GRK30090

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:

* translate the text with confidence and accuracy;
* evaluate modern interpretations of the text;
* answer questions on specific points in the text;
* construct a relevant and analytical essay on the text.

Indicative Module Content:

Indicative Coursework Essay Titles

(a) ‘A bourgeois quarrel between an obtusely selfish man and an over-passionate woman’ (D.W. Lucas). How adequate is this as an account of Euripides’ Medea?

(b) ‘Medea is quite certain that the gods will support her punishment of Jason. And the final surprising appearance of the chariot of the sun seems to prove her right’ (Helene Foley). Discuss.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

The module is taught in small classes, typically 2-3 students, and focuses on reading the text in Greek and discussing points of interest. There will be 18 classes in total.

Learning Requirements:

Students taking this module should have completed GRK20140 Intermediate Greek or equivalent.

Equivalents:
Greek Texts: Euripides (GRK10070)


 

Assessment Strategy  

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will receive detailed individual feedback on all their assignments.

Prescribed Text

Euripides, Medea, ed. D.J. Mastronarde (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

The edition by A. Elliott (Oxford University Press, 1969) is more elementary, and has a useful vocabulary.

Recommended Secondary Literature

W. Allan, Euripides: Medea (London, 2002)
A.P. Burnett, ‘Medea and the tragedy of revenge’ Classical Philology 68 (1973), 1–24 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/268785)
–––––– , Revenge in Attic and Later Tragedy (Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1998), Ch. 8
D.J. Conacher, Euripidean Drama (Toronto, 1967), Ch. 10
H.P. Foley, ‘Medea’s Divided Self’, Classical Antiquity 8 (1989), 61–85 ≈ Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (Princeton, 2001), Ch. III.5
R. Just, Women in Athenian Law and Life (London, 1989), pp. 268–76
B.M.W. Knox, ‘The Medea of Euripides’, Yale Classical Studies 25 (1977), 193–225. Reprinted in E. Segal (ed.), Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy (Oxford, 1983)