Hi, I’m from Iran, I study Classics by myself, there is no institution here to provide courses on the Classics. I wanted to know what is the agenda of Classics. I mean what resources they use in Universities, which classic texts they read “respectively”? I seek to get a big picture for what I am doing. currently I read Xenophon and some dialogues of Plato, after that, I wish to read Herodotus. I want to know when I should start Homer, Early Greek Poetry and Tragedies? Do they use any special grammar and lexicon or any other resources to do that? which are the main resources any classics student must learn?
Welcome to Texkit! I study Latin in high-school years ago and I’m self taught for Greek. However, not a few here are teachers and hopefully will tell you more.
By agenda, I assume you mean literally “things to be done” (agenda often in English means the intent a person has which explains their actions)? And when you say that you are currently reading Xenophon, etc., you mean in translation or have you had some work in Greek? Gaining competence in the original languages is a big part of the foundation for studying classical literature, and that is where you should start if you haven’t already done so. Textkit here can help a lot with that.
If you want to see what various universities do, go to their Classics departments and look over the courses. Ohio State, one of my “almae matres,” is typical:
Xenophon, Plato, Herodotus, excellent (in Greek, I assume you mean): you can profitably read more of each. Homer you can start any time, the sooner the better now. (Resources in my other post.) Other early Greek poetry: Hesiod any time, early elegiac likewise, lyric all difficult, best to hold off if you can. Tragedy is usually started too early, but irresistible: try Euripides to start with. You should sample comedy too (e.g. Frogs, or Clouds, both with Dover). And much much more prose: the Attic orators (e.g. Lysias and Demosthenes), Thucydides tough.
Standard curricula usually stop too short, with little beyond the classical period. That’s a shame. Some Lucian is read, and sometimes Longus: read more. Build up to Heliodorus!
Keep up your enthusiasm. When you get tired of something switch to something else. There’s always something else.
Enjoy.
PS. Oh, and you’ll probably need a general Greek reference grammar. Smyth is standard for English-speakers, but old and old-fashioned and not very user-friendly (but is online through Textkit). There’s now the Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek, more linguistically oriented. That should replace Smyth (though “classical” implicitly excludes both pre-classical—Homer!—and post-classical).
Hi, I really appreciate your answer, Yes I read the texts in Greek. I read Xenophon’s and Plato’s Crito and Apology. One of my friend who has more experience it the field, said to me that you should go from easy to difficult texts, e.x. from Xenophon to Thucydides. Xenophon is the easiest and Thucydides is the hardest. I just wanted to know that in West, how College Students start to read in original. I really am in love with the tragedies but don’t know when I can start.
Thanks for the reference, Yes I have Smith on desk. I teach Latin for years here in Iran, using Lingua Latina.
I see from your response that you are already well along. As Michael says elsewhere, read as much as possible! The more you interact with the original language in context, the better it gets.