Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization
Spring 2008

Announcements

Dialogue Notes 24 are available.

The Final Paper Topic is available.

The Exchanges page has been updated.

The link to Dialogue Videos are available on the Resources page. This will be updated weekly with new Dialogue Videos.

Multimedia requires a separate user name and password, available from Professor Nagy and the Teaching Fellows.

The true "hero" of this course is the logos or "word" of logical reasoning, as activated by Socratic dialogue. The logos of dialogue requires careful thinking, realized in close reading and reflective writing. The last "word" to be read in the course will come from Plato's memories of the last days of Socrates.

These memories depend on a thorough understanding of the concept of the hero in all its varieties throughout the history of Greek civilization.This course is driven by a sequence of dialogues that lead to such an understanding, guiding the attentive reader through many of the major works of the ancient Greek Classics, from Homer to Plato.

Contact Information

Professor: Gregory Nagy

e-mail: gnagy@fas.harvard.edu

Classics Department, Boylston Hall, 2nd floor. Office hours by appointment.

Head Teaching Fellow: Kevin McGrath

Office hours: