CLA2323 A Fall 2022: in-person classes and exams Greek Mythology Professor David Sacks Contact email: dsacks@uottawa.ca office: Desmarais 10113 (10th floor) Office hours Wednesdays 2:30 to 3:30 pm, or by appointment Course dates and time Tuesdays 7:00 to 9:50 pm Lecture room Marion Hall 150: the auditorium Course description Introduction to the Greek myths in their religious and historical context. Their impact on Western art and literature. Brief references to texts-in-translation from ancient sources: Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, etc. Learning outcomes To familiarize students not just with the narratives of the best-known myths but also with the myths’ relevance to real-life ancient Greece. We will study how the myths were retold as part of Greek civic life and how the myths might (distortedly) reflect the preoccupations, fears, ideals, social mores, political propaganda, and expanding geographical scope of the real-life Greeks, in the era 800–400 B.C. particularly. This approach can be called “contextual”. Course teaching methods Classroom lectures and discussions. Assigned readings for homework. Readings will come from the textbook and from Brightspace postings. Assessment methods and weighting of grades ● Quiz 1: on Brightspace during Week 3: 10 minutes. Worth 5% of your course grade ● Midterm exam: in-class, Oct. 11: 80 minutes. Worth 38% of your course grade ● Quiz 2: on Brightspace during Week 10: 10 minutes. Worth 5% of your grade ● Final exam: in-person, date t.b.a. (sometime Dec. 9–22): three hours. Worth 52% 1 Grading of papers Your midterm exam and final exam will be written on paper and will be marked by a TA or the prof. Each exam will receive a number grade, based on a detailed marking key composed by the professor. Your two quizzes on Brightspace, in Weeks 3 and 10, will be graded by a Brightspace program. Textbook Richard Buxton’s The Complete World of Greek Mythology: Penguin/Thames and Hudson, 2004. Reprinted in 2015 –cost: $54 Cdn plus tax –copies are now available for purchase at Benjamin Books, 122 Osgoode Street, https://www.benjaminbooks.ca/ –as a temporary help, see the textbook pdf posted on Brightspace, covering the first three weeks’ assigned readings • Alternatively, you could buy the e-book, offered by the publisher at either of these “Google Store” sites: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=XehEEAAAQBAJ&rdid=bookXehEEAAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_vpt_read&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_viewport https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=XehEEAAAQBAJ&rdid=bookXehEEAAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_atb&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_atb The e-book’s ISBN is 978-0-500-77639-1. The Canadian sales price is in the low $50s Cdn. • Or you can look for a used copy in print. You could buy either edition: 2015 or 2004. They’re exactly the same. Posted readings Beyond our textbook, there will be Brightspace postings of assigned readings from other sources. E-sources: The following optional sites may prove helpful to you— Theoi Greek Mythology: http://www.theoi.com/ True to its name (theoi means “gods”), this user-friendly site offers an encyclopedia of “Greek gods, sprits, monsters” and gives links to other Greek mythology sites: http://www.theoi.com/Links.html Greek Mythology Link: http://www.maicar.com/GML/ Similar to the above, this is a complete encyclopedia of the myths’ characters, places, and topics, with also maps, picture galleries, and some excerpts in translation from relevant ancient Greek and Latin texts Perseus Digital Library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ A huge collection of ancient texts available in English. Includes complete versions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony, and other original works relevant to our course —When you read a text at this site, be sure to choose the “View text chunked by book” option in the onscreen box at left. Testing ● Your Week-3 quiz on Brightspace will be explained in advance in a separate posting. Ditto your Week-10 quiz. ● Also explained in a separate posting will be an optional, no-credit practice test that you’ll be offered as homework during Week 4. The practice test will allow students to get familiar with the format for their upcoming midterm exam. ● Your midterm and final exams will be in-person, closed-book, invigilated, and written on paper. Students may not write their exams on a laptop computer—unless the student has an official SASS accommodation and is writing the exam at SASS. The Oct. 11 midterm exam will be held in our classroom at 7:00 pm at the start of class. Students will have 80 minutes to write. The midterm will cover material from the start-of-course through Oct. 4: that is, everything assigned for readings and/or covered in lecture. The university’s deadline to drop a Fall course is Nov. 18. Well in advance of that date, CLA2323 October-midtermexam grades will be posted to Brightspace and students will have the chance to pick up their marked papers in class. 