History of Greece

Classics/History 121	History of Greece	Fall 2013
Stafford 101		MWF 3:00-3:50

Barbara Saylor Rodgers

481 Main Street room 301, telephone 656-4607

Office hours MWF 10:30-11:30 and by appointment

Contact Instructor

Research Projects: Instructions and suggested topics

REQUIRED TEXTS (all available at UVM bookstore)

Pomeroy, Burstein, Donlan, and Roberts. Ancient Greece. A Political, Social, and Cultural History (= AG) (also on reserve)
Herodotus The Histories (Oxford; but any translation is acceptable; cited by book and chapter) (also on reserve)
Thucydides The Peloponnesian War (Hackett; but any translation is acceptable; cited by book and chapter) (also on reserve)
Xenophon The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika; cited by book and chapter) (also on reserve)
Plutarch The Rise and Fall of Athens (Penguin translation; cited by name of life)

[Note: others of Plutarch's Lives are assigned later in the semester, and there are links below. If you prefer to use a book, either check the library or get the Penguin volume entitled The Age of Alexander, ISBN 0140442863]

Other readings as assigned, either xeroxed or on-line

Books on Reserve

Strauss, The Battle of Salamis (there is an assignment in this book for 2 October)
Osborne, Greek History (= GH) [suggested reading]
Ehrenberg. From Solon to Socrates (= SS) [suggested reading]
The Landmark Herodotus
The Landmark Thucydides
The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika

READINGS should be done prior to the class date under which they are listed.
THIS SYLLABUS IS STILL PROVISIONAL IN SOME RESPECTS (BUT NOT DATES FOR TESTS, FINAL EXAM, OR THE RESEARCH PROJECT). PLEASE DO NOT PRINT IT OUT

August

26 Sources and Methods; Prejudices and Limitations of Inquiry

AG Introduction (chapter 1 pp. 1-11); A.M. Snodgrass, "Greek Archaeology and Greek History," Classical Antiquity 4 (1985) 193-207
GH chapter 1
Map of Most of the Ancient Greek World
Map with narrower boundaries
Map of Mainland Greece, Island, and Asia Minor (lots of place names)

28 Minoans and Mycenaeans

AG chapter 1 pp. 12-40
SS chapter I.1-2
Map of the Eastern Mediterranean
Map of Mycenaean World and the Near East ca. 1450 BCE
Dr. J's Illustrated Pylos, Mycenae, and Tiryns

Knossos: Bluffton College (Mary Ann Sullivan)
UTexas
Linear B

30 Religion and the Homeric World

Thucydides book 1.1-24; AG chapter 1 pp. 40-54

September

4 Dark Ages

AG chapter 2
SS chapter I.3

6 Archaic Greece: Formation of City-States

AG chapter 3 pp. 102-120
GH chapter 2
Map of Sixth-century Greece
Fizbin

9 Archaic Greece: Hesiod and Other Voices

Hesiod Works and Days lines 1-319 (read online or download a pdf of the whole work); AG chapter 3 pp. 120-152
GH chapter 3
Homeric Hymns

11 Archaic Greece: Colonies and Commerce

Herodotus book 2.99-182, 4.145-167
SS chapter I.4
Some Greek Colonies
Areas of Colonization (Greek and Phoenician)
Silphium

Map of the World according to Hecataeus of Miletus

13 Archaic Greece: Tyrants

Herodotus 1.14, 20-24, 3.39-60, 120-125, 5.67-69, 92, 95, 6.126-131
Map of Central Greece and the Peloponnesus
GH chapter 4
SS chapter I.5
Some Features of Greek Tyrannies

16 Central and Northern Greece; Northern Barbarians

Herodotus books 4.1-82, 5.1-10; Thucydides book 2.29, 95-103
Map of the World known to Herodotus

Dr. J's Illustrated Olympia and Delphi
Excavations at Lefkandi

Map of Northern Greece

18 Sparta and the Peloponnesus

Herodotus book 1.56-68; AG chapter 4
Plutarch Lycurgus
SS chapter II
Map of Southern Greece
Map of the Peloponnesus
A list of Spartan Kings

20 Western Greeks

Thucydides book 6.1-6; Herodotus books 6.22-24, 7.153-167
Map of Southern Italy and Sicily
Sicily

23 Early Athens

Thucydides book 1. 126-127; Plutarch Life of Solon; AG chapter 5 pp. 186-207; Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians 1-22 i.e. Part 1 (this page has three links to the different parts of the work)
One can find the same translation here but divided into seven parts
SS chapter III
Eponymous Archons of Athens

Outline of books 1 and 5 of Herodotus

Dr. J's Illustrated Eleusis

25 Sixth-Century Athens

Herodotus book 5.39-96; Thucydides book 6.53-59
SS chapter IV

27 Greece and the Near East

Herodotus book 1.1-33, 75-216, 3.61-87; AG chapter 5 pp. 207-210
GH chapter 5
C. H. Greenewalt, Jr., "When a Mighty Empire Was Destroyed: The Common Man at the Fall of Sardis, ca. 546 B.C.," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 136 (1992) 247-271 (if you start reading at p. 257 you will want to keep reading)
Achaemenid Kings of Persia
Achaemenid Empire

Cyrus the Great
Persepolis and Ancient Iran
And since Thales shows up in book 1 of Herodotus, a little string theory

30 Darius and the Ionian revolt; Marathon

Herodotus book 6; AG chapter 5 pp. 210-223

Dr. J's Pictures of Cape Sounion (Sunium)

