wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 What do you consider essential Ancient Literature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Bare minimum essentials to me would be: Homeric Epics (Iliad and Odyssey) selection of Greek tragedies (Sophocles) Virgil's Aeneid Ovid's Metamorphoses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Timely question. :001_smile: I was wondering the same thing after the post about 9th grader not wanting to do Ancients again. The link to the Penguin Teacher's guides (kindly posted by Sebastian I believe) has unit on Sophocles as well as some comedies. Wow, some crazy stuff in Lysistrata by Aristophanes--just from reading the overview of the guide! Any thoughts on The Oresteia by Aeshylus? http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/oresteia.html Edited January 19, 2012 by Trilliums spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Timely question. :001_smile: I was wondering the same thing after the post about 9th grader not wanting to do Ancients again. The link to the Penguin Teacher's guides (kindly posted by Sebastian I believe) has unit on Sophocles as well as some comedies. Wow, some crazy stuff in Lysistrata by Aristophanes--just from reading the overview of the guide! Any thoughts on The Oresteia by Aeshylus? http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/oresteia.html That is why I asked. I think we will be doing Civics next year but it was very clear that we should not skip ancient lit. I can not find a single decent looking curriculum package. I think I am going to do this plus the other must have ancient lit programs. Off to check out your links :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Did you look at Smarr literature? Since you are going to be doing something else for Civics, the amount of work with Smarr might be a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I can not find a single decent looking curriculum package. We don't do "packages" , but I can highly recommend any of Dr. Vandiver's lectures from the Teaching Company. We used them last year for Ancients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Regentrude, Do you think the lectures give enough background and help with understanding the work for people new to ancient literature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Do you think the lectures give enough background and help with understanding the work for people new to ancient literature? Yes! I have used them for my 13 year old DD to accompany her studies of the Homeric epics and Greek tragedies, and I myself am only a physicist, not a classical scholar. We found the lectures to be of tremendous help in understanding the cultural context and in interpreting the finer points of the epics. Our basic knowledge about classical mythology was helpful (on a logic stage level), but it is not an absolute requirement. ETA: The lectures are designed for an audience of interested non-experts. They are not lectures intended for classical scholars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Umm. I need to start looking for the sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 We are covering those works included in SWB's The Well Educated Mind.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) What do you consider essential Ancient Literature? Hmmm... you will get WIDELY varying answers to this question, depending on how closely respondents follow TWTM or classicalyl educate; abilities of their students; and personal goals with regards to Literature in general and Ancient Classics specifically. We did some Ancient classics when DSs where grades 8 and 9; it was our first full-plunge into doing them ala WTM analysis and discussion. So I stayed away from what I thought would be too daunting, long, or dull (didn't want to discourage us!), and went with what I thought DSs would find interesting -- more story-like works; epics; battles and blood. :tongue_smilie: We did the following and thoroughly enjoyed it all: 1. Epic of Gilgamesh (abridged retelling by Westwood called "Gilgamesh and Other Babylonian Tales") 2. The Iliad (Fagles translation) 3. The Odyssey (Fagles translation) 4. various Greek myths (various authors) 5. Oedipus the King (Fitzgerald translation) 6. Antigone (Fitzgerald translation) 7. The Aeneid (abridged prose retelling by Church, called "The Aeneid for Boys and Girls") 8. Till We Have Faces (Lewis) -- by modern author; a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth set in an ancient Mesopotamian-type culture It was good to have a mix of full translations and retellings. I wish we would have had time to also do the middle play of the Oedipus cycle, Oedipus at Colonus. Others have highly recommended "The Frogs" and a few other works as being very palatable for young high school students. At a bare minimum, whether you use abridged retellings or full translations, you should probably cover at least The Iliad, The Odyssey, Oedipus, and some Greek myths (shoot for the ones with characters alluded to elsewhere in Literature -- (Icarus; Jason and the golden fleece; Theseus and the Minotaur; Orpheus; Perseus and Medusa; Atlas; Hercules; etc.). Those works are so often alluded to in so many works all throughout the history of Literature that I would consider those the "must read" ancients. It would also be good to cover some Plato and Aristotle -- we never got back to them, so I can't help you with specific works or excerpts. Then on the back-up list, I would put the remaining works from my list above. (Although Till We Have Faces is SO inspiring, and is the only "ancient" work with a female protagonist -- thinking of doing the ancients with a GIRL.) We also lightened things up by enjoying some historical fiction that was more at a 6th grade reading level just for fun solo reading (titles from the Sonlight 6 core, and others). We did get awfully tired of those pesky Greeks by the time we got the the Aeneid, so we were very happy to just do an abridged version. BEST of luck in putting together your ancients list, and enjoy your journey through the Ancients with a high schooler! :) Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited January 20, 2012 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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