Greek Funeral Orations

Survey of classical Greek funeral orations; authors to be covered include Thucydides, Plato, Demosthenes, and other fourth century prose writers. The emphasis of the course will be on Greek grammar and techniques of prose translation, though throughout the semester we will also be discussing the nature of ancient Greek commemorative discourses, particularly in classical Athens. Some background on Greek lament and other funerary genres will be provided, and short supplementary texts may range from Homeric excerpts to inscribed epitaphs. Students should already have four semesters of ancient Greek (completion of GREK 0400 ) or the equivalent.