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Workbook and Answer Key

Old Western Culture A Christian Approach to the Great Books Year 1: The Greeks

Unit 2 Drama and Lyric The Tragedies, Comedies, and Minor Poems

Student Workbook

Please Note: This workbook may be periodically updated, expanded, or revised. Download the latest revision at www.RomanRoadsMedia.com/materials. Last Updated July 2016

About Roman Roads Media Roman Roads combines its technical expertise with the experience of established authorities in the field of classical education to create quality video resources tailored to the homeschooler. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. By combining clear instruction with visual aids and examples, we help inspire in your children a lifelong love of learning. As homeschool graduates themselves, our producers know the value of excellent educational tools, and strive to ensure that Roman Roads’ materials are of the highest caliber.

About Old Western Culture Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books is an integrated humanities course designed to give students an overview of Western culture by studying the great books from a Christian perspective. The video series consists of four courses, designed to be completed over four years: Year 1: The Greeks Year 3: Christendom Unit 1: The Epics—The Poems of Homer Unit 1: Early Medieval—St. Benedict, Bede, Unit 2: Drama and Lyric—The Tragedies, Charlemagne, and Alfred the Great Comedies, and Minor Poems Unit 2: The Defense of the Faith—Anselm, Unit 3: The Histories—Herodotus, Thucydides, Geoffrey of Monmouth, The Golden Legend and Xenophon Unit 3: The Medieval Mind—Dante and Aquinas Unit 4: The Philosophers—Aristotle and Plato Unit 4: The Reformation—Erasmus, Calvin, Cranmer, Spencer, and Chaucer Year 2: The Romans Unit 1: The Aeneid—Vergil and Other Year 4: The Moderns Roman Epics Unit 1: Early British Poetry—Metaphysical Unit 2: The Historians—From Idea to Empire Poets, Milton, Shakespeare, and Bunyan Unit 3: Early Christianity—Clement, Ignatius, Unit 2: The Rise of Enlightenment—Bacon, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius Descartes, Locke, Rousseau, Jefferson, Unit 4: Nicene Christianity—Athanasius, Burke, and de Toqueville Augustine, and Boethius Unit 3: Later British Poetry—Neo-Classical Poetry, Victorian Poetry, and Romantic Poetry Unit 4: The Novels—Austen, Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Hugo

Published by Roman Roads Media 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 | 509-592-4548 | www.romanroadsmedia.com

Wesley Callihan, Old Western Culture: The Greeks, Copyright 2016 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Cover Design: Rachel Rosales, Copyediting and Interior Layout: Valerie Anne Bost All rights reserved. Version 2.0.0

Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview...... 2

Lesson 1: Background: The Development of Theater ...... 6

Lesson 2: Background: The Period, the Poets, and the Presentation...... 8

Lesson 3: Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Agamemnon ...... 11

Lesson 4: Aeschylus’ Oresteia: The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides ...... 14

Lesson 5: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King ...... 18

Lesson 6: Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone...... 21

Lesson 7: Euripides’ Medea and The Trojan Women ...... 25

Lesson 8: Aristophanes’ The Frogs and The Clouds...... 29

Lesson 9: Lyric Poetry: Sappho, Pindar, and Theocritus ...... 31

Lesson 10: Lyric Poetry: Hesiod...... 34

Lesson 11: Lesser Epics: Quintus of Smyrna’s The Fall of Troy ...... 36

Lesson 12: Lesser Epics: Apollonius of Rhodes’ The Argonautica...... 39

Answer Key...... 41

1 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Introduction and Overview

f you could take only ten books to a deserted island on which you were to be marooned for the rest Iof your life, what would they be? As Mortimer Adler says, this is no game—we are all in precisely that position. We are simply unable to read all the books there are; therefore, we had better choose well. Some books exercise our minds by their rigor and move our spirits by their beauty with every reading. Some books help us communicate with our culture because they have been a common element in education for centuries. Some books aid our understanding of the physical world by a clear exposition of careful observations by powerful minds. But very few books do any of these things well. And as C. S. Lewis says, old books give us a radically different perspective on life and our assumptions, and no modern books can do this at all, no matter how good they are. As Christians, we understand that ours is a historical faith, one that originated, developed, and grew in certain times at certain places. To study and understand the long stream of history and thought and to comprehend our place in that stream is to increase our appreciation of our cultural inheritance, our ability to use wisely and build faithfully upon that inheritance, and our ability to understand and respond to God’s work in history. The conclusion we may draw from all of this is that the old books are best, and the “A Reading of Homer,” Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1885 best of the old books are the best of all. That is why we read the great books. Join us in Old Western Culture as we explore the best of the old books from a Christian perspective!

About the Instructor Wesley Callihan grew up on a farm in Idaho and earned a bachelor’s in history from the University of Idaho in 1983. He has taught at Logos School, the University of Idaho, and New St. Andrews College (all in Moscow, Idaho) and at Veritas Academy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He has written curriculum for a number of Christian schools, including several members of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. Veritas Press has published his great books study guides for homeschoolers. Mr. Callihan speaks regularly at conferences for classical Christian educators in home and private schools and teaches summer intensive Latin courses. He has written columns and short fiction for Credenda/Agenda Dani and Wes Callihan in 2011 and Antithesis, and contributed to the book Classical Education

2 and the Home School, published by Canon Press. In 1997 Mr. Callihan launched Schola Classical Tutorials, a program of live Internet courses in the great books and the classical languages, as another ongoing contribution to the growing classical Christian education movement. Wes and his wife, Dani, have six children, five of them married, and a growing brood of grandchildren. Wes and Dani live near Wes’s parents in an old farmhouse in northern Idaho where they all use the cold winters as an excuse to read and the hot summers as another excuse to read . The Callihan Clan in 2011 How to Use This Course Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books is a four-year course of study designed for grades 9 through 12. Each year of Old Western Culture is a double-credit literature and social studies curriculum presented in four units that may also be used individually as one-quarter electives, or to complement another course of study. Roman Roads Media has provided two sample course schedules (see page 5) that you may use as-is or adapt for your family’s needs. We expect the average student to spend one to three hours per day on this course, including watching the lectures, completing the assigned readings, and then answering the workbook questions. Students should complete each lesson’s assigned reading and then answer the reading questions before watching the video lecture. The video questions should be answered after watching the lecture. An answer key at the back of the booklet will help parents ensure that students have grasped the key elements of the lessons.

