Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Syllabus | Fall 2012

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Required Texts

  • Aeschylus, The Oresteia, trans. Fagles (Penguin)
  • Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound & Other Plays, trans. Vellacott (Penguin)
  • New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, trans. Coogan, et al (Oxford)
  • Curd, ed., Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia (2nd. edition), trans. McKirahan (Hackett)
  • Euripides, Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae, trans. Grene and Lattimore (Chicago)
  • Herodotus, The Histories, trans. Selincourt (Penguin)
  • Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, and Shield, trans. Lombardo (Hackett)
  • Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Fagles (Penguin)
  • Martin, Ancient Greece (Yale)
  • Miller, Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation (Hackett)
  • Sophocles, Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, trans. Grene and Lattimore (Chicago)
  • The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, trans. Parkinson (Oxford)
  • Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars, trans. Warner (Penguin)
  • Various Readings on The Ancient Mediterranean and Western Asia available on e-reserves

E-Reserves

To access texts that are listed as being on e-reserves, find the day's reading assignments and follow the link to the text. You will need your kerberos username and password to be able to access the texts. Learn more about accessing e-reserves on Moodle.

Recommended Texts

Homer, The Iliad, trans. Lattimore (Chicago)
Williams and Colomb, The Craft of Argument (Concise Edition) (Chicago)
Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Hackett)

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

Papers, Writing Assignments, and Examinations

Four course-wide papers will be assigned, due at the times designated on the schedule of readings and lectures. If the due date for an assignment conflicts with a religious holiday or obligation that you wish to observe, please consult with your conference leader. A four-hour final examination for the fall semester will be given Thursday, December 13th – 8:00 am–noon in Vollum Lecture Hall. Rescheduling of the final exam will be allowed only for medical reasons.

Writing Center

You can get additional help with all stages of the writing process from the Writing Center located in the Dorothy Johansen House. Drop-in help from writing tutors is available Sunday – Thursday, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.; additional hours will also be available during weeks that a paper is due (contact the Writing Center for more information).

Schedule of readings

The Ancient Mediterranean and Western Asia

Please study the Basic Chronology of the Ancient World

+ Expand Weeks | - Collapse Weeks

Week 1

Mon 27 Aug

Homer, The Odyssey

Lecture: "Introduction to Homer and the Humanities" / Walter Englert

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: First line of The Iliad [mp3]; First line of The Odyssey [mp3]

Wed 29 Aug

Homer, The Odyssey

Lecture: "Perfect Strangers: Odysseus and the Mediterranean World" / Michael Faletra

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 31 Aug

Homer, The Odyssey
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapters 2 and 3, pp 16-50

Lecture: "Conversations with Gods" / Paul Hovda

Week 2

Mon 3 Sept

Labor Day

Wed 5 Sept

Homer, The Odyssey

Lecture: "The Hero at Home?" / Elizabeth Drumm

Additional Resource: Lecture Images

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 7 Sept

"The Great Hymn to Osiris", Lichtheim II, pp. 81-86 (on e-reserves)
"Coffin Text 148" (Simpson 263-265) (on e-reserves)
"Horus and Seth" (Lichtheim II:214-223) (on e-reserves)
Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.

Lecture: "Sirius Rising: Religion and Art in Ancient Egypt" / Pancho Savery

Additional Resource: Lecture Images

Additional Resource: Lecture Images: Ancient Egypt at a Glance

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout: Quotes for Sirius Rising

FIRST PAPER DUE Saturday, Sept. 8th at 5 p.m. See Paper Topics

Week 3

Mon 10 Sept

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
"Pyramid Texts" (Lichtheim I:29-50) and "Coffin Texts" (Lichtheim I:131-133) (on e-reserves)
"The Book of the Dead" (Lichtheim II:119-132) (on e-reserves)
"The Dialogue of a Man and His Soul", Tale of Sinuhe and Other Egyptian Poems, pp. 151-65
"The Tale of Sinuhe", Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, pp. 21-53

Lecture: "Tomorrow is the Question: The Literature of Death" / Pancho Savery

Additional Resource: Lecture Images

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout: Bibliography

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout: Quotes

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout: Terms

Wed 12 Sept

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
"Sinuhe" and "The Teachings of Khety," Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, pp. 21-53, 273-83;
Frood, "Social Structure and Daily Life: Pharaonic," Blackwell Companion to Ancient Egypt, pp. 469-89, (on e-reserves);

Lecture: "’The Barbarian Born in the Homeland’: Literature and the Symbolic Order of the Middle Kingdom" / Nigel Nicholson

