Required texts and suggested translations:
Aeschylus, Agamemnon, from Oresteia, translated by Robert Fagles ($10)
        Seven Against Thebes, in Aeschylus II, ed. David Grene ($9)
Sophocles, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus, in Sophocles I, ed. David Grene ($9)
        Seekers (Ichneutae), translation after R. J. Walker, in Perseus
Euripides, Suppliant Women, translated by Rosanna Warren and Stephen Scully ($8)
        Bacchae, translated by Stephen Esposito ($8)
        Phoenissae, translated by Peter Burian ($8)
        Ion, translated by W. S. DiPiero ($10)
        Cyclops, in Euripides II, ed. David Grene ($9)
Aristotle, Poetics, translated by Malcolm Heath ($11)

The suggested translations, except for Ichneutae, are available in the University Bookstore.  Additional translations of all these works are available in the Perseus Digital Library (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu), and translations are also available in the Tisch Library.  You may use any translation of these texts, into English or into any other language you can read fluently.

Other resources:
Course web page, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/~amahoney/cl55_s01.html
Perseus Project, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
Crazed Women, a translation of Bacchae by Laurence Senelick, Balch Arena Theater, 15-17 and 22-24 February ($6).

Goals for the semester:
Aristotle defined tragedy as the enactment of a heroic action, meant to provoke pity and fear in the audience.  In the best tragedies, as he saw it, the main character falls from good fortune to bad, not because he or she is a bad person but because of some error, mistake, or flaw.  We will read selected tragedies, including the one Aristotle singles out as a nearly ideal example of the genre, and will consider the main features of tragic performance.  Readings will focus on the story of Thebes, as told by the three greatest Greek tragedians.

The readings are primary texts, in English translation.  Knowledge of Ancient Greek is neither required nor assumed, but students who have completed Greek 2 or equivalent are encouraged to read selected plays in their original language.

Students will use the resources of the Perseus Digital Library to supplement the readings.

Workload and grading:
There will be two in-class exams, one hour each, and a two-hour final.  Each exam will cover material since the last one.  You will have several short written assignments (300-500 words).  You will have reading assignments for each class.

Students must also attend Crazed Women, a production of Euripides's Bacchae, translated and directed by Prof. Laurence Senelick, to be given in the Balch Arena Theater on 15-17 and 22-24 February; one of the written assignments will be based on this production. Students are encouraged to find and attend other productions of Greek tragedy as well.

The grades will be computed as follows:
 
 

Schedule of exams and assignments:

The two hour exams will be
 

General policies:
You should complete the reading assigned for each class before that day's class; read the entire play before the first class in which it is to be discussed. You should bring the text to class, and you will probably want to bring your notes on the reading assignments.

Attendance in class is strongly encouraged.  Exams will be based on material from lectures and class discussions, and written assignments will build on class work.  On the other hand, if you must occasionally miss class for a legitimate reason, I will assume you can keep up with the work.

I call your attention to University policy against plagiarism and other forms of cheating.  Please refer to the Bulletin of Tufts University, p. 40-41, for details.

Please note that except in the most extraordinary circumstances, I will not give "incomplete" grades.  As you know, an Incomplete means that you did not complete the work of the course, and it is the policy of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology that incomplete work must be completed within six weeks of the beginning of the next semester.

No extra credit work is permitted, and grades in this course are not "curved."

Topics and reading assignments by class:
1.  Wednesday, 17 January:  introduction;  policies and procedures
2.  Friday, 19 January:  historical framework;  performance practices in the Greek theater
3.  Monday, 22 January:  Aeschylus. Agamemnon
4.  Wednesday, 24 January:  Agamemnon
5.  Friday, 26 January:  Agamemnon;  overview of the Oresteia as a trilogy
6.  Monday, 29 January:  introduction to the Theban story
7.  Wednesday, 31 January:  Seven Against Thebes
8.  Friday, 2 February:  Seven Against Thebes
9.  Monday, 5 February:  assignment 1 due.  Seven Against Thebes
10.  Wednesday, 7 February:  Sophocles. Antigone
11.  Friday, 9 February:  Antigone
12.  Monday, 12 February:  Antigone
13.  Wednesday, 14 February:  first exam. Crazed Women opens tomorrow.
14.  Friday, 16 February:  Oedipus the King
15.  Wednesday, 21 February (Monday schedule):  Oedipus the King
16.  Friday, 23 February:  Oedipus the King
17.  Monday, 26 February:  assignment 2 due.  Oedipus at Colonus
18.  Wednesday, 28 February:  Oedipus at Colonus
19.  Friday, 2 March:  Oedipus at Colonus
20.  Monday, 5 March:  Euripides
21.  Wednesday, 7 March:  Suppliant Women
22.  Friday, 9 March:  Suppliant Women
23.  Monday, 12 March: assignment 3 due.  Suppliant Women
24.  Wednesday, 14 March:  Phoenissae
25.  Friday, 16 March:  Phoenissae
26.  Monday, 26 March:  Phoenissae
27.  Wednesday, 28 March:  Bacchae
29.  Friday, 30 March:  Bacchae
30.  Monday, 2 April:  Bacchae
31.  Wednesday, 4 April:  second exam
32.  Friday, 6 April:  Trends in later drama
33.  Monday, 9 April:  assignment 4 due.  Ion
34.  Wednesday, 11 April:  Ion
35.  Friday, 13 April:  Ion
36.  Wednesday, 18 April:  Aristotle's Poetics
37.  Friday, 20 April:  Aristotle's Poetics
38.  Monday, 23 April:  Satyr plays
39.  Wednesday, 25 April:  Cyclops (Euripides)
40.  Friday, 27 April:  Ichneutae (Sophocles)
41.  Monday, 30 April:  assignment 5 due.  Review and summary
42.  Wednesday, 9 May: Final exam

