OWU Online | Humanities-Classics

Greek Courses

Greek 110-111 Introduction to Classical Greek
(Fratantuono, Lateiner)
Basics of grammar, and then, readings in original texts as well as some oral and written exercises. Consideration of the culture and history of the areas in which Greek was spoken and written. Attention to Greek roots of English vocabulary. Useful for students of literature, history, philosophy, theology, and medicine.

Greek 491A. Homer, Iliad or Odyssey (Lateiner)
Read the greatest poems of the greatest poet in the original. This course introduces you to the foundational texts of Western literature. We study first the unusual Homeric dialect and syntax, then the character, plot, and other more recent issues such as orality, textuality, and narrativity. Issues of history and archaeology are also broad.

Greek 491B Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns (Fratantuono)
An introduction to the archaic Greek poetry of Hesiod (Theogony, Works and Days, ever more extensive fragments) and the anonymous collection of the so-called Homeric Hymns. Careful consideration of the work of M.L. West and the historical background of these fascinating gems of early Greek literature. A wonderful complement to work on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, with plenty of time to consider the complexity of ancient Greek religion and the cults of the gods and goddesses. Outside reading in the still relatively modest bibliography that helps to explicate these deceptively easy Greek poems.

Greek 491C Greek Lyric Poetry (Fratantuono, Lateiner)

Pindar (Fratantuono)
Perhaps the greatest of Greek poets, not excepting even Homer, and certainly the most enigmatic, Pindar remains the lone candidate for the title of most difficult of the Greek poets. Our goal is to make sense of the collection of (mostly) victory odes that have survived from this fifth century B.C. master. A wonderful challenge for the advanced Greek student, which will expose him or her to the most enchanting, hauntingly beautiful of classical Greek verses. Some consideration of Greek athletics and the nature of the contests that prompted these astonishing poems. We shall read relatively little Greek, but we do read, we shall read well.

Greek 491D Greek Tragedy: Aeschylus
(Fratantuono)
A close reading of one of the easier of the surviving plays of Aeschylus, the only historical play extant from ancient Greece, the Persians. A chance to reflect on the monumental conflict between Greece and its powerful eastern neighbor. Practice reading a Greek tragedy that is reasonable for all levels of upper level Greek. Some attention to the other plays of Aeschylus, especially the monumental Oresteia, and the relationship of Aeschylus to his fellow Greek tragedians of the fifth century B.C. Outside reading in the secondary scholarship that surrounds the Persians, as well as the history of this complicated but ever fascinating era of Greece’s history.

Greek 491E Greek Tragedy: Sophocles (Fratantuono)
The man we might well most associate with the magical fifth century B.C. in Greece. Sophocles’ seven surviving plays (and numerous fragments) are our concern; we shall spend the semester reading his Ajax, a profound reflection on the end of the Trojan War, or the Philoctetes, another episode from his Trojan cycle, depending on student interest. Careful consideration of the nature of Athenian tragedy and its performance, with outside reading to supplement our main goal: finishing a challenging tragedy in one semester. A good opportunity to read in Greek a play you may have read in mythology class, with a chance to mourn with Sophocles over the passing of a bygone age.

Greek 491F Greek Tragedy: Euripides (Fratantuono) An advanced Greek course for those who have completed the elementary Greek sequence: we shall read Euripides’ tragic masterpiece the Medea. Our study of Medea lore will take us beyond Euripides to a consideration of other treatments of the myth, including a chance to view some videos of modern versions with music and dance of the great story of Jason (of Golden Fleece fame) and his downfall. We shall read Seneca’s Medea in translation, along with some articles and book chapters on this perennial favorite of students of Greek tragedy.

Greek 491G Greek Comedy: Aristophanes and Menander (Lateiner)
Clouds or Birds. Plato wrote that this comic’s portrayal of Socrates in Clouds was a major factor in ruining his career. Discover what the fuss was about. Ever want to strike out on your own? So did many of the Birds. By creating a City in the Sky (Cloudcuckooland) and blockading Olympus they built a not very Utopian community on—or above—Earth. Anarchists unite and read sublime poetry! We may also read sections of Menander’s Grouch.

Greek 491H Greek Historians: Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon (Lateiner)
The Greeks suffered history and then invented it. The Persian Wars, The Peloponnesian Wars, The March on Persia offer three ways to record the past events. We shall read in Greek some of the most interesting minds ever to consider the problem of state and individual, Power Politics, and the place of morality in human affairs. Each speaks in a unique prose voice.

Greek 491I Attic Orators: Lysias and Demosthenes (Lateiner)
The preserved speeches of Greek oratory introduce the rhetorical, legal, social, and political world of Classical Athens. Current reading includes courtroom speeches over the murder of an adulterer, quarrel over the "custody" of a lover, and a case of verbal and physical assault.

Greek 491J Plato and Aristotle: Greek Philosophy (Lateiner)
Plato: Apology, Crito. The defense speech Socrates ought to have given and an illegal attempt to spring him from jail. Plato recreates the vivid world of Socrates and his friends. Read how the accused defend a life devoted to critical thinking in Apology. After his conviction, be a fly on the wall as Socrates explains to Crito why he won’t escape from prison, and considers whether retaliation is ever justified. Learn about Socrates’ interests from his student, and study the master of prose-style.

Greek 491K Hellenistic Poetry: Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius (Lateiner)

Apollonius’ Argonautica (Fratantuono)
A chance to study one of the masterpieces of later Greek epic, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes. Close study of the unforgettable relationship between Jason and Medea, the main inspiration for Virgil’s Dido and Aeneas. Consideration of the nature of Hellenistic poetry, with particular attention to the historical background of the changing Greek world. Attention will be paid to Apollonius’ contemporaries, especially his rival Callimachus. An opportunity to spend a semester with a magical account of an early heroic age, all in the dress of the marvels of Hellenistic poetry.

Greek 491L New Testament, Plutarch, and other Hellenistic Prose (Lateiner) The Christian Bible was written in Greek and the Hebrew Bible was translated into the common language of the Mediterranean. We shall read one of the Evangels or Acts of the Apostles, and selections from the Letters as well as from the Septuagint. Comparisons will be made between Christian and contemporary Pagan and Jewish texts in Greek to discuss their special spirit worlds.

Greek 491M Greek Novels: Longus and Heliodorus (Lateiner)
Novelistic fiction was among the last of the genres that ancient Greeks invented. Some tell of innocent love and others of travel, pirates, rape, disembowelment, and abduction marriage. The magpie genre borrows from every previous form of Greek literature and we shall laugh and cry while we study later Greek literature.