ARCH 0420 Archaeologies of the Greek Past
Instructor: Fotini Kondyli Email: [email protected] Teaching assistant: Müge Durusu Email: [email protected] Course website: http://proteus.brown.edu/greekpast2014/Home Course blog: http://blogs.brown.edu/arch-0420-2014-spring-s01/ Meets: MWF 1:00-1:50pm, Rhode Island Hall 108
Course description: From Bronze Age palaces to the Acropolis in Athens and on the trail of Alexander the Great, this course explores the ancient Greek world through archaeology—using art, architecture, and everyday objects to learn about ancient Greek society, from the mysterious to the mundane. It also considers how we experience ancient Greece today, including questions about archaeological practice, the antiquities trade, and cultural heritage.
Prerequisites: None. Students are responsible for doing the assigned reading before class and hand in their assignments on time. Students are also expected to comply with Brown’s Code of Student conduct (http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Office_of_Student_Life/judicial_affairs/randr/con duct_standards.html).
Evaluation scheme: Midterm 15% Final exam 30% Group project- Time mapper project 15% 3 Writing assignments 10% each, 30% Blog entries and comments 10%
Exams: Midterm (February 28). For the midterm students will be examined on the taught material up to the end of Week 5. The midterm will be 50 minutes long and will consist of image recognition questions, multiple choice questions and questions that require short answers.
Final exam (Date TBA). The final exam will be cumulative and will examine the material taught throughout the semester. It will be 1 hour and 30 minutes and will consist of a section on image recognition, short questions and an essay question.
Writing Assignments: Writing assignment #1: Political propaganda and the built environment in classical Athens (Due Feb 21) In this essay students can choose to focus on a specific building, a category of buildings (civic buildings, temples, fountains etc), an area (the Athenian Agora, the Acropolis, the Kerameikos cemetery etc.) or the building program of Classical Athens to examine how ancient Athenians conveyed political and social messages that informed their identity and political ideology through the built environment. The essay should be 3-4 pages long (1.5 space, 12 fonts). Writing assignment #2: What can houses tell us about ancient Greek society? (Due March 14). In this essay students will explore aspects of ancient Greek society based on the archaeology of ancient Greek houses. Students might choose to focus on social or economic activities, the role of social groups within the house or discuss recent approaches to the study of ancient houses. The essay should be 3-4 pages long (1.5 space, 12 fonts). For more information check the course’s wiki. Writing assignment # 3: Interpret an ancient Greek burial (Due April 18). Students will choose a case study of a published burial and study its location, architecture, finds, position of the dead and surrounding landscape and offer an interpretation of the symbolism, meaning and objectives of the burial. Period-specific mortuary practices, social structure, political formation, views on death and afterlife must be considered. The chosen case study can belong to any period from Minoan to Roman. The essay should be 3-4 pages long (1.5 space, 12 fonts). For more information check the course’s wiki.
Group project: Time mapper
Students will work on groups for this assignment. Groups will be formed in Week 4 and each group will decide on a category of objects, structures or group of people that they wish to map their location using the open lab Time mapper http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/ . Before mapping, students must have gathered all necessary information and images of their objects/buildings that will accompany their geographic location. The aim of the assignment is for students to have the opportunity to create a narrative of ancient Greece with a geographic component and share this with a wider audience. Groups will spend the class on Friday March 14 to bring together the information and material they will have be compiling the previous weeks and start mapping. The final product should be ready by Friday March 31.
Class blog
This course will use a Brown blog (http://blogs.brown.edu/arch-0420-2014-spring-s01/) as a platform of communication between the students of the class as well as with the Brown community and the general public. The blog is also meant as an engaging way for students to develop their writing skills and experience how their writing can be powerful, interesting to others and influential. Students will take turns and post some of the main ideas and discussions during workshop Fridays in class. In weeks with no workshop, students will have the opportunity to discuss aspects of ancient Greek archaeology and art based on the week’s topic, present their favorite artifacts or create a new theme relevant to the class. All students are encouraged to read and respond weekly to their fellow students’ posts.
Course organization:
Mondays and Wednesdays include mostly lectures on the main themes examined in the course. Mondays usually are dedicated to a chronological overview of a specific theme, for example religion in the ancient world, and Wednesdays are spent pursuing a more in depth analysis of the week’s theme, focusing on case studies and specific example. Most Fridays are organized as workshops in which we meet to discuss and debate on fundamental archaeological ideas, major scholarly controversies and try to interpret and reconstruct the past from the study of ancient objects and archaeological remains. Friday discussions are posted on the class blog weekly and students are expected to contribute to the blog by posts and/or comments on a weekly basis.
