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This is a survey of Greek history from the Bronze Age to Socrates' death in 399 BCE. Along with studying the most significant events and people, we will look at broader issues such as political and cultural values, as well as historical interpretation methods.
In this course, you will learn :
- Art History
- Greek Mythology
- History
- Ancient Greece
Syllabus :
1. Prehistory to Homer
- Introduction: the Natural Setting, Geography and Climate
- Minoan Civilization (ca. 1800-1500 BCE)
- Mycenaean Civilization (ca. 1500-1150 BCE)
- The Dark Ages (ca. 1150-800 BCE)
- Iliad
- Odyssey
2. The Archaic Age (ca. 800-500 BCE)
- The Polis
- The Greeks Overseas: Colonization
- Literacy, Lawgivers and Law Codes
- The Works of Ares - Hoplite Warfare
- New Voices, the Lyric Poets
- Gods and Farmers
3. Two City-States: Sparta and Athens
- Conquest
- Consolidation and the Spartan Way of Life
- Tyrants and Sages
- The Social and Economic Situation Through 600 BCE
- Solon: Poetry, Politics and Economics
- Peisistratos: Tyranny and Civic Identity
4. Democracy. The Persian Wars
- The End of Athenian Tyranny and the Democratic Revolution
- The Reforms of Kleisthenes
- Herodotus and the Creation of Historical Writing
- From the Ionian Revolt (499-494 BCE) to the Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
- Wooden Walls: Themistocles and the Athenian fleet
- Endgame - to the Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis (480 BCE) and Plataea (479 BCE)
5. "The Great 50 Years" (ca. 480-431 BCE)
- The Aftermath of the Persian Wars; the Delian League
- From Delian League to Athenian Empire
- Pericles: aristocrat, orator, and radical democrat
- Tragedy and Athenian civic life; Sophocles' Antigone (441 BCE)
- Women in Greek Society
- The Periclean Building Program
6. The Peloponnesian War I
- Thucydides the Athenian Wrote the War
- The Outbreak of the War (431 BCE) and Pericles' Strategy
- Kleon, a "New Politician." The Peace of Nicias (421 BCE)
- Comedy and Athenian Civic Life
- War Resumes; the Conquest of Melos (416 BCE)
- Alcibiades: Aristocrat, General, and Libertine
7. The End of the War, the End of the Century
- The Sicilian Expedition (416-413 BCE) and its Aftermath
- Slaves and Foreigners in Athenian Life
- The Last Years of the War; the Battles of Arginusae (406 BCE) and Aegospotami (404 BCE). The Thirty Tyrants
- Socrates
- The Fourth Century. Philip II and Alexander