2 Our final exam will be cumulative, on the whole course’s content. However, the final exam’s choice of questions will favour post-midterm-exam material, at about 70 to 30 percent. Any student who unfortunately misses our final exam—or who foresees a conflict—should try to arrange a deferred final exam for February. To do so, fill out the online form at https://arts.uottawa.ca/en/academic-information/forms/deferred/. For any questions, please contact the Arts Faculty at arts@uottawa.ca. The Arts Faculty will determine whether or not your excuse is admissible and if you may take a deferred final exam. If a student misses the midterm exam, the prof will decide whether or not the student may write a make-up midterm. Acceptable excuses would involve a medical or family emergency, documented in writing. Other excuses would not normally be accepted. If your excuse is approved, the prof will schedule you for the make-up session. If your excuse is not approved, you would lose the course points. For a student’s medical note to be approved, it must be hand-delivered to the prof within seven days (five week-days and a weekend) of the missed Oct. 11 midterm: See Academic Regulation I-9.5.1 (d): https://www2.uottawa.ca/aboutus/policies-regulations/academic-regulation-i-9-evaluation-student-learning. This means delivery in person, in hard copy, to the prof, either at the prof’s Oct. 12 office hour or in Oct. 18 class. Excuse-notes delivered later than one week after the missed midterm will not be accepted unless the student can document an ongoing illness. Please understand that the medical note must be delivered by the student to the professor directly. The prof will not contact any third party to acquire a student’s excuse-note. Students who miss the midterm exam with an acceptable excuse will write at a make-up session on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7:00–8:20 pm during our regular class time, in a separate classroom, invigilated by a TA. These students will be welcome to join our regular Nov. 1 lecture class after finishing writing their make-up midterm exam. If a student misses the Oct. 11 midterm exam (with an acceptable excuse) and then misses the Nov. 1 make-up session (with an acceptable excuse), the student will be accommodated at the prof’s convenience in November. Unfortunately, students’ midterm-exam papers written after Nov. 1 will probably not get marked before the Nov. 18 drop-deadline. Please note that any make-up midterm questionnaire or make-up final-exam questionnaire in this course will be composed by the prof expressly for the make-up session and will not be the same questionnaire as used previously for the mainstream class. Scheduling notes We meet 12 times, Sept. 13 through Dec. 6. No class on Oct. 25, for Reading Week. Weekly reading assignments For every class session, you’ll normally be assigned a reading in our textbook (“Buxton”), with often a separate readingtext from the prof, posted on Brightspace. See the “Course calendar” below, pp. 4–5. Class sessions Classes normally will run two hours and 40 minutes, until 9:40 pm. A session will include perhaps three lecture-topics from the prof, plus class discussion. Questions from students are welcome. Any student with a question or a point to contribute is urged to raise a hand in class. Sincerely, we want to hear from you. Attendance Attendance will not be taken in class. If you are absent from a class, please do not email the prof to ask what you missed. Rather, look for the day’s lecture notes on Brightspace. Also you could try to get in-class notes from a classmate. Laptops during lectures Use of laptops for notes-taking is encouraged in this class, but please try not to “wander away” during lecture. Online browsing is not just a total waste of your class time but can be distracting to students sitting behind you. Similarly, phone texting wastes your time—and (frankly) annoys the prof, who can easily notice a student doing it. 3 Posting of lecture notes On the day or so after a lecture, the prof will post his slideshow from the lecture. In addition, an attempt will be made to post an audiovisual recording of the slideshow being delivered in that past class. Still, you’re urged to come to class, to get full benefit. In-class is your chance to ask questions and otherwise contribute. Our teaching assistants: names and email addresses t.b.a. Questions about midterm-exam marking If you find you have questions on how your midterm was marked, or wish to dispute the mark, please contact the prof to arrange a meeting. However, if a TA marked your paper, please first contact the TA for a meeting. After that meeting, if you are not satisfied, you may contact the prof. To every student: Please hold on to your returned, marked midterm-exam paper, until mid January. Teacher errors can happen: If the professor has no grade on the spreadsheet for your midterm exam, your midterm grade will be zero unless you can produce the marked paper. Course calendar: Readings are due for the class date where they are listed. No October 25 class, for Reading Week. Class Class 1 Date Sept. 13 Class 2 Sept. 20 Class 3 Sept. 27 Class 4 Oct. 4 Class 5 Oct. 11 Class 6 Oct. 18 Class 7 Topics • Welcome. Our course outline. Our “contextual” approach • The land of Greece • Early Greek history: 2100–1200 B.C. Early Greek religion. The god Zeus • Greece in the “Dark Age”: 1200–750 B.C.: birth of Greek mythology? The poets Homer and Hesiod: 700s B.C. • The wars of the gods against the Titanes (Titans) and Gigantes (Giants) • Stories and personalities of the gods. The myth of Demeter and Persephone • The Near Eastern influence: 900–500 B.C. The goddess Aphrodite • The afterlife and the Underworld • The boundary between gods and humans. The god Apollo • Sexual violence in the myths: why? • Midterm exam: 80 minutes • Lecture after the midterm: Male homosexuality in the myths. Homosexuality in ancient Greece • Three early heroes: Perseus, Bellerophon, Cadmus (Kadmos) • The Boar Hunt of Calydon (Kalydon) • Jason and the Argonauts. Medea Reading assignments due For Sept. 13, read pp. 6– 13 and 178–193 in our textbook (“Buxton”). Read the “due Sept. 13” Brightspace postings For Sept. 20, read Buxton pp. 14–53 and 194–199. Read the “due Sept. 20” postings on Brightspace Read Buxton pp. 54–87 and the Brightspace postings. Write