ROM0B145 Athens in Madrid: Athenian Classical Literature and Philosophy in 20th and 21st century Spain

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2018
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 3 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: z (credit). Other types of completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. José Luis Bellón Aguilera, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. José Luis Bellón Aguilera, PhD.
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Milada Malá, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Romance Languages and Literatures – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 8:00–9:40 D22
Prerequisites (in Czech)
Good command of English language. Knowledge of History of Europe (mainly) and Ancient History, history philosophy and politology.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 1088 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives (in Czech)
Interdisciplinary course covering different areas of interest for the student of various degrees: History of Democracy, Classics, Greek Philosophy, Spanish and non-Spanish Philosophy, Political Science. Student will be acquainted with main ideas about Ancient democracy (mainly Athens), its reception in Western Philosophy – through the example of Spain.
Learning outcomes (in Czech)
Acquisition in English of general knowledge about current debates on western democracy, sortition and the reception of Ancient democracy. Student also will learn to comment some texts on Ancient political thought (in English, also in Spanish and Czech, if that is the case), contemporary philosophy on Athenian Tragedy.
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • Lectures 1. The Horses of Diomedes: A Brief Overview of Preliminary Concepts: The Classics, Ancient and Modern Democracies. What do we know, how much we ignore. Tools for analysis: Reader-response Criticism and Sociology of Intellectuals. Ah, Dedalus, “the Greeks”: Alterity and Contemporaneity (the “Others” and Us). 2. Uses and Abuses of History: Ideologies of Classics Studies. Sparta and Athens as Model Case Studies. Classical Literary Tradition and Classical Scholarship. Classics in Spain. 3. The Athenian Democracy (507-322 BCE). History, Structure and Ideology (I): from Homer to the polis. The Persian Wars. 4. The Athenian Democracy (507-322 BCE). History, Structure and Ideology (II): the Age of Pericles, the Age of Demosthenes. ‘Learning to rule by being ruled’ (Aristotle, Politics, 1277b): Sortition, Rotation and Accountability in Athenian Democracy. 5. Background: (1) A Short Introduction to the History of Iberian Kingdoms and the Rise and Fall of their Empires. (2) A Short History of the “Three” (or More) Spains, 19th-21st Centuries. 6. Tragedy, Comedy and Politics: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes. Francisco Rodríguez Adrados’ Democracia y literatura en la Atenas clásica (Madrid, 1997). 7. ‘Many the wonders but nothing is stranger than man’: Sophocles’ Antigone and three Spanish Antigones (1947, 1967, and 2007): Antonio Tovar, María Zambrano, Rocío Orsi. 8. The Athenian Intellectual Field and the Trial of Socrates. A Philosopher in Blue Shirt: Antonio Tovar’s Socrates. 9. The Antidemocratic Tradition in Western Thought. Athenian Democracy and its Opponents: The “Old Oligarch”. Plato’s Republic. Mass and Elite in Ancient Democracies. Oligarchs and Democrats in Spanish Philosophy and Historiography. With a Special Mention of Xenofon o spráwce obce Athénské (by Polehradský, Ř. J., Prague, 1849). 10. Francisco Rodríguez Adrados’ Enlightenment and Politics in Classical Greece (1966 and, with the title The Athenian Democracy, 1975). From the F. Schachermeyr’s ethnocentrism to the “Third Humanism” of W. Jaeger. Weeks 11-13. Spain, from Transition to the 15-M. Conclusion. Seminars and Presentations.
Literature
    required literature
  • Nussbaum, Martha C. (2001). The Fragility of Goodness. Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. [Revised edition; 19861.]
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles and Ideology. University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
  • The “Old Oligarch”: Pseudo-Xenophon’s Constitution of the Athenians. Introduction, translation and commentary by Robin Osborne (2017, 3rd Edition, LACTORs, 33 pages).
  • Manin, Bernard (1995). Principes du gouvernement représentatif, Paris. (Engl.: (1997). The Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge University Press. Sp.: (1998) Los principios del gobierno representative, Madrid, Alianza.)
    recommended literature
  • Castoriadis, Cornelius (2004-2011). What Makes Greece, 1. From Homer to Heraclitus 2. What Makes Greece, 2. The City and Laws. Human Creation 3. What Makes Greece, 3. Thucydides, Force and Right. Human Creation 4.
