Classics/History 121

History of Greece

Spring 2006

427 Waterman

MWF 1:25-2:15

Barbara Saylor Rodgers

481 Main Street room 301, telephone 656-4607

Office hours MWF 10:00-11:00 and by appointment

bsaylor@zoo.uvm.edu

Research Projects: Instructions and suggested topics

Books on Reserve

Strauss, The Battle of Salamis (there is an assignment in this book for 24 February)
Osborne, Greek History (= GH) [suggested reading]
Ehrenberg. From Solon to Socrates (= SS) [suggested reading]
Bury and Meiggs, History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (another narrative history)
The Landmark Thucydides (older translation accompanied by many maps and interesting appendices)

REQUIRED TEXTS

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)
Xenophon Hellenica (Penguin translation = A History of My Times; 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

READINGS should be done prior to the class date under which they are listed.

January

18  Sources and Methods; Prejudices and Limitations of Inquiry
AG chapter 1 pp. 1-11
GH chapter 1

Also worth a look: A.M. Snodgrass, "Greek Archaeology and Greek History," Classical Antiquity 4 (1985) 193-207.

Map of Most of the Ancient Greek World

Map with narrower boundaries

Map of Mainland Greece, Island, and Asia Minor (lots of place names)

20  Minoans and Mycenaeans
AG chapter 1 pp. 12-22
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
Three sites for Knossos:
University of Colorado
Bluffton College (Mary Ann Sullivan)
23  Religion and the Homeric World
Thucydides book 1.1-24; AG chapter 1 pp. 22-40
25  Dark Ages
AG chapter 2
SS chapter I.3
27  Archaic Greece: Formation of City-States
AG chapter 3 pp. 82-99
GH chapter 2

Sixth-century Greece

30  Archaic Greece: Hesiod and Other Voices
AG chapter 3 pp. 99-129
GH chapter 3

Hesiod's Works and Days

Homeric Hymns

February

1  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

Reviving Ancient Seeds

Map of the World according to Hecataeus of Miletus
3  Archaic Greece: Tyrants
Herodotus 1.14, 20-24, 3.39-60, 120-125, 5.67-69, 92, 95, 6.126-131; AG chapter 3 pp. 124-130

Map of Central Greece and the Peloponnesus

GH chapter 4
SS chapter I.5

Some Features of Greek Tyrannies

6  Central and Northern Greece
Map of Northern Greece

8  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
10  Sparta and the Peloponnesus
Herodotus book 1.56-68; AG chapter 4
SS chapter II

Map of Southern Greece

Map of the Peloponnesus

A list of Spartan Kings

13  Western Greeks
Thucydides book 6.1-6; Herodotus books 6.22-24, 7.153-167

Sicily

15  Early Athens

Thucydides book 1. 126-127; Plutarch Life of Solon; AG chapter 5 pp. 159-178
Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians (this page has three links to the different parts of the work)

Another site for the Ath. Pol., with pdf files

SS chapter III

Article on the Olympic games (of 2004), Athens and the olive

Archons of Athens

Outline of books 1 and 5 of Herodotus
Dr. J's Illustrated Eleusis
17  Sixth-Century Athens
Herodotus book 5.39-96; Thucydides book 6.53-59
SS chapter IV
20  Greece and the Near East
Herodotus book 1.1-33, 75-216, 3.61-87; AG chapter 5 pp. 178-181
GH chapter 5

Achaemenid Kings of Persia

Achaemenid Empire

Cyrus the Great

Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions

22  Darius and the Ionian revolt; Marathon
Herodotus book 6; AG chapter 5 pp. 181-190
Miletus in Athens News

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

24  Marathon and its Aftermath
Herodotus book 7.1-25, 132-152, 168-239; any chapter(s) of Strauss, The Battle of Salamis
27  Xerxes' invasion of Greece
Herodotus book 8; AG chapter 5 pp. 190-200

