Section outline

  • General

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    GREEK 201 – PLATO & THUCYDIDES 

    Radcliffe G. Edmonds III

    Office: Old Library 245

    Office Phone: 526-5046

    redmonds@brynmawr.edu

     

    Old Library 102

    MWF 9:00-10:00

    Office Hours: MWF 10:00 -11:00
    or by appointment

     

    Required Texts:  

    • Plato, Symposium – Cambridge Edition and Commentary by Kenneth Dover
    • Plato, Symposium – Bryn Mawr Text and commentary by Gilbert Rose
    • Thucydides, Book VI – Text and Commentary by Kenneth Dover
    • Thucydides, Book 6 – Bryn Mawr Commentary by Cynthia Shelmerdine

    Suggested Texts:

    • Plato, The Symposium, trans. Waterfield
    • Thucydides, The Landmark Thucydides, ed. Strassler
    • Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives, trans. Scott-Kilvert

    Course Description:

                Greek 201 is designed to introduce the student to two of the greatest prose authors of ancient Greece, the philosopher, Plato, and the historian, Thucydides.  These two writers set the terms in the disciplines of philosophy and history for millennia, and philosophers and historians today continue to grapple with their ideas and influence. 

    The Symposium (or Drinking Party) of Plato provides an engaging introduction to the philosophy of Plato in its depiction of Plato’s teacher, Socrates, discussing eros at an Athenian drinking party.  The Symposium also reveals Plato’s mastery of the Greek language as he creates the speeches of a number of different individuals, including the famous comic poet Aristophanes and the tragedian Agathon.  Particularly memorable is the speech of the brilliant statesman Alcibiades, who crashes the party and provides a drunken eulogy of Socrates before compelling everyone to drink heavily for the rest of the evening.

    Alcibiades provides a link between the two texts in this course.  The sixth book of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is concerned with the beginnings of the Athenian Sicilian expedition, Athens’ greatest disaster in the Peloponnesian War.  The Sicilian expedition was urged and undertaken by Alcibiades, and his spectacular downfall and defection during the mission perhaps doomed it to failure.  In this course we will examine the ways in which both writers handle the figure of Alcibiades as a point of entry into the comparison of the varying styles and modes of thought of these two great writers.  Through this course, students should improve their fluency with standard Attic prose and gain an appreciation of the complexities and nuances of Greek style in the texts of two of the greatest prose writers.  Students should also increase their understanding of the cultural context in which these texts were produced, as well as of the scholarly tradition that has engaged with these texts for over two millennia. 

    Bryn Mawr College is committed to providing equal access to students with a documented disability. Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first register with Access Services. Students can call 610-526-7516 to make an appointment with the Access Services Director, Deb Alder, or email her at dalder@brynmawr.edu to begin this confidential process. Once registered, students should schedule an appointment with the professor as early in the semester as possible to share the verification form and make appropriate arrangements.  Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice to implement. More information can be obtained at the Access Services website. (http://www.brynmawr.edu/access-services/)

    Course Requirements:

    Class participation:

                Participation, of course, includes attendance, since you cannot participate if you are not in class.  If, for some reason, you cannot attend class, please inform me in advance.  In each class session, we will translate aloud from the portions of the text assigned for the week.  Please be prepared to translate any of the readings specified in the previous class session.  If, for some reason, you cannot prepare for class, please attend anyway-you will be better prepared for the next class. 

                We will also spend time discussing the characters and ideas that animate these texts, since the value of Plato and Thucydides lies not merely in their incomparable mastery of Greek prose, but in the thoughts which they expressed so well.  We will often look at some secondary reading on the section of text covered in the classes for the week.  For each reading, one student will be responsible for introducing and starting discussion on the material, but every student is expected to contribute intelligently to the discussion.  The readings will be available on Moodle.

    Writing Assignments: 

                A short writing assignment will be assigned for each of the authors covered in the class.  The assignment for Plato’s Symposium will take the form of a speech in praise of eros, whereas the assignment for Thucydides Book VI will take the form of a commentary on a short passage. Students are encouraged to submit draft versions for comment before turning them in for a grade.  The encomium paper will receive feedback from other members of the class and be revised for a second grade.

    Quizzes:

                There will be a short (10 minute) quiz every Monday on the material covered in the previous week.  One quiz may be missed without penalty, but there are no make-up quizzes.  If no quiz is missed, the lowest quiz grade may be dropped.  The quizzes are intended to ensure that you keep up with the readings and give you further practice to build your Greek syntax and vocabulary.

    Exams:

                There will be a mid-term and a final for this class on all the materials covered to that date in class. Both the Midterm and the Final may include essays dealing with the themes discussed in the works as well as passages for translation.

