Plato and Greek Prose
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GK 365 (#33510) / 385 (#33540) Fall 2013 Plato and Greek Prose Class meets: TT 11-12:15 in WAG 112 Steve White (512-475-7457) Office hours: Tu 3:30-4:30, W 2-4, and by appointment in WAG 117 [email protected] The main goal of this course is to improve your facility in reading and understanding Greek. We will achieve that goal by reading, translating, and analyzing a representative selection of classical prose: some of Plato’s Republic and work by several contemporaries: Antiphon, Demosthenes, Gorgias, Herodotus, Isocrates, Lysias, and Thucydides. The innovations and influence of leading sophists and orators will be a recurrent theme, and we will also track the development and diversity of prose style in Attic oratory. Students in GK 365 will have additional writing assignments; students in GK 385 additional reading. Our time in class will be devoted mainly to translating Greek, and in the process, examining points of syntax, morphology, diction, and style. Initial assignments will be limited to what we can cover in class; but the pace will pick up as we proceed. Tuesdays will normally focus on close reading; Thursdays will allow for wider perspectives. You will have written exercises, oral presentations, and two translation tests along the way, and a comprehensive final exam; all three tests will include unseen passages, aka sight translation. Secondary reading will be modest. Students in 365 will also prepare a research paper (in stages: proposal, plan, draft, oral report, final 8-12 pp). Students in 385 will be responsible for reading an additional 50 OCT pp on their own (selections approved by Oct. 1 and covered on the final). Grades will be based on the following work: For 365: class participation and exercises 20%, tests 30%, final exam 25%, research project 25%. For 385: class participation and exercises 20%, tests 40%, final exam (trans exam format) 40%. Grading scale: A = 93 or above, A– = 90-92, B+ = 87-89, etc. Note: GK 365 carries both the Independent Inquiry Flag and the Writing Flag because the syllabus is designed to help you develop proficiency in methods of research and writing used in classical scholarship. Shorter exercises will give you practice in analyzing and summarizing readings, formulating questions, and using print and online databases; your research project will give you the opportunity to develop a topic of your own from start to finish, with feedback along the way. The final paper should be 8-12 pp, and you will present a preliminary oral report on your work to the class near the end of the semester. Texts: I asked the COOP to order the three books listed below. Other readings will be distributed in class, posted on Blackboard, or available in the library, most on Course Reserve in the Classics Library. Plato: Republic Book 1. ed. G. Rose (Hackett 1983: ISBN 978-0-929524-313) H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (Harvard UP 1956: ISBN 9780674362505) Recommended: Platonis Opera, vol. 3, ed. J. Burnet (OCT 1902: ISBN 9780198145448) Every serious student of Greek should have handy Smyth’s Grammar, a true vademecum. The OCT is the standard text for Plato, reprinted in Rose’s booklet, which provides useful notes on basic grammar. Other helpful works, including commentaries, translations, and ancillary works, are on Course Reserve (see reverse) and in the Classics Reference collection (both in WAG 1). Especially notable: Lexica: H.G. Liddell & R. Scott, rev. S. Jones, A Greek Lexicon (Oxford 1940: 9th ed.) remains the best single guide to Greek diction; the little Liddell and middle Liddell may be more helpful initially for daily use, but you should develop familiarity with “the great Scott” (aka LSJ) as we proceed. LSJ online: http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/lsj/#eid=1&context=lsj Also J.D. Denniston, The Greek Particles (1954) and lexica for individual authors, including F. Ast (1835) and L. Brandwood (1976) for Plato: all in the Classics Reference collection. Translations: I recommend reading the whole of each work in translation before we tackle the Greek in class. The market is awash in flotsam new and old, which makes finding reliable translations daunting. Your best bet for accuracy and fluency are Tom Griffith’s Republic (CUP 2000) and the UT Press series Oratory of Classical Greece, edited by our own Michael Gagarin (on reserve). For the rest of Plato, your best bet is Plato: Complete Works, ed. John Cooper (Hackett 1997). The Loebs for Plato, some of the orators, and others are often misleading: caveat lector! Likewise for older versions online, typically outdated and more valuable as specimens of antique style than accurate rendition (so Rev. Jowett’s Plato). GK 365 (#33510) / 385 (#33540) Fall 2013 Syllabus: readings and major assignments Date Reading Other assignments 1. Aug. 