References and Line Numbers Throughout the workbook you will see references that look like this: (RRR pp. 78–82) RRR refers to the Roman Roads Reader for this unit. This is to help anyone who might get lost looking for the answers on some of the questions. The page numbers can be looked up in either a physical copy of the Drama and Lyric Reader, or in the PDF version on romanroadsmedia.com/materials-home/the-greeks Additionally, some questions have line numbers. These refer to the original Greek line numbers and not any particular translation. Some translations will be close to the Greek, but some translations may get off by as much as a dozen or more lines.

Texts and Translations Old Western Culture embraces an ad fontes approach to reading the great books, that is, we encourage a return to the original texts as much as possible, rather than relying on textbooks that consist primarily of abridgments and excerpts. The original works are the textbook, and Mr. Callihan’s lectures and commentary are the exposition.

• The Great Books—Old Western Culture immerses students in reading the classics themselves rather than just reading about them. Families have several options for acquiring the texts: 1 . Use copies that you already own. While these copies will probably not be the recommended translation, any translation will do. Mr. Callihan frequently emphasizes the benefit of referencing multiple translations .

3 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

2 . Purchase the recommended translations. You will find links to the recommended translations under the “books” tab of the Old Western Culture: The Greeks page at www.romanraodsmedia.com 3 . Purchase the Roman Roads Reader for this unit. These Readers cover all of the required reading. 4 . Use the “Original Source Texts” digital option. This option is free! If you are shopping on a budget and enjoy using a tablet or e-reader (such as the Amazon Kindle), this option provides a highly cost effective solution. You can download digital ebook versions of every single reading assigned in Drama and Lyric at www.romanroadsmedia.com/materials. The digital text versions are not the recommended translation, but they are satisfactory.

Term Paper Writing a term paper at the end of each quarter of Old Western Culture is a good way for the student to internalize what he or she has learned over the term. The lists of discussion topics at the end of each lesson in the student workbook is a good place to look for paper topics. Students should also feel free to come up with their own original topics as long as they are based on the term’s lectures or reading. We recommend a paper length of 750–1,200 words.

The Exam Visit www.romanroadsmedia.com/materials to download the most recent final exams. Two options, Exam A and Exam B, are provided. The exams are similar in style and difficulty, but the content varies. Students who score lower than 90 percent on Exam A should take Exam B two days later to help reinforce subject mastery.

A Note about Spelling You may notice a lot of variation in the spelling of the Greek proper nouns. Most of these variations are the result of different transliterations based on either the Latin or the Greek spellings. For example, most of the painting titles reference names transliterated from Latin, while the student workbook uses Richmond Lattimore’s transliterations, which are based on the Greek spellings. An example would be Achilleus, whose name we may be more used to seeing spelled Achilles. While this may throw you off the first time you hear it, most of the names are similar enough that you will readily recognize who is being referenced. Both variations are acceptable and students are free to use whichever they prefer.

Age Level In Old Western Culture students will encounter mature themes such as paganism, sexual immorality, detailed battle descriptions (mostly in actual reading), and nudity in classical painting and sculpture. We recommend the series for ages fourteen and above, but of course parents will want to consider the maturity levels of their children and decide whether Old Western Culture will be appropriate.

Additional Resources A list of additional resources is kept up to date at www.romanroadsmedia.com/materials.

riday F Reading Questions Reading Questions Reading Questions Reading Questions Oedipus at Colonus Women The Trojan The Frogs

Paper: Draft Due Paper: Final Due

t t l l l t t y y paper Complete Additional Assignments hursday T Lecture 5 Lecture 6 Lecture 7 y Lecture Questions Lecture Questions Lecture Questions

Agamemnon The Eumenides of Pindar Works The Fall of Troy

Work on Work and Theocritus l l F t F t F t l l y c hedule S Read Texts Read Texts eek l -W ednesday Lecture 10 Lecture 12 Reading Questions Reading Questions Reading Questions Reading Questions Lecture Questions Lecture Questions ine

Agamemnon Poems of Sappho

Exam B (if score on W

l t t t t l F t F t y Exam A is below 90%) N uesday T Lecture 2 Lecture 8 Lecture 11 Lecture Questions Lecture Questions Reading Questions Lecture Questions e c ommended

Libation Bearers Oedipus the King Antigone The Medea and Days Works

Answer Workbook Questions Answer Workbook R F t l l l l F t l t F t t onday M Watch Lectures Watch Lecture 1 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 9 Lecture Questions Lecture Questions Lecture Questions Reading Questions Reading Questions Reading Question s Lecture Questions Reading Questions

Exam A

F F t F t F t t t t F t t y Key: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 eek W

5 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 1 Background of Greek Drama: The Development of Theater

Reading There is no reading assigment for this lesson.

Lecture Watch Lecture 1, and then answer the following study questions.

1. Where do modern scholars generally believe drama originated?

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2. What are the two main types of Greek drama?

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3. What is the cirular flat staging area at the base of the theater called?

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4. What is the Greeek name for the long shallow building that forms the backdrop of the stage?

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5. What is the origin of our modern term “obscene”? What did it mean in the context of Greek drama? Why did the early Greek playwrights believe this was important?

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6 ______

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6. What role does the chorus play in early Greek drama?

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7. What is the origin of our modern word “episode”?

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8. Name three of the most famous Greek tragedians and one comedian.

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Discussion Questions Based on the Greek theory that certain things in drama should only occur off screen (refer back to the etymology of the word “obscene”) what would the Greeks think of our modern dramas today?

Extra Credit Sketch an image of the traditional design for a Greek theater. Include the hemisphere of audience seats, the “orchestra” in front, the “scena” behind .

7 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 2 Background of Greek Drama: The Period, the Poets, and the Presentation

Note: We will cover the material from this lesson in more detail in next term’s unit (The Greeks: The Histories), but are going over it now to better understand the socio-political background of Greek drama in fifth century BC Athens.

Reading There is no reading assigment for this lesson.

Lecture Watch Lecture 2, and then answer the following study questions,

1. When was the Golden age of Greece?

______

2. Which two major events in the fifth century shaped Athenian culture and influenced Greek thought and the Greek playwrights in particular?

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3. Why did the Greeks send a runner back to Athens after having defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon?

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8 ______

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4. How does Xerxes and his army of 1.7 million cross the Hellespont in the Second Persian War?

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5. What military leader directed the Spartan army in the Battle of Thermopylae?

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6. What tremendous military adavantage did the Athenian navy have over the Persians in Batttle of Salamis?

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7. How was the construction of the Acropolis funded?

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8. Summary Question: Explain how the defeat of the Persians in the Persian Wars became the backdrop for Greek drama.

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9 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

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9. What battles took place on these key dates: 480 BC, 490 BC?

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10 Lesson 3 Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Agamemnon

Reading Read Agamemnon, the first play from the Oresteia, by Aeschylus (recommended translation: David Greene and Richmond Lattimore) and then answer the following study questions. Remember: Complete all reading and study questions from reading before watching the lecture.

1. How does the play open? Describe the scene. (RRR pp. 3–4)

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2. Lines 281-316: How did Clytemnestra get word of the fall of Troy and the soon return of Agamemnon? (RRR pp. 14–17)

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3. Why do the elders doubt that Troy has fallen? (RRR p. 22)

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11 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

4. Lines 844–54: Why is the end of Agamemnon’s first speech ironic? (RRR p. 38)

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5. Lines 1412–47: What crimes does Clytemnestra charge Agamemnon with? (RRR p. 65)

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6. Who is in control at the end of the play? (RRR pp. 77–78)

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Lecture Watch Lecture 3 and then answer the following study questions:

7. What is the mytho-historical context of the Oresteia?

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8. What did Agamemnon do to get fair winds to sail to Troy that so angered his wife Clytemnestra?

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12 9. Who is the brother of Agamemnon and what is his connection with the Trojan war?

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10. Why does the curse of the House of Atreus not fall on Menelaus?

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11. What recurring theme in Agamemnon is discussed in this lecture?

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12. What is the significance of the purple carpet that Clytemnestra rolls out for Agamemnon?

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13. What classical allusion from Agamemnon shows up in the Bible?

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13 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 4 Aeschylus’ Oresteia: The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides

Reading Read The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides—the second and third plays from the Oresteia—by Aeschylus (recommended translation: David Greene and Richmond Lattimore), and then answer the following study questions.

1. What has brought Electra to the tomb of Agamemnon? (RRR pp. 80–84)

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2. Lines 165–80, and 205–11: After pouring the libations, how does Electra know that Orestes has returned? (RRR pp. 87-89)

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3. Lines 269–305: What is driving Orestes to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus? (RRR pp. 91–94)

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14 4 . Nay, the law is sternly set— Blood-drops shed upon the ground Plead for other bloodshed yet; Loud the call of death doth sound, Calling guilt of olden time, A Fury, crowning crime with crime.

What code of ethics do these lines indicate? How does this foreshadow both the fate of Clytemnestra and Orestes himself? (RRR p. 99) (Lines 400–404)

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5. Line 924: What does Clytemnestra threaten Orestes with, if he kills her? (RRR p. 123)

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6. Lines 34–59: What is the opening scene of The Eumenides? (RRR pp. 131–134)

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7. Lines 78–84: What does Apollo tell Orestes to do at the beginning of the play? (RRR pp. 134–136)

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8. Lines 94–105: What is Clytemnestra’s complaint to the Furies? (RRR pp. 136–137)

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15 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

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9. Line 162: What is the complaint of the Furies against Apollo and Athene? (RRR pp. 138–139)

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10. Lines 462–67 and 585–96: During the trial, what does Orestes admit, and what does he not admit? In other words, what is at issue in the trial? (RRR pp. 152–153)

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11. Lines 657–67: How is Orestes defended by Apollo? (RRR pp. 162–163)

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12. Lines 735–53: How does the voting turn out? (RRR p. 167)

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16 Lecture Watch Lecture 4, and then answer the following study questions.

13. Who is the chief character of the second and third plays of the Oresteia?

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14. What happens at the end of The Libation Bearers that leads into the third play by Aeschylus?

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15. What is the real problem addressed throughout this trilogy?

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16. What solution is found for this problem?

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17. How did Aeschylus please the Athenian audience with his plays?

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17 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 5 Sophocles’ Oedipus the King

Reading Read Oedipus the King by Sophocles (Recommended translation: Richmond Lattimore and David Grene), and then answer the following study questions.

1. What is the problem in Thebes as the play opens? What is Oedipus’ attitude toward his people? (Lines 11–13, 60–64) (RRR pp. 181–184)

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2. Lines 390–400: During his argument with Teiresias, what does Oedipus boast of having done? In what does he apparently place his confidence? (RRR p. 199)

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3. In the argument between Oedipus and Teiresias, what does each accuse the other of? How do the ideas of darkness and light and blindness and sight play into their arguments against each other? (RRR pp. 194–202)

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18 ______

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4. Lines 710–50: What information does Jocasta reveal here, and what is Oedipus’ reaction? (RRR pp. 214–217)

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5. Why does Oedipus think Jocasta does not want to hear about his origins? (RRR pp. 231–232) (Lines 1,056–85)

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Lecture Watch Lecture 5, and then answer the following study questions.

6. When Oedipus was born, his father ordered his mother to kill him. What did she do instead?

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7. Who finds Oedipus and raises him?

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19 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

8. In the ancient world what did the word “tyrant” mean?

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9. What is the real problem that Oedipus the King addresses as revealed in Oedipus’ angry argument with Teiresias?

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10. What did Aristotle say is the power of the play Oedipus the King?

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11. What does Oedipus do when he finds that Jocasta has hung herself?

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Discussion Topic

What are the some of the benefits and drawbacks of reading vs. watching plays?

20 Lesson 6 Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone

Reading Read Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone by Sophocles (Recommended translation: Richmond Lattimore and David Grene), and then answer the following study questions.

1. Lines 37–45: According to the Stranger, on whose sacred ground is Oedipus sitting? What is Oedipus’ reaction to the information? (RRR pp. 256–257)

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2. Lines 88–97: Why does Oedipus want to stay here? (RRR pp. 259–260)

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3. When Ismene comes, what information does she give her father? (RRR pp. 272–274)

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4. Lines 421–50: What is Oedipus’ reaction to this news? (RRR pp. 275–277)

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21 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

5. Lines 784–86 and 1326–45: Why do Creon and Polynices come to Oedipus? (RRR pp. 293, 318–320)

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6. Lines 1405–10: What request does Polynices make of his sisters? (RRR p. 322)

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7. At the beginning of Antigone, in lines 22–38, what do we learn Creon has forbidden, and what is the penalty for disobedience?

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______\

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8. What is Creon’s basic position throughout the play (till the end)? What does he think is most important? See lines 182–191, 663–672, 734–738. (RRR pp. 348–350, 368–370, 372)

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22 9. Why does Antigone disobey Creon? Does she think she doesn’t need to obey authority? What does she think is most important? See lines 75–78, 88, and 450–59(RRR pp. 344–345, 359–360). Remember also Polynices’ request of her in Oedipus at Colonus .

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10. What is Creon’s final assesment of his previous attitude? See lines 1264–69, 1318–19, 1339–41. (RRR pp. 395–399)

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Lecture Watch Lecture 6, and then answer the following study questions.

11. What are two of the best known “cycles” in Greek mythology and of which cycle do the plays by Sophocles compose a part?

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12. Who was the mythical first king of Athens?

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23 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

13. What theme recurs in this play that was prominent in Oedipus the King as well?

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14. Why do the Greeks love tragedy?

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Discussion Topic Why is pride such an important theme in Greek literature? If hubris was a fatal flaw, then why was humility not considered a virtue?

24 Lesson 7 Euripides’ Medea and The Trojan Women

Reading Assignment Read Medea and The Trojan Women (readings included in Roman Roads Reader: Drama and Lyric), and then answer the following study questions.

1. What god favored the city of Troy and, at the beginning of The Trojan Women mentions the story of the Trojan Horse?

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2. Which goddess originally supported the Achaeans (Greeks) but now, at the fall of Troy, wishes to make them suffer for disrespect they showed her?

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3. Who prepare the body of Astyanax for burial? How are these two related to each other?

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4. How does Helen try to show that executing her would be unjust?

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25 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

______

5. Why is Medea so angry at Jason?

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6. Why does Creon try to force her out of the country along with her children?

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Lecture Watch Lecture 7, and then answer the following study questions.

7. What was Euripides’ purpose in writing The Trojan Women?

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8. What story provides the background to Medea?

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26 9. Why did Medea offer to help Jason?

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10. What actions does Medea take that indicate an absolute devotion to Jason? What is her motivation?

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11. How does Medea get revenge?

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12. What does “Deus Ex Machina” refer to in drama?

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13. How does Euripides take tragedy in a different direction than Aeschylus and Sophocles?

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27 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

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Discussion Topics

1. Which of the four Trojan women do you think suffered the most?

2. Why do you think Helen is counted as one of the four Trojan Women?

3. In what ways might we say Eurpides was a “liberal” in his day?

28 Lesson 8 Aristophanes’ The Frogs and The Clouds

Reading Read The Frogs and The Clouds (recommended translation: Lattimore, Arrowsmith, and Parker), and then answer the following study questions.

1. Why does Dionysos want to travel to Hades?

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2. Who are the “parricides and perjured folk” Dionysus points out to Xanthias? (RRR pp. 504–505)

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3. How does Dionysus argue that he isn’t a coward for having fainted? (RRR pp. 511–512)

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4. Which two playwrights have a contest in Hades for the prized spot next to Pluto?

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29 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lecture Watch Lecture 8, and then answer the following study questions.

5. How are the plays of Aristophanes comparable to those of Gilbert and Sullivan?

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6. Which famous philosopher does Aristophanes mock in The Clouds?

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7. Who is the chorus in The Frogs?

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8. Which playwright does Dionysos select to restore the integrity of tragedy in Athens?

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Discussion Topic Proverbs 26:4–5 says that there is a time when it is appropriate to “answer the fool according to his folly.” How might Aristophanes’ use of satire against the puffed-up followers of Socrates be an example of “answering the fool according to his folly”?

30 Lesson 9 Lyric Poetry: Sappho, Pindar, and Theocritus

Reading Read the following selections in either the Roman Roads Reader or Digital Source Text PDF (available for download at www.romanroadsmedia.com/materials): • Sappho: Hymn to Aphrodite; Poem/Fragment 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; and Invocation to Aphrodite • Pindar: Fifth Nemean Ode, Tenth Pythian Ode, First Olympian Ode, and First Isthmian Ode • Theocritus: Idylls 1, 6, 7, and 11 And then answer the following study questions.

