Greek 430/530: Greek Historians
Professor Rob Groves
Rob.groves@gmail.com
Learning Services Building #211
T/R 2:00-3:15
Learning Services Building 246
Office Hours: M 12-1, R 12:30-1:30
Goals and Learning Outcomes: The primary goal of this course is to increase your ability to read and
understand Greek (specifically, the Greek of Herodotus) more quickly, accurately, and fluently. By the
end of the course, you should feel comfortable diving into Herodotus’ Histories for research or for
pleasure without the help of an instructor. You should also have a good sense for the Histories as a
whole, an understanding of many of the issues at stake in the scholarship on Herodotus, and develop a
detailed body of knowledge about one specific aspect of those issues (to be demonstrated via a paper).
Texts: There are two required texts:
 Herodotus Reader ( Blaise Nagy, ed.)--Our selection of text, and commentary
 The Landmark Herodotus (Strassler, ed)—A great translation and scholarly resource
NOTE: If you have another edition of Herodotus in English, you are welcome to use it
instead, but the Reader makes specific reference to the Landmark edition, which also
has a number of useful essays and a plethora of maps and illustrations (and is relatively
inexpensive).
You will also need access to an Ancient Greek lexicon (the middle Liddell should suffice), and a Greek
grammar (Smythe). Note that both of these have various online formats as well, which may or may not
be less cumbersome.
Grading: Your grade will be calculated according to the following distribution:
Greek 430
Greek 530
Preparation and Participation: 25%
Preparation and Participation:
Reading Quizzes:
20%
Reading Quizzes:
Final Exam:
25%
Final Exam:
Article Report:
10%
Article Report:
Project Proposal +
Research Presentation:
Annotated Bibliography:
20%
Paper:
25%
20%
20%
10%
10%
15%
Participation implies attendance, though not vice versa. There will be no explicit penalization for
missing class, though missing class will make it very difficult to participate in class that day. If you know
will miss class, please talk to me about being excused, though as a rule only approved religious holidays
and academic travel (a conference, for example) will be excused. In the event of a documented medical
or family emergency, you may also be excused, but the sooner the notice the better. Preparation is part
of this grade, but not all of it. Even if you find yourself unprepared for class, you will learn more (and
earn more points) by attending than by skipping.
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4 Readings Quizzes will be held as on the schedule below (roughly weeks 3, 6, 9, 12). These quizzes will
cover seen material, and will feature translation and grammatical questions. There will be no make-up
quizzes. The quizzes will focus on material since the previous quiz and will include material assigned on
the day of the quiz. The quizzes will not be cumulative. Note: 530 students will also have extra readings
(from book 1) which may appear on these quizzes.
The Final Exam will consist of a number of seen passages to translate and/or answer questions about,
grammatical questions. The final will emphatically be cumulative. The final will probably include a sight
passage for you to translate and/or answer questions about as well as a short essay on a theme or
problem in Herodotus. Note: 530 students will also have extra readings (from book 1) which will appear
on the final.
The Article Report is a chance for you to engage with some recent scholarship on Herodotus’ Histories
and to share your efforts with the class. In preparation for class on the assigned day, you will read the
article (available as a pdf on D2L) and prepare a short presentation (10 min max). Your presentation
should do three thing: 1.)Summarize the author’s argument, 2.) Situate that argument in its scholarly
context (Is it building on other articles? Refuting them?), and 3.)Develop an opinion on the strengths
and/or weaknesses of the article. (Note: Given the lengthy process of getting an article in print, several
smart classists have found at least elements of the article worthy of publication, so even if you hate the
article, try to figure out what they might have thought was worth publishing). You may find a handout
an effective tool for discussing the article. The list of articles will be up early in the quarter; I will try to
have roughly an article per week, though we may have 2 per week in the middle of the course. It is
recommended that those in the 530 version do their reports first so they may shift their focus to the
papers and those in the 430 version do them in the latter half of the class as they gear up for their
bibliographies. For guidance on your report, see me or part A of
http://classics.arizona.edu/guide_handouts_presentations.
The Project Proposal and Annotated Bibliography (430 only) project will ask students to develop a
bibliography on a specific topic as if they were going to write a paper on it. This will involve identifying a
topic of interest, and collecting books, book chapters and articles that deal with this topic. Your report
should deal with the most important articles and books on that topic. We will discuss closer to the end
of the course the minimum number of entries in this bibliography. You are welcome to use relevant
material from the article reports, but the key term is relevant. After having surveyed the literature, the
student will write a brief proposal of a possible topic, including both what they might look at and what
argument they might come to. We’ll delve more into specifics as the deadlines approach, but think of
this as a 5-7 page project (but with a lot of work going into that 5-7 pages). Proposal+Bibliography will
be turned in via d2l no later than 5:00pm on Friday, December 20 via dropbox on D2L. Late papers will
be penalized 10% per day late.