29 Orientation 2. Sep. 3 & 5 Republic 327a-331b 3. Sep. 10 & 12 Republic 331c-336a 4. Sep. 17 & 19 Herodotus 1.1-16 Tu 9/17: Translation #1 5. Sep. 24 & 26 Lysias 3: Against Simon 6. Oct. 1 & 3 Republic 336b-342e Tu 10/1: Test #1 7. Oct. 8 & 10 Republic 343a-350c 8. Oct. 15 & 17 Gorgias 11: Helen 9. Oct. 22 & 24 Antiphon 3: Second Tetralogy 10. Oct. 29 & 31 Thucydides 2.59-65: Pericles Th 10/31: Translation #2 11. Nov. 5 & 7 Isocrates 13: Against the Sophists Th 11/7: Test #2 12. Nov. 12 & 14 Republic 350d-360d 13. Nov. 19 & 21 Republic 360e-369a 14. Nov. 26 Oral reports Th 11/28: no class (Charites) 15. Dec. 3 & 5 Demosthenes 1: Olynthiac 1 M 12/9: research papers due & Dec. 11 Final exam: Wednesday 9-12 noon Course Reserves in the Classics Library (WAG 1): commentaries, translations, background. Antiphon: The Speeches, ed. M. Gagarin (Cambridge 1997). Antiphon & Andocides, trans. M. Gagarin & D.M. MacDowell (Austin 1998). Aristotle: On Rhetoric, trans. G.A. Kennedy (Oxford 1991). The First Philippic and the Olynthiacs of Demosthenes, ed. J.E. Sandys (London 1936). Demosthenes: Speeches 1-17, trans. J. Trevett (Austin 2011). Gorgias: Encomium of Helen, ed. D.M. MacDowell (Bristol 1982). Herodotus: Histories 1, ed. G. Steadman (2012): http://geoffreysteadman.com/files-herodotus/ For Isocrates 13: R.C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators (London 1888). Isocrates I, trans. D. Mirhady & Yun Lee Too (Austin 2000). Lysias: Selected Speeches, ed. C. Carey (Cambridge 1989). Lysias: Speeches, trans. S.C. Todd (Austin 2000). Plato: Republic 1, ed. D.J. Allan (Cambridge 1965). Platonis Respublica, ed. S. Slings (OCT 2003). Plato: Republic 1, ed. G. Steadman (2012): http://geoffreysteadman.com/files-republic-i/ Plato: Republic, trans. T. Griffith (Cambridge 2000), translation only: online. Plato: Complete Works, ed. J. Cooper (Indianapolis 1997). Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War, Book II, ed. J. Rusten (Cambridge 1989). J.D. Denniston, Greek Prose Style (Oxford 1952). K.J. Dover, The Evolution of Greek Prose Style (Oxford 1997). G. Fine, ed. Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford 2008). S. Goldhill, The Invention of Prose (Oxford 2002). G.A. Kennedy, The Art of Persuasion in Greece (Princeton 1963). R. Kraut, ed. Cambridge Companion to Plato (Cambridge 1992). L.R. Palmer, The Greek Language (London 1980). D.A. Russell, An Anthology of Greek Prose (Oxford 1991). GK 365 (#33510) / 385 (#33540) Fall 2013 Other Policies UT Honor Code: The core values of UT Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Attendance and active participation are crucial for both your own progress and everyone else’s too. You may miss 1 class no questions asked. Beyond that, unexcused absences will cost you 2% of your overall course grade; acceptable excuses are medical or other emergencies (documentation required), religious holidays (see below), and personal obligations (with at least 1-week advance notice and at my discretion). Note: You are responsible for all material we cover in your absence, excused or not. Late work is liable to a penalty (typically 1% every 12 hours) unless you have a legitimate excuse. Make-up tests: Only for exceptional and fully documented reasons, and at my discretion. Grade questions: We’ll follow the 24/7 rule in this course: take 24 hours to review your graded work before questioning your grade; and questions must be raised within 7 days of my returning your work. Religious holidays: If you need to miss class for a religious holiday, you must notify me at least 14 days in advance so we can make alternative arrangements for your absence. Writing Center: Students in 365 are encouraged to use the Undergraduate Writing Center in FAC 211 (471-6222: http://www.uwc.utexas.edu/). UWC offers free, individualized, expert help with writing for any UT undergraduate, by appointment or on a drop-in basis. Their trained consultants can help you develop strategies to improve your writing and become a more independent writer for academic and non- academic purposes alike. Whether or not you’re having “problems” in writing, getting feedback from an informed audience is a normal part of a successful writing project. Academic integrity: Scholastic dishonesty on any graded work will receive 0 credit on that assignment and is liable to be reported to Student Judicial Services (SJS). Scholastic dishonesty is presenting anyone else’s work as your own. It includes cheating on tests; using material from print or other media (including the web) without citation or attribution; likewise paraphrasing such material without citation. It is your responsibility as university students to know what counts as scholastic dishonesty and to refrain from it. For info, consult SJS: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php Accommodations: UT Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.