Let’s begin by getting to know the Greek stage and theater devices. Then we’ll see what Aristotle says tragedy is about. After that the Oedipus plays and the Oresteia will take you to the heart of the very best of Greek Tragic Drama.
How to get the most out of Godly Drama: Introduction to Greek Theater with Dr. Henry Russell:
- First, read the course details below.
- Purchase or borrow the books.
- Prepare a notebook for taking notes as you read and watch the lectures.
- Students begin the course by clicking on the "Recording" and watching the lecture for Class One.
- Complete any assignments for the week and hand them into your parent for grading if necessary.
- If you need review, go back and watch the recording again.
- Complete the quiz for that week and give it to your parent for grading.
- Repeat until all 6 classes are complete.
- Complete the final exam.
- Once the course is done to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records. Make sure to record your grades (HSC does not provide record keeping services).
Special Notes: To continue your study of Greek literature, follow with Virgil's Aeneid: The Founding of Nations in the Will of God in the spring semester.
Total classes: 11
Duration per class: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: The ability to read, understand, and enjoy ancient Greek plays
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th grade
Suggested credit: One semester Literature or Ancient Literature
Instructor: Henry Russell, PhD
Instructor Email: maryshire@gmail.com
Course Description: What do Aristotle and the Greek tragedians mean by tragedy? Is it closely related to the Christian concept of godly justice (and therefore to the Christian concept of comedy)? If Sophocles’ Oedipus is the most perfect tragedy, as Aristotle suggests, then what does that tragedy tell us? And how does Oedipus at Colonus, written twenty years later, come to a completely redemptive ending, 400 years before Christ? Aeschylus’ Oresteia is the only complete tragic cycle that has survived. Its three sequential plays will explore the curse on the House of Atreus and the road to a permanent justice beyond murder and revenge.
Course outline:
Week 1: Tragedy as the goat song, the Greek stage and its conventions
Week 2: Aristotle tells us about tragedy
Week 3: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Week 4: Oedipus Rex
Week 5: Oedipus at Colonus (20 years later)
Week 6: Oedipus at Colonus
Week 7: Aeschylus, The Oresteia: Agamemnon and the Curse on the House of Atreus
Week 8: Agamemnon
Week 9: Agamemnon
Week 10: The Libation Bearers
Week 11: The Libation Bearers
Course materials:
Aeschylus. The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides. Fagles translation. Penguin. ISBN: 978-0-14-044333-2. Use of other texts may make it very difficult to find the passages we are discussing.
Sophocles. “The Oedipus Cycle”: Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonnus. Fitts and Fitzgerald translation. Harcourt. ISBN: 978-0-15-602764-9.
Note: use of other texts may make it very difficult to find the passages we are discussing.
Homework: Students will expect to have two to three hours of reading homework each week. Computer-graded quizzes will be available each week, as well as a Final.
- Teacher: Henry Russell