The Research Presentations (530 only) are a chance for you to bounce some or all of your ideas for your
paper off your classmates and myself. These reports will be scheduled towards the end of the course,
but no more than one per day. Your report should take about 15 minutes (no less than 13, no more
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than 17), and there will be 5 minutes for group discussion to follow. The presentation should include 1.)
an introduction to the topic, and what other scholars have done relating to that topic, 2.) the outlines of
your argument, and 3.) some indication of evidence (including at least one meaty passage from
Herodotus for us to chew on together.) This need not be a perfectly polished conference talk, but should
be organized and professional. You should follow the guidelines here for any handouts or powerpoints
you create (and you should do at least one of the two).
http://classics.arizona.edu/guide_handouts_presentations
We should meet no later than 10th week to discuss your idea and schedule a date. At that point, I’ll set a
deadline for you to bring in a draft outline so we can discuss your project before you hit the class.
The Paper should be 12-15 pages long, should build on the work you’ve done for your research
presentation, and present an organized and coherent argument rooted in scholarship and supported by
analysis of the text and/or relevant material culture or other texts. The paper should conform to the
standards of the MA Guidelines: http://classics.arizona.edu/style_grad_paper_theses and the checklist
for papers: http://classics.arizona.edu/checklist_final_paper. Papers will be turned in via d2l no later
than 5:00pm on Friday, December 20 via dropbox on D2L. Late papers will be penalized 10% per day
late.
Schedule of Readings:
Note 1: in addition to the Greek readings, I expect that you will keep up with the English readings up to
that point in Herodotus. (So, e.g., by Tuesday of week 6, you should have finished all of Book 1 in
English. You are welcome to read ahead (in fact, you are strongly encouraged to do so given that we
will spend a long time in the early books, and you will be better able to tackle the paper if you’ve
finished the work). There will be at least one short answer question on the English readings on the
quizzes and an essay on the final.
Note 2: Students in the 530 version of the course are expected to complete extra readings from book 1
of Herodotus on their own. I will provide the schedule in the very near future. While I won’t be giving
class time to these readings, they will show up on the 530 quizzes, and I am very (Enthusiastically!)
willing to read with you in office hours or at other times.
Week 1:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 2:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 3:
Greek Readings
First Day, Introduction to Ionic Greek,
Sight Reading: Prologue, 1.5
Gyges, Parts I-IV (p.3-8) [I.8-11]
English
Finish Gyges (p. 8-10)[I.12, 14]
Croesus & Solon, Parts I-II (p. 13-15) [I.29-30]
Croesus & Solon, Parts III-IV (p. 15-20) [I.31-32]
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Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 4:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 5:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 6:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 7:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 8:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 9:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 10:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 11:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 12:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 13:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Week 14:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Croesus & Solon, Epilogue (p. 20) [1.33]
Review for QUIZ 1
Through 1.33
Croesus Puts Oracles to the Test (p. 31-34) [I.47-8, 53]
Peisistratus Rides into Athens (p. 35-6) [I. 60]
Croesus at the Pyre, Parts I-II (p. 39-43) [I.86-87]
Lydian Famine and Persian Religion (p. 43-47) [I.94, 131-2]
Persian Customs (p. 47-51) [I.133-4, 136-8]
The Women of Babylon (p. 51-55) [I.187, 196]
Psammeticus’ Language Experiment (p. 55-56) [II.2]
Review for QUIZ 2
Through 2.2
Mysterious and Marvellous Egypt (p. 57-60) [II.20, 35, 37]
The Animals of Egypt (p. 62-66) [II.66, 68-70]
Flying Snakes, Egyptian Health, and Mummies (p.66-71) [II.75, 77, 86]
Ancient Egypt: Homer and the Pyramids (p. 74-79)[II.114-115, 125]
The Constitutional Debate (p. 94-99) [III.80-82]
How Darius was Chosen as King (p. 99-101) [III.85-86]
Review for QUIZ 3
Through 3.86
Scythian Religion and Funerals (p. 106-110) [IV.62, 71, 94]
Scythians and Amazons (p. 111-114) [IV.111-114]
Miletus and The Lead-Up to Marathon (p. 142-3, 145-18) [VI.21, 27, 105-107]
The Battle of Marathon (p. 149-151) [VI. 112, 113, 120]
The Lead-Up to Thermopylae (p. 180-182) [VII.208-209]
The Battle of Thermopylae Parts I-V (p. 183-9) [VII.210-12, 218, 220]
The Battle of Thermopylae, Part VI (p. 189-190) [VII. 222]
Review for QUIZ 4
*Through 7.222*
Thermopylae Finished (p. 190-194) [VII.225, 226, 233, 238]
The Lead-Up to Salamis (p. 199-203, 204-205) [VIII.22, 26, 37, 52] [Skip VIII.41]
The Battle of Salamis (p. 205-211) [VIII.62, 75, 86, 88, 90]
The Aftermath of Salamis (p. 213-218) [VIII.109, 114, 118, 123]
NO CLASS—Happy Thanksgiving Break!
