HUMANITIES 110
REED COLLEGE
Spring 2007

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Apuleius, trans. Lindsay, The Golden Ass (Indiana University Press)
Athanasius, Life of St. Antony the Great (Eastern Orthodox)
Augustine, Confessions (Oxford University Press)
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha/ New Revised Standard Version: College Edition (Oxford University Press)
Brown, World of Late Antiquity (W. W. Norton)
Jaffee, Early Judaism (Univ. Press of Maryland)
Josephus, The Jewish War (Penguin USA)
Livy, The Rise of Rome, Books 1-5 (Oxford)
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (Focus Philosophical Library)
Martin, Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (Yale)
Ovid, Metamorphoses (Oxford World Classics)
The Essential Plotinus, ed. E. O'Brien (Hackett).
Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca (W. W. Norton)
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (Penguin)
Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germania (Penguin USA)
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome (Penguin USA)
Virgil, The Aeneid (Bantam Doubleday Dell Publications)
Readings on the Roman World (Pamphlet / Bookstore)

RECOMMENDED TEXTS:

Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Hackett)
Williams, The Craft of Argument (Chicago)

All texts may be purchased at the Reed College Bookstore; a limited number of each is on reserve in the Library. Also on reserve: Oxford Classical Dictionary; Oxford Companion to Classical Literature; Anchor Atlas of World History, Volume I; Richard Lanham, Revising Prose.

CONFERENCE ASSIGNMENTS:

The Registrar makes initial assignments to conferences in this course that continue through the year. Students who subsequently find it necessary to change conferences must petition the Humanities staff (forms for this purpose may be obtained from the Registrar or from Kathy Kennedy, Chem 303). Turn in completed forms to Michael Breen, Hum 110 Chair, in Vollum 235. No conference changes will be permitted after the second week of the term.

PAPERS, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS, AND EXAMINATIONS:

Three course-wide papers will be assigned, due at the times designated on the schedule of readings and lectures. A mid-term examination will be given on Friday, March 9 from 9:00-9:50 a.m. in Vollum Lecture Hall. A final examination for the spring term will be given in finals week, Wednesday, May 9th, 6-10 pm in Vollum Lecture Hall. Rescheduling of the mid-term or final exam will be allowed only for medical reasons.

ELECTRONIC ACCESS:

An archive of course materials for Humanities 110 is available on the course's web page. It includes the syllabus, paper topics, and many of the lecture handouts from this year and last year, as well as some pages designed to help students tap Internet resources on course-related subjects. The web page may be reached through Reed's main page via Academic Life and Departments, or directly at: http://web.reed.edu/academic/departments/Humanities/Hum110 Many of the course materials are also archived in Microsoft Word format on the Courses Server.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND LECTURES

Week 1

Mon. 22 Jan.
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapters 9 and 10; Polybius, from The Rise of the Roman Empire; “The Roman Republic,” from Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, eds, Oxford Classical Dictionary (both in Readings)
Lecture: Observing Imperialism: Alexander, Hellenism and the Rise of the Roman Machine / Pancho Savery

Wed. 24 Jan.
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura), Book 1 (1-637, 921- 1117), Book 2 (1-293), and Book 3 (all)
Lecture: Lucretius, Rome, and the Nature of the Universe / Walter Englert

Fri. 26 Jan
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura), Books 5 and 6
Lecture: Epicurean Naturalism / Paul Hovda

Friday Jan. 26
Spartacus (dir. Stanley Kubrick), film presentation, 7:00-10:00 pm, Psych. 105

Week 2

Mon. 29 Jan.
Livy, The Rise of Rome, Preface and Book I, pp. 3-70; Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System” (in Readings)
Lecture: Livy and the Re-Creation of Rome / Walter Englert

Wed. 31 Jan.
Livy, The Rise of Rome, Book 2 and Book 5.19-end, pp. 71-139, 302-341
Lecture: Livy and Roman Virtue / Tony Iaccarino

Fri. 2 Feb.
Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, introduction & pp. 54-112; The Accomplishments of Augustus; (in Readings)
Lecture: From Octavian to Augustus / Ellen Millender

Week 3

Mon. 5 Feb.
Peter J. Holliday, "Time, History, and Ritual on the Ara Pacis Augustae" (available on JSTOR)
Lecture: Contexts for the Ara Pacis / William Diebold

Wed. 7 Feb.
Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller, The Roman Empire, Chapters 2, 6-9, Conclusion; “The Funeral Elegy of Turia,” “Oversight of Municipal Affairs in Bithynia,” and Martial, “Epigrams” (all in Readings).
Lecture: Families and Friends / Michael Breen

Thursday Feb 8
Lecture by Raffaella Cribbiore, Associate Curator of Papyri & Adjunct Associate Professor of Classics at Columbia University: “Going to College in Late Roman Times: Lucian, Libanius, and the Short Road to Rhetoric" 7:30pm VLH.

Fri. 9 Feb.
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1-4
Lecture: Homer through Roman Eyes / Laura Leibman

FIRST PAPER DUE: Saturday, Feb. 10th, 5 p.m.

