Your assignment is to act as mythographer: using a limited number of specified primary sources exclusively, describe, in plain, academic English, the details of the story of either Oedipus, or his sons, Polynices and Eteocles. The texts you must consult are given below. DESCRIPTION In the first part of the assignment, you will write an account of the hero, or heroes, in question. Begin with a brief description of the character’s, or characters’, parents. Next, provide an account of their childhood up to adolescence. Afterwards, you must describe the major mythological events – what heroic adventures did they have? What were the sources of conflict in their lives? Proceed from here, describing the major events of the character’s, or characters’, lives, up to their death(s). Note that you absolutely must provide evidence from the texts: you must show not only that you have understood the narrative, but that you have drawn it properly from what was written. This means giving specific, quoted citations as evidence for an event. Note also that geneology does not require citation, in this assignment. In the second part of the assignment, you will be required to write a brief comparison of how this myth relates to the others we have studied. What events, or details, are shared between these heroes, or the gods, in the other stories? There are always parallels and similarities; cite passages from your course readings to show where they are, and how they occur. In the final part (which may be in point form, full sentences if you choose), discuss the major themes and concepts we have covered in class. How does the story illustrate these concepts? What in the texts demonstrates them? Use critical thinking skills to analyse the texts. SOURCES Select one of the two myths to describe, and, after making your choice, use the sources below. For the Oedipus myth, you are required to use only the following primary sources: Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus, both by the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. For the myth of his sons, Eteocles and Polynices, you are required to use only the following primary sources: Books 1, 2, 3, and 11 of Statius’ Thebaid. You may consult other books from this Roman poem, if you choose, but are not required to. Regardless of your choice of Oedipus or his children, you may consult the Phoenissae (“Phoenician Women”) by Euripides, as well. Should you choose to refer to this text, however, note that it is for this assignment considered “deuterocanonical” – that is, if Euripides provides a detail that conflicts with Sophocles, or Statius, give primacy to Sophocles’ version of events, or Statius’. Only use details that fit the chronology, and round out the story. Regardless of format, cite your sources according to MLA or Chicago style guides, as published, physical books. PROHIBITION ON SECONDARY SOURCES It is absolutely prohibited to use sources other than those listed above for this assignment. This means that you must not use other primary sources, nor consult Wikipedia, Theoi, the Oxford Classical Dictionary, or other compendia of mythology. Note that the details of these characters’ lives vary from author to author, and it will be obvious if your account of the myth includes details that are not present in the primary sources. You will be marked down. While there is nothing wrong with using external sources for your own edification, this specific assignment is designed to assess your skills at reconstructing myths from specific primary sources, and understanding how these sources reveal cultural themes and knowledge. Consider this a take-home test, rather than a full report of the mythology.
MARKING BREAKDOWN Summary: 30 Marks How well have you understood the narrative of the myth? How well can you summarize the life of Oedipus, or his children? Did you recount all the major details of their lives, based on what is revealed by the primary sources in question? Do you provide sufficient evidence from the texts in your summary? Comparison: 30 Marks How critical is your comparison of the hero’s life, or heroes’ lives, and the major events in it, or them, to previous myths? Have you accurately shown how the myths in question relate to each other? Do your comparisons make sense, and do you adequately display why they are similar, or different? Analysis: 20 Marks Have you shown an understanding of the cultural concepts we have discussed in class? Have you provided sufficient evidence that the myths, and texts, in question demonstrate or illustrate these concepts? Try to show how the myth relates, at least, to three, and no more than five. Format and Language: 20 Marks How clearly written is your assignment? Do you convey the ideas in proper academic register – i.e., does your assignment read similar to published work? Is the grammar correct? Are citations implemented according to MLA or Chicago style guides? Do you provide a word count on the final page of the assignment? Note that, for this assignment, you need only include the editions of the Oedipus plays, or the Thebaid, in your bibliography at the end. Place quotations from the primary sources in footnotes, and omit them from your word count. You will receive a zero for this section if your writing is too colloquial, informal, or casual. You will also receive a zero for this section, and perhaps the whole assignment, if your work is over the word limit, or illegible.
