HUMANITIES 110

REED COLLEGE, SPRING 2005

Final Version - 1/25/05

 

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)

Freeman, Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean (Oxford)

Josephus, The Jewish War (Penguin USA)

Livy, The Rise of Rome, Books 1-5 (Oxford)

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, trans. W. Englert (Focus Philosophical Library)

Ovid, Metamorphoses (Oxford World Classics)

The Essential Plotinus, ed. E. O'Brien (Hackett).

Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca (W. W. Norton)

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 which 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 Nathalia King, Hum 110 Chair, in Vollum 305. 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 11 from 9:00-9:50 a.m. in Vollum Lecture Hall. A final examination for the spring term will be given in finals week Monday, May 9, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., 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 (via the Chooser in the zone Academic Servers).

 

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND LECTURES

 

Week 1

Jan. 24                Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece and Rome, chapters 16-21 (First Edition) or chapters 18-23 (Second Edition); Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System" (in Readings)

                         Lecture: Observing Imperialism: Alexander, Hellenism and the Rise of the Roman Machine / Pancho Savery

 

Jan. 26                Livy, The Rise of Rome, Preface and Book I, pp. 3-70                     

                         Lecture: Livy and the Re-Creation of Rome / Walter Englert

                                                                         

Jan. 28                Livy, The Rise of Rome, Book 2 and Book 5.19-end, pp. 71-139, 302-341

                         Lecture: Livy and Roman Virtue / Tony Iaccarino

 

Week 2

Jan. 31                Augustus, The Accomplishments of Augustus; Suetonius' "Augustus" from The Twelve Caesars (both in Readings); Freeman, chapter 22.

                         Lecture: From Octavian to Augustus / Ellen Millender

                        

Feb. 2                 Galinsky,"Art and Architecture"; Holliday, "Time, History, and Ritual on the Ara Pacis Augustae"; (both in Readings)

                         Lecture: Contexts for the Ara Pacis / William Diebold

 

Feb. 4                 Garnsey and Saller, The Roman Empire, Chapters 2, 6-9, Conclusion (in Readings).

                         Lecture:  Families and Friends / Michael Breen

 

Week 3

Feb. 7                 Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1-4

                         Lecture: Dido and Aeneas, or the Virgilian Marriage of Eros and Empire/ Nathalia King

 

Feb. 9                 Virgil, Aeneid, Books 5-8

                         Lecture: Virgil and Ekphrasis / Elizabeth Drumm

 

Feb. 11               Virgil, Aeneid, Books 9-12

                         Lecture: The Ending of the Aeneid / Walter Englert

 

First Paper Due Saturday, Feb. 12th 5 p.m.

 

Week 4

Feb. 14               Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 1-3

                         Lecture: Erring by Design / Jay Dickson

 

Tuesday Feb 15  "The Roman Arena," video presentation, 8:00-9:00 pm, Psych. 105

 

Feb. 16               Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 4-6, 15

                         Lecture: Silver Latin / Nigel Nicholson

 

Feb. 18               Tacitus, Annals, pp. 31-60, 90-99, 104-128

                         Lecture: Between Republic and Empire / Michael Breen

 

Saturday Feb. 19 "I, Claudius" ("Family Matters" "Poison is Queen"), video presentation,

                                          7:00-9:00 pm, Psychology 105

Week 5

Feb. 21               Tacitus, Annals, pp. 157-255

                         Lecture: Representations of the Emperor / William Diebold

 

Tuesday Feb. 22 "I, Claudius" ("Zeus! By Jove," "A God in Colchester"), video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, Psych. 105

                        

Feb. 23               Tacitus, Annals, pp. 275-324, 335-397

                          Lecture: Gossip / Jay Dickson 

 

Feb. 25               Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: On Providence, On the Tranquillity of the Mind,

                                    and Letters, 47, 65, 70

                          Lecture:  Stoicism and the Bad / Paul Hovda

Week 6

Feb. 28               Lucretius, The Way Things Are (De Rerum Natura),

                                  Books 1 and 3

                         Lecture: Epicurean Naturalism / Paul Hovda                       

 

March 2              Lucretius, The Way Things Are (De Rerum Natura),

                                    Books 5 and 6

                         Lecture: The Trouble with Being Dead  / Steve Arkonovich

 

