Syllabus - Fall 2023
Full Schedule
Week 1
Mon 28 Aug
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11 (pp. 1-100, trans. George)
- Students should read the whole of Gilgamesh prior to the first day of class.
Lecture: “The Epic Caring of Gilgamesh (and Others)”
Christian Kroll
Wed 30 Aug
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11, pp. 1-100
Lecture: “Gilgamesh: When Terrified by Death…”
Nathalia King
Fri 1 Sep
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11, pp. 1-100
Lecture: “The Forest and the Flood: Environmental Approaches to the Gilgamesh Epic”
Naomi Caffee
Week 2
Mon 4 Sep
Campus closed
Labor Day
Wed 6 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Christina Riggs, “Forty Centuries,” in Egypt: Lost Civilizations (London: Reaktion Books, 2017), pp. 33-57, 191-192.
- Christina Riggs, excerpt from “Four Little Words,” in Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 3-18
- Gallery: Narmer Palette and Great Pyramid (Gallery images should be carefully studied before conference)
Lecture: “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN: THE GREAT PYRAMID IN AND OUT OF CONTEXT”
Tom Landvatter
Fri 8 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- “The Tale of Sinuhe,” in The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, ed. Parkinson, pp. 21-53
Lecture: "Egypt and its Others: Death as Return in the Tale of Sinuhe"
Kritish Rajbhandari
Week 3
Mon 11 Sep
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant,” in The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, ed. Parkinson, pp. 54-88
- Charles Freeman, “Egypt, the Gift of the Nile, 3200-1500 BC,” in Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean, second ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 40-62
Lecture: “Speaking Ma’at, Doing Ma’at, Making Ma’at”
Nathalia King
Wed 13 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction to Egyptian Love Lyrics
- Selections from Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt, trans. Barbara Hughes Fowler (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), pp. xiii-xv, 6-9, 17, 38-41, 57-58, 66-67 (e-reserves)
- Selections from Love Songs of the New Kingdom, trans. John Foster (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), front matter, pp. 67, 70-73, 102-103. (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Familiar and Strange: Love Poetry of the New Kingdom”
Dustin Simpson
Fri 15 Sep
Lecture: No reading or lecture
Sat 16 Sep
First paper due
Due Saturday, September 16, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 4
Mon 18 Sep
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Genesis, chapters 1-20 (focus on 1-11), plus introduction to Genesis, in The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler
- Martin S. Jaffee, excerpts from Early Judaism: Religious Worlds of the First Judaic Millennium, second ed. (Bethesda: University Press of Maryland, 2006), pp. 1-28. (e-reserves)
Lecture: "THE GENESES OF GENESIS"
Michael Faletra
Wed 20 Sep
Assignment
- Genesis, chapters 21-50 (focus on 21-22), in The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler
- Martin S. Jaffee, excerpts from Early Judaism: Religious Worlds of the First Judaic Millennium, second ed. (Bethesda: University Press of Maryland, 2006), pp. 50-67, 86-87. (e-reserves)
Lecture: "Another Abraham"
Jan Mieszkowski
Fri 22 Sep
Assignment
- Hesiod, Theogony (trans. Lombardo)
Lecture: “Making Gender in Hesiod’s Theogony: Cosmic Parents, Monstrous Children, and Cannibal Consorts”
Nathalia King
Week 5
Mon 25 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Hesiod, Works and Days, lines 1-128, 430-500 (pp. 23-6, 35-7, trans. Lombardo)
- Anaximander (all), Anaximenes (21, 23, and 24), Xenophanes (all), Heraclitus (all), and Parmenides (all), in A Presocratics Reader, ed. Patricia Curd, pp. 16-20, 31-65
Lecture: TBA
Meg Scharle
Wed 27 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Exodus, chapters 1-15, plus introduction to Exodus, in The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler
Lecture: “A PEOPLE IN BETWEEN: EXODUS AND THE ISRAELITES AT THE CROSSROADS OF EMPIRE”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Fri 29 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Exodus, chapters 15-25, 32-37, 40, in The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler
Lecture: "Migration Legends"
Laura Leibman
Week 6
Mon 2 Oct
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Iliad : books 1, 2, 3 and 6 (trans. Lattimore)
- Summaries of the other books (Summary Handout)
Lecture: “Great Books”
Nigel Nicholson
Wed 4 Oct
Assignment
- Iliad: books 9, 16, 18, 19
Lecture: Achilleus: Brooding Whiner or Skeptical Sage?”
Ann Delehanty
Fri 6 Oct
Lecture: No reading or lecture
Sat 7 Oct
Second Paper Due
Due Saturday, October 7, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 7
Mon 9 Oct
Assignment
- Iliad: books 22, 23, 24
Lecture: “The Epic Scale; or, The World According to Homer"
Jay Dickson
Wed 11 Oct
Assignment
- Archilochus 4, 18; Tyrtaeus 7; Alcaeus 4; Sappho 1, 4, 6, 14, 18; Hipponax 1-9, in Greek Lyric, ed. Andrew Miller (Cambridge: Hackett, 1996), pp. 2, 5, 18-19, 40-1, 51-2, 54-6, 59-61, 104-6. (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Putting the ‘I’ in Ideology”
Nigel Nicholson
Fri 13 Oct
Assignment
- Galleries: Kouroi and Egyptian Sculpture
Andrew Stewart, Art, Desire, and the Body in Ancient Greece, pp. 3-13, 63-70, 268 (glossary). (e-reserves)
Lecture: "Stay and Mourn"
Jenny Sakai
Sat 14 Oct
Fall Break
October 14 – October 22
Week 8
Mon 23 Oct
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1, Sections 0-12, 28-33, 53-54, 71-91, 201-216; Book 2, Sections 1-5, 28-64, 113-120. (Page numbers differ by the edition, but for the most recent de Selincourt edition, this equates to pp. 3-8, 13-16, 23, 32-43, 88-97, 105-121, 138-142.)
- There is also a structural outline on pp. 607-614.
Lecture: “Same Difference: Telling Tales of Others in The Histories of Herodotus”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture bibliography - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Wed 25 Oct
Assignment
- Introduction to Achaemenid Era Inscriptions
- Achaemenid era inscriptions, from The Persian Empire, vol. I, ed.
- Amelie Kuhrt (New York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 70-74, 141-158, 492-495, 503-505. (e-reserves)
- Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1, Sections 131-140; Book 3, Sections 37-38, 61-89 (pp. 61-64, 186-187, 197-212)
Lecture: “Empire of All Kinds: Achaemenid Persia from Cyrus to Herodotus”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Fri 27 Oct
Assignment
- Gallery: The Apadana, from the University of Chicago Oriental Institute
- Margaret C. Root, "Circles of Artistic Programming: Strategies for Studying Creative Process at Persepolis," in A. C. Gunter (ed.), Investigating Artistic Environments in the Ancient Near East (Washington, DC, 1990), 115-39. (e-reserves)
Lecture: “The Spaces of Persepolis"
Jenny Sakai
Week 9
Mon 30 Oct
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Gallery: Parthenon
- Rachel Kousser, “Destruction and Memory on the Athenian Acropolis,” Art Bulletin 91.3 (2009): pp. 263-282 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Architecture, Memory, and Meaning: The Parthenon and Beyond”
Christian Kroll
- Lecture recording
- Lecture Handout Word & PDF
Wed 1 Nov
Assignment
- Herodotus, Histories, 6.125-130, 7.8-57, 7.101-104, 7.138-144, 7.201-238, 8.40-99, 9.114-122
Lecture: "Herodotus, Oracle of Halicarnassus"
Meg Scharle
Fri 3 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Esther from The Jewish Study Bible
Lecture: “The Schema of the Book of Esther”
Jin Chang
Week 10
Mon 6 Nov
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Agamemnon,” (trans. Fagles)
Lecture: "The Beginnings of Tragedy"
Jay Dickson
Wed 8 Nov
Assignment
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Libation Bearers”
Lecture: “Aeschylus to Alfaro: Tracing Lineage, Rethinking Gender”
Simone Waller
Fri 10 Nov
Assignment
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Eumenides”
Lecture: “The Eumenides”
Peter Steinberger
Sat 11 Nov
Third Paper Due
Due Saturday, November 11, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 11
Mon 13 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), vii-xi [excerpt from preface], 1-14 [introduction, “The Constituent Elements of Slavery”], 334-342 [chapter 12, “Slavery as Human Parasitism”]. (e-reserves)
- Gallery: Images of Athenian Slavery
Lecture: “Slavery and Social Death in Ancient Greece and Beyond”
Alice Hu and Margot Minardi
Wed 15 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Bers, V. 2003. Demosthenes, Speeches 50-59, Apollodorus, “Against Neaera,” 151-194.
Lecture: "The Case against Neaera: Performing Citizen Status in the Athenian Lawcourt"
Alice Hu
- Lecture handout
- Lecture bibliography - Word or PDF
- Lecture recording
- Lecture slides
Fri 17 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Lecture: "LYSISTRATA TO LIZZO: ANCIENT ATHENS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER"
Simone Waller
Week 12
Mon 20 Nov
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.1-23, 1.31-55, 1.66-88, 1.139-146, 2.34-65 (trans. Warner)
Lecture: “Thucydidean Thought”
Peter Steinberger
Wed 22 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction and resources
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 3.36-50, 3.69-85, 5.83-116
Lecture: "Thucydides' Speeches and Athenian Democracy"
David Garrett
Thu 23 Nov
Thanksgiving Break
November 23 – November 26
Week 13
Mon 27 Nov
Assignment
-
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 6.1-32, 6.88-93, 7.10-18, 7.55-87
Lecture: “The Theater of War: Thucydides and the Tragedy of Athens?”
Alice Hu
Wed 29 Nov
Assignment
- Plato, “Euthyphro,” “Apology,” and “Crito” in Trial and Death of Socrates, pp. 1-54 (trans. Grube)
Lecture: “A Kind of Gadfly”
Pancho Savery
Fri 1 Dec
Assignment
- Plato, Republic, 327a-417a (Books 1–3), pp. 1-102 (trans. Reeve)
Lecture: "Lovers of Laughter"
Jan Mieszkowski
Sat 2 Dec
Fourth Paper Due
Due Saturday, December 2, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 14
Mon 4 Dec
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Plato, Republic, 497a-541a (=part of Book 6 to end of Book 7), pp. 191-237
Lecture: “Plato’s cave: A Metaphysical Response to Sophistry”
Meg Scharle
Wed 6 Dec
Lecture: No reading or lecture
Week 15
Wed 13 Dec
Course Logistics
REQUIRED TEXTS
- Aeschylus. The Oresteia. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1977.
- The Epic of Gilgamesh the Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Trans. Andrew George. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.
- Aristophanes. Lysistrata. Trans. Sarah Ruden. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003.
- The Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation. Eds. Adele Berlin and Mark Zvi Brettler. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
- A Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia. Ed. Patricia Curd. Trans. Richard McKirahan and Patricia Curd. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2011.
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt. London: Penguin, 2003.
- Hesiod. Works and Days and Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993.
- Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, 1940-1640 B.C. Ed. and trans. R. B. Parkinson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Plato. Republic. Trans. C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004.
- Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates. Trans. G. M. A. Grube, rev. John Cooper. 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000.
- Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Trans. Rex Warner. New York: Penguin, 1954.
Additional assigned texts are available on e-reserves accessible via links embedded in the syllabus below. You will need your Reed username and password to access these texts. Please bring a copy of the day’s reading assignment to class each day. The library has on reserve a limited number of the required books.
LECTURES
On most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of the semester, a lecture is assigned. On the Mondays, most of these are in-person (weeks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14), and for these lectures we will meet in Vollum Lecture Hall at 9:00 am. Please be on time; the moments when we all gather together as a unified class are important. In-person lecture days are flagged on the syllabus. The other lectures will be posted so they can be accessed online; you can review these when it is most convenient to do so, but, obviously, do so before your conference meeting. Some of these lectures have been reused from last year, but, of course, only when still relevant. Lectures are regularly updated.
CONFERENCE ASSIGNMENTS
Humanities 110 is a yearlong course, and students are expected to remain in the same conference throughout the year. In cases of absolutely unresolvable schedule conflicts, students may petition for a change of conference time. Petitions (in the form of an email) should be addressed to Nathalia King, including an explanation of the conflict and why it cannot be resolved. Students granted a change of conference time will be assigned to new sections based on available slots and the student’s schedule; requests to move into a particular conference generally cannot be honored.
PAPERS AND WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Four course-wide papers will be assigned in the fall semester, due at the times designated on the syllabus. Individual conference leaders may assign additional writing. If the due date for an assignment conflicts with a religious holiday or obligation that you wish to observe, please consult with your conference leader.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
If you have a documented disability requiring accommodations, please contact Disability Support Services. Notifications of accommodations on exams, papers, other writing assignments, or conferences should be directed to your conference leader. Notifications of accommodations regarding lectures can be directed to the chair of the course, Nigel Nicholson. You are advised to consult with your conference leader about how your accommodations might apply to specific assignments or circumstances in this course.
RESOURCES FOR SUPPORT
Your conference leader is your first line of support for any questions you have about the course. Please also be sure to explore the Hum 110 website for additional information. The Course Resources entries provide brief introductions to upcoming readings and suggestions for how to approach them. The Writing in Hum 110 page provides tips on the writing process.
The Writing Center is a particularly valuable resource for Hum 110 students working on papers. You can get help with all stages of the writing process from peer tutors at the Writing Center. Links to the Writing Center session are posted on the Drop-in Tutoring Schedule website. Extra tutoring help will be available in the weeks leading up to paper due dates.
For additional information about support resources available to you on the Reed campus, please see Student Life’s Key Support Resources for Students.If you have questions that aren’t answered here, please consult your conference leader or email Hum110@reed.edu.