21:510:255 Ancient Greek Civilization (Summer II, 2013)
Mon-Thurs. 10:15am -12:00pm, Conklin Hall 342.
Instructor: Brian Mumper (Office = Conklin 326; email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Mondays 12:30-1:30pm, Thursdays 1-2pm, and by appointment
Course Description:
The core of this course is a general survey of Ancient Greek civilization. We will explore Ancient Greek culture
(politics, religion, literature, philosophy, family life, social relations, law, art, architecture, among other things) and
place it in its historical context. Among other things students will engage with ancient texts and be asked to discuss
and analyze the issues they raise, from social and political issues to those of gender, religion, freedom, slavery, and
the like. By successfully completing this course, students will gain a knowledge of the Ancient Greek world and its
applicability in today’s world, and at the same time exercise their skills in critical reading and writing.
Course Materials:
The following three texts should all be available at both the Barnes and Noble University Bookstore and at
NJBooks. If you encounter any problems obtaining the books at these places, notify me immediately.
[Required]:
(1) Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, 3rd ed. By Pomeroy, Burstein,
Donlan, Tolbert Roberts, Tandy. Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0199846047.
(2) Herodotus, The Histories, Oxford Worlds’ Classics, ISBN 978-0199535668.
(3) The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. Ed. Robert B.
Strassler, transl. Richard Crawley. ISBN 978-0684827902.
Course Website:
The course has a blackboard website where many of the weekly readings will be posted. The syllabus will also be
posted there, and you will be required to sign the academic integrity agreement on the site before I can accept any
work from you. If you do not yet have a Rutgers email address and password you will not be able to access the site.
Course Components and Grading:
Attendance and Participation: 10% or 100 pts
Weekly Quizzes:
30% or 300 pts
Final Exam:
30% or 300 pts
Paper:
30% or 300 pts
**There will be an extra credit geography quiz on 7/30. This is optional. More details later.
Academic Integrity Policy:
Every student MUST sign the academic integrity e-agreement listed on the blackboard website before I can accept
any quiz, paper, or other work from you. So please do this ASAP, and if you encounter problems notify me
immediately.
Attendance & Participation:
-This is only a 6-week course and you are expected to be at every class, on time. Most material presented in lectures
and in-class discussions will not be generally available outside of class.
- Each class will begin promptly with a short reading quiz based on the readings due that day. If you come late,
you will miss this, no exceptions. These quizzes are not graded but are used for attendance (and also to make sure
you are doing the daily readings).
-Participation in group discussions in class is also required: simply come prepared with a few questions and
comments about the daily readings.
-Use of unapproved electronic devices (cell-phones) is prohibited. If I see you using one during class, you will be
marked absent for the day. Instructors are not that dull, and we can tell when students are using phones.
Note: The maximum number of unexcused absences is 3. Anything beyond this and you will receive a grade
penalty on your final grade. There will also be a grade penalty for persistent lateness. Conversely, extra credit
will be awarded to students who do not use all of there allowable unexcused absences.
Weekly Quizzes:
There will be a weekly quiz every Monday (except during our first class 7/8), and there will be 5 of these total. Each
is worth 60 points. These quizzes will focus on the ancient source material that we read the previous week, and you
will receive more specific instructions about what exactly to expect on these quizzes a couple days in advance of
each quiz. You may not make up these quizzes for any reason, unless you have a documented, university-approved
excuse for absence (for which see below, next section). You must sign the Rutgers Honor pledge on the front of all
quizzes (and exams).
Final Exam:
There will be a final exam on the last day of class, 8/14, worth 30% of your grade. It will cover the entire course
and will include map id’s, short answer questions, and short essays which will ask you to explore the major themes
and ideas you’ve read about and discussed throughout the course. More specific details will come later in the
semester. Don’t come to me for a make-up exam except for a reason you know is accepted by the university as an
excused absence (see below).
Paper:
Students will write a 5-7 page paper, due (tentatively) on the last day of class. We will discuss the details and
requirements of this in more detail in a few weeks. A list of approved topics will be given.
University Absence Policy:
The University’s policy states what constitutes an excused absence: “the recognized grounds for absence are illness
requiring medical attention, curricular or extra-curricular activities approved by a member of the Rutgers faculty,
personal obligations claimed by the student and recognized as valid, recognized religious holidays, and severe
inclement weather causing dangerous travel conditions.” (see http://catalogs.rutgers.edu/generated/nwkug_0608/index.html).
Anything not listed here is therefore an unexcused absence.
Students with Disabilities:
Students with disabilities (including learning disabilities) who require assistance and/or accommodation should
speak with the office of Disability Services (in Robeson Campus Center) as soon as possible at the beginning of the
course and inform the instructor that she/he has done so. Also consult the Disability Services website:
http://disabilityservices-uw.rutgers.edu.
Weekly Schedule:
*Note: The readings listed under each day below are the readings which are due in that class. In other words,
have those readings done when you come to class on that day. (e.g. have the readings listed under 7/9 done
when you come to class on 7/9)
- For readings from Herodotus and Thucydides, the passages are given by the ancient citation numbers,
which are universal to all translations of these authors. You will need to familiarize yourself with the way they
work. e.g. Herodotus Book One, Paragraphs One through Five, appears as 1.1-5. Please ask me if you have
questions about this.
