ARHA 501: Anatolian Civilizations II: Iron Age-Roman
Carolyn Aslan
Office SOS 261, ext. 1511
e-mail: [email protected]
office hours: Thursday 2:30-4:30 or make an appointment
This course offers students the opportunity for advanced study of the civilizations of
Anatolia from the Iron Age through Roman period. Topics include the collapse at the end
of the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age kingdoms (Neo-Hittites, Phrygia, Lydia), and the
Greek and Roman settlements. This semester we will concentrate on the subject of
power, and how power and power relations were expressed through religion and ritual,
architectural space and monuments, migration and foundation stories, and art. Students
will also improve their research techniques, as well as their writing and presentation
skills.
Assignment
Research article
Site presentation
Research presentation
Class participation
Percentage
40%
15%
20%
25%
Date
March 25
April 18/25
May 7, 9, 14
Throughout semester
Readings and class participation
The readings will be distributed as electronic copies through Dropbox. The majority of
class time will be spent discussing the readings and students should come to class
prepared for discussion. Students are expected to attend all classes; missing classes will
lower your participation grade.
Class presentations
Each student will be responsible for giving two in-class presentations. One presentation
will be a report on an archaeological site from the Hellenistic and/or Roman periods. You
should give this presentation as though you are teaching a class. The second presentation
will be on the same topic as your research article. For the second presentation you should
present your research as though you are giving a paper at an international conference. We
will discuss the two styles of presentation and what is expected of each. The
presentations are graded both on the depth of the research and also on the presentation
style and delivery.
Research article
Instead of a traditional research paper, you will research and write about a topic as though
you are writing an article for an academic journal. After discussing your topic with me,
you will need to decide on the type of article you will write and find an appropriate
academic journal that might be willing to accept such an article. You will then need to
follow the guidelines that the journal gives for format, bibliography style, etc. Your
article should be c. 15 pages (double spaced). During the semester we will be discussing
different article types and approaches, as well as conventions for organizing and
presenting information. The purpose of this assignment is to improve your research and
writing skills, teach you about the process of preparing research for an academic
publication, and also to increase your awareness of how scholars present their research.
Writing assignment policies
Students are expected to do their own work on all the writing assignments and to follow
the university rules on plagiarism and cheating. Be very careful to properly paraphrase
and give reference citations for all the information and ideas in your papers. I will check
your citations and paraphrasing when reading your papers. An accidental mistake in
citations or paraphrasing can easily look like a case of deliberate cheating. We will
discuss proper citations and paraphrasing in class.
For the research article, you have the option to rewrite the assignment in order to
correct and improve your research and writing. If there is significant improvement, the
grade will be increased. Students can rewrite the assignments multiple times, but no
rewrites will be accepted after May 17.
Schedule and Reading list
Feb. 7
Issues of interpretation in the study of Classical Anatolia
Discussion of research and presentation topics
1. Alan Greaves (2010). “Constructing Classical Archaeologies of Ionia,”
ch. 2 in the Land of Ionia: Society and Economy in the Archaic period.
(available as an e-book through library catalogue)
Feb. 12/14
Early Iron Age
The issue of migrations, part 1: western Anatolia and Troy
1. Assaf-Yasur-Landau (2011). “Deep change in domestic behavioural
patterns and theorectical aspects of interregional interactions in the 12th
century Levant” in On Cooking Pots, Drinking Cups, Loomweights and
Ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyrus and Neighbouring Regions.
2. Robert Drews (1993), ch. 4: “Migrations” in The End of the Bronze Age
3. Carolyn Aslan (unpublished) “The Early Iron Age at Troy
Reconsidered”
4. C. B. Rose (2008). “Separating Fact from Fiction in the Aeolian
migration” Hesperia 77: 399-420.
Optional background reading: O. Dickenson (2006). “The Collapse of the
Bronze Age Civilizations” in The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age
Feb 19/21
The issue of migrations, part 2: Central Anatolian Iron age
1. Jürgen Seeher (2010) “After the Empire: Observations on the Early Iron
Age in Central Anatolia” in Studies presented to David Hawkins.