Selected bibliography:
This bibliography is limited to books in English that are available in Tisch Library.

Texts and alternate translations
Aeschylus, The Oresteia, translated by Peter Meineck.  Indianapolis:  1998.  PA3827.A7 M45 1998
------------, translated by Ted Hughes.  New York:  1999.  PA3827.A7 H84 1999
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, translated by Anthony Hecht and Helen H. Bacon. New York: 1973. PA3827.S4 H4
Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald.  New York:  1969.  PA4414.A2 F5 1969
Sophocles, The Theban Plays, translated by David Grene.  New York:  1994.  PA4414 .A2 1994
Sophocles, edited and translated by Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones.  Cambridge:  1994.  PA4414.A1 L56 1994
Euripides, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: 1955-1959. PA3975 .A2 1955
Euripides, Bacchae, translated by Stephen Esposito.  Newburyport:  1998.  PA3975.B2 E86 1998
Euripides, Ion, edited and translated by K.H. Lee. Warminster: 1997. PA3973 .I6 1997
Euripides, Phoenician Women, translated by Peter Burian and Brian Swann. New York: 1981. PA3975 .Z474 1979
Euripides, Suppliant Women, translated by Rosanna Warren and Stephen Scully. New York: 1995. PA3975.S9 W37 1995
Aristotle, Poetics, translated by Leon Golden. Tallahassee: 1981. PN1040 .A513 1981
------------, edited and translated by Stephen Halliwell. Cambridge: 1995. PA3621 .A75 1995

Other books
W. S. Allen, Vox Graeca.  London:  1968.  PA267.A4
John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, The Oxford History of the Classical World.  Oxford:  1986.  DE59 .O94 1986
Eric Csapo and William Slater,  The Context of Ancient Drama.  Ann Arbor:  1995.  PA3024.C75 1995
P. E. Easterling, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy. Cambridge: 1997. PA3131.E28 1997
Michael Grant, Atlas of Ancient History.  New York:  1994.  G1033.G65 1994 (reference)
Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth, The Oxford Classical Dictionary.  New York:  1966.  DE5.O9 1996
John H. Huddliston, Greek Tragedy in the Light of Vase Paintings. New York: 1898. NK4645 .H8
J. Jones, On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy. New York: 1962. PA3131 .J6
H. D. F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study. London: 1939. PA3131.K5
Richmond Lattimore, Story Patterns in Greek Tragedy. Ann Arbor: 1964. PA3133 .L3
A. D. Nuttall, Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? Oxford: 1996. PN1892.N88 1996
L. D. Reynolds and Nigel Wilson,  Scribes and Scholars.  Oxford:  1974.  Z40.R4 1974
William C. Scott, Musical Design in Aeschylean Theater. Hanover: 1984. ML169 .S37 1984
------------, Musical Design in Sophoclean Theater. Hanover: 1996. ML169.S38 1996
Charles Segal, Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides' Bacchae. Princeton: 1982. PA3973.B2 S56 1982
------------, Tragedy and Civilization. Norman: 1999. PA4417 .S47 1999
Erich Segal, Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy. Oxford: 1983. PA3133.G68 1983b
George Steiner, Antigones.  New York:  1984.  PA4413.A7 S76 1984
Oliver Taplin, Greek Tragedy in Action. Berkeley: 1978. PA3201 .T3
Cedric Whitman, Sophocles:  a Study of Heroic Humanism.  Cambridge:  1951.  PA4417.W5
Bernhard Zimmermann, Greek Tragedy: an Introduction. Baltimore: 1991. PA3131 .Z513 1991

On-line resources:
Introduction to the fifth century BC
Introduction to the Theban stories
Satyrs at play
Perseus:  a digital library with an extensive collection on Ancient Greece
Diotima:   Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Suda On Line:  a 10th-century Greek encyclopedia of classical antiquity, being translated into English by a team of scholars
Ancient Medicine/Medicina Antiqua:  an extensive site on medicine in the ancient world
Ancient Greece in Fiction:  a bibliography of novels and short stories set in the ancient world
Fragment of a Greek Tragedy:  a well-known parody by A. E. Housman (yes, the poet:  he was also a classical scholar)
Voice of the Shuttle:  the best gateway site for humanities research
American Philological Association (APA):  the professional association for classicists in the US
Classical Association of New England (CANE):  the professional association for classicists in New England
Tufts University Classics Department:  course descriptions and faculty listing