Course syllabus

 

CLASSICS 130: Love and Death in Greek and Roman Literature

SEMESTER 2, 2017

TEACHING STAFF

Course Coordinator (and lecturer)

Dr Maxine Lewis Office hour: drop in session every Tuesday 3-4pm, in the Arts Student Centre (maxine.lewis@auckland.ac.nz)                                    

Lecturers

Dr Dougal Blyth Office hour: 2pm Tuesday, room 820 of the Humanities building (dougal.blyth@auckland.ac.nz)                                  

Associate Professor Anne Mackay Office hour: 2-3pm Tuesday, room 822 of the Humanities building (anne.mackay@auckland.ac.nz)    

Associate Professor Marcus Wilson Office hour: By appointment room 826 of the Humanities building (mj.wilson@auckland.ac.nz)    

 Tutors

 Robert Drummond Office hour: Thursday 11am-12pm, room 306 in the Humanities building rdru613@aucklanduni.ac.nz                              

Christina Robertson Office hour: Monday 3pm-4pm, in room 303 in the Humanities building crob077@aucklanduni.ac.nz                

 Tuakana

Mia-Mae Stevens-Taitimu

e-mail:  mste856@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Mia-Mae's cohort includes all Maori and Pacific students enrolled in stage 1 through to stage 3 courses in Ancient History and Classics. 

Classics and Ancient History staff offices are all in the Humanities Building – building number 206 (formerly called Arts 1)      

Who to contact?

If you have a question about the course that isn’t answered by the syllabus or the other information on Canvas, in the first instance please contact your tutor. Your next port of call is the course coordinator, Dr Lewis. If after that you still have questions on a specific text taught by another lecturer, please contact them directly.

COURSE DELIVERY FORMAT

2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorial.

We expect you to attend all classes and to come to tutorials prepared and ready to contribute.

COURSE DESCRIPTION  

We will study a selection of literary texts from ancient Greece and Rome (all in English translation). These texts all deal with two things that shaped life in antiquity: love and death. As we will see, in some ways the Greeks and Romans had very different views of love and death from what we do, but in other texts we find the Greeks and Romans thinking in remarkably similar ways to us.

We will read and discuss literature by some of the best-known writers of antiquity. You will read and explore a variety of literary genres, from comedy to epic to love poetry and even funerary inscriptions. The course will expose you to many members of our department and will prepare you to take higher-level courses in Classical Studies and Ancient History.

 

COURSE OUTCOMES

As a student taking this course you will have the opportunity to:

*read key works of literature from ancient Greece and Rome

*develop your understanding of Classical antiquity, especially with regard to representations of love and death

*compare Greek and Roman representations of love and death

*develop a sound understanding of different literary genres

*engage in rigorous intellectual discussion and debate

*hone your research skills

*practice academic writing, including making a persuasive argument

 

SET TEXTS

The starred* items on the schedule are books that you will need to acquire:

• Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason and the Golden Fleece, trans. Richard Hunter (Oxford University Press, 1993) (any later reissue of the book is fine as well) (use for weeks 4-5)
• Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays, trans. Alan Sommerstein (Penguin, revised ed. 2002) (use for weeks 9-10)
• Plautus, The Pot of Gold and Other Plays,  E. F. Watling (Penguin Classics, 1965) (use for weeks 2-3)

For all other weeks, an electronic copy of the texts will be provided in Canvas in the relevant module.

Reading Expectations and Preparation

You are expected to read at least the set primary texts. We recommend you read them more than once to appreciate the themes and issues discussed in the lectures. The modules in Canvas also provide secondary readings. These will give you useful background on the texts and provide some deeper analysis. You are not expected to read all of these, but reading some will enhance your experience of the course. Before each tutorial, please check the module for the relevant text – you will see “tutorial discussion” handouts. Please read those handouts prior to each tutorial.

 

ASSESSMENT

• Assignment 10%: instructions provided in week 2 – due by Monday 4pm Week 6 (August 28^th) at Arts Student Centre
• Essay 30%: instructions provided in week 2 – due by Thursday 4pm Week 10 (October 12^th) at Arts Student Centre
• Exam 60%: 3 hours

 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week	Tuesday lecture, 1-2pm	Thursday lecture, 1-2pm	Tutorial
1	Introduction to the course and key concepts of love and death (Maxine Lewis)	Ancient literary genres: what they are and how to spot them (Maxine Lewis)	No tutorial
2*	Roman comedy – Plautus The Swaggering Soldier (Marcus Wilson)	Plautus The Swaggering Soldier (Marcus Wilson)	How to analyse an ancient text
3*	Plautus The Brothers Menaechmus (Marcus Wilson)	Plautus The Brothers Menaechmus (Marcus Wilson)	Plautus The Swaggering Soldier
4*	Greek epic – Apollonius’ Argonautica (Maxine Lewis)	Apollonius’ Argonautica (Maxine Lewis)	Plautus The Brothers Menaechmus
5*	Apollonius’ Argonautica (Maxine Lewis)	Apollonius’ Argonautica (Maxine Lewis)	Apollonius’ Argonautica
6	Funerary epigrams (Anne Mackay)	Funerary epigrams (Anne Mackay)	Apollonius’ Argonautica
NO CLASSES: ​UNIVERSITY TEACHING BREAK (4th SEPTEMBER–15th SEPTEMBER)
7	Roman avant-garde poetry – Catullus’ poem 64 (Maxine Lewis)	Catullus’ poem 64 (Maxine Lewis)	Funerary epigrams – essay practice
8	Catullus’ poem 64 (Maxine Lewis)	Catullus’ poem 64 (Maxine Lewis)	Catullus’ poem 64
9*	Greek Comedy – Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (Dougal Blyth)	Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (Dougal Blyth)	Catullus’ poem 64
10*	Aristophanes Lysistrata (Dougal Blyth)	Aristophanes Lysistrata (Dougal Blyth)	Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
11	Roman poetry – Myth of Orpheus (Marcus Wilson)	Roman poetry – Myth of Orpheus (Marcus Wilson)	Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
12	Myth of Orpheus (Marcus Wilson)	Conclusions – genres of love and death (Maxine Lewis)	Myth of Orpheus