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Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!waikato!comp.vuw.ac.nz!kauri.vuw.ac.nz!gnat From: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington) Newsgroups: sci.classics,sci.answers,news.answers Subject: sci.classics FAQ Supersedes: <classics-faq_763642816@kauri.vuw.ac.nz> Followup-To: sci.classics Date: 31 Mar 1994 12:00:13 GMT Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand. Lines: 688 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <classics-faq_765115201@kauri.vuw.ac.nz> Reply-To: classics-faq@unomaha.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: kauri.vuw.ac.nz Originator: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu sci.classics:2745 sci.answers:1027 news.answers:17027 Archive-name: classics-faq Maintained-by: classics-faq@unomaha.edu Version: $Revision: 1.9 $ ---------------------------------------- Changes as at $Date: 94/01/02 15:02:44 $: * libellus ---------------------------------------- This is the list of frequently asked questions (and their answers) for the newsgroup sci.classics. There are bibliographies for novice and knowledgable students of the classics, glossaries and compendia of mythological characters. Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, magazine articles, and ftp sites) are included here, rather than rehashing that information again. If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by email to postings. This FAQ is currently posted to sci.classics, news.answers and sci.answers on the first and fifteenth of every month. You can retrieve the latest copy of this FAQ via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/ as the file classics-faq (remember to use ASCII mode when transferring). This FAQ was mostly written by readers of sci.classics. Credits appear at the end. Comments and indications of doubt are enclosed in []s in the text. Each section begins with forty dashes ("-") on a line of their own, then the section number. This should make searching for a specific section easy. Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to the editorial board, via classics-faq@unomaha.edu ---------------------------------------- List of Answers 0 What Is Classics? 1 Questions 1.1 How should I pronounce Ancient Greek? 1.2 What are the best translations of ...? 1.3 Who was ...? 1.4 What are the famous classical authors? 1.5 How do I translate ...? 2 Bibliographies 2.1 Introductory Bibliography 2.2 Advanced Bibliography 2.3 Specialist Bibliography 2.4 Introductory Latin 2.4.1 Classical 2.4.2 Medieval 2.4.3 Specialised 2.5 Advanced Latin 2.6 Introductory Greek 2.7 Advanced Greek 3 Mythological Deities 4 Timeline 5 Glossary 6 Computer Readable Materials 7 Radio Programming ---------------------------------------- 0 What Is Classics? Good question. As used in academia, "Classics" or "Classical Studies" (with a capital C) or the adjective "classical" refer to the discipline described below, rather than to good books from any period. The discipline of Classics is the study of Greek and Roman civilization, from Homer to Constantine, but including study of the direct antecedents of Greece and Rome in the prehistoric period of southern Europe and their descendants in the Middle Ages. This encompasses both the Greek and Latin languages and their literature, including poetry, drama, history, philosophy, rhetoric, religion and political theory, as well as art, architecture, and archaeology. Precise chronological boundaries are difficult to establish, but the most common feature is the relevance of the period or material to Greek and/or Latin texts. An increasing number of classicists are devoting their energies to later Latin texts, including neo-Latin (relatively modern) original works, and to prehistory or linguistics, especially in archaeology. ---------------------------------------- 1 Questions And Answers Commonly asked questions appear here: ---------------------------------------- 1.1 How should I pronounce Ancient Greek? Technical Answer: Ancient Greek had dialects and regional inflections, so asking how it was pronounced is like asking how English is pronounced today. The original inhabitants of Greece were not greek-speakers, but spoke a lost non-Indo-European language (traces remain in some place-names). From about 1200 BCE to 850 