2. Mary Voigt and Robert Henrickson (2000) “Formation of the Phrygian
State: The Early Iron Age at Gordion.” Anatolian Studies 50: 37-54.
3. Keith DeVries (2012), ch. 1 and 3 in the New Chronology of Iron Age
Gordion.
Feb. 26/28
Phrygians
1. Ovid, Metamorphoses, selections about Midas
2. B. Burke (2010), ch. 4 in From Minos to Midas.
3. Susanne Berndt-Ersöz (2009). “Sacred Space in Iron Age Phrygia” in
Sacred Landscapes in Anatolia and Neighboring regions.
4. chapters by Summers and Sivas in the new book on Phrygia
March 5/7
Neo-Hittites
Images, architecture and power
1. T. Bryce (2012). ch. 1. The End of an Era, ch. 3. Defining the NeoHittites, in The World of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms.
2. Nicolo Marchetti (2012). Karkemish on the Euphrates: Excavating a
City’s History,” NEA 75:3.
3. Timothy Harrison (2009) “Neo-Hittites in the “land of Palistin”
Renewed Investigations at Tell Ta`yinat on the Plain of Antioch,” NEA
72:4
4. James Osborne (2012). “Communicating Power in the Bit-Hilani
Palace” BASOR.
5. A. Gilibert. Syro-Hittite Monumental Art and the Archaeology of
Performance, p. 97-131
March 12/14 Lydians
1. Selections from Herodotus: Book 1
2. N. Cahill “The City of Sardis” and I. Ozgen “Lydian Treasure” in The
Lydians and Their World
3. C. Roosevelt (2009), ch. 4, 5 and 6, In The Archaeology of Lydia: From
Gyges to Alexander.
March 19/21 Ionians
Religious practices, the city, and cult centers
1. Kenneth W. Harl. “The Greeks in Anatolia from the Migrations to
Alexander the Great.” in the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia.
2. Selections from F. De Polignac, Cults, Territory and the Origins of the
Greek City-State
3. Alan Greaves (2010), Cults of Ionia, ch. 8 in the Land of Ionia (e-book)
4. Alan Greaves (2012) Divination at Archaic Branchidai-Didyma: A
Critical Review,” Hesperia 81, 177-206.
March 25: Papers due
March 26/28 Achaemenids
1. Selection from Xenophon
2. Selections from Herodotus
3. M. Flower, “Herodotus and Persia” in The Cambridge Companion to
Herodotus
April 2/4
Alexander
Hellenistic and Roman ruler iconography and cult
1. Arrian “Speech of Alexander the Great”
2. J.J. Pollitt “Royal Iconography” in Art in the Hellenistic Age
3. S.R.F. Price, ch. 1, 2 and 6 in Rituals and Power: The Roman imperial
cult in Asia Minor.
Spring Break
April 16/18 Hellenistic and Roman cities
Student presentations
April 23 (holiday)
Ap. 25
Hellenistic and Roman site presentations (continued)
Ap. 30/ May 2 Hellenistic and Roman Houses
1. L. Nevett (2007) “Housing and Households: the Greek World” in
Classical Archaeology, p. 205-223.
2. L. Nevett “Gender Relations in the Classical Greek Household: the
Archaeological evidence”
3. A. Wallace-Hadrill “Reading the Roman House”
4. B. Bergmann (2007) “Housing and Households: The Roman World” in
Classical Archaeology p. 224-243
May 7/9
Student research presentations
May 14/16
Student research presentations continued
Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture: Identity and Representation
1. R.R.R. Smith (1998) “Cultural Choice and Political Identity in
Honorific Portrait Statues in the Greek East in the Second Century A.D.”
The Journal of Roman Studies 88: 56-93.
2. R.R.R. Smith (1987) The imperial reliefs from the Sebasteion at
Aphrodisias” The Journal of Roman Studies 77: 88-138. (JSTOR)