Learning objectives

In a general sense the subject aims to give students an overview of Archaic Greece, focussing especially on the following areas:

a) Eschatological beliefs.

b) Cosmogonies and cosmologies, especially those of Hesiod.

c) The world of Archaic lyrical poetry, traditionally thought to be the first personal lyrical poetry in Western civilization.

d) Pre-Socratic thought.

Specific learning objectives include:

-       To study the Greek image as forged by the oldest Greek poets, analyzing an array of primarily mythical information.

-       To examine the relationship between poetry and worship in Archaic Greece, looking specifically at the surviving fragments of an ancient Greek hymnic poem.

-       To study some of the major cosmogonic and cosmologic systems developed by the Greeks, and their relationship to eschatological beliefs.

-       In-depth study of the first lyrical poetry in Western civilization, comparing it to the lyrical traditions that followed.

-       To develop sufficient familiarity with the Greek language to be able to understand a text of medium difficulty with dictionary help.

Methodology

1. Classes are divided into 15 hours of theory, in which the content of the subject is taught, and 15 hours of practice, where the students perform work on translations, for a total of 30 hours. The practical work involves translating passages from the Epic Cycle, the Hesiodic Corpus, archaic elegiac poetry, Heraclitus and Pindar.
2. Each student must read two of the following texts in translation, which represents 30-35 hours independent learning:
   1. An anthology of Archaic Greek lyric poetry, preferably the version by Joan Ferraté.
   2. A selection of translated fragments from the lost epic, for example, those by A. Bernabé (BCG), M.Davies, or similar.
   3. A selection of excerpts from the Pre-Socratics, such as the translations published by Gredos or Alianza Editorial.
   4. A selection of Orphic texts, such as Hieros Logos by A. Bernabé, the French translations of Les Belles Lettres / La Verité des Mythes, or the appropriate chapters of La Sapienza greca by Giorgio Colli, for example.
   5. Pindar's victory odes, of which many editions in numerous languages are widely available.
3. Students must also independently prepare commentaries on three of the titles (or chapters of them where appropriate) listed in the bibliography, chosen with the teacher, and must present and defend these to the teacher. This is estimated to represent 30-35 hours of work plus 15 hours of tutorials.

Thematic Units

The Greek mythical poets. Eumel, Terpandre, etc. Hymnic poetry

The Epic Cycle

Psuedo-Hesiodic fragments. Melampòdia, Baixada de Piritous a l'Hades, etc.

Archaic Elegiac poetry, from Callinus to Simonides

Xenophanes of Colophon and Heraclitus of Ephesus

Pindar. Hymns, paeans, dythirambs, laments

The Derveni papyrus

Bibliography 

Blaise, F; Judet de la Combe, P. & Rousseau, P. (eds.) 1996. Le Métier du mythe. Lectures d'Hésiode. Lille: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.

Calame, C. 1996. "Feste, riti e forme poetiche", in S. Settis (ed.), I Greci. 2. Una Storia greca. i. Formazione (fino al VI secolo a. C.). Torí: Einaudi.

Cambiano, G., Canfora, L. & Lanza, D. (eds.) 1992. Lo Spazio letterario della Grecia antica. Vol. I, La produzione e la circolazione del testo. Tomo I, La Polis. Roma: Salerno Editrice.

Fowler, R. L. 1987. The Nature of Early Greek Liric: Three Preliminary Studies. University of Toronto Press.

Fraenkel, H. 1975. Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy. A History of Greek Epic, Lyric, and Prose to the Middle of the Fifth Century. Trad. M. Hadas & J. Willis. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (Traducció de la 2^a ed. alemanya,  Múnic: Beck, 1962. N'hi ha versió espanyola: Madrid: Visor, 1993).

Gentili, B. 1989. Poesia e pubblico nella Grecia antica. Roma-Bari: Laterza (1^a ed. 1984. Traducció espanyola a cura de X. Riu: Barcelona: Quaderns Crema, 1996).

Havelock, E. A. 1982. The Literate Revolution in Greece and its Cultural consequences. Princeton University Press.

Huxley, G. L. 1969. Greek Epic Poetry. From Eumelos to Panyassis, Londres, Faber & Faber.

Lambin, G. 1992. La chanson grecque dans l'antiquité, París, CNRS.

March, J. R. 1987. The Creative Poet. University of London. Institute of Classical Studies. Bulletin Supplement xlix.

Nagy, G. 1990. Pindar's Homer. The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Shapiro, H. A. (ed.) 2007. The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece. Cambridge University Press.

Snell, B. 2007. El Descubrimiento del espíritu. Estudios sobre la génesis del pensamiento europeo en los griegos. Traducción de J. Fontcuberta. Barcelona, El Acantilado (5ª ed. alemanya revisada i amb un nou epíleg, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975).

Vermeule, E. 1979. Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Traducció espanyola de J. L. Melena, México: FCE, 1984).

Assessment

1. Final exam:

 - translation (with dictionary help) of one of a selection of Greek texts;

 - commentary on two translated texts, chosen from a selection of four.

2. Exercises presented periodically throughout the course:

 - a review of each book, or chapter of a book, read during the course. These are to be submitted in writing, but should be discussed with the teacher before submission.