Course Syllabus
FALL 2024 CLA3434: CLASSICAL GREECE
Contact Dr. Wolpert
Andrew Wolpert, Associate Professor of Classics
352-273-3702
138 Dauer Hall
MWF 1-2 pm and by appointment
I am available to meet with you during my office hours either in person or by Zoom. To meet me during my office hours via Zoom, please call or email me, and I will send you a link. If you want to meet with me at another time, please email me to schedule an appointment.
Class Meetings
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Period 4 in 2336 Turlington Hall
Course Description
COURSE DESCRIPTION
It is neither accidental nor coincidental that new forms of literature—history, drama, and philosophy—emerged in the classical period of ancient Greece as hegemonic wars erupted between the Greek city-states. Rather than view classical Greek art and literature as timeless and transcendental, we must instead recognize that the political upheavals of the classical period shattered Greek understanding of the community and caused many to search for answers to the new circumstances that they were facing through new forms of expression.
Through a study of the social, political, and cultural developments of ancient Greece from the end of the Bronze Age to the death of Alexander (1200-322 BCE), this course seeks to explain what caused the formation of the city-state of Classical Greece and why the turmoil, achievements, and discoveries of Classical Greece have bearing on us today.
Learning Outcomes
CLA 3434 (Classical Greece): accomplishes the General Education objectives of the Humanities subject area Links to an external site.. At the end of the course, students will be expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes Links to an external site. in content, critical thinking and, communication:
- Content: Students will identify, explain, and describe the political, social, and cultural changes that took place throughout the ancient Greek World from the end of the Bronze Age to the death of Alexander. Achievement of these learning outcomes will be assessed through course quizzes and exams.
- Critical Thinking: Students will evaluate the rise of classical democracies; compare ancient forms of imperialism and colonialism to their modern counterparts; and analyze the ancient economy, the nature of ancient slavery, and classical Greek social structures and legal systems. Achievement of these learning outcomes will be assessed through course exams.
- Communicate: Students will describe the political, social, and cultural institutions of classical Greece clearly and effectively in written form. Achievement of these learning outcomes will be assessed through course exams.
Required Text
Ian Morris and Barry Powell, The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). Other translations of Thucydides can be used.
There is no M&S Fee for this course.
Copies of the required textbooks are also on reserve in Library West. All other readings are available in the weekly modules.
Course Requirements
- Attendance (100 points, 10%) with a 20% deduction for arriving more than 10 minutes late or leaving early. Deduction of 2.6 points for every unexcused absence.
- The App in Canvas is used to track attendance. It shows what will be your final attendance grade based on your current attendance percentage. So, if you currently have two unexcused absences for 10 class meetings, it will show your attendance percentage as 80% (i.e., 8/10). At the end of the semester, if you have no more unexcused absences, your final attendance percentage will be 94.8% (i.e., 37/39 or 100 minus 5.2 points).
- 4 In-Class Quizzes (the lowest Quiz is dropped): 100 points, 10% (each); 300 points, 30% (total). Each quiz will consist of short-answer questions (i.e., 2-4 sentences). Students will be asked to briefly identify and explain the significance of terms, concepts, people, places, dates, and/or historical developments, etc and/or briefly answer short questions (e.g., "What was the diet of the ancient Greeks"?).
- Quiz 1 on September 6
- Quiz 2 on October 7
- Quiz 3 on November 15
- Quiz 4 on December 2
- 3 In-Class Exams: 200 points, 20% (each); 600 points, 60% (total). Each exam will consist of (1) short-answer questions and (2) short-essay questions.
- Exam 1 on September 20
- Exam 2 on October 25
- Exam 3 on December 4
- Quizzes and Exams will be based on materials covered in readings and lectures.
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Aug 23
- Friday: Course Overview
Week 2: Aug 26-30
- Monday: Why and How to Study the Greeks
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 1.
- Joseph Roisman, Ancient Greece from Homer to Alexander (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 1-25.
- Wednesday: Country and People
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 2.
- Friday: Daily Life of the Greeks
- Neils, British Museum Concise History of Ancient Greece, 76-91.
- Lewis, "Labor and Employment" in Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 217-29.
Week 3: Sept 2-6
- Monday: Labor Day
- No Class
- Wednesday: Bronze Age
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 4.
- Friday: Dark Age
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 5.
- Quiz 1
Week 4: Sept 9-13
- Monday: Homer
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 6.
- Wednesday: Religion and Myth
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 7.
- Friday: Archaic Greece
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 8.
Week 5: Sept 16-20
- Monday: Archaic Culture
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 9.
- Wednesday: Sparta
- Morris and Powell, pages 205-18.
- Friday: Test 1
- Test 1 will be on readings from Aug 26-Sept 18.
Week 6: Sept 23-27
- Monday: Rise of the Athenian Democracy (Part 1)
- Morris and Powell, pages 216-26.
- Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 1–12 in Kurt von Fritz and Ernst Kapp, Aristotle's Constitution of Athens and Related Texts (Hafner Publishing Company: New York, 1966).
- Wednesday: Rise of the Athenian Democracy (Part 2)
- Morris and Powell, 227-32.
- Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 13-21.
- Josiah Ober, “Athenian Revolution of 508/7 B.C.: Violence, Authority, and the Origins of Democracy,” in Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece, edited by Carol Dougherty and Leslie Kurke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 215-232.
- Friday: Democratic Beliefs
- Plato, Protagoras 320c–328d in Readings in Western Civilization: The Greek Polis, Vol. 1, edited by Arthur W. H. Adkins and Peter White (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 217–24.
Week 7: Sept. 30-Oct 4
- Monday: Persia and the Greeks
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 11.
- Nagle and Burstein, pages 78-92.
- Wednesday: The Second Persian War
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 12.
- Nagle and Burstein, pages 92-109.
- Friday: Democracy and Empire
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 13.
Week 8: Oct 7-11
- Monday: Political Institutions of Classical Athens
- John Rothchild, "Introduction to the Athenian Democracy of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BCE," Wayne State University Law School Legal Studies Research Paper 32.7 (2007), 13-36.
- Handout on Athenian Political Institutions.
- Quiz 2
- Wednesday: Slavery in Classical Athens
- Robin Osborne, “The Economics and Politics of Slavery at Athens,” in The Greek World, edited by Anton Powell (London: Routledge, 1995), 27–43.
- Friday: Women in Classical Athens
- Lysias 1, On the Murder of Eratosthenes, in Legal Speeches of Democratic Athens: Sources for Athenian History edited by Andrew Wolpert and Konstantinos Kapparis(Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing), 2011, 17-28.
- Andrew Wolpert, “The Politics of the Oikos,” CJ 96 (2001): 416-24.
Week 9: Oct 14-18
- Monday: Art and Thought in the Fifth Century BC
- Morris and Powell, pages 306-27.
- Wednesday: Greek Tragedy
- Morris and Powell, pages 329-44.
- Euripides, Bacchae.
- Friday: Homecoming
- No Class
Week 10: Oct 21-25
- Monday: Greek Tragedy
- Euripides, Bacchae.
- Wednesday: Greek Comedy
- Morris and Powell, pages 344-50.
- Aristophanes, Clouds.
- Friday: Test 2
- Test 2 will be on readings from Sept. 18-Oct. 23.
Week 11: Oct. 28- Nov. 1
- Monday: Causes of the Peloponnesian War
- Thucydides 1.24-146.
- Wednesday: The Archidamian War
- Morris and Powell, pages 352-361.
- Thucydides 2.1-65; 3.1-85.
- Friday: Peace of Nicias, the Sicilian Expedition, and the Carthaginian War
- Morris and Powell, pages 361-372.
- Thucydides 5.84-116; 6.1-32; 7.47-87.
Week 12: Nov 4-8
- Monday: End of the Peloponnesian War
- Morris and Powell, pages 372-378.
- Andrew Wolpert, “Thucydides on the Four Hundred and the Fall of Athens,” in The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides, edited by Sara Forsdyke, Edith Foster, and Ryan Balot (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 179–91.
- Wednesday: Civil War in Athens
- Andrew Wolpert, Remembering Defeat: Civil War and Civic Memory in Ancient Athens (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 15-28.
- Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 34-41.
- Xenophon, Hellenica 2.3-4.
- Friday: Restoration of the Athenian Democracy
- Andrew Wolpert, Remembering Defeat: Civil War and Civic Memory in Ancient Athens (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 29-47.
- Lysias 12, Against Eratosthenes (in Wolpert and Kapparis).
Week 13: Nov 11-15
- Monday: Veteran's Day's
- No Class
- Wednesday: The Trial of Socrates
- Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, Socrates on Trial (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 1–24.
- Plato's Apology (tr. Hope May), pages, 42–65.
- Friday: The Trial of Socrates (Continued)
- W. R. Connor, "The Other 399: Religion and the Trial of Socrates." In Georgica: Greek Studies in Honour of George Cawkwell, edited by M. Flower and M. Toher (London 1991), 49–56.
- Quiz 3
Week 14: Nov 18-22
- Monday: The Greeks between Persia and Carthage (399-360 B.C.)
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 17.
- Wednesday: Greek Culture in the Fourth Century
- Morris and Powell, Chapter 18.
- Friday: Philip II of Macedon
- Morris and Powell, pages 419-432.
Week 15: Dec 2-4
- Monday: Alexander the Great
- Morris and Powell, pages 432-59.
- Wednesday: Test 3
- Test 3 will be on readings from Oct. 28-Dec. 2.
The required readings and assignments are posted in the weekly modules.
Grade Scale
| A = 100–93% | B = 86-83% | C = 76-73% | D = 66-63% |
| A- = 92–90% | B- = 82–80% | C- = 72-70% | D- = 62-60% |
| B+ = 89-87% | C+ = 79-77% | D+ = 69-67% | E < 60% |
Grades are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g., 89.4% = 89% and 89.5% = 90%).
A minimum grade of C is required for major and/or general education credit. Courses intended to satisfy the general education requirement cannot be taken S-U.
For more information on UF grades and grading policies, please consult the Undergraduate Catalog Links to an external site..
