Greek Set Book

Our Greek Set Book short course is distinct in that it gives you the chance to study Classical Greek texts in depth under specialist tutors with active research interests in that area. You will learn to tackle complex Greek literary writing and to appreciate its artistry and ideas. Your tutors will also help you to place the set texts in their wider intellectual, social and political context. The texts we study each year change in response to student needs and preferences.

This year’s course will focus on the so-called 'Electra plays'. We are in the unique position of possessing plays on this one topic by all three of the major tragedians of fifth-century Athens (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides). The course will give you the chance to engage in depth with Aeschylus' Choephoroi, Sophocles' Electra and Euripides' Electra, and discuss the different stylistic approaches employed by the three tragedians. We will read and analyse the playwrights' exploration of themes such as revenge, recognition, deliberation, gender, religion and myth. 

The classes and coursework involve close analysis of the texts from a linguistic, literary, historical and cultural point of view. You will be expected to prepare portions of the text in advance and then discuss the major issues emerging in class. The course will enable you to:

• become experienced in reading Greek in verse and analysing three different styles of composition
• understand and explore tragic topoi, myth, gender, debating in tragic context etc.
• place the plays in the context of contemporary events, politics and culture in Athens, especially the complexities and contradictions of democratic society.

Teaching on the Greek Set Book course is stimulating, with plenty of student participation and interpretation. We will translate portions of the texts together, as well as discussing language, context and composition.

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

• translate and appreciate complex Classical Greek literature in the original
• place your reading in the context of wider debates on Classical literature
• study how the text has survived to the modern world, for example, with the aid of the apparatus criticus, and reflect on the implications for understanding it
• engage directly with surviving ancient evidence - and so transform your understanding of the ancient world.

The course will be taught jointly by Dr Dimitra Kokkini and Dr Benjamin Gray.