Classical Poets on Love

Today we read a series of ancient poets on the topic of love and desire. Trigger Warning: both Hesiod and Ovid tell stories of sexual coercion.

Reading: Hesiod’s lyric poetry (~700 BCE) served, alongside Homeric epic, as the foundation of Ancient Greek culture. His account of creation foregrounds Eros (desire) as one of the fundamental drives in nature. (Hesiod-Theogony.pdf)

Reading: Sappho (~600 BCE) was celebrated in antiquity as the “tenth muse” because of the beauty of her lyric poetry. While few of her poems survive in full, we have an abundance of fragments, due to the frequency with which later writers quoted her. What’s puzzling is the cultural context in which her lyrics were performed, given the social strictures on women in Ancient Greece. Most scholars today believe she held an officially sanctioned position of some kind, whether as priestess of Aphrodite, supervisor of girls’ ritual education, or leader of a chorus of women dedicated to the Muses. (Sappho.pdf)

Reading: Ovid was one of the great Roman poets, whereas Hesiod and Sappho were both Greek. Born 43 BCE, he was banished to the Roman Empire’s far East because his voluptuous verse ran afoul of the aging emperor’s moralism. His Metamorphoses, published from exile in 8 CE, reworks Greek myth to present the world’s history as a seemingly endless, desire-driven sequence of changes. We are reading the story of one such metamorphosis, Apollo and Daphne. (Ovid Apollo Daphne.pdf)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Hesiod’s creation invites comparison to the Enuma Elish. Point to something that the two stories have in common—or something that makes them distinct.
2. Sappho is famous for presenting the first-person experience of desire. Quote a telling line or phrase and comment on the emotional experience it conveys.
3. Aestheticizing violence: point to and discuss a moment in Hesiod or Ovid where beauty is mixed with or in proximity to violence. If you can, give a 1-sentence paraphrase of what the artist/author seems to be saying about the relationship between violence and beauty—or possibly art.

Further Reading: For those interested in the scholarly puzzle of Sappho, here are two scholarly pieces:

• The introductory essay on Sappho in the Norton Anthology of World Literature: (link)
• Claude Calame scholarly paper debating Sappho’s social group or institution: (link)

The Civic Function of Greek Theater

Reading: Jennifer Wallace on the cultural development of Greek tragedy (Wallace.pdf—on Blackboard)

Reading: Euripides, Medea, pp 5-44 (roughly the play’s first half, ending with Aegeus’ exit from the stage).

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. The play opens with a conversation between two servants, the Nurse and the Tutor, a conversation which serves to bring the audience up to speed with recent events in Medea’s life. But beyond mere plot summary, their conversation can be mined for insight into class dynamics. From the words these characters use in speaking of their master and mistress, how do these lower-class characters feel toward their social “betters”? Do the Nurse and Tutor express similar attitudes, or do their differ?
2. The Chorus in a Greek Tragedy often serves to voice the hopes and fears of ordinary citizens, witnesses to actions undertaken by heroes and by politicians that will make or break the city’s fortunes. Taking this generalization as your starting point, point to a moment in Medea that allows you to characterize the Chorus in this particular play. Does this Chorus bear out my generalization, or does it stand as an exception to the general rule?
3. In quick succession, Medea meets with King Creon and then her estranged husband Jason. Pointing to a key moment from one of these exchanges, what do we learn about her character—or perhaps about the cultural power imbalance she faces as a woman and an alien?

Biblical Epic 2

Reading: Exodus 1-20, 32-34—a Nation Founded (HebrewScripture3.pdf)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Oddities: quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as strange and offer a comment or insight about it.
2. How does Moses compare with the patriarch/heroes we encountered last class? Focus on trait grounded in specific events or actions by these characters.
3. The first 15 books of Exodus tell the tale of Israel’s struggle with a far greater power, Egypt. Focusing on a moment that specifically references Israel or its leader Moses, how does this national origin story present the Israelites, as a people?
4. The remainder of Exodus tells the tale of Israel’s forty-year journey through the wilderness. Focusing on a moment that specifically references Israel or its leader Moses, how does portion of the narrative present the Israelites, as a people?

Biblical epic 1

Reading: Genesis 12-35—Abraham of Ur vs. Gilgamesh of Uruk; Abraham’s progeny: Ishmael & Isaac, Esau & Jacob (Blackboard: HebrewScripture2.pdf)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Oddities: quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as strange and offer a comment or insight about it.
2. Abraham and Gilgamesh come from the same region of Ancient Sumer, but these two heroes seemingly couldn’t be more different. Highlight a difference that strikes you as culturally significant in distinguishing the ancient Hebrews from the other peoples of Mesopotamia. Or highlight an unexpected similarity, if you spot one.
3. Assuming that Abraham exemplifies “Biblical heroism” (as per question 1), do his descendants Isaac and Jacob show the same qualities or different ones? Focus on a particular incident or detail.
4. In this section of Genesis we follow the line that will produce the nation of Israel, from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. But both Isaac and Jacob have older brothers—Ishmael and Esau. How does the narrative present these other children? In answering, point to a specific moment or phrase.

