Homeric Poetry

Fall 2007

 

ICAGR 291/391: Homeric Poetry

Syllabus, Fall 2007

Course Director: Prof. Hal Haskell, Southwestern University

Course Instructors


Description

This course, making extensive use of resources available via the internet, focuses on the earliest literary documents in the Greek language, the poems attributed to Homer. Readings will come primarily from Homer's Iliad . In order to expose students to a wide range of scholarly expertise, a different faculty member will lead the common session each week. These sessions will reflect current trends in scholarship for this period. Students will also meet locally with their home campus mentor to concentrate more closely on issues of language, translation and interpretation of assigned readings. In weekly online discussion (study questions) students will have the opportunity to expand on and synthesize issues that arise in the reading and common session, as well as engage with secondary literature. Students will also complete an online midterm and final examination. This course is specifically designed for advanced students and will include a rigorous study of the cultural and historical context during the Homeric period in the Mediterranean. Because this course addresses both literature and context, students are expected to actively synthesize a wide variety of material.

Objectives

Course Components

Preparation: Students should read all assigned primary texts for the week by the common session. Students who choose to take this course at the 291 rather than 391 level will be responsible for less reading in Greek but will be expected to complete all of the reading in English.

Common Session: Wednesdays, 6:30-8 PM Eastern. Students at all participating institutions will meet together online for a common session via Multipoint Interactive Videoconferencing (MIV). These interactive sessions have a different faculty leader each week and typically combine mini-lectures with discussion, questions, and exercises.

Online Discussion : Responses to the online discussion are due Fridays, with additional responses due on Mondays. The online discussion affords students the opportunity to expand on and synthesize issues that arise in the reading and common session, as well as engage with secondary literature. Students may be asked to complete additional reading in English for the online discussion. Questions will be made available online the morning following the common session on Wednesdays. Evaluation of the online discussion will be based both on timely completion and substantive content.

Due Dates and Times for Discussion Questions
Time
Activity
3 PM (EDT) Fridays First Answers to Study Questions due
12 PM (EDT) Mondays Responses to other students' answers due

Tutorials: Each student will meet for at least one hour every week with a mentor at her or his home institution. The times and locations of these meetings will be determined on each campus. Students are responsible for contacting their faculty mentors and finalizing the details of their weekly meetings. These sessions will focus more closely on issues of language, translation and interpretation of assigned readings. Home campus mentors will be the final authority for all grades.

Examinations: There will be a collaboratively designed and graded midterm and final exam for this course. Examinations may vary slightly in format, but all will feature 1) the translation and/or reading comprehension of seen and sight passages and 2) essay questions of various types and lengths.

Evaluation

Grades will be based on the following components, which differ for those at the 291 and 391 level:

For students in ICAGR 291, grades will be based on the following components:

Class preparation and work in tutorial: 40%
Participation in the on-line discussion (study questions): 30%
Midterm examination: 15%
Final examination: 15%

For students in ICAGR 391, grades will be based on the following components:

Class preparation and work in tutorial: 20%
Participation in the on-line discussion (study questions): 40%
Midterm examination: 20%
Final examination: 20%

Primary Readings

Homer, Iliad

You should read all of Homer's Iliad in English, which can be accomplished by reading 2 books of Homer for every week of class. Please be sure that your English reading keeps up with your Greek, e.g., you should have read books 1-15 by October 29 when you begin book 16 in Greek.

Suggested Texts

Selections from Homer's Iliad. Benner, ed. Red River Books, 2001. Available on Amazon.com.

The Iliad of Homer. trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.

The Chicago Homer: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/

Also Available:

Course Schedule - see the top course page.

**Note that readings should be completed before the common session. Numbers in parentheses following reading assignments are line totals. Students at the 291 level are responsible for reading all Greek text assigned at the 391 level; they should read in English what they do not read in Greek.**

Week 1: September 3-9, 2007

Reading

Common Session, September 5, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 1
2

Week 2: September 10-16, 2007

Reading

Common Session, September 12, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 2
3

Week 3: September 17-23, 2007

Reading

Common Session, September 19, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 3
4

Week 4: September 24-30, 2007

Reading

Common Session, September 26, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 4
5

Week 5: October 1-7, 2007

Reading

Common Session, October 3, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 5
6

Week 6: October 8-14, 2007

Reading

Common Session, October 10, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 6
7

Week 7: October 15-21, 2007

Reading

Common Session, October 17, 2007
Midterm Examination
Show only topic 7
8

Week 8: October 22-28, 2007

Reading

Common Session, October 24, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 8
9

Week 9: October 29-November 4, 2007

Reading

Common Session, October 31, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 9
10

Week 10: November 5-11, 2007

Reading

Common Session, November 7, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 10
11

Week 11: November 12-18, 2007

Reading

Common Session, November 14, 2007
Online Discussion
Show only topic 11
12

Week 12: November 19-25: Thanksgiving Holiday

Show only topic 12
This topic 13

Week 13: November 26-December 2, 2007

Reading

Common Session, November 28, 2007
Online Discussion
Final Exam