Allen Romano
email: aromano@uchicago.edu
office: HME 581
office hours: T 1:30-3:00, W 10:00-11:00 and by appointment
TA: Natasha Bershadsky
email: bershads@uchicago.edu
Intermediate Greek: Plato
Greek 201
MWF 11:30-12:20
Website: http://chalk.uchicago.edu
Goals
This course is designed to improve your reading knowledge of classical Greek prose. This
consists of the following specific goals:
1. to refine your knowledge of ancient Greek syntax
2. to increase your ancient Greek vocabulary (particularly prose vocabulary)
3. to improve your facility with translating at sight
In addition, this course will introduce you to the study of Platonic texts and a range of cultural,
philosophical, and literary issues raised in such texts.
Books
The following books are available at the Seminary Co-op:
Plato's Meno (Bryn Mawr Commentaries, R. McKirahan)
Campbell, M. Classical Greek Prose: A Basic Vocabulary
Smyth, H. Greek Grammar [this book may be found for free at www.textkit.com or used copies
at abebooks.com, amazon.com, etc.]
[Additional supporting texts will be supplied as the class progresses.]
Requirements
Class Attendance and Participation (55%):
The simplest part of the class but also the most important -- Show up prepared to translate the
assignment and participate in discussion. You should be able to translate any portion of the
assignment into English and to identify forms and constructions.
This course includes a mandatory weekly practice session. The times and locations of the
practice sessions will be determined based on all our schedules. For these practice sessions, the
class will be divided into several groups. Each study group will meet once a week for a grammar
review and sight-reading practice.
[Note on translation: While you are preparing, you are of course free to take notes and to write
out translations if you feel that this helps you to learn the material; however, when translating in
class you should not read from a prepared translation. It is to your advantage to try working as
much as possible with the Greek text and your own mnemonic resources.]
Writing Assignment: Commentary (15%)
Write a detailed commentary on a short passage from the reading. Your commentary must cover
issues of grammar, lexicon, and syntax but may also speak about thematic matters. I will give
more detailed instructions later in the quarter.
Quizzes (10%)
Every Monday there will be a very brief quiz at the beginning of class. This quiz is intended
primarily as a study aid and as a way to track your knowledge of the material. Quizzes will be
designed to test knowledge of grammar and vocabulary discussed the previous week.
Final Exam (20%)
The exam will include passages from the Meno for translation and brief questions about the
relevant syntax and morphology.
Note that there is no midterm.
Schedule
M 9/27
W 9/29
F 10/1
Translate
Read in English
Introduction
[Before Wednesday, email me the following information (take no more than 10
minutes doing this):
1. A little about yourself (e.g. class year, major, interests, etc.) -- whatever you
feel is relevant.
2. How much experience you have with Greek. If you took the first year class
last year, then simply note that. If you have taken Greek elsewhere, please tell
me what you have read and which textbook you used.
3. What other languages you speak or read
4. Why you are taking this course and what you hope to get out of it.]
70a-71c
71c-72a
"Sages, sophists, and philosophers:
Greek wisdom literature" (A.
Nightingale)
Depending on how fast we move through the text, it will be necessary to adjust the amount of
Greek assigned as we go along. The assignments for each week will be posted on the website.
In addition, for Friday classes we will often read other Platonic dialogues in translation or
secondary literature as a way to discuss a particular topic raised by the Meno. For these classes,
the assignment in Greek will typically be much shorter than on other days.
Dates to note:
Friday 11/26: No class (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Wednesday 12/8: Final Exam 10:30-12:30
SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY/RESOURCES
This list is provided as a series of starting points for further exploration. Asterisked items are
especially recommended.
For all your questions about the ancient Greek world, the first place to go is always:
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition) [A good resource for figuring out what any
unfamiliar or strange names are referring to.]
Greek Language Resources
Smyth, H. W. Greek Grammar [available for free via www.textkit.com]
Denniston, J. D. Greek Particles
The Greek tutorials at Berkeley are useful for review: http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ancgreek/
There is also a useful list of online resources for studying ancient Greek at
http://perswww.kuleuven.ac.be/~u0013314/greekg.htm
Lexica
Liddell, Scott, Jones Greek-English Lexicon [in three flavors: Great Scott, Middle Liddell, and
Little Liddell]
LSJ and the Intermediate Lexicon can both be accessed for free at the Perseus Project:
perseus.uchicago.edu or www.perseus.tufts.edu
PHILOSOPHY
General Greek Philosophy
Guthrie, W.K.C. A History of Greek Philosophy [multi-volume]
See also relevant entries in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu
Plato
Kraut, R., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plato
Vlastos, G. Platonic Studies
Socrates
Brickhouse, T. and Smith, N. Plato's Socrates
Guthrie, W.K.C. Socrates [vol. 3 of A History of Greek Philosophy]
Kahn, C. Plato and the Socratic Dialogue
Vlastos, G. Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher (1991)
Vlastos, G. Socratic Studies (1994)
Commentaries on the Meno
*Bluck, H. S. Plato. Meno
Klein, J. A Commentary on Plato's Meno
Sophists
Guthrie, W.K.C. The Sophists [=vol. 3 of A History of Greek Philosophy]
Presocratic Philosophy
Kirk, G.S., Raven, J.E. and Schofield, M. The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd edition (1983)
ANCIENT GREEK HISTORY AND CULTURE
Ancient Greek History
*Pomeroy, S. et al. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History
Morkot, R. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece [useful for timelines and especially
for its maps. But if there is a really obscure place you want to find, the place to look is
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, ed. Talbert]
Routledge series in Ancient History [one volume for each period: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic,
etc.]:
Osbourne, R. Greece in the Making, 1200 - 479 BC
Hornblower, S. The Greek World 479-323 BC
Shipley, G. The Greek World After Alexander 323 - 30 BC
The Perseus project has an online history of ancient Greece in the form of a condensed version of
Thomas Martin's Ancient Greece. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009]
The Diotima website contains many resources for the study of ancient women and gender:
http://www.stoa.org/diotima
Some good sites from Temple University
Classical Epic: http://www.temple.edu/classics/epic.html
Classical Mythology: http://www.temple.edu/classics/mythdirectory.html
The Trojan War Myth in Ancient Art: http://www.temple.edu/classics/troyimages.html
Greek Drama and Culture: http://www.temple.edu/classics/dramadir.html
Didaskalia contains resources on ancient theater: http://didaskalia.berkeley.edu/
Ancient Greek Literature
*Taplin, O. (ed) Literature in the Greek & Roman Worlds [published both as a single volume or
in two halves, one for Greek lit. and one for Latin lit.]
The Cambridge History of Greek Literature
Ancient Athens
Cambridge Ancient History vol. 3/3, 4, 5, 6, 7/1
Davies, J.K. Democracy and Classical Greece
Hill, I.T. The Ancient City of Athens: Its Topography and Monuments (1953)
Meiggs, R. The Athenian Empire (1972)
For pictures and additional resources, see http://www.stoa.org/athens/
Greek Religion and Ritual
*Easterling, P.E. and Muir, J.V. (1985) Greek Religion and Society
Burkert, W. (1985) Greek Religion. trans. Raffan. Harvard Univ. Press
Price, S. (1999) Religions of the Ancient Greeks
Zaidman, L.B. and Pantel, P.S. (1992) Religion in the Ancient Greek City, trans. Paul Cartledge
To find more bibliography:
Classicists have their own online bibliographic databases. One of these is TOCS-IN (Tables of
Contents of Interest to Classicists) -- just type in whatever you are looking for and you'll get a
list of articles on that topic: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/amphoras/tocs.html
L'Annee Philologique is the major compiler of bibliography in classics. It can be accessed online
from the library at http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/