Week 4

Mon. 12 Feb.
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 5-8
Lecture: Virgil and Ekphrasis / Elizabeth Drumm

Wed. 14 Feb.
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 9-12
Lecture: The Ending of the Aeneid / Walter Englert

Wednesday Feb 14
Lecture by Diane Middlebrook, Professor of English, Emerita, Stanford University, “VIVAM: I Shall Live On” 7:30pm VLH.

Fri. 16 Feb.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 1-3
Lecture: Metamorphoses / Maureen Harkin

Saturday Feb. 17
I, Claudius ("Family Matters" "Poison is Queen"), video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, VLH

Week 5

Mon. 19 Feb.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 4-6, 15
Lecture: Generic Transformations / Elizabeth Drumm

Tuesday Feb. 20
I, Claudius ("Zeus! By Jove," "A God in Colchester"), video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, VLH

Wed. 21 Feb.
Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: On Providence, On the Tranquillity of the Mind, and Letters, 47, 70, 92
Lecture: The Good, the Bad, and the Unconcerned / Paul Hovda

Fri. 23 Feb.
Tacitus, Annals, pp. 31-60, 90-99, 104-128
Lecture: Between Republic and Empire / Michael Breen

Week 6

Mon. 26 Feb.
Tacitus, Annals, pp. 157-255
Lecture: Representations of the Emperor / William Diebold

Wed. 28 Feb.
Tacitus, Annals, pp. 275-324, 335-397
Lecture: Gossip / Jay Dickson

Fri. 2 March
Tacitus, Germania in The Agricola and the Germania; Tacitus, Histories 5. 1-10 (in Readings)
Lecture: Two Cities: Identity and Alterity / Nathalia King

Week 7

Mon. 5 March
Genesis: 1-21; Jaffee, Early Judaism, 1-16 & 19-28
Lecture: History as Sacred Text / David Garrett

Wed, 7 March
Genesis 21-50; Jaffee, Early Judaism, 49-67
Lecture: Sacrifices and Stories / Gail Sherman

Fri. 9 March
MID-TERM EXAM: 9-9:50 a.m., in VLH

10-18 MARCH
SPRING BREAK

Week 8

Mon. 19 March
Exodus 1-23; Jaffee, Early Judaism, 67-74
Lecture: Moses / David Garrett

Wed. 21 March
Exodus 24-40, Jaffee, Early Judaism, 172-88
Lecture: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth / Laura Leibman

Fri. 23 March
Isaiah 40-55; Amos; Jaffee, Early Judaism, 90-113
Lecture: Hebrew Prophecy: Universality and Particularity / Steve Wasserstrom

SECOND PAPER DUE: Saturday, March 24th, 5 p.m.

Week 9

Mon. 26 March
Romans; Acts 9-19
Lecture: Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles / Robert Knapp

Wed. 28 March
Jaffee, Early Judaism, 28-46; Josephus, The Jewish War, pp. 27-31, 133-148, 307-354, 387-405 (read Jaffee first)
Lecture: Varieties of Religious Experience / Nathalia King

Thursday March 29
"From Jesus to Christ," video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, Bio. 19

Fri. 30 March
Gospel of Matthew; Gospel of Thomas (in Readings)
Lecture: Interpretation in Matthew and Thomas / Gail Sherman

Week 10

Mon. 2 April
Gospel of John
Lecture: Between Jew and Hellene: The Emerging Christian Community of the Gospel of John / Ellen Stauder

Tuesday April 3
"From Jesus to Christ," video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, VLH

Wed. 4 April
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
Lecture: Story-telling and the Novel / Maureen Harkin

Fri. 6 April
Apuleius, The Golden Ass; Alex Nice, “The Goddess Isis and the Roman World” (in Readings)
Lecture: Apuleius and Resistance to Empire / Sonia Sabnis

Week 11

Mon. 9 April
The Tractate Avot (The Ethics of the Fathers) (in Readings); Jaffee, Early Judaism, 74-86
Lecture: Tractate Avot and Rabbinic Law / Steve Wasserstrom

Wed. 11 April
Annabel Jane Wharton, Refiguring the Post Classical City (in Readings); Also see the photos in Jaffee, Early Judaism, 183-86.
Lecture: Jews and Christians in Dura-Europos / William Diebold

Fri. 13 April
Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, pp. 1-112
Lecture: Imaging Roman Africa / Laura Leibman

Week 12

Mon. 16 April
The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (in Readings); Athanasius, Life of St. Anthony, chapters I, II, VI, and XVII
Lecture: The Martyrdom of Perpetua / Nathalia King

Wed. 18 April
Plotinus, I.6 ("Beauty"), pp. 33-44; V.9, ("The Intelligence, The Ideas and Being"), pp. 45-58
Lecture: Plotinus and His Roots in Plato and Aristotle / Margaret Scharle

Fri. 20 April
Augustine, Confessions
Lecture: “So Tiny a Child, So Many Pages” / Nigel Nicholson

THIRD PAPER DUE: Saturday, April 21st, 5 p.m.

Week 13

Mon. 23 April
Augustine, Confessions
Lecture: Augustine and Ambrose in Milan / William Diebold

Wed. 25 April
Augustine, Confessions
Lecture: Augustine and the Problem of Evil / Steve Arkonovich

Fri. 27 April
Augustine, Confessions
Lecture: The End / Jan Mieszkowski

FINAL EXAM: Weds. May 9th, 6-10 pm in Vollum Lecture Hall