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 14 Sept

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
"Karnak," Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (on e-reserves);
"The Teaching for King Merikare," Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, pp. 212-234;
Spencer, "Priests and Temples: Pharaonic," Blackwell Companion to Ancient Egypt, pp. 255-73 (on e-reserves);

Lecture: "Monuments, Time and Power" / David Garrett

Additional Resource: Digital Karnak

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Week 4

Mon 17 Sept

Fowler, Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt (selections) (on e-reserves)
Foster, Ancient Egyptian Literature (selections) (on e-reserves)

Lecture: "The Egyptian Book of the Living" / Mari Jyväsjärvi

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 19 Sept

Hesiod , Theogony

Lecture: "Telling Creation" / Nathalia King

Additional Resource: Lecture Images

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 21 Sept

Hesiod, Works and Days
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapter 4, pp. 51-69

Lecture: "The World of Hesiod" / David Garrett

Week 5

Mon 24 Sept

Study these images before lecture and conference:
Hurwit: Idea of Order
Geometric vases
Red/white figure vases
Hurwit, The Art and Culture of Early Greece, pp. 71-124 (on e-reserves)

Lecture: "The Aesthetics of Urn Burial" / Robert Knapp

Additional Resource: Vase Study Guide

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 26 Sept

Study these images before lecture and conference:
Fighting Over Art
Kouroi
Kore
Hurwit, The Art and Culture of Early Greece, pp. 179-202 (on e-reserves);
Hall, "Ethnicity and Cultural Exchange," Blackwell Companion to Archaic Greece, chapter 31 (sections 1,2,3) (on e-reserves)

Lecture: "Early Greek Sculpture and Temple Architecture" / Maureen Harkin

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 28 Sept

Presocratics Reader (2nd. edition), pp 1-126

Lecture: "The Presocratics and Religion" / Steve Arkonovich

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Greek Classic Theatre of Oregon: Helen of Troy, by Euripides
The Classical Greek Theatre of Oregon presents A. Loizidis National Theatre School of Greece performing "Helen of Troy" by Euripides. The play will be performed in the Cerf Amphitheatre for just one weekend, Friday Sept 28 and Saturday Sept 29, both days at 12 noon. Tickets: $10–15. Free admission to Reed students, faculty, and staff with Reed ID.

Week 6

Mon 1 Oct

Miller, Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation, Archilochus, Tyrtaeus, Alcman, Solon, Stesichorus, Xenophanes, pp. 1-19, 31-38, 64-81, 107-111
Pindar's "Pythian 1" pp. 146-51
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapter 5, pp. 70-93

Lecture: "Early Greek Lyric Poetry and the Polis" / Hugo Moreno

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 3 Oct

Miller, Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation, Sappho (pp. 51-63), Theognis, pp. 82-94, Ibycus, pp. 95-98, Anacreon, pp. 99-103

Lecture: "Defining Eros" / Nathalia King

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 5 Oct

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
Axworthy, "Origins: Zoroaster, the Achaemenids, and the Greeks," A History of Iran, pp. 1-30 (on e-reserves);
Allen, "Royal Capitals," The Persian Empire, pp. 59-85 (on e-reserves);
Royal inscriptions (selections), The Persian Empire, Kuhrt, ed., 70-74, 141-158, 492-158, 492-495, 503-505 (on e-reserves)

Lecture: "Empire of All Kinds" / Margot Minardi

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: Lecture Bibliography

Additional Resource: Supplemental images of Achaemenid Persia

Additional Resource: Persepolis 3D

Additional Resource: Images from Allen, "Royal Capitals"

SECOND PAPER DUE Saturday, Oct. 6th, 5 p.m. See Paper Topics

Week 7

Mon 8 Oct

Genesis

Lecture: "A History of the Beginning" / David Garrett

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: Table: Who Wrote Genesis?

