Ancient History at the University of Oregon: This page has

• links to syllabi for all listed courses

• information about the cycle on which the respective courses are offered.

Course Descriptions and Schedule

These three courses are offered every Fall Term; and occasionally also in the Spring [2008] or Summer

• HIST 101: Western Civilization J. Nicols. This course is designed to introduce the students to the fundamental problems, values and sources of western history. In particular, the course will cover the period from the second millennium B.C. through about A.D. 1200  (that is, from the Bronze Age through the High Middle Ages.).  This course will satisfy one of your GROUP II ("social science") requirements in General Education.  For more information please see the linked syllabus. Note:  this course won the Rippey Award for Innovative Teaching in spring of 1999 in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007; it has been designed to work with the introduction to the Humanities, HUM 101 and Astronomy, ASTR 121.
• HUM 254: The City (Ancient Athens, Renaissance Florence, 20thCent Berlin). J. Nicols.  This course considers the role of culture, political freedom and urban development.  Specifically the course explores the conditions that let toa distinctive flowering of culture in the cities noted above. It is designed as a "sophomore seminar" for students in the CAS Scholars Program
• CAS 210: Humanities Circle, The Study of History. This course introduces students to be central issues of history as a humanistic discipline.

Winter Term, 2008

• PHYS361: Culture and Scientific Discovery (with Professor Greg Bothun). This course traces the relationship between science and culture from the Greeks to the 20th Century. How do cultural assumptions affect the acceptance of new scientific ideas?  How do scientific ideas affect cultural assumptions? 
• HIST 412: Classical Greece.  Winter, 2006. Survey of Greek history from the Bronze Age to the fourth century BC. We will be examining major political, social and economic developments that marked this highly dynamic and innovative period. Such developments include the transition from Mycenaean kingdoms to city-states, the colonization of the Mediterranean, economic expansion and the advent of coinage, the age of the tyrants, the emergence of democracy, the Persian Wars, the Athenian empire, the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath until the rise of Macedonia as the dominant power in the Greek world.

Spring Term, 2008

• HIST 407/507: Seminar Augustus and Hitler. Comparative dictatorships. This course explores the rise of both Augustus and Hitler and the way they consolidated their power. Students are expected to apply the principles derived in classroom discussion to their own investigations of particular dictators.
• HIST 101: Western Civilization J. Nicols. This course is designed to introduce the students to the fundamental problems, values and sources of western history. In particular, the course will cover the period from the second millennium B.C. through about A.D. 1200  (that is, from the Bronze Age through the High Middle Ages.).  This course will satisfy one of your GROUP II ("social science") requirements in General Education.  For more information please see the linked syllabus.

Schedule for other courses, academic year 2008-09 and beyond

Winter Term, 2009

• HIST 414: Ancient Rome, The Republic. History and culture of Ancient Rome from the foundation until the end of the Republic (the death of Caesar). Major themes include: the foundation of Rome (literature, archaeology and history), the constitution of the Roman Republic, imperialism, Roman religion and politics, the fall of the republican constitution, Julius Caesar and his competitor.
• PHYS361: Culture and Scientific Discovery (with Professor Greg Bothun). This course traces the relationship between science and culture from the Greeks to the 20th Century. How do cultural assumptions affect the acceptance of new scientific ideas?  How do scientific ideas affect cultural assumptions? 

Spring Term, 2009

• HIST 414/514: Ancient Rome: The Principate and Empire  J. Nicols   The history and culture of Rome and its Empire from the death of Caesar until the 5th century, AD.  Major themes include: the Augustan Principate (art, literature, politics), Christianity and classical culture, the process of Romanization, the fall of the Roman Empire. Lecture and discussion.
• Seminar? TBA

Other Courses:

• HIST 412/512: Ancient Greece, Alexander and the Hellenistic World.   This course covers Greek history for the end of the Peloponnesian War, through the rise of Philip of Macedon, his conquest of the Greek cities and then to the career and conquests of Alexander the Great.  Thereafter the course focuses especially on the political, intellectual and religious history of the ancient world through the Roman conquest and the spread of Christianity.