1. Which Greek deity does Sappho invoke? Why is this, given the type of poetry Sappho wrote?

______

2. What is Pindar’s attitude toward the gods? Quote some sentences from the odes to illustrate your point.

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31 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lecture

Watch Lecture 9, and then answer the following study questions.

3. When and where did Sappho live?

______

4. What epithet is rumored to have been given to Sappho because she wrote poetry so well?

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5. When did Pindar live?

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6. What four sets of games were famous and well attended in Ancient Greece?

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7. In what way were the poems of Pindar aristocratic?

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32 8. What is Bucolic poetry?

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9. What is one way this bucolic style influenced later great literature?

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Discussion Topics

1. Why do you think gardens (especially secret or magical gardens) show up so often in literature? What is the symbolism of gardens? What role do gardens play in Scripture?

2. How does the behavior of Odysseus in the court of Alkinoös highlight the differences between Odysseus and Achilleus?

33 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 10 Lyric Poetry: Hesiod’s Works and Days

Reading Read Hesiod’s Works and Days (included in Roman Roads Reader: Drama and Lyric), and then answer the following questions.

1. To whom does Hesiod request the Muses to sing praise at the beginning of the Works and Days? (Works and Days, lines 2–3) (RRR p. 587)

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2. What two kinds of strife does Hesiod mention? Which type does he say is beneficial? (RRR p. 587, Works and Days, lines 10–24)

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Lecture Watch Lecture 10, and then answer the following study questions.

3. Where and when did Hesiod live?

______

4. To whom is the material in the Works and Days directed?

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34 5. What is Hesiod’s Theogony about?

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6. Of which book in the Bible do some passages in The Works and Days remind you?

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35 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 11 Lesser Epics: Quintus of Smyrna’s The Fall of Troy

Reading Read The Fall of Troy, by Quintus Smyrnaeus (included in Roman Roads Reader: Drama and Lyric), and then answer the following study questions

1. Who came and gave new hope to the city of Troy after Hector was killed and the Trojans had just about given up? (RRR p. 607)

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2. Who, upon hearing Penthesileia boast about her prowess, had premonitions that all would still go badly for the Trojans? (RRR p. 609)

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3. When did Priam know that Penthesileia would die rather than helping to drive back the Achaeans from the walls of Troy? (RRR pp. 611–612)

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4. Who killed Penthesileia? (RRR pp. 621–622)

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5. Who dealt Achilleus his death-blow? (RRR p. 629)

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36 6. Achilleus’ death shows clearly the division of the gods throughout the Trojan War Cycle. Between which two camps of men are the gods divided?

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7. Who among the gods mourned Achilleus death as a personal grief?

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8. Which two Greek heroes contested against each other for Achilleus’ armor? (RRR p. 649)

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Lecture Watch Lecture 11, and then answer the following study questions.

9. When did Quintus of Smyrna live?

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10. What period does The Fall of Troy describe?

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11. What is one noticeable difference between Quintus of Smyrna’s work here and the Homeric epics?

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37 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

12. In The Fall of Troy, what example of change in literature do we see since Homer’s day?

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13. What notable character who was still alive in the Iliad dies in The Fall of Troy?

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14. Who wins Achilleus’ armor?

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38 Lesson 12 Lesser Epics: Apollonius of Rhodes’ The Argonautica

Reading There is no reading assigment for this lesson.

Lecture Watch Lecture 12, and then answer the following study questions.

1. What period of history does the word “Hellenistic” refer to?

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2. Who founded the city of Alexandria?

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3. What was Eratosthenes famous for?

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4. Who (or what) calls to the Argonauts to board the ship for their journey?

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39 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

5. How is Circe related to Medea?

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Discussion Topic What are some advantages of reading the “Great Conversation” of old books chronologically?

40 Answer Key Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Background of Greek Drama: Background of Greek Drama: The Period, Development of Theater the Poets, and the Presentation 1. Modern scholars generally believe that drama 1. The Golden age of Greece was the fifth centu- originated in religious rites and ceremonies to ry BC, primarily in Athens. the god Dionysus. 2. The two major fifth-century events that 2. The two main types of Greek drama are trage- shaped Athenian culture and influenced Greek dy and comedy. thought were the Persian Wars (490 and 480 3. The circular flat staging area at the base of the BC) and the Peloponnesian War (431–04 BC). theater is called the orchestra . 3. The Greeks send Pheidippides back to Athens 4. The long shallow building that forms the back- to warn them that the defeated Persian army drop of the stage is called the “skéné,” the same has set sail to attempt an attack on the city be- Greek word behind the Septuagent’s transla- fore the Greek forces can return and defend it. tion for “tent” or “tabernacle .” His run from Marathon to Athens is the dis- tance of a marathon race today. 5. Our modern word “obscene” comes from the Greek “ob-skéné,” meaning “off scene,” in ref- 4. Xerxes and his army of 1.7 million cross the erence to content that might be important to Hellespont in the Second Persian War by lash- the story, but should not be shown publicly. ing together hundreds of ships side by side and The early Greek playwrights believed that buiding a wooden and dirt road across them . training yourself to see violence without the 5. Leonidas led the Spartans in the Battle of ability to take action required you to supress Thermopylae. the natural instinct to respond, and was there- 6. The Athenian navy was familiar with the wa- fore corrosive to the soul. ters of Salamis Bay and commanded small- 6. In early Greek drama the chorus, as a group, er, more maneuverable triremes that allowed serves as the primary actor in each play, giving them to outmaneuver the heavier and clumsier background to the plot as interpreting the go- Persian fleet. ings-on for the audience. 7. The construction of the Acropolis was ille- 7. In Greek drama, the “epis-ode” was the bit of gitimately funded by money from the Delian action that might take place “between odes,” League treasury—money that was intended to i.e., between songs. In Greek drama, “ode” fund the defence of the confederacy. was necessary to interpret “episode.” 8. The Greeks viewed their defeat of the Per- 8. Three of the most famous Greek tragedians are sians as a vindication by the gods of their cul- Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. One of the ture and way of life. The peace that followed most famous Greek comedians is Aristiphanes. ushered in the Golden age of Athens, a period marked by confidence and cultural development, especially in the area of drama, which highlighted democracy, trial by jury, and the Greek emphasis on the life of the mind.

