GREEK MYTH & THE HERO

GRS/REL 210 @ IWU

SPRING 2005

Back to GRS Syllabi

Instructor: Nancy Sultan, Professor of Greek & Roman Studies, and Chair,
Department of MCLL
Office:  Buck 206  Tel.  556-3173

Office Hrs: MW 2-4 and by appointment

Course Description: In our society, the word “myth” is usually translated as a "false story." For the ancient Greeks, however, like many traditional groups of people who operate on ancestral principles, myths represent the ultimate truths.  For them, storytelling is not just entertainment; it embodies a set of organizing principles, which, combined with rituals, gives the members of that culture a sense of their own identity.  In this course we will not only read some of the greatest works of Western literature, but we will begin to understand how the storytelling traditions of Archaic and Classical Greece established social order and defined what it meant to be Greek. Our focus will be on human and divine interaction in the epics of Homer, Hesiod, lyric poetry, Greek tragedy, and Ovid.  At the end of term, students prepare an oral recitation to be performed from memory.  Lectures are enhanced with slides, movies,  sound recordings, and a field trip.

Required Texts: Since translations differ widely, please use these editions:

1.  Homer, Odyssey, trans. R. Fagles
2. Homer, Iliad, trans. R. Fagles
3.  The Homeric Hymns, trans. J. Cashford
4.  Hesiod, Works & Days/Theogony, trans. S. Lombardo
5.  Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. M. Innes
6.  Ten Greek Plays, ed. R. L Lind
7. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, trans. Barrett
8.  Course Reader (abbreviated to CR in syllabus).  Available from me.

WEB RESOURCES:


ALSO AVAILABLE:


Evaluation:
Three 50-minute exams, 15% each (45%)
Hero Essay  20%
Class attendance & participation 15%
Poetry recitation 20%

Ground Rules: It is essential that you attend class and participate in discussion regularly. I expect you to complete the reading assignments according to the syllabus. You are allowed  three excused absences. Legitmate absences include illness or family emergency. Late assignments are docked one letter grade for each day late.

Decorum: Cell phones off, please. No hats, pajamas, gum, or food in my class. You may bring a drink.

Grades:   I always think in terms of a letter grade first and then assign an appropriate numerical equivalent  My scale is:  100-93=A, 92-90=A-, 89-87=B+, 86-83=B, etc.  Grades in this course are subjective and reflect the student’s whole effort, including improvements, over the course of the semester.

Organization:  This class is conducted as an L/D (Lecture/Discussion).  Each week students will break into small groups for discussion.  Discussion topics are provided in the Course Reader, and are listed in the syllabus. These topics need not be followed slavishly. In order to receive an “A” in class participation, students should always prepare, attend class regularly, and  join in class discussion. Be ready to support your statements with passages from the reading.

Exams: These consist of passage and term ID identification, and short essay. You will be asked to identify and discuss the meaning of key passages from the material that you have been assigned.  Emphasis will be on passages that are featured in lecture and discussion. You are expected to know and use a handful of Greek, Latin, and other terms correctly.

Recitation: This public performance has been the highlight of this class for ten years! The texts that we are reading  were originally sung, recited, and performed, often to musical accompaniment. The poetry recitation assignment gives us all a chance to experience the oral nature of the stories. Instead of a final exam, you will choose a passage from among our reading and recite it from memory, in costume. Guidelines are located in the back of your Course Reader.

Hero Essay:  It is difficult to grasp the enormity of the influence that hero worship had on Greek (and Roman) culture and society.  Since this course focuses rather narrowly on the Homeric hero, I want to give you a chance to scout out the stories of other heroes whose full stories may not have made it into the Iliad or Odyssey, but are equally fascinating. Your hero essay assignment is to choose a hero and write a 3-5 pg. biography of the hero using only ancient sources. Guidelines are located in the back of your Course Reader.

Thurs. Film Nite: Extra credit option. I have chosen some of my favorite films that illustrate some of the themes we encounter in our study of myths. I will introduce each film and be on hand for a discussion afterward.You can only receive extra credit if you come to the group screening and participate in discussion. The extra credit will apply to your class participation grade.
**Note** On Sunday, Feb. 13, as part of the IWU International Film Festival, I'm introducing the amazing film From the Edge of the City, by Greek director Constantine Giannaris. A discussion will follow.

