Lecture 22 The immortalized Achilles

11/19 Lecture 23 Virgil's Aeneid and the Fall of Troy

 

*Week 14

Reading: Ovid, Heroides 3; Catullus 64

11/24 Lecture 24 Epic, lament, and love song

11/26-29 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

*Week 15

12/1 Review

12/3 Hour exam 3