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Academic Year 2002/2003


Sophocles
GRK 261 SP

One or two plays of Sophocles will be read in Greek, from among OEDIPUS,TYRANNOS, ANTIGONE, and PHILOCTETES, with particular attention paid to questions of style, the role of drama in its Athenian civic context, and connections between the plays and other aspects of fifth-century culture. The PHILOCTETES, in which Neoptolemus and Odysseus try to get Philoctetes to help the Greeks take Troy, even though they had abandoned him on an island years before, involves a number of issues of concern both to 5th-century Greek society and to our own: "sophistic" or new-fangled vs. old-fashioned education, democratic vs. aristocratic values, persuasion vs.
force, honesty vs. trickery, sympathy for individual suffering and the sick vs. cold calculation of the greater good, the value of friendship, and the question of how a young person makes choices, defines his/her character and
values, and fits into a larger society. The play also has interesting technical or dramatic problems: an oracle described differently in different parts of the play; one or more scenes of play-acting within the drama; and a first, false ending, followed by a second, radically different one involving a DEUS EX MACHINA. Besides careful reading of the Greek text of the PHILOCTETES, the class will feature secondary readings on tragedy, on the PHILOCTETES, and on aspects of Greek cuture relevant to the play, and also reading of other Sophoclean plays in English, and further brief readings in Greek texts about Odysseus, Achilles, Neoptolemus, and the issues raised by the play.

MAJOR READINGS

Plays of Sophocles in the original Greek

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Daily assignments in Greek, classroom reports, two exams and one or two papers.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Students should have the equivalent of two years of college training in Greek.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CLAS    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-18-2003


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