Announcements

Welcome to Week 10!

28 March 2026

This week we’re talking about the two influential cities that emