Hello all,
In order to obtain my degree in Greek, I’m forced (well, if only by force one means “jumping for joy”) to do an independent study, since I don’t think there’ll be enough classes (department is rather small, unfortunately). I’m leaning heavily towards New Testament, but really, I’d consider anything. Anyone have some good ideas?
Thanks,
Chris
Some shoot from the hip reactions.
You should do something that meets one of the two following criteria, preferably both:
(1) Is something you enjoy.
(2) Fills a gap in your knowledge.
Thus if you’ve never read Homer in Greek but loved the Odyssey in translation … now’s your chance! Filling gaps in your knowledge will help you in your future professional life, if you choose to go on to graduate school. If you are not planning on further studies, doing something different will still help round out your educational experience.
I personally would advise trying something quite different from what you’ve already done. Broaden your horizons. But that’s just me.
The other thing to consider is the professor with whom you will work. Make sure you like him/her, and that he/she likes you. Since you’ll be one-on-one presumably at least once a week, having a good relationship is pretty important.
I did three independent study classes as an undergraduate as well as a thesis, which also amounts to an independent study. They were the most stimulating and fulfilling classes I took in college.
Enjoy!
Thucydides, II.34-54.
Get to it.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Turns out that actually I’ll probably have to take more than one independent studies. I’m looking at about three, I think. Homer, Herodotus, and Plato are ruled out, since I will have already covered them. I do like to delve into Thoucydides, and I also want to do NT work. I do like the lyricists suggestion, since I have already touched a little bit of Meleager, and went over several others, but only in translation, and only in connection to Catullus, like Archilochus and Callimachus. I’ll definitely see to that as well. That’s actually something I’d really enjoy.
Keep 'em coming, boys. My knowledge of Latin literature is far more extensive than my knowledge of Greek literature. What’s all out there? What’s good and worthy of diving into?
The fathers of the church.
Clement of ALexandria, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, Shepherd of hermas, etc.
Pagans
Plutarch of course, The dramatic poets, Sophocles, Aeschelus, Euripides. Start with the trilogy involving Agemennon and the Libation bearers.
Sappho (not sure what she has that’s extant maybe someone can answer).
Something to think about if you have the time. (I don’t read greek yet that’s next year). but I picked up a copy of the illiad/odessy from loeb, and whenever I read a new greek author I work my way through homer at the same time. I find the excerise somewhat fascinating because it seems that whoever the greek is they provide an insight or variation on Homer.
Oedipus Tyrannos is one of the best tragedies of all time, and Sophocles’ choral odes are at least semi-comprehensible (as opposed to Aeschylus’). It is an excellent play to get to know the quintessential values important to the Greeks: the problems of hubris and ate, nemesis, etc. And it’s decent, wholesome Attic Greek (which, misero me, I never really read until I was out of college).
If you like the Romans and want to do something wacky, I’d hit up the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. He’s an Augustan age author, wrote in Greek, who composed a history of early Rome. He’s kind of like a bizarro-Greek Livy, only his aim is to prove that the Romans were all really Greeks in origin and so are not really barbarians at all. He definitely loves to write the fake speech stuff ancient history is full of.
Want some oratory? Go for Demosthenes. 4th century Athenian rhetorician, brilliant, a man who loved his city and wanted to combat the growing Macedonian threat, I’d definitely look at his Peri tou Stephanou (“On the Crown”).
Or, as a fourth and final option, I’d take a look at Aristophanes, if you want to try some ancient Greek comedy. It’s pretty risque stuff. Check out Clouds for some hilarious spoofs of Socrates.
Sorry…I had to read Sophocles in my 4th year of Greek (keep in mind I am a Koine guy) at school, and I thought it was evil, I mean eeeeeeeeeevvviiiiiillllllll!
Homer rocks, I love the Odyssey, and after a while it really does start becoming intuative. But if I were to vote for anything I would go with Herodotus or Thucydites. I really enjoyed both of them, and the stories are great. FWIW There is also Apollodorus, whom I HIGHLY recommend. He was recommended to me by the venerable Carl Conrad of B-Greek fame as a great starting point after Koine. Apollodorus is a Koine writer, but he is full of atticisms, so it is almost like reading Attic, but a little easier for the Koine guy (like me). His libraries are available from the Loeb, and the stories are incredible, but the footnotes in the Loeb are even better. It is one of the few Loebs that I have read where the translator was simply marvelous. Just my two cents worth.
The Oresteia. Most puissant verse ever written. period.