Summary:

The purpose of this course is to provide PhD students with important research tools, useful in particular for the dissertation and their first attempts at publication. The study of traditional and electronic resources, familiarity with current trends and approaches to modern classical scholarship, journals and publishing houses, and other such practical information are certainly an indispensable part of the course, but there is more to it. An overview of classical scholarship from Aristotle to the modern day, with particular references to the great scholars who have propelled the discipline to ashtonishing heights in the past couple of centuries, an introduction to palaeography and textual criticism, the Greek dialects, and issues related to specific areas of learning, such as gender and space studies or the authenticity of ducuments in the Attic Orators, will all be part of this course, and are intended to strengthen the research skills and background knowledge of advanced classics students.

Suggested Readings:

1. Reynolds-Wilson: Scholars and Scribes (Especially for the ancient and Byzantine/Medieval periods)
2. R. Pfeiffer: History of Classical Scholarship: From 1300 to 1850 (Mainly for the Medieval Period)
3.J.E. Sandys: A History of Classical Scholarship (vol. 3 18th, 19th and early 20th c., E-book)
4. U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, History of Classical Scholarship (1982; originally published in German, 1921).
5. William M. Calder III, Men in Their Books: Studies in the Modern History of Classical Scholarship
6. Martin L. West, Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique applicable to Greek and Latin Texts

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: A History of Classical Scholarship from Aristotle to the Second Sophistic
Assignment: Reading of Papyrus and Uncial

Week 3: Classical Scholarship in the Medieval World, East and West
Assignment: Reading of Minuscule

Week 4: Classical Scholarship from Bentley to the present
Assignment: Presentation on the State of Classical Scholarship in 21st century US

Week 5: The Greek dialects
Research Assignment: Readings from Herodotos, Sappho and Alcman

Week 6: Genre Specific issues
Research Assignment: The authenticity of the documents in the Attic Orators

Week 7: Inscriptions
Research Assignment: The use of inscriptions as historical sources

Week 8: Gender and Space Studies
Research Assignment: Extracts from Xenophon's and Aristotle's Economics

Week 9: Reviewing a book or article
Research Assignment: Write a 400 word review on a book that you have read.

Week 10: Springbreak

Week 11: Literary Translation
Research Assignment: Translation
Obligatory Reading: 'Seven Agamemnons', Reuben A. Brower, Journal of the History of IdeasS, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Oct., 1947), pp. 383-405

Week 12: Searching the sources
Research Assignment: Triumviratus in Roman Literature

Week 13: Assessment of the sources
Research Assignment: Adultery in Greek Sources

Weeks 14-16: Constructing a publication