CLASS 2603

Initiation to Greek Culture

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

Knowledge of Greek or Latin is not necessary, since all texts are in translation. What is necessary is the willingness to participate in three one-hour seminars each week and also a supplementary one- or two-hour session, during which the class participates in workshops with specially invited guests. This course covers a wide range of Greek literary and philosophical works as well as modern critical and philosophical writings on the Greeks. The focus throughout is on the status of language, the many forms of discourse that appear in the literature, and the attempts the Greeks themselves made to overcome the perceived inadequacies and difficulties inherent in language as the medium of poetry and philosophy. The course inquires into the development of philosophy in the context of a culture infused with traditional, mythological accounts of the cosmos. It asks how poetic forms such as tragedy responded to and made an accommodation with philosophical discourse while creating an intense emotional effect on the audience; and discusses how these issues persist and are formulated in our own thinking.

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Enrollment is limited to: 18 freshmen. Students must apply in writing to chair, Department of Classics, 120 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (LA-AS)

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