SLE 91 Notes PDF

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SLE 91

Stanford Freshman Structured Liberal Education Program G.R.F. (John) Ferrari, Department of Classics, University of California Berkeley October 5, 2020 Elysium? The hierarchy of utopia in Plato's Republic _____________________________________________________________________________

1. Hierarchy of three social strata in "Callipolis" (the ideal city described in Plato's Republic). Compare Neill Blomkamp's film "Elysium." 2. But also contrast. Callipolis a harmonious unity of three groups who aspire to different goods (vs. zero-sum struggle between groups who aspire to same good). 462d-463b, 431d; 412d-e; 466b, 469b. 3. Yet not all sweetness and light. Shepherd, sheepdog, sheep: three different species? 375a-c, 416a-b; 431b-d. 4. When rulers revealed to be philosophers (end of Book 5), potential for alienation between strata increased, 486a. The Cave (= regular human society): philosopher aspires to be "divine" as well as human. Disdainful of life in the Cave, 516c-d, 540b. Aspiration to divinity is tempered by gratitude of philosopher to city, 520b, 497a. 5. Philosopher enlightens Callipolis ("awakens" it, 520c), but only as a whole city; nonphilosophers do not "wake up" as individuals. The hierarchy in Callipolis is a hierarchy of selfrealization as a human being. 6. City-soul analogy (368a-369a, 435a) represents the different levels of self-realization. Based on the principle that the explanation of a city's being F (whatever property F is) is the same as that of a person's being F, 435a. — But distinguish: (a) the just city is like the just person (b) the just city consists of individually just persons. City-soul analogy justifies only claim (a), not claim (b). Philosopher-king's soul is structured analogously to structure of Callipolis; he is a "city unto himself" (i.e. autonomous). Philosopher transcends society. Other classes are virtuous not through themselves but through their connection to society (dependency). Contingency of philosopher's connection to Callipolis: 499b-d, 519d-521c. City of pigs, 372d-e: best community, but no room in it for the best individuals. What the soul of an artisan looks like (outside of analogy): 590c-d.

THE strongest is ne ver strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms stre ngth into right, and obedience into dut y.

- grandson of Autolykos (Real Wolf) - son of Sisyphus?? - Tries to avoid war by “madness” (discovered by Palamedes) - An archer (with implications - hanging back in battle) - Telemachus = “far fighting” — describes him - Always a rogue? Used to seek poison for arrows - In Iliad — a sort of second-in-command to Agamemnon - rival of Achilles (greatest fighter) - Friend of Nestor, aged advisor - invents Wooden Horse ruse (like his own disguises) His Island and his Ethos - “rough but a good nourished of young men” Paris and Helen - Abduction, deduction? Aphrodite made them do it - Helen shows breasts and so doesn’t kill her Iliad - book 4 - pg 51 Lombardo - Helen Story vs discourse - events vs literary ordering of events - Trojan war causes and conclusion (Iliad and Cylic Epics now low) - Odysseus thinks up Trojan horse - he and dioceses steal “palladium” statue of Athena - Ajax rapes Cassandra at alter of Athena - crews fail to calm athena’s wrath at these events - various nostoi (journeys home) Odyssey as discourse - Telemachus on Ithaca awaits his father; suitors besiege the house - Athena/mentor arrives - Telemachus set forth for info - Odysseus eanwhile first seen in bk 5, about to embark on last leg Structure of Odyssey - books 1-4 Ithaca now - bus 5-8 Odysseus last leg: Calypso island and land of phaeacians - bus 9-12 the Odyssey adventures (retold by him) - 13-24 back on Ithaca: disguises, defeat, reunion Oral mnemonics? - Cicones - Lotos-eaters - Cyclops - Laestrygonians Aeolus - Circe-underworld-Circe

Binaries - t wo cannibal visits, t wo dangerous nymphs, t wo times at island of Aeolus, Scylla and Charybdis

