Course Syllabus
Prof. Alex Hollmann
Office hour: W 3-4pm (in person Denny Mezzanine 262E or zoom by request) or by appointment
One of the best ways to gain fluency and understanding in reading ancient Greek is to use the language actively. When as a producer one has to make decisions about how to say even simple things in Greek (should I use aorist or present aspect here? where should I put the verb in this sentence?), as a consumer one becomes much more sensitive to the language and style of any piece of Greek writing and understands it better. In this course we will use Eleanor Dickey’s Introduction to the Analysis and Composition of Greek Prose, designed to develop knowledge of syntax and style of classical Attic prose and techniques of translation, and gradually move to translation of whole paragraphs of connected prose. I ask students to put up their sentences on the board and we go through them as a class together. We will vary this with looking at the style of various genres and authors. It's fun! (Really!) Midterm and final (translation from English into Greek of paragraph selected from a number of options) are both take-home format, homework assigned for every meeting.
Assessment:
Exercises (graded largely for completion) 25%
Midterm (take home) 25%
Final (take home) 25%
Class participation (25%)
Conversion scale from % to GPA here
This schedule will be filled in as the term progresses. It may also be changed if necessary: notice will be given by email.
Week 1: Dickey Accentuation I Articles II Modifiers (pdf here)
T March 26 *Note: we will work through these today in class together: no need to prepare
Ch. I Ex 1 (on A) h-n (p.10)
Ex 2 (on B) g-k (p.12)
Sentences 11–17 (pp.12–13)
Analysis 1–11 (pp. 14–15)
Th March 28 (from now on prepare exercises in advance to go over in class; please submit with corrections after class)
Ch. II Ex 1 (on A and B) j-m (p.18)
Ex 2 (on C) a-m (pp. 19–20)
Ex 3 (on E) h-l (p. 22)
Sentences 15, 32, 33
Analysis 4 (p. 25)
Week 2: Dickey III Tenses, voices, and agreement IV Cases
T April 2
Ch. III Ex 1 (p.29) g–p;
Ex 2 (p. 31) a, d, i, j, n, o, s
Sentences (p. 32)
2, 5, 20, 23, 33
Analysis (p.33–34) 4
In-class exercise: choosing aspect in Thuc. 6.34, translation of passage here.
Th April 4
Ch IV Ex 1 (p. 37) h, i, j, l
Ex. 2 (p.38)
Ex. 3 (p.39)
Sentences (pp. 40f.) 2, 11, 13, 22, 30
Analysis (p. 42–43) 3, 6, 7
For a story that revolves around the genitive of value we read the Aesop fable about Hermes and the statue-maker.
Submit your answers here
Week 3: Dickey V Participles VI Word order and connection
T April 9
Ch. V Ex 1 (p. 45) g–l; Ex 2 (p.47) a, f–j; Ex 3 (pp. 48–9); Ex 4 (pp. 49–50) j,k,l,m,p,q; Ex 5 n, p, q, s, u, v, x, z; Sentences 13, 16, 21, 24, 27, 28
Submit your answers here
Th April 11
Ch. VI Ex 1 (p. 61); Ex. 3 (p. 63); Ex 4 (p. 65) g–l; Ex 5 (p. 65–66); Sentences (p. 66) 13–15; Analysis 6
Submit your answers here
F April 12: Midterm passage for translation from English into Greek released.
Week 4: Dickey VII Conditional, concessive, and potential clauses VIII Relative clauses
T April 16 Ch. VII Ex 1 (p.77) u–nn; Ex 2 (p.79) m–z; Sentences 12, 13,16, 22, 28, 30; Analysis 4, 6
[If you like, consult Appendix D pp. 207-212]
Submit your answers here
Th April 18 Ch. VIII Ex 2 (p. 84) e–h; Ex 3 (p. 85) j–q; Ex 4 (p. 86) e-h; Ex 5 (p. 86) g–j; Ex 6 (p. 87) e–g; Ex 8 (do e-g from Ex 6); Ex 9 (p.90) g,h; Sentences 1 (p. 92) 10, 12; Sentences 2 (p. 93) 9, 10; Sentences 4 (p. 93) 3, 4, 6; Analysis (p. 95) 8
NOTE: If this is too much, do what you can. I'm still getting used to this textbook and getting the right amount of work to assign!