Course Policies
University of Florida students are bound by the Honor Pledge. On all work submitted for credit by a student, the following pledge is required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Student Honor Code and Conduct Code (Regulation 4.040) Links to an external site. specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code, as well as the process for reported allegations and sanctions that may be implemented. All potential violations of the code will be reported to Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. If a student is found responsible for an Honor Code violation in this course, the instructor will enter a Grade Adjustment sanction which may be up to or including failure of the course.
Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/academic-regulations/attendance-policies/ Links to an external site.
A late assignment is subject to a deduction of 5 percent for every day that passes before the work is submitted, unless an extension has been granted in accordance with UF policies on attendance (see assignment rubrics for more information). So, for example, if a student hands in an assignment two days after it is due and has not been granted an extension, there will be a deduction of 10 percent on the assignment.
Students with disabilities who experience learning barriers and would like to request academic accommodations should connect with the Disability Resource Center by visiting https://disability.ufl.edu/students/get-started/ Links to an external site.. It is important for students to share their accommodation letter with their instructor and discuss their access needs, as early as possible in the semester.
Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students/ Links to an external site.. Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens, and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via https://ufl.bluera.com/ufl/ Links to an external site.. Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/. Links to an external site.
Students are allowed to record video or audio of class lectures. However, the purposes for which these recordings may be used are strictly controlled. The only allowable purposes are (1) for personal educational use, (2) in connection with a complaint to the university, or (3) as evidence in, or in preparation for, a criminal or civil proceeding. All other purposes are prohibited. Specifically, students may not publish recorded lectures without the written consent of the instructor.
A “class lecture” is an educational presentation intended to inform or teach enrolled students about a particular subject, including any instructor-led discussions that form part of the presentation, and delivered by any instructor hired or appointed by the University, or by a guest instructor, as part of a University of Florida course. A class lecture does not include lab sessions, student presentations, clinical presentations such as patient history, academic exercises involving solely student participation, assessments (quizzes, tests, exams), field trips, private conversations between students in the class or between a student and the faculty or lecturer during a class session.
Publication without permission of the instructor is prohibited. To “publish” means to share, transmit, circulate, distribute, or provide access to a recording, regardless of format or medium, to another person (or persons), including but not limited to another student within the same class section. Additionally, a recording, or transcript of a recording, is considered published if it is posted on or uploaded to, in whole or in part, any media platform, including but not limited to social media, book, magazine, newspaper, leaflet, or third party note/tutoring services. A student who publishes a recording without written consent may be subject to a civil cause of action instituted by a person injured by the publication and/or discipline under UF Regulation 4.040 Student Honor Code and Student Conduct Code.
Resource and Services
Students experiencing either health or personal problems that interfere with their general well-being are encouraged to seek assistance through the university’s health care and counseling centers. Resources are also available on campus for students who wish to explore their career options.
- Student Health Care Center, 392-1161, shcc.ufl.edu Links to an external site.
- University Counseling and Wellness Center, 3190 Radio Road, 392-1575, counseling.ufl.edu Links to an external site.
- U Matter We Care, 294-care, umatter.ufl.edu Links to an external site.
- The Teaching Center, https://teachingcenter.ufl.edu/ Links to an external site.
- Ask a Librarian, https://uflib.ufl.edu/contact-us/ Links to an external site., is a quick way to get outside expertise on finding or using library resources.
- The UF Writing Studio, https://writing.ufl.edu/writing-studio/ Links to an external site.
- Career Connections Center, Suite 1300 J. Wayne Reitz Union, 392-1601, career.ufl.edu Links to an external site.
You can also check out the UF Resources page for the many other university resources, services, and support that are available to you.
Credits
- Landing Page and Syllabus Page: Second Temple of Hera, Paestum (Poseidonia), Campania, Italy, photgraphed by Norbert Nagel, 13 July 2023, licensed under CC By-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hera_temple_II_-_Paestum_-_Poseidonia_-_July_13th_2013_-_04.jpg Links to an external site.
- Weekly Modules: "The Acropolis of Athens viewed from the Hill of the Muses," photographed by Carole Raddato, 18 April 2014, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/14220794964/ Links to an external site.
The syllabus page shows a table-oriented view of the course schedule, and the basics of course grading. You can add any other comments, notes, or thoughts you have about the course structure, course policies or anything else.
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Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Sep 6, 2024 | Assignment Quiz 1 | due by 10:40am |
| Fri Sep 20, 2024 | Assignment Exam 1 | due by 10:40am |
| Mon Oct 7, 2024 | Assignment Quiz 2 | due by 10:40am |
| Fri Oct 25, 2024 | Assignment Exam 2 | due by 10:40am |
| Fri Nov 15, 2024 | Assignment Quiz 3 | due by 10:40am |
| Mon Dec 2, 2024 | Assignment Quiz 4 | due by 11am |
| Wed Dec 4, 2024 | Assignment Exam 3 | due by 10:40am |
| Fri Dec 6, 2024 | Calendar Event University of Florida GatorEvals – Fall 2024 Main Project | 11:59pm |
| Assignment Roll Call Attendance |