External Seminar 2015
Greek and Roman Heroic Epic
Compiled by Senior Professor
Kamani Jayasekera
Dept of Western Classical Culture
University of Kelaniya.
([email protected])
Introduction
Please consider this as an introductory course that intends to familiarize you
with Western Classical Culture.
•
This would make it easier for you to follow the units you would need to study
to complete the degree.
•
As a foundation course you are required to
1.recognize,
2.appreciate and
3.analyze
the heroic epics which reveal diverse details of the rich culture and
values of the beginning of the western civilization.
This would automatically lead you to be in touch with the rich influence it
facilitated
for generations to come.
You would be introduced to the Heroic epics of the ancient Greeks and the
Romans.
1.The characteristics of Homers epics,
2.an epic of the Alexandrian era and
3.the Roman Epics
would come under the study.
The epics would be
1.appreciated through their respective social
political background
2.along with the reasons for the changes that had taken place in
1.form ,
2. style and
3. the handling of subject matter.
Course content
Greek – Homer - The Iliad – ( Book 1-5, Book 20 ,Book 24)
The Odyssey ( Book 1,Books 5-11,Book 21 and 22)
Apolodorus - The Voyage of Argo
Roman –Virgil - The Aeneid
Method of teaching and learning:
Reading of the Texts and critical analysis.
Scheme of Evaluation:
Year-end examinations.
Recommended Reading:
Finely M.I., 1977, The World of Odysseus, Chatto and Windus, London.
Kirk G.S., 1965, Homer and The Epic, Cambridge university Press, London.
Webster 1964, From Mycenae to Homer, Cambridge University Press,
London.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course you will be able to
Read the classical epics with sensitivity.
Appreciate them for their literary value and be able to
observe the techniques the poets had used to create an effect and impact.
Familiar with the respective cultures they reveal and their social context.
Explore how oral tradition as a literary form, it’s features and how it
entertains its listening audience.
To explore how and to what extent the oral tradition and literacy interacts with
and interprets the World.
•Identify the various stand points and dimensions by which creative literature
Could be interpreted and appreciated.ie1.community and identity,
2.power dynamics,
3.performance and narration.
• Explore concepts such as
divinity,
heroism,
ethnicity and
gender relations in various societies they manifest themselves.
•Be broadminded and sympathetic in attitudes in questions related to humans.
•Recognize literature in its social context and consciousness of the poets.
Recognize literature in its social context and consciousness of the poets.
The values revealed by the different artists would have enabled you to
evaluate how they evolved within the classical world.
Enhanced with a suitable training on how to
appreciate literature,
what to look for when reading and
how to see beyond the text.
These skills could be applied to any work irrespective of the time period.
The training would enable the student
1. Write,
2. do reference,
3. form arguments,
4. apply and
5. organize your thinking and
6. express yourself coherently and
7. to the point.
The activities you are required to engage in would Ensure this.
They are as follows.-
Activities 1
Read and collect material enough for short notes on the following topics.1/ The Oral Epic Tradition
2/ Who was Homer ?
3/ Who were court Mistrals ?
Refer to the oxford Classical dictionary for introductions.
2) Consider the time gap between the times the epics would have been
a) first composed and
b) the time they were committed to writing.
3)What changes would have taken place, during the vast period, the different poets
handling the theme etc. This is applicable to any country, any oral epic.
Activities 2
1.Find a map of the ancient world. Could use the internet to do so ( perses
project)
2.Where was Ilium / Troy situated?
3.Where was Mycenae situated?
4.What was the Mycenaean civilization like? Make a list of its characteristics.
I.e. The confederacy between the states, Gift giving nature, it’s riches, warfare.
5.Check out the archeological findings. What images could you find belonging
to the civilization?
Activities 3
1.Find images of Troy as discovered by archeologists.
2.You could use the internet for this purpose. ( perses project)
3.What was the legend that Homer sang about?
4.Refer to Greek mythology –be familiar with the myth.
5.Who was Priam? Who was Paris? Who was Helen?
Activities 4
1. Why did Achilles decide to keep away from the fighting?
Ie what was the cause of the great quarrel between the Achaean chieftains?