  • Hansen, Mogens. Was Athens a Democracy? Popular Rule, Liberty and Equality in Ancient and Modern Political Thought, Copenhagen, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1989.
  • Carr, Raymond (1980), Modern Spain, Oxford University Press. [Spanish Transl. España: de la Restauración a la democracia, 1875-1980. Barcelona, Ariel, 1983.]
  • Roberts, Jennifer Tolbert (1994). Athens on Trial. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Ismard, Paulin (2013). L’Événement Socrate. Paris: Flammarion.
  • Bellón Aguilera, J. L. (2017). Anónimo o “Viejo Oligarca”: El sistema político de los atenienses. Estudio introductorio. Cronología. Glosario. Dos traducciones: literaria y literal-comentada. Sevilla: Editorial Doble J.
  • Zambrano, María (2015). La tumba de Antígona (y otros textos sobre el personaje trágico). Madrid, Cátedra. Edición, notas e introducción (de 138 págs.) de Virginia Trueba Mira; 20121.
  • Hansen, Mogens H. (1995). The Trial of Sokrates – from the Athenian Point of View. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 71.
  • Carr, Raymond (2000), Spain: A History, Oxford University Press.
  • Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco (1975). La democracia ateniense, Madrid, Alianza Editorial. [Quinta reimpresión, 1993; primera edic. 1966, Ediciones de la Revista de Occidente, como Ilustración y política en la Grecia clásica.]
  • Hobsbawm, Eric (1995), The Age of Extremes. 1914-1991, London, Abacus.
  • Orsi, Rocío (2007). El saber del error: Filosofía y tragedia en Sófocles. Madrid – México. Plaza y Valdés Editores.
  • Paul Preston (2012). The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. London, UK: HarperCollins.
  • Azoulay, Vincent (2014). Pericles of Athens. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press. [Orig. Périclès: La démocratie athènienne à l’épreuve du grand homme (2010).]
  • Cartledge, P. (2016). Democracy: A Life [Kindle Android version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. [Paperback: 416 pages.]
  • Payne, Stanley G. (1961). Falange. A History of Spanish Fascism. Standford: Standford University Press.
  • Carr, Raymond and Fusi, Juan Pablo (1979), Spain - Dictatorship to Democracy, London: George Allen & Unwin.
    not specified
  • Brickhouse Thomas C. & Nicholas D. Smith (2002). The Trial and Execution of Socrates: Sources and Controversies. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. ——. Brickhouse Thomas C. & Nicholas D. Smith (1989). Socrates on Trial. Oxford Clarendon Press.
Teaching methods (in Czech)
Methodology 9-10 lectures followed by 2-3 seminar debates about the reading list (compulsory and noncompulsory), also about essays and presentations prepared by the students—in English—and / or discussion seminars on the reading list or lecture topics. Reading List (see bibliography below for details)* *Reading list will be individual, considering also the essay-presentations Compulsory: Sophocles Antigone (English translation). Bernard Manin (1997), Chapter 1: ‘Direct democracy and representation: selection of officials in Athens’, pp. 8-41. The “Old Oligarch”: Pseudo-Xenophon’s Constitution of the Athenians. Introduction, translation and commentary by Robin Osborne (2017, 3rd Edition, LACTORs, 33 pages). Non-compulsory: Passages from: Cartledge (2016), Hansen (1999), Brickhouse & Smith (2002), Carr (1980). Payne (1961). If the student has knowledge of Spanish, optional (non-compulsory) passages from: Adrados (1975), Tovar (1984), Zambrano (2015) and Orsi (2007).
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Method of Assessment Minimum requirements: (1) Attendance to lectures. If attendance is not possible, more than three absences disqualify for assessment and the student will not receive a mark (and of those three absences, a short hand-written summary and brief discussion of each lecture must be handed to the teacher at an arranged date). (2) Active participation in seminar discussions and presentations. Recommended: Essay-Presentation (plus 1 and 2). (3) (1) and (2), plus written exami (in English), to obtain 5 credits.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
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