HUMANITIES 2--THE EPIC

Fall Term, 1949

Tu. Th. Sat. at 10

Professor Finley with Messrs.
Getty, Guillen, Locke, and Peirce.

Sept. 29--Oct. 18. Homer: *The Iliad*, trans. by Lang, Leaf and Myers (Modern Library).

Oct. 20--Oct. 29. Homer: *The Odyssey*, trans. by Butcher and Lang (Modern Library).

Nov. 1--Nov. 12. Virgil: *The Aeneid*, trans. by J. W. Mackail (Modern Library).

Nov. 15--Dec. 20. Dante: *The Divine Comedy*, trans. by Norton (Riverside Press). The Temple Edition of this work, which contains a translation together with the original, may be used as a supplement.

Jan. 5--Jan. 17. Milton: *Paradise Lost*, edited by M. Y. Hughes (Odyssey Press).

An hour examination will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5. The course will be divided into sections, which will meet for the first time on Saturday, Oct. 8, and thereafter regularly on Saturdays. There will be a short paper on Virgil; a long paper on Dante will be due before the Christmas recess.

Recommended Reading

(Works marked with * are particularly recommended.)

HOMER

Matthew Arnold: *On Translating Homer*.

*C. M. Bowra: *Tradition and Design in the Iliad*.

Rhys Carpenter: *Folktale, Fiction and Saga in the Homeric Epics*.

*Werner Jaeger: *Paideia*, vol. I.

Gilbert Murray: *Rise of the Greek Epic*.

M. P. Nilsson: *Homer and Mycenae*.

*Milman Parry: *Studies in the Epic Technique of Oral Verse-Making* (in *Harvard Studies in Classical Philology*, 1930 and 1932).

John A. Scott: *The Unity of Homer*.

J. T. Sheppard: *The Pattern of the Iliad*.

W. J. Woodhouse: *The Composition of Homer's Odyssey*.

J. B. Dury: *Short History of Greece*.

*Iliad*, trans. by Walter Miller.

*Iliad*, trans. by A. T. Murray.

*Iliad*, trans. by George Chapman.

*Odyssey*, trans. by G. H. Palmer.

*Odyssey*, trans. by T. E. Shaw.

Fall Term, 1949

HUMANITIES 2

Professor Finley

ILIAD

(A short list of some of the more important names of gods and men.)

Trojans (and their allies)

Aineias (Lat. Aeneas): Son of Anchises and Aphrodite. Leader of the Dardanians.

Alexandros: See Paris, below.

Andromache: Hector's wife.

Astyanax (or Skamandrios): Hector's child.

Deiphobos: A son of Priam.

Glaukos: Lykian companion of Sarpedon.

Hector: Son of Priam. The "manslaying," "horse-taming," "of the glancing helm." Leader of Trojans in battle.

Hekabe (or Hecuba): Priam's wife.

Helen (of Argos): Wife of Menelaos; carried off to Troy by Paris. "Fair among women," "long-robbed," "of the lovely hair."

Pandaros: Son of Lykaon; leader of troops from Zeleia, near Mt. Ida.

Paris (or Alexandros): A son of Priam. "Divine of form."

Priam: King of Troy; son of Laomedon and father of Hector and Paris. Also had many other sons and daughters.

Sarpedon: Son of Zeus and Laodamia; leader of the Trojans' Lykian allies. Killed by Patroklos.

Greeks (known collectively, in Homer, as Achaians, Danaans, or Argives).

Achilles: Peleus' son, sometimes referred to as Peleides or Aiakides. "Fleet of foot," "noble," "god-like." From Phthia; leader of the Myrmidons (or Hellenes).

Agamemnon: Atreus' son, or Atreides; "shepherd of the host." From Mykene rich in gold; commander-in-chief over all the Greeks.

2

Aias (or Ajax): Son of Oileus; "the swift Ajax." Captain of the Locrians, who use bows. Distinguish from--

Aias (or Ajax): Son of Telamon. This is "the greater Ajax", second only to Achilles as a hero. Leader of Salaminians. (Together, these two are referred to as the Aiantes.)

Dionedes: Tydeus' son, or Tydeides. Youthful leader of troops from Argos, Tiryns, Aigina.

Idomeneus: Leader of the Cretans.

Menelaos: A son of Atreus (Atreides), brother of Agamemnon. From Sparta, in Lakedainon; leader of troops from that vicinity.

Nestor: Son of Neleus; elder counselor from Pylos.

Odysseus: Son of Laertes; "of many devices," "waster of cities." From Ithaka; leader of Kephallenians.

Patroklos: Son of Menoitos; companion of Achilles.

Phoinix: Achilles' teacher; son of Amyntor.

Teukros: Brother of Telamonian Aias; best Greek archer.

## Gods

Aphrodite (Lat. Venus): Goddess of love. For the Trojans.

Apollo (or Phoebus, Smintheus): Son of Leto and Zeus. "The Far-darter." For the Trojans.

Ares (Lat. Mars): The war-god; "scourge of mortals." For the Trojans.

Artemis (Lat. Diana): Sister of Apollo. For the Trojans.

Ate: A personification of blind infatuation or guilt (see Book XIX). Called "Sin" by the translator in Book IX.

Athene (Lat. Minerva): Also called Pallas, Trito-born. "Bright-eyed," "giver of spoil." For the Greeks.

Hades (Aidoneus; Lat. Pluto): Ruler of underworld. Name is also applied to underworld itself.

Hephaistos (Lat. Vulcan): The artificer-god.

Hera (Lat. Juno): The wife of Zeus; "white-armed," "ox-eyed." For the Greeks.

Hermes (Lat. Mercury): The messenger-god.

Iris: A messenger-goddess.

Virgil Paper

1949-1950

HUMANITIES 2 -- All sections of Messrs. Knotts and Peirce

"All the episodes or under-actions, which are interwoven
in the epic, are parts either necessary or convenient to carry
on the main design; either so necessary that, without them,
the poem must be imperfect or so convenient that no others
can be imagined more suitable to the place in which they are."

In the light of this quotation discuss, in an essay of
600-800 words, the purpose and significance in the <u>Aeneid</u>
of the "episode or under-action" which involves Evander's
son, Pallas. Note that Pallas appears first in Book VIII
and is mentioned last in Book XII.

In writing your essay you should keep in mind the
following points:

(1) The effect of this episode on the reader.

(2) The effect of the episode on the reader's attitude
toward other characters in the poem. Tumus - Achilles.

(3) The episode's relationship to themes which appear
elsewhere in the <u>Aeneid</u>.

This paper will be due on or before Tuesday, November 15.