CLA 3930,sec.0016, Ancient Greek History
F’06 Dr.Judy Ann Turner
Paper Assignment CHANGED: Please note!
Only ONE paper (= 50 points x 2= 100 pts.) will be required.
Students who do poorly on this paper have option of doing a 2nd paper to try to improve Paper Score. Higher score will be one which will be doubled (50pts.x2). If only one score, it is one which will be doubled.
PAPER GUIDELINES
Paper length = 4-pages text(no more!)(a change from Syllabus) + a Work(s) Cited page
Due Date: = Tues. Nov. 7 at class or 3 P.M @ Dr. Turner’s office (slip it under door).
(Don't skip class if your paper is not done! See Dr. Turner to discuss why it is late.)
Note: If you think you might need to do a 2nd paper, try to get 1st Paper in to Dr. Turner soon after October 24.
Paper’s Main Purpose: to use ‘primary sources’= ‘ancient writers’ as evidence for ancient history. THIS IS NOT A ‘RESEARCH’ PAPER. It is an exercise indiscussing the usefulness of ancient readings as sources for our knowledge of ancient history.
Sources:
1. Paper must be based upon reading of primary (=ancient writers) sources (in translation). **You should know that ‘secondary’ sources are modern writers such as Pomeroy.
2. You may choose any topic/documents from your Spyriadakis sourcebook or Finley, Greek Historians—both are translations of primary sources,or other work (if pre-approved by Dr. Turner).
Paper Format: 4 pgs.text + a Works Cited page-even if you've only used Spyridakis or Finley, but you then should list separately each translated work used. Paper should be typed, double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font size, 1-inch left/right.margins; typed pages should be numbered, and stapled together.
Documentation: This is important! You must cite sources you've used, for anything which is not your own original idea. Otherwise, you would be plagiarizing!
Documentation/Citation format:
1)You may cite page references.‘parenthetically’- at end of a sentence-ex.:(Spyridakis, p.5),
2) in footnotes [numbered consecutively] at bottom of page,
3) or, a combination of both formats. Combination could be to use 'parenthetical' reference for p.# only, & bottom of page footnotes for elaborating upon a point-- more than simply a page # reference, but something not important enough to put into the text (body) of your paper.
Works Cited page: a separate page on which you have listed in alphabetical order by author's last name, your ancient (primary) sources and any secondary sources-such as Pomeroy. There should be little or no need to use Pomeroy or any other secondary source for this type of paper. Do NOT use online sources for this paper.
If your sources are all from Finley or from Spyriadakis, please note that fact on Works Cited page: mention ancient author, title of work, and "in Spyriadakis, pages 0-00"-(give actual page #s from Spyridakis).
Grading: 80% on Content& Analysis; 20% organization, style, & mechanics-e.g, spelling,punctuation).
Paper CONTENT: Choose a topic which especially interests you. An easy way to do this paper is to check Table of Contents in Spyridakis book for topics. His book has translations of various primary sources which are related to various topics, for example “Women in ancient Greece,” “Politics and Society,” “Science,” etc. You should then select several of the translated works and use them asthe basis of your paper. For example, you might wish to compare The “Old Oligarch’s ‘Constitution of the Athenians’” with Aristotle, Politics, “The Mixed Constitution” & then compare those with Xenophon’s Constitution of the Lacedaemonians , etc.
After you have chosen a topic, e.g., from Spyriadakis, Finley, etc.)
a) Decide what you want to learn from/do with the topic- and pose the answer to such a question as your ‘thesis.’ An example might be the topic of Women in Anc. Greece; but you might want to explore in your paper 'men's attitudes toward what the ideal Greek woman should be.' The answer to this question would be your paper's 'thesis'.
b)Briefly describe the document(s) which relate to your paper
topic. Note the author(s), dates(s) what authors' purposes were, etc.
c) Discuss or explain your selected document(s)' relevance-this should
probably be done in intro. paragraph and reaffirmed in your Conclusion.
(This could be your paper's 1st paragraph.)
d) paper's main part: Analyze, evaluate, discuss your 'thesis' in terms of using the ancient sources. You should discuss somewhat the ancient sources' contents and how they shed light upon your thesis & examine the ancient sources’ reliability as
evidence for ancient history:
1)what the document/author says;
2)note if the author had an 'agenda' (e.g., male chauvinist,pro-oligarchy, etc.) or simply reflected common attitudes. You might need/want to compare several documents.
e) Make sure your paper answers the question posed as the
paper's thesis and remark upon this point in your paper's
Conclusion (last paragraph).
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POSSIBLE TOPICS :See the Spyriadakis book section headings:
(suggestions only, below) **imp. to choose what interests you most!
I. Politics & Society You might wish to compare Solon &
Cleisthenes with the Old Oligarch's "Critique of Athenian
Democracy", or critique the early (Archaic era) law codes--Lykourgos
at Sparta, Drako at Athens, the Gortyn code from Krete.
II. Philosophy: Maybe evaluate or compare 2 philosophers ( pre-Sokratic & post-Sokratic.e.g., Pythagoras or Empedokles compared to Stoics? )-What did their
works add to knowledge?
III. Religion--poss. analysis of any of the writings in terms of what
we've studied in class: e.g., sig. of religion to Greeks' daily
lives, or religion & athletic festivals -Olympics, Pythians?
IV. The Greeks at War--Check these writings for Greek views of war,
of ideal soldiers, perhaps compare Homeric "hero" to Archilochos' writings about war, or Herodotus' description of causes of Trojan War w/archaeological evidence, or evaluate his description of the Persian wars--how useful as historical documents?
Many possibilities w/this broad topic.
V. Women --many interesting documents on these topics--You might
compare the expressed ancient attitudes & evidence for
Bronze Age women w/Archaic age women (Sappho?), or to women's roles
in Greek religion.
VI: Finley, Greek Historians—lots of possibilities here. You might want to compare in some way Herodotos and Thucydides (choose very specific sections—it’s only a 4-pg. paper).
***Please see Dr. Turner if you have problems choosing a topic or are unsure of your topic's suitability.
Do not leave the paper until the last minute (night before it’s due). You should allow time to think about your topic and what you want to write. Four pages is not very long; so every word should count. You’ll likely need to do a few rough drafts to be able to keep paper down to 4 pages. I do not have time to read pages which exceed the required length (4 pages of text only). Your topic may be too broad if you cannot keep it to 4 pages of text. Be sure to limit topic scope so it can be covered well in only 4 pages.
Good luck. –Dr. Turner