READING

REQUIRED READING (you will be expected to know this material)

Note that summer reading lists may be different or abbreviated

Starr, Chester G: A History of the Ancient World, 3rd/4th ed.
  Basic Text for this course and for HIST 341. There is an alternate text for those who wish (see below).

 

Frost, Frank: Greek Society, 5th ed.
  A social history to complement text and lectures.

 

Plutarch: The Rise and Fall of Athens.
  Biographies of important figures.

 

Aristophanes: Lysistrata.
  A comedy about war, women, and peace written in wartime.

 

Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander.
  Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia.

 

Handouts on WebCT.

 

RECOMMENDED READING (for your better understanding or enjoyment)

Pomeroy, S., et al.: Ancient Greece:  A Political, Social, and Cultural History.
  An alternate text to replace Starr for those who wish a more thorough treatment of Greek history.  

  It is not as good as I would like, but it will do.  Don't buy both Starr and Pomeroy.

 

Herodotus: The Histories.
  The first "history" written by the "father of history."

 

Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War.
  The "greatest" Greek historian's account of war.

 

EVALUATION

There will be two (2) mid-term exams each worth 100 points, 3 map quizzes worth a total of 50 points (best 3 of 4 quizzes), and a take-home final exam worth 150 points, for a grand total of 400 points. There are no papers required. You will be graded on total points scored, and YOU MUST TAKE ALL EXAMS TO RECEIVE A PASSING GRADE.

GRADING: This course will have a T.A. grading the exams under my supervision and according to my instructions. I will review the grading. The goal is a standard "curve" of 90-80-70-60 which may be adjusted downward as required. "Plus" and "minus" grades will be given to the top two and bottom two percentage points in each category. Thus, if B's range from 89-80, B+ will be 89-88 and B- will be 81-80. There are no quotas.

MAKE-UP examinations will be conducted Friday mornings at 7 a.m. Scheduling (arranging) the exams is your responsibility. I will give exams only to those who have discussed the need for one with me within one week after the exam. Make-up exams will have fewer choices and may be harder than the original exam to compensate for the additional time.

MAP QUIZZES will be given on 4 Wednesdays (early September, mid October, early December, mid December) during the first 5 minutes of class. The fourth quiz will function as a "make-up" quiz. NOTA BENE: It will be the only make-up.

CLASSROOM PROCEDURE

Classes will consist of lectures with slides and perhaps other audio-visuals from time to time. Questions are WELCOMED, provided that they are not excessive or off the topic. If you wish to debate some esoteric point, I will be glad to participate outside of class. PLEASE do not hesitate to ask a question that will clarify some part of the lecture.

ATTENDANCE is your concern, but cutting class is a very bad idea. Material presented in class is not necessarily duplicated in the books. All material presented is fair game for the examinations.  Changes may occur that will be announced only in class.  You are responsible for all this.

 

READING AND STUDY HABITS

If you are a freshman, please come to see me immediately! This is important for you and your grade.

It is important to keep up on the reading.  Just how you do this is your business.  I don't give daily reading quizzes, even in freshman level classes.  But do know that you cannot hope to keep everything straight if you insist on reading all of Plutarch or Arrian at a sitting.  The text and supplements ought to help you understand Roman history better, to fill in where lecture was sketchy, to draw other conclusions and insights than you will get in class.

It is wise to periodically review your class notes to see if you can make sense of the material.  If you cannot, it is time to revise, to come see me, or go back and fill in from your books.  

Don't  wait till you get the study guide to prepare for the exams.  Work on the material for at least a week.  Think about what kind of questions I could give you (hint:  what were the main topics of this section of the course?).

In Studying: Note that you will be writing examinations composed of essay questions. You will need to compile a basis of specific information to back up your contentions, generalizations, and opinions. Names and dates are often necessary to do this. Beware amassing (and writing) large amounts of unrelated facts OR unsupported generalities. Neither shotgunning nor BSing will result in a satisfactory grade.

Work on the maps for the map quizzes, a few new places at a time.  If you do this over a week, you will have memorized the names, locations, and spelling of all the items on the map!

 

LECTURES AND READING SCHEDULE (Spring 2009) 

Nota bene: the map quizzes:  Tue., Feb. 10, Thurs. Feb. 26, Thurs. Mar. 12, Tue. Apr. 21

 Nota bene:  readings in Plutarch are indicated by the life to be read, e.g. Theseus

Jan   13  Lect 1:   Hellas & the Hellenes
Jan   15          2:   Minoans                               Starr, pp. 104-111; Theseus; [Burstein ch. 1]
Jan   20          3:   Mycenaeans                          Frost, pp. 1-15
Jan   22          4:   Mycenaean Civilization       Starr, pp. 108-111
Jan   27          5:   Advent of the Polis               Starr, ch. 9-10, [Burstein ch. 2]
Jan   29          6:   Greeks & their Gods            Starr, ch. 11
Feb  03          7:   Search for Stability              Frost, pp. 17-32; [Burstein ch 3-5]
Feb  05          8:   Athens                                  Starr, ch. 12 (Athens) Frost, pp. 39-63, Solon
Feb  10          9:   Sparta                                   Starr, ch. 12 rest of chapter [map 1]
Feb  12        10:   Lyric Age Civilization         Frost, pp. 32-38, 121-125; [Burstein ch. 3]

