This is the home page for Classics 35. The course meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in 2405 Boylan.
In addition to the daily reading assignments and class discussion, there will be two papers (4-5 pp. each), a mid-term, and a cumulative final exam.
It is extremely important for everyone to attend every class and to contribute to our ongoing discussion of the issues raised by the works which we will be reading. These discussions will be at the heart of the course.
The final grade will be computed as follows: 15% for each paper; 25% for the mid-term; 25% for the final exam; and 20% for class participation.
My office is in 2407 Boylan. Office hours: Monday 2 to 3 p.m. and Wednesday 11 a.m. to noon, or by appointment. Phone: 951-5814. Feel free to e-mail me: hhansen@brooklyn.cuny.edu.
Click here for a selective bibliography of scholarly works.
In Classics 35 we will use the following texts, available in the bookstore:
Aeschylus, Oresteia, tr. Fagles (Penguin)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, tr. Ross (Oxford)
Euripides III, ed. Grene and Lattimore (Chicago)
Hesiod, Works and Days, Theogony, etc., tr. Lattimore (Michigan)
Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, tr. Melville (Oxford)
Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, tr. Grube (Hackett; same as
in Core 1)
Sophocles II, ed. Grene and Lattimore (Chicaco)
Here are the assignments for this semester:
DATE
ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC
| Jan. 29 | Introduction | justice and the gods |
| Jan. 31 | Hesiod, Works and Days | the justice of Zeus |
| Feb. 5 | Hesiod, Works and Days; Solon (xerox) | reciprocity |
| Feb. 7 | Sophocles, Philoctetes | honor and philia |
| Feb. 14 | Euripides, Trojan Women | reversal of fortune |
| Feb. 15 | Euripides, Hecuba | honor, philia, family |
| Feb. 21 | Aeschylus, Agamemnon | self-perpetuating violence |
| Feb. 26 | Aeschylus, Agamemnon | self-perpetuating violence |
| Feb. 28 | Aeschylus, Libation Bearers | the demands of blood-relations |
| Mar. 5 | Aeschylus, Eumenides | vendetta and civic law |
| Mar. 7 | Aeschylus, Eumenides | human responsibility |
| Mar. 12 | Gorgias, Encomium of Helen (xerox) | |
| Mar. 14 | Plato, Euthyphro | goodness and the gods
first paper due |
| Mar. 19 | Plato, Crito | the individual and the polis |
| Mar. 21 | Plato and Thucydides (xerox) | nomos and physis |
| Mar. 26 | mid-term | |
| Mar. 28 | Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics | eudaimonia |
| Apr. 11 | Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics | the virtues |
| Apr. 16 | Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics | |
| Apr. 18 | Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics | the highest good |
| Apr. 23 | Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe | Epicureanism |
| Apr. 25 | Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe | religion and the fear of death |
| Apr. 30 | Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe | |
| May 2 | Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe | |
| May 7 | Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe | |
| May 9 | Seneca, Dialogues and Letters | Stoicism |
| May 14 | Seneca, Dialogues and Letters | Seneca's life and death |
| May 16 | review for the final exam |
Links to other resources are
coming
soon. Meanwhile, you can go to the Classics
Department home page and explore the links to Internet resources.