March 3              Guest Lecture: Professor Eric Gruen / VLH, 7:30 PM          

                                               

March 4              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

March 7              Josephus, The Jewish War, pp 27-132; Tacitus, Histories 5. 1-10 (in Readings)

                         Lecture: The Empire Writes Back /  Laura Leibman

                        

March 9              Genesis: 1-21; Stephen Geller, "The Religion of the Bible"; Marc Zvi Brettler, "The Canonization of the Bible" (both in Readings)

                          Lecture: Reading Scripture / Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

                                   

March 11             MID-TERM EXAM: 9-9:50 a.m., in VLH

 

12-19 MARCH: SPRING BREAK

 

Week 8

March 21             Genesis 21-50; Nancy Jay, "The Logic of Sacrifice" and "Sacrifice and Descent"

                                    (in Readings)

                         Lecture: Sacrifices and Stories / Gail Sherman

                        

March 23             Exodus 1-23

                         Lecture: History as Sacred Text / David Garrett

 

March 25             Exodus 24-40; Jonathan Klawans, "Concepts of Purity in the Bible"; Mary Douglas, "Secular Defilement" and "The Abominations of Leviticus" (both in Readings)

                         Lecture:  To Distinguish Holy from Unholy: Sacrifice and Purities in the Torah / Steve Wasserstrom

 

Second Paper Due:  Saturday, March 26th, 5 p.m.

 

Week 9

March 28             Paul, Romans; Acts 9-19; Frend, "Paul and the First Expansion 30-65" (in Readings)

                         Lecture: Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles / Robert Knapp

                        

March 30             Josephus, The Jewish War,  pp. 133-48, and 287-408.

                         Lecture: Varieties of Religious Experience  / Nathalia  King

 

Thursday March 31 "From Jesus to Christ," video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, Pysch 105

 

April 1                Gospel of Matthew; Gospel of Thomas (in Readings)

                         Lecture: Interpretation in Matthew and Thomas / Gail Sherman

 

Week 10

April 4                Gospel of John

                          Lecture: Between Jew and Hellene: the Emerging Christian Community of the

                                    Gospel of John / Ellen Stauder      

 

Tuesday April 5  "From Jesus to Christ," video presentation, 7:00-9:00 pm, Psych. 105

 

April 6                The Tractate Avot (The Ethics of the Fathers); Benjamin Sommer, "Inner-biblical Interpretration"; Yaakov Elam, "Classical Rabbinical Interpretation" (both in Readings)

                          Lecture: Tractate Avot and Rabbinic Law / Steve Wasserstrom

 

April 8                Joseph Gutman, "The Synagogue at Dura-Europos"; Wharton, Refiguring the Post Classical City; (both in Readings)

                                          Lecture: Jews and Christians in Dura-Europos  / William Diebold

 

Week 11

April 11              Apuleius, Golden Ass

                                       Lecture:  Telling Stories / Gail Sherman

 

April 13              Apuleius, Golden Ass

                         Lecture: A Serious Joke: The Golden Ass Between Religion and Philosophy/

                                    Steve Wasserstrom

 

April 15              Athanasius, Life of St. Anthony

                                          Lecture:  Holy Bodies / Ray Kierstead

                        

Week 12

April 18              The Martyrdom  of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (in Readings);  Brown, The World of Late Antiquity,  pp. 1-112

                          Lecture: The Martyrdom of Perpetua  / Nathalia King

                          

April 20              Plotinus, I.6 ("Beauty"), pp. 33-44; V.9, ("The Intelligence, The Ideas and Being"), pp. 45-58;  III,8 ("Contemplation,"), pp. 162-176.

                         Lecture:  Plotinus and His Roots in Plato and Aristotle / Margaret Scharle

                                               

April 22              Augustine, Confessions

                         Lecture: So Tiny a Child, So Many Pages / Nigel Nicholson

 

Third Paper Due:  Saturday, April 23th, 5 p.m.

 

Week 13

April 25              Augustine, Confessions

                         Lecture: Augustine and Ambrose in Milan / William Diebold

                                   

April 27              Augustine, Confessions

                         Lecture: Augustine and the Problem of Evil / Steve Arkonovich

 

April 29              Augustine, Confessions

                         Lecture: The End / Jan Mieszkowski

 

 

FINAL EXAM:  Monday, May 9, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., in Vollum Lecture Hall