Monotheism: evolution or revolution?

Reading: Genesis 1-11 Creation, Flood, and the Tower of Babel (Blackboard: HebrewScripture1.pdf)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. The Book of Genesis opens with not one but TWO accounts of the creation of human beings: the first describes how the world was created in six days followed by a seventh day of rest; the second tells the story of Adam and Eve’s temptation by the Serpent in Eden. Setting to one side the apparent contradiction (we will address that in class), describe how these accounts differ. Keep your answer short! Don’t give a list of differences; focus on one core difference, a difference of tone or scope or maybe even genre.
2. Many of you are probably already familiar with Genesis 1-4, but likely in a different translation. Whereas most Biblical translations are the work of religious organizations, we’re reading the translation by a highly regarded scholar of Ancient Hebrew, Robert Alter. If Alter’s phrasing struck you as odd or surprising at any moment, see if you can dig up the phrasing you’re familiar with (there are lots of Bible translations available online) and quote a line from Alter alongside a line from your version (make sure to label them both clearly). Then comment briefly on which one you like better—and why.
3. There are a host of differences between the Biblical story of the flood and the one in Gilgamesh. Highlight one that strikes you as culturally significant in distinguishing the ancient Hebrews from the other peoples of Mesopotamia.
4. The Tower of Babel episode provides an account of city-building in sharp contrast with the story of Babylon’s founding in the Enuma Elish. Comment briefly.

Mesopotamian Epic 2

Reading: Gilgamesh, the hero’s quest for immortality, Tablets VII-XI (pp48-73).

Writing: Post 1-2 sentences in response to one of the following prompts:

1. Seems to me this epic just gets weirder as it goes along. Quote a line or cite a plot event from the second half of the epic that strikes you as a good starting point for discussion—and comment on why it’s puzzling.
2. Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality takes him beyond the mortal plane. Quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as suggestive for understanding this culture’s conception of the cosmos beyond—and comment on what it suggests.

Mesopotamian Epic 1

Reading: Gilgamesh heroic friendship, Tablets I-VI (pp17-47).

Writing: Post 1-2 sentences in response to one of the following prompts:

1. A cultural gulf separates us from the world of Gilgamesh. Quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as odd, then comment on what’s puzzling. Odd details make good starting points for analysis.
2. The story’s two leads are both male, but most of the peripheral characters are female. Quote a line or cite a plot event that strikes you as suggestive for understanding this culture’s conception of women in society, then comment on the implications.

Introductions

Why do humans create art? The Venus of Willendorf, the Venus de Milo, Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa t-shirts, museum selfies.

A look forward to cave paintings and Herzog’s movie, Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Sacred Performance in Babylon

Reading: Enuma Elish (Blackboard: EnumaElish.pdf)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, and post as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Marduk proves himself the equal of Tiamat when he kills her. But does this mean he is simply her replacement? Or is he different from her, qualitatively? Quote or paraphrase a moment that strikes you as presenting these two characters as similar or as strikingly different entities.
2. In the introduction I wrote to the Enuma Elish, I suggested that this epic is a political as well as a cosmic myth of creation. Quote or paraphrase a moment when the action strikes you as foregrounding the creation of a political order.

Sacred Performance Among Hunter-Gatherers

Reading: Native American myths: the Tsimshian tale of the Theft of light and the Oglala Sun Dance (Blackboard: Gill.pdf)

Reading: Nyau masks: mythic reenactment and cultural adjustment (Blackboard: Curran.pdf).

Writing: Read HW guidelines linked here. Then respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short: no more than three sentences. Post your comment as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. In the Tsimshian story of the theft of light, we learn how Giant/Raven brought daylight to the lower world. Do you get the sense that bringing daylight down from the heavens was Giant’s goal? Or was it an unintended consequence? Point to a key plot detail as justification for your answer.
2. On p33 of his book, Sam Gill introduces Thomas Tyon’s account of the Oglala Sun Dance by claiming that rituals shape time and space. Point to one moment in this Oglala rite that strikes you as contributing to the transformation of everyday time and space into a special, indeed sacred time and space.
3. What do Nyau masks and ritual transform, according to Douglas Curran’s article? Name one thing in particular and explain briefly if necessary.