IMPORTANT:  ATTENDANCE AT FIRST CLASS MEETING IS REQUIRED FOR ADMITTANCE TO THE COURSE

 

                                SYLLABUS: ISHU 3010 -- Humanities I

                                   Arts and Letters in Classical Greece

                                               Spring Semester 2014

                                                                

Day and Time: Tuesdays, 7:00-9:45                 

Room:  [Darden 170?  TBA here when known]

Leo Daugherty 

 

Required Books:

 

     Sproul, Primal Myths

     Sappho, Sappho: A New Translation (tr. Mary Barnard)

     Aeschylus, The Oresteia (tr.  Robert Fagles)

     Sophocles, The Theban Plays (tr.  E.F. Watling)

     Euripides, The Bacchae (tr.  Herbert Golder)

     Wheelwright, Philip, The Presocratics

     Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (tr. Hugh Tredennick)

     Aristophanes, Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds

         (tr. Alan Sommerstein)

     Aesop, Aesop’s Fables (tr. O. and R. Temple)

     Free Handout:  E.H. Gombrich, passages on Greek art history

     

Student Responsibilities:

 

1.  Faithful attendance at class, careful preparation of weekly readings, vigorous participation in discussion.  Completion of each week’s reading, in the order in which the assignments are           listed, with each reading to be completed by the date of the meeting for which it is listed.

 

2.  Submission of three essays of around 5 pages each (double-spaced).  Each essay should be           based on one of the readings.  Each essay should either make an interesting argument or           pose an interesting, hard question which the student cannot yet answer.  (Although no          additional research is required for essays, students will sometimes find it helpful.  Research is encouraged, simply because it almost always contributes to better understanding – and often to better writing.)

 

    The instructor will toss out the lowest grade amongst the three essays. 

 

    Each essay will be carefully critiqued, in writing, in detail -- the aim always being not to

          pronounce a judgment but rather to provide constructive criticism that helps in the

          work of clarifying thought and making writing better.

 

    Additional details on writing will be provided at the second meeting.

 

3.  The keeping of a personal journal of writings done in response to the readings and seminar discussions.

 

4. Completion of a mid-term and of a final examination.  These examinations will consist of

           long and short essay questions.

 

     Both examinations will be take-home exercises.

 

Central Course Themes and Questions:

 

      Power and Personal Vulnerability

      The Impact of Experience upon Optimism

      Cosmos and Chaos in Social, Political, and Spiritual Life

 

Grading System:

 

      Class participation and journal-keeping: approximately one-third

      Essays: approximately one-third

      Mid-term examination: approximately one-sixth

      Final examination: approximately one-sixth

 

Schedule of Classes and Readings:

 

Schedule of Classes and Readings:

 

1.  14 Jan:  Introduction and Orientation Meeting

 

2.  21 Jan:  Sproul, Primal Myths, selections TBA

 

3.  28 Jan:  Sappho (all).  

                         

4.  4 Feb:  Aeschylus, pp. 1-279.  (Robert Fagle's acclaimed introduction

         is highly recommended but not required.)  Art history handout, Ch. 3.

 

5.  11 Feb:  Sophocles, King Oedipus and Oedipus at Colonus

      

6.  18 Feb:  Sophocles, Antigone, general review of Sophocles' three tragedies

         FIRST ESSAY DUE

    

7.  25 Feb: Euripides, The Bacchae

         MID-TERM EXAMINATION HANDED OUT

 

8.   4 Mar:  Review, Essay-Writing Workshop, Checking in, Taking stock.  No readings. 

 

9.  [11 Mar:  University-Wide Reading Week – No Classes.]

 

10. 18 Mar:  Wheelwright, Presocratics I  (pp. 1-119)

          MID-TERM EXAMINATION TAKEN UP

 

11.  25 Mar: Wheelwright, Presocratics II (pp. 120-274); art history handout, Ch. 4

 

12.  1 Apr:  Plato, Last Days of Socrates (all), prefaced by more discussion of

                  The Presocratics if students wish.

            SECOND ESSAY DUE

 

13.  8 April:  Aristophanes, The Clouds, Lysistrata (and “Introduction,”  (pp. 9-37)

 

14.  15April:  Essay-Writing Workshop.  No readings.

 

15.  22 Apr: Consolidation and Synthesis Meeting using Aesop’s Fables.

                         (Feel free to skip all the “morals” to the fables, as Aesop, whoever

                          he was, didn’t write them.). 

                                 THIRD ESSAY DUE

                                 FINAL EXAMINATION HANDED OUT

                                        (Due back, hand-carried, to the BIS Office in Zehmer Hall by

                                             noon, Thursday, 1 May.)

 

                     

 

 

Standard UVa Policies

 

University Email Policies:

Students are expected to check their official U.Va. email addresses on a frequent and consistent basis to remain informed of University communications, as certain communications may be time sensitive.

    Students who fail to check their email on a regular basis are responsible for any resulting consequences.

 

   Standards of Conduct: The exercise and preservation of students’ freedoms and rights require a respect for the rights of all in the community. Students enrolling in the University assume an obligation to conduct themselves in a manner that is civil and compatible with the University's function as an educational institution. It is clear that in a community of learning, willful disruption of the educational process, destruction of property, and interference with the orderly process of the University, or with the rights of other members of the University, cannot be tolerated. Students enrolling in the University assume an obligation to conduct themselves in a manner compatible with the University's function as an educational institution. To fulfill its functions of imparting and gaining knowledge, the University retains the power to maintain order within the University and to exclude those who are disruptive of the educational process.

 

University of Virginia Honor System:  All work should be pledged in the spirit of the Honor System at the University of Virginia. 

   The instructor will indicate which assignments and activities are to be done individually and which      e permit collaboration.The following pledge should be written out at the end of all quizzes, examinations, individual assignments and papers:  “I pledge that I have neither given nor received help on this examination (quiz, assignment, etc.)”. 

    The pledge must be signed by the student. For more information please visit Honor System

Special Needs: It is the policy of the University of Virginia to accommodate students with disabilities in accordance with federal and state laws. Any SCPS student with a disability who needs accommodation (e.g., in arrangements for seating, extended time for examinations, or note-taking, etc.), should contact the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (LNEC) and provide them with appropriate medical or psychological documentation of his/her condition.

 Once accommodations are approved, it is the student’s responsibility to follow up with the instructor about logistics and implementation of accommodations. Accommodations for test taking should be arranged at least 14 business days in advance of the date of the test(s). Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the LNEC:

   434-243-5180/Voice, 434-465-6579/Video Phone, 434-243-5188/Fax

   For more information visit U.Va. Special Needs Website

 

For further policies and statements about student rights and responsibilities, please see U.Va  Website (http://www.scps.virginia.edu/audience/students) 

ISHU 3010 (Humanities II):  Arts and Letters in Ancient Greece.

NOTE:  Attendance at first meeting required for course admission.