The first Antigone research excursion that I looked at was from Cassi about "Ancient Greek Seers and Oracles." Starting off, I just want to say that I loved how neat and easy to follow Cassi made her neatline. It really helped me navigate and learn much easier. Going into it, I found it incredibly interesting that seers/oracles had such high importance in some cities such as Sparta where there were specific messengers by the king who would be tasked with going to see the oracles on behalf of the king in Sparta. I also found it interesting that oracles sort of became less popular in 499 BC during the Persian Wars and even a bit before that when they wrongly backed up the failed Expedition to Sicily.
The Second Antigone research excursion that I looked at was an essay from John about The Greek Chorus. I was also curious about the role of the chorus in Antigone, and I too didn't really see the purpose of chorus. Which is why I found John's essay interesting. I didn't know that the chorus were generally respected among the other characters. I also learned that the chorus tends to be a passive voice that never really picks sides within the play setting. Even though they were impartial they were still looked at as almost active members in Antigone and can be seen being drawn into arguments although, not reacting to them.
Overall, I all of the research excursion that I have looked at are incredibly informative and very well done.
Monique, thanks for sharing these takeaways. I didn't look at either of these, so I appreciate your brief explanations. What I found especially interesting was your commentary on the chorus after reading John's essay. I definitely noticed the trend of the chorus being more passive and removed commentators, but it's interesting to think about how Sophocles achieved this while, as you said, they were active members of the plot. Interesting food for thought!
ReplyDeleteHey Monique! I'm glad you liked looking at my Research Excursion! Those were definitely some of the things I found most interesting too when I was looking into it, and timeline was really cool to learn about. I also read John's essay, and I think your takeaways are great! I enjoyed learning about a topic that I think a lot of us were curious about, so good work to John for taking that on! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing what you learned! I also had questions about the chorus, but I have yet to look at John's research excursion, so I think that your post was a good start for me! I did look at Cassi's, and I also liked it. I am planning on referring to it if I end up using NeatLine at any point.
ReplyDeleteHey Monique! I also took a look at Cassi's research excursion. I agree that the format was very reader-friendly. I hadn't gotten the chance to look at John's essay, so I was interesting to learn that the Chorus is often a passive voice and is generally impartial.
ReplyDeleteHey Monique! I always enjoy reading your takeaways! I was also curious about the role of oracles and the Greek chorus after we discussed it briefly in class. I couldn't really decide it was meant to be an internal monologue or a more active character, so reading John's research excursion also helped me!
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