Required texts and suggested translations:
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.
For Greek 156, in addition to the above:
For Latin 191, in addition to the above:
Recommended reference, for all sections:
Other resources:
Goals for the semester:
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.
Students will use the resources of the Perseus Digital Library to supplement
the readings.
Pre-requisites for each section:
CLS 156 and DR 154 are advanced undergraduate courses, also open to graduate
students, designed for classics or drama majors respectively. In order to write a
substantial paper, you must be able to read classical scholarship. Students
wishing to enter CLS 156 should have taken CLS 31 (Classics of Greece),
CLS 37 (History of Ancient Greece), CLS 55 (Greek Tragedy), or
another course on Greek literature. Students wishing to enter DR 154 should have taken
either a course on Greek literature or a course on theater history.
GRK 156 is a graduate course, also open to undergraduates. In addition to the work of CLS 156,
students in this section will read selections from the plays in Ancient Greek. Students wishing
to enter this section should have taken GR 7 (Intermediate Greek), or two or more years
of high-school Greek. During the first half of the semester, while the class is working on Greek
comedy, GRK 156 will read selections from the plays the entire class reads in translation. During
the second half, GRK 156 will read Aristophanes' Frogs.
LAT 191 is a graduate course, also open to undergraduates. In addition to the work of CLS 156,
students in this section will read selections from the plays in Latin. Students wishing
to enter this section should have taken Latin 22, or three or more years
of high-school Latin. Qualified sophomores, juniors, and seniors may take this class concurrently
with Latin 21. During the first half of the semester, while the class is working on Greek
comedy, the Latin section will read Plautus' Amphitryo. During the second half, LAT 191
will read selections from the plays the entire class reads in translation.
Workload and grading:
The grades will be computed as follows:
Schedule of assignments:
The final exam will be Make-up exams will be given only in exceptional circumstances, and only
if you make arrangements at least 24 hours before the scheduled time of
the exam.
Written assignments are due in class on 19 September, 3 October, 17 October, 31 October,
14 November, and 26 November; all of these dates are Thursdays except the last. Late papers will
not be accepted. If you will not be in class on the day when an
assignment is due, email it to me, in plain text format, to arrive by the end of class. Do not send
your papers as word-processor documents, HTML, or other formatted files.
For the upper-level sections, intermediate steps toward the major paper
are due on 12 September, 7 October, 28 October, and 14 November. The paper itself is due on 21 November.
General policies:
Attendance in class is required. Thoughtful discussion is part of the
work of this class, 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 get notes from a classmate and 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.
Your writing is important. Good writing supports your analysis; bad writing undermines it.
Be sure to allow time to find and correct errors of grammar, diction, and style
in your first drafts. This opinion piece
from the Chronicle of Higher Education may encourage you to pay attention to these details.
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:
Due dates for assignments for all sections are marked in gold;
those for the upper-level sections only (CLS 156, DR 154, GRK 156, LAT 191) are in blue.
Selected bibliography:
Texts and alternate translations
Other books
On-line handouts
Other on-line resources
Aristophanes, Birds, Wasps, Peace, Wealth
Menander, Dyskolos
Plautus, Amphitryo, Menaechmi, Bacchides
Terence, The Eunuch, Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)
Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors
Recommended editions:
Aristophanes I: Clouds, Wasps, Birds, translated by Peter Meineck ($13)
Aristophanes, Knights, Peace, Birds, Assemblywomen, Wealth, translated by Alan Sommerstein and David Barrett ($11)
Menander: Plays and Fragments, translated by Norma Miller ($11)
Plautus and Terence: Five Comedies, translated by Deena Berg and Douglass Parker ($20); includes Menaechmi, Bacchides, Hecyra
Plautus, Amphitryo, translated by Ann Vasaly; will be available in the classics department office
Plautus, The Rope and other plays, translated by E. F. Watling ($11); includes Amphitryo
Terence: The Comedies, translated by Palmer Bovie and Douglass Parker ($21); includes Eunuch
Aristophanes, Frogs, ed. K. J. Dover
Text of and commentary on the play you choose for your major paper.
Plautus, Amphitryo, ed. A. Mahoney
Text of and commentary on the play you choose for your major paper.
J. Hollander, Rhyme's Reason ($12)
Course web page, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/~amahoney/cl56_f02.html
Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
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.
CLS 56 and DR 54 are open to any interested student, whether or not you have studied the classics before. Either
section counts toward the Arts distribution requirement, and CLS 56 may also be used toward the Classical
culture area.
You will have short written assignments roughly every other week, of about 500 words. There will be
a two-hour final exam. Students in the 100-level sections will write a substantial paper.
