Description Objectives Methods of Instruction Materials of Instruction Requirements Grading	Bust of Euripides	Schedule January February March April May Project I Project II
Dr. Ann R. Raia , CNR Home, VRoma Home Office Hours: W 11-12:30, F 10-11. In addition, students may arrange an appointment, at least 3 days in advance, by phone or by E-mail, during free hours, from Tuesday through Friday Office: Castle 325 Telephone: (914) 654-5398 E-mail: araia@cnr.edu

Description

Translation and analysis of Euripides' Medea in its entirety and portions of Bacchae and Alcestis; origins and development of Greek tragedy and the theater, especially during the 5th Century BCE in Athens; Euripides' contribution to Western dramatic art.

Objectives:

at the end of this course students will demonstrate:

• facility in reading classical Attic Greek aloud in the original, both prepared and at sight
• knowledge of the rules of Greek scansion and competence in scanning the iambic trimeter of the dialogue and reading verses aloud
• competence in translating prepared passages of Euripidean Greek accurately
• mastery of basic classical Greek vocabulary and syntax
• acquaintance with the structural elements of Greek tragedy
• familiarity with aspects of the ancient Greek theater, dramatic performance and conventions, and tragedy's use of myth
• understanding of the cultural climate and intellectual temper of Athens, reflected in drama produced in the last half of the 5th Century BCE
• appreciation of Euripides' dramatic achievement, his position among the Greek dramatists of 5th and 4th Century BCE, and his influence on Western drama
• ability to reference on-line and print resources for independent research

Methods of Instruction:

Class time will be used for: reading aloud in Greek, scansion, translation, and interpretation of Medea; analysis of the style, language, text, and content of Medea; viewing of slides and tapes; review of supplementary reading and guides; discussion of Euripides' life, works, and impact on Athens and the genre of Greek drama; student presentations.
Students will attend, with the professor, the February 2, 2002, Winter Conference of the New York Classical Club at New York University, 9 am - 4 pm. It features papers by leading scholars on Greek and Roman comedy and theater, as well as a dramatic workshop by the Aquila Theater Company of scenes from Aristophanes' clouds.

Materials of Instruction:

Class Texts:

• Euripides Medea, ed D. Page. Oxford University Press
• Euripides Medea, ed A. Elliott. Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Greek grammar: I recommend Greek Grammar, College Classical Series, ed. W.W. Goodwin, C.B. Gulick. Caratzas Brothers
• Greek dictionary: minimally, Langensheit's Classical Greek-English pocket dictionary

Other Materials:

• Medea in English translation: recommended are Rex Warner's in the University of Chicago Series and Robinson Jeffers' version.
• Apollonius of Rhodes, The Voyage of the Argo, tr. E.V. Rieu. Penguin Classics.
• Videos: Medea, by the NY Greek drama Company in ancient Greek (1986), two productions of Robinson Jeffers' translation: Dame Judith Anderson's and Zoe Caldwell, directed by Jose Quintero (1959); clips from Never on Sunday; Ancient Greek Fire: Tragedy; selected plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes.
• Xeroxed texts, guides, maps, articles, bibliography.
• Electronic texts and resources: Medea Study Guide, the Classics Technology Center; Medea Teaching Materials; Perseus for Greek texts and image links, Smyth's Greek Grammar, the searchable Liddell & Scott Greek Dictionary; Diotima for materials on the study of women and gender in the ancient world; The Ancient World Wide Web for a variety of classical resources;

Requirements:

Students will--

• attend a 1 1/2 hour recitation twice weekly with all assignments carefully and thoroughly prepared and participating fully in the session
• read Medea in English for comparison to the original Greek
• complete two major research projects (dates and details to follow):
  • Mid-Semester Project: Each student will read a selected tragedy by Aeschylus or Sophocles and watch a video of the play performed, comparing the characterization of the destructive female protagonist to Euripides' depiction of Medea. Cara: Clytemnestra in Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Libation Bearers; Faith will read Sophocles' Electra and view the Michael Cacoyannis-Irene Papa s Electra. In preparation for this comparative study, students will read Medea in English, an article on the portrayal of women in tragedy, and secondary sources on their play.
  • End-of-Semester Project-Final: students will read an additional Euripidean play in English, selecting a dialogue passage to translate from Greek; researching the play on the internet and in secondary sources; analyzing, interpreting and presenting it for critique to the class during exam week in May. Cara: Alcestis, Faith: Bacchae

Grading:

Students will be graded on the quality of their completion of the requirements above:

*Students who exceed the maximum number of un-excused absences (4 in a 75 minute class) will find their grade negatively affected in this category.

Contact:

addresses facilitate out-of-class student contact and collaboration: Faith Racette : Angela 102, x 2711; Cara West : Maura 317, x 2944

Schedule of Meetings:

Class meets Wednesday, 9:30-11 a.m. and Friday, 12:30-2 p.m. in Ursula 308, unless otherwise announced.
The syllabus exists in two modes: a hard-copy version distributed at semester-opening, and an on-line version which reflects the actual assignments and daily progress of the semester. Assignments, given on a daily basis, will respond to increased student ability to handle independent translation and collaborative in-class sight translation.
The translation of Euripides' Medea from Greek is the principal organizing structure of the course. The class will translate the entire dialogue portion from Greek, paying close attention to forms and grammar in the construction of meaning. It will translate the choral sections of Medea with the professor at sight, reading them in English translation and viewing their performance in several English and Greek video versions. Topics, treated as students encounter them in the text, include: the function of myth in Greek tragedy; Aristotle's Poetics; portrayal of women in ancient drama; textual criticism; literary criticism; design and conventions of the ancient theater; religion and festivals in ancient dramatic performance; Euripides' relation to the work and dramatic art of his contemporaries, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes.

