MCGILL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY & CLASSICAL STUDIES (Fall)

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1 MCGILL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY & CLASSICAL STUDIES (Fall) HIST 369: Greek History: Early Greece Syllabus of Lectures Instructor: Professor Hans Beck Department of History and Classical Studies Office hours: T 4 5 and by appointment Office: LEA 626 Telephone: (514) , ext hans.beck@mcgill.ca Lectures are MWF 10:35 11:25 in ENGTR 1090 Duration: Sep 5 to Dec 4, 2012 Teaching Assistants: Alex McAuley, Ruben Post 1. Course Description and Credits The world of early Greece (c to 500 BCE) is an exciting period of experiment and adventure. Homer s great epic has inspired and continues to inspire historians of all times. Yet neither Iliad nor Odyssey were historical accounts, and stunning archaeological remains such as the palaces of Mycenae or Troy tend to conceal the events that caused their destruction rather than disclose them. Our understanding of the Mycenaen Age, the Dark Age ( Geometric Greece ) and the Archaic Age depends on refined methodologies and skillful interpretations of scattered evidence. The course traces the structural development of the Aegean world. It also touches on intellectual paradigms that apply to the history of civilizations of all ages and regions: e.g., the notion of legislation and institutionalization in pre-modern societies, approaches to oral traditions, and concepts and models of colonization. Course credits: 3.0. NOTE: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.

2 2. Requirements and Grading Scheme Students are required to submit two papers to write a comprehensive final exam that covers all lectures to participate in discussions held during conferences Final grades will be calculated as follows: writing assignments: 40%, final exam: 40%, participation component: 20%. 3. Papers and Deadlines Students will submit two papers during the semester. The first assignment (15%), due on Oct 3, will be on a question outlined by the instructor (available on mycourses Sep 21, 6 pm). It must be double-spaced, with reasonable margins, 12 pt, 1,000 words in length. The topic of the second, more comprehensive paper (25%), due on Nov 9, will be chosen from a set of questions outlined by the instructor (available on mycourses Oct 24, 6 pm). It must be double-spaced, with reasonable margins, 12 pt, 2,000 words in length. Beyond the sources and assigned course readings at least five secondary readings must be used. Deadlines mentioned above are not negotiable. Failure to meet the deadlines will be penalized. 4. Conferences Students are required to attend conferences (participation sheet), which provide room for revision of the material covered in class. It is expected that students actively participate in discussions (cf. section Requirements and Grading Scheme ). Conferences are scheduled as follows: Group A on 21 Sep & 29 Oct; Group B on 24 Sep & 26 Oct. A joint Q&A session is scheduled for 30 Nov.

3 5. Sources and Textbooks Homer: The Iliad (Oxford Classical Texts) [c. $ 18, required, available from everywhere] Hall, Jonathan M., A History of the Archaic Greek World ca BCE. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford [c. $ 48, required, available from the bookstore] Morris, Ian, Powell, Barry B., The Greeks. History, Culture, and Society. 2 nd edition, Pearson: Upper Saddle River [c. $ 70, excellent, but expensive; highly recommended for the Greek history cycle] Raaflaub, K., van Wees, H. (eds), A Companion to Archaic Greece. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford 2009 [c. $ 240! The library has a subscription to the Blackwell Companion series, but this one is currently not yet available as e-book] 6. Power Point and Handouts. Readings. Restrictions Lectures will be delivered with the aid of Power Point. There will be a handout for each theme cluster which also contains references to further readings: relevant chapters in the textbook, sources, downloads of articles, and book chapters from mycourses. Handouts and Power Points will also be available on mycourses. The following activities are not allowed in the classroom: video/audio recordings, eating, internet surfing. 7. Note on Academic Integrity. Right to submit in English or French written work that is to be graded McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequence of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures (see for more information). In accord with McGill University s Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.

4 8. Class Schedule = writing assignment available / = paper due / = conference Week Lecture #, Date Title 1 1, W 5 Sep Organization of the course 2, F 7 Sep Setting the stage for early Greece: how early, what Greece? 2 3, M 10 Sep The Greeks before history: from Minos to Mycenae (c to 1200) 4, W 12 Sep 5, F 14 Sep The Aegean Bronze Age: a history from stones and 3 6, M 17 Sep scripts and from Homer? 7, W 19 Sep The end of the Bronze Age 8, F 21 Sep (A) 4 9, M 24 Sep (B) 10, W 26 Sep The Dark Ages: the 10 th and 9 th centuries and the excitement of postholes 11, F 28 Sep Consolidation and the 8 th century renaissance: the cases of Nichoria and Lefkandi ( Big Man societies? ) 5 12, M 1 Oct 13, W 3 Oct The universal lot of man: Hesiod and his world 14, F 5 Oct 6 -, M 8 Oct Thanksgiving, no class 15, W 10 Oct The Age of Colonization and the world of Odysseus 16, F 12 Oct 7 17, M 15 Oct Peer polity interaction and the role of trans-regional sanctuaries (Delphi and Olympia) 18, W 17 Oct 19, F 19 Oct A colonial case-study: Cyrene 8 20, M 22 Oct The rise of the polis 1: urban structures, burial and society 21, W 24 Oct The rise of the polis 2: institutionalization and the codification of law 22, F 26 Oct (B) 9 23, M 29 Oct (A) 24, W 31 Oct Early Greek states beyond the polis

5 25, F 2 Nov Patterns of collectivity: hoplite warfare and a new concept of citizenship 10 26, M 5 Nov Reforming Communities 1: the Dorians and the case of Sparta 27, W 7 Nov 28, F 9 Nov Reforming Communities 2: Athens, the tyrannis and Solon s eunomia 11 29, M 12 Nov 30, W 14 Nov Archaic Smiles : the emergence of Archaic Greek art and the Eastern mirror 31, F 16 Nov Polis, Eros, and Poetics: Sappho and Alkaios 12 32, M 19 Nov Athens under the Peisistratids and the reforms of Kleisthenes 33, W 21 Nov 34, F 23 Nov 13 35, M 26 Nov Monumentalizing the Greek city-state 36, W 28 Nov The dynamics of Panhellenic competition and the transformation of politics: Greece, the Aegean world and Persia in the 6 th century 37, F 30 Nov (A&B) 14 38, M 3 Dec Ionian Rationalism, the Presocratics and the Classical epilogue 27 Aug 2012 HB