Required texts and suggested translations:
Aristophanes, Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae (Women at the Thesmophoria), Ecclesiazusae (Assemblywomen)
Menander, Dyskolos
Plautus, Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart Soldier), Menaechmi, Bacchides
Terence, Adelphoe (The Brothers), Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)
Editions:
Birds, translated by Jeffrey Henderson ($9)
Three Comedies by Aristophanes: Staging Women, translated by Jeffrey Henderson ($20)
Menander: Plays and Fragments, translated by Norma Miller
Plautus and Terence: Five Comedies, translated by Deena Berg and Douglass Parker ($20)

The suggested translations are available in the University Bookstore.  Additional translations of all these works except Dyskolos 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/cl56_f01.html
Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu

Goals for the semester:
Ancient comedy ranges from the rowdy, bawdy, political satires of Greek Old Comedy to the boy-meets-girl stories of Greek and Roman New Comedy. We will read selected plays by Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence, and will consider how the genre of comedy changes over a 300-year period.

The readings are primary texts, in English translation.  Knowledge of Ancient Greek or Latin is neither required nor assumed, but students who have completed Greek 2 or equivalent, or Latin 2 or equivalent, are encouraged to read selected plays in their original language. A discussion section for each language will be added, one hour a week at a mutually convenient time, if there are enough competent and interested students.

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.

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 required.  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 am happy to read drafts of papers as you work on them, or to answer questions about assignments. You may not re-write and re-submit assigned papers; the final copy is due on the scheduled due date, and will be graded.

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, 5 September: Introduction; policies and procedures
2. Friday, 7 September: Historical framework: Greek comedy. See chronology and overview.
3. Monday, 10 September: Aristophanes: Birds
4. Wednesday, 12 September: Birds
5. Friday, 14 September: Birds
6. Monday, 17 September: Aristophanes: Lysistrata
7. Wednesday, 19 September: Lysistrata
8. Friday, 21 September: first assignment due. Lysistrata
9. Monday, 24 September: Aristophanes: Thesmophoriazusae (Women at the Thesmophoria)
10. Wednesday, 26 September: Thesmophoriazusae
11. Friday, 28 September: Thesmophoriazusae
12. Monday, 1 October: Middle comedy
13. Wednesday, 3 October: Fragments of middle comedy
14. Friday, 5 October: first exam
15. Tuesday, 9 October (Monday schedule): Aristophanes: Ecclesiazusae (Assemblywomen)
16. Wednesday, 10 October: Ecclesiazusae
17. Friday, 12 October: second assignment due: Ecclesiazusae
18. Monday, 15 October: New comedy
19. Wednesday, 17 October: Menander: Dyscolus (The Grouch)
20. Friday, 19 October: Dyscolus
21. Monday, 22 October: Dyscolus
22. Wednesday, 24 October: Historical framework: Roman comedy. See chronology.
23. Friday, 26 October: third assignment due: Plautus: Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart Soldier)
24. Monday, 29 October: Miles Gloriosus
25. Wednesday, 31 October: Miles Gloriosus
26. Friday, 2 November: second exam
27. Monday, 5 November: Plautus: Menaechmi
28. Wednesday, 7 November: Menaechmi
29. Friday, 9 November: Menaechmi and Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (PDF version)
30. Wednesday, 14 November: Plautus: Bacchides
31. Friday, 16 November: fourth assignment due: Bacchides
32. Monday, 19 November: Bacchides and Menander's prior version
33. Monday, 26 November: Terence: Adelphoe (The Brothers)
34. Wednesday, 28 November: Adelphoe
35. Friday, 30 November: fifth assignment due: Adelphoe
36. Monday, 3 December: Terence: Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)
37. Wednesday, 5 December: Hecyra
38. Friday, 7 December: Hecyra
39. Monday, 10 December: Summary and review
40. Friday, 14 December: Final exam

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

Texts and alternate translations
Three Plays by Aristophanes: Staging Women, trans. J. Henderson. New York: 1996. PA3166 .H4
Birds, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria, trans. J. Henderson. (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge: 2000. PA3877 .A2 2000
The Congresswomen (Ecclesiazusae), trans. D. Parker. Ann Arbor: 1967. PA3877 .E313
The Dyscolus, trans. C. Moulton. New York: 1977. PA4246.E5 D9 1977
Five Comedies, Plautus and Terence, trans. D. Berg and D. Parker. Indianapolis: 1999. PA6165 .F58 1999

Other books
Beard, M., and J. Henderson. Classics:  a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: 1995.a PA3009 .B4 1995
Csapo, E., and W. Slater. The Context of Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: 1995.  PA3024 .C75 1995
Davidson, J. N. Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens. New York: 1998. DF275 .D23 1998
Dobrov, G. Figures of Play: Greek Drama and Metafictional Poetics. Oxford: 2001. PA3136 .D63 2001
Dover, K. J. Aristophanic Comedy. Berkeley: 1972. PA3879 .D6
Dover, K. J. Greek Popular Morality in the Age of Plato and Aristotle. Berkeley: 1974. BJ182 .D68
Duckworth, G. E. The Nature of Roman Comedy: A Study in Popular Entertainment. Princeton: 1952. PA6069.D8
Henderson, J. The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy. New Haven: 1975. PA3166 .H4
Highet, G. The Classical Tradition. New York: 1949. PN883.H5
Konstan, D. Greek Comedy and Ideology. Oxford: 1995. PA3166 .K66 1995
Konstan, D. Roman Comedy. Ithaca: 1983. PA6069 .K66 1983
MacDowell, D. M. Aristophanes and Athens: An Introduction to the Plays. Oxford: 1995. PA3879 .M23 1995
Reckford, K. Aristophanes' Old-and-New Comedy. Chapel Hill: 1987. PA3879.R4 1987
Rosivach, V. When a Young Man Falls in Love: The Sexual Exploitation of Women in New Comedy. London: 1998. PA 3188.R67 1998.
Segal, E. Oxford Readings in Aristophanes. Oxford: 1996. PA3879 .O94 1996
Segal, E. Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus. Cambridge: 1968. PA6585 .S4
Silk, M. S. Aristophanes and the Definition of Comedy. Oxford: 2000. PA3879 .S55 2000
Webster, T. B. L. Monuments Illustrating New Comedy. London: 1969. N7760 .W4 1969
Webster, T. B. L. Monuments Illustrating Old and Middle Comedy. London: 1978. N7760 .W414 1978
Whitman, C. Aristophanes and the Comic Hero. Cambridge: 1964. PA3879.W5

On-line handouts
Chronology for ancient comedy.
Introduction to the venues and performance practice of ancient comedy.
Citing ancient sources and on-line sources.
Pictorial evidence for women's lives.

Other on-line resources
Perseus:  a digital library with an extensive collection on Ancient Greece
Productions of Greek Drama: a database of information about 20th-c. productions of Greek comedy and tragedy
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