ANCIENT GREECE
History 341, Spring 1999 - PACB 401, 10:00 - 10:50 MWF
Southwest Missouri State University
Prof. Marc Cooper
Office: PACB 415, phone 836-5511; Office Hours: 11:00 - 12:00 MWF, and by appointment. You can also reach me at mac566f@smsu.edu. Prerequisite: HST 101 or permission of instructor.This course fulfills part of the Ancient and European history requirement of the BA and BSEd History majors. It also fulfills part of the Classical Studies requirement of the Antiquity major.
Required Texts:
| Hatzfeld | History of Ancient Greece |
| Lind | Ten Greek Plays |
| Finley | The Portable Greek Historians |
| Plato | The Last Days of Socrates |
Content:
This class will pursue the history of the Greek speaking peoples from the origins of Greek civilization during the Bronze Age to the dispersion of Greek culture during the Hellenistic era. The course will emphasize the political history and cultural achievements of the fifth and fourth centuries.
Goals:
The object of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the history of Greek civilization. Moreover, through discussions based on readings in translation, students should begin to understand the importance of Greek thought to the Western tradition. In particular, students should gain a deeper understanding of the nature of democracy, and the relationships among politics, art, literature, and the ideals of civic virtue.
Because the Greeks developed democracy, and experimented with many forms of government, the history of Greece played an important role in the education of citizens of European and North American nations during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.While it is no longer central to higher education, the study of Athenian democracy, because it is one of the few true democracies with a lengthy history, still offers a critical perspective from which to understand democratic ideas in our own time.
Students working towards social studies certification will learn the underlying principles which shaped, in part, the development of constitutional democracy in the United States. They will also learn something of the variety of Greek political systems, and the kind of civic participation each society engendered in its citizens. Moreover, this course addresses the way in which institutions and cultures change over time, the kinds of sources used to demonstrate these changes, and the ways in which historical evidence may be interpreted and evaluated.
Examinations:
All students are required to take three (3) written examinations over the material from the lectures, discussions, and readings. These tests will be given on or about the dates indicated in the calendar. The final examination will be comprehensive; it will cover the semester's work. These exams must be written in "blue books" which may be purchased at the book store at 25 cents each. The instructor reserves the right to give quizzes on the readings at any time, with or without notice.
Writing Assignments:
Since this course requires considerable participation in discussions based on readings, all students are required to read each of the assignments on the calendar and write a brief synopsis of each of the readings other than those in the Hatzfeld text. Each synopsis should summarize the content of the reading and thoughtfully address course goals.The synopsis may be typed or hand written and should be about 250 words long. There are 19 (some are double) reading assignments. Each synopsis is due on the date given in the calendar. Late synopses are useless for class purposes and will not be accepted. Each synopsis will be graded satisfactory, acceptable, or unsatisfactory.
Service Learning:
Students taking Ancient Greece may also enroll in the service learning component, HST 300, for one (1) credit hour. Students will address an important issue in Athenian historiography, the manner in which young people were introduced to national politics. There are two major schools of thought. One suggests that young Athenian men went to meetings of the assembly but followed the voting patterns of their elders. That is, Athenians learned national politics by example. The other school suggests that young Athenians learned national politics through practice in local politics. Those taking the service learning component will work for a local political group. They will also read the following books:
Jones, A. H. M. Athenian Democracy Ober, Josiah Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens Each student in the service learning component will write a paper discussing the introduction of Athenian youth to national politics referring to the Jones and Ober books as modified by a critical examination of his or her own experience. The paper should be 1,250 to 1,500 words long, typed, including notes according to the Chicago style.The paper grade will be the HST 300 grade.
Grades:
The first two exams will be worth 25% of the course grade each and the final exam will be worth 30%. The corpus of synopses will be worth 10% of the course grade. The instructor will divine the remaining 10% of the course grade on the basis of class participation. A letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every three (3) synopses which have not been turned in.
Drop Policy:
Students may drop this class without penalty through the 26th of March. After that date, students who have earned a c- grade or better on any exam may drop with an N (no credit). Students who have not earned a satisfactory grade may drop with an F. Students who decide to drop or withdraw from school should make certain that they have filled out the proper forms to avoid receiving an F for the course.
Cheating and Plagiarism:
Cheating and plagiarism of any sort is not tolerated in class. Students caught cheating on examinations may receive the F grade for the course. Students may work together on readings and synopses, though each synopsis should reflect the work of the writer.
Miscellaneous Policies:
Disabled and ESL students should discuss accommodations with the instructor during the first week of class. Eating and drinking in classrooms are prohibited by University policy. The instructor rigorously adheres to University nondiscrimination policy, grades will be awarded solely on the basis of performance.
A note to internet visitors:
This syllabus is primarily meant for students on the Springfield campus of Southwest Missouri State University. It reflects two of the themes in the University's mission: professional education and public affairs. As such the course directly addresses subject specific competencies for beginning teachers in Missouri. While an ancient Greece course might be taught from any number of view points, i.e., social history, gender studies, military history, etc., because our curriculum is infused with an interest in the responsibilities of citizenship, this course emphasizes the relationship between the individual as citizen and government, particularly the Athenian government, as it changed over the course of history.
Supplementary Resources:
Ancient Greece is a broad survey of an area of study which has fascinated ancient historians, classicists, and many others since the Greeks began writing about their own history. Those who want to go beyond the bounds of a one semester course should begin their studies in the library. Meyer Library holds translations of most classical authors, and has a substantial collection of books concerning various aspects of the ancient world. The instructor will be happy to recommend a few to start.
Students can also explore the world of ancient Greece on the internet. Some good sites to check include, Exploring Ancient World Cultures, which offers many links to internet resources, the Perseus Project, which includes an online library of texts and images, and Diotima, which is dedicated to the study of women and gender in the ancient world. The most extensive set of links concerning Classics and Mediterranean Archaeology is maintained at the University of Michigan. Maria Pantelia maintains a less exhaustive set of links but offers useful commentary saving the reader valuable time. In addition, the entire Perseus collection is available on CD-ROM in the Modern and Classical Languages Learning Lab in Craig 316. Since this room is often used by classes, call 836-5910 for availability. Our classroom maps and image collection is available on the web, but may only be viewed on campus.