      

    Grade Distribution:

    • Class Participation                   15%
    • Written Assignments               10%
    • Quizzes                                   40%
    • Midterm Exam                        15%
    • Final Exam                              20%

  • Topic 1

    Week I:  (September 3-5)

    Introduction; Review of syntax

    Readings: 172a-174a Apollodorus' Prologue

    Secondary Reading: Plato’s Symposium in English

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Guthrie, W. K. C. 1975. “Symposium.” In A History of Greek Philosophy:  Volume IV - Plato: The Man and His Dialogues - Earlier Period, 365–96. Cambridge University Press.

    ·       Arieti, James. 1995. “How to Read a Platonic Dialogue.” In The Third Way: New Directions in Platonic Studies, edited by Francisco Gonzalez, 119–32. Rowman & Littlefield.

  • Topic 2

    Week II:  (September 8-12)

    Readings: 174a-178a Aristodemus' Introduction

    Secondary Reading:  Halperin, David M. 1992. “Plato and the Erotics of Narrativity.” In Methods of Interpreting Plato and His Dialogues, edited by James C. Klagge and Nicholas D. Smith, 93–130. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Blanckenhagen, Peter H. von. 1992. “Stage and Actors in Plato’s Symposium.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 33: 51–68.

    ·       Nails, Debra. 2006. “Tragedy Off-Stage.” In Plato’s Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception, edited by Lesher, James, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield, 179–207. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

  • Topic 3

    Week III:  (September 15-19) 

    Readings: 178a-180b, 180c-185c the Speeches of Phaedrus & Pausanias

    Secondary Reading:  Cohen, David. 1991. “Law, Social Control, and Homosexuality in Classical Athens.” In Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of Morals in Classical Athens, 171–202. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Carnes, Jeffrey. 2006. “Plato in the Courtroom: The Surprising Influence of the Symposium on Legal Theory.” In Plato’s Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception, edited by Lesher, James, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield, 272–94. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

    ·       Davidson, James. 2012. “Dover, Foucault and Greek Homosexuality: Penetration and the Truth of Sex.” In Studies in Ancient Greek and Roman Society: Past and Present Publications, edited by Robin Osborne, 78–118. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    ·       Nussbaum, Martha. 2002. “Erōs and Ethical Norms: Philosophers Respond to a Cultural Dilemma.” In The Sleep of Reason : Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by M. Nussbaum and J. Sihvola, 55–94. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Topic 4

    Week IV:  (September 22-26)

    Readings: 185c-189c Speech of Eryximachus; 189c-191c the Speech of Aristophanes

    Secondary Reading:  Trivigno, Franco. 2017. “A Doctor’s Folly: Diagnosing the Speech of Eryximachus.” In Plato’s Symposium: A Critical Guide, 48–69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Edelstein, Ludwig. 1945. “The Role of Eryximachus in Plato’s Symposium.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 76: 85–103.

    ·       Rowe, Christopher J. 1999. “The Speech of Eryximachus in Plato’s Symposium.” In Traditions of Platonism: Essays in Honour of John Dillon, edited by John J. Cleary, 57–64. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Encomium Assignment Due Friday, September 26

  • Topic 5

    Week V:  (September 29 - October 3)

    Readings: 191c-193e the Speech of Aristophanes; 193e-199b Speech of Agathon

    Secondary Reading:  Plochmann, George Kimball. 1971. “Supporting Themes in the Symposium.” In Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy, I, edited by John P. Anton and George L. Kustas, 1:328–44. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Lowenstam, Steven. 1986. “Aristophanes’ Hiccups.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27: 43–56.

    ·       Obdrzalek, Suzanne. 2017. “Aristophanic Tragedy.” In Plato’s Symposium : A Critical Guide, edited by Pierre Destrée and Zina Giannopoulou. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    ·       Gonzalez, Francisco. 2017. “Why Agathon’s Beauty Matters.” In Plato’s Symposium : A Critical Guide, edited by Pierre Destrée and Zina Giannopoulou, 108–24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Topic 6

    Week VI: (October 6-10)

    Readings: 199b-207a the Speeches of Socrates and Diotima

    Secondary Reading: Halperin, David. 1989. “Why Is Diotima a Woman?” In One Hundred Years of Homosexuality, 113–51. Routledge.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Edmonds, Radcliffe G. 2000. “Socrates the Beautiful: Role Reversal and Midwifery in Plato’s Symposium.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 130: 261–85.

