KT24-25 Canonicity

Course Name

Canonicity

University

UL

EC

5/6 EC

Course date

semester 2 (2024 - 2025)

Registration open until

28/10/2024 - 12/01/2025

Location

Utrecht

Instructor(s)

Tazuko van Berkel (UL) & André Lardinois (RU)

E-mail Contact

Tazuko van Berkel

Course objectives

Widening of knowledge of Greek literature; introduction to new genres (including peculiarities of the language); training in independent reading of literature in the original language and exploring new genres.

Course content

Six core texts from Greek literature that are not in the BA curriculum. These texts are selected because they are on the one hand well known, such as the New Testament or the Oath of Hippocrates, yet, on the other, hardly ever read in high school or in university programs in Classics. Students will learn about the history and meaning of these texts, but we will also discuss why these texts are left out of most curricula today.

  1. Homeric Hymn to Demeter
  2. The Pythagorean theorem (Euclides)
  3. Euripides, Cyclops
  4. The Oath of Hippocrates; the Sacred Disease
  5. New Testament: the Sermon on the Mount; Acts/Pauline Epistle
  6. Longus, Daphnis & Chloe

The selected texts are also well suited to present and discuss in the high school classroom.

BA GLTC/Classics

Assessment

Format

6 x 3 hours: 1 hour lecture + 2 hours seminar / responses (lecture + questions; discussions of the Greek).

Exam

Written exam (100%)

The written exam will consist of three passages from the texts that have been studied, which have to be translated from Greek into Dutch or English, and an essay question, based on discussions about the canon in the lectures.

Study load

Most of the EC will be spent on reading texts in Greek at home with the help of commentaries: roughly 80 pages of Greek (x 1 hour), reading commentaries (20 hours), 18 hours of classes (6 seminars x 3), an excursion (8 hours), the rest is preparation for the exam.

UvA/VU

5 EC; To obtain 6 EC, UvA and VU students read more source texts and secondary literature (1 EC) in consultation with the teachers. This must be determined in week 1.

 

Background Literature and Course Materials

Literature

Reader met de Hymne aan Demeter, Stelling van Pythagoras, Corpus Hippocraticum, selectie NT; D.M. Simmonds & R.R. Timberlake (ed.), Euripides. The Cyclops, Bristol 1927; E. Bowie (ed.), Longus. Daphnis & Chloe, Cambridge 2019.

Costs

Reader ca. 15 euro; Bowie 39 euro; Simmonds 24 euro

Further information

Vrijdag 14-2-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00
Vrijdag 28-2-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00
Vrijdag 14-3-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00
Vrijdag 28-3-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00
Vrijdag 11-4-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00
Vrijdag 25-4-2025 Utrecht 11.00-14.00

Inschrijven

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Have you achieved a university bachelor diploma or a university of applied sciences bachelor diploma plus a university premaster diploma, in the target language of the course you want to follow? If not, please contact the course coordinator to see if you meet the entry requirements. Masterlanguage courses are not open to bachelor students.