Field Trip(s): Extra credit options. Saturday, Feb. 26, I can take 14 students in a university van (and more, if you are willing to drive your car) to U of I in Champaign, IL for a Saturday morning trip to the Spurlock and Krannert Art Museums, plus lunch at a local eatery. The museums are free, but lunch is on you. Both museums have small, but very nice collections of Greco-Roman antiquities. For the more adventurous among you, you can also receive extra credit if you visit (on your own) the amazing Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago (featuring one of the best collections of artifacts from Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt) or the Art Institute of Chicago and write a short response essay. See me for details.

Schedule of Meetings
Abbreviations:
(FNT) = “for the next time”  (CR) = Course Reader   Alerts in RED

PLEASE REPORT ANY BROKEN LINKS TO ME IMMEDIATELY

WEEK 1
Jan. 10: Introduction to the Course: epos 'epic' and muthos 'myth'
 FNT:  Hesiod, Theogony (entire); Biography of Hesiod in the Perseus  Encyclopedia

Jan. 12: The Archaic Greek view of the kosmos 'order of things'
FNT: Hesiod, Works & Days pp. 23-35, 45 (with accompanying notes); Biography of Homer in Perseus Encyclopedia
 

Jan. 14: Hesiod’s ainoi 'riddles'; Creation of Pandora
 FNT:  “Some Myths of Herakles” (CR); Proclus’ Summaries of the Epic Cycle (CR); Begin reading Homer’s Iliad 1-4.

NOTE:  Skim the epic the first time in order to get an idea of the scope and organization of the poem and to familiarize yourself with the main characters. Notice the Fagles translation has a glossary & notes to help you.  Our reading pace is not leisurely—roughly 9 books per week. Keep the study questions in the CR next to you as you read and make citations as you begin to find text to support answers.  This will help immensely in group discussion.

WEEK 2
Jan. 17: Defining 'Hero'. Herakles (Roman Hercules). The Epic Cycle. What poetry can, and can't tell us about ancient Greek culture.
  FNT: Iliad 2-4
 

Jan. 19: Homer as 'Oral Poetry'.  See Iliad 1.1-10 (Invocation to the Muse); 2.573 ff.. (Catalog of Ships); 2.103-110 (a simile); 3.231 ff. (Helen Reviews the Troops, a.k.a.: teikoskopia); 3.383-395 (Arming Scene)
 FNT:  Iliad 5-7

Jan. 20 FILM NITE!  Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986). Beckman Auditorium, 8:00 pm. Called by critics one of the best war films ever made, this won the Oscar for best picture. Stone (who served in Viet Nam himself) captures the emotional and physical horror of war and the trauma that brings out the very worst, and best, in human beings. Starring William Defoe and Tom Berenger as sargents whose conflicting attitudes toward the war send shockwaves through their platoon. Also starring Charlie Sheen as a green volunteer and featuring Johnny Depp.
 

Jan. 21: Gods as REMFS; neikos 'strife'. HECTOR vs. ACHILLES:  Compare the characteristics of these two heroes and describe how they are the same and/or different.  What else are they besides warriors? (See especially Book 6 for a view of Hector & his family)
 FNT:  Iliad 8-10

WEEK 3
Jan. 24:  Who is philos?  Achilles’ “Ascending Scale of Affection” (Book 9); Book 10: The “Doloneia” as a sneak preview to the Odyssey
 FNT:  Iliad 11-13; “Women’s Songs:  Alcman and Sappho” (CR)

Jan. 26: How do men, how do women earn kleos ‘glory’ in the Iliad?  Andromache (Book 6), Hecuba, Chryseis (1.130) & Helen (3.149 ff.; 231 ff.). Neikoi between Men & Women:  The Seduction of Zeus; Athena & Ares; Women’s voices in the poets Alcman & Sappho
 FNT: Iliad 14-16
 

Jan. 28:  When one dies for another: Greek therapon (Book 16). The Homeric Way of War:  Describe battle scenes and warrior deaths, focusing Bk. 11-16 (especially deaths of Patroklos & Sarpedon (Bk 16), but also see death of Euphorbus (17.57-68), & Hector (22.293 ff)
 FNT: Iliad 17-19

WEEK 4
Jan. 31: Achilles’ Shield and the poetics of ekphrasis ‘description’.
 FNT:  Iliad 20-22

Feb. 2 : Slide lecture on Funeral Games, lamentation, and the Greek idea of the psukhê    ‘Soul’
  FNT:  Iliad 23-24; Death of Achilles as described in the Proclus Summary of the Epic Poem:  Aithiopis (CR), and in Book 24.1-102 of the Odyssey.

Feb. 3: FILM NITE! Anthony Minghella's Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991). Beckman Aud. 8 pm. Rolling Stone calls this film "the thinking person's Ghost." British actors Juliette Stevenson and Alan Rickman star in this romance about a young woman coping with the sudden death of her lover. Features a unique depiction of life after death and lots of great classical music.
 

Feb. 4:  Goos and thrênos (ritual laments): Concepts of death, grief, and the afterlife: Achilles & Priam 24.207 ff; The laments for   Hector. See especially books 17.493-525; 18.25 ff., 18.365-399, 18.500-515; 23; 24.

WEEK 5
Feb. 7:  EXAM 1
  FNT: Odyssey 1-2 The reading goal for this epic is not leisurely!  Keep the study   questions in the CR next to you as you read and make citations as you begin to find   text to support answers.  This will help immensely in discussion.

Feb. 9: Introduction to Homer, Odyssey
 FNT: Odyssey 3-4
 

Feb. 11: Odyssey 1-4 “The Telemachy”;   Athena as “Mentor”
FNT:  Odyssey  Book 5-7; “Exile in Greek Tradition” (CR)
 

FEB 13:  SUNDAY FILM (as part of the IWU International Film Series) Constantine Giannaris' From the Edge of the City  (1998). Depicts the sad lives of immigrants in modern Athens. Sasha is a Pontic immigrant (The Pontoi are Russian speaking, but of Greek descent from the Black Sea area), reviled by the locals but higher on the social scale than the Albanians, one of the many targets of their ire. They're also drug-swilling male whores and pimps, who in the tribal manner common to teenagers everywhere have replaced their boring biological families with their friends, all of whom are in various states of physical and psychic disrepair. (From a review by Gary Morris)

WEEK 6
Feb. 14: Exile  in Greek tradition: ponos
 FNT: Odyssey 8-10; Hesiod, Works and Days, pp. 30-35
 

Feb. 16: The Greek ideas of dikê ‘justice’ vs. hubris ‘arrogance’:  The Cyclops
FNT:  Odyssey 11-13

Feb. 17: FILM NITE! Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. Beckman Aud. 8 pm. A good cop is murdered by evil drug lords,  but thanks to robotic technology, is "reborn" as "Robocop." His main objective is to serve dikê in a hubristic world. This gory action film is actually heavy on social issues and the explores the concepts of memory and the idea of the revenant 'avenging spirit'.
 

Feb. 18: The concepts of noos ‘consciousness’ and nostos ‘return’ in the Odyssey ; the ainigma 'riddle' in Book 11.
  FNT:  Odyssey 14-16

WEEK 7
Feb. 21: xenia ‘hospitality’: Helen of Sparta; the suitors; the Cyclops; the dolos 'cunning' of Odysseus:
FNT:  Odyssey 17-19

Feb. 23: Meet in the Ames Library Computer Lab for a CLINIC ON USING THE PERSEUS DIGITAL LIBRARY
 FNT:  Odyssey 20-23
 

Feb. 25: Odysseus the Veteran.  Does he suffer from PTSD (“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”)?
 FNT: Odyssey 24

FEB 26: FIELD TRIP TO U of I MUSEUMS! LEAVE MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER AT 9:00 AM,  RETURN AFTER LUNCH.

WEEK 8
Feb. 28: The sema of the tree-bed— Testing Fidelity: “The Return of the Exiled  Husband”
 FNT: History of the Parthenon in the Perseus Historical Overview. Read from section 9.4.6 to 9.4.7 by using the blue arrow keys located next to the chapter box.  Click on the images that are provided at the bottom of the pages. Also read Pericles Acropolis" sections 9.4.4—9.4.7 (use arrow keys to scroll through sections)
 

Mar. 2: Slide Lecture:  The Parthenon: Myth and Politics
 FNT: Review the Greek Calendar (CR); Occasions for Sacrifice and Festivals sections 10.1.5—10.1.8 (use arrow keys to scroll through sections). Click on the images that are provided at the bottom of the pages.

