INSTRUCTORS:

TEXTS:

• AR = Aristophanes. Three Comedies: Birds, Clouds, Wasps. Ed. W. Arrowsmith. Michigan: 1969.
• AP = Aristotle. Athenian Constitution. Trans. P.J. Rhodes. Penguin: 1984.
• WA = JACT. The World of Athens. Cambridge: 1984.
• AC= Lang, M. The Athenian Citizen. ASCSA/Princeton, 1960.
• DL= Lang, M. Life, Death and Litigation in the Athenian Agora. ASCSA/Princeton, 1993.
• LDS= Plato. The Last Days of Socrates. Penguin: 1969.
• AN= Sophocles. Antigone. Trans. R.E. Braun. Oxford: 1990.

• EU= Aeschylus, Eumenides.
• TW= Euripides, Trojan Women (in Greek Tragedies, ed. by D, Grene and R. Lattimore, vol. 2) Chicago and London, 1960.
• PGH= M.I. Finley, The Portable Greek Historians. NY, 1977.
• GA= J. Boardman, Greek Art.
• Perseus 2.0: Interactive Sources and Studies for Ancient Greece (in labs)

GRADING:

30% GROUP WORK/LABS/PARTICIPATION/PREPARATION: This part of your grade is based on attendance, participation (in class and on the newsgroup), group assignments, projects, presentations, some of which you will complete in your small team, others in larger groups. Our class will often spend part of the Thursday evening session researching and answering questions posed by the Skidmore class, and preparing materials for the next day's videoconference session. We will similarly spend time preparing questions for our companion class to answer and prepare for the video session. Some of these assignments will be done on a computer in the Language Lab in Irvin Hall, using the Perseus database for Greek Civilization. (Perseus is also available on the Macs in the Arts & Sciences Lab, Upham 163.) More information is forthcoming in the Perseus orientation session (see schedule). Group projects will involve reconstructing ancient sites and activities on MiamiMOO and the World Wide Web (see below for more details). You will be able to work in teams of 2-5 students from both institutions, and to collaborate with them in real time on the MOO.

30% FINAL PAPER OR PROJECT (may be collaborative)

10% FINAL EXAM

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In this course we will closely study the development of democracy in Athens as well as the social, political, economic and cultural conditions which gave birth to this unique political system and the tension between the individual and the state which both plagued and vitalized Athenian democracy. The literary, political and social climate of the first seat of democracy form the mid-sixth century until the death of Socrates in 399 BC provides the framework for a multi-disciplinary study of the profound changes that occurred in ancient Athens. The theme of the course will focus upon the representation and self-awareness of the individual in classical Athens against the background of traditional Greek ways of thought and expression, and subsequently the changing relationship between the individual and democracy over a span of 160 years. The objective of the course will be a greater understanding and appreciation of the various elements of democratic Athens that are often studied in isolation, and consequently the effect of this new principle of self-rule upon the individual and his/her role in Athenian society.

Go to the Miami-specific Course Description
Go to the Skidmore-specific Course Description

SCHEDULE:

Note that the the principle of organization here is chronology. For most discussions, Aristotle will serve as our theoretical starting point, while the Herodotos and Thucydides will ground us historically. Week numbering is idiosyncratic in order to keep the two classes synchronized, as Skidmore starts a week later than Miami. Dates (at the moment) are for Thurs and Fri of the week in question.

WEEK 0 (1/18 & 1/19 ):

WEEK 1 (1/25 & 1/26):

WA 1-5 (H.I. 1-6); 62-73 (1.1-1.16)
AP 39-45 (1-4)
GA 9-33
PGH 217-228 (=Thuc. 1.1 -1.17)

WEEK 2 (2/1 & 2/2):

WA 5-8 (H.I. 7-9); 132-8 (3.1-3.7); 329-334 (7.64-7.71)
AP 45-54 (5-13.1)
PGH 29-32 (Hdt. 1.1.0-1.7.4) and 39-44 (Hdt. 1.26.1-1.33.1)
GA 34-58
Terminology

WEEK 3 (2/8 & 2/9):

WEEK 4 (2/15 & 2/16):

WA 8-9 (H.I. 10); 116-131(2.40-2.65)
AP 59-62 (18-19)
GA 79-92
PGH 229-230 (Thuc. 1.20)

WEEK 5 (2/22 & 2/23):

AC 23-29 ("Ostracism", "Eponymous Heroes")
AP 62-65 (20-22.6)
WA 9-10 (H.I. 11); 138-152 (3.8-3.26); 278-83 (7.6-7.13)
GA 92-107

WEEK 6 (2/29 & 3/1):

WA 10-18 (H.I. 12 - 21)
AP 65 (22.7-22.8)
PGH 81-104 (Hdt. 7.1-119); 108-116 (7.131-145); 134-136 (7.184-187); 140-156 (7.201-238); 172-193 (8.40-93); 204 (8.115); 211-215 (8.136-144); 228-229 (Thuc. 1.18-19)

WEEK 7 (3/7 & 3/8):

WA 18-22 (H.I 22-26); 300-317 (7.35-7.52)
AP 66-68 (23-24)
GA 108-114
EU (Eumenides)

WEEK 8 (3/14 & 3/15):

AC 2-12 ("Agora" "Citizenship" "Military Service" "Council and Magistrates")
WA 153-166 (4.1-4.31); 196-216 (5.1-5.43); 227-231 (5.66-5.77)
AP 68-71 (25-27.4); 86-108 (42-62)
GA 108-114

SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9 (3/28 & 3/29):

WA 22-26 (H.I. 27-32); 232-243 (5.78-5.99)
GA 115-121
AN (Antigone)

WEEK 10 (4/4 & 4/5):

AC 12-18 ("Athenian Currency" "Standard Weights and Measures")
WA 26-28 (H.I. 33-34); 83-38 (1.31-1.37)
GA 121-131 (bldg.); 145-178 (other arts, red. fig. 480-400)
PGH 230-231 (Thuc. 1.21-22, Cause of the War)

WEEK 11 (4/11 & 4/12): CAMWS!

WA 28-34 (H.I. 35-45); 216-226 (5.44-5.67); 317-329 (7.53-63)
Aristophanes, Wasps
DL TBA
PGH 265-298 (Thuc. 2.34-46, Funeral Oration; 2.47-54, Plague; 3.27-50, Mytilene, 3.70-83, Stasis in Corcyra)

WEEK 12 (4/18 & 4/19):

WA 34-47 (H.I. 46-50)
AP 72-77 (29-33)
GA 121-124 (Erechtheion, Athena Nike)
PGH 347-379 (end of Sicilian expedition)
TW (Trojan Women)
HANDOUT/Web Site Thuc. 5.84-116, Melian Dialogue

WEEK 13 (4/25 & 4/26):

AC 19-23 ("Department of Justice")
WA 294-296 (7.29-31)
AP 78-85 (34-41)
LDS 43-76 (Apology)
DL TBA

WEEK 14 (5/2 & 5/3):

Back to the Athenian Democracy Home Page
Skidmore Classics || S. Bonefas' Home Page || Miami Classics

Revised: 6 January 1996, SB

Location: http://holychao.cas.muohio.edu/~democracy/demsyl.html