HL1007: Classical Literature
This course will introduce students to writing from the ancient and classical Mediterranean worlds,
beginning with the oldest known work of literature, the 4500-year-old Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh,
and ending with a work of classical Persian literature from the 12th century CE . These Iraqi and Iranian
texts bracket a selection of works from the Greek, Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions that have
been among the most influential on subsequent European literature. Students will read about the epic
sea journeys of Odysseus and Aeneas, find out about the mythic origins of the Athenian and Roman
states, see how philosophers reconcile themselves to death at the hands of politicians, learn how
women like Penelope and Dido negotiate their place in the order of things, and explore the anguished
relationships between Job and Yahweh, Sappho and Aphrodite, Boethius and Lady Philosophy. These
readings will introduce students to the ancient origins of perennial literary themes and to a variety of
genres and cultures.
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Week 3: Homer: The Odyssey
Week 4: Homer: The Odyssey
Week 5: Sappho: Poems
Week 6: Euripides: The Bacchae
Week 7: The Book of Job
Week 8: Recess
Week 9: Plato: The Symposium
Week 10: Virgil: The Aeneid
Week 11: Cicero: The Nature of the Gods
Week 12: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy
Week 13: Farid al-Din Attar: The Conference of the Birds
Week 14: Conclusions
Prescribed Texts:
1. Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (Penguin Classics, 2003). ISBN: 9780140447804
2. Cicero, The Nature of the Gods (Oxford World Classics, 2008). ISBN: 9780199540068
3. Euripides, The Bacchae and Other Play, (Penguin Classics, 2006). ISBN: 978-0140447262
4. Farid Al din Attar, The Conference of Birds (Penguin Classics, 2011). ISBN: 9780140444346
5. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Benjamin R. Foster trans. (W.W. Norton & Co., 2001). ISBN:
978-0393975161
6. Homer, The Odyssey (London: Vintage Books, 2007). ISBN: 978-0099511687
7. The Book of Job, Raymond P. Scheindlin trans. (W.W. Norton & Co., 1999). ISBN: 9780393319002
8. Sappho, The Complete Poems of Sappho, (Shambhala, 2009). ISBN: 978-1590306130
9. Plato, The Symposium (Penguin Classics, 2003). ISBN: 978-0140449273
10. Virgil, The Aeneid, Robert Fitzgerald trans. (Vintage Classics, 1990). ISBN: 9780679729525
Please use the prescribed editions of these texts.