ICSM-HNR 11000-02 THE GOLDEN CITY: RHETORICAL

PERFORMANCE IN CLASSICAL ATHENS.

Robert G. Sullivan, Culture and Communication

417 Muller Faculty Center
rsulliva@ithaca.edu. 274-3930.
Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:00-4:00
Seminar Meetings: MWF 3:00-3:50 Gannett 110 – 4th Hour W 12:00-12:50 CNS 118

TEXTS: Please use the translations and editions listed below.

Texts in Bookstore:
Plato. Great Dialogues of Plato. Signet (1984) Rouse, trans.
Aristophanes. Lysistrata and Other Plays. Penguin (2002) Sommerstein, trans.
All That You’ve Seen Here Is God: New Versions of Four Greek Tragedies. Vintage
(2015) Doerries, trans.

Texts on Sakai:
Homer. Iliad Bks 1, 19, 20 (lines 180-570), 21, 22, 24.
Euripides. Bacchae
Euripides. Medea
Sophocles. Electra
Antiphon. On the Stepmother.
Lysias. On the Murder of Eratosthenes.
Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. Selections. Penguin (1972). Warner, trans.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In a real sense, we are all Athenians. For 2500 years people have asked how one rather
small city, with relatively meager resources, could have such an astounding impact on
world culture? However, though Athens is a powerfully evocative psychic site, it is very
much a paradoxical one as well: it is both the birthplace of democracy and the place
where Socrates was legally murdered, both the heroic polis that stood down the invading
Persians and the degraded imperial power that engaged in vicious atrocities during the
Peloponnesian War, both the location where the sublime expressions of Greek
architecture, drama, and philosophy flourished and a city where slavery, sexism, and
demagogic authoritarianism thrived. If, then, we are all Athenians, to some degree all of
the contradictions of Athenian life - democracy and imperialism, freedom and license,
liberty and repression, individualism and collectivism - are fully in play in our
contemporary culture.

Classical Athens has been famously described as having been “drunk on language.” The
Athenian democracy placed an extraordinarily high value on the ability of its citizens to
speak, argue, entertain, and instruct by means of direct oral discourse. This seminar will
engage the concept of rhetorical performance in the democratic polis. We will immerse in
rhapsodic interpretation, political debate, criminal litigation, philosophical dispute and
theatrical performance. We will also take part in a corresponding variety of performative
experiences – in debates, mock trials, poetic recitations, and theatrical performances. The
seminar will not simply work through a set of cultural masterpieces, though many of our
texts are central to the Western canon. We will embody, and experience again, many of
the persisting problems of democratic citizenship and re-engage the disputes that
vitalized Athenian life. In doing so may well come to see the contemporary American
experience through a radically different lens.

More programmatically, the seminar is dedicated to:

• Developing your ability to analyze and critically evaluate complex ideas and
arguments

• Gaining for you a broader understanding of, and appreciation for, human culture
and history

• Advancing your skill as a writer, speaker, and scholar.

This seminar is your introduction to the Integrated Core Curriculum (the "ICC"). One of
our common hours will address how to submit relevant evidence from this seminar into
your portfolio.

ASSIGNMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS:

Method of the Course.

The course will be conducted as a seminar. The course instructor will lecture as needed to
supply context and continuity, but the backbone on the course will be the student's close
engagement with readings, rhetorical texts, and each other. All seminarians will be
expected to read the required texts, and come to class prepared to discuss them. This is a
reading and writing intensive course. All seminarians will be expected to produce the
highest quality written work in a timely fashion. All are expected to contribute actively,
respectfully, and responsibly to the seminar.
The seminar will also have weekly meetings during a “common hour.” During some of
these meetings we will have programming of particular interest to students in Honors, for
instance, discussions about study abroad opportunities, major grants and scholarships, or
preparing for graduate school. Sometimes we’ll have more informal discussions of life on
campus. And sometimes we’ll just continue with the seminar’s regular business.

Policies.
Due to the nature of this course, in which each student's participation is a necessary
component of each class meeting, attendance will be mandatory. For each absence in
excess of five cuts one's final grade will be reduced by one full letter grade. Excused
absences are those due to 1) illness involving confinement in the health center or a
hospital, 2) death or serious illness in the student's immediate family, 3) appearance in
court. Students unable to fulfill class assignments due to religious observances or
participation in extracurricular activities that take them away from campus (sports,
forensics, theatrical or musical performances, etc.) should make arrangements with the
professor well in advance of the due date. Absences will be excused only for those
occasions for which the student can provide verifiable documentation, immediately upon
return to the class, that one of the conditions listed above apply. Students should
familiarize themselves with their rights and responsibilities as set out in the college's
procedures for dealing with disruptive behavior, interactions with others, and academic
honesty.

All work must be completed on the dates specified on the course schedule unless the
instructor explicitly changes the due date. The professor reserves the right to lower
the grade or reject work that is not completed on the date specified. All written work
submitted for a grade must be typed. All work must be properly and consistently
formatted according to a standard style manual, such as MLA, Chicago, or Turabian.
Plagiarism, in any form, will be considered an extremely serious matter. The use of
other's ideas must be consistently and clearly documented.

