Classics 419, Fall 2006

Advanced Greek Prose Composition
Classics 419, fall 2006
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:10-11:25 (Room TBA)
Jeffrey Rusten, Cornell University

AIMS:

--to acquire an easy facility with standard Greek noun and verb forms, and sentence-types;
--to compile a stylistic profile of major classical Greek authors;
--to be able to transpose modern texts to the vocabulary and linguistic structures of classical Greek.

COMPONENTS:

--Basic Vocabulary: based on Campbell's book (supplemented by some specialized wordlists later).
--Advanced Syntax and Composition: (Readings and Compositions from Stephens' book)
--History of Prose Style (Reports and Final Exam)
--Literary Imitation (4 Final Compositions)

REQUIREMENTS:

--Compositions: simple ones from Stephens (weeks 1-10), then 4 imitation-paragraphs (weeks 11-14 and in exam period)
--Weekly Tests on Vocabulary (outside of class) from Campbell, Basic Greek Vocabulary (first five weeks only)
--Three-Four 20-minute reports analyzing the style of an assigned prose passage.
--Final examination of translation/stylistic analysis of these required readings: On Ancient Medicine, Herodotus III, Antiphon Tetralogy II, Thucydides I, Lysias 3 and 7, Xenophon Symposium, Isocrates Panegyricus, Plato, Phaedrus, Demosthenes Philippics 1-3.

ASSIGNMENTS

Thursday, August 24 Introduction

Tuesday, August 29 Stephens Ch. 1-2 (Vocabulary quiz 1 from Campbell: Verbs)

Thursday, August 31 Stephens Ch. 3 (the verb)

Tuesday, September 5 Stephens Ch 4 (Participles) 5 (Infinitives) (Vocabulary quiz 2 from Campbell: adjectives)

Thursday, September 7 Stephens Ch 6 (Questions)

Tuesday, September 12 Stephens Ch 7 (Commands) 8 (Expressions of Obligation, Necessity, Effort) (Vocabulary Quiz 3 from Campbell: Nouns)

Thursday, September 14 Stephens Ch 9 (Purpose Clauses)

Tuesday, September 19 Stephens Ch 10 (Expressions of Fearing) 11 (Result Clauses) (Vocabulary Quiz 4 from Campbell: Adverbs and Prepositions)

Thursday, September 21 Stephens Ch 12 (Wishes)

Tuesday, September 26 NO CLASS (Vocabulary Quiz 5 from Campbell: Other Words)

Thursday, September 28 NO CLASS

Tuesday, October 3 Stephens Ch 13-14 (Potential Expressions; Conditions and Concessions)

Thursday, October 5 Stephens Ch 15 (Relative Clauses)

Tuesday, October 10 NO CLASS (Fall Break)

Thursday, October 12 Stephens Ch 16-17 (Indefinite relative Clauses; Temporal Clauses)

Tuesday, October 17-19 Stephens Ch 18 (Indirect Statement)

Tuesday, October 24 Stephens Ch 19 (Indirect Questions and Commands)

Thursday, October 26 Stephens Ch 20 (Causal Clauses)

Tuesday, October 31 Reports: Passages from On Ancient Medicine (Toby, Yannis, Aaron) suggested: 1.1-3.6; 9; 14.2-6; 20.1-3

Thursday, November 2 Reports: Passages from Herodotus III (Allie, Mike, Matt, Erik, Heng) suggested: 3.17-25 (Ethiopians and Ichthyophagoi); 3.74-79 (overthrown of Magi); 3.80-83 (debate on constitutions)' 3.153-160 (Zopyros' trick)

Tuesday, November 7 Literary Composition I due (Style of Herodotus)

Thursday, November 9 Reports: Thucydides I and Antiphon Tetralogy II (Thuc.: Evan, Drew, Matt, Antiph.: Roman, Toby) Thucydides suggestions: 1.20 (Tyrannicides); 1.68-71 (Corinthians ' speech to Spartans); 1.80-85 (Archidamus' speech to Spartans); 1.86 (Sthenelaidas' speech); 1.140-144 (Pericles' first speech)

Tuesday, November 14 Reports: Passages from Lysias 3 and 7: (3: Allie, Evan, 7: Heng, Yannis) Suggested: Lysias 3: 3.5-20 (Narrative); Lysias 7: 7.1-3 (Proeme); 7.12-29 (argument from probability)

Thursday, November 16 Literary Composition II due (style of Lysias)

Tuesday, November 21 Reports: Passages from Xenophon, Symposium and Isocrates, Panegyricus (Xen.: Mike, Roman, Aaron, Isocr.: Drew, Erik, Toby) suggested: Symposium: chapters iii-iv (choose one theme or contrast the stylistic treatment of two themes); : Panegyricus 47-50, 66-7, 93-95, 133-140.

Thursday, November 23 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

Tuesday, November 28: Reports: Passages from Plato, Phaedrus (Aaron, Evan, Mike, Allie, Yannis, Drew) suggested: Phaedrus 244a-257b (Socrates' revised speech on madness, love, truth and immortality).

Thursday, November 30 Literary Composition III due (Style of Plato) Reports: Passages from Demosthenes, Philippics 1-3 (Matt, Erik, Heng, Roman) suggested: Philippics I 2-7; I 123-7; II. 144-5; III.1-5; III 150-5.

Week after class: Literary Composition IV due (Style of Demosthenes)

Exam Period: Final Examination (translation and analysis selected from On Ancient Medicine, Herodotus III, Antiphon (Gagarin Selections), Thucydides I, Lysias 1, 3, 7, 14, 31, 32, Xenophon Symposium, Isocrates Panegyricus, Plato, Phaedrus, Demosthenes Philippics 1-3.

GRADING:
(Note: This course may not be taken pass-fail)
Vocabulary: a very high score on the vocabulary exams weeks 1-5 is required to remain in the course
Stephens compositions: 50% of course grade
Reports: 10%
Literary Compositions: 15%
Final Exam: 25%

(All written assignments will be grade with a percentage score, as well as a rank within the class).

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Classics 107 will require strict adherence to Cornell's code of academic integrity, detailed at this website:
http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html
It is especially emphasized that all coursework must be the original work of the student in question; handing in another's work, preparing written assignments in common, as well as copying of answers or other code violations will be considered a serious offence.

GUIDELINES FOR COMPOSITIONS:

Please DOUBLE-SPACE so I can insert comments.
Please hold on to your compositions and keep them in a folder which you hand in each week and we can review at the end.

The written components of Tuesday assignments (sentences from Stephens, Written versions of reports, literary compositions) should be handed in on Monday by noon, and will usually be discussed and handed back on Tuesday. Vocabulary quizzes listed under Tuesday should be taken outside of class sometime the weekend before.

The written components of Thursday assignments should be handed in on Wednesday by noon, same timetable.

(Note that the assignments to complete for Tuesday (i. e., over the weekend) are heavier; in practice, you may want to complete the assignments for Thursday also over the weekend.)

Greek on the computer: this is a good time to start using Greek on the computer, either Mac or Windows (you can use whatever fonts you want, as long as you know how to convert the files to acrobat to email them: learn how to do this. )

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This page last modified October 30, 2006