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For 9/14-16 |
Assignment 2
Remember to "REFRESH."
SAT Question: Greek is to Greece as Hellenic is to Hellas?
Readings:
For Monday:
- Read pp. 95-115 and the box
called "Black Athena" on p. 138 in Davies [our textbook]: Contact me if you need me to post this chapter.
Posted 9/11/09: Davies-Europe-Ch2-150dpi-5.7MB.pdf
- Read the articles on
"Homer," "homosexuality," and "slavery" from the Oxford
Classical Dictionary:
Hornblower-OxfordClassicalDict-excerptssm.pdf
[5.8MB]
- Read the stuff on Diogenes
that I posted below.
For Wednesday:
- Read the story of Polyphemus
from the Odyssey,
by "Homer." (I decided not to give you a choice between two
sections.) Odysseus is telling a
story, the story of his adventures on the island of the lotus eaters and of the
klyklopes. HomerIXPoly.pdf [1.5MB]
- Read 3 more pages worth of
stuff selected from the articles in the Oxford Classical Dictionary PDF. Here is a list with an approximate page
count for the articles in this PDF.
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baths: 1/2pp |
food and drink: 1/2pp |
food supply: 3/4pp |
|
Homer: 2.5pp |
homosexuality: 3pp |
honey: 1/4pp |
|
humours: 1/3pp |
hunting: 1/2pp |
iron: 1/4pp |
|
mines and mining: 1.5pp |
slavery: 2pp |
slingers: 1/2pp |
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symposium: 1/2pp |
surgery: 1.5pp |
|
|
wine: 1p |
women: 1.75pp |
women in cult: 3/4pp |
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women in philosophy: 1/2pp |
wool: 1/3pp |
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- Late Edition: Read and/or
listen to this story about a recent discovery of ancient string: Ancient
Braided String - 30k BP
Mandatory "Essay": Due Wednesday. Everybody must
do this one. This assignment is mandatory and will count towards the 5 you need
to have done by the end of the semester.
Read the Polyphemus story and make a comic book or some other
illustrated book-like-thing of a section from this story. You can cut and paste from a magazine
or from the web. You could draw
the whole thing, or paint it, or a combination of drawing, painting on top of
found photographs.... whatever. [I
find white-out is great for modifying magazine pictures.] Make something visual that reflects the
story in some way. Put in details
from the story. If you have the
cave in the background, then make sure your cave has some of the props that are
mentioned in the story. Put in
some captions for your illustrations so that we know what is going on. Make a
good looking product. Be
creative. Interpret the
story. You could even set it in
another time and figure out how to modify it to still be the same story. Look for nuance. This isn't simply an action story. This story tells you a lot about the
Greek attitude and their customs and their diet and their views in
general.
Finally,
you need to write up about a half page of observations and explanations. [single space, 1" margins, 12
point font... etc.] Try to delve into the story a bit. If you did something
clever or a bit strange in the comic, explain how and why you did what you
did. What did the story tell you
about the Greeks? ...about
civilization? ... about technology?
... about whatever you can think of.
Remember
to cite sources including a reference to the reading itself.
A model
of an ancient Greek ship.
Citations to the assigned readings other
materials from this week.
Davies, Norman. Europe : A
History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. [Your copy may have a
different date. Use the date from
your copy when you cite this in an essay.]
Homer. The Odyssey. Robert Fitzgerald trans.
Vintage Classics. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. HomerIXPoly.pdf [1.5MB]
Hornblower, Simon, and Antony
Spawforth eds. The
Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University
Press, 1996. Hornblower-OxfordClassicalDict-excerptssm.pdf
[5.8MB]
Here is a lesser known
interesting figure whose story was totally ruined by prudish 19th c.
scholars:
Diogenes of Sinope (ca. 400-323)
É"the Cynic"
[Not to be confused
with Diogenes La‘rtius.] Diogenes is said to have eaten in the agora
(marketplace) of Athens, urinated on the man who insulted him, defecated in the
amphitheatre, and pointed at people with his middle finger (apparently a no-no,
perhaps like giving the "bird" in modern times).
He supposedly lived
in a tub or a huge ceramic jar and ate only onions.
Stray and totally
absurd story: When asked how to avoid lust of the flesh, Diogenes began to
masturbate. When rebuked for doing so, he replied, "If only I could soothe my hunger by rubbing my
belly." [Given his diet, it is perhaps best that he pleasured only himself
and did not try to pleasure another.]
He lived for a while
in Corinth, preaching his cynical philosophy and exemplifying his form of
spiritual self-sufficiency. While
there the armies of Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) were
approaching to lay siege upon Corinth.
The Corinthians scurried around preparing for the imminent attack,
gathering up arms and supplies, and fortifying the city walls. Diogenes, caring little about such
affairs, is said to have rolled his man-sized jar up and down the streets
frantically. It was sort of an
absurdist piece of street theater.
Plato is said to
have commented that Diogenes the Cynic, was Socrates gone mad. The stories of Diogenes remind me
stylistically of contemporary satire like Stephen Colbert or The Office. His ridiculous behavior points out how
silly we are.
In a moment of
bonding, Plato once told Diogenes that SocratesÕ definition of a human being
was simply a Òfeatherless biped.Ó
Diogenes, ever the pistol, presented a plucked chicken to Plato, calling
it a fellow human. Plato is said
to have revised his definition to exclude plucked chickens.
Famous images of
Diogenes: He is supposedly the person "searching for an honest man"
on ZOSO, Led ZeppelinÕs 4th album.
The inner sleeve of
this album (below left) shows Diogenes the Cynic holding a lantern looking for
Òan honest man.Ó He apparently
went around looking for one in broad daylight. He couldnÕt find one. The image on
the right is the Tarot card upon which this image was clearly based. Whether Zeppelin realized that this
ÒHermitÓ was Diogenes is doubtful.
They probably just thought it looked cool.
These symbols from ZeppelinÕs album (above) are somewhat similar
to some of the symbols from esoteric mathematical numerology such as
Iamblichus. Geometry and
arithmetic and symbolism have a long and interconnected history.
Here
is Randy Credico dressed up as Diogenes harassing a senate meeting at the NY
State Capital in Albany in March of 2009.
He is reported
to have said,
ÒI am here looking for an honest politician.Ó
He
was and maybe still is thinking of running against Chuck Schumer in the
Democratic primary even though he is better known as a Green Party activist.
"Cynic" derived from Greek word for dog (kynikos). Diogenes lived like a dog. Cynic has, ever since, taken on this
philosophical meaning.
Speaking of dogs...
Optional: Interesting story about dog domestication:
Earliest Dogs: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/science/08dogs.html?hpw
eLibrary [This link is provided in
case the direct links are inoperable.]
Back to Syllabus
[EuroHist-HHS123-F09]
Me
– HHS123F09@mifami.org
Black Athena resources for Travis and Mike. For presentation on Wed.
Added 10/16/09
HHS123-Greek
Highlights-For Exam-1.9MB.pdf
and
HHS123-GreekShips-Atreus-Laocoon-444KB.pdf