Assignments:

Grades will be distributed based on the following activities:

1. Seminar Participation: 25% If the seminar format is to work all of us must

attend the seminar in a timely manner, be thoroughly prepared, and participate
actively, relevantly, and respectfully. This grade will also reflect each seminarians
participation in the oral performances required throughout the term.
2. Themes: 45% Each seminarian will write three themes addressed to materials in
the seminars five units. You get a choice about which of either Units 3 or 4
(Disputes in the Polis or Philosophical and Political Debate) you wish to write
about and don't have to write a theme about Unit 5 on Comedy. These themes are
relatively short (roughly five to seven pages) analytical essays. They must be
objective and text-based, and advance a clear, unitary argument. A handout on
analytical theme writing will be distributed in class. The themes and their subjects
will be as follows:
• #1 Epic, September 26;
• #2 Tragedy, October 24;
• #3 Trial or Debate November 21;
 Each of the themes will contribute 15% of one’s grade.
3. Research Paper: 30% A major research paper (ca. 15 pages) will focus on any
aspect of Athenian life during the Classical Era (“The Testimony of Slaves in
Athenian Courts,” “Risky Business: Banking Without Banks,” “The Portrayal of
Prostitutes on Attic Symposium Ware.”) that is of interest to the student. The
essay must be thesis driven and responsive to the relevant secondary literature.
Research papers will be presented orally to the seminar during the final
examination period and must be turned in at that time – Friday, December 16
4:30-7:00PM. It is also hoped that many of these papers will be presented in the
ICSM Symposium on December 14

COURSE CALENDAR

Please complete all readings before the dates indicated on the course calendar. Any
substantial changes to the syllabus will be announced on Sakai.

Week 1
8.30 First seminar meeting (No 4th Hour)
9.1 UNIT I. Rhapsodic performance – Background and context

Week 2
9.4 Labor Day. No Seminar
9.6 Iliad Bk. 1 Wrath
9.6 4th Hour – Textor 102 Program Director - This Thing Called Honors
9.6 Student Organization Fair. 10-3 Emerson Suites.
9.8 Iliad Bk. 1 Wrath

Week 3
9.11 Iliad Bks 19-22 – Agony
9.13 Iliad Bks. 19-22 Agony
9.13 Writing Workshop – What is analytical writing?
9.15 Iliad Bk. 24 Reconciliation

Week 4
9.18 Iliad Bk. 24 Reconciliation
9.20 Plato. Ion. What is a poem?
9.20 Hour. Ion. What is a poem?
9.22 4th Hour – Textor 102 Honors First Year Read - Angels in America 4th
Plato.

Week 5
9.25 UNIT II. The Tragic Response - Sad Men and 'Nasty Women': Sex Roles
in Classical Athens
 9.27 Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound
9.27 4th Hour. Preparation for retreat.
9.29 Aeschylus Prometheus Bound

Week 6
10.2 Sophocles. Ajax Theme# 1 Due.
10.3 Angels in America Performance.
10.4 Sophocles. Ajax
10.4 4th Hour. Angels in America discussion
10.6 Women in Classical Greece
10.8 (Sunday) Cayuga Nature Center. 3-7 PM. Honors retreat.

Week 7
10.9 Euripides. Medea
10.11 Euripides. Medea
10.11 4th Hour. Writing Workshop. Library resources
10.11 Majors and Minors Fair. 5-7 PM. Emerson Suites.
10.13 Euripides. Bacchae

Week 8
10.16 Euripides. Bacchae
10.18 Oppression and Pathology
10.18 4th Hour. Angels in America discussion.
10.20 FALL BREAK

Week 9
10.23 Sophocles. Electra
10.25 Sophocles. Electra
10.25 4th Hour. Registration Made “Easy”. Textor 102
10.27 What is a drama?

Week 10
10.30 UNIT III. Disputes in the Polis. Context for trials
11.1 Antiphon. On the Stepmother - Accusation
11.1 4th Hour. Program Director. What’s Next in Honors. Textor 102.
11.3 Antiphon. On the Stepmother - Accusation

Week 11
11.6 Lysias. On the Murder of Eratosthenes – Defense Theme# 2 Due.
11.8 Lysias. On the Murder of Eratosthenes – Defense.
11.8 4th Hour. Navigating the ICC
11.10 Plato. Apology
Week 12
11.13 Plato. Apology
11.15 UNIT IV. Philosophical and Political Debate
11.15 4th Hour. Angels in America discussion
11.17 What is Love? Plato. Symposium

Week 13
11.20-11.24 Thanksgiving Break

Week 14
11.27 What is Love? Plato. Symposium
11.29 Thucydides. War or Peace in Sparta
11.29 4th Hour. Program Director. The Four Year Plan. Textor 102
12.1 Thucydides. The Mytelinean Debate.

Week 15
12.4 UNIT V. Send in the Clowns – How does comedy work?
12.6 Aristophanes. Lysistrata
12.6 4th Hour Writing Workshop. Fit & Finish Theme #3 due
12.6 Honors Banquet . Emerson Suites
12.8 Aristophanes. Lysistrata

Week 16
12.11 Aristophanes. Clouds
12.13 Aristophanes. Clouds
12.13 4th Hour. Preparation for Symposium
12.14 ICSM Symposium. 11-3 Emerson Suites
12.15 Last things

Week 17

Final exam period. Monday, 12.18 1:30-4:00. Final Paper Due. Research Paper Due.
Presentation and discussion of research papers. There will be chow. Breathe. Breathe
deeply. You made it.