Introduction & Course Goals:

Imagine traveling back in time almost 3,000 years and seeing what life was like then with almost photographic reality. Imagine getting inside the mind and imagination of a writer who lived 2,750 years ago and seeing the world through his eyes and finding out what seems to be permanent in human nature and what is merely the way we happen to do something now. That is what I find amazing about reading the Iliad and the Odyssey, that something so ancient speaks to me so clearly and directly today. Therefore, one of the course goals is to understand two works of literature that have formed the basis of Western culture.

The Iliad especially will at first strike you as strange and foreign. Harold Bloom, a great contemporary literary critic, ascribes this strangeness to two ways in which the world of the Iliad is different from our world: the Greek gods and the role of Greek fate is so different from our conception of fate and God in the Hebrew-Christian tradition. But while the cosmology of the Greek Olympian gods is so foreign to many of us Westerners personally, the comparisons and contrasts to the cosmology and theology we have grown up with provide invigorating opportunities for reflection. Therefore, a study of the Iliad will sharpen your sense of how ways of understanding humanity, society, and divinity have evolved over time.

The Odyssey is more accessable, more readable, especially if you have had no background in Greek literature, mythology, or epics. The Odyssey is a darn good story and has a lot of variety--killing, funny episodes, sex, drugs, love, tenderness--you name it, The Odyssey's got it. The Iliad is more sublime--the emotions are higher, deeper, stronger, and therefore less ordinary. The challenges Odysseus faces, while sometimes set in a fabulous setting, are more the challenges of everyday life. The author of The Odyssey (assuming that a different poet wrote The Odyssey) was inspired by The Iliad and defined his work in contrast with it. As a result of reading the Odyssey, you will understand more clearly the basis of much of literature. Therefore, a brief statement of our course goals are these:

• to understand the meaning of The Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer as epic poems and works of literature.
• to understand the context of Homer's time as it relates to understanding the epics and how these epics have influenced our Western society.
• to determine your own interpretation of the epics after having compared and contrasted the interpretations of various critics and students.

• You must write your papers in Microsoft Word. The college library will provide you with a free disk of Word to install on your computer, if you don't have word.
• How to send your papers to me: (Click here to get these instructions in printable form)
  • When you save, please save it like this: Smith373IliadPaper1.doc (No spaces!)
  • WebCT will not recognize file names with spaces or characters that are not numbers or letters.
• Then submit your assignment through WebCT (instructions)
• Email: I recommend you set up your WebCT email for the course so that important emails go directly to your regular email account. Therefore, when you send me a paper, for example, you will be notified by email that I received it. To set up your email, click on Mail and then on Manage Messages. Then click on Forward My Email to: ________. Fill in your email address here and click the radio button and click Go.

Cabrini College Academic Honesty Policy


The principal objective of the Cabrini College Academic Honesty Policy is to encourage a dynamic, open and honest intellectual climate based on the personal and academic integrity of all members. It is the responsibility of students to help maintain the community of academic integrity. Students shall not receive credit for work that is not a product of their own efforts. For a full description of the policy, please see pages 48-52 of the 2003-2004 Undergraduate Catalog.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:


• Plagiarism
• Cheating
  
• Information falsification or fabrication
  
• Theft or destruction of intellectual property
  
• Facilitation of academic dishonesty
  

For a first violation, the faculty member will meet with the student or otherwise communicate the charge. The faculty member will complete an Academic Honesty Violation Charge Form, stating the violation and assigning a penalty. The student should sign and date the charge form and return it to the faculty member. The student may request a hearing before the Academic Honesty Board by indicating that option on the form. For a second violation in a given course, the faculty member will follow the same procedures as in the first incident but will assign a penalty of failure of the course without privilege of withdrawal. For any second or subsequent violation during a studentÕs academic career at Cabrini College the Academic Honesty Board shall conduct a hearing.

Disability Support Services


Cabrini College provides support services and appropriate accommodations for qualified students with documented disabilities. If you are a student who requires classroom or testing accommodations, please contact Disability Support Services in the Rooymans Center, room 4, 610-902-8572 or email at dss@cabrini.edu. Please note that classroom or testing accommodations can only be provided to students who have Accommodation Notification Forms from Disability Support Services. Students are responsible for providing the instructor with the Accommodation Notification Forms and informing the instructor when they need academic adjustments.


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