Complete assigned readings before class; lectures assume
familiarity with them.
Items underlined are in the course reader; all others are in texts
listed on the reverse.
Click here for a chonological list of
authors and other major figures.
Week 1. Prologue: Humanism, Classics, and Liberal Arts (Aug. 29)
Act I. The Greek Enlightenment (Weeks 2-8)
Week 2. Greeks and Others (Sep. 3, 5)
T: Plato Protagoras pp 137-56, Pollit #1
Th: Aeschylus Prometheus
Week 3. History and Tragedy (Sep. 10, 12)
T: Thucydides, Book 1.1-88 (esp. 1.1-23, 66-88)
Th: Sophocles Oedipus
Week 4. Civic Humanism: Democracy and War (Sep. 17, 19)
T: Thucydides, Book 2.1-77 (esp. 2.34-65), including Pericles'
Funeral Oration
Th: Thucydides, Book 3.1-88 (esp. 3.36-85)
Week 5. Comedy and Society (Sep. 24, 26)
T: Aristophanes Lysistrata
Th: Pollit #2
Week 6. Rhetoric and Education (Oct. 1, 3)
T: Plato Protagoras (esp. pp 145-67)
Th: Aristophanes Clouds
Week 7. Socratic Questions (Oct. 8, 10)
T: Plato Apology
Th: Plato Euthyphro
Week 8. Classical Synthesis: Reason and Human Nature (Oct. 15,
17)
T: Plato Symposium (esp. pp 250-74)
Th: Aristotle #3
** Midterm: take-home essays distributed Th. 10/17, due in class Tu 10/22
Act II. The Roman Renaissance (Weeks 9-15)
9. Cultural Imperialism: Greece in Rome (Oct. 22, 24)
T: TBA
Th: Terence Brothers
10. Cicero and Roman Oratory (Oct. 29, 31)
T: Cicero #4 and Cicero Orator pp 236-70
Th: Orator pp 270-336 (esp. 274-89)
11. Roman Philosophy (Nov. 5, 7)
T: Cicero Laelius (esp. pp 180-208)
Th: Cicero Scipio's Dream p 337-55
12. Horace and Roman Poetry (Nov. 12, 14)
T: Horace #5 and Odes 1.1-16, 37-8
Th: Odes 2.1-20, 3.1-8, 3.30
13. Virgil and the Epic of Rome (Nov. 19, 21)
T: Virgil Aeneid Book 1-2
Th: Aeneid 4, 6
14. War and Peace (Nov. 26)
T: Aeneid 7-8
Th: Thanksgiving
15. Empire and Civilization (Dec. 3, 5)
T: Aeneid 10-12
Th: Galinsky # 6, Veyne # 7
** Optional research papers are due in class Thursday Dec. 5
** Final exam: 9-12 Saturday Dec. 14