42 9 . The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, 8. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia and the Battle at Thermopylae took place in to get fair winds for his journey to Troy. 480 BC. 9. Menelaus is the brother of Agamemnon and it is Menelaus’ wife Helen who was carried off Lesson 3 and then pursued by the Greeks, thus starting Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Agamemnon the Trojan war. 1. As Agamemnon opens, a watchman has been 10. As descendents of Atreus, both Agamemnon posted by Clytemnestra on the roof of Agam- and Menelaus were subject to the curse of the emnon’s palace in Mycenae to watch for the House of Atreus, but not in a fatalistic way. signal fires that will tell of Troy’s fall and the The curse, just like the intervention of the return of the Greek fleet. gods, can only bring out or accentuate what a man is predisposed to . Remember the episode 2. Clytemnestra describes how the signal fires in Book IV of The Iliad when Athena makes passed the message around the Aegean Sea Pandarus fire the arrow and break the truce by from Troy to Mycenae: when the signal “...convincing the fool’s heart within him.” watchmen saw Troy burning, they lit a bonfire; when the watchmen further along saw 11. The theme of nets (snares, entrapments) re- that bonfire, they lit their own, and so on until curs throughout Agamemnon. the watchmen on Agamemnon’s palace roof 12. The purple carpet that Clytemnestra rolls out saw the last bonfire. for Agamemnon represented extravagant lux- 3. The elders say that Clytaemnestra believes her ury reminiscent of a Persian potentate, an im- dream because she is so anxious for Agamem- age of royal arrogance that would have evoked non to return that she will accept anything as a strong negative connotations among the Athe- sign from the gods . nian audience . 4. Lines 844–54 are ironic because Agamemnon 13. Acts 26 contains an allusion to Agamemnon . says he is coming to restore the city, to heal The apostle Paul says that on the Damascus what is wrong, and to cure corruption, yet he road, Jesus asks him “why do you kick against is the corruption which Clytemnestra intends the goads”—the question posed by Aegisthus to remove. when the chorus rebukes him . 5. Clytemnestra’s charges against Agamemnon Lesson 4 include his sacrifice of Iphigenia, his bringing home Cassandra as a mistress, and his being Aeschylus’ Oresteia: The Libation “the plaything of all the golden girls at Ilium Bearers and The Eumenides (Troy).” In lines 1500–04, she also refers to the old curse on the house of Atreus, for which 1. Electra has been sent by Clytemnestra to Agamemnon has also paid. pour libations (drink offerings) at the tomb of Agamemnon. 6. At the end of the play Aegisthus and Clytem- nestra are in control of the city, but the old 2. Electra know that Orestes has returned be- men of the city continue to rail at them and to cause she recognizes the lock of his hair he had remind them that vengeance will come. left at the beginning of the play, and then she recognizes his footprint. 7. The mytho-historical context of the Oresteia is just after the end of the Trojan War.

43 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

3. Orestes is driven to kill Clytemnestra and Ae- Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. (From whom, gisthus because Apollo has told him through incidentally, this trilogy of plays gets its name). an oracle that he must punish his father’s mur- 14. At the end of The Libation Bearers, Orestes kills derers or be himself punished by the gods. his mother Clytemnestra and then is haunt- 4. There is a code of vengeance indicated in lines ed by the Furies because he has committed a 400–04: the feud mentality which cannot be crime against his kin . stopped. If blood is shed, more blood must be 15. The problem Aeschylus addresses in this trilo- shed. But retaliation must be made for that, gy is how to stop the cycle of blood vengeance. and then more for that in turn, and so on . 16. To resolve this problem Athena convinces the 5. In line 924 Clytemnestra threatens Orestes parties to hold a trial by jury to address the with a mother’s curse that the angry Furies issue of Orestes’ guilt rather than resorting to will exact revenge on him for her. vigilante justice, thus elevating the virtue of 6. In the opening scene of The Eumenides Orestes reason and rhetoric over violence. is at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, surround- 17. Aeschylus pleased the Athenians by praising ed by the sleeping forms of the Furies. rhetoric, a centerpiece to the developing Athe- 7. Apollo tells Orestes to go to “Pallas’ citadel,” nian democracy that set them apart from the the Acropolis of Athens, where Athena’s temple peoples around them . was, to find judges who will decide the case. 8. Clytemnestra complains to the Furies that she Lesson 5 did right in murdering Agamemnon and yet is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in disgrace and that the Furies are not helping 1. The problem in Thebes as the play opens is a her by pursuing Orestes. plague that is ravaging the city and country- 9. The Furies accuse Apollo and Athena, the side—the people and crops are dying. Oedipus “younger” gods, of riding roughshod over the sees the grief of the people, and he sympathiz- duties of justice that the older gods, like the es; he is not an uncaring ruler, he identifies Furies, represent. with his people . 10. Orestes does not dispute the fact that he is 2. Oedipus boasts of having “solved the riddle by guilty of killing his mother. The issue in the tri- my wit alone” and of having gotten rid of the al is whether it was right or wrong to do so . Sphinx, when Teiresias could not do it with 11. Apollo’s defense of Orestes is that a mother the help of the gods. He places excessive con- is not a real parent, because she is merely the fidence in his own intelligence and ability to nurse of the seed planted by the “real” parent, understand and deal with problems. He lacks the father. For proof he points to Athena her- humility in the face of things too big for him to self, who according to myth had no mother, handle . only a father, Zeus. By this reasoning, Orestes 3. In the argument between Oedipus and Teire- does not deserve to die. sias, each accusea the other of being blind . 12. The jury vote is evenly split, so Athena as judge Oedipus says Teiresias is blind not only phys- casts the deciding vote in favor of Orestes. ically, but also in his understanding, whereas 13. The chief character of the second and third blind Teiresias can see more clearly than Oedi- plays of the Oresteia is Orestes, the son of pus, who still has his sight .

44 4. Jocasta tells of the circumstances of Laius’ where he will die. His desire to stay is different murder, and Oedipus for the first time is shak- from his desire to avoid his fate in the earlier en, because it rings a bell—it sounds familiar. part of the story. He accepts and embraces his 5. Oedipus thinks Jocasta does not want to hear fate here, and it turns to good because of that . about his origins because she is only worried 3. When Ismene comes, she tells her father that that he will turn out to be a low-born man. He her two brothers are fighting over the throne thinks she is worried about being embarrassed of Thebes and that they will be coming to ask by his origins. for help . 6. Oedipus’ mother could not kill her baby, and 4. Oedipus responds to this news by becoming so handed him over to a servant to carry out furiously angry with his sons, who gave him no the king’s wish. The servant also could not help when he had reached the lowest point in bring himself to kill the child, and so left him his downfall in the previous part of the story. on a hillside to die . 5. Creon and Polynices come to their father Oe- 7. A shepherd rescues Oedipus as a baby, and af- dipus because they know that wherever he ter a time the king of Corinth adopts Oedipus dies, a blessing will follow, and they want to and continues to raise him . use that for their own purposes, to succeed in 8. In the ancient world “tyrant” merely meant a the war for the throne, not out of any concern ruler who had come to power by unorthodox for Oedipus himself. means. The term did not carry the negative 6. Polynices asks his sisters to give him proper connotation that it does today. burial when he dies . 9. The problem in Oedipus the King is the problem 7. At the beginning of Antigone we learn that Cre- of pride, as manifested in Oedipus’ own pride. on has forbidden the burial of any of the ene- 10. Aristotle said that Oedipus the King is powerful as my, especially Polynices, and that the penalty a story of discovery, rather than a story of action. for disobedience is death by stoning. 11. When Oedipus finds that Jocasta has hung 8. Creon’s basic position throughout the play is herself, he finally fully admits the horror that that the state (the city) is more important than he has committed, and gouges out his eyes be- individual loyalties and that those who govern cause he did not have wisdom and inner sight, the state (he, himself) ought to be obeyed, no and therefore he considers his physical outer matter what. He believes in absolute submis- sight worthless . sion to authority. 9. Antigone disobeys Creon because she believes Lesson 6 that obedience to the laws of the gods is more important than obedience to mere human au- Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and thority. She disobeys Creon because a higher Antigone law contradicts him . 1. According to the Stranger, Oedipus is sitting 10. Creon takes full responsibility for the conse- on ground sacred to the Eumenides (the Fu- quences of his attitude. He says he should have ries).Oedipus’ reaction is gladness—he wants reverenced the gods (meaning that he had not to stay. been doing so), and that it was his fault that his son, daughter-in-law, and wife died. 2. Oedipus wants to stay because he has had a prophecy from the Delphic oracle that this is

45 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

11. Two of the best known Greek mythological the end she actually benefited Greece and tries cycles are the Trojan cycle, and the Theban to prove her loyalty by saying that she tried to cycle. The plays by Sophocles compose part of run away back to the Greeks as soon as “divine the Theban cycle. interference in [her] life had stopped .” 12. The first king of Athens was Theseus. 5. Medea is angry at Jason because he is prepar- 13. The theme of pride, which was prominent in ing to marry Creon’s daughter, thereby betray- Oedipus the King, recurs in Oedipus at Colonus in ing and abandoning Medea . the form of Creon’s pride as well as in Anti- 6. Creon tries to force Medea and her children gone’s pride. out of the country because he fears reprisal 14. The Greeks loved Tragedy because it highlight- from her against himself and his daughter . ed the tension between man’s greatness and 7 . Euripides wrote The Trojan Women because he brokenness, a tension that often boiled down was concerned with the plight of women, a to the distinction between pride and hubris. In theme that the play highlights. the pre-Christian world, pride itself was con- 8. The background to Medea is the story of the sidered a virtue, and yet it was the overween- voyage of Jason and the Argonauts ing pride of hubris that invariably destroyed 9 . Medea offered to help Jason because she had great men. (Next year, in The Romans, we will fallen in love with him and he agreed to marry study St. Augustine, who argues that pride is her and take her away with him. the distinguishing mark and foundation of the City of Man.) 10. Medea shows her absolute devotion to Jason by burning all her bridges—stealing the Gold- Lesson 7 en Fleece, killing her father’s soldiers, killing her brother, and desecrating his body to de- Euripides’ Medea and The Trojan Women lay the pursuing ships. Medea embarks on 1. The god Poseidon favored the city of Troy and this path of radical action because Jason has mentions the Trojan Horse as the cause of the promised to marry her. city’s downfall. 11. Medea gets revenge by creating a poison and 2. Athena originally supported the Achaeans soaking a royal cloak and diadem in it. She (Greeks), but now conspires with Poseidon sends it by her children to the new wife of Ja- to harm the very soldiers whom she protected son who, when she puts it on, is poisoned and and helped as they fought against the Trojans. dies. Next, she kills their children. 3. Hecuba prepares Astyaax for burial. She is his 12. Deus Ex Machina (from the Latin, “god out father’s mother, his grandmother. of the machine”) is a plot device whereby a 4. Helen tries to show that executing her would be seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and unjust by casting blame on Hecuba for giving abruptly resolved, with an unrealistic or con- birth to Alexander (a.k.a. Paris), on Priam for trived intervention of some unexpected new not killing Alexander as an infant, on Alexan- event, character, ability, or object. der himself for bewitching her so that she went 13. Where Aeschylus and Sophocles tell a trag- with him, and ultimately on the gods, specifical- ic story where a good man is destroyed by a ly Aphrodite, for orchestrating that Alexander deep flaw, Euripides tells a tragic story where should have Helen. When Helen has run out of a good man is destroyed “just because.” other people to blame, she also remarks that in

