Unit name | Greek Language Level D |
---|---|
Unit code | CLAS30074 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Lampe |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
CLAS22405 or equivalent |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Classics & Ancient History |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
In this unit we’ll be appreciating the extraordinary poetry of two contemporary authors, Pindar and Aeschylus. In particular, we will focus on their representations of the myth of Orestes and Clytemnestra in Pythian 11 and The Libation Bearers. This will give us an opportunity to consider the different ways in which Aeschylus and Pindar appropriate traditional myth in general, and specifically how they deal with the topics raised by this myth, including matriarchy and patriarchy, initiation and coming of age, justice and the rule of law, and violence and the sacred. In order to appreciate these themes, we will discuss many aspects of the reception of this mythical cycle.
Aims:
By the end of this unit, you should have:
On successful completion of this unit students should have:
Seminars and reading classes.
• 1 essay of 3,000 words. Weighted at 50%.
• 1 examination of one and a half hours consisting of a passage of 10 lines for unseen translation (20% of exam mark) without passage summary, a passage of 15 lines for prepared text translation (20% of exam mark), and 2 passages (choose from 4) of 20-25 lines for comment and analysis (60% of exam mark): no specific questions (students asked merely to “comment”). Weighted at 50%.
Aeschylus, Choephori. Ed. A. F. Garvie. Clarendon, 1988. (Garvie will be most useful for appreciating Choephori as a literary and historical text, but if you need to economize, you may purchase the Bristol Classical Press edition of A. Bowen.)
Pindar, Pythian 11 (A text and commentary will be provided to you.)
Lloyd, Michael, ed. 2007. Aeschylus. Oxford.
Kurke, L. 1991. The Traffic in Praise: Pindar and the Poetics of Social Economy. Princeton.
Finley, J. 1966. Pindar and Aeschylus. Cambridge, Mass.