You will have reading assignments for each class. Students in the Greek and Latin sections will meet one additional
period each week to discuss the original texts.
short papers (12% each) 72% final exam 13% attendance and participation in class discussions 15% total 100%
Students in CL156 or DR 154 (graduates and undergraduates)
long paper 20% final exam 11% short papers (9% each) 54% attendance and participation in class discussions 15% total 100%
Students in GR155 or LA191 (graduates and undergraduates)
long paper 20% final exam 10% short papers (7% each) 42% attendance and participation in class discussions 15% attendance and participation in Greek or Latin language section 13% total 100%
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.
1. Tuesday, 3 September: Introduction; policies and procedures
2. Thursday, 5 September: Historical framework: Greek comedy. See chronology and overview.
3. Monday, 9 September: Aristophanes: Birds
4. Tuesday, 10 September: Birds
5. Thursday, 12 September: Play data sheet due. Birds
6. Monday, 16 September: Reading translations
7. Tuesday, 17 September: Aristophanes: Wasps
8. Thursday, 19 September: first assignment due. Wasps
9. Monday, 23 September: Wasps
10. Tuesday, 24 September: Aristophanes: Peace
11. Thursday, 26 September: Peace
12. Monday, 30 September: Peace
13. Tuesday, 1 October: Middle comedy
14. Thursday, 3 October: second assignment due: Fragments of middle comedy
15. Monday, 7 October: Preliminary bibliography due. Aristophanes: Wealth
16. Tuesday, 8 October: Wealth
17. Thursday, 10 October: Wealth
18. Tuesday, 15 October (Monday schedule): New comedy
19. Thursday, 17 October: third assignment due: Menander: Dyscolus (The Grouch)
20. Monday, 21 October: Dyscolus
21. Tuesday, 22 October: Dyscolus
22. Thursday, 24 October: Historical framework: Roman comedy. See chronology.
23. Monday, 28 October: Working bibliography due. Plautus: Amphitryo
24. Tuesday, 29 October: Amphitryo
25. Thursday, 31 October: fourth assignment due: Amphitryo
26. Monday, 4 November: Plautus: Menaechmi
27. Tuesday, 5 November: Menaechmi
28. Thursday, 7 November: Menaechmi and Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (PDF version)
29. Tuesday, 12 November: Menaechmi and Comedy of Errors
30. Thursday, 14 November: Abstract of paper due. fifth assignment due: Plautus: Bacchides
31. Monday, 18 November: Bacchides
32. Tuesday, 19 November: Bacchides and Menander's prior version
33. Thursday, 21 November: Final paper due. Terence: The Eunuch
34. Monday, 25 November: Eunuch
35. Tuesday, 26 November: sixth assignment due: Eunuch
36. Monday, 2 December: Terence: Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)
37. Tuesday, 3 December: Hecyra
38. Thursday, 5 December: Hecyra
39. Monday, 9 December: Summary and review
40. Tuesday, 17 December: Final exam, 8:30 AM.
This bibliography is limited to books in English that are available
in Tisch Library.
Clouds, Wasps, Peace, trans. J. Henderson. (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge: 1998. PA3877.A1 H46 1998
Birds, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria, trans. J. Henderson. (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge: 2000. PA3877 .A2 2000
Wasps, The Poet and the Women, Frogs, trans. D. Barrett. Harmondsworth: 1964. PA3877 .A2 1964
Peace, trans. A. Sommerstein. Warminster: 1985. PA3877 .P2 1985
New Comedy: Aristophanes and Menander, trans. J. M. Walton and K. McLeish. London: 1994. PA3629 .N49 1994
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
Amphitryon: three plays in new verse translations, trans. J. H. Mantinband. Chapel Hill: 1974. PN6120.A6 A43 1974
The Rope and other plays, trans. E. F. Watling. Harmondsworth: 1964. PA6570.A3 W3
The Eunuch, trans. A. J. Brothers. Warminster: 2000. PA6756.E8 B76 2000
Beard, M., and J. Henderson. Classics: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: 1995. 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
Moore, T. M. The Theater of Plautus: Playing to the Audience. Austin: 1998. PA6585 .M66 1998
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. Oxford Readings in Menander, Plautus, and Terence. Oxford: 2001. PA3028 .O88 2001
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. An Introduction to Menander. Manchester: 1974. PA4247 .W38 1974
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
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.
Introduction to the fifth century BC
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
Roman drama bibliography, maintained by Timothy Moore
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
HTML by AEM, last update 19 September 2002
Prof. Mahoney's home page
Department page