Submit your answers here
Week 5: Dickey IX Pronouns X Indirect statement
T April 23 Ch IX Ex 1 (p. 98) f–j; Ex 2 (p. 99); Ex. 3 (p. 100–1); Ex. 4 (p. 102) f–l; Sentences (p. 103) 15, 17, 20, 24; Analysis (p. 104) 5, 7.
Submit your answers here
Th April 25 Ch X Ex 1 (p. 107) h-n; Ex 2 (pp. 107–8) b, d–h; Ex. 3 (pp. 108-109) e–i; Ex. 5 (p. 110) f–h; Sentences (pp. 111-112) 3, 5, 8, 24, 28, 29; Analysis (p. 113) 9
Submit your answers here
Week 6: Dickey XI Questions XII Purpose, fear, and effort
T April 30 Ex. 1 (p.115) c-j; Ex. 2 (pp. 116–117) f–j, n; Sentences (p. 119) 10, 17, 18, 20, 21; Analysis (p. 120) 3
We also looked at my notes from Helma Dik's books on word order in Greek as a way to begin thinking about word order in Greek.
Submit your answers here
Th May 2 Ex. 1 (p. 125) g, h; Ex. 2 (p. 126) e-j; Ex. 3 (p. 127) c, d; Sentences (p. 128) 16, 17, 19, 21, 25; Analysis (pp. 128) 2, 5
Submit your answers here
Su May 5 11.59pm : submit midterm translation
Week 7: Dickey XIII Cause, result, and “on condition that” XIV Comparison and negatives
T May 7 Today class will be shorter than normal, from 2.30 to 3.20.
Ex. 1 (p. 132) e, h; Ex. 2 (p. 133) c, d; Sentences (pp. 134–135) 8, 15, 24, 27; Analysis 8
Submit your answers here.
Th May 9 Ex. 1 (p. 139) g, h; Ex. 2 (p. 139) e, g; Ex. 3 (p. 140) a, b, e, f, g; Sentences 1 (p. 141) 13, 17, 18; Sentences 2 (pp. 141–142) 9, 13, 15; Analysis (p. 143) 6
Submit your answers here.
Week 8: Dickey XV Commands, wishes, and prevention XVI Temporal clauses
T May 14 Ex 1 (p.145) e-j; Ex. 2 (p. 146) g–k; Ex. 3 (p. 147) b, c, d, f; Sentences (pp. 147–148) 12, 13, 16, 25, 28, 29; Analysis 7
Submit your answers here.
Th May 16 Ex 1 (p. 153); Ex 2 (p. 154); Sentences (pp. 154–155) 2, 3, 7, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 29; Analysis 7
Submit your answers here.
Week 9: Dickey XVII Impersonal constructions and verbal adjectives XVIII Oratio obliqua
T May 21 Ex 1 (p. 162) l, n, p, q; Ex 2 (p. 164) l, m; Sentences 1 (p. 165) 6, 8; Sentences 2 (p. 165) 4, 13, 14, 17, 18. Analysis (p. 167) 7.
Submit your answers here.
W May 22: Final translation assignment released here.
Th May 23 [No exercises] Sentences (p. 174) 1–7, 9; Analysis (p. 175–177) 3, 10
Submit your answers here.
Week 10: [Dickey XIX Summary XX Consolidation] - we'll do some reading and analysis instead
T May 28 no homework assigned
Th May 30 no homework assigned
Final assignment due end of exam week, Friday June 7 11.59pm.
Course Summary:
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