Teaching & Research Dynamic Archive

Course Taught by Gregory Nagy:
Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization

A Dynamic Archive

This site provides current and archival course content for Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization.

Tthe course has previously been called The Heroic and the Anti-Heroic in Classical Greek Civilization. You will see this title also used in the text and graphics of the archival materials.

Here you can view all content from the most recent course offering. You can also view select content from past semesters dating to the Spring semester of 2003.

The archival nature of the site presents current content alongside historic content, providing an opportunity to see how the course has developed and evolved over time.

In select areas of the site, Professor Nagy will offer commentary on the evolution of site materials, from the honing and limning of focus passages to broader organizational changes, the inclusion of new content, and so forth.

The true "hero" of this course is the logos or "word" of logical reasoning, as activated by Socratic dialogue. The logos of dialogue requires careful thinking, realized in close reading and reflective writing. The last "word" to be read in the course will come from Plato's memories of the last days of Socrates.

These memories depend on a thorough understanding of the concept of the hero in all its varieties throughout the history of Greek civilization.This course is driven by a sequence of dialogues that lead to such an understanding, guiding the attentive reader through many of the major works of the ancient Greek Classics, from Homer to Plato.

Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization (which has previously been called The Heroic and the Anti-Heroic in Classical Greek Civilization) is offered as both a Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Division of Continuing Education (DCE) course.* As the course has evolved, the differences between the FAS and DCE offerings have decreased.

*Prior to the Fall 2009 semester, archive site pages may display the previous designations of LA C-14 for FAS courses, and CLAS E-116/W for DCE courses.

Contact Information

Professor Gregory Nagy
e-mail: gnagy@fas.harvard.edu

Head Teaching Fellows:

Dr. Kevin McGrath
e-mail: kmcgrath@fas.harvard.edu

Saskia Dirkse
email: sdirkse@fas.harvard.edu