2. What did you observe about a) Position of women in war at the time.
b) Power and leadership.
c) Display of emotions by the heroes.
3. Have you observed the use of language in the passages you have read?
Ie -The use of epithets? Descriptions?
Activity 5
1. How entertaining are the flashes of scenes in Olympus?
2. Consider how they would have affected a listening audience.ie – the marvelous ,
fantasy etc.
3. What do you understand by Homeric humor?
4. While reading the relevant sections of the epic make a list of the observations you
make of
a)The behavior of gods, b) the behavior of heroes.
c)The use of language to entertain the audience.ie –images, similes,
sound effect visuals.
5. Devises used by the poet to retain the attention of the listening audience.
Activities 6
1. Observe difference of method used to describe preparation to war.
2. Compare the devices of modern day war reporting with those that
Homer had used.
3. Considera. How had Homer enlivened his descriptions?
b. In what way has the poet made the listeners participate mentally in
the action?
4. Through what devises had gods communicated to men? Find and list the
examples.
5. How many examples of descriptive similes can one detect in the above
section? Ie.
a)What are they?
b) How effective are they?
c) Pay attention to the sound and visual effects created.
Activities 7.
1.Pay attention to the different ways Homer arouses human interest in the above section.
2.What cause has Hector to rebuke Paris?
3.Observe how Homer describes the perils endured by women and children in war.
4.Find reasons for both parties to seek to end the war.
5.What color does Helen provide to the episode?
6.Pay attention to the Achaean heroes introduced by Helen.
7.How would you evaluate the theory that the episode provides relaxation after a scene of
tension?
Activities 8.
1.Pay attention to how war feeds heroism.
2. Ponder the following questions.a)What arguments have been presented in interpreting Homer’s attitude to war?
b). How would you contribute to the debate?
3. How had Homer given such details when describing deaths and wounds?
4. Why do you think that Homer refers to the family of the soldiers?
5. What impact does this have on the minds of the readers?
6. Did Homer have a didactic mission?
Was he aware of the responsibility of a poet ?
Had he recognized the power literature has on the human mind?
Activity 9
1.Make a list of epithets you have come across in this epic.
2. Why had the poet chosen to use them in the particular situation?
3. What is the logic behind it? How would you explain?
4. How do the gods participate in human affairs?
5. To what extent is Aphrodite affected by the situation?
6. In what manner is she presented? What flavor does she add to the entertainment?
7. Observe the amount of the quality of the marvelous and fiction evoked by incidents.
8. What impact does difference of location would have had on his audience?
9. Pay attention to the manner Aphrodite and Ares are described in the epic.
10. Do you believe that Homer had wanted to create a particular impact on his audience?
Activities 10
1. How has the sense of the marvelous been created in the above books?
2. Make a list of your observations.
3. What impact would have been created by the descriptions
?
4. Why do you think Homer has said “unleashed the dogs of war?
5. Make a note of the hostile groups.
6. To what extent does Homer stretch heroism in this section?
7. How many epic qualities have you observed in the above sections? What are they?
Activities 11
1. What kind of emotions did you feel when you read the book?
2 .What devises had Homer used to show the inhuman nature of war?
3. Remind yourself of the various incidents you have read on atrocities in war time.
4. How had Homer highlighted the impact of war on family relations?
Ie – Impact on the mother, father, wife and child.
5. How had the descriptions of the emotions undergone by ‘nearest and the nearest
contributed in creating pathos?
Activity 12
1. How entertaining do you find the above funeral ceremony?
2. Have you given thought to some of the funeral ceremonies in the modern world?
What are the reasons behind the rituals?
3.To what extent are they connected to the religion they believe in and their thoughts
on after life?
4. Make a list of the rituals described by Homer in the funeral he describes.
5. Why do people think that last rites are all important to a dead person? Discuss.
6. Make a note that it is the request of the ghost of Patroclus that demands the funeral to
Be held without delay.
7. Priam bribes Achilles after risking his life going in to the enemy camp to bring back
the body of Hector his son.