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Week 15:
Tuesday:
The Lead-Up to Plataea (p. 218-223) [IX.5, 13 15]
Thursday:
The Battle of Plataea, Parts I-IV (p. 226-230) [IX.59-62]
Week 16:
Tuesday:
The Battle of Plataea, Parts V-VII +Wrap up (p. 230-234) [IX.63-65, 70]
Week 17:
Monday (12/16): Final Exam (3:30-5:30)
Finish Herodotus
Friday (12/20): Paper due (5pm)
Possible Research Paper / Project Proposal starting places (NOT a comprehensive list):
Herodotus and Folktale
Herodotean Storytelling/Narratology
Herodotus and the Divine
Dreams in Herodotus
Prophecies in Herodotus
Divine Involvement in History
Herodotus on Foreign Religions
Herodotus the Ethnographer
The Egyptian Logos
The Scythian Logos
Herodotus on the Persians
Other Peoples in Herodotus
Herodotus and natural world (plants, animals)
Herodotus and Performance
Herodotus’ Sources // Herodotus and “the Truth”
Oral Tradition and Herodotus
Social Memory and Herodotus
Historical Accuracy / The Liar School
Herodotus’ Athenian Bias
Herodotus’ Handling of Various historical figures
Croesus
Darius
Gyges
Xerxes
Herodotean Intertexts
Herodotus and his Predecessors
Homer
Hecataeus
Ionic Philosophers
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Herodotus’ Ancient Legacy
Thucydides on Herodotus
Plutarch on Herodotus
Lucian and Herodotus
Herodotus and the Greek Novel
Herodotus’ post-classical reception
Medieval
Renaissance
Modern
Herodotus and Language
Herodotus’ style
Herodotus on foreign words
Warfare in Herodotus
The Structure of Herodotus’ work
Policies:
On Missing Class: I will be treating you like the adults you are. I am aware that this class is not your life
and acknowledge that it is possible that something else may take precedence over your time in class.
You are responsible for getting notes on what you've missed from your colleagues. Please note that this
class revolves around our time together and simply doing the reading or getting notes will most likely
result in failure.I strongly encourage students who have missed class to come to office hours to discuss
the readings from the day they missed. This is a great way to help regain material lost, but I cannot
reproduce class in office hours. You will earn a zero for missed quizzes.
On Academic Honesty: I am HIGHLY devoted to maintaining the UA's Code of Academic Integrity.
heating and Plagiarism are not only dishonest, they destroy the value of the system of which we are all
parts. Submission of any work that is not wholly your own violates this policy and will be dealt with
swiftly and without mercy. As a baseline, expect to earn a 0 on a paper, exam or quiz that was even
partly the result of academic misconduct. Please contact me if you have any questions about what is
fair or appropriate. You should also familiarize yourself with the information found here:
https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/academicintegrityforstudents.
NOTE: Most cases of academic misconduct I have encountered were the result of students’ being up
against a deadline and starting the assignment too late. There are two ways to avoid this: start
assignments early, and if you find yourself in a crunch, take the late penalty rather than plagiarizing.
Better 10% or even 20% off rather than 100% off (and possible disciplinary action).
Contacting You: I will make regular announcements via the course website (D2L), where you’ll also be
able to find the articles, links to bibliographies, etc. Be sure your email is updated and that you check it
regularly.
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Contacting me: Email (rob.groves@gmail.com or groves@email.arizona.edu ) is the best way to get a
hold of me. I check it often and will reply as quickly as I can. That said, do not count on me responding to
my email immediately. You are welcome too to pop your head in if I’m in the office, even outside of
office hours. If I’m busy, I can answer quick questions and if I’m not super busy we can speak more at
length.
On Disability Accomodation and Access: It is the University’s goal that learning experiences be as
accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability,
please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to contact
Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to establish reasonable accommodations.
Please be aware that the accessible table and chairs in this room should remain available for students
who find that standard classroom seating is not usable.
On Professionalism and Respect: We will cover issues of class, slavery, race, and sexuality. You are
encouraged to form your own opinions about the values expressed and disagree with others. Simply
remember to express your views and to disagree with others with the respect which this academic
environment deserves. Threatening behavior in particular is prohibited
(http://policy.web.arizona.edu/threatening-behavior-students). Especially for those of you who plan to
go on in academia, it is important to note that your professional career is underway. Please act like a
young professional in class.
On the syllabus: The information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading and absence policies,
may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
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