World of the Ancient Greeks
SYLLABUS
PLEASE NOTE: HW = Homework. TWTG = These Were the Greeks. ER = Electronic
Reserves. To access ER documents, go to http://libraries.colorado.edu/, click on "Reserves" in
the row of links that starts with “More Search Options,” in the next web page enter your
instructor’s last name in lower case letters (fredricksmeyer), in the next web page click on the link
titled “CLAS 1051/HIST 1051,” in the next page click on the document you want, in the next web
page enter your IdentiKey Username, your IdentiKey Password, and the course Password (pluto). If
you access ER documents using your own computer, as opposed to one in a university lab, you will
need the software Acrobat Reader to read pdf files. To print out these ER documents, once a
document is opened, click on the Acrobat printer icon. This is the small printer icon in the frame of
the document. ALWAYS BRING ALL READINGS FOR THE DAY TO CLASS.
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: People and Setting of the Hellenic World
Tue Jun 1
Class: Introduction to the World of the Ancient Greeks
People and Setting of the Hellenic World
HW: If you have not already done so, get the books for this course at
the CU Bookstore (in the Student Union) or at the Colorado Book
Store on the Hill.
TWTG 4-25 (People and Land, Minoans and Mycenaeans)
The Cultural Elite: Minoan Civilization
The Killer Elite: Mycenaean Civilization
Greece Reconfigured: The Dark Ages
Wed Jun 2
Class: Foundations: Minoan Civilization
Mycenaean Civilization
Dark Ages
Iliad assignments explained (see below)
HW: TWTG 26 (Dark Ages and Migrations)
Also, see the HW under Thur Jun 3
Toward the Revolution: Late Dark Ages-Early Archaic Period
Homer and the World of the Iliad
Thur Jun 3
Class: Homer assignments explained
Late Dark Ages-Early Archaic Period
HW: Iliad Books 1-2 (this and all other Iliad assignments that are
underlined should be read in their entirety in Lombardo;
assignments not underlined should be read at least in outline in
the Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature supplied in the
ER)
Homer's Iliad and the Allure of Violence
Fri Jun 4
Class: Introduction to Homer and the Iliad
Start Iliad Books 1-4
HW: Iliad Books 3-4
Mon Jun 7
Class: Finish Iliad Books 1-4
HW: ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of the
Iliad, Book 5)
Iliad Book 6
ER: Ascending Scales of Affection
ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of the
Iliad, Books 7-8)
Iliad Book 9
ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of the
Iliad, Books 10-15)
Iliad Book 16-17
Tue Jun 8
Class: Finish Iliad Books 1-4
Iliad Books 5-17
HW: ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of the
Iliad, Books 18-20)
Iliad Books 21
ER: Withdrawal and Return
ER: Achilles in Vietnam (Berserk)
ER: Achilles in Vietnam (Abuse of the Dead Enemy)
Wed Jun 9
Class: Finish Iliad Books 5-17
Start Iliad Books 18-24
HW: Iliad Books 22
ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of the
Iliad, Book 23)
Iliad Book 24
Thur Jun 10
Class: Finish Iliad Books 18-24
Epilog: Aeneid Book 2
Review questions
HW: Prepare for FIRST EXAM
Fri Jun 11
Class: FIRST EXAM
HW: None.
Mon Jun 14
Class: Herodotus assignments explained (see below)
A Brief History of the English Language
TBA
HW: TWTG 37-43 (City-States), 49-54 (Sparta), 59-70 (Wars with
Persia), 83-92 (The Games), 159 [par. 3]-160 (Triremes)
Herodotus 7.207-228 [i.e. Book 7, sections 207-228] (Thermopylae),
8.84-98 (Salamis)
The Revolution Begins: The Archaic Period
Tue Jun 15
Class: The Archaic Period and the Persian Wars
Birth of the Western War Machine
HW: TWTG 141-150 (Every Day), 161-64 (Education)
ER: Lyric and other excerpts (print, read, and bring to class)
ER: Lysistrata (excerpt) (print, read, and bring to class)
Herodotus 3.80-82
ER: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature (Summary of
Plato's Symposium)
Wine, Wo/Men, and Song (Make Love, Not War)
Wed Jun 16
Class: Thucydides assignment explained
History of Private Life: Wine, Wo/Men, and Song
HW: Plato's Symposium-Prologue: 176a-177d (p. 8-10), Phaedrus' speech:
178a-180b (p. 10-13), Pausanias' speech: 180c-184b (pp. 1318), Aristophanes' speech: 189c-192a (pp. 24-28), Socrates'
speech: 199e-200e (pp. 38-40), 201d (p. 41), 210a-212a (pp.
53-56)
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War: 1.75-77
[i.e., Book 1, sections 75-77] (Athenian defense of
empire); 3.36-50 (Mytilenean Debate); 3.81-85
(Corcyrean Civil War); 5.84-116 (Melian Dialogue);
7.86-86-87 (Sicilian Disaster)
The Rise and Fall of the Athenian Empire
Thur Jun 17
Class: History of Private Life Continued
The Pentakontaetia
Peloponnesian War(s) and Athenian Imperialism
HW: None
Fri Jun 18
Class: Athenian Imperialism continued
Lecture: “Never Trust a Greek”
HW: Prepare for SECOND EXAM
Mon Jun 21
Class: SECOND EXAM
HW: TWTG 129-32 (The Theater), 136-37 (The Tragedians)
Oedipus the King (a.k.a. Oedipus Rex, in Sophocles’
Three Theban Plays)
Greek Irrationalism and the Theater
Tue Jun 22
Class: Dionysus
The Origins and Conventions of Tragedy
Oedipus the King
HW: ER: The Birth of Tragedy (summary)
ER: Death in Venice (summary)
Wed Jun 23
Class: Oedipus the King continued
The Apollonian vs. the Dionysian: Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy and
Thomas Mann's Death in Venice
HW: Read Watching Chinatown handout, and answer the Background
Questions.
Greek Ways of Storytelling: A Modern Oedipus Story
Thur Jun 24
Class: Chinatown. Runtime: 131 minutes.
HW: Answer as many questions as possible on the Watching Chinatown
handout.
Fri Jun 25
Class: Finish film. Discuss.
HW: Finish answering questions on the Watching Chinatown handout.
TWTG 166-68 (Socrates), 171-72 (Plato), 173-74 (Aristotle)
Plato's Forms and the Cave: go to the following URL, print and read
http://spot.colorado.edu/~fredrice/pl.form.word.doc
Plato's Republic: go to the following URL, print and read
http://spot.colorado.edu/~fredrice/pl.rep.word.doc
Idealism and beyond in Philosophy, Sculpture, and Architecture:
from the Archaic through the Hellenistic Period
Mon Jun 28
Class: Finish discussing film
Philosophical Idealism
HW: TWTG 117-28 (Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery)
Tue Jun 29
Class: Philosophical Idealism continued
Greek Sculpture: Idealism and beyond
HW: TWTG 185-94 (Alexander)
Alexander the Great
Wed Jun 30
Class: Greek Architecture and Architectural Sculpture
Alexander the Great
HW: See HW under Thu Aug 7
Thu Jul 29
Class: Alexander the Great continued
The Transmission of Greek Culture to the Modern Era
HW: Prepare for THIRD EXAM
Fri Jul 2
THIRD EXAM