Course Description

Greek 103 continues to give students a basic overview of the Attic dialect of the ancient Greek language, including high frequency vocabulary and fundamental grammar. Students will not only read and write but also listen and speak in Attic Greek.

Language Skills Objectives

Morphology

• Ῥήματα
  • Review παρατατικός (ἐνεστώς + παρατατικός) and ἀόριστος.
  • Learn imperatives for all tenses.
  • Learn παρακείμενος + συντελικός.
  • Learn the εὐκτική ἔγκλισις.
• Ὀνόματά τε καὶ ἐπίθετα
  
  • Review declension of ὀνόματα and ἐπίθετα, especially the τρίτη συζυγία

Syntax

• Location
• Time
• Commands
• Wishes/Prayers
• Potential
• Past tense conditionals including general; future-less-vivid conditionals
• Hypotaxis in secondary sequence.

Vocabulary

• Continue to learn top-frequency vocabulary
• Also learn vocabulary for animals, philosophers and philosophies, parts of a house, and food items.

Active Language Use

Ancient Greek is a language, like French or Spanish. The fact that ancient Greek is an older language does not make it a code or logic puzzle instead of a language: it is still a language, and you should approach learning it as you would any other language. You wouldn't try to learn Spanish by reading some grammar instructions, memorizing a list of vocabulary, and taking a quiz—you learn Spanish by using the language to get increasingly more complex points across to another human being. The same applies to Greek: the more you use the language to express your thoughts, both in speech and writing, the better you will get at it.

Class Meetings

Greek 103 meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the spring quarter, from Wednesday, April 2, until Friday, June 6, from 8:30 AM to 9:50 AM, in Miller Hall 022 (basement).

Instructor

Miller Krause

Office

Miller Hall 122D

Office Hours

Mon­days, Wednes­days, and Fri­days, 12:00–1:00 PM

Email

miller.krause@wwu.edu

Office Phone

(360) 650-4269‬ (email is better)

Course Materials

There is no textbook to purchase for the class; you will be provided with chapters, both on paper and in PDF form, from a textbook being developed for active Attic Greek.

Academic Honesty and Integrity

Western has a policy on academic honesty and a statement on integrity.  Unusually, and quite Platonically, Western does not focus on the negative consequences of cheating or plagiarism, but on the positive results of honesty and integrity.  There are many forms that dishonest academic behavior might take, from plagiarism to having another write your papers for you to cheating on a test: honesty, though, has but one form, namely putting in the required work, and one consequence, namely learning.

Course Requirements and Grading

Grading Scale

Course Requirements

συνουσία καὶ μετάληψις (Attendance and Participation; 20%)

Classes will give you time to interact with other students in Greek, and this will be the primary way that you learn ancient Greek. You need the practice in interpersonal communication, including listening and speaking, that class provides, so you need to come to class. I understand that sometimes problems do arise, so Canvas will automatically excuse two absences.

If you plan to miss class to undertake military service, observe religious holidays, or travel for sports or other University-sponsored activities, let me know in writing during the first two weeks of class, so that I can excuse your absences and work with you to change due dates for your assignments.

μελετήματα καθ' ἡμέραν (Daily Assignments; 20%)

There will be short, daily assignments to turn in, some written and some spoken, to give you individual practice.

Turn in written assignments on paper in class. You wrote assignments by hand the first quarter; while you could try typing them if you really want to, I recommend continuing to write by hand. These assignments will give you a chance to practice reading and short-form writing on your own. It is much faster and easier for me to review, comment on, and grade Greek assignments on paper than on Canvas.

Record and submit spoken assignments using Canvas. There will be fewer of these, but they allow me to check individual pronunciation. Illustrated instructions and a video are available at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-record-media-using-the-Rich-Content-Editor-as-a-student/ta-p/379 .

Canvas will excuse one μελέτημα.

συγγράμματα ἑβδομαδικά (Weekly Compositions; 20%)

Each weekend, you will have a writing prompt for compositions, relating to the subject matter we covered that week. Write your συγγράμματα in the ἐγχειρίδιον that you received your first year. Work on writing longer, more complex material, and feel free to use lsj.gr or other resources to aid you. You should be able to judge your own progression in using the language by looking back at what you have done.

You are not obligated to tell the truth in your συγγράμματα—I don't really care what you like to do after class or what you did during the summer, and you don't have to tell me your secrets. In fact, lying may be better, because it lets you adapt your response to your own proficiency and comfort zone.

ἐπιστολαί (Epistles; 10%)

This quarter you'll also send ἐπιστολαὶ (letters) in Greek to each other, via the ἐσωτερικὴ ἐπιστολοθήκη, located on the first floor of Miller Hall near Miller Mart.  You must write six letters, but you can write more if you like.  You'll be given code names to hide your identity, but you can write to anyone you want in class.  You'll also be given stationery and a sheet of stickers (πιττάκια) to serve as stamps—the epistolary δαίμονες do a remarkably efficient job carrying messages back and forth, but they must be paid, and πιττάκια are your potsage.  Your μελετήματα are single-sentence answers, your συγγράμματα longer compositions for display, but ἐπιστολαί are meant to be interpersonal communications between yourself and other students.

Don't seal the first two letters, because I'll want to check their formatting; after that, feel free to seal your other letters.  I'll read over the first two letters when you send them, and I'll read the rest at the end of the quarter to see how much progress you're making in writing.

At the end of the quarter, give me the letters you've received (which will have been sent by other students), and I'll arrange them by sender and look over them during the last week of classes.  On the last day, we'll all look at them and see how brilliant you are.

ἐξετάσεις (Tests; 20%)

Each unit will have at an ἐξέτασις (quiz/test/assessment). It is possible to finish these by oneself, but they are meant to be collaborative tasks: you may talk to each other during the tests and about the tests, so long as you speak only in ancient Greek.

ἡ ἐσχάτη ἐξέτασις (Final Examination; 10%)

There will be a final examination, to be taken in class on paper. The final exam will be collaborative like the regular tests: you may talk to each other during the exam and about the exam, so long as you speak only in ancient Greek. The final examination will be administered according to the Registrar's schedule for final examinations:

• Tuesday, June 6, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Weekly Schedule

This syllabus is subject to change. Changes, if any, will be announced in class. Since the syllabus is on Canvas, students will have the latest information available at all times.

Canvas provides feeds to which you can subscribe, to keep all your course info in your favorite calendar program like Apple's Calendar or Microsoft Outlook. For details, see the Canvas Guide on Calendar.