Topics in social and cultural history, such as law, the role of
women, slavery, ethnography, masculinity, medicine, the
agricultural economy, the origins and meaning of democracy.
Begins in the Archaic period with Homer and ends with Alexander
the Great.
Athena Title
Ancient Greece
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of Ancient Greece by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of society and culture in Ancient Greece has shaped social and cultural identities and attitudes, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
Topical Outline
Archaic Greece: Homeric society. Rural life in Hesiod. The hoplite and the origins of the city. The rise of Sparta; the image of Sparta. The origins of Athenian democracy. Democracy and oligarchy.
The classical period: Herodotus and the origins of history. The barbarian. The Persians. Slavery in the Greek economy; slavery and society. Women in the Greek world; family, sexuality. Demography. Thucydides and history. The Athenian empire; the Peloponnesian War. Comedy and the citizen. Education and the sophists. Medicine and disease.
After the Peloponnesian War: Socrates, guilty or innocent? Litigation and honor. Family and inheritance. The rise of Macedon.
