History 111

Foundations of Greek and Roman History

Fall 2000

WF 2.40-3.55 pm

Meeting place: Clement 105

Instructor: Gary Reger                                                                                                                                        Office: 405 Seabury

Phone: 297-2393                                                                                                                                      Email:gary.reger@mail.trincoll.edu

Office hours: W 9.30-12                                                                             http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~greger/index.html

Course Description

There were too many civilizations in the ancient world to be encompassed in one course; indeed, the Greek and Roman worlds, to which we are limiting ourselves in this one, may seem themselves too sprawling to be dealt with in one semester. But there are interconnections between the Greek and Roman worlds that help to justify studying them together. This course, which presupposes no knowledge at all of the ancient world, will lay a foundation for further study by providing an introduction to the politics, society, economy, and culture of Greece and Rome, in the context of historical change and continuity over time. We will read a wide variety of material, including ancient texts ("primary sources") and modern interpretative works. You will come out of the course not only with a basic familiarity with the events, social structure, and source materials for ancient Greece and Rome, but also with experience in reading and analyzing historical documents, evaluating scholarly works, and writing papers.

Books for Purchase in Bookstore

David Cohen, Law, Violence, and Community in Classical Athens
Hesiod, Works and Days
Tacitus, Agricola and Germania
A.W. Lintott, Violence in Republican Rome
Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire
Paul Zanker, Pompeii. Public and Private Life

Handouts

Two brief xerox handouts of readings due on September 29 and November 10 will be distributed in class on September 22 and November 3.

Article on reserve in the Library

Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity" (multiple copies on reserve).

Assignments

Your responsibilities in this course are fivefold: (1) attend lectures; (2) do the reading; (3) participate in discussion; (4) write exams (one midterm and one final); (5) write a paper. Attendance at lectures is particularly important as we are not using a textbook in this course. In lectures I will typically give an overview and framework for the topic, impart new information, and show how to contextualize and interpret documents. This information will be useful to you in all other aspects of the course.

The reading must be done before discussion (typically, but not always, on Friday; check the schedule carefully). Students should come prepared to be called on. You should have thought about the questions (see below, "Questions to Think About") and have responses (bearing in mind, of course, that there are no final answers). 

There will be two essay exams: one midterm (October 13) and a final (December 15, 12-2 pm).

Paper on readings. Writing a paper gives you an opportunity to think like an historian. Each student will write one (1) 4-6 page essay on the assigned reading in the course of the semester. You are required to produce a draft due on the first date given. Matt Wikstrom, the TA for the course, will review the draft and return it to you promptly with suggestions for revisions. The final version is due to me, accompanied by the original with the TA's comments, on the second date given. (More details about this process will be given and a sign-up sheet for the paper topics will circulate during the first class session.)

Questions to Think About

As you do the reading for this course, bear in mind the following questions. They will form the basis for the start of our discussions.

For primary sources:

1. When and where did the author write?
2. What kind of work is this (book, poem, play, legal document, etc.)?
3. What is the main topic or idea of the work?
4. What was the author's purpose in writing?
5. What does this text tell us about the Greek or Roman world?
6. What are the limitations of this text, including (but not limited to) possibly biases of the author?

For secondary literature:

1. What is the author's argument (i.e., what is s/he trying to prove)?
2. What is the evidence that s/he cites to support his/her case?
3. How does s/he deal with opposing evidence or interpretations?
4. Do you see any problems with the argument?

Course Schedule and Assignment Due Dates

1. September 6-8: Introduction; periodization

Part I. Greece and Rome. Political History

2. September 13-15: Bronze Age and Geometric Greece

Reading: Hesiod, Works and Days. Paper 1 draft due: September 20; final paper due: September 27.

3. September 20-22: Archaic and Classical Greece

Reading: Cohen, Law, Violence, and Community in Classical Athens. Paper 2draft due: September 27; final paper due: October 4.

4. September 27-29: Hellenistic Greece and Pre-Roman Italy

Reading: Handout no. 1. Paper 3 draft due: October 4; final paper due: October 11.

5. October 4-6: Early and Middle Roman Republic

Reading: Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire. Paper 4 draft due: October 11; final paper due: October 18.

6. October 11-13:  Late Republic

Reading: Lintott, Violence. Paper 5 draft due: October 18; final draft due: October 25.

October 13: First exam

7. October 18-20:  Empire

Reading: Tacitus, Germania. Paper 6 draft due: October 25; final paper due: November 1.

8. October 25-27: Late Empire

Reading:
Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity." Paper 7 draft due: November 1; final paper due: November 8.


Part II. Life in Greece and Rome. The Examples of Rhodos and Pompeii

A. The Island Polis of Rhodos

9. November 1-3: Rhodos till Alexander the Great

Reading: Demosthenes, Oration 15 ("On the Freedom of the Rhodians") (R)

10. November 8-10: Rhodos in the Hellenistic Age. Power and Culture.

Reading: Handout no. 2.

11. November 15-17: Rhodos and Rome.

Reading: Dio Chysostom, Oration 31, "On the Rhodians"; Paul Veyne, "L'identite grecque devant Rome et l'empereur," REG 112 (1999) 510-567 (R)

12. November 22-24: Thanksgiving Break, no classes

B. Pompeii. Small Town Life in Southern Italy

• Pompeii Forum Project
• Pompeii Yellow Pages

13. November 29- December 1:

Reading:  Zanker, Pompeii.

14. December 6-8: 

Reading: Inspect the detailed plans of Pompeii published as The RICA maps of Pompeii, 7 sheets at 1:1000 and 1:10,000, ed. F. Federico (Rome 1984), in the Watkinson Library.

Final exam: December 15, 12-2 pm.