Prof. Wareh's Course Pages > Victory and Defeat
Classical Studies 7. Victory and Defeat (First Year Seminar)
Winter 2004, Prof. Tarik Wareh
N.B. This course was taught at Dartmouth College. There is no exact equivalent at Union.
For more information about this course, or to make an appointment, please email the instructor (wareht).
Important changes to the syllabus:
- We will not be reading Demosthenes' On the Crown.
- For Monday, Feb. 2, also read Thuc. Book Three, chapters 81-85.
- We will not be reading Book Eight of Thucydides.
January 7-14. What is the measure of success? Sophocles' Oedipus dramas.
Primary texts:
- Sophocles, Oedipus the King
- Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus
Assignments:
January 14-21. Victory in Defeat.
Primary texts:
- Prometheus Bound
- Plato, Apology, Crito, and Death Scene from Phaedo
Assignments:
- Short Paper #2 (draft for the writing assistant) due Wed., Jan. 21
January 23-28. The Music of Victory and Defeat: Lyric Poetry, Choral Poetry, Tragic Poetry.
Primary texts: (see the guide to the handouts)
- "Beautiful the Doom": passages from Thucydides, Simonides, Heraclitus, and Gorgias
- Sappho #1, #16
- Simonides
- short anthology of poems numbered 1-7 (including "Danaë," epitaphs, "To be a good man, foursquare founded hand and foot, is difficult")
- dirges (#520-527, #531)
- an "elegiac" poem (eleg. 8)
- selected additional epitaphs (II, VII, VIII, IX)
- Bacchylides: dithyramb #18 ("Theseus on his way to Athens")
- Pindar: Pythian 8
- Aeschylus, Persians
Secondary readings reported upon in class:
Assignments:
- Short Paper #1 revisions due Fri., Jan. 23
- Short Paper #2 due Mon., Jan. 26
January 30-February 16. Empire, War, Democracy, and Defeat
Primary texts:
- Thucydides
- Book One, chapters 1-23, connecting summary, 68-88, connecting summary, 140-146
- Book Two, chapters 1-8, 34-78
- Book Three, connecting summary, chapters 37-68, connecting summary, 81-85
- Book Four, chapters 47-48, 84-87
- Book Five, connecting summary, chapters 84-116
- Books Six and Seven (entire, omitting the digression of 6.54-59 if you like)
- Euripides, The Trojan Woman
Secondary readings reported upon in class:
- Paul Cartledge, "The Silent Women of Thucydides: 2.45.2 Re-Viewed" (in Nomodeiktes, 1993, pp. 385-400)
- Gregory Crane, "Conclusion: Thucydidean Realism and the Price of Objectivity" (from Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity: The Limits of Political Realism, 1998, pp. 294-325) [available online]
- H.D.F. Kitto, "Thucydides: His Thought" (from Poiesis: Structure and Thought, 1966, pp. 321-354)
- Richard Ned Lebow, conclusion to "Thucydides and Civilization" (from The Tragic Vision of Politics: Ethics, Interests and Orders, 2003, pp. 129-167)
- Louis Lord, "Thucydides and the World War" (from Thucydides and the World War, 1943, pp. 221-250)
- Colin Macleod, "Form and Meaning in the Melian Dialogue" (in Historia vol. 23, 1974, pp. 385-400)
- in Clifford Orwin, The Humanity of Thucydides, 1994:
- "Prologue: The Athenian Empire as Freely Chosen Project: Pericles' Funeral Oration," pp. 15-29
- "Recapitulation and Conclusion: The Humanity of Thucydides," pp. 193-206
- Tim Rood, "Athens and Sicily" (in Thucydides: Narrative and Explanation, 1998, pp. 159-182
Assignments:
- Short Paper #3 due Mon., Feb. 2
- Midterm Paper (draft for the writing assistant) due Mon., Feb. 9
- Midterm Paper due Mon., Feb. 16
February 18-March 8. The Iliad: Mortality and Humanity
Primary texts:
Modern ideas and comparanda reported upon in class (most of these suggested by the class):
- War poetry by combatant-victims of World War I:
- Films:
- Novels:
- Psalm 7 [available online]
- Creatures of Long Ago: Dinosaurs
- Some modern perspectives on the Iliad
- Two Christian perspectives: C.S. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942) and Simone Weil, The Iliad, or the Poem of Force (1940)
- Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam [review]
Assignments:
- Short Paper #4 due Fri., Feb. 20
- Short Paper #5 due Wed., Feb. 25
- Midterm Paper revisions due Fri., Feb. 27
- Final Paper (draft for the writing assistant) due Mon., Mar. 1 (guidelines)
- Final Paper due Mon., Mar. 8
Extra Help with Writing Assignments