Required texts (on order at the Brown Bookstore):
Christopher Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach (2011) James Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece (2001)
Optional: Susan E. Alcock and Robin Osborne, eds., Classical Archaeology (2007)
The rest of you weekly readings are available on the wiki’s private forum and on canvas (http://proteus.brown.edu/greekpast14private/Home)
Week 1 Between Past and Present
Wednesday, January 22 The Ancient Greek world and us. Why should we care? http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-admit-to-inventing-ancient-greeks,18209/
Friday, January 24 Workshop #1 From Indian Jones to modern archaeological investigation.
A.Snodgrass, ‘What is Classical Archaeology?, 1 pp. 4-29.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, pp. 42-50.
Week 2 The rise of complex societies - Part I.
Monday, January 27 : The Cyclades
E. H Cline (ed), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age, Chapters 6 and 9.
T. Whitelaw, ‘The Development of an Island Centre: Urbanization at Phylakopi on Melos’, pp. 149-163.
Wednesday, January 29 : The Minoans
R. Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean art, Chapter 1.
J.F. Cherry, ‘Polities and palaces: some problems in Minoan state-formation’, pp. 19-46.
Friday, January 31 Workshop # 1 The mysteries of Cycladic idols
E. A. Hendrix, ‘Painted early Cycladic figures: An exploration of context and meaning’, Hesperia (2003): 405-446.
G. L. Hoffman, ‘Painted Ladies: Early Cycladic II Mourning Figures?’American Journal of Archaeology, 106 (2002): 525-550
P. Getz-Gentle, Pat. “The Male figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture’ Metropolitan Museum Journal 15 (1981), 5-30.
Week 3 The rise of complex societies - Part II.
Monday, February 3 : From Minoans to Mycenaeans
R. Higgins, Minoan and Mycenaean art, Chapter 4.
K.A. Wardle, ‘The palace civilizations of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece 2000-1200 BC', pp. 202-43.
Wednesday, February 5 : The Mycenaeans
E. H. Cline (ed), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age, Chapter 18.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 5.
Friday, February 7 : Workshop #2 The rise and fall of civilizations
C. Thomas and C. Conant, Citadel to City-State: The Transformation of Greece, 1200-700 BCE, Chapter 1.
J. Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Chapter 1.
G. Middleton, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies’, Journal of Archaeological Research 20/3 (2012): 257-307.
Week 4 The rise of the Polis
Monday, February 10
I.Morris, ‘The early polis as city and state’, pp. 25-57.
C. Thomas and C. Conant, Citadel to City-State: The Transformation of Greece, 1200-700 BCE, Chapter 4.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 8.
Wednesday, February 12 The Classical city
S. Alcock and R. Osborne (eds), Classical Archaeology, Chapter 5a.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 12.
Friday, February 14 Workshop #3 The city state of Athens
J. Camp and E. Fisher, The World of the Ancient Greeks, Chapter 13.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, 118-143.
T. Hölscher, ‘Images and political identity: the case of Athens.’ Democracy, empire, and the arts in fifth-century Athens (1998): 295-326.
Writing assignment #1: Politics and the built environment in classical Athens (Due Feb 21.)
Week 5 The making of Empires: From Alexander the Great to Rome
Monday, February 17 NO CLASS
Wednesday, February 19: The Hellenistic World
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 15.
S. Alcock, J. Gates, and J. Rempel, ‘Reading the Landscape: Survey Archaeology and the Hellenistic Oikoumene’, pp. 354-372.
Friday, February 21 Greeks under Roman rule
S. Alcock, Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece, Chapter 1.
C.K. Williams, ‘Roman Corinth as a Commercial Center’, 31-46.
Week 6 The art and archaeology of ancient Greek religion
Monday, February 24
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, pp.255-285.
C. Morgan, ‘The Evolution of a Sacral 'Landscape': Isthmia, Perachora, and the Early Corinthian State’, pp. 105-142.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 7.
Wednesday, February 26
R. Osborne, ‘Archaic and Classical Greek temple sculpture and the viewer’, pp. 228-246.
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, pp.286- 298.
Friday, February 28 *Midterm*
Week 7 The Greek Home
Monday, March 3
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 4.
S. Alcock and R. Osborne, Classical Archaeology, Chapter 6a.
Wednesday, March 5
L. Nevett, House and Society in the Ancient Greek World, Chapters 4 and 5.
Friday, March 7 Workshop #4 on the role of women in ancient Greek society.
S. Walker, ‘Women and housing in Classical Greece: the archaeological evidence’, pp. 81-91. S. Lewin, The Athenian Woman: An Iconographic Handbook, Chapter 1.
