Greek 3752/3700

Catherine Freis | John Stone Hall 200 | Phone: 601.974.1296 | Fall 1998

Description of Course

This course may be taken as either a two or a four credit course. In it, we will read in translation the seven surviving works of Sophocles in order to come to some kind of general understanding of his themes and achievements.  But we will focus in Greek on a single play, the Antigone.  Our goal here will be to acquire advanced level skills with the forms, vocabulary and scansion of the Attic and Dorian dialects of Greek Tragedy.  We will also want to focus on the interpretation of this important play.  Students taking the course for four credits will, in addition to the daily homework assignments and exams, write two papers.

Textbooks and Materials

Sophocles I and II, edited by Grene and Lattimore (University of Chicago Press).
Sophocles' Antigone, edited by Nicolas Gross (Byrn Mawr Press).
Greek-English Lexicon, Liddell and Scott (Oxford Press).
The Greek Verb System: Seven Color Chart (Bibal Press).
You will also want to have access to a Greek grammar and additional commentaries of Antigone. The editions of Brown, Jebb, and Kamerbeek will be made available for your use. You should also check Perseus for its information on Sophocles and its dictionary.  The library homepage, under Electronic Resources, will be a quick entry point to this resource.  The Classics homepage is another rich resource for you, particularly for building a bibliography as well as the links on my personal webpage.
 

Requirements

This will be a small class, so that each of you will need to be responsible to each other for its success.  Your careful preparation, consistent attendance, and your willingness to discuss, based on close reading, will spark the enthusiasm of your fellow students.  We all want our class meetings to an occasion of deep pleasure and increased understanding. Since the Millsaps Players will be presenting Sophocles' Electra October 2-4 and 6-10, you are required to see the performance and write a short analytical review. We will meet twice a week at a time convenient for all members of the class.
 

Grading

For those who are taking the course for two credits, your grade will depend on the review, three quizzes, and one take home final.  Your grade may be lowered or raised by classroom performance.  Two additional papers, whose subjects will be decided in individual conferences, will be required of those who are taking the course for four credits.

Tentative Assignment Schedule

During the opening weeks of the course, you will generally have a double assignment, so that we can read the Greek in light of the entire corpus of Sophocles' extant work. The plays have been assigned in the order of their most probable composition. After these seven classes, we will focus only on translation.  If we find  that we have been too ambitious we will scale down our assignments. As it is, we only have time to read selections from the play, but the selections have been chosen so that we might be able to assess as accurately as possible Sophocles' important themes.
 
 
Class 1:  Introduction to Scansion and Sophocles
Class 2: Read the Perseus information on Sophocles 
Read Ajax  
Translate lines 1-10, Antigone and practice reading aloud
Class 3:  Read Trachinniae  
Translate lines 10-20
Class 4:  Read Antigone  
Translate lines 20-30
Class 5: Read Oedipus the King  
Translate lines 30-40
Class 6 Read Electra  
Translate lines 40-52
Class 7 Read Philoctetes  
Translate lines 52-64
Class 8  Read Oedipus at Colonus  
Translate lines 65-77
Class 9 Translate lines 78-99 
Review for Quiz
Class 10 Quiz I
Class 11 Read lines 100-164 carefully in English 
Translate lines 164-187
Class 12 Translate lines 188-214
Class 13 Read lines 215-332 carefully in English 
Translate lines 332-352
Class 14 Translate lines 353-375
Class 15 Read lines 376-450 carefully in English 
Translate lines 450-470 in Greek
Class 16 Read lines 471-780 very carefully in English.  Stop to look up the Greek for lines that seem to you important and bring these lines forward to the classes' attention.  Analyze in some depth the issues of the agon between Haimon and Kreon.
Class 17  Quiz 2
Class 18 Translate lines 780-805
Class 19 Translate lines 805-830
Class 20 Translate lines 830-855
Class 21 Translate lines 855-880 
Class 22 Translate lines 880-905 
Class 23  Translate lines 905-928
Class 24 Quiz 3 
Class 25 Read carefully lines 929-1284. Stop to look at the Greek for lines that seem to you important and bring forward these lines to the class' attention. 
Class 26 Translate lines 1284-1305 
Class 27  Translate lines 1306-1333 
Class 28 Translate lines 1334-end 
 

 

Main | Courses and Syllabi | Feedback | Last Edited August 10, 1998