    ·       Hobbs, Angela. 2006. “Female Imagery in Plato.” In Plato’s Symposium : Issues in Interpretation and Reception, edited by Lesher, James, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield, 252–71. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

    ·       Sheffield, Frisbee C. C. 2006. “The Role of the Earlier Speeches in the Symposium: Plato’s Endoxic Method?” In Plato’s Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception, edited by Lesher, James, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield, 23–46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

    ·       Plotinus Ennead III.5

     

    Midterm Exam

  • Topic 7

    Week VII: (October 13-17) FALL BREAK

  • Topic 8

    Week VIII: (October 20-24)

    Readings: 207a-212c Speech of Socrates

    Secondary Reading: Moravscik, J. M. E. 1971. “Reason and Eros in the ’Ascent’-Passage of the Symposium.” In Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy, I, edited by John P. Anton and George L. Kustas, 1:285–302. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Kosman, L. A. 1976. “Platonic Love.” In Facets of Plato’s Philosophy, edited by W. H. Werkmeister, 53–69. Assen and Amsterdam: Van Gorcum.

    ·       Blondell, Ruby. 2006. “Where Is Socrates on the ‘Ladder of Love’?” In Plato’s Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception, 147–78. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

  • Topic 9

    Week IX: (October 27-31)

    Readings: 212c-219e Speech of Alcibiades

    Secondary Reading:  Nussbaum, Martha C. 1986. “The Speech of Alcibiades: A Reading of the Symposium.” In The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, 165–99. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Reeve, C.D.C. 2006. “A Study in Violets: Alcibiades in the Symposium.” In Plato’s Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception, edited by Lesher, James, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield, 124–46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.

    ·       Edmonds, Radcliffe G. 2017. “Alcibiades the Profane: Images of the Mysteries.” In Plato’s Symposium: A Critical Guide, edited by Pierre Destrée and Zina Giannopoulou, 194–215. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

     

    Symposium Encomium Revisions due Friday, October 31

  • Topic 10

    Week X: (November 3-7)

    Readings: 219e-223d Speech of Alcibiades

    Secondary Reading:  Clay, Diskin. 1975. “The Tragic and Comic Poet of the Symposium.” Arion n.s. 2/2: 238–61.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Usher, M. D. 2002. “Satyr Play in Plato’s Symposium.” The American Journal of Philology 123: 205–28.

    ·       Edmonds, Radcliffe. fc. “Are you all laughing at me because I am drunk? Humorous banter in Plato’s Symposium.” In Les Usages Platoniciens de l’Humor, edited by Pierre Destrée and Arnaud Zucker.

    • Clay1975 File PDF
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  • Topic 11

    Week XI:  (November 10-14)

    Readings: Thucydides VI.1-8

    Secondary Reading:  Plutarch Life of Nicias, Plutarch Life of Alcibiades

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Morakis, Andreas. 2011. “Thucydides and the Character of Greek Colonisation in Sicily.” Classical Quarterly 61 (2): 460–92.

    ·       Zahrnt, Michael. 2006. “Sicily and Southern Italy in Thucydides.” In Brill’s Companion to Thucydides, edited by Antonis Tsakmakis and Antonios Rengakos, 629–655. Leiden: Brill.

  • Topic 12

    Week XII:  (November 17-21)

    Readings: Thucydides VI.9-12; Thucydides VI.13-17

    Secondary Reading: Tompkins, Daniel (1972). “Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides: Nicias and Alcibiades,” Yale Classical Studies XXII: 181-214.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Ober, Josiah (1998). “Public Speech and Brute Fact:  Thucydides,” in Political Dissent in Democratic Athens:  Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule. Princeton: 52-121.

  • Topic 13

    Week XIII:  (November 24-26) Thanksgiving

    Readings: Thucydides VI. 18-27

    Secondary Reading:  Macleod, Colin. 1983. “Rhetoric and History (Thucydides 6. 16-18).” In Collected Essays, 68–87. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Wohl, Victoria (1999). “The Eros of Alcibiades”  Classical Antiquity 18.2: 349-385.

  • Topic 14

    Week XIV:  (December 1-5)

    Readings: Thucydides VI. 53-55

    Secondary Reading:  Murray, Oswyn (1990). “The Affair of the Mysteries: Democracy and the Drinking Group,” in Sympotica: A symposium on the symposium, ed. Murray, Oxford: 149-161.

    Supplementary Reading:

    ·       Andocides, On the Mysteries

    ·       Dover, K.J., (1970). “Excursus:  The Herms and the Mysteries,” in A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, by A. W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, and K.J. Dover, vol. iv, Clarendon Press: Oxford: 264-288.

     

    Commentary Assignment Due December 5

    • Murray1990 File PDF
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  • Topic 15

    Week XV:  (December 8-12)

    Conclusions

    Review

  • Topic 16