CLGR 405T(F) The Greek Historians: Herodotus

This course will focus on the reading in Greek of Herodotus' Persian Wars. We will explore the ways in which Herodotus' rich narrative style and intellectual landscape reflect the influence of Greek and near-eastern oral traditions, Greek tragedy, the theory and practice of contemporary Athenian rhetoric and philosophy, and Hippocratic medical theory, among others. We will also explore his use of ethnography and anthropology as fundamental to the explanation of the political and military events that constitute the formal subject of his work. We will supplement our study of Herodotus with additional readings, primarily in translation, from Thucydides, Arrian, and Polybius that will reflect the development of Greek historical writing from the Classical era through the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The class will meet once per week, with students' translations of the Greek usually constituting the recitation feature of a tutorial. Each student will also present several oral reports (each 3-5 pages written) and prepare one or two special translation assignments. There will be a translation test, a final paper, and a translation-only final exam. Prerequisite: Greek 201 or permission of the instructor.

Hour:  CHRISTENSEN