BIBLICAL AND CLASSICAL LITERATURE
(Sample Syllabus from an intensive Five-Week Term)
Instructor: Mr. Brian Gastle
Office: MEM 319
REQUIRED TEXTS
The New English Bible with Apocrypha: Oxford Study Edition. Ed. S.
Sandmel. Oxford UP.
Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Tr. R. Lattimore. Harper.
Sophocles. The Oedipus Cycles of Sophocles. Tr. R. Fitzgerald. Ed. D.
Fitts. HBJ.
Aristophones. Lysistrata. Ed. D. Parker. NAL-Dutton.
Virgil. The Æneid. Tr. R. Fitzgerald. Random House.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Tr. R. Humphries. Indiana UP.
Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Tr. J. Lindsay. Indiana UP.
READINGS
M (4) Introduction to Course
W (6) Genesis 1-12; 15; 17; 22; 27-28; 32.24-32; 35; 37; 39-45; 50.
Exodus 1-16; 19-20; 24; 32-34.8.
F (8) Numbers 20; 27.18-23; 32.1-33; 33.50-56; 35-36.
Deuteronomy 34
Joshua 1-3; 6; 24.
Judges 4-5.
1 Samuel 8-13.3; 16-18; 28; 31.
2 Samuel 1-2.17; 5-7; 11-12; 22.
1 Kings 2.1-12; 3; 4.29-34; 11
2 Kings 21-25.
M (11) Job 1-7; 29-42.
Jonah
Psalms 14; 19; 22; 23; 46; 96; 114; 137.
W (13) The Odyssey, Books 1-12.
F (15) The Odyssey, Books 13-24.
M (18) Holiday--No Class
W (20) from Plato's Republic, Book X.
from Aristotle's Poetics.
Sophocles, Oedipus the King.
F (22) Sophocles, Antigone.
Aristophones, Lysistrata.
M (25) The Æneid, Books 1-6.
* * * PAPER DUE * * *(at beginning of class)
W (27) Metamorphoses, Book 1; from Book 2: Phaethon; Book 3.
F (29) Metamorphoses, from Book 4: Pyramus and Thisbe, Mars and Venus;
Book 6: Philomela; from Book 10: Orpheus and Eurydice, Venus and
Adonis (251-258).
M (1) Golden Ass, Books 1-6
W (3) Gospel of Matthew
Letter of Paul to the Romans
F (5) Acts 1-9.30
Revelation 1; 4-9; 20-21.
Conclusion of the course
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Quizzes 40%
Paper 30%
Final Exam 30%
Class Participation May Improve Your Grade
Objectives
-- A broad survey of predominantly canonical Biblical and Classical
literature in translation.
-- To be able to recognize references and allusions to those stories.
-- To become familiar with the social and historical environments of
early Hebrew, Christian, Greek, and Roman texts
-- To be able to discuss, analyze, and write about texts in a critically
mature and sophisticated manner.