Syllabus | Spring 2013
Required Texts
- Aristophanes, The Clouds, trans. Arrowsmith (University of Michigan Press)
- Aristotle, Politics, trans. Reeve (Hackett)
- Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Irwin (Hackett)
- The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha New Revised Standard Version: College Edition (Oxford)
- Cicero, Selected Works, trans. M. Grant (Penguin)
- Livy, The Rise of Rome, trans. Luce(Oxford)
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, trans. Englert (Focus Philosophical Library)
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Melville (Oxford)
- Petronius, Satyricon, trans. R.B. Branham (University of California Press)
- Plato, Republic, trans. Reeve (Hackett)
- Plato, Trial and Death of Socrates, trans. Grube(Hackett)
- Plautus, The Pot of Gold and Other Plays, trans. E.F. Watling (Penguin)
- Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca, trans. Hadas (Norton)
- Theocritus, Idylls, trans. Verity (Oxford)
- Virgil, The Aeneid,trans. Mandelbaum (Bantam Doubleday Dell)
- Various readings on the Roman World available on e-reserves
Recommended Texts
Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Hackett)
Williams, The Craft of Argument (Univ. of Chicago Press)
E-Reserves
To access texts that are listed as being on e-reserves, find the day's reading assignments and follow the link to the text. You will need your kerberos username and password to be able to access the texts. Learn more about accessing e-reserves on Moodle.
Conference Assignments
The Registrar makes initial assignments to conferences in this course that continue through the year. Students who subsequently find it necessary to change conferences must petition the Humanities staff (forms for this purpose may be obtained from the Registrar or from Kathy Kennedy, Chem 303). Turn in completed forms to Robert Knapp, Hum 110 Chair, in Eliot 406. No conference changes will be permitted after the second week of the term.
Papers, Writing Assignments, and Examinations
Three course-wide papers will be assigned, due at the times designated on the schedule of readings and lectures. A final examination for the spring term will be given in finals week, Wednesday, May 15th, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., in Vollum Lecture Hall. Rescheduling of the final exam will be allowed only for medical reasons.
Writing Center
You can get additional help with all stages of the writing process from the Writing Center located in the Dorothy Johansen House. Drop-in help from writing tutors is available Sunday – Thursday, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.; additional hours will also be available during weeks that a paper is due (contact the Writing Center for more information).
Schedule of Readings and Lectures
Please study the Basic Chronology of the Ancient World
Topic I: Philosophy in Fourth-Century Athens
Week 1
Mon. Jan 28
Aristophanes, The Clouds
Lecture: “The Comic City” / Nigel Nicholson
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Jan 30
The Trial and Death of Socrates
Lecture: “A Kind of Gadfly” / Pancho Savery
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. Feb 1
Plato, Republic, Books 1 - 2
Lecture: “Who is Cephalus?” / Peter Steinberger
Week 2
Mon. Feb 4
Plato, Republic, Books 3 - 5
Lecture: “Sex, Gender and the Power of Philosophy” / Tamara Metz
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Feb 6
Plato, Republic, Books 6 - 7
Lecture: “Platonic Metaphysics” / Walter Englert
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. Feb 8
Plato, Republic, Books 8 - 10
Lecture: “Plato’s Republic and the Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry” / Hugo Moreno
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Week 3
Mon. Feb 11
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books 1 - 2
Lecture: “Knives, Eyes, and Humans” / Margaret Scharle
Wed. Feb 13
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books 3 and 6
Lecture: “Aristotle's Dangerous Idea” / Troy Cross
Fri. Feb 15
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 8:9, 9:9-12 and 10:6-10; Politics, Book 1
Lecture: “The Virtue of Political Science” / Tamara Metz
Week 4
Mon. Feb 18
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books 3, 6, 10.6-9
Lecture: “Contemplation and Reed's Honor Principle”/ Margaret Scharle
Wed. Feb 20
Aristotle, Politics, Book I; Book II, 1-5; Book III, 1, 4, 5, 7, 12; Book IV, 1-2; Book V, 1-2
Lecture: “The Politics: History and Constitutional Theory” / David Garrett
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Topic II: Alexander and the Hellenistic World
Fri. Feb. 22
Plutarch, “The Life of Alexander,” Sections 1-16, 26-29, 34-56, and 69-74 (on e-reserve);
Hugh Liebert, “Alexander the Great and the History of Globalization” (online)
Lecture: “Who's the Greek and Who's the Barbarian?: The Shifting Tides of Power and Identity in Fourth-Century Greece” / Ellen Millender
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
FIRST PAPER DUE: Saturday, Feb. 23, 5:00 PM See Paper Topics
Week 5
Mon. Feb. 25
The Antiochus Cylinder (study this image and look at this text);
Andrew Erskine, “Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria. (JSTOR)
Aristotle, Politics, Book 7. 4-12.
Lecture: "Building Cities and Making Culture in Alexander's Empire" / Simon Finger
Wed. Feb 27
Theocritus, 1-7, 11, 13, 15, 17
Lecture: “Country Matters” / Robert Knapp
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. Mar 1
Art and the Hellenistic City: study this Powerpoint before lecture and conference;
J.J. Pollitt, “Introduction” from Art in the Hellenistic Age (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “Multiculturalism, Hellenism, and the Pergamon Altar” / Nathalia King
Week 6
Mon. Mar 4
The Book of Daniel, Jewish Study Bible (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “The Writing is on the Wall” / Jan Mieszkowski
Topic III: The Growth of Rome in the Hellenistic World
Wed. Mar 6
Polybius, Histories, Book 6, sections 1-39, 47, 50-58 (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “Greece Meets Rome: Polybius and the Phenomenon of Rome’s Rise to Power” / Ellen Millender
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. Mar 8
Plautus, Miles Gloriosus
Lecture: “Romans Making Fun of Greeks Making Fun of Romans” / Sonia Sabnis
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Friday, March 8th “Spartacus” (dir. Stanley Kubrick), film presentation, 7:00 – 10:00 pm, Bio. 19
Week 7
Mon. Mar 11
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura), Book 1 (lines 1-637, 921-1117), Book 2 (lines 1-293), and Book 3 (all);
Garnsey & Saller, The Roman Empire, chapter 9 (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “Materialist Poetics” / Jan Mieszkowski
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Mar 13
Lucretius, On The Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura). Books 5 - 6
Lecture: “The Mortal Universe: Lucretius on the Plague” / Elizabeth Drumm
Fri. Mar 15
Cicero, On Duties III
Lecture: "Cicero and Roman Philosophy" / Walter Englert
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
16-24 MARCH: SPRING BREAK
Topic IV: Creating and Contesting Empire
Week 8
Mon. Mar 25
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Preface and Book 1
Lecture: “Livy and the Re-Creation of Rome” / Walter Englert
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Mar 27
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Book 2.1-25 and Book 5.19 - end
Lecture: “The Body Politic” / Nathalia King
Fri. Mar 29
Augustus, The accomplishments of Augustus (Res gestae divi Augusti) (on e-reserve);
Suetonius, Augustus: afterwards deified (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “From Octavian to Augustus” / Ellen Millender
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
SECOND PAPER DUE: Saturday, March 30, 5:00 PM See Paper Topics
Week 9
Mon. Apr 1
Peter J. Holliday, “Time, History, and Ritual on the Ara Pacis Augustae” (JSTOR);
Study this Image Gallery before lecture and conference;
Browse the Ara Pacis Augustae In-depth Visual Documentation website
Lecture: “Picturing Peace: Puzzles of the Ara Pacis Augustae” / Margot Minardi
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Apr 3
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1 – 4
Lecture: “Virgil and Epic” / Maureen Harkin
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. Apr 5
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 5 – 8 ;
Excerpt from Dido and Aeneas by Mark Morris (20 minutes)
Lecture: “Dragging Dido: Re-making Epic” / Hannah Kosstrin
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Week 10
Mon. Apr 8
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 9 – 12;
Homer, The Iliad, Book 24 (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “This is the End” / Pancho Savery
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Apr 10
Virgil, Aeneid
Panel: Drumm, Englert, Savery
Responding to Empire
Fri. Apr 12
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 1 – 3
Lecture: “Generic Transformations” / Elizabeth Drumm
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Week 11
Mon. Apr 15
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 4 – 6, 15
Lecture: “Power and Narrative in Ovid’s Metamorphoses” / Gail Sherman
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. Apr 17
Roman Statue: Laocoön: study this Image Gallery before lecture and conference;
Winckelmann, “Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture,” pp. 3-11 and 33-43 (on e-reserve)
Lecture: “A Work to be Preferred to All That The Arts of Painting and Sculpture Have Produced: The Laocoön” / William Diebold
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Thursday April 18th – “From Jesus to Christ,” Part I, video presentation, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Bio 19
Fri. Apr 19
Philo, Embassy to Gaius (on e-reserve);
Matthew B. Schwartz, “Greek and Jew: Philo and the Alexandrian Riots of 38-41 CE” (online)
Lecture: “Imperial Spectacle and the Invisible God” / Michael Faletra
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Week 12
Mon. Apr 22
Paul: Romans; Acts of the Apostles, 9-19
Lecture: “Why is the Letter to the Romansto the Romans?” / Robert Knapp
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Additional Resource: Lecture Slides
Tuesday, April 23rd – “From Jesus to Christ,” Part II, video presentation, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Bio 19
Wed. Apr 24
Gospel According to Mark
Lecture: “Amazing and Astonishing” / Margot Minardi
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Additional Resource: Lecture Bibliography
Fri. Apr 26
Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca, “On Providence,” On the Tranquility of Mind,” and Letter 70 (Suicide)
Lecture: “Public Philosophy” / Jan Mieszkowski
THIRD PAPER DUE: Saturday, April 27, 5:00 PM See Paper Topics
Week 13
Mon. Apr 29
Seneca, “On the Tranquility of Mind” and Letter 47 (Slaves)
Lecture: “Seneca and Roman Slavery” / Sonia Sabnis
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Wed. May 1
Petronius, Satyricon, pp. 1-73
Lecture: “Novelties” / Jay Dickson
Additional Resource: Lecture Handout
Fri. May 3
Petronius, Satyricon, pp. 75-152
Panel Discussion: Jan Mieszkowski, Nathalia King, Walter Englert, Robert Knapp