Quiz 1 on Brightspace Read Buxton pp. 88–101, 156–159, and 206–213. Optional: Write the practice test at home: no points-credit Study for midterm exam: all the material assigned through Oct. 4 Read Buxton pp. 102– 113, 160–161, and 174– 177. Reread pp. 61, 96 Reading Week --------------------------------------- ------------------------- Nov. 1 • The myth of the Amazons • Heracles (Herakles) Read Buxton pp. 114– 122. Brightspace posts 4 Class 8 Nov. 8 Class 9 Nov. 15 Class 10 Nov. 22 Class 11 Nov. 29 Class 12 Dec. 6 • Greek history, 500s–400s B.C.: Athens versus Sparta • Theseus • The katabasis (journey to the Underworld): Orpheus, Theseus, Heracles, Odysseus, and Psyche • The twins Castor and Polydeuces (Kastor and Polydeukes). Their sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra • Tales of Thebes: Oedipus, the Seven against Thebes, Antigone • Tales of Troy: Priam and Hecuba. The “Judgment of Paris”. Paris and Helen • The Trojan War: Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Ajax. The fall of Troy • The troubled homecomings of the Greeks. The murder of Agamemnon • The homecoming of Odysseus • The ordeal of Orestes of Mycenae • Tales of metamorphosis. The Roman poet Ovid • The gods withdraw. The Age of Heroes ends Read Buxton pp. 124– 129 and 170–173. Postings on Brightspace Read Buxton pp. 130– 133, 162–169, and 200– 205. Postings on Brightspace Read Buxton pp. 133– 140 top and 146–153. Brightspace posts. Write Quiz 2 on Brightspace Read Buxton pp. 140– 145, 154–155, and 222. Optional: read pp. 225– 245 Review. Questions about our final exam? Regulation on plagiarism and academic fraud Academic integrity means being responsible for the quality of your work, preparing it honestly, and respecting the intellectual community you are part of as a student. It is a core value in all scholarly work. Academic fraud refers to “any act by a student that may result in a distorted academic evaluation for that student or another student”: https://www2.uottawa.ca/about-us/policies-regulations/academic-regulation-i-14-academic-fraud. Here are some examples: • • • • • • Submitting work prepared by someone else or for someone else Using work you have previously submitted for another course, without your professor’s permission Falsifying or making up information or data Falsifying an academic evaluation Submitting work you have purchased on the Internet Plagiarizing (see below) ideas or facts from others Plagiarism means using words, sentences, ideas, and facts you have gotten from others and passing them off as yours, by failing to quote or reference them correctly. Plagiarism comes in many forms, including the following: • • • • Failing to place quotation marks (“…”) around words or sentences you have taken from other authors “Copying and pasting” information found on the Internet without providing a reference Translating texts without providing a reference for their sources Not providing a reference for a paraphrase or a summary Academic integrity is fundamental to all scholarly activity. Every member of the University community must learn and share knowledge with honesty and integrity. Students should be proud to show their diploma, knowing they’ve earned it honestly and by respecting the principles of academic integrity. https://www2.uottawa.ca/about-us/provost/academic-integrity 5 Academic regulation I-14: academic fraud https://www2.uottawa.ca/about-us/policies-regulations/academic-regulation-i-14-academic-fraud Free services available to students Student Mentoring Centre: Faculty of Arts academic support Run by the Faculty of Arts. You can meet with a mentor, take workshops, get involved in university life. Visit the website for info on writing, studying, time management, and many other helpful, fun topics. https://www2.uottawa.ca/faculty-arts/student-life-services/student-mentoring-centre SASS: Student Academic Success Service A free network of services and programs designed to give you the tools and information you need to succeed. From their website you can access the Aboriginal Resource Centre, Academic Writing Help Centre, Access Service, Mental Health & Wellness, Counselling and Coaching Service, and Mentoring. https://www2.uottawa.ca/study/academic-support https://www2.uottawa.ca/campus-life/health-wellness Academic essentials This webpage has information on everything you’ll need to do throughout your studies—admissions, events and activities, fees, student guides, deadlines, financial aid, and much more. http://www.uottawa.ca/strategic-enrollment-management/ Technical support for students Need help? We have staff across campus to help you solve all sorts of technical issues and learn more about digital applications, programs, and tools. Check out this list of university-wide and faculty-specific support! https://www2.uottawa.ca/about-us/leadership-governance/vice-presidents/vp-academics/technical-support-students Good2talk Free, confidential, and anonymous helpline, providing professional counselling on any issue and information and referrals for mental health, addictions, and well being, for post-secondary students in Ontario, 24/7/365. http://www.good2talk.ca/ or 1-866-925-5454 Sexual violence: support and prevention The University of Ottawa does not tolerate any form of sexual violence. Sexual violence refers to any act of a sexual nature committed without consent, such as rape, sexual harassment, or online harassment. The University, as well as student and employee associations, offers a full range of resources and services allowing members of our community to receive information and confidential assistance and providing for a procedure to report an incident or make a complaint. 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