Wed 10 Oct

Genesis

Lecture: "Babble" / Jan Mieszkowski

Thurs 11 Oct Lecture" Richard Neer, 7:00 pm, VLH

Fri 12 Oct

Selections from Exodus (1-35, 40.16-34)

Lecture: "Moses as a Nation Builder" / Tamara Metz

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: Exodus Sources

OCTOBER 13 – OCTOBER 21: FALL BREAK

Week 8

Mon 22 Oct

Selections from Exodus (25-29; 31)
Selections from Ezra (1-4);
Selections from 1 Kings (5:1 – 9:9);
Jaffee, Early Judaism, pp. 20-25; 172-188 (on e-reserves)
(Suggested Additional Reading: Rosenberg, "The Jewish Temple at Elephantine" [on e-reserves])

Lecture: "Remembering the Temple" / Michael Foat

Wed 24 Oct

The Book of Esther

Lecture: "Narratives and Identities: Jews in the Persian Empire" / Gail Sherman

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 26 Oct

The Book of Job

Lecture: "The Book of Job: Approaches, Contexts, Readings" / Marat Grinberg

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Week 9

Mon 29 Oct

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
F. Lissarague, "The Athenian Image of the Foreigner", 101-24 (on e-reserves);
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapter 6, pp. 94-123

Lecture: "Greece Meets Persia; Athens and the Invention of the Barbarian" / Ellen Millender

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 31 Oct

Aeschylus, The Persians

Lecture: "The Other Point of View" / Jay Dickson

Fri 2 Nov

Herodotus, Histories, Bk/Ch. 1.1-1.170; 1.201-216

Lecture: "Oracular History and Athenian Empire" / Margot Minardi

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: Lecture Bibliography

Week 10

Mon 5 Nov

Herodotus, Histories, Bk/Ch. 2.1-64, 2.113-120, 2.142-51, 2.164-182; 3.1-38, 3.66-89; 5.39-78.

Lecture: "Herodotus the Tourist: The Role of Ethnography in Herodotus’ Histories" / Ellen Millender

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 7

Nov Herodotus, Histories, Bk/Ch. 6.48-84, 6.103-131; 7.1-152, 7.172-239.

Lecture: "Herodotus: History and Narrative Form" / Maureen Harkin

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Fri 9 Nov

Herodotus, Histories, Bk/Ch. 8.1-103, 9.17-82, 9.108-122.

Lecture: Panel Discussion (Margot Minardi, Ellen Millender, Maureen Harkin)

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

THIRD PAPER DUE Saturday, Nov. 10th, 5 p.m. See Paper Topics

Week 11

Mon 12 Nov

Aeschylus, "Agamemnon" and "The Libation Bearers," Oresteia

Lecture: "Theater and Ritual" / Robert Knapp

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Mon 12 Nov Lecture: Andrew Stewart, 7:00 p.m., VLH

Wed 14 Nov

Aeschylus, "The Eumenides," Oresteia

Lecture: "Justice in the Oresteia" / Peter Steinberger

Fri 16 Nov

Sophocles, Antigone

Lecture: "Antigone and Athenian Anxieties" / Tamara Metz

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Additional Resource: Antigone Lecture Sources

Week 12

Mon 19 Nov

Visual Images: study these images before lecture and conference.
Kousser, "Destruction and Memory on the Athenian Acropolis" (on e-reserves);
Castriota, "The Parthenon Frieze, Persia and the Athenian Empire" (on e-reserves)

Lecture: "Iconoclasm, Image Excess, and Power: An Attempt at an Anthropology of the Visual in Ancient Athens" / William Diebold

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 21 Nov

PreSocratics: Presocratics Reader (2nd. edition), pp. 144-161

Lecture: "‘Sophists’ and Sophists"/ Troy Cross

NOVEMBER 22 – NOVEMBER 25: THANKSGIVING VACATION

Week 13

Mon 26 Nov

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Introduction, Bk/Ch. 1.1-1.46;
Martin, Ancient Greece, chapter 8, pp. 147-62

Lecture: "Thucydides and the Purpose of History" / Walter Englert

Wed 28 Nov

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Bk/Ch. 2.1-2.65

Lecture: "Democracy Amid Disaster: Thucydides and the Plague of Athens" / Simon Finger

Fri 30 Nov

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Bk/Ch. 3.1-3.85, 5.13-5.24, 5.83-5.116

Lecture: "Thucydidean Thought" / Peter Steinberger

FOURTH PAPER DUE Saturday, Dec. 1st, 5 p.m. See Paper Topics

Week 14

Mon 3 Dec

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Bk/Ch. 6.1-6.41, 6.88-93, 6.105-7.18, 7.49-7.87, 8.65-8.71, 8.96-98

"The Limits of Democracy" / Robert Knapp

Additional Resource: Lecture Handout

Wed 5 Dec

Euripides, The Bacchae

Panel on The Bacchae / Jan Mieszkowski, Elizabeth Drumm, Walter Englert

FINAL EXAM: Thursday, Dec. 13th, 2012, 8 am - noon