46 Lesson 8 “A god hath guard over they hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar care: Aristophanes’ The Frogs and The Clouds and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again 1. Dionysos wants to bring a playwright back proclaim in song a sweeter glory yet....” from Hades to write him some good poetry, for “Us it beseemeth to requite the earth-shaking the current living poets were not so skilled at son of Kronos...and to sound his praise as our the art . well-doer, who hath given speed to the horses 2. Dionysus points to the audience, indicating of our car . . .” that they’re the ones to whom he’s referring. 3. Sappho lived on the Island of Lesbos in the 3. Dionysus says that he isn’t a coward because 600s BC. a coward would have stayed wallowing on the 4. Sappho is rumored to have been called “the fe- ground, whereas Dionysus asked Xanthias for male Homer.” a sponge with which to dab his heart, “a thing 5. Pindar lived about a century after Sappho, a coward never would have done!” around 500 BC. 4. Aeschylus and Euripides compete for the honor 6. The great games in Ancient Greece were the of sitting next to Pluto as the best playwright. Olympic Games, the Pythian Games, the Isth- 5. Aristophanes has Strepsiades burn down the mian Games, and the Nemean Games. Thinkery while he and his slave beat Socrates 7. Pindar wrote about the games of Ancient and his students off the stage . Greece, which were aristocratic in that they 6. The plays of Aristophanes are comparable to cost a great deal of time and money, and thus those of Gilbert and Sullivan in that both are were the kind of endeavor that only a rich elite satirical comentary on politics, culture, and so- could afford. The other poets of his day, as ciety at large. well as many of the younger citizens of Ath- 7. Aristophanes mocks Socrates and his follow- ens, had less use for the great games because ers in The Clouds . they served no practical purpose except for honor and glory. The older Greeks enjoyed the 8. The frogs play the role of the chorus in The Frogs . games because they appreciated the pursuit of 9. Dionysos selects Euripides to restore the in- honor, glory, and beauty as art for art’s sake. tegrity of tragedy in Athens. 8. Bucolic poetry (from the Greek βοῦς, meaning “cow”) is rural or “pastoral” in setting and of- Lesson 9 ten involves dialogues between shepherds on Lyric poetry: Sappho, Pindar, and the subject of love or philosophy. Theocritus 9. The bucolic style gave Virgil his start when he entered the poetic scene . 1. Sappho invokes Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, because Sappho writes love poetry Lesson 10 2. Pindar treats the gods as the directors of man’s steps and the givers of good fortune and success. Lyric Poetry: Hesiod’s Works and Days “Surely of thy devising were his deeds, [Apollo]....” 1. Hesiod requests the Muses to sing praise to Zeus.

47 Old Western Culture Year 1: The Greeks Unit 2: Drama and Lyric

2. Hesiod mentions the evil sort of strife, which 10. The Fall of Troy describes the period between the he says fosters war and fighting, and the ben- end of The Iliad and the beginning of The Odyssey . eficial sort of strife, which he says makes men 11. Unlike Homer, Quintus of Smyrna did not compete in their work, becoming better at write an invocation to the Muse at the begin- their trade or talent by comparing themselves ning of his work . with other men . 12. By the time The Fall of Troy is written in the late 3. Hesiod lived between 750 and 650 BC in Roman empire, we see expressions of roman- Boeotia. tic and sentimental feelings that Homer would 4. The material in The Works and Days is direct- never have written. ed to Hesiod’s brother Perses. 13. Achilleus dies in The Fall of Troy. 5. Hesiod’s Theogony recounts the story of the 14. Odysseus wins Achilleus’ armor. origin of the gods. It may be summarized as “god-eat-god.” Lesson 12 6. The proverbs in the Works and Days sometimes resemble passages in the book of Proverbs. Lesser Epics: Apollonius of Rhodes’ The Argonautica Lesson 11 1. The Hellenistic Era was the period between Lesser Epics: Quintus of Smyrna’s The Alexander the Great and the fall of the West- Fall of Troy ern Roman Empire . 2. Alexander the Great founded the city of Alex- 1. Penthesileia, an Amazon, cameto Troy eager andria and gave his name to the city. to fight. 3 . Eratosthenes was famous for calculating the 2. Andromache did not draw hope from Penthe- circumference of the Earth with an accuracy sileia’s promises, because Andromache knew that is within ten percent of the currently ac- what a formidable foe Penthesileia had to fight. cepted value. 3. Priam knew by a sign, an eagle that flew to 4. The ship itself, the Argo, calls the men to start the left and carried a dying dove in its talons, their journey. that Penthesileia would die at the hands of 5. Circe is Medea’s aunt. the Achaeans. 4. Achilleus killed Penthesileia 5. Apollo struck Achilleus in the ankle with an arrow. 6. The Greek gods divided themselves in support of either the Greek (Achaean) or Trojan camps. 7. Thetis, Achilleus’ mother, mourned his death. 8. Odysseus and Aias both laid claim to Achille- us’ armor. 9. Quintus of Smyrna lived in the third or possi- bly fourth century AD.