Week 1:
[ Mon 7/8] Introduction: Why Study Greek History? Origins; the land of Greece
[Tues 7/9] Minoan & Mycenaean Civilizations: Rise and Decline
Pomeroy Chapter 1 (p.12-54); Dillon & Garland (hereafter “D/G”) #’s 7.28, 8.19.
*** D/G will be posted on Blackboard)
[Wed 7/10] Into the “Dark Age” (ca. 1200-900 B.C.E.)
Pomeroy 56-69; Homer, Iliad Book 1 (all); Herodotus 1.1-6
[Thurs 7/11] Late Dark Age (“Homeric”) Society
Pomeroy 72-top of 82; Homer, Iliad book 5 (all), book 6.282-631, book 9.269-522.
Week 2:
[ Mon 7/15] Religion in Homer and Hesiod
Pomeroy 82-85; Homer, Iliad book 16 (all), Hesiod, Theogony 116-206, 453-506, 617-26,
666-725.
[Tues 7/16] Beginnings of Greek literature: The Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer
Homer, Iliad book 22 (all), book 24 (all).
[Wed. 7/17] The Late Dark Age Revival of 8th century
Pomeroy 89-100; Homer, Odyssey Book 1 (all), Book 9 (all)
[Thurs 7/18] The Archaic Age (c.750/700-c.480 B.C.E.): Part 1: Economy, Society, Politics
Pomeroy 102-top of 120, mid.123-130, bttm148-152;
Herodotus 5.90-92, 3.48-53
D/G 1.2, 1.19, 1.23, 1.29-30, 2.1, 2.8, 2.11.
Week 3:
[Mon 7/22] Archaic Age (c.750/700-c.480 B.C.E.): Part 2: the Archaic Cultural Revolution, and Early
Greek literary activity.
Pomeroy 120-mid123, bttm130-148; Sophocles, Antigone (on Blackboard)
[Tues 7/23] Sparta
Pomeroy 154-184; Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans (ca.17 pgs)
Herodotus 1.65-8, 5.49-51, 6.50-72, 7.100-104 (total ca.15 pgs)
D/G 6.3, 6.6, 6.7 6.9, 6.28
[Wed. 7/24] Early Athens
Pomeroy 186-207; Herodotus 1.59-64, 5.55-81, 5.93-97 (ca. 17 pgs total)
[Thurs. 7/25] The Persian Wars, Part 1: From Cyrus to the Ionian Revolt
Pomeroy 207-223
Herodotus 1.6-28, 46-59, 76-92, 131-140, 201-216; 5.28-38, 5.99-103, 105 (total ca.
36pgs)
Week 4:
[Mon 7/29] The Persian Wars, Part 2: Darius & Xerxes in Greece.
Pomeroy 223-230; Herodotus 7.138-144, 7.175-239, 8.140-44 [total ca. 27pgs]
D/G 7.28, 7.44
[Tues 7/30] Extra Credit Geography Quiz
Lecture: ca.479- 445 B.C.E.: Formation of the Delian League to the “1st Peloponnesian War”
Pomeroy 232-244, 244-top of 249;
Euripides, Ion (on Blackboard)
[Wed. 7/31] Periclean Athens: The Height of Art, Architecture, and Empire
Pomeroy 249-75; Thucydides 2.34-46 (Pericles’ Funeral Oration; most important), 1.73-78
(Athenian speech at Sparta), 1.126-38
[Thurs 8/1] The Origins of the Peloponnesian War; 5th c. Drama and history
Pomeroy 277-288, bttm288-top of 309, 319-322;
Thucydides 1.89-118 (the “Pentekontaetia/50-years”), 6.82 (speech of Euphemus)
Week 5:
[Mon 8/5] The Peloponnesian War. Part 1: the Archidamian War (431-421) to the Sicilian Expedition
Pomeroy 324-43; Aristophanes, The Knights (on Blackboard) – part 1
[Tues 8/6] The End of the Peloponnesian War
Pomeroy 343-67; rest of Aristophanes’ Knights.
[Wed. 8/7] Spartan Imperialism, the King’s Peace, and the Age of Shifting Hegemonies (404-362);
Law and Democracy at Athens
Pomeroy 380-92; 392-406 less important.
Aristophanes, Wasps (on Blackboard).
[Thurs 8/8] Philip II and the Rise of Macedon
Pomeroy 409-top of 430; Demosthenes, Philippics (on Blackboard)
Week 6:
[Mon 8/12] The Death of Philip II (336 B.C.E.) and the rise of Alexander III (“The Great”);
Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire.
Pomeroy 430-62.
[Tues 8/13] The Aftermath of Alexander’s conquests: an epilogue. (note: this lecture is not covered on
final exam, although you may of course reference it in your answers)
[Wed 8/14]
Final Exam, 10:15am -12pm.
****Papers
due today at 7pm., in paper form, in my office in Conklin Hall.