Syllabus

Goals and requirements

A graduate seminar is by nature both foundational and exploratory. “Foundational” means that this is the time to get entirely at home with the primary sources, and to get a clear grasp on the story line and details of the scholarship on those sources. “Exploratory” means that we will grapple with real issues, not pedagogical pseudo-problems, and that you are expected to be not only a probing participant in the discussions that take place, but also a leader in crafting the particular paths and byways that we choose to pursue. Moreover, you are expected to read widely, far beyond the assigned readings.

An explicit goal is that by course’s end, you (as a colleague-in-training) will feel confident to teach a course in Herodotus later in your career. Another explicit goal is to use this course as a vehicle to accumulate in your folder of possible publication plans and projects something Herodotean, or at least connected with Herodotus.

The week-by-week rhythm will require (1) careful reading of Herodotus in translation and in the Greek (as much Greek as you can muster), and (2) topical readings in the scholarship, including (a) books or articles in focus for the entire group (i.e. read by everyone), (b) assigned specific items that you will bring in summary to the group for consideration, and (c) investigational forays that reflect your own interests and help prepare you for the research topic that will form your paper.

We will develop a weekly rotation of discussion leaders responsible for helping the group formulate interesting questions relating to the assigned readings. Final responsibility for the group discussion, however, lies with everyone.

Towards the end of the term, you will give a focused, 25-minute presentation that is the first stab at drawing together the materials that form your research project. The 25-minute presentation will be followed by an equal amount of time for group discussion, compliments, criticism.

The paper (c. 25 pages) is due on Friday, December 4. If you choose to submit the paper by email, then send it in PDF format (not MS Word) as a document attachment.

On Wednesday December 9, we will have a plenary session in which we simulate an APA panel on Herodotus. You will deliver a crisp, coherent 15-minute presentation (read from a script) derived from your seminar paper. (It can be either the best part of the paper, or an abbreviated version of the larger thesis, depending on the topic.) If this goes well, you will have in hand a paper to submit to CAMWS or APA.

The paper itself should be the “first finished draft” of a scholarly article. You should early on choose a journal that seems suitable for the publication of such an article, and you should draft the paper to the bibliographical specifications of that journal (see “Notes for Contributions” sim. at the front of the journal or at the journal’s website). Be sure to include a cover memo with your paper that tells me what journal it is intended for.

Course overview

Week 1

Organizational meeting and introduction

Weeks 2 & 3

Book 1

Weeks 4 & 5

Book 2, Airs Waters Places

Weeks 6 & 7

Book 3

Weeks 8 & 9

Book 4

Week 11

Books 5-9 (in overview and retrospect)

Weeks 12 & 13

Reports

Topics - see Schedule of Readings.

Archaic Composition and Style: Form, Composition, Stileigenheit

Structural patterns and narrative rhythms.

Reader expectations and authorial acculturation.

Inherited traditions — (1) chronicles, ethnographical accounts; (2) proto-scientific and medical writings (esp. Airs, Waters, Places); (3) poetic antecedents. — The orality/literacy debate.

Narrative voice — problems in narratology.

Sources and Authority. — sources and the (archaeological) record: the “Liar School.”

Ethnicity and identity — constructions of world and self.

Readings

For the week-by-week reading schedule, see the Schedule of Readings.

Texts

C. Hude, Herodoti Historiae. Oxford Classical Text. Vol. 1 (books I-IV).
R. Strassler, The Landmark Herodotus.