Νεφέλαι

The Adventures of Strepsiades and the Lampooning of Socrates

Online Ancient Greek Course, March 12th-May 7th, 2022

 

The plot of the Clouds begins at night, after the crowing of the rooster. Strepsiades the farmer tosses and turns about on his soft bed, tormented by his concerns about the debts he has incurred to appease his son Pheidippides, a reckless playboy obsessed with horse racing.Unable to sleep, he lights a lamp and begins to thumb through his expense registers: his financial situation is dire and the only way out is to rush off to Socrates, the charlatan and incomparable master of verbal tricks, with hopes that he can teach Pheidippides persuasive techniques to fool his creditors. Thus begin the vicissitudes of the elderly Strepsiades who, once admitted to the Thinkery of Socrates (a bizarre locale filled with filthy and bewildering wanderers), he receives a series of lessons about chicken sex, the jumping distance of fleas, the gait of gnats, and the divine nature of clouds. This theater of the absud comes to an end when Strepsiades is humiliated by Socrates and beaten by his son; his response is to climb to the top of the Thinkery and set it ablaze.

In this course of eight sessions, conducted entirely in Ancient Greek, we will explore the text of the Clouds, one of Aristophanes’ most lively comedies which blends the force of parody with a fantastical and whimsical creativity. We will also examine documents which shed light on the social and political context in which this comedy was composed. We will also take into account the evidence on the relationship between Aristophanes and other authors who mention Socrates alongside the perplexing reception of the comedy among Athenians at the time of the play.

The teaching approach of this course will be that which has been an outgrowth of what we have discovered to be best practice in previous Schola Humanistica courses. All lessons take place in real time via a Zoom meeting with alternating instructor-led sessions with occasional opportunity for course participants to speak with one another and practice spoken Ancient Greek under the guidance of the instructor. Each session will be recorded and made available for viewing throughout the duration of the course. An automated system will generate consent forms which will allow each course participant to decide wither or not they which to appear in the recording of the lesson.

 

 

Schedule Topic
Saturday, March 12th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CET One Night…
Saturday, March 19th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CET Aristophanes against Socrates?
Saturday, April 2nd 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CET The Thinkery
Saturday, April 9th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CEST Gnats, Mosquitoes, and Chickens
Saturday, April 16th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CEST New Gods
Saturday, April 23rd 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CEST Against Creditors
Saturday, April 30th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CEST Beatings
Saturday, May 7th 2022, h. 17:00-18:15 CEST  Burning Down the Thinkery

 

Last day to register:

March 11th, 2022

 

 

     

     

    Instructor

    Paolo Pezzuolo

    Intended course audience

    Teachers, students and scholars of the ancient world.

    Where

    Online, using Zoom as a platform

    Language

    Ancient Greek

    Level

    Intermediate or advanced

    Professional development credit

    At the end of the course, a certificate of participation will be issued.

    Cost

    80€

    Enrollment

    Once enrolled, you will be placed on the participants’ list and you will be sent an email with the necessary login information for your course. A recording of each lesson will be available till the end of the course.

    Lesson materials

    Lesson materials will be distributed during the lesson to deepen our exploration of the themes for the course.