BA History and French / Course details

This course offers the chance to explore in detail the history of the Classical Greek world (that is: the period from 478-322 BC), with especial reference to the politics and society of Athens and Sparta.  We will study the Athenian Empire; the Peloponnesian War; the ‘Golden Age’ of Athenian Democracy; the rise and fall of Classical Sparta; we will also refer to the rise of new major political players of the 4th century, Thebes and Macedon. The course places particular emphasis on close engagement with the rich ancient evidence for this period: we will read perhaps the greatest of all ancient historians (Thucydides), examine speeches from the Athenian lawcourts (dealing with cases ranging from trade disputes to adultery-related homicide), and study inscriptions which record the policies and politics of these states in fascinating detail.

This course aims to explore developments in Classical Greek internal and external politics and to examine the character of social relations, with especial reference to the politics and society of Sparta and democratic Athens, and with particular focus upon study of the original sources upon which modern interpretations are based.

 Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

• understand the development and character of Classical Greek politics and society
• reconstruct in a coherent way and in chronological order the narrative of this historical period

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

• assess and comment critically upon the original evidence in translation
• test modern interpretations against the ancient evidence
• combine evidence from different sources and produce a synthesis to answer broader and more specific research questions
• identify links between the history of the Classical Greek world and later ancient and modern perceptions of Classical Greece

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

• present a critical argument in writing and orally.
• process and filter a large amount of information in a timely fashion for coursework

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

• work independently by using resources available in the library
• work co-operatively in small groups for discussion and analysis of original documents.

Ancient sources:

• Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (either the Penguin Classics translation by R. Warner, 1972, or the Oxford Worlds Classics translation by M. Hammond, 2009)

Secondary literature:

• Rhodes, P. J., History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC (Blackwells, 2005)
• Hornblower, S., The Greek World, 479-323 BC (Routledge, 4th edn. 2011)
• Hansen, M. H., The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes (Blackwells, 2nd edn 1991)
• Osborne, R., ed., Classical Greece (OUP, 2000)
• Davidson, J., Courtesans and Fishcakes. The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens (Harper Collins, 1997)

Students who have not previously taken CAHE10011 Constructing Archaic Greek History will be expected to have acquired appropriate background knowledge. As a very brief starting point, try the article s.v. “Greece, prehistory and history of” that can be found in Hornblower, Spawforth & Eidinow, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. 4. For more detail on the Classical period, see Rhodes, above.