Classics/History 221

Hellenistic History

Fall 2011

207 481 Main Street

MWF 11:45-12:35


This syllabus is still in flux! Do not print it out!

Required Texts:

Peter Green. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (California 1993)

Polybius. The Histories (Oxford 2010)

Books on reserve under Classics 221:

Bosworth, A. B. The Legacy of Alexander: Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under the Successors. 2002
Connor, W. Robert. Greek Orations. 1966
Chaniotis, Angelos. War in the Hellenistic World. 2005
Errington, R. M. A History of the Hellenistic World. 2008
Grant, Michael. From Alexander to Cleopatra. 1982
Green, Peter. Alexander to Actium. 1990
Gruen, Erich S. The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome. 1984
Walbank, F. W. The Hellenistic World. 1993

Ancient Texts Available Online:

Appian
Diodorus
Plutarch's Lives
Polybius
Livy
Paul Halsall's Internet Ancient History Sourcebook also contains a variety of texts relating to Hellenistic history

Some books on the Hellenistic age

Cambridge Ancient History volume 7 part 1 (The Hellenistic World)
Cambridge Ancient History volume 7 part 2 (The Rise of Rome to 220 B.C.)
Cambridge Ancient History volume 8 (Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C.)
Cambridge Ancient History volume 9 (The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146-43 B.C.)

See also Stanley M. Burstein, The Hellenistic Age from the Battle of Ipsos to the Death of Kleopatra VII (DF235.A1 H43 1985 - in the library but not available online) for translated documents

Information on bibliographical references:

Journal abbreviations: On this syllabus, journals are abbreviated according to the conventions of L'Année philologique (henceforth APh), a bibliographical database. There are many online lists of these abbreviations; here is the one from UC Berkeley
If the UVM library does not have a subscription to the periodical in question, on this syllabus there will always be a reference number of seven digits.

UVM library has an online subscription to APh. To find it, choose the link Articles & More on the main library page, then the letter A in the alphabet.

There is also a print edition of APh through 2004, shelved in Reference Z7016 .A56. Here are instructions for using the print edition, which for some things (e.g., personal names) is better than the electronic version.

August
29-31  Classical Greece and Hellenistic Greece; Sources

Green Preface
  The League of Corinth

September
5-9  Greece in the New Age

Hypereides Funeral Oration (Connor)
Plutarch Life of Phocion
Diodorus 17.48, 62-63, 73 and 18.8-18; Polybius 2. 37-40
  Phocion
  Accommodation to circumstances; Sparta takes a stand
Map of Southern Greece

Some bibliography on Agis III

  The Lamian War
Map of Northern Greece

Some bibliography on the Lamian War

The Ruler-Cult before and after Alexander
[Thucydides 4.70-74, 78-88, 102-135, 5.1-11 (Brasidas)
Plutarch Life of Alcibiades, Thucydides 5.43-46, 6.15-29, 88-93 (Alcibiades)
Plutarch Life of Lysander (Lysander)]
Green chapter 23
12   What apotheosis involves, and who believes in it:
       Reverence for real people, after death; Brasidas and Lysander
       Reverence for real people, in life

14   Alexander the living god
       Alexander the god after death

16   Deifying Ptolemies and Seleucids: Antigonids?

The Successors

Plutarch, Life of Demetrius
Green chapters 1-3, 8
19   Soap operas and winning strategies:
       'Loyalists' (unitarians?) vs the personally motivated
       Descendants of Philip and Alexander

21   Seleucids

23   Ptolemies

26   Perdiccas, Eumenes [Plutarch Life of Eumenes], Polyperchon, Cassander, Lysimachus

28   Antigonus One-Eye and Demetrius Poliorcetes

30   No class

Rulers of the three major Hellenistic Kingdoms

Map of the Macedonian Empire

October
Hellenistic Kingdoms and Federal States
Green chapters 9-10, 12
Polybius 2.41-46
3   Achaeans and Aetolians