Kings of Macedon

March

1  End of the Persian War

Herodotus book 9
3  Athens Rebuilds
Thucydides book 1.128-138; Plutarch Lives of Themistocles and Aristeides
SS chapter V
6  Test 1

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

Thucydides book 1.89-117; Plutarch Life of Cimon; AG chapter 6 pp. 201-211
SS chapter VI.1-2
10  The Great Fifty Years: The First Peloponnesian War
Plutarch Life of Pericles
GH chapter 6

Map of Athenian Empire ca. 450 BCE

SS chapter VIII.1-2

Colors on the Parthenon

13  The Great Fifty Years: Periclean Athens
Thucydides book 1.25-88, 118-125, 139-146; AG chapter 6 pp. 212-245 and chapter 7
GH chapter 7

SS chapter VI.3-4

15  The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides book 2.1-94; AG chapter 8 pp. 287-289
SS chapter VII.1

Map of Greece ca. 431 BCE

Smaller Map

Dr. J's Illustrated Acropolis

17  No class; CANE meeting

20-24  Spring break

27  The Archidamian War and Peace of Nicias

Thucydides books 3.1-90, 4.1-51, 80-135, 5.1-24; AG chapter 8 pp. 289-303
SS chapter VII.2

Medea in context

Parallel Events of the Peloponnesian War period

News Article on the Plague at Athens

Two translations of the stasis at Corcyra
To see the site of the Battle of Sphakteria, see Dr. J's Illustrated Pylos
29  Cold War and Foreign Affairs
Thucydides books 5.25-6 (= the rest of book 5 and all of book 6); AG chapter 8 pp. 303-305
31  The Sicilian Expedition
Thucydides book 7; AG chapter 8 pp. 303-311

April

3  Generations
Plutarch Lives of Nicias and Alcibiades; AG chapter 8 pp. 311-315
SS chapter VII.3
5  The Decelean War
Thucydides book 8; Xenophon books 1.1.1-2.2.24; AG chapter 8 pp. 311-319
SS chapter VII.4
7  Test 2

10  Revolutions; Persian Foreign Policy

Xenophon books 2.3.1-2.4.43, 3.1.1-3.5.25; AG chapter 8 pp. 319-329
SS chapter VIII.3-6
12  Spartan Hegemony
Plutarch Life of Lysander; Xenophon book 4 (all); AG chapter 9 pp. 330-338
14  The Second Athenian League
Xenophon books 5 (all), 6.1.1-6.4.37; AG chapter 9 pp. 338-349
17  Theban Hegemony
Plutarch Lives of Pelopidas and Agesilaus or Nepos 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 available a Penguin volume entitled The Age of Alexander ISBN 0140442863 (Lives of Agesilaus, Pelopidas, Dion, Timoleon, Demosthenes, Phocion, Alexander, Demetrius, Pyrrhus)

19  Syracuse and Carthage
Xenophon book 6.5.1-7.5.27; AG chapter 9 pp. 349-370

Nepos Lives of Timoleon and Dion

21  Macedonia before the King's Peace
AG chapter 10 pp. 371-377
24  Macedonia and Phocis
AG chapter 10 pp. 377-394

Demosthenes' First Philippic

26  The League of Corinth

Plutarch Life of Demosthenes

GH chapter 8
28  Alexander III: The Conquest of Persia and the Far East
AG chapter 11 pp. 395-426

Plutarch Life of Alexander

Map of the Macedonian Empire

May

1  The Successors' Wars;
AG chapter 12

Plutarch Lives of Agis and Cleomenes

3  Seleucids, Ptolemies, Antigonids, and Rome
AG Epilogue
Hellenistic Kings
    Research Project Due

9 Final exam at 4:00 p.m. (Tuesday)

GRADE in the course is based upon four factors:

Two in-class examinations, 6 March (25%) and 7 April (25%)*
Final examination   25% Tuesday 9 May at 4:00 p.m.
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 early February, 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)