Odyssey Part I: Many (happy?) returns Richard Martin, Stanford Department of Classics I. What the Odyssey is not about: superhero, action film—though useful comparanda II. Keywords: unpacking the proem (opening ten lines) of the poem a. Andra—“(a) man”—we don’t learn his proper name until line 21 b. Polutropos---“of many turnings” c. Nostos--- “return” especially “return home” NB: nostalgia is a modern compound word [invented in 1688] formed from two actual ancient Greek words: nóstos and algos “pain” [as in an-alg-esic and neur-alg-ia]. d. Noos--- “mind, consciousness, way of thinking” III. Back-stories a. Odysseus before the Odyssey b. episodes framing the Trojan War: Helen, Paris, and Menelaus. Compare Book 4. IV. The shape of the Odyssey a. Story vs. Discourse: sequence of events in chronological order vs. how the poem selects and re-orders them to draw out certain themes and make vivid juxtapositions b. Doubles and repetitions in the rhythm of the poem c. Nostos as escape: neither staying still or going in circles d. Themes within the Cyclops episode (Book 9): technology, cunning, hybridity e. Tendency to make it all allegorical—to be resisted V. Structure and theme: nostoi before the nostos of Odysseus a. The “Telemachy” (Books 1-4) as miniature, fractal version of Odysseus’ return b. The failed return of Agamemnon: harped on by those Telemachus meets c. If Telemachus = Orestes (son of slain Agamemnon who kills the killers—his mother and her lover)? VI. The witty warrior—nostos requires noos.

Homer's Odyssey (Part 2): Memory, mindfulness, and the hero Richard P. Martin, Department of Classics, Stanford I. Back to the Beginning: Muse, Daughter of Mnemosyne (Memory) II. Memory thematized: Segment I a) Recollecting Troy, recalling Odysseus: Helen vs. Menelaos (pp.50-52) b) Memory and strength: the "Telemachy" (Books 1-4). the young hero’s amnesia; Mentôr and Mentês (Athena in disguise) *men--root of mimnêskômai “remember” and “remind” (and of “a-mne-sia”).The Reminder puts strength-from-memory (menos) into Telemachus (“Far-battle) III. Segment II--Odysseus on the last leg home (Books 5-8) a) the hero on the beach, to Nausicaa (pp.89-90)—“memory” and rhetoric b) the three songs of Dêmodokos (Book 8) IV. Odysseus as story-teller (Books 9-12) a) temptations of memory: Sirens know it all b) wisdom in recollection--e.g. the Cyclops c) problems of motivation: hero as poet. Odysseus as extortionist? (pp.167-69) V. Memory and the art of “Homer” (i.e. the oral-poetic tradition) The Homeric Question: who, when, where, why, how--mostly remains unsolved: a) Poems have information and linguistic forms going back to appx. 1200 BC (e.g. cities vanished by 800 BC but in Catalogue of Ships; memories of Troy and Mycenaean period (16001200 BC); retention of "digamma" (=w-sound lost in later Greek). b) BUT alphabetic writing was imported from Phoenicians and gained ground only by 750 BC at earliest. How did memory survive? Who could read the epics? c) hints from the poems: "singers" in the Odyssey (Phemios and Demodokos); "baleful signs" in the Iliad (Book Six, concerning Bellerophon's letter) c) The dactylic hexameter verse: —uu—uu—uu| —uu| —uu —X This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and the | hemlocks (Longfellow) Andra moi /ennepe, /Mousa, pol/utropon, /hos mala /polla (Odyssey line 1.1) d) formulas and thematic patterns ("type-scenes"--e.g. setting sail) everywhere E.g. dios Odusseus# [— u u — X ] vs. polumêtis Odusseus# [u u — u u — X](where #= verse-end). "Extension and economy" as observable in the data. e) Milman Parry (1902-1935) and his demonstration: a traditional medium (Paris theses, 1920s); AND a medium made for oral composition-in-performance (later 1930s fieldwork in former Yugoslavia). IN SUM: It’s memory--of a particular fluid kind (NOT verbatim memorization of a fixed text)

VI. Memory, story-telling and "cunning intelligence" (mêtis) a) Polumêtis Odusseus and the mythical mother of Athena b) the Odyssey as a poem about strong women (cf. Samuel Butler The Authoress of the Odyssey, 1897); c) goddess-hero antagonism: Odysseus meets his match (pp.200-1) VII. The poem as our test: do we have the wit to match it? Three puzzles: a) the character of Penelope b) does she or doesn’t she know it’s her husband? Read very carefully and with suspicion Book 19 (brooch; dream; "master's age") So what about the bed-test (Bk 23)? And what about us? How do we want this to end? How does it? (A question for the ancients already: some said Od.23.296 was the end. c) ethics of killing 108 young men CODA: Two modern visions: the poem and personhood