Assignments:

Wednesday, January 23:
Introduction to the course, texts, and expectations. Sight reading of the opening prologue of Euripides' Medea: monologue of the Trophos

Friday, January 25:
Sight translation of the Prosopa; introduction to the apparatus criticus. Prepared and sight translation of the Nurse's monologue. Discussion of introductory readings on late 5th Century Athens. Introduction to the myth of Jason and Medea, including dates and map locations.

Wednesday, January 30:
Prepared and sight translation of the Nurse's prologue. Video viewing of the Nurse's Prologue from the production featuring Zoe Caldwell.

Friday, February 1:
Sight reading of the Nurse's monologue; comparison of the English to the Greek original. Discussion of introductory reading about variants of the Medea legend. Prepared and sight translation of the second half of the prologue: dialogue between Trophos and Paidagogos.

Saturday, February 2:
Winter Conference of the New York Classical Club at New York University, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm, on Staging Ancient Comedy.

Wednesday, February 6:
viewing of the prologue of Robinson Jeffers Medea. Sight and prepared translation of the remainder of the prologue. Submission of verb identification assignment for lines 1-48.

Friday, February 8:
Translation of 20 lines, submitted by email. Independent research on Project I.

Wednesday, February 13:
Summary overview of Aristotle's Poetics, focusing on the qualitative and quantitative components of tragedy. Study of floorplans of the Greek theater. Viewing of the NY Greek Drama Company's production of the Prologue and Parados.

Friday, February 15:
Review of prepared translations of lines 96-137 and 214-234. Assisted Sight of the Parados (137-214). Visual Introduction to the Chorus of Corinthian Women and consideration of the choral convention.

Wednesday, February 20:
Review of prepared translation of Medea's entrance speech (214-270); sight translation of Kreon's opening speech to line 275.

Friday, February 22:
No class; translation of lines 277-306 submitted via email.

Wednesday, February 27:
Student Mid-semester Project presentations: comparison of the tragic portrayal of Medea with: Clytemnestra (Cara), with the Electras of the three tragedians (Faith). Discussion of Medea, assigned to be read in English.
Review of prepared translations; reading at sight to line 315.

Friday, March 1:
Viewing and discussion of the entrance of Medea and her interaction with Kreon in the three video productions. Translation of assigned lines 316-340. Sight translation.

Monday, March 4:
Translation of assigned lines 348-375. Sight translation to line 398.

Wednesday, March 6:
Sight translation to line 446.

Wednesday, March 20:
Viewing and discussion of Episode 2 in three video productions.Translation of assigned lines 446-474. Sight translation to 500.

Friday, March 22:
Translation of assigned lines 522-575. Sight translation to 579.

Monday, March 25:
Translation of assigned lines 588-626; 663-676. Sight translation 579-588; 676-692.

Wednesday, March 27:
Translation of assigned lines 693-719. viewing of Aigeus'arrival and dialogue with Medea. Sight translation to line 764.

Wednesday, April 3:
Translation of assigned lines 774-824. Sight translation of Stasimon II (627-662); 764-774. Comparison of Aigeus'arrival and encounter with medea in 3 productions.

Friday, April 5:
Translation of assigned lines 866-893. Sight translation of Stasimon III (846-865), 894-908. Discussion of student essays applying H. Foley's articles on Greek tragedy to Medea.

Wednesday, April 10:
Translation of assigned lines 908-941 in Episode IV. Sight translation to line 976.

Friday, April 12:
Translation of assigned lines 1019-1058 in Episode V. Sight translation of Stasimon IV, lines 976-1019.

Monday, April 15:
Class via email: translation of lines 1059-1090.

Wednesday, April 17:
Review of critiqued lines 1059-1090 in Episode V. Translation of assigned lines 1116-1156, Episode VI.

Wednesday, April 24:
Translation of assigned lines 1156-1195. discussion of final Project.

Friday, April 26:
No class: NY Classical Club's Latin Sight exam.
For your final project, read your play in English. Send an email to the class with the following information:
1. The identity of the major character you have chosen; an explanation of your choice;
2. your choice of a passage (at least 50 lines) which involves your character with another character; an explanation of your selection.

Wednesday, May 1:
Review of project choices. Translation of assigned lines 1181-1235.

Friday, May 3:
Translation of assigned lines 1236-1250 and 1293-1311. Sight translation of lines 1090-1116.

Wednesday, May 8:
Translation of assigned lines 1311-1351. Sight translation of lines 1251-1292 and 1351-

Friday, May 10:
Translation of assigned lines 1351-1419. Overview: Performance, Structural analysis,Transmission of Mss, Ancient Greek Scholarship from Aristotle, modern critical interpretations.

Saturday, May 11, 2 pm: Final Project presentations and Exam