Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Period 5 in 104 Leigh Hall

At the end of the course, students will be expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes in content, critical and, communication:

• Content: Students will identify and describe Athenian norms, customs, statutes, and laws to regulate anti-social behavior. Achievement of this learning outcome will be assessed through quizzes and exams.
• Critical Thinking: Students will evaluate and analyze Athenian conceptions and representations of crimes and criminal activity as well as interpersonal conflicts and disputes that threaten the social order. They will critically assess how interpersonal conflicts in ancient Athens are similar to and different from those in modern democracies, and what this tells us about democracy and its legal system. Achievement of this learning outcome will be assessed through exams.
• Communicate: Students will express clearly and effectively in written and oral forms how crime was regulated in ancient Athens. Achievement of this learning outcome will be assessed through exams.

Gagarin, Michael, ed., Speeches from Athenian Law (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2011).

Hardy, Clara Shaw, Athens 415: The City in Crisis (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2020).

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.

• 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: 25 points, 2.5% (each); 100 points, 10% (total). Each quiz will consist of brief identification questions and/or short-answer questions (i.e., 2-3 sentences). Students will be asked to briefly identify and explain the significance of terms, concepts, laws, legal disputes, proceedings, procedures, etc. and/or briefly answer short questions (e.g. "What are the different parts of an Attic oration?").
  
  • Quiz 1 on September 6
  • Quiz 2 on September 2 October 2 because of Hurricane Helene
  • Quiz 3 on October 28 moved to October 14 because of Hurricane Milton
  • Quiz 4 on November 18
• 4 In-Class Exams: 200 points, 20% (each);  800 points, 80% (total). Each essay will consist of short-essay questions.
  • Exam 1 on September 13
  • Exam 2 on October 9
  • Exam 3 on November 8
  • Exam 4 on December 4
• Quizzes and Exams will be based on materials covered in readings and lectures.

Part 1: Athenian Democracy, Law, and Oratory

Analyzes the history of the political institutions, and the legal system of classical Athens. Students will consider what are the defining characteristics of the Athenian democracy, how the Athenian legal system differs from its modern counterparts, and how litigants addressed Athenian courts.

• Aug 23: Course Overview
  • Course Syllabus, Requirements, and Objectives
• Aug 26-30: The Democracy and the Legal System 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), 13-28.
  • David Cohen, "Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens," in The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law, edited by Michael Gagarin and David Cohen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 211–35.
  • Michael de Brauw, "The Parts of the Speech," in A Companion to Greek Rhetoric, edited by Ian Worthington (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 187-202.
  • Lysias 24: On the Invalid (in Gagarin).

Part 2: Property and Commerce

Examines what disputes over property and commerce reveal about the nature of the Athenian economy, how the Athenians sought to protect the private rights of its citizens, and whether Athenian law provided adequate protections to promote private ownership.

• Sept 2-6: Property
  • Demosthenes 55: Against Callicles (in Gagarin).
  • Hyperides 3 : Against Athenogenes (in Gagarin).
  • Quiz 1
• Sept 9-13: Commerce and Banking
  • Isocrates 17: Trapeziticus (in Gagarin).
  • Demosthenes 32: Against Zenothemis (in Gagarin).
  • Exam 1

Part 3: Homicide and Assault

Examines why interpersonal disputes erupt into violence, the extent to which the Athenian legal system curbs conflicts or becomes a stage for elite citizens to perpetuate their feuds, whether Athenian law functions in ways comparable to modern legal systems to regulate violent behavior and actions, and the extent to which democracies, both ancient and modern, promote the rule of law.

• Sept 16-20: Adultery and Murder 
  • D. M. MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens (London: Thames and Hudson, 1978), 109–20.
  • Gabriel Herman, "Tribal and Civic Codes of Behaviour in Lysias 1," Classical Quarterly 43 (1993): 406–19.
  • Antiphon 1: Against the Stepmother (in Gagarin).
  • Lysias 1: On the Murder of Eratosthenes (in Gagarin).
• Sept 23-27: Wounding 
  • Lysias 3: Against Simon (in Gagarin).
  • W. V. Harris, "Lysias III and Athenian Beliefs about Revenge," Classical Quarterly 57 (1997): 363–66.
  • Demosthenes 54: Against Conon (in Gagarin).
  • David Cohen, Law, Violence and Community in Classical Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 119–35.
  • Quiz 2
• Sept 30-Oct 9: "Hybris"
  • Demosthenes 21: Against Meidias (in Wolpert and Kapparis).
  • David Cohen, Law, Violence and Community in Classical Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 87–118.
  • Exam 2

Part 4: Impiety, Sacrilege, and Conspiracy 

Explores the intersections between religion, politics, and civil war in ancient Athens. Did the Athenians seeks to regulate religious and political beliefs or did they tolerate controversial views and opinions? What lessons do the civil wars of ancient Athens provide for modern democracies? How are threats to the democracy of classical Athens similar to and different from threats to modern democracies? What causes democracies to restrict personal freedoms? What causes them to collapse or to be overthrown?

• Oct 11-16: The Mutilation of the Herms and Profanation of the Mysteries
  • Clara Shaw Hardy, Athens 415: The City in Crisis (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020), Chapters 1-2, 5-6
• Oct 21-25: The Thirty Tyrants of Athens 
  • Sarah B. Pomeroy et al., A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 217–227.
  • Xenophon, Hellenica (tr. Rex Warner) II.3.1-4.41.
  • Lysias 12: Against Eratosthenes (in Wolpert and Kapparis)
  • Andrew Wolpert, Remembering Defeat: Civil War and Civic Memory in Ancient Athens (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 3–47.
• Oct 28-Nov 1: The Trial of Socrates
  • Nicholas D. Smith and Thomas C. Brickhouse, Socrates on Trial (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 1-24.
  • Plato's Apology (tr. Hope May).
  • Quiz 3
• Nov 4-8: The Trial of Socrates (Continued)
  • M. F. Burnyeat, "The Impiety of Socrates," Ancient Philosophy 17 (1997): 1–12.
  • 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. 
  • Exam 3

Part 5: Sexual Deviancy

Study of Athenian conceptions of sexuality and sexual deviancy. How are Athenians views on sexuality similar to and different from modern views? Did the Athenians attempt to regulate sexual behavior for religious, social, or political reasons? Or did they avoid regulating sexuality activity in order to protect individual freedoms? How are Athenian regulations on sexual activity different from modern regulations? How are they similar? What does the Athenian discourse on sexuality tell us about modern debates on sexual norms and mores?

• Nov. 11-18: Prosecution of a Courtesan
  • Demosthenes 59: Against Neaera (in Gagarin)
  • Debra Hamel, Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 117–31.
  • Allison Glazebrook, "The Making of a Prostitute: Apollodoros's Portrait of Neaira," Arethusa 38 (2005), 161-87.
  • Quiz 4
• Nov. 20-22: Male Prostitution
  • Aeschines 1 (in Gagarin)
• Dec 2-4: Male Prostitution (Continued)
  
  • Adriaan Lanni, "The Expressive Effect of the Athenian Prostitution Laws," Classical Antiquity 29 (2010), 46–50.
  • Exam 4

The required readings and assignments are posted in the weekly modules.

Grades are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g., 89.4% = 89% and 89.5% = 90%).

For more information on UF grades and grading policies, please consult the Undergraduate Catalog.

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• Landing Page and Syllabus Page: Death of Hipparchus by the Syriskos Painter, Athens 475-460 BC, Martin von Wagner Museum, Würzburg Museum, photographed by P. Neckermann, licensed under CC-0.
• 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/