Classicists' Contributions to The Internet: II

Dateline: 11/23/99

In an earlier feature I spotlighted the contributions of a few Classicists (David Camden, Roger Dunkle, Sallie Goetsch, Skip Knox, David Meadows, Ross Scaife, Bill Thayer, and Andrew Wilson) to the Internet. Today I will show you some of the wonderful resources the University of Saskatchewan's John Porter and his colleagues have made available to all.

Sadly, John Porter's Classics Department's saga is becoming all too familiar for he is Associate Professor in a department that is being eliminated. Because of this, for more than a year the dozens of pages he'd written were unavailable. Finally this fall (if only temporarily), the essays, notes, and bibliographies have been allotted web space in conjunction with an interdepartmental program in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Saskatchewan. Following John Porter's pages I've listed a couple of articles on the decline of Classics programs.

Drama is Porter's particular specialty. Of *10 publications and book reviews, all but one clearly relates to the stage. Besides tragedy and comedy, Porter provides class notes on Greek Civilization, Roman Civilization, Daily Life, and Petronius' Satyricon. Class notes include essays, bibliographies, translations, sample essay tests and study guides. Of these the [URL = http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/depttransls.html] translations are in a sense the most valuable because some of them do not appear elsewhere on the internet. About half of them were written by Saskatchewan lecturer Lewis Stiles.

1. Selections from the Greek Lyric Poets
   From these fragments you can get a taste of the writing of Archilochus, Alcaeus, Mimnermus, Ibycus, Anacreon, and Xenophanes. Porter also provides background information on the Greek Lyric Poets.
2. Solon: Select Fragments
   The great Athenian lawgiver was also a poet. For more information on Solon Porter has provided his class notes and **Associate Professor Niall McCloskey's translation of ***Plutarch's Life of Solon.
3. Selections from Theognis
   Theognis is another lyric poet but with a better manuscript tradition. Unlike the short fragments we have of the other lyric poets, we have 1400 lines attributed (rightly or not) to him.
4. Aeschylus, The Persians
   Making every page they put up special, McCloskey and Porter embellish this translation of Aeschylus' tragedy with a list of Greek terms.
5. Selections from Herodotus, The Persian Wars
   In addition to translation by Stiles of important passages, Porter includes an outline of selected Books 1, 6.48ff., 7, and 8. Background reading and class notes on Herodotus examine the father of history's more apt title "the father of lies."
6. Selections from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
   Once again, Stiles provides the translations for the passages on which Porter provides the commentary.
7. Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book 3.82-83
   Porter provides his own translation and commentary for the Civil War in Corcyra.
8. The "Hippocratic" Oath
   A literal translation with technical terms italicized.
9. Polybius 6.11-18: The Constitution of the Roman Republic
   The Roman constitution at the time of the Second Punic War.
10. Selections from Catullus
    A selection of some of the "earthier" poems accompanied by Porter's notes on Catullus.
11. Selections from Cicero's Letters
    Cicero's Letters to Atticus on three general topics: Crossing various Rubicons, After the Ides of March, and Misunderstanding Octavian, supplemented by Porter's notes on the Rise of Octavian.
12. Octavian/Augustus: Select Testimonia
    Seneca, Suetonius, and Tacitus on the rise to power of Octavian/Augustus. Porter also provides topical notes.
13. Selections from the Acts of the Divine Augustus (Res Gestae Divi Augusti)
    Selected acts of Augustus with annotations.
14. Selections from Livy, Books 1 and 2
    Translation of passages on the legendary beginnings of Rome through the expulsion of Tarquin by Brutus.
15. Selections from Ovid's Amores
    Annotated translations of 1.4, 1.5, 1.9 and 1.14 to accompany course notes on Ovid.
16. Selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses
    Literal translation of part of Book I.

On the other hand, if you have access to a good library or interlibrary loan where you can borrow translated Classical texts, you might prefer the essays. The general topic titles, civilization, drama, everyday life, and Petronius, fail to convey the depth of material covered. Within +Greek Civilization Porter covers the following sub-topics in detail:

1. The Mythological Background of Homer's Iliad
2. Plot Outline for Homer's Iliad and List of Principal Characters
3. The Iliad as Oral Formulaic Poetry
4. Homeric Society
5. The Homeric Gods
6. Study Questions for Homer's Iliad (Stiles)
7. The Archaic Age and the Rise of the Polis
8. The Greek Lyric Poets
9. The Rise of Athens and the Athenian Democracy: From Solon to Cleisthenes
10. Herodotus
11. Outline of Herodotus, The Histories, Books 1, 6.48ff., 7, and 8
12. Greek Tragedy and the Ancient Stage
13. Glossary of Terms Associated with the Greek Stage
14. Notes and Study Questions for Selected Greek Tragedies (Stiles)
15. Introduction to Aeschylus' Persians
16. Sophocles' Oedipus
17. Euripides' Hippolytus
18. Thucydides
19. Aristophanes and Greek Old Comedy
20. Aristophanes' Clouds
21. Guide to Reading Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito

Porter's Roman Civilization course covers:

1. A Brief Chronology of Roman History
2. The Roman Name
3. Roman New Comedy
4. C. Valerius Catullus
5. Octavian and Antony: The Rise of Augustus
6. Ovid

The following topics are covered in ++Daily Life:

1. Daily Life in Classical Antiquity - General Bibliography
2. The Greek House
3. The Roman House
4. Women in Antiquity - Bibliography
5. Greek and Roman Costume
6. The Greek and Roman Wedding
7. Education in Antiquity
8. Food in Antiquity
9. Women's Work
10. The Ancient Symposium/Convivium
11. Eros and Attic Vases
12. Slavery in Antiquity
13. A Roman's Day
14. The Roman Baths
15. The Ancient Olympics and Greek Sport
16. Arena and Circus - The Roman Games
17. Ancient Medicine

In Porter's two drama categories, the following topics are covered:

1. Mythological Background to Aeschylus' Agamemnon and the Oresteia Trilogy
2. Mythological Background to Sophocles' Antigone
3. Mythological Background to Euripides' Medea
4. Mythological Background to Euripides' Ion
5. Background Material for Menander's The Arbitration (Epitrepontes)

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Sites referenced Novermber 1999:
* http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/index.html
** http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/cneafac.html#McCloskey
*** http://duke.usask.ca/~niallm/110/Solon.htm
+ http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/coursenotes.html#class110
++ http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/coursenotes.html#class220

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