The Ancient World: An Interdisciplinary Introduction

Humanities 510 (Fall 2013)

Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:10 – 12:30 in PCAC A218

Sections: alternate Thursdays 11:10 – 12:30 in various rooms

All students must enroll in one of the four sections and attend its meetings.

Section 510A (Art History): Professor Eleanor Hight. Meets in PCAC, room A218, and

satisfies the Discovery category in Fine and Performing Arts.

Section 510B (Literature): Professor Michael Ferber. Meets in Morill, room 2, and

satisfies the Discovery category in World Culture.

Section 510C (History of Science): Professor Jan Golinski. Meets in Spaulding Life

Sciences building, room 230, and satisfies the Discovery category in Historical Perspectives.

Section 510D (Philosophy): Professor Jen Armstrong. Meets in Hamilton Smith, room

218, and satisfies the Discovery category in Humanities.

Half the grade for this course will depend on the three tests (given in the lecture room)

and half will depend on the work assigned in section (e.g., papers, quizzes, regular attendance,

participation, etc., as the professor chooses).

Books Available at Durham Book Exchange

Homer: The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. 1961. Rpt. New York: Farrar Straus,

1998. (0374525749)

Moses Finley, ed., The Portable Greek Historians. New York: Penguin, 1977.

(014015065X)

Euripides V (including The Bacchae). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

(9780226308982)

Aristophanes: Four Plays: The Birds, The Clouds, The Frogs, Lysistrata. New York:

Plume (Meridian), 1984. (0452007178)

Schedule

Tues 27 Aug Introduction

Thur 29 Aug Homer, Odyssey (Ferber)

Tues 3 Sep Homer, Odyssey (Ferber)

Thur 5 Sep Section 1

Tues 10 Sep Early Greek Art and Architecture (Hight)

Thurs 12 Sep Pre-Socratic Philosophy and the Origins of Science (Golinski)

Tues 17 Sep Sophists & Philosophers (Armstrong)

Thur 19 Sep Section 2

Tues 24 Sep Plato (Armstrong)

Thur 26 Sep Test 1

Tues 1 Oct Greek Historians: Herodotus (Golinski)

Thur 3 Oct Greek Historians: Thucydides (Golinski)

Tues 8 Oct Greek Tragedy: Euripides, The Bacchae (Ferber)

Thur 10 Oct Section 3

Tues 15 Oct Classical Greek Art and the “Canon of Polykleitos” (Hight)

Thur 17 Oct The Parthenon (Hight)

Tues 22 Oct Greek Comedy: Aristophanes, The Frogs (Ferber)

Thur 24 Oct Section 4

Tues 29 Oct Aristotle: Ethics (Armstrong)

Thur 31 Oct Aristotle: Cosmology (Golinski)

Tues 5 Nov Test 2

Thur 7 Nov Hellenistic Philosophy (Armstrong)

No class Tues 12 Nov (Monday schedule)

Thur 14 Nov Hellenism and Christianity (Armstrong)

Tues 19 Nov Ancient Atheism: Lucretius (Golinski)

Thur 21 Nov Section 5

Tues 26 Nov Civic Art and Architecture in Imperial Rome (Hight)

No class Thur 28 Nov (Thanksgiving)

Tues 3 Dec Pompeii and the Roman Villa (Hight)

Thur 5 Dec Section 6

Thur 12 Dec, 6 to 8 PM Test 3

Reading assignments will be given in class and on Blackboard.

This is an interdisciplinary course, that is, the four professors who teach it work in

different fields with different appropriate methods. We also have different lecturing styles

(we make different uses, for example, of Powerpoint), and we may make different sorts of

assignments in the sections. It may be challenging to students to deal with our various

ways of doing things, but we think it will also be interesting. Sometimes the professors

will interact during the lectures; they may even disagree with each other!

We ask that students not use electronic devices to take notes or look up materials

during lectures because we have found in recent years that some have not resisted the

temptation to surf the net or send texts or play games and have thereby distracted other

students.

Any student who feels he or she may need personal accommodation because of a

disability should discuss it privately with one of the professors; we will do what we can to

help you. Please also contact the Office for Disability Services for Students in room 118

of the Memorial Union Building (862-2607).

All students should be sure they understand the University Academic Honesty

policy, described on pages 21-23 of Student Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities.