Professor: Casey Dué Hackney.  Office hours for Fall 2014 are Mondays and Wednesdays, 12-1 and by appointment, 601 Agnes Arnold Hall. Contact me by email at cldue (at) central.uh.edu

Course Requirements: reading and attendance; participation in class; two tests; one paper

Grades: Participation in in-class discussions 25% (includes 2 unannounced quizzes); Test 1 25%; Test 2 25%; Test 3 (take home essays) 25%

--- note: Graduate students will have additional readings and assignments, not all of which are listed here. Please see me to obtain the graduate student syllabus.

Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments is requested to speak with the professor during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will be confidential. Students who have disabilities are encouraged to register with the Center for Students with DisABILITIES (713-743-5400 or www.uh.edu/csd).

Required Reading:

Albert Bates Lord, The Singer of Tales. Harvard University Press, 1960/2000. [Readings will be distributed in class]

The Iliad of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore.

The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Andrew George (2003, ISBN: 978-0140449198).

Jason and the Golden Fleece of Apollonius of Rhodes, translated by Richard Hunter (1998, ISBN:978-0192835833).

The Medea of Euripides, translated by Rex Warner (1993, ISBN: 978-0486275482).

The Aeneid of Virgil, translated by Stanley Lombardo (2005, ISBN: 978-0872207325).

The Heroikos of Philostratos. A translation will be posted on Blackboard.

Required Film:

Chunhyang (the complete film is available on YouTube)

Recommended Reading:

The War that Killed Achilles, by Caroline Alexander (ISBN 978-0-14-311826-8)

Schedule of lectures and assignments:

8/25 Introduction to the concept of the hero in ancient Greek culture and methodology of the course

Recommended follow up reading (for those interested in learning more): “Proto-Indo-Europeans” (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans); C. Watkins, “Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans” (http://www.bartleby.com/61/8.html); On Eva Perón as a cult figure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Peron#Argentina_and_Latin_America

8/27 Introduction to the Iliad and Oral Poetry

Assignment: Iliad 1; A. B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (1960; 2nd edition, 2000) pp. 3-12

Recommended follow up reading (for those interested in learning more and graduate students): R. P. Martin, “Homer in a World of Song.” See also http://chs.harvard.edu/mpc for the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature.

9/1 LABOR DAY

9/3 Iliad

Assignment: Iliad 3, 6; A. B. Lord, The Singer of Tales chapter 2

9/8 Iliad

Assignment: Iliad 9, 10

9/10 Iliad

Assignment: Iliad 16, 18

9/15 Iliad

Assignment: Iliad 19, 22, 24

9/17 Review

9/22 Test 1 (covers the Iliad)

9/24 Odyssey

Assignment: Odyssey 1-4

9/29 Odyssey

Assignment: Odyssey 5-8

10/1 Odyssey

Assignment: Odyssey 9-13

10/6 Odyssey

Assignment: Odyssey Odyssey 14-18

10/8 Odyssey

Assignment: 19-24

10/13 The Odyssey as Oral Poetry + A Korean Odyssey?

Assignment: M. Ebbott, “Homeric Epic in Performance” AND watch Chunhyang

10/15 Gilgamesh

Assignment: The Standard Version of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, tablets I-VI (= George 1999 pp. 1-53)

10/20 Gilgamesh

Assignment: The Standard Version of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, tablets VII-XII (= George 1999 pp. 54-100)

10/22 Gilgamesh

Assignment: The Sumerian Poems of Gilgamesh, Bilgames and the Bull of Heaven, Bilgames and the Netherworld, The Death of Bilgames (= George 1999 pp. 166-208)

10/27 Test 2 (covers the Odyssey, Chunhyang, and the Epic of Gilgamesh)

10/29 Medea

Assignment: Euripides, Medea

11/3 Jason and the Golden Fleece

Assignment: Jason and the Golden Fleece (= Argonautica or Voyage of the Argo) 1-2

11/5 Jason and the Golden Fleece

Assignment: Jason and the Golden Fleece 3-4

11/10 Catullus 64 and Introduction to the Aeneid

Assignment: Catullus 64 (link on Blackboard); Aeneid 1

11/12 Aeneid

Assignment: Aeneid 2 and 4 [Aeneid 3 is highly recommended, and 5 is completely optional]

11/17 Aeneid

Assignment: Aeneid 6 and 7.1-470 [=7.1-551 in Fagles translation] and 8.615-731 [= 8.725-858 in Fagles translation]

11/19 Aeneid

Assignment: Aeneid 10 and 12 [9 is recommended but optional, and 11 is entirely optional]

11/24 NO CLASS

11/26 THANKSGIVING BREAK

12/1 Selections from Ovid and Introduction to the Heroikos of Philostratus

Assignment: Heroides I, III, and VII (on-line text at http://www.poetryintranslation.com)

12/3 Heroikos
Assignment: Read selections from the Heroikos TBA (text is on Blackboard - the footnotes are optional!)

12/7 Test 3 (= a set of take home essays) due by midnight

UH Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes: In this course students will enhance their critical thinking and communications skills by reading and interpreting works of classical Greek and Roman literature. By studying the concept of the hero in Ancient Greece and Rome and demonstrating their understanding of these concepts on the assignments described here students will develop intercultural competence. By engaging the choices of Achilles and other Greek heroes in the Iliad and Odyssey in writing assignments and test essay students will “connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.”