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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Greek

Undergraduate Course: Greek Epic (GREE10033)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course will examine in detail a number of important Greek epic poems from antiquity, with a particular focus on the development of and intertextual interactions within the epic genre. The key texts to be studied will include selections from Homer's Odyssey, Books 1 and 3 of Apollonius' Argonautica, and Triphiodorus' Sack of Troy. The course will cover, too, the Homeric Hymns, Epyllion (esp. Callimachus) and texts from contiguous genres.
Course description The course is specifically structured to allow maximum scope for research-led teaching at this study level, and hence allows for variation in the weekly topics to reflect research developments and staff interests. A model of the teaching schedule looks as follows:
W1: Introduction: The Idea of Epic; Epic poetry through the ages; literary and cultural developments; Homer and the Epic Cycle; Introduction to the Odyssey.
W2: Discussion and Interpretation of Homer's Odyssey, with close reading of text prescribed.
W3: Discussion and Interpretation of Homer's Odyssey, with close reading of text prescribed.
W4: Discussion and Interpretation of Homer's Odyssey, with close reading of text prescribed.
W5: Introduction to Hellenistic Epic and Alexandrian Aesthetics; selections from Callimachus.
W6: Discussion and Interpretation of Apollonius' Argonautica, with close reading of text prescribed.
W7: Discussion and Interpretation of Apollonius' Argonautica, with close reading of text prescribed.
W8: Discussion and Interpretation of Apollonius' Argonautica, with close reading of text prescribed.
W9: Discussion and Interpretation of Apollonius' Argonautica, with close reading of text prescribed.
W10: Introduction to Imperial Greek poetry and its Hellenistic roots; introduction to Triphiodorus; Discussion and Interpretation of Triphiodorus, with close reading of text prescribed.
W11: Discussion and Interpretation of Triphiodorus, with close reading of text prescribed.
Conclusions
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: ( Greek 2A (GREE08007) OR Greek 2a Ex-Beginners (GREE08009)) AND Greek 2B (GREE08008)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesAdvanced-level ability in Greek language and literature, equivalent to two years' study at the University of Edinburgh (if uncertain, consult the Course Organiser).
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. show in both essay and exam understanding and knowledge of a wide range of Greek texts and their interrelations.
  2. demonstrate in both essay and exam a thorough understanding of the ancient genre of epic, its origins, developments and diversity across a broad chronological range of eras.
  3. show in essay and exam a detailed knowledge of the literary and cultural contexts which influence the generation of the texts studied.
  4. demonstrate in translation in both the exam and in weekly lectures and seminars a thorough knowledge of the linguistic, metrical and literary complexities of the original Greek of each text, and the differences in styles as the epic genre progresses chronologically.
  5. show in the essay and exam a thorough appreciation of the intertextuality between the specific texts studied, and especially of the significance of Alexandrian poetics.
Reading List
Baumbach, M. & Silvio Bär (edd.). (2013) Brill's Companion to the Greek and Roman Epyllion. Leiden.
de Jong, I.J.F. (2001) A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey, Cambridge.
Garvie, A.F. (1994) (ed.), Homer: Odyssey VI-VIII (Cambridge).
Hainsworth, J.B. (1991) The Idea of Epic, Berkeley.
Heubeck, A. /S. West/J. B. Hainsworth (edd.) (1988), A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey I, Books 1-8 (Oxford).
Hunter, R.L. (1989) Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica book III, Cambridge.
Hunter, Richard. (1993) The Argonautica of Apollonius: Literary studies. Cambridge.
Lefkowitz, M.R. (1981) The lives of the Greek poets. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
Miguélez Cavero, L. (2008). Poems in Context. Greek Poetry in the Egyptian Thebaid 200-600 AD. Berlin.
Miguélez Cavero, L. (2013) Triphiodorus, "The Sack of Troy" A General Study and a Commentary, Berlin.
Stanford, W.B. (1947, with many reprints) The Odyssey of Homer, London.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsGreek Epic
Contacts
Course organiserDr Calum MacIver
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: Calum.Maciver@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Stephanie Blakey
Tel: (0131 6)68 8261
Email: steph.blakey@ed.ac.uk
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