Printable Syllabus: 
0270 TroySyllabus.doc
ARCH 0270 TROY ROCKS! ARCHAEOLOGY OF AN EPIC
Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:20am; Location: Rhode Island Hall, Room 008
Instructor: Michelle Berenfeld
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Rhode Island Hall, 60 George Street, Room 009, Ph: 863-2008
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Fridays 1-3, and/or by appointment.
What do Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Dante, James Joyce, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, several computer viruses, a very large asteroid, and countless sports teams have in common? They were all inspired by the Trojan War. From Heinrich Schliemann to Homer Simpson, the story of the Trojan War has been told and retold, used and abused since long before it was first written down by the man we call (the other) Homer up until today. In this course we will explore the Trojan War through archaeology, art, and mythology of the Greeks and Romans and the popular imagination of everyone else from antiquity through today. Students will read ancient and not-so-ancient stories, explore archaeological sites, real cities, and imaginary places as they figure out what “really” happened when Helen ran off and Achilles got angry and the Greeks came bearing gifts.
Prerequisites: None. This course is a First-Year Seminar.
Course requirements:
This course is designed to be interactive and to give students opportunities to engage in class discussions and to present their own work, ask questions, and otherwise participate in a lively intellectual environment throughout the semester. All students are expected to attend class regularly, actively participate in class discussions, and complete all of the readings and assignments outlined in the syllabus.
Grade percentages:
Class participation and attendance (25%)
Short writing assignments (40%)
Take-home exam (15%)
Final paper project (20%)
Required reading:
Available at the Brown Bookstore:
· Aeschylus. The Oresteia. Trans. Robert Fagles (Penguin)
· Euripides. The Trojan Women. Trans. Alan Shapiro (Oxford University Press, Greek Tragedy in New Translation Series)
· Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles (Penguin)
· Sophocles. Philoctetes. Trans. C. Diskin and D. Clay (Oxford University Press, Greek Tragedy in New Translation Series)
· Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fagles (Penguin)
· Wood, Michael. In Search of the Trojan War. Updated edition. (University of California Press)
Additional readings are listed below and will be available on the class wiki page.
COURSE CALENDAR
Note: All readings should be done before the class for which they are assigned.
Week 1 (Sept. 10)
Introduction
Week 2 (Sept. 15, 17)
A Tale of Two Cities: Troy, Real and Imagined
Read for Sept. 15:
§ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Prologue and Chapter 1.
§ See 'Readings' page.[link]
§ The Iliad, Book 1.
Read for Sept 17:
§ The Iliad, Books 2-8
§ The Odyssey, Book 1
Week 3 (Sept. 22, 24)
The Bold and the Beautiful: Men, Women, and Gods in the Trojan War Stories
Read for Sept. 22:
§ Latacz, J. “From Homer’s Troy to Petersen’s Troy,” in TROY: From Homer’s Iliad to Hollywood Epic.
§ The Iliad, Books 9-13.
For Sept. 24:
§ The Iliad, Books 14-15.
Short Writing Assignment 1 Due in Class: 1-2-page discussion of a deity or personification from the reading so far.
Week 4 (Sept. 29, Oct. 1)
Digging for the Truth: Discovery and Exploration of Troy
Read for Sept. 29:
§ Abbot, E. “The Earliest Inhabitants of Greece,” The English Historical Review 1 (1886): 417-426.
§ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Chapters 2-3.
Read for Oct 1:
§ Korfmann, M.O. “Was There a Trojan War?” in TROY: From Homer’s Iliad to Hollywood Epic.
§ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Chapter 4, and “Postscript 1996: The Trojan War Found Again?”
Week 5 (Oct. 6, 8)
Of Men and Metal: The Bronze Age and the Age of Homer
Read for Oct. 6:
§ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Chapters 5-6.
§ The Iliad, Books 16-17.
Read for Oct. 8:
§ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Chapters 7-8.
§ The Iliad, Books 18-19.
§ Raaflaub, K. “Homer and the Beginning of Political Thought in Greece,” in Ancient Greek Democracy, p. 28-36, with Hesiod and relevant Homer selections in “Sources,” p. 7-27.
Week 6 (Oct. 13, 15):
Coming of (Archaic) Age: The Trojan War and Greek Art
Read for Oct. 13:
§ Lowenstam, S. As Witnessed by Images: The Trojan War Tradition in Greek and Etruscan Art, p. 13-43.
§ The Iliad, Books 20-24 (end)
§ The Odyssey, Books 9, 10, 12
For Oct. 15:
Short Writing Assignment 2 Due in Class: 2-3-Page Object Description and Analysis
*EVENING SCREENING of TROY (Date to be confirmed, but I hope this week)
Read before: Danek, G. “The Story of Troy through the Centuries.”
