CLAS 55: Three Greek and Roman Epics
Fall 2009 MWF 1 – 1:50 PM Murphey 104
Instructor: Jim O'Hara

my office: 319 Murphey, 962-7662
e-mail: jimohara -at- unc.edu (substitute @ for –at- )
my home page: http://www.unc.edu/~oharaj/
(should have links to course page, links pages, so all you need to remember is ~oharaj)
course home page: http://www.unc.edu/courses/2009fall/clas/055/001
(look on web for supplements to syllabus)
Office hours:  W 11:10-12, 2-3 and by appointment or polite drop-in (I’m in Murphey a lot)
My other course: LATN 221 Vergil, MWF 10 – 10:50 AM Peabody 204
(Peabody is on the corner of S. Columbia and Cameron)

Syllabus; Links for Homer; Tragedy-Sophocles and Vergil ; some Writing Tips

Description:
The course will involve a close reading of Homer's ILIAD and ODYSSEY and Vergil's AENEID, and as a transition from Homer to Vergil, we will also read the tragedies of Sophocles from fifth-century Athens. It was epic and tragedy that formulated the bases of Graeco-Roman civilization and provided the models of heroism and human values for the Western Tradition—along with raising fundamental questions about the individual's relationship to society. We will analyze, discuss, and write about these works both as individual pieces of literature in a historical context, and in terms of how they position themselves in the poetic tradition; after reading the ILIAD and ODYSSEY, we'll see how heroic myth gets reworked for democratic Athens, and then how Vergil combines Homer, tragedy and other traditions to make a new poem for his time. We will look at aspects of structure and technique, questions of overall interpretation and values, and the interplay of genre and historical setting. Requirements: discussion, short online readings in addition to the primary texts, several short papers during the term, and a 6-10-page term paper.

Books: You are to use these translations (i.e. do not use other translations!!):
Homer, The Iliad of Homer, Trans.Richmond Lattimore, Chicago
Homer, The Odyssey of Homer, Trans.Richmond Lattimore, Harper & Row
Sophocles, Sophocles I and Sophocles II; Trans. David Grene and others, Chicago
Seamus Heaney, The Cure at Troy (a version of Soph. Philoctetes)
Virgil, The Aeneid; Trans Frederick Ahl, Oxford

Requirements/Procedures:
Class: read and discuss; some mini-lectures by me; often handouts or online items, but much of each class will be taken up by discussion of your careful, attentive reading of that day's assignment (the readings below may be supplemented by brief online readings)

Writing: we will have one simple 2-page writing exercise (describe the argument of a speech in Iliad 9), then a 2-page paper on the Iliad, then 2-page papers on the Odyssey, Sophocles and the Aeneid, but of the last three 2-page papers, you may choose to do only two (i.e. you are to skip one). There will also be a 6-10-page term paper, on which you will give a 10 minute progress report during one of the last four classes. One key feature is that some of these 2-page papers will be read aloud and discussed in class; you may be wary of this but it always works out . The reports at the end of the class on your term papers will come at a stage when you should have a good deal of the work done, but will not need to have them finished.
Basically it'll be one 2-page writing exercise, three 2-page papers, and the 6-10-page term paper (along with daily class discussion and a report, which will be figured in your grade).

Syllabus; Links for Homer; Tragedy-Sophocles and Vergil ; some Writing Tips