BCE, there were several large migrations from the north. These people brought what we call the greek language. There were at least five main dialects of greek spoken during this time: Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadian, Doric, and North-West Greek. Practical Answer: It depends on who you ask. Most Europeans and Americans use what's called the "Erasmian" pronounciation, which is nothing like modern Greek. Native speakers of Modern Greek use the Modern Greek pronounciation. Others use less common systems. In actuality, Ancient Greek was probably nothing like ANY of the pronounciations commonly used. It was probably a tonal language (like Chinese, but less so) and both vowel quantity and pitch accent tend to be misrepresented in all modern pronounciation systems. ---------------------------------------- 1.2 What are the best translations of ...? Good question :-) Translations into English of most of the popular classical authors may be found along with great authors of other periods in the Penguin Classics series. ---------------------------------------- 1.3 Who was ... ? See section 2 for references to bibliographical dictionaries or encyclopaediae. ---------------------------------------- 1.4 What are the famous classical authors? While a complete list of even important authors cannot be given here, the ones below commonly appear on reading lists of graduate departments of Classics. The format is: Author's Name dates: (approximate) genre: (quick & dirty encapsulation) style: (some elaboration of the above category, with notes on meter, dialect) diff : (difficulty; of course, highly subjective :)) works: (not necessarily complete; fragmentary works excluded) fun fact: (sometimes not very much fun and often descending to the level of gossip) Greek: Aeschylus dates: 525-456 BCE genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 8 works: Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Supplices, Prometheus Bound fun fact: Apollonius Rhodius dates: flourished 3rd century BCE genre: epic style: Homeric vocabulary with some bold new similes and anthropological/aetiological touches diff : 6 works: Argonautica fun fact: feuded with his teacher, Callimachus Aristophanes dates: 457-385 BCE genre: drama style: Old Comedy diff : 9 works: Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Peace, Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophorizeusae (Female Celebrants of the Thesmophoria festival), Frogs, Ecclesiazeusae (Female Legislators), Wealth fun fact: Among his favorite targets for satire included the philosopher Socrates (in Clouds), the Tragic playwright Euripides (in Frogs), and the politician Cleon (in Knights). Aristotle dates: 384-322 BCE genre: treatises on philosophy, ethics, natural science, political science, literary criticism style: Attic prose diff : 7 works: Metaphysics, De Anima, Nichomachean Ethics, History of Animals, Physics, Politics, Rhetoric, Poetics [fragmentary] fun fact: wrote accounts of the constitutions of 158 Greek states. Callimachus dates: 305-240 BCE genre: verse (epigram, narrative elegy, satiric iambic, hexameter hymn, epyllion [little epic]) style: learned, allusive diff : 7 works: Epigrams from Greek Anthology, Aetia (Causes), Iambics, Hymns, Hecale fun fact: Hecale, an epyllion, gets its name from the elderly woman who lets Theseus crash at her house while on his way to slay the bull of Marathon. Demosthenes dates: 384-322 genre: political and legal oratory style: varied, avoids hiatus and successions of short syllables diff : 4 works: For Phormio, Olynthiacs, Philippics, On the Crown fun fact: sued his guardians for mismanagement of his inheritance at age 21. Euripides dates: 485-406 BCE genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 7 dialogue 10 choruses works: Medea, Hippolytus, Ion, Bacchae fun fact: We have more of Euripides than of any other Attic tragedian because we have not only ten plays representing "the best of Euripides" but also nine plays which seem to be from the epsilon through kappa volume of the complete works of Euripides. Herodotus dates: 484-420 BCE genre: prose history style: uses Ionian dialect lots of ethnography and anecdotes diff : 5 works: Histories fun fact: first surviving prose history in Greek Hesiod dates: flourished 700 BCE genre: creation-myth in verse, didactic