Week 7 (Oct. 20, 22)
The Trojan War in a Golden Age: The Trojans in Fifth-Century Athens
Read for Oct. 20:
§ The Odyssey, Book 3
§ Agamemnon
Read for Oct. 22:
§ The Trojan Women
§ Pollitt, J.J. Art and Experience in Classical Greece, p. 9-26; 64-110.
Week 8 (Oct. 27, 29)
World of Warcraft: Fighting and Dying and Living Forever
Read for Oct. 27:
§ Gottschall, J. The Rape of Troy. Chapters 2-4.
Short Writing Assignment 3 Due in Class: 2-3-Page Response to Gottschal with Scene Selection for discussion
Read for Oct. 29:
§ The Iliad, Reread Book 16.
Week 9 (Nov. 3, 5)
The Trojan War Reborn, Remade, and Reimagined by Hellenistic Kings and Roman Emperors
Read for Nov. 3:
§ Cohen, Ada. “Alexander and Achilles—Macedonians and ‘Mycenaeans’” in Ages of Homer.
§ Rose, C.B. “Troy and the Historical Imagination.” Classical World 91 (1998): 405-413.
Read for Nov. 5:
§ Weis, H. Anne. “Odysseus at Sperlonga: Hellenistic Hero or Roman Foil” in Pergamon to Sperlonga.
§ The Aeneid, Books 3-8.
§ Augustus, Res Gestae.
Week 10 (Nov. 10, 12)
Empire and the Son: Trojans, Romans, and Christians
For Nov. 10:
TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE IN CLASS
For Nov. 12:
§ The Aeneid, Books 9-12 (end)
§ Ovid, Metamorphosis, Selections on the wiki.
§ MacDonald, D.R. Does the New Testament Imitate Homer? Chapter selection by groups, available on-line at: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/brown/docDetail.action?docID=10170862
Week 11 (Nov. 17, 19)
It’s All Greek to Me: Translating and Transmogrifying Trojans and “Western Civilization”
*NOTE: FINAL PAPER OUTLINES MUST BE APPROVED BY NOV. 20
Read for Nov. 17:
§ Thompson, D.P. The Trojan War: Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present, Chapters 8 and 11.
§ Dante, Inferno. Selections on the wiki.
§ Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida.
§ The Odyssey, Book 11.
Read for Nov. 19:
§ von Bothmer, D. “The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 7 (1949): 205-219.
§ Bernstock, J.E. “Classical Mythology in Twentieth-Century Art: An Overview of a Humanistic Approach,” Artibus et Historiae 14 (1993): 153-183.
§ Varnedoe, K. “Your Kid Could Not Do This, and Other Reflections on Cy Twombly,” MoMA 18 (1994): 18-23.
Short Writing Assignment 4 Due in Class: 2-3-Page Response to Post-Medieval Interpretation of the Trojan War (Additional Bibliography to support this assignment will be available on the wiki)
Week 12 (Nov. 24, 26)
Wives, Witches, and Weirdos: Alternative Perspectives and Changing Interpretations of Troy
Read for Nov. 24:
§ Roisman, H.M. “Helen in the Iliad; Causa Belli and Victim of War: From Silent Weaver to Public Speaker,” American Journal of Philology (2006): 1-36.
§ Selections from Wolf, C. Cassandra and Atwood, M. The Penelopiad.
Prepare selection of representation (visual or literary) of non-greek, non-trojan, non-male figure or character for discussion in class. Supporting Bibliography on the Wiki.
Nov. 26: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
Get started on reading for next week:
§ The Odyssey, Book 8.
§ Philoctetes
Week 13 (Dec. 1, 3)
Eternity is ours. Troy and the Modern Mind.
Read for Dec . 1:
§ Group 1: Weil, S. “The Iliad, or the Poem of Force,” in War and the Iliad. 1-38.
§ Group 2: Bespaloff, R. “On the Iliad,” in War and the Iliad, 39-100.
§ Shay, J. “Achilles the Soldier, Odysseus the Veteran, Homer the Tragic Poet,” in The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Real World. p. 65-79.
§ Edwards, M. “Philoctetes in Historical Context,” in Disabled Veterans in History, p. 55-66.
§ Auden, W.H. “The Shield of Achilles” (poem)
Read for Dec 3:
§ Each student to select a modern media reference to Troy for discussion in final class.
FINAL PAPERS DUE DECEMBER 15
