The Ancient World:
An Interdisciplinary Introduction
Humanities 510 A, B, C, D (Fall 2010)
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:40 to 11:00
Hamilton Smith 216
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:40 - 11:00 in HS 216
Sections: alternate Thursdays 9:40 - 11:00 in various rooms
All students must enroll in one of the four sections and attend its meetings.
Section 510A (Art History): Professor Hight. Meets in PCAC A204 and satisfies the General Education category 6 requirement.
Section 510B (Literature): Professor Ferber. Meets in HS 18 and satisfies Gen Ed category 8.
Section 510C (History): Professor McMahon. Meets in NESM 326 and satisfies Gen Ed category 4.
Section 510D (Philosophy): Professor Armstrong. Meets in MURK G18 and satisfies Gen Ed category 7.
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)
Gilgamesh, trans. David Ferry Farrar, Straus 0374523835
Homer, Odyssey, trans. Robert Fitzgerald Farrar, Straus 0374525749
Edward Hussey, ed. and trans., The Presocratics Hackett 0872202763
Aeschylus, Oresteia, trans. Richmond Lattimore (Complete Greek Tragedies, Vol. 1)
Chicago 0226307786
Euripides, Electra, Phoenician Women, The Bacchae (Complete Greek Tragedies,
Vol. 7) Chicago 0226307840
Aristophanes, Four Plays (The Birds, The Clouds, The Frogs, Lysistrata)
Plume (Meridian) 0452007178
Julius Caesar, The Gallic War, trans. Carolyn Hammond Oxford World’s Classics
0199540268
Virgil, Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin 0143105132
Further texts will be found on websites. Detailed reading assignments will be made in class or on Blackboard.
Schedule
Tues 31 Aug Introduction
Thur 2 Sep Gilgamesh (McMahon)
Tues 7 Sep Homer, Odyssey (1) (Ferber)
Thur 9 Sep Section Meeting 1
Tues 14 Sep Homer, Odyssey (2) (Ferber)
Thur 16 Sep Art (Near East, Archaic Greece) (Hight)
Tues 21 Sep Pre-Socratic philosophy (1) (Armstrong)
Thur 23 Sep Section 2
Tues 28 Sep Pre-Socratic Philosophy (2) (Armstrong)
Thur 30 Sep Test 1
Tues 5 Oct Art (Classical Greece) (1) (Hight)
Thur 7 Oct Art (Classical Greece) (2) (Hight)
Tues 12 Oct Aeschylus, Oresteia (McMahon)
Thur 14 Oct Section 3
Tues 19 Oct Euripides, The Bacchae (Ferber)
Thur 21 Oct Plato (Armstrong)
Tues 26 Oct Aristotle (Armstrong)
Thur 28 Oct Section 4
Tues 2 Nov Aristophanes, The Frogs (Ferber)
Thur 4 Nov Test 2
Tues 9 Nov The Roman Republic and the American Republic
(McMahon and Ferber)
Thur 11 Nov Julius Caesar, The Gallic War (McMahon)
Tues 16 Nov Cicero, On Ends (Armstrong)
Thur 18 Nov Section 5
Tues 23 Nov Art (Rome) (1) (Hight)
Thur 25 Nov No class: Thanksgiving Day
Tues 30 Nov Art (Rome) (2) (Hight)
Thur 2 Dec Virgil, Aeneid (1) (Ferber)
Tues 7 Dec Virgil, Aeneid (2) (McMahon)
Thur 9 Dec Section 6
Tues 14 Dec 10:30 – 12:30 Test 3
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 pp. 21-23 of Student Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities. A recent article in the New York Times reports that many college students think that an unsigned and uncopyrighted text on the web, such as a Wikipedia article, belongs to them and may be merged with their own prose without quotation marks or attribution. This is a gross misunderstanding; such a use is still plagiarism.
1