ANCIENT HISTORY 26: ANCIENT GREECE

Fall, 1995
Chemistry Room B-13
Rob S. Rice, Instructor, Williams 702, 8-4975
E-Mail: rrice@mail.sas.upenn.edu

Teaching Assistants

Elizabeth A. Pollard Lisi
Kyra Nourse

Class Home Page on the World Wide Web


Course Requirements

The requirements for the course are two short papers (4-6 pages), a midterm and a final examination.

Course Texts

The required texts are: J.B. Bury & Russell Meiggs, A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (4th edition, New York, 1975, subsequently reprinted); Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (London: Penguin Books, 1954, subsequently reprinted); Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, translated by Rex Warner (London: Penguin Books, 1954, subsequently reprinted); Plutarch, The Age of Alexander, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (London: Penguin Books), subsequently reprinted).

Although not a required text, Aristotle's Constitution of Athens is a very important source for part of the period. The translations by Kurt von Fritz and E. Kapp (New York: Hafner, 1950) [R] and by P. J. Rhodes (The Athenian Constitution [London: Penguin Books]) [R], can be recommended.)

N.B. [R] = a copy of this book is on reserve in the Rosengarten Library.

An Initial Research Guide to Ancient Greece

The most extensive modern account of Greek History in English is the Cambridge Ancient History (CAH), a work of multiple authors of which the first edition appeared between the two world wars. There are still many valuable chapters in this first edition. Of the new edition (CAH2), which is in progress, only Vols. I-IV, which cover Ancient History down to 479 B.C., and VII, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of the Romans, have so far been published. Copies of both editions are on reserve in the Classics Seminar on the third floor the Van Pelt Library.

N. G. L.Hammond, A History of Greece to 323 B. C. (Third edition, Oxford: OUP, 1987) [R of second edition, 1967], is a one-volume history of similar extent to Bury-Meiggs, particularly valuable for geography and warfare. Oswyn Murray, Early Greece (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1980) and J.K.Davies, Democracy and Classical Greece (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1978) [R] are both parts of the new Fontana History of the Ancient World. Apart from their value as recent attempts to write about Greek History for a wide public, they lay more emphasis on social and economic history and on the history of ideas, than was usual in the more traditional accounts.

Donald Kagan, Problems in Ancient History, Vol. I, The Ancient Near East and Greece (Second edition, New York, 1975) [R] usefully provides the most significant ancient evidence (in translation) and a discussion about selected important issues in Greek History. Charles W. Fornara, Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War (Cambridge: CUP, 1983) [R] and Phillip Harding, From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus (Cambridge: CUP, 1985) [R] are valuable collections of translated documents (both literary and documentary) for the part of our period where the evidence is richest. The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD, revised edition, 1970 OCD2) [at the Van Pelt Reference Desk] is a one-volume encyclopaedia, which provides short articles on most of the places, persons and institutions that concern us in this course. A Companion to Greek Studies (Cambridge, 1905) is still a valuable (and neglected) collection of information, especially on ancillary and technical aspects of our subject. A copy of this work is on reserve in the Classics Seminar (call # 913.384 W 574). A recently published ancient atlas is Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity, Editor-in-Chief N.G.L.Hammond (Park Ridge, N.J., 1981). A copy of this work is on reserve in the Classics Seminar (call # Folio G 1033 A84 1981). An older Classical Atlas (Boston, New York, Chicago: Ginn and Co.,1886), is on reserve in the Rosengarten Library.

Writing Assignments

Two short papers of 4-6 typewritten, double-spaced, pages are required. This course is affiliated with the Writing Across the University Program, and each paper must be submitted in draft and discussed with your recitation TA before final submission. WATU writing advisors provided by the University can be found in locations throughout the campus, information available at 898-8525, 9-5. Topics for papers will be given out later in the semester.

Topics Assigned for the First Class Paper

Midterm and Final Preparatory Exercise

Topics Assigned for the Second Class Paper

Course Reading Schedule

Here are the Lectures and the primary readings from Herodotus (Hdt.), Thucydides (Thuc.), and Plutarch (Plut.)