Classics Education Plan: First 100 Days

Greek mask

I was optimistic thinking that I could develop a four-year plan right off the bat, but a 100 day plan is do-able!

When I put this list in chronological order and examine items before 300 BC three things come to mind:

1. Mythology/Religion (Many of the dramas deal with gods and goddesses and the Olympians play a part in the Iliad and the Odyssey)
2. Philosophy (Plato and Aristotle!)
3. History 

I toyed with the idea of sorting everything into these three categories, but it didn't take me long to realize that I don't have enough knowledge to do the sorting. I went looking for help and found 6 on-line courses that take the grief out of planning my initial steps into the classics:

Classics Courses
Course	School	Instructor	Hrs
Greek and Roman Mythology	University of Pennsylvania	Peter Struck	20
Ancient Philosophy: Plato and His Predecessors	University of Pennsylvania	Susan Sauvé Meyer	12
Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	University of Pennsylvania	Susan Sauvé Meyer	8
The Ancient Greeks	Wesleyan University	Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, PhD	20
Introduction to Ancient Greek History	YALE	Professor Donald Kagan	24
Classics of Western Philosophy	MIT	Prof. Sally Haslanger et. al.	11

This is 95 hours of lectures.

To read everything covered in these lectures will take about 100 hours.

If I want to do this in 100 days, I'll need to spend 2 hours a day listening and reading.

On November 18 (day 100) I'll check my progress. In the meantime to keep me on track, here are my weekly targets:

	Classics Education Plan: First 100 Days
Week	Course	Module	Reading
1	Greek and Roman Mythology	1 - 4 Odysseus	The Odyssey translated by Fagles 1999
1	Greek and Roman Mythology	5 Gods and Humans	Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, M. L. West, trans. (Oxford)
2	Greek and Roman Mythology	6 Ritual and Religion	Homeric Hymns
2	Greek and Roman Mythology	7 Justice	The Oresteia (audio) by Aeschylus The Oresteia (wiki) by Aeschylus
2	Greek and Roman Mythology	8 Unstable Selves	Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Antigone by Sophocles The Bacchae by Euripides
2	Greek and Roman Mythology	9 The Roman Hero, Remade	The Aeneid, books 1, 2, & 6 The Aeneid, Book 3 The Aeneid, Book 4 The Aeneid Book 5
2	Greek and Roman Mythology	10 Roman Myth and Ovid's Metamorphoses	Metamorphoses
2	Ancient Greek Civilization by Jeremy McInerney, Ph.D.	1-6 YouTube	Outline, Part 1
2	Ancient Greek Civilization by Jeremy McInerney, Ph.D.	7-12 YouTube	Map
3	The Ancient Greeks	1 Prehistory to Homer	Iliad, Books 1, 2, 6, 9, 18, 24 Odyssey, Books 1, 5, 9-12, 21-24.
3	The Ancient Greeks	2 The Archaic Age (800 - 500 BC)	The Polis form Politics Archilochus Theognis Sappho Alceus
3	The Ancient Greeks	3 Two City-States: Athens and Sparta	Plutarch (audio) The Constitution of Athens (audio) by Aristotle
4	The Ancient Greeks	4 Democracy: The Persian Wars	Herodotus Bk 1; 5 55-57; 6 102-140; 7 138-144 Thucydides Bk 6 53-60 Constution of Athens 17-22 Plutarch's: Themistocles
4	The Ancient Greeks	5 The Great 50 Years (480-431 BC)	Thucydides Bk 1 89-117; 2 65; 3 9-11 Plutarch's: Pericles 12-17 Antigone by Sophocles Medea by Euripides
4	The Ancient Greeks	6 The Peloponnesian War I	Thucydides Bk 1 1-23; 2 1-65; 3 1-35; 5 84-116 Acharians by Aristopones Plutarch's Alciades
4	The Ancient Greeks	7 The End of the War, the End of the Century	Thucydides Bk 6 1-24; 7 9-16; 7 86-87 The Old Oligarch Constitution of Athens 34-41 The Apology by Plato
5	The Ancient Greeks	8 Course Pages	Syllabus
5	The Western Literary Canon in Context	Lectures 1-10	1.The Bible and the Literary Canon 2.The Bible as Literature 3.The Epic of Gilgamesh—Western Literature? 4.Homer's Odyssey and the Seafaring Hero 5.The Context of Athenian Tragedy 6.Herodotus versus Thucydides 7.Socrates and Plato—Writing and Reality 8.Aristotle's Poetics—How We Tell Stories 9.Virgil's Aeneid and the Epic of Empire 10.Love Interest—Ovid's Metamorphoses
5	Ancient Philosophy: Plato and His Predecessors	1 the Milesians and Heraclitus	Fragments are the only source available. Prof. Meyer provides a consolidated reading for these pre-Socratic philosophers: Thales Anaximander Anaximenes Xenophanes Heraclitus
5	Ancient Philosophy: Plato and His Predecessors	2 Parmenides to Plato	Parmenides Apology by Plato Euthyphro by Plato
6	Ancient Philosophy: Plato and His Predecessors	3 Plato on Virtue, Teaching, and Justice	Meno by Plato Republic by Plato
6	Ancient Philosophy: Plato and His Predecessors	4 Plato on Reality and Goodness	Republic by Plato Timaeus by Plato
7	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	1, 2, 3 The Dark Ages (3000-750 BC)	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 1 - 71) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 1)
7	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	4, 5 The Rise of Polis	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 71 - 81) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 2)
	John Milton's Paradise Lost	PLAN
7	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	6, 7 The Greek Renaissance - Colonization and Tyranny	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 81 - 130)
8	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	8, 9 Sparta	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 131-158) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 3)
8	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	10, 11 The Rise of Athens	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 159-181) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Theseus and Solon
8	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	12 The Persian Wars	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 181-200) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 4) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Themistocles
8	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	13, 14 The Athenian Empire	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 200-215) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 5) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Aristides, Cimon Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. Book 1
9	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	15, 16 The Athenian Democracy	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 215-245) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 6) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Pericles
9	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	17, 18 The Peloponnesian War, Part I	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 246-286) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Nicias Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. Books I - V
9	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	19, 20 The Peloponnesian War, Part II	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 287-329) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Alcibiades Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. Books VI-VII
10	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	21, 22 Hegemony in 4th Century Greece	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 330-370) Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of the Athens: Lysander
10	Introduction to Ancient Greek History	23, 24 Twilight of the Polis	Ancient Greece : a political, social, and cultural history by Sarah B Pomeroy (pp 371-394) Problems in Ancient History by Donald Kagan (Chapter 8)
11	Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	1 Aristoyle's Categories	Categories by Aristotle (TEXT) (AUDIO)
11	Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	2 Aristotle's Natural Philosophy	Physics by Aristotle (TEXT) (AUDIO) On the Soul by Aristotle (TEXT) (AUDIO)
11	Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	3 Aristotle's Ethics	Metaphysics by Aristotle (TEXT) (AUDIO) Ethics by Aristotle (TEXT) (AUDIO)
12	Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	4 Epicureanism	The Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus The Letter of Epicurus to Herodotus
12	Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors	5 Stocism	The Enchiridion by Epictettus On the nature of the gods by Cicero (TEXT) (AUDIO) De Fato (On Fate) by Cicero (TEXT)
13	Classics of Western Philosophy	2 Socretes and the Law	Apology by Plato Crito by Plato
13	Classics of Western Philosophy	3 Elenchus	Socratic Definition and the Elenchus
13	Classics of Western Philosophy	4 Akrasia & Prgmatic Paradox	Socrates on Weakness of Will Meno by Plato
13	Classics of Western Philosophy	5 Knowledge and Learning	Meno and the Paradox of Inquiry Meno by Plato
14	Classics of Western Philosophy	6 The Soul in Plato	Immortality and Forms in the Phaedo Phaedo by Plato
14	Classics of Western Philosophy	7 The Soul in Aristotle	Matter and Form, Body and Soul, in De Anima On the Soul by Aristotle Politics by  Aristotle On the Generation of Animals
14	Classics of Western Philosophy	8 Happiness	Aristotle on Happiness Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle
15	Classics of Western Philosophy	9 Virtue	Aristotle on Virtue Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle