KT25-26 Canonicity

Course Name

Canonicity

University

UL

EC

5/6 EC

Course date

semester 2 (2025 - 2026)

Registration open until

27/10/2025 - 12/01/2026

Location

Utrecht

Instructor(s)

Dr. Tazuko van Berkel (UL) & Prof. Dr. 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 hand, 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.

Themes
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 of the Mount; Acts/Pauline Epistle
6. Longus, Daphnis & Chloe

Educational perspective

The selected texts are also suited to present and discuss in the high school classroom. There is room in the lectures to discuss this aspect.

Course requirements / Language proficiency

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 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

5 EC; Most of the EC will be spend 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

To obtain 6 ec, UvA and VU students read more source texts and secondary literature (1 ec) in consultation with the teachers.

Background Literature and Course Materials

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

06-02-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00
27-02-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00
20-03-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00
27-03-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00
10-04-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00
24-04-2026 (UU, Utrecht) 11:00-14:00

*The exam slot will be published on here soon.