Dr. Thomas J. Figueira

Phone: 445-6372 (voice mail) 932-9797 (messages/general information)
Dept. of History, Van Dyck Hall, CAC

Dept. of Classics, Ruth Adams Bldg. DC

Meetings: MW4, FH-B3, CAC

Off. Hrs.: M2:40-3:40 (Van Dyck 202, CAC)

 

I. Nature of the Course

This course will deal with the history of the Greek people from their appearance in Greece during the 3rd millennium down to the aftermath of the Persian invasion in the early 470s. Although Bronze Age Greece will be treated in some detail, our main emphasis will be on Dark Age and Archaic Greece (1000-480BC). The content of the classes will include lectures, slide lectures, discussions of assigned readings, and opportunities for questions. Students will be expected to
participate in classroom discussion (as appropriate to class size) . The readings will include general books on the Greek history (Finley, Murray), a collection of ancient sources (Crawford & Whitehead), and translations of ancient literary texts. These may be supplemented with hand-out material. Review sheets and study aids will be circulated. The students are not only responsible for the readings, but also for the material presented in the lectures.

II. Grading and Requirements

A.

30% Mid-term (October 22)
30% Paper (due November 26)
40% Final (cumulative, with an emphasis on the second half of the course: Friday, December 21, 8:00AM-11:00AM

B. The mid-term is an in-class exam, testing material to that date; the format of the test, which will include short and written answers, will be announced.

C. The paper is a research paper of 10-15 pages to be submitted by the beginning of class on November 26. The research paper should be an analysis of the interpretation of a specific facet of early Greek history and civilization. A list of suggestions will be circulated. A topic is to be chosen by October 22 which may be discussed in an individual meeting with the instructor. A hand-out with a format of the paper, and suggestions on how it should be researched and written, will also be made available.

III. Required Texts

M. Crawford & D. Whitehead, Archaic and Classical Greece: A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation (Cambridge Univ. Press 1983) = CW
M.I. Finley, Early Greece: The Bronze and Archaic Ages2 (Norton 1982) = BAA
R. Lattimore (trans.), Greek Lyrics (rev. ed.) (Univ. of Chicago Press 1960)*
O. Murray, Early Greece (Stanford Univ. Press 1980) = EG
W.D. Rouse (trans.), Homer, Iliad (Mentor 1974)*
D. Wender. (trans.), Hesiod and Theognis (Penguin 1976)*

* Cited by poet's name, e.g., "Solon".

Early Greece Reader (available at Pequod Copy) = EGR

Please procure by library borrowing, loan, or purchase a version of Aeschylus, Persians (= Persai) (the translation of David Grene is recommended) to read for Lectures 23-24.

IV. Outline of Lectures and Readings

September 5: Introduction to the Course Greece in the Bronze Age
Sept. 10 (1): The Physical Setting for Greek History/Basic Terminology: CW 1-23; BAA 3-12; EG 13-37
Sept. 12 (2): Helladic Greece: BAA 13-44
Sept. 17 (3): Mycenaean Society: BAA 45-55
Sept. 19 (4): Mycenaean Civilization and Its Collapse: BAA 56-80
The Dark Age
Sept. 24 (5): Greece in the Dark Age: BAA 80-86
Sept. 26 (6): Homeric Literature & the Iliad: Iliad Bks. 1-2, 9, 16
Oct. 1 (7): Homeric Society: Iliad Bks. 18, 22-24; EG 38-56
Oct. 3 (8): Hesiod and the Development of Greek Social Values: Wender pp. 11-22; Hesiod, Works and Days.
Oct. 8 (9): The End of the Dark Age: CW 27-51, 68-69, 87-88, 89-91, 169-71; BAA 87-97; EG 57-68. Archaic Greece
Oct. 10 (10): Politics in the Eighth Century: CW 95-103; EG 68-99, 120-31, 153-58; Callinus
Oct. 15 (11): The Colonial Movement: CW 52-66, 98-100, 176-77; BAA 97-105; EG 100-19; Archilochus (also in EGR)
Oct. 17 (12): The Rise of Tyranny: CW 66-80, EG 132-52
Oct. 22: MIDTERM (last date for selection of paper topics)
Oct. 24 (13): Spartan Society: CW 95-119, 177-80; BAA 106-15; EG 158-72; Terpander; Alcman; Tyrtaeus.
Oct. 29 (14): The History of Attica to Solon: CW 128-37, 174-75; BAA 120-22
Oct. 31 (15): Solon: CW 137-40; BAA 122-25; EG 173-91
Nov. 5 (16): The Crisis of Aristocratic Culture: CW 168-69, 171-74, 175, 180-182; BAA 126-41; EG 192- 208; Semonides; Mimnermus; Xenophanes; Theognis (in Wender).
Nov. 7 (17): The Rise of Ionia and the Late Archaic Economy: EG 209-31; Ibycus, Sappho (also in EGR), Alcaeus.
Nov. 12 (18): The Persian Threat/Sparta & the Peloponnesians: CW 119-27; BAA 116-19; EG 232-53.
Nov. 14 (19): Peisistratid Athens: CW 140-54; EG 253-54; Anacreon (also in EGR); Anonymous Drinking Songs; Simonides
Nov. 19 (20): The Cleisthenic Reforms: CW 155-67, 235-37; EG 254-59
Nov. 26 (21): The Decade of 490s and Marathon: CW 205-20; EG 259-63 (PAPER DUE)
Nov. 28 (22): The Decade of the 480s: CW 220-22, 237-40; EG 263-73
Dec. 3 (23): The Expedition of Xerxes: CW 222-31; EG 273-79; Aeschylus Persians
Classical Period
Dec. 5: Read Pindar and Aeschylus, Persians
Dec. 10 (24): The Aftermath of the Persian War: CW 246-50; 304-9
Dec. 12: CATCH-UP & SLIDE LECTURE