J. Burton, ‘Women's commensality in the ancient Greek world’, Greece and Rome 45.02 (1998): 143-165. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/01/genetics.sciencenews
Writing assignment #2 What can houses tell us about ancient Greek society? (Due March 14)
Week 8 Production & trade
Monday, March 10: Production
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 6.
J. Boardman, The history of Greek vases, pottery, painters and pictures, pp. TBA.
Wednesday, March 12 : Trade & Colonization
Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 6.
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 7.
Friday, March 14 :Time mapper project group session
*Time mapper projects are due to March 31*
Week 9 The ancient Greek countryside
Monday, March 17
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 5.
A. Mersch, ‘Urbanization of the Attic countryside from the late 8th to the 6th centuries, pp. 45- 62.
Wednesday, March 19
S. Alcock and R. Osborne, Classical Archaeology, Chapter 4a.
J. Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Chapter 14.
Friday, March 21 Workshop #5 Survey archaeology and the Greek countryside
A.Snodgrass, An Archaeology of Greece: The Present State and Future Scope of a Discipline, Chapter 4.
J. Bintliff, The Complete Archaeology of Greece: From Hunter-Gatherers to the 20th Century A.D., pp. 270-284.
Week 10 Spring Recess
Monday, March 22- Sunday, March 30
Week 11 Warfare in the ancient Greek world
Monday , March 31
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 8.
H. van Wees, Greek Warfare, Myths & Realities, Chapter 4.
Wednesday, April 2
A.M. Snodgrass, A. M. 1999. Arms and Armour of the Greeks, Chapter 3.
H. van Wees, Greek Warfare, Myths & Realities, Chapter 9.
Friday, April 4 Workshop #6 The representation of warfare in ancient Greece
A.Stewart, Art, Desire, and the Body in Ancient Greece, pp. 86-97.
T. Hölscher, ‘Images of war in Greece and Rome: Between military practice, public memory, and cultural symbolism’, The Journal of Roman Studies 93 (2003): 1-17.
J. Hurwit, ‘Reading the Chigi vase’, Hesperia (2002): 1-22.
Week 12 Death and mortuary practices in the ancient Greek world
Monday, April 7
I. Morris, Burial and Ancient Society: The Rise of the Greek City-State, Part 1.
C. Mee, Greek Archaeology: A Thematic Approach, Chapter 9.
Wednesday, April 9
I. Morris, Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity, Chapters 4 and 5.
Friday, April 11: Workshop #7 How to read a burial
I. Morris, Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity, Chapter 7.
S. Voutsaki, ‘Mortuary evidence, symbolic meanings and social change: a comparison between Messenia and the Argolid in the Mycenaean period’, pp. 41-58.
M.A. Liston and J.K. Papadopoulos, ‘The" Rich Athenian Lady" Was Pregnant: The Anthropology of a Geometric Tomb Reconsidered’, Hesperia (2004): 7-38.
Writing assignment # 3: Interpret a grave context (Due April 18)
Week 13 Festivals, games and parties in the ancient Greek world.
Monday, April 14: Cults and religious festivals
J.D. Mikalson, Ancient Greek Religion, Chapter 4.
C. Sourvinou-Inwood, ‘Festivals and Mysteries: aspects of the Eleusinian Cult’, pp. 25-50.
Wednesday, April 16: The Olympic and Panathenaic Games
J. Fontenrose, ‘The Cult of Apollo and the Games at Delphi’, pp. 121-140.
J. Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games, pp. 7-37.
J. Neil, Goddess and polis: the Panathenaic Festival in ancient Athens, pp. TBA.
Friday, April 18 Workshop: #8 Feasting and commensality in the ancient Greek world
S. Sherratt, ‘Feasting in Homeric epic’, Hesperia (2004): 301-337.
K. Topper, The Imagery of the Athenian Symposium, Chapter 2.
Week 14 The ancient world in a modern perspective
Monday, April 21
Y. Hamilakis, The nation and its ruins: antiquity, archaeology, and national imagination in Greece, Chapter 4.
K. Kotsakis, ‘The Past is ours: Images of Greek Macedonia’, pp. 44-67.
Times magazine on privatizing Greece’s antiquities http://world.time.com/2014/01/18/can-privatization-save-the-treasures-of-ancient- greece/
Wednesday, April 23: No class
Friday, April 25: No class
Week 15 The ancient world in a modern perspective part II
Monday, April 28 : The battle of the Parthenon marbles http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/specials/treasure-wars/elgin-marbles-tw/
Y. Hamilakis, The nation and its ruins: antiquity, archaeology, and national imagination in Greece, Chapter 7.
Wednesday, April 30 : Revision & Final thoughts.