Mar. 4:  The Greek Calendar & Ritual
 FNT: “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter” (long version) in Cashford, The Homeric Hymns

WEEK 9
Mar. 7: Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries
 FNT:  Review for exam

Mar. 9: EXAM 2
 FNT: The Development of Athenian Tragedy sections 10.2—10.2.5 (scroll through with blue arrow keys); Biography of Aeschylus #4 in Perseus Encylcopedia; Tour the theatre of Dionysos via virtual reality.

Mar. 11: Intro. to Athenian State Theater:  Aeschylus, The Oresteia.
 FNT:  Aeschylus, Agamemnon, in Ten Greek Tragedies

WEEK 10
Mar. 14-18: SPRING BREAK

WEEK 11
Mar. 21: Agamemnon: Family vs. Athenian State concepts of justice (dikê)
 FNT: Sophocles, Oedipus the King in Ten Greek Tragedies; Biography of Sophocles (#3) in Perseus Encylopedia
 

Mar. 23:  Agememnon: neikos'strife'.Gender conflict; generational conflict
FNT: Aristotle, Poetics, sections 1452a, b, 1453a, b (scroll with arrow keys).

Mar. 24: FILM NITE! Double-feature: The rest of Aeschylus' trilogy The Oresteia(The Choephoroi (Libation Bearers) and The Eumenides). 140 mins. Beckman Aud. 8 pm. The National Theatre of Great Britain's re-creation of ancient performance techniques, using masks. Directed by Sir Peter Hall. In the Choephoroi Electra and Orestes are reunited and plot to kill their mother, Clytemnestra, with the help of the Chorus of Women and the blessing of Apollo. After Orestes murders his mother, the Furies (avenging deities) chase him into the final play, The Eumenides, where he seeks sanctuary from Athena. A trial is held in Athens to determine his fate, with Apollo acting as the defense attorney and the Furies speaking on their own behalf.

Mar. 25: miasma (pollution),  hamartia (fallibility), suffering, and self-discovery  in Oedipus the King
 FNT: Read about Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm that lost 657 employees in the 9/11 terrorist attack. More on Howard Lutnick.
 

WEEK 12
Mar. 28: Oedipus as a soter ‘savior’ of his community: Oedipus and Cantor Fitzgerald's Howard Lutnick
 FNT: Biography of Euripides in Perseus encyclopedia; “The Homeric Hymn to Dionysos”in Cashford, The Homeric Hymns

Mar. 30: ****HERO ESSAY DUE****
 Dionysos & Euripides’ Bacchae
 FNT: Euripides, Bacchae , in Ten Greek Plays
 

Apr. 1: SULTAN AWAY AT A CONFERENCE
Group discussions: Baccants: Women & Power (use discussion questions & take notes, to hand in on Monday)
 FNT: Biography of Herodotus

WEEK 13
Apr. 4: Pentheus as therapon and soter ‘savior’
 FNT: “The Story of Croesus" excerpt from Herodotus' History of the Persian War (CR)

Apr. 6: What Croesus of Lydia can teach us about 9-11-01 and Saddam Hussein  (empires, tyrants, and justice)
 FNT: “Hero Cults in Herodotus” (CR)

Apr. 8: Hero Cults in Herodotus
 FNT: Review texts and notes for exam

WEEK 14
Apr. 11: EXAM 3
 FNT: Biography of Aristophanes #2 in Perseus encyclopedia

Apr. 13: Introduction to Athenian Comedy
 FNT: Aristophanes, Frogs

Apr. 15: Religion in Aristophanes Frogs
 FNT: Frogs

WEEK 15
Apr. 18: Literary Criticism in Frogs
 FNT: “Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite” in Cashford, The Homeric Hymns; Ovid, MetamorphosesBks. I & X, XIV-XV

Apr. 20: Venus, Troy, and Rome
 FNT: Ovid, Metamorphoses, Bks. XII-XIII

Apr. 21: FILM NITE! Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite. Beckman, 8 pm. You don't have to be from NY to enjoy this comedy, a take-off on Sophocles' Oedipus the King (sort of), starring Mira Sorvino in her Academy award-winning performance as a heart-o-gold hooker whose brilliant son is adopted by a Manhattan couple (Woody Allen and Helena Bonham Carter).

Apr. 22: Moral Lessons in Ovid's Metamorphoses
 

POETRY RECITATIONS: McPherson Beach (McPherson Theatre, in case of bad weather)
9:00 Section:  Wed. Apr.27, 10:15-12:15
10:00 Section:  Mon. Apr. 25 3:30-5:30