Teaching Delivery: This module is taught in 10 weekly lectures.

Content: This MA module is devoted to Athenian tragedy of the fifth century BCE. This year, we will focus on the drama of Euripides and, in particular, his ‘Heracles’. Apart from the first two hours devoted to a general introduction to the poet and the text, the course will be organised as a seminar, where we approach the problems of Greek tragedy and the play through a close collaborative reading, in Greek, of Euripides' text. All participants should read the assigned text in Greek (about 150 lines per two-hour session) in preparation for each class. Also, a selection of secondary reading is assigned each week to aid discussion: participants are asked to read and consider these selections as well. Topics considered will include style, interpretation, textual transmission, dramaturgy, the idea of the tragic hero and the play's connection to other accounts of the Heracles myth, staging, metre, and social, political and religious context. For preparation, see the suggested preparatory reading below.Skills: By the end of this module students should be able to display improved knowledge of tragedy, its contexts and the ancient Greek language; insight into a variety of important themes connected with Greek drama and its contexts, and the ability to carry out original research on these questions. Students will also practise researching a topic of their choice in a mature and independent way, and will learn the basic techniques of academic research, as well as how to express their findings well and coherently in writing.Module texts: Bond, G.W., Euripides, Heracles, with introduction and commentary (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981) (online edition available via UCL Library; second hand editions are also generally available). Students may also wish to consult: Barlow, S., Euripides, Heracles, edited with an introduction, translation and commentary (Aris & Phillips Limited, 1996, updated and reprinted 2015).​​​​​​​Other recommended preperatory reading:
E. Griffiths, Euripides, Heracles (Duckworth, 2006); D. Mastronarde, The Art of Euripides (Cambridge, 2010); M.L. West, Greek Metre (Oxford, 1982); S. Goldhill, Reading Greek Tragedy (Cambridge, 1986); O. Taplin, Pots and Plays (Getty, 2007); D. Wiles, Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2000); P. Easterling, ed. Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (Cambridge, 1997); T. H. Carpenter, C.A. Farone, eds. Masks of Dionysus (Cornell, 1993).