Time Schedule:
Deborah E. Kamen
GREEK 520
Seattle Campus
Class description
In this seminar, we will be studying the comic roots of invective, as well as the rhetorical purposes invective served in Athenian court speeches. Of particular interest will be the ways in which specific attacks -- for example, on an opponent's alleged servile ancestry or sexual deviance -- are informed by, and inform in turn, contemporary social norms and prejudices. In addition to scholarship on the topic, we will be reading selections of Aeschines' Against Timarchus, a model of oratorical invective.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Students will be expected to translate and discuss passages of Aeschines in class; to give one presentation; and to write a seminar paper on a relevant topic of their choosing.
