Resources
Goals for the semester
Workload and grading
Schedule of exams and assignments
General policies
Assignments by class
Selected bibliography
Required texts and suggested translations:
The suggested translations, except for Ichneutae, are available
in the University Bookstore. Additional translations of all these
works are available in the Perseus Digital Library
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu),
and in the Tisch Library. You may use any translation of these texts,
into English or into any other language you can read fluently.
Required reference:
This book is available in the bookstore and in the library.
Other resources:
Course web page, http://www.stoa.org/~mahoney/teaching/cl55_f08.html
Goals for the semester:
Students will use the resources of the Perseus Digital Library to supplement
the readings.
This is a CAP advising class. As a result, although this course is often
cross-listed as CL 155 or Greek 155, this term it is not: it is a general-education
class for beginners in the classics.
Workload and grading:
You will read nine tragedies, two satyr plays, fragments of lost plays,
an ancient theoretical work, and a modern textbook; the average assignment
will be one play per week. You will
write five short papers, each of about 500 words. There will be a two-hour final exam.
The grades will be computed as follows:
The final exam will be on a date in December assigned by the registrar.
Make-up exams will be given only in exceptional circumstances, and only
if you make arrangements at least 24 hours before the scheduled time of
the exam.
Written assignments are due in class on 26 September, 10 October, 24 October, 7 November, and
2 December. All of these dates are Fridays except 2 December, which is a Tuesday.
Late papers will not be accepted.
If you will not be in class on the day when an assignment is due, email
it to me, in plain text format, to arrive by the end of class. Do not
send your papers as word-processor documents, HTML, or other formatted files.
The simplest way to send plain text is to paste the text into the body of an email.
General policies:
Attendance in class is required. Thoughtful discussion is
part of the work of this class, and written assignments will build on class work.
Moreover, since Ancient Greece is a foreign culture and its theater is not the same as
modern theater, despite a clear family relationship,
you will need the explanations and discussions in class to reach
a full understanding of this culture's dramatic practices. On the other hand,
if you must occasionally miss class for a legitimate reason, I will assume
you can get notes from a classmate keep up with the work.
I call your attention to University policy against plagiarism and other
forms of cheating. Please refer to the Bulletin of Tufts University,
p. 49, for details.
I am happy to read drafts of papers as you work on them, or to
answer questions about assignments. You may not re-write and re-submit
assigned papers; the final copy is due on the scheduled due date, and
will be graded.
Please note that except in the most extraordinary circumstances, I will
not give "incomplete" grades.
No extra credit work is permitted, and grades in this course are not
"curved."
This is a CAP advising class. Many members of the class will be my advisees,
and class time will be used occasionally to discuss advising issues and topics useful
to first-year college students. Upperclass students will be encouraged to share
their own experiences and perspectives.
Topics and reading assignments by class:
Selected bibliography:
Texts and alternate translations
Other books
On-line resources:
Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides (these three plays are also called the Oresteia), trans. Peter Meineck
Sophocles, Electra, trans. Peter Meineck, and Tracking Satyrs (other titles Ichneutae, Seekers), trans. A. Mahoney
Euripides, Electra, Orestes, Iphigeneia in Aulis, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Helen, and Cyclops,
trans. J. Morwood and R. Waterfield
Fragments of lost plays, to be given out in class
Aristotle, Poetics, translated by Malcolm Heath
Ian Storey and Arlene Allan, A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama
These handbooks are available in the bookstore and in the library; they are not required.
Alan Sommerstein, Greek Drama and Dramatists
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, Greek Tragedy
You will have specific assignments from the Storey and Allan handbook; you may wish to
use one of these others for additional information.
Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
In fifth-century Athens, tragedy was popular entertainment,
religious ritual, and an activity of the citizen community. A Greek
tragedy was not necessarily tragic in the modern sense, nor did it
necessarily involve a tragic hero coming to grief because of a fatal
flaw. In this course we will examine fifth-century Attic tragedy as
it actually was, without the preconceptions many readers have taken
from later theorists. We will also consider how the tragedies were
staged and how they fit the context of the religious and civic
festival in which they were performed. Readings will focus on the
story of Thebes. All readings are in English translation;
knowledge of Ancient Greek is neither required nor assumed, though
students who can will be encouraged to read as much as possible in
the original language. No pre-requisites; counts for arts
distribution.
Intelligent participation in class discussion 16% Written assignments (14% each) 70% Final exam 14%
Complete the reading assigned for each class before that
day's class. When there is no reading assigned, the class will be a lecture
introducing new background material.
You should bring the text to class along with your reading notes.
Links are to the assigned texts in Perseus, where available. When no text is listed, there is no reading assignment.
1. Tuesday 2 September: Introduction; policies and procedures.
2. Wednesday 3 September. Historical framework; performance practice in the Greek theater. Storey and Allan ch. 1;
reac chapters 2 and 5 by the 16th, and use chapter 6 for review.
3. Friday 5 September. Aeschylus, Agamemnon
4. Tuesday 9 September. Agamemnon.
5. Wednesday 10 September. Agamemnon.
6. Friday 12 September. Aeschylus, Libation Bearers
7. Tuesday 16 September. Libation Bearers
8. Wednesday 17 September. Aeschylus, Eumenides
9. Friday 19 September. Eumenides.
10. Tuesday 23 September. Fragments of Aeschylus.
11. Wednesday 24 September. The problem of translation.
12. Friday 26 September. First assignment due.
Sophocles, Electra
13. Tuesday 30 September. Electra.
14. Wednesday 1 October. Electra.
15. Friday 3 October. Fragments of Sophocles
16. Tuesday 7 October. Euripides, Iphigeneia
in Aulis
17. Wednesday 8 October. Iphigeneia in Aulis.
18. Friday 10 October. Second assignment due. Iphigeneia in Aulis.
19. Tuesday 14 October. Euripides, Electra
20. Wednesday 15 October. Electra.
21. Friday 17 October. Electra.
22. Tuesday 21 October. Euripides, Orestes
23. Wednesday 22 October. Orestes.
24. Friday 24 October. Third assignment due. Orestes.
25. Tuesday 28 October. Euripides, Iphigeneia
in Tauris
26. Wednesday 29 October. Iphigeneia in Tauris.
27. Friday 31 October. Iphigeneia in Tauris.
28. Tuesday 4 November. Euripides, Helen
29. Wednesday 5 November. Helen.
30. Friday 7 November. Fourth assignment due. Helen.
31. Wednesday 13 November. Fragments of Euripides.
32. Friday 15 November. Aristotle, Poetics
33. Tuesday 18 November. Poetics
34. Wednesday 19 November. Poetics
35. Friday 21 November. Poetics
36. Tuesday 25 November. Introduction to satyr plays; Storey and Allan ch. 3
37. Tuesday 2 December. Fifth assignment due.
Euripides, Cyclops
38. Wednesday 3 December. Sophocles, Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs)
39. Friday 5 December. Review and summary.
40. (date to be assigned) Final exam
This bibliography is limited to books in English that are available
in Tisch Library.
P. E. Easterling, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy.
Cambridge: 1997. PA3131.E28 1997
W. S. Allen, Vox Graeca. London: 1968. PA267.A4
John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, The Oxford History of
the Classical World. Oxford: 1986. DE59 .O94 1986
Eric Csapo and William Slater, The Context of Ancient Drama.
Ann Arbor: 1995. PA3024.C75 1995
Michael Grant, Atlas of Ancient History. New York:
1994. G1033.G65 1994 (reference)
Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth, The Oxford Classical Dictionary.
New York: 1966. DE5.O9 1996
John H. Huddliston, Greek Tragedy in the Light of Vase Paintings. New York: 1898. NK4645 .H8
J. Jones, On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy. New York: 1962. PA3131 .J6
H. D. F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study. London: 1939. PA3131.K5
Richmond Lattimore, Story Patterns in Greek Tragedy. Ann Arbor: 1964. PA3133 .L3
A. D. Nuttall, Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? Oxford: 1996. PN1892.N88 1996
L. D. Reynolds and Nigel Wilson, Scribes and Scholars.
Oxford: 1974. Z40.R4 1974
William C. Scott, Musical Design in Aeschylean Theater. Hanover: 1984. ML169 .S37 1984
------------, Musical Design in Sophoclean Theater. Hanover: 1996. ML169.S38 1996
Charles Segal, Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides' Bacchae. Princeton: 1982. PA3973.B2 S56 1982
------------, Tragedy and Civilization. Norman: 1999. PA4417 .S47 1999
Erich Segal, Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy. Oxford: 1983. PA3133.G68 1983b
Oliver Taplin, Greek Tragedy in Action. Berkeley: 1978. PA3201 .T3
Cedric Whitman, Sophocles: a Study of Heroic Humanism. Cambridge:
1951. PA4417.W5
Bernhard Zimmermann, Greek Tragedy: an Introduction. Baltimore: 1991. PA3131 .Z513 1991
Introduction to the fifth century BC
Satyrs at play
Perseus: a digital library with an extensive collection on Ancient Greece
Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Fragment
of a Greek Tragedy: a well-known parody by A. E. Housman (yes,
the poet: he was also a classical scholar)
American Philological Association
(APA): the professional association for classicists in the US
Classical Association of New England
(CANE): the professional association for classicists in New England
HTML by AEM, last update 31 May 2008
Prof. Mahoney's home page
Tufts classics department
Thanks to the Stoa for hosting these materials.