EXAMINATION I Tuesday, February 17, 2009 (class time)
 

Feb  19        11:   Persian War                         Starr, ch. 13, Aristides; [Burstein ch. 5]
Feb  24        12:   Persian War Concluded       Themistocles
Feb  26        13:   Leagues & Empires              Starr, ch. 14, Cimon; [Burstein ch 6] [map 2]
Mar 03        14:   Periclean Democracy           Frost, pp. 53-84, Pericles
Mar 05        15:   Athens & the Arts                 Frost, pp. 85-109, 133-140; [Burstein ch. 7]
Mar 10        16:   Athenian Drama                   Starr, ch. 15, Aristophanes, all
Mar 12        17:   Peloponnesian War              Starr, ch. 16, Frost, pp. 125-129; [Burstein ch. 8] [map 3]
Mar 24        18:   Peloponnesian War II           Nicias, Alcibiades, Lysander
 

EXAMINATION II Thursday, March 26, 2009 (class time)
 

 Mar 31        19:   Philosophers                        Starr, ch. 18 Frost, pp. 109-119; [Burstein ch. 10]
Apr  02        20:   Fourth Century                      Frost, pp. 141-145; [Burstein ch. 9]
Apr  07        21:   Philip & Alexander              Starr, ch. 19 half; Arrian ch. 1-2; [Burstein ch. 11]
Apr  09        22:   Invasion of Persia                Starr, ch. 19 to p. 403; Arrian ch. 3-4
Apr  14        23:   Evaluating Alexander           Frost, pp. 147-151; Arrian to end
Apr  16        24:   Hellenistic States                 Starr, ch. 19: pp. 403-412; [Burstein ch. 12]
Apr  21        25:   Balance of Power                 Frost, pp. 199-204 [map 4, dreaded make-up]
Apr  23        26:   Life in Hellenistic World     Frost, pp. 151-170; [Burstein epilogue]
Apr  28        27:   Religion & the Arts              Starr, ch. 20
Apr  30        28:   Hellenistic Philosophy         Frost, pp. 171-end
 

FINAL EXAMINATION due Monday, May 4, 2009, my office, 12 noon)

 

READING SCHEDULE FOR THE (ALTERNATE) POMEROY TEXT

EXAM 1 Topics 1-5	EXAM 2 Topics 6-10	FINAL EXAM Topics 11-14
Chapters 1-6	Chapters 7-11	Chapters 11-12 Epilogue

 

MAP QUIZ STUDY SHEET

MAP QUIZ 1 map p. 2 see also pp. 3 & 7	MAP QUIZ 2 map p. 3	MAP QUIZ 3 maps pp. 24, 26
Aegina Aetolia Attica Black Sea Boeotia Bosphorus Byzantium Chalcidice Chios Corcyra Crete Delos Delphi Ephesos Epirus Euboea Hagia Triada Halicarnassus Hellespont Ionia Ionian Sea Ithaca Knidos Knossos Lemnos Lesbos Lydia Macedonia Melos Miletos Mt. Athos Mt. Olmpus Mycenae Naxos Olympia Paros Peloponnesus Phaistos Pylos Rhodes Samos Thera Thessaly Thracian Chersonese Tiryns Troy	Achaia Aegina Aetolia Arcadia Argolis Argos Athens Attica Boeotia Cape Artemisium Cape Sunion Chaeronea Corinth Corinthia Delphi Doris Eleusis Elis Epidauros Eretria Euboia Gulf of Corinth Laconia Lamia Leuctra Locris Marathon Megalopolis Megara Megaris Messene Messenia Mycenae Naupaktos Olympia Phocis Piraeus Plataia Pylos Salamis Saronic Gulf Sparta Thebes Thermopylae Thessaly Tiryns Troizen	Adriatic Sea Aegae Aegean Sea Alexandria Ammonium Antioch Arabia Arabian Sea Arbela Armenia Babylon Bactria Black Sea Caspian Sea Cyprus Cyrene Damghan (Hecatompylus) Danube River Ecbatana Euphrates River Gordium Granicus River Hydapses River Indus River Issus Macedon Nile River Parthia Pella Pergamum Persepolis Persian Gulf Ptolemaic Kingdom Red Sea Rhodes Rome Seleucia-on-Tigris Seleucid Kingdom Sicily Syracuse Thrace Tigris River Troy Tyre

Notes:

On all maps, I will mark the places, you will fill in the names (spelling does count).

Rivers will be marked with arrows Cities and specific sites will be marked with an X Mountains will be marked with overlapping triangles Regions will be marked with hatching Small islands with just a circled number Bodies of water just with a circled number

Map Quiz 4 (make-up) will use the form of the first quiz. 
All 3 lists are fair game (except for those items that don't fit) for this quiz.

SOME OTHER SITES THAT MAY BE HELPFUL

press the globe to get a select list of places to visit including MyDDP

 

 

For information about your instructor and links to:
the Department of History
and
Washington State University (WAZZU)

go to
the inaccurately named

Richard S. Williams Unpretentious Home Page

by pressing the comm-badge

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