History 203: Unit 1
Classical Greece, Fall 2020
Homer and the Odyssey
1. Introduction
READ: John Keane, The Life and Death of Democracy, "Forgetting Athens" (This is in the document collection being sent to you by the bookstore.
Question Focus: Every educated person should study the history of ancient Greece.
2. Homer – Fact or Fiction?
READ: Hellas, pp. 27-47; Look at the maps: in Hellas, pp. viii, 26, 50; and Fagles/Odyssey (pp. 68-73).
Question Focus: Geography explains the rise of ancient Greece. It is impossible to know very much about the history of Greece in the period for which written records do not exist.
3. The Odyssey begins
READ: Fagles, The Odyssey, Books 1 & 2 (pp. 77-106); and Handout: "Background to the Odyssey"
Come to class prepared to summarize Books I & II. Identify the qualities of the characters Athena –Penelope, Telemachus.
Question Focus: The Odyssey reflects the values of the ancient Greeks.
4. The Odyssey – the role of fate
READ: "Odyssey chapter synopses, Book 3," and The Odyssey, Books 4 & 5 (pp. 124-167),
Question Focus (from now on, "QF"): The significance of Helen; The Greeks, their gods, and free will.
5. The Odyssey – gods and mortals
READ: The Odyssey, Books 6, 7 & 8 (pp. 168-210).
QF: The significance of the Phaeacians; the Greeks and women; Government in the era of Homer.Putting Greece in historical context
6. For this class you will make a timeline/timelines of the history of humanity that show how ancient Greece fits in. Directions are attached in a word document.
7. The Odyssey - Odysseus, the Hero
READ: The Odyssey, Books 9 & 10 (pp. 211-248).
QF: Odysseus is an odd kind of hero. Female characters in the Odyssey are pathetic.
8. The Odyssey - Further consideration of Odysseus
READ: The Odyssey, Books 11 & 12 (pp. 249-285).
How do your answers to the questions in the previous assignment appear to you now? Come to class prepared to describe Odysseus. Your sketch should have a central theme that makes clear his historical significance.
9. The Odyssey - Homecoming
READ The Odyssey, Book 13 (pp. 286-300), and "Synopses of Books 14 & 15" from handout, then Book 16 (pp.
338-353).
QF: 1. Odysseus is nothing without Athena.2. The Greek concept of Justice is alien to us.
11. The Odyssey - Husband and wife.
READ: The Odyssey, "Synopses of Books 17 & 18" then Books 19 & 20 (pp. 390-423).
Our next essay assignment will involve searching for the roots of democracy in Homeric Greece.
QF: Homeric Justice. The relationships among people of different classes in Homeric Greece. The suitors' perspective.
12. The Odyssey - Slaughter in the Hall
READ: The Odyssey, Books 21 & 22 (pp. 424-454).
QF: Homeric Justice. The role of the Gods in Odysseus's victory.
13. The Odyssey - Conclusions
The Odyssey, Books 23 & 24 (pp. 455-485; You may skip pp. 468-474, where the suitors arrive in the land of the dead--start back up at "Happy Odysseus" on page 474) Pay attention to the description of Laertes farm, beginning on p. 474
QF: The distribution of political power in Ithaca. The future of Ithaca.
READ THIS: "To meet population pressure within Greece, cumulating at crisis levels during the eighth century, more land had to be put into agricultural production. Or existing land had to be used more productively. Or more and better agriculture were needed. That third alternative is exactly what we see in the twenty-fourth book of Homer’s Odyssey, in a human picture of men at work in the soil... Because Laertes’ farm reflects an agriculture crystallizing at roughly the same time as the appearance of the Greek city-state, the relationship between the two phenomena—farming and the subsequent culture of the polis—demands close scrutiny. Odysseus’s brief walk from palace out to farm is therefore a radical passage from the Dark-Age cloister of the aristocratic hall into the new world of the intensive geôrgos" (Victor Hanson Davis).
14. A New Beginning
READ Hellas, pp. 47-55, Keane, 89-95 and "Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece"
QF: The impact of the hoplite and the phalanx on Greek politics. In class I will assign you to a peer editing group.
15. Peer editing
READ Peer Editing Guidelines and the Paper-Writing Guide
Bring three or four copies of your paper (depending on how many people are in your peer editing group).