5   Relations among kingdoms and with other Greeks

7   Balancing leagues and kings: Macedon

Hellenistic kingdoms
New Players
Plutarch Life of Pyrrhus, Lives of Agis and Cleomenes; Polybius 1.1-12, 2.1-12, 41-71, 3.1-7, 3.16-19, 4.16-52, 5.34-39, 5.101-111, 7.9-14, 8.8-12, 15.20, 18.1-15, 18.44-46, 24.11-13
Text of Polybius online: Book 7, Book 8, Book 15, Book 18, Book 24
Green chapters 14, 16-18, 24
10   Pyrrhic victories
       Rome and Carthage before the first Punic war

12   Starting the First Punic war: Romans and Mamertines

Map of Southern Italy and Sicily
14   Sparta's absolutely last stand
       Spartan oliganthropia (loss of manpower)
       Battle of Sellasia
Sparta before and after Theban intervention:

Map of Greece ca. 431 BCE

Map of Greece ca. 362 BCE

17   Illyrian pirates, Demetrius of Pharos, Philip V
       Roman and Macedonian spheres of influence

19   Pergamene politics, Philip V, Demetrius and Perseus
       Succeeding Philip
       Third Macedonian war
       Rome vs Rhodes

21   VCLA day

Hellenistic Letters and Science

Green chapters 4-6, 11, 13, 15 (and 26-28)
[Epicurus; Callimachus, Theocritus, Apollonius]
24   The Library at Alexandria
       The learned muse
       Medicine

26   Epic
       Geography

28   Science and machinery; engineering
       Astronomy and astrology

31  Magic

Green chapter 33
November
The Seleucids, Rome, and Parthia
Polybius 31.11-15; Livy 33.45-49, 34.60-62, 35.12-51, 39.51-52, 45.1-12 (see above for links to Polybius and Livy online)
Green chapters 25, 29-30
2   Freedom as propaganda: Antiochus III and the Aetolians
     Chasing Hannibal

4   Where does one draw the line?
     Fighting over and in Palestine

Growth of Roman Power in Asia Minor

Asia Minor under the Greeks and Romans

7   146: Carthage and Corinth
Extant fragments of Polybius books 36, 38, and 39 (see above for link to Polybius online); Appian Punic Wars 67-136
9   Bactrian kings

Green chapter 19
Also read some of Frank Lee Holt, Thundering Zeus: the Making of Hellenistic Bactria (this is available as an electronic book through Bailey/Howe Library)
Social Structures
Theocritus Idylls 15, 17; Apollonius Argonautica 3.1-158
Green chapters 21, 22
M. Grant From Alexander to Cleopatra 194-213
11   Social and economic life
       Slavery and the slave trade

14   Utopias

Political and Other Philosophies

Polybius 6; Cicero Scipio's Dream
Green chapters 34-36
16   Constitutions and mixed constitutions

18   Epicurus and his school

28   Stoicism: Zeno and early Stoicism
       Stoicism for Republican Rome

30   The Academy

December
The Freedom of the Greeks

Green chapter 31
2   Rome and Pergamon
     Mithradates VI Eupator
Appian Mithradatic Wars 10-63
Rome and the Ptolemies
Green chapter 37
5   Ptolemy Auletes

7   Cleopatra VII

Every member of the class must complete all readings for each week with the exception of those in square brackets; those and other assignments in both ancient and modern authors will be the responsibility of individuals, according to their interests. Each student will contribute special expertise (a brief oral presentation, with handouts if appropriate) to at least three seminar sessions. Please volunteer as early as possible.

Requirements of the course:
30%    Minimum preparation for each class (= all readings listed above); includes attendance
30%    Three special topics for seminar sessions in addition to the synopsis of an article on magic
15%    One short (5-10 pages) written analysis of an ancient source (narrative history, biography, other literature, inscriptions or other material remains), due by 28 November at beginning of class (11:45 a.m.)
25%    One final research project of the student's choice, due by 15 December 3:00 p.m.

Note: all materials for the class, including bibliographies for class presentations, are due by 15 December, but may be submitted earlier.

Also Note: penalty for late papers (the written analysis due 28 November and the research project due 15 December) is calculated as follows: five percentage points per day, including both weekend days and 28 November after 11:45 for the historiographical essay and 15 December after 3:00 for the research project.

Office: 481 Main Street, Room 301
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Last updated: 2 November 2011
Send Comments to: Barbara Saylor Rodgers
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