Fall 2005: LATN 3398/4398

Medeas

We will read from Lucius Annaeus Seneca's Medea.

Please for class schedule come to see me on Friday 08/26/05 in AH 423. If you cannot, contact me.

The text of Seneca's Medea is at: http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/sen.medea.html

The text of the epistulae ad Lucilium is at: http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0230.HTM

Requirements and Goals: Students will develop greater facility in translating and understanding Seneca's Latin through the study of one of his major plays. You should also become familiar with the genre, its recurrent themes, historical significance, and relevance to the contemporary world. This class is both a translation and a discussion class so we will compare our ideas, translations, opinions, and questions on the text. You will come to class prepared, that is, having already translated the assigned verses and having read the readings for that day (if any assigned). We will be using texts available on line but I also recommend that you use the commentaries which I have put on Reserve. All secondary readings will be on Reserve. In class you will be permitted to read from your notes but remember that notes will not be allowed during exams.

Attendance: It is required and crucial to complete successfully this class. One absence will not be penalized but after that some points will be subtracted for each absence. Documented medical or legal emergencies may be exceptions. If you know that you will be absent, please make every effort to contact me.

Grade Distribution: There will be 2 exams (55%) inclusive of translation and questions (grammar/ themes/ critical issues, etc.) on the texts that we have analyzed in class. Only on the final exam there might be a sight component. Attendance and active participation are necessary (25%); you will write a paper (20%) on a topic of your choice connected with what read, seen and discussed during the semester.   Above all I would like a paper which analyzes one (or more) of the movies viewed and discusses how it is similar and different from Seneca's Medea .

Movies which will be screened: Medea by Pier Paolo Pasolini; Medea by Lars Von Trier (1987/88); A Dream of Passion by Jules Dassin (1978)

Syllabus Week by Week

Week 1(22-26 Aug.): Medea. Introduction on the class and on Seneca. Week 2 (29 Aug.-2 sept.): Medea vv.1-55; Lear "Katharsis" pp. 315-340 in Essays on Aristotle's Poetics. Week 3 (5-9 Sept.): Medea vv. 150-250; Herington in Arion 5 1966 pp.422-71.

Week 4 (12-16 Sept.) : Medea vv.250-300; 300-328 (choral) Nussbaum, "Serpents in the soul" in the Therapy of Desire. Week 5 (19-22 Sept.): Medea vv. 329-379; 380-409 (choral) Benton in Arethusa 36 2003 pp. 271-284 Week 6 (26-30 sept.): Medea vv.410-489. Barton, "Stone and Ice" in Roman Honor, pp.88-130

Week 7 (3-7 Oct.) : Medea vv.489-577 Schiesaro, "Poetry, passions, and knowldged" in the Passions in Play, pp.8-25. Week 8 (10-14 Oct.) I exam Week 9 (17-21 Oct.) Medea vv. 579-669 (choral) Morford, "Seneca and his contemporaries" in The Roman philosophers, pp.161-188.

Week 10 (24-31 Oct.) : Medea vv.670-706; 731-739; 807-827 Week 11 (31 Oct.-4Nov.): Medea vv.840-848; 979-1027; Read in English Euripides' Medea Week 12 (7-11 Nov.): Read Christie, "Between Magic..Medea on film" in Medea in Performance. Movie: Pasolini's Medea

Week 13 (14-18 Oct.): Movie: Von Trier's Medea Week 14 (21-25 Nov.): Thansgiving Week 15 (28- Nov.-1 Dec.): Movie: Dassin's a Dream of Passion