poetry style: epic vocabulary diff : 6 works: Theogony, Works and Days fun fact: Works and Days is ostensibly addressed to his MEGA NHPIE (very foolish) brother Perses and consists of advice on practical skills (farming, sailing, etc). Homer dates: eighth-sixth centuries BCE genre: epic style: brief, striking similes, about half each work is dialogue diff : 5 works: Iliad, Odyssey fun fact: "Homer" is usually considered scholarly shorthand for an oral-formulaic tradition perhaps dating back to the fifteenth century BCE that was written down during the above dates. Lysias dates: 459-380 BCE genre: political and legal oratory style: smooth, moderate diff : 6 works: Oration 1 (Against Eratosthenes), Oration 32 (Against Diogiton) fun fact: Originally from Syracuse, Lysias and his brothers Polemarchus and Euthydemus owned a shield-making workshop in the Piraeus. Menander dates: 342-289 BCE genre: drama style: New Comedy diff : 7 works: The Grouch, She Who Was Shorn, The Samian fun fact: Menander was for the most part lost until this century, when numerous papyrus fragments of Menander came to light. Pindar dates: 518-438 BCE genre: victory ode style: uses a huge variety of meters and myths diff : 9 works: Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Odes, all to celebrate victories in Greek athletic contests fun fact: In Olympian 1, he criticizes earlier poets for spreading lies about how the gods ate Pelops' shoulder. Plato dates: 429-347 BCE genre: philosophy style: idiosyncratic Attic prose diff : 3 works: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic fun fact: Early dialogues often show Socrates and an interlocutor wrestling with a question which neither answers, but Socrates' achievement is getting the interlocutor to admit that he does not know the answer. Plutarch dates: 50-120 CE genre: prose (especially biography) style: many metaphors diff : 2 works: Lives, Moralia (rhetorical treatises, moral essays, philosophical dialogues and treatises, antiquarian works) fun fact: For the last thirty years of his life, he was a priest at Delphi. Sophocles dates: 496-406 BCE genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 7 works: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Ajax fun fact: According to Aristotle, he introduced to Tragedy the third actor, scene-painting, and the fifteen-man (as opposed to the twelve-man) chorus. Theocritus dates: 300-260 BCE genre: bucolic lyric/mime style: polished, deceptively simple diff : 6 works: 31 short poems fun fact: Poem 11 is a love song sung by the Cyclops Polyphemus to the nymph Galatea, who has rejected him. Thucydides dates: 460-400 BCE genre: prose history style: some poeticisms, elliptical, likes antithesis diff : 10 (hardest prose author) works: Peloponnesian War fun fact: His account of Pericles' funeral oration, a wonderful piece of pro-Athenian propaganda, is followed by a harrowing account of the plague that struck Athens shortly afterward. Xenophon dates: 428-354 BCE genre: prose (history, philosophy, treatise, etc.) style: simple diff : 1 works: Hellenica, Anabasis (March Upcountry), Household Manager fun fact: The Anabasis, about the retreat of Greek mercenaries after their employer Cyrus, brother to the Persian king Artakserksis, was deposed in a coup, features a wonderful scene in which the Greeks at last reach the sea and shout "THALATTA, THALATTA!!!" (The sea, the sea!!!). Latin: ---------------------------------------- 1.5 How do I translate ...? You can make a post, and maybe it will be answered. You can buy a pocket Latin<->English or Greek<->English dictionary, and do it yourself. If you have access to a Classics Department, asking them might prove helpful. ---------------------------------------- 2 Bibliographies ---------------------------------------- 2.1 Introductory Bibliography If you know nothing about the classics, some recommended books are listed here. They assume no knowledge, and will give you a sound grasp in the basics. %T The Oxford Classical Dictionary %A (ed.) H.H. Scullard %D 1970 %Z This gives solid (if unimaginative) articles on all major authors %Z and subjects in Greek and Latin, usually with good bibliographies %Z as well. %T L'Annee Philologique %Z THE bibliography of the classics -- it's not on computer yet, but %Z give them time. %T The Sound of Greek %A W. B. Stanford %T The Pronunciation and Reading of Ancient Greek: A Practical Guide %A Stephen G. Daitz %T Vox Graeca %A W. Sidney Allen %T Vox Latina %A W. Sidney Allen ---------------------------------------- 2.2 Advanced Bibliography If, having completed a preliminary reading in the subject, you decide you enjoy classics, here are books to give you more knowledge. ---------------------------------------- 2.3 Specialised Bibliography If you decide you are only interested in a narrow field of classics, here are books that will extend your knowledge in one subject. %T The Legacy of Rome: A New Appraisal %A ed. Richard Jenkyns %I Oxford University Press %D 1992 %T The Legacy of Greece: A New Appraisal %A ed. M. I. Finley %I Oxford University Press %D 1984 %Z Both these are excellent, and each article has suggestions for %Z further reading. %T L'Annee Philologique %A Marouzeau ---------------------------------------- 2.4 Introductory Latin For the reader with little or no knowledge of Latin. ---------------------------------------- 2.4.1 Classical %A Balme, Maurice. %T Oxford Latin course. %I Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press %D 1987-1988. %T Cambridge Latin course. 2nd ed %I Cambridge <Cambridgeshire> ; New York: Cambridge University Press for the Schools Council, %D 1982. %A Goldman, Norma %T Latin via Ovid: a first course. %I Detroit: Wayne State University Press %D 1977. %A Griffin, Robin M %T A student's Latin grammar. %I North American 3rd ed. Cambridge <England> ; New York: Cambridge University Press %D 1992. %A Jenney, Charles. %T First year Latin. %I Boston: Allyn and Bacon %D <1975> %A Jenney, Charles %T Second year Latin. Boston: Allyn and Bacon %D <1975> %A Johnston, Patricia A %T Traditio: an introduction to the Latin language and its influence. %I New York: Macmillan %D c1988. %A Jones, Peter V %T Reading Latin. %I Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press %D 1986. %A Knudsvig, Glenn M %T Latin for reading: a beginner's textbook with exercises %I Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press %D c1982. %A Lawall, Gilbert %A Tafe, David %T Ecce Romani. %I White Plains, NY: Longman, Inc. %A Moreland, Floyd L. %T Latin: an intensive course. %I <New ed.> Berkeley: University of California Press %D c1977. %A Sinkovich, Kathryn A. %T Intermediate college Latin. %I Lanham, MD: University Press of America %D c1984. %A Wheelock, Frederic M. %T Latin: An Introductory Course Based on Ancient Authors. %I 3rd Edition. New York: Barnes & Noble %D 1963. ---------------------------------------- 2.4.2 Medieval %A Beeson, Charles Henry %T A primer of Mediaeval Latin; an anthology of prose and poetry. %I Chicago, Scott, Foresman and Company %D <c1925> %A Collins, John F. %T A primer of ecclesiastical Latin. %I Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press %D c1985. %A Strecker, Karl %T Introduction to medieval Latin. %I 5. unveranderte Aufl. Dublin: Weidmann, %D <c1968> ---------------------------------------- 2.4.3 Specialised %A Baranov, A. %T Basic Latin for plant taxonomists. %I Lehre, J. Cramer, %D 1971 <c1968> %A Gooder, Eileen A. %T Latin for local history: an introduction. 2d ed. %I London ; New York: Longman, %D 1978. %A Howe, George %T Latin for pharmacists. %I Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's son & co. %D <c1916> %A Stearn, William T. %T Botanical Latin: history, grammar, syntax, terminology, and vocabulary. %A 3rd ed., rev. Newton Abbot, Devon ; %I North Pomfret, Vt.: David & Charles, %D 1983. ---------------------------------------- 2.5 Advanced Latin For the reader with several years study of Latin. ---------------------------------------- 2.6 Introductory Greek For the reader with little or no knowledge of Greek. ---------------------------------------- 2.7 Advanced Greek For the reader with several years study of Greek. ---------------------------------------- 3 Mythological Deities Never been able to sort out Athena from Venus and remaining perpetually confused about Mercury's role in life? Look no further. %A Kravitz, David %T Who's who in Greek and Roman mythology. %I New York: C. N. Potter: distributed by Crown Publishers, %D <1976> c1975. %A Mercatante, Anthony S. %T Who's who in Egyptian mythology. %I New York: C. N. Potter: distributed by Crown Publishers, %D c1978. %A Morford, Mark P. O., and Lenardon, R. %T Classical mythology. 4th ed. %I New York: Longman, %D c1991. ---------------------------------------- 4 Timeline GREECE: Bronze Age 3000-1100 BCE Fall of Troy ~1200 Archaic Period 1100-480 Xerxes' invasion 482 Classical Period 480-323 Peloponnesian War 466-404 Alexander defeats Athens 323 Hellenistic Period 323-146 Roman Period 146 BCE - 565 CE Byzantine Period 565 - 1453 CE ROME: Regal Period 753-510 BCE Republic 509-31 Empire 31 BCE - Golden Age 1st century BCE - early 1st century CE Silver Age Late 1st Cent CE - 2nd cent CE ---------------------------------------- 5 Glossary Providing endless fodder for flamewars, here are some simple definitions of terms you will meet in classics. ---------------------------------------- 6 Computer Readable Materials There are several institutions that offer electronic versions of classics works and texts. They have varying quality and varying restrictions on their use. Those known of are listed here. Freely redistributable versions of various Latin texts, including all of Vergil, Catullus, and Tibullus, and selections from Cicero, Caesar, Horace, and others, are available from the project Libellus archive at the University of Washington, Seattle. These can be had, in TeX form, by anonymous FTP from host ftp.u.washington.edu, directory /public/libellus/texts; some commentaries and other support files (including a TeX-to-ASCII converter for the texts) are contained in the other subdirectories of /public/libellus. These texts and support files are also available, in a variety of formats (TeX, ASCII, RTF, PostScript) through an experimental E-mail server, for those who do not have Internet access; for more information about this service, send mail to libellus@u.washington.edu with "help" in the message body. Send comments, questions, etc. to perseant@u.washington.edu. The Georgetown Catalogue Project for Electronic Texts have a directory of electronic text projects in the humanities. The catalogues are available by language and subject, and are available for anonymous FTP from guvax.georgetown.edu:cpet_projects_in_electronic_text. The Library at Dartmouth have a huge database containing and concerning "La Commedia". To use it, telnet to library.dartmouth.edu and type connect dante Lectures by Robert Hollander on Dante are available for anonymous FTP in ccat.sas.upenn.edu:/pub/recentiores named BARLOW.README, BARLOW.1, BARLOW.2 and BARLOW.3. ---------------------------------------- 6.1 Oxford Text Archive The Oxford Text Archive provides texts with restrictions on redistribution, usually for cost of copying and shipping. The texts are of varying quality. The following is taken from their informational blurb: > Further details are given in the published Short List > (which includes an order form) which is printed at least > once a year. Write to: > > Oxford Text Archive > Oxford University Computing Service > 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK > > ARCHIVE@VAX.OX.AC.UK > > or FTP to black.ox.ac.uk:/ota They have recently been able to make available some public-domain texts for FTP. ---------------------------------------- 7 Radio Programming Currently there are two major shortwave services that provide Latin programming. They are: Vatican Radio (daily programming, mostly of a religious nature) Radio Finland (weekly world news reports) Times and frequencies are likely to change, so are not included in this FAQ. Schedule information may be obtained from the following: World Radio and Television Handbook (WRTH) (1993 Edition, ISBN #0-8230-5924-3) Billboard Publications 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036 USA Usenet newsgroup rec.radio.shortwave and the shortwave FTP archives at nic.funet.fi under /pub/dx. ---------------------------------------- Credits Nathan Torkington <gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz>, Tracy Monaghan <monaghan@cac.washington.edu>, Owen Ewald <ome@u.washington.edu>, ptrourke@acs.bu.edu (Patrick Rourke), kbibb@maui.qualcomm.com (Ken Bibb), b-ogilvie@uchicago.edu (Brian W. Ogilvie), stigh@itk.unit.no (Stig Atle Haugdahl), "Jim Ruebel" <S2.JSR@ISUMVS.IASTATE.EDU>, Neil Bernstein <nwbernst@unix.amherst.edu>, kamorgan@athena.mit.edu (Keith Morgan), Risto Kotalampi (rko@cs.tut.fi), Konrad Schroder <perseant@u.washington.edu>, pef@dcs.qmw.ac.uk.