Last updated: November 14, 2024

Classics Program at BGSU Studies in Latin at BGSU Department of World Languages and Cultures Instagram: bgsu_languages Twitter: BGSU_Languages Facebook: BGSU Languages Bowling Green State University

James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
Shatzel 222
Office Hours:12:30-1:20 Tuesdays, and by appointment
Office phone: 419-372-8278
e-mail: jmpfund@bgsu.edu
web-page: https://blogs.bgsu.edu/pfundblog/syllabi/
facebook: james.enge
bluesky: jamesenge

The Ovid translation you'll have to buy or get from a library. There are electronic versions if you prefer them. Make sure that what you get is Lombardo's translation; there are a million of them out there.

Ovid (Stanley Lombardo transl.) Metamorphoses (Hackett, 2010) (ISBN: 978-1603843072)

at Amazon

at Barnes & Noble

at Ohiolink 

Tatlock's book is a free e-text on stable sites, so you should have no trouble getting it. If you want to get hard copies, you may be able to find used copies at ABE Books or Amazon, but beware of hard copies purchased through Amazon. They're likely to be rotten POD editions of electronic versions that you can get for free.

Tatlock, Jessie M. Mythology of Greece and Rome (Century, 1917)

(online at Archive.org and elsewhere)

Online Resources:

Can't tell the players without a scorecard: here's a PDF handout I whomped up on the so-called 12 Olympians. (There are actually 14.)

What is standard manuscript formatting? For the purposes of this class, see the link below.

https://jamesenge.com/GenericMythArgument.wordformat.pdf

The Theoi Project is a copiously illustrated and scholarly guide to Greek mythology.

Encyclopedia: http://www.theoi.com/Encyc_A.html

Galleries: http://www.theoi.com/Galleries.html

Tufts University's Perseus Project: Texts, Translations, and also Images from the classical world

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections

https://www.maicar.com/GML/index.html

Here's a list of university resources and policies. I particularly recommend the resources.

https://jamesenge.com/BGSU.ResourcesAndPolicies.html

Course Expectations:

1. Expectations for Behavior: Abide by Wheaton's Law. For details, see the BGSU Codes of Conduct.

2. Expectations for Learning: This is a course taught primarily through lectures and readings. If there's one thing that modern pedagogy agrees on, it's that lectures are very bad, and make the angels weep, and promote global warming, and bring the heat death of the universe measurably closer. Okay. It's still the way I teach CLCV 3800, because the course surveys a great deal of material and people tend to assimilate it better if they get it in various media: written (in the texts), spoken (lectures and conversations), and visual (visual versions of Greek and Roman myth provided via slideshows--I have a lot of these, but they're not the kind with bulletpoints and lecture notes; I hate that).

Bottom line: read the texts; attend class for the slideshows & lectures; ask questions when in doubt or if you want more detail; complete the assignments (and don't cut corners on the ones that involve writing). You'll do well.

3. About COVID-19 and masking protocols:

Here’s the deal. COVID-19 is a highly communicable and potentially deadly disease, and it's still around. I'm taking the risk of not using a mask in class, for the sake of clarity in my lectures, but if you want to use a mask in class, I urge you to do so. I would certainly do so if I were taking this class rather than lecturing in it.

4. AI Use Guidelines

Don't use generative AI (i.e. chatbots) for the assignments in this class. Setting aside the fact that chatbots routinely violate intellectual property law and are ethically and environmentally unsustainable, the technology does not work as advertised. It cannot cite required sources accurately, for instance (unless it happens to be plagiarizing a source that does). These programs don't create writing based on knowledge; they generate text using statistical probabilities and a very large database, a process that has been described as "stochastic parroting". If you've ever seen a weird autocomplete on your phone, be aware that this is what AI does routinely. It's instantly obvious to anyone who reads carefully, which is one of the things you're paying me to do.

”Aha, Pfundstein!” you may say in the silent precincts of your heart, ”how will you know, know for a fact that I used AI? If not, how can you ban it?”

I don’t ban it (except insofar as it’s already banned under the intellectual honesty section of the BGSU code of conduct). But I grade for elements that generative AI can’t provide (e.g. accurate and relevant citations of specific evidence)—not to exclude text written by chatbots, but because the ability to do that stuff is a sign of actual intelligence (which, despite the name on the label, AI doesn’t have). You could generate a first draft for your paper using a chatbot, then laboriously go in and add references from the required texts. But, of course, to be useful, the references are going to have to be relevant to the argument. You could then rewrite the essay to make it more relevant to the required texts. But, if you’re looking for the quickest and easiest path to success, you might find that it’s just easier to write the damn thing yourself.

”What do I write about?” is a question I hear a lot, and it’s a reasonable question, especially if you haven’t had a course like this before. Step one is to read the stuff. If you read the texts, you’ll find something interesting or irritating enough to say something about; just say it in print, rather than out loud. I also include topics and questions alongside the reading schedule that may jog something.

(see schedule below for due dates)

Arguments are 500-word essays based on the readings, lecture notes, and discussions as listed in the schedule. They should include a brief thesis statement ("Classical myths are really about potatoes!"), defended by an argument ("Because potatoes are the only thing that appear in every one of the myths that we saw in this section!") supported by evidence ("[Potato-Myth 1], [Potato-Myth 2], [Potato-Myth 3]," etc.) documented by precise citations.

Cite the source of anything you quote or paraphrase, and always cite as specifically as possible. For a modern book (like Tatlock's) this means page numbers. For an epic (like Ovid) this means book and line numbers. Don't cite sources other than the required readings unless you have some very strong reason for doing so: I want you to show me that you know the assigned material, not that you know how to google something. Do make copious use of the assigned readings. If you've finished the assignment without mentioning Tatlock or Ovid, go back in and include citations from these sources.

Use standard manuscript formatting for the arguments and the final project.

You'll submit the arguments online through the assignment page on Canvas. (Don't email them to me or send me hardcopies.)
 
Quizzes are strictly objective (true/false, matching, short ID, visual ID, etc) based on the readings, slideshows, and lecture notes. They'll be taken in class.

The Final Project (a 1000-word paper, which could be a longer version of the argument-style essay, or some other project as negotiated with the instructor), due at midnight on the day of the Final Exam. But similar standards (e.g. intensive use of the required materials, use of standard MS. format, etc.) apply. (See this link for more details on the final project.) The assignment will go live a couple days before it's due (at least).