The epic’s prelude offers a general introduction to Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who was t wo-thirds god and one-third man. He built magnificent ziggurats, or temple towers, surrounded his city with high walls, and laid out its orchards and fields. He was physically beautiful, immensely strong, and very wise. Although Gilgamesh was godlike in body and mind, he began his kingship as a cruel despot. He lorded over his subjects, raping any woman who struck his fancy, whether she was the wife of one of his warriors or the daughter of a nobleman. He accomplished his building projects with forced labor, and his exhausted subjects groaned under his oppression. The gods heard his subjects’ pleas and decided to keep Gilgamesh in check by creating a wild man named Enkidu, who was as magnificent as Gilgamesh. Enkidu became Gilgamesh’s great friend, and Gilgamesh’s heart was shattered when Enkidu died of an illness inflicted by the gods. Gilgamesh then traveled to the edge of the world and learned about the days before the deluge and other secrets of the gods, and he recorded them on stone tablets. The epic begins with Enkidu. He lives with the animals, suckling at their breasts, grazing in the meadows, and drinking at their watering places. A hunter discovers him and sends a temple prostitute into the wilderness to tame him. In that time, people considered women and sex calming forces that could domesticate wild men like Enkidu and bring them into the civilized world. When Enkidu sleeps with the woman, the animals reject him since he is no longer one of them. Now, he is part of the human world. Then the harlot teaches him everything he needs to know to be a man. Enkidu is outraged by what he hears about Gilgamesh’s excesses, so he travels to Uruk to challenge him. When he arrives, Gilgamesh is about to force his way into a bride’s wedding chamber. Enkidu steps into the doorway and blocks his passage. The t wo men wrestle fiercely for a long time, and Gilgamesh finally prevails. After that, they become friends and set about looking for an adventure to share. Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to steal trees from a distant cedar forest forbidden to mortals. A terrifying demon named Humbaba, the devoted ser vant of Enlil, the god of earth, wind, and air, guards it. The t wo heroes make the perilous journey to the forest, and, standing side by side, fight with the monster. With assistance from Shamash the sun god, they kill him. Then they cut down the forbidden trees, fashion the tallest into an enormous gate, make the rest into a raf t, and float on it back to Uruk. Upon their return, Ishtar, the goddess of love, is overcome with lust for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh spurns her. Enraged, the goddess asks her father, Anu, the god of the sky, to send the Bull of Heaven to punish him. The bull comes down from the sky, bringing with him seven years of famine. Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle with the bull and kill it. The gods meet in council and agree that one of the t wo friends must be punished for their transgression, and they decide Enkidu is going to die. He takes ill, suffers immensely, and shares his visions of the under world with Gilgamesh. When he finally dies, Gilgamesh is heartbroken.

Gilgamesh can’t stop grieving for Enkidu, and he can’t stop brooding about the prospect of his own death. Exchanging his kingly garments for animal skins as a way of mourning Enkidu, he sets off into the wilderness, determined to find Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. Af ter the flood, the gods had granted Utnapishtim eternal life, and Gilgamesh hopes that Utnapishtim can tell him how he might avoid death too. Gilgamesh’s journey takes him to the t winpeaked mountain called Mashu, where the sun sets into one side of the mountain at night and rises out of the other side in the morning. Utnapishtim lives beyond the mountain, but the t wo scorpion monsters that guard its entrance refuse to allow Gilgamesh into the tunnel that passes through it. Gilgamesh pleads with them, and they relent. Af ter a harrowing passage through total darkness, Gilgamesh emerges into a beautiful garden by the sea. There he meets Siduri, a veiled tavern keeper, and tells her about his quest. She warns him that seeking immortalit y is futile and that he should be satisfied with the pleasures of this world. However, when she can’t turn him away from his purpose, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman. Urshanabi takes Gilgamesh on the boat journey across the sea and through the Waters of Death to Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the flood—how the gods met in council and decided to destroy humankind. Ea, the god of wisdom, warned Utnapishtim about the gods’ plans and told him how to fashion a gigantic boat in which his family and the seed of every living creature might escape. When the waters finally receded, the gods regretted what they’d done and agreed that they would never try to destroy humankind again. Utnapishtim was rewarded with eternal life. Men would die, but humankind would continue. When Gilgamesh insists that he be allowed to live forever, Utnapishtim gives him a test. If you think you can stay alive for eternit y, he says, surely you can stay awake for a week. Gilgamesh tries and immediately fails. So Utnapishtim orders him to clean himself up, put on his royal garments again, and return to Uruk where he belongs. Just as Gilgamesh is departing, however, Utnapishtim’s wife convinces him to tell Gilgamesh about a miraculous plant that restores youth. Gilgamesh finds the plant and takes it with him, planning to share it with the elders of Uruk. But a snake steals the plant one night while they are camping. As the serpent slithers away, it sheds its skin and becomes young again. When Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, he is empty-handed but reconciled at last to his mortality. He knows that he can’t live forever but that humankind will. Now he sees that the city he had repudiated in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring achievement—the closest thing to immortality to which a mortal can aspire....