October

2 Marathon and its Aftermath

Herodotus book 7.1-25, 132-152, 168-239; chapters 3-4 of Strauss, The Battle of Salamis

4 Xerxes' invasion of Greece

Herodotus book 8; AG chapter 5 pp. 223-230
The Serpent-Column
Aeschylus Persae, containing an account of the battle of Salamis by a contemporary and participant
Apollo's Analemma
Kings of Macedon

7 End of the Persian War

Herodotus book 9

9 Athens Rebuilds

Thucydides book 1.128-138; Plutarch Lives of Themistocles and Aristeides
SS chapter V
Some ostraka

11 Test 1

14 The Great Fifty Years: Harmony and the Foundation of the Athenian Empire

Thucydides book 1.89-117; Aristotle Constitution of the Athenians 23-27; Plutarch Life of Cimon; AG chapter 6 pp. 232-242
SS chapter VI.1-2
Parallel Events of the Pentecontaetia

16 The Great Fifty Years: The First Peloponnesian War

Plutarch Life of Pericles; AG chapter 6 pp. 242-275
GH chapter 6
Map of Athenian Empire ca. 450 BCE
SS chapter VIII.1-2
Colors on the Parthenon and on sculptures and statues

18 The Great Fifty Years: Periclean Athens

Thucydides book 1.25-88, 118-125, 139-146; AG chapter 7
GH chapter 7
SS chapter VI.3-4
The Parian Marble (to get started, go to the far right of the screen)

21 The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides book 2.1-94; AG chapter 8 pp. 323-326
SS chapter VII.1
Map of Greece ca. 431 BCE
Smaller Map
Dr. J's Illustrated Acropolis

23 The Archidamian War and Peace of Nicias

Thucydides books 3.1-90, 4.1-51, 80-135, 5.1-24; Aristotle Constitution of the Athenians 28; AG chapter 8 pp. 326-340
SS chapter VII.2
Medea in context
Parallel Events of the Peloponnesian War period

Two translations of the stasis at Corcyra

To see the site of the Battle of Sphakteria, see Dr. J's Illustrated Pylos

Aristophanes Peace

25 Cold War and Foreign Affairs

Thucydides books 5.25-6 (= the rest of book 5 and all of book 6); AG chapter 8 pp. 340-343
Aristophanes in the UK Part I and Part II

28 The Sicilian Expedition

Thucydides book 7; AG chapter 8 pp. 343-349

30 Generations

Plutarch Lives of Nicias and Alcibiades; Aristotle Constitution of the Athenians 29-34; AG chapter 8 pp. 349-353
SS chapter VII.3

November

1 The Decelean War

Thucydides book 8; Xenophon books 1.1.1-2.2.24; AG chapter 8 pp. 353-357
SS chapter VII.4
The War That Never Ends

4 Test 2

6 Revolutions; Persian Foreign Policy

Xenophon books 2.3.1-2.4.43, 3.1.1-3.5.25; Aristotle Constitution of the Athenians 35-41; AG chapter 8 pp. 357-367
Lysias Against Eratosthenes
SS chapter VIII.3-6

8 Spartan Hegemony

Plutarch Life of Lysander; Xenophon book 4 (all); AG chapter 9 pp. 369-376

11 The Second Athenian League

Xenophon books 5 (all), 6.1.1-6.4.37; AG chapter 9 pp. 377-388

13 Theban Hegemony

Plutarch Lives of Pelopidas and Agesilaus; Nepos Life of Epaminondas
Map of Greece ca. 362 BCE
Note: a number of biographies, available online, are required reading; if you want to buy a book that has most of these, there is a Penguin volume entitled The Age of Alexander ISBN 0140442863 (Lives of Agesilaus, Pelopidas, Dion, Timoleon, Demosthenes, Phocion, Alexander, Demetrius, Pyrrhus)

15 Syracuse and Carthage

Xenophon book 6.5.1-7.5.27; Plutarch Lives of Timoleon and Dion; AG chapter 9 pp. 388-406

18 Macedonia before the King's Peace; Phocis

Demosthenes' First Philippic; AG chapter 10

20 The League of Corinth

Plutarch Life of Demosthenes
GH chapter 8

22 Alexander III: The Conquest of Persia and the Far East

Plutarch Life of Alexander; AG chapter 11
Map of the Macedonian Empire
Gordian knot metaphor

December

2 The Successors' Wars;

AG chapter 12
Plutarch Lives of Agis and Cleomenes
Theocritus Idyll 15
Callimachus Epigrams
Polybius on Civil war in Cynaitha

4 Seleucids, Ptolemies, Antigonids, and Rome

AG Epilogue
Hellenistic Kings
Agelaus makes a prophecy
Research Project Due

13 Final exam

GRADE in the course is based upon four factors:

Two in-class examinations, 11 October (25%) and 4 November (25%)*
Final examination: 13 December at 1:30 p.m. (25%)
Research project** (25%)

*No makeups for unexcused absences; makeups for excused absences will take place during final exam period (final exam will be about as long as a regular in-class exam)

**Familiarity with and intelligent use of both primary and secondary sources, and knowing the difference between them, is crucial to a good research project. I can provide suggestions for topics, but since the most rewarding and successful research comes from each individual's own interests, each student should consult me (by mid October, to allow time to check availability of resources).

Some suggested topics

Note: Late projects will be marked down 10 percentage points per weekday (weekends free)

Classics/History 121