Pan’s Travail
Announcements:
1) Read with a dictionary or while connected to the internet. Bookmark a good dictionary or two: http://www.m-w.com and the Oxford English Dictionary, through the Cornell Gateway.
2) Take home lesson for today: TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN YOUR OWN EDUCATION—DON’T RELY ON THE PROFESSOR OR T.A.s TO SPOON FEED YOU EVERYTHING.
3) Review of the basics of Hughes book: table of contents, index, etc. Basic outline of book. Things to concentrate on, e.g., Chap. 4, “Concepts of Nature.”
III. Hughes’s book
“We live in the Golden Era of technology.” You have the ability to do research on terms, people, places, texts very easily, both through the Cornell Library and on the internet.
You also have access to other study aides and resources, e.g., The Loeb Classical Library. [SLIDES]
The following are three examples of terms and topics from the Hughes book that merit closer scrutiny, depending on your interests. Bottom line: TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN YOUR OWN EDUCATION—BE AN ACTIVE LEARNER.
1. Sakkara and the Causeway of Unas:
The depiction of famine in the ancient sculpture; see e.g., Hughes p. 40.
2. Gilgamesh and Enkidu: (mentioned early in Hughes book pp. 33-34)
“Perhaps the oldest extant long poem,” Hughes tells us.
The story raises questions such as: What does it mean to be human? Are humans divine? Are humans animals? How do we become civilized? Are we civilized by virtue of just being born into the human race? Are women the ones who civilize men? Is it somehow in human nature to live with other people? What is the role of sex and sexuality in human life? Does is make animals into men? Does it make men into animals? Is it a "sacred" aspect of our human nature?
See also material artifacts associated with Gilgamesh, e.g., [SLIDES] sculpture, bull-headed lyre/harp at the University of Pennsylvania, etc.
3. Plato’s Critias and reference to deforestation and erosion at Attica:
See e.g., Hughes, p. 73. The section cited by Hughes (111 Critias) is found easily online:
Text from Jowett at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/critias.html :
Critias
By Plato
Written 360 B.C.E
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
“The land was the best in the world, and was therefore able in those days to support a vast army, raised from the surrounding people. Even the remnant of Attica which now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every sort of animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those days the country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant produce. How shall I establish my words? and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then was? The whole country is only a long promontory extending far into the sea away from the rest of the continent, while the surrounding basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the shore. Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking; and during all this time and through so many changes, there has never been any considerable accumulation of the soil coming down from the mountains, as in other places, but the earth has fallen away all round and sunk out of sight. The consequence is, that in comparison of what then was, there are remaining only the bones of the wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of the land being left. But in the primitive state of the country, its mountains were high hills covered with soil, and the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phelleus were full of rich earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains. Of this last the traces still remain, for although some of the mountains now only afford sustenance to bees, not so very long ago there were still to be seen roofs of timber cut from trees growing there, which were of a size sufficient to cover the largest houses; and there were many other high trees, cultivated by man and bearing abundance of food for cattle. Moreover, the land reaped the benefit of the annual rainfall, not as now losing the water which flows off the bare earth into the sea, but, having an abundant supply in all places, and receiving it into herself and treasuring it up in the close clay soil, it let off into the hollows the streams which it absorbed from the heights, providing everywhere abundant fountains and rivers, of which there may still be observed sacred memorials in places where fountains once existed; and this proves the truth of what I am saying.”
Hughes refers to “rural nostalgia” later in the book (Chapter 9), and on Wednesday we’ll take that up again in more detail.
Pay attention to the sources mentioned in Hughes (e.g., Plato), and the desirability of tracking some of these sources down if you have the time or inclination. This is true as well of any of the readings this semester—e.g., Hughes, Thiebaux, Krech, etc.
BE AN ACTIVE LEARNER.