Greek Civilization 201 (CRN 21727)
Malcolm Wilson
240C MacKenzie Hall; MWF 11-11.50
Office: 815 PLC; 346-4155
Office Hours: MWF 10-10.50 or by appointment
email: mwilson@uoregon.edu
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~mwilson/Homepage.html
REVISED 1.19.10
This course provides an introduction to ancient Greek civilization, which is the origin of our modern world and the intellectual starting-point for what is presently the world's greatest and most powerful civilization. Anyone who wants to understand how we live must start here. We shall be studying the ways in which the Greeks have influenced our present-day view of the world, and I shall discuss the important features of Greek life necessary to understand the culture.
Be sure to keep up on the reading. Students are responsible for reading all assignments and for coming to class. Everything discussed in class may be tested in considerable detail. Be sure to take accurate and complete notes. If you are absent, be sure to get good notes from a reliable note-taker.
The evaluation will be based on one midterm (Feb 5 15%), two papers (Feb 12 and Mar 10; 20% each) and a final exam (25%). From time to time it may be necessary to have a surprise test. These will be worth 1% each, which will be deducted from the final exam according to how many surprises tests there are. For my expectations regarding papers please consult the sheet on paper-writing. Discussion sections (20% of final grade) will be led by GTFs Desirée Gerner (dgerner@uoregon.edu), Ian Kerr-Dalton (ikerrdal@uoregon.edu), and Aaron Pratt (aaronp@uoregon.edu). Attendance is required.
The final exam is on Tuesday, March 16, at 10.15am only. I shall not offer early examinations to accommodate Spring Break plans.
If you have any questions about class or wider academic interests please do not hesitate to see me in my office hours or at some arranged time.
Book List (Available at UO book store)
Homer, Odyssey, trans. Lattimore (Chicago) 0-06-090479-8
Hesiod tr. M.L. West (Oxford) 0192839411
Hesiod: Works and Days
Archaic Poetry: packet
Presocratics: packet
M. I. Finley, Portable Greek Historians (=PGH), (Viking Penguin) 014015065X
Herodotos: Thermopylae, Salamis
Thucydides: Funeral Oration, Plague at Athens, Mitylenian Debate
Sophocles, 1 ed. Grene (Chicago) 0-226-30792-1
Antigone
Euripides, V ed. Grene (Chicago) 0-226-30784-0
Bacchae
Plato, The Great Dialogues of Plato, ed. Rouse. 9780451530851
Selections from the Republic
Other Reading: Pomeroy et al. A Brief History of Ancient Greece (=BHAG) (Oxford) 0-19-515681-1
Week 1: Introduction; Homeric Greece
Jan 4: Syllabus; We Ancients; How should we study the Ancients?
Sources and methodologies; Geography
Jan 6: Worldview of the Greeks
rd. BHAG 1-40
Jan 8: Mycenean Society
Week 2: Odyssey
Jan 11: Oral Poetry
rd. Odyssey 1-4
Jan 13: Telemachy
rd. BHAG 40-69
Jan 15: Odyssey: 5-12 (Apologue)
rd. Odyssey 5-12
Week 3: The Odyssey and the Polis
Jan 18: MLK Jr. Day
Jan 20: Odyssey 13-24
rd. Odyssey 12-24
Jan. 22: Polis and Colonization
rd. BHAG 70-86 and
Thucydides, Archaeology (Bk. 1.1-19 = PGH pp.218-229);
Week 4: More Archaic World
Jan 25: Lyric Poetry, Philosophy and Olympic Games
rd. Hesiod, Works and Days
rd. Lyric poetry (handout)
rd. BHAG 86-98
Jan 27: Civic Religion and Myth
rd. Hesiod, Theogony
Jan 29: Sparta
rd. Herodotus, Thermopylae (VII.§§ 100-105 = PGH pp.100-104;
VII.§§ 201-239 = PGH pp.140-157)
rd. BHAG102-123
Week 5: Constitution of Athens
Feb 1: Early Athens
BHAG 124-139
Feb 3: Persian Wars
BHAG 139-50
rd. Herodotus, Salamis (VIII §§40-97 = PGH pp.172-195)
Feb 5:Midterm
Week 6: Athenian Empire
Feb 8: Athenian Empire
BHAG 156-166
Feb 10: Greek Art
BHAG 167-175
Feb 12: The Household and the Economy
BHAG 175-187
(First paper due)
Week 7: Intellectual Life in the Fifth Century
Feb 15: Issues in Early Greek Philosophy
Heraclitus (handout)
rd BHAG 200-202
Feb 17: Sophists
rd BHAG 212-217
Feb 19: Acropolis Building
rd. BHAG191-200
Week 8: Theater
Feb 22: Origin and Nature of Greek Theater
rd. BHAG 206-212
Feb 24: Sophocles
rd. Sophocles, Antigone;
Feb 26: Euripides
rd. Euripides, Bacchae
Week 9: Peloponnesian War
Mar 1: Peloponnesian War
BHAG 188-191
rd. Thucydides, Funeral Oration of Pericles (PGH pp.265ff)
The Plague of Athens (PGH pp. 273ff)
Mitylenian Debate (PGH pp. 278ff)
Mar 3: More War
BHAG 224-253
Mar 5: Fall of Athens
Week 10: The Fourth Century
Mar 8: Plato and the Academy
Plato, Republic, VI.504b-VII.519 (pp.355-373)
Mar 10: Aristotle (Second paper due)
Mar 12: Alexander the Great
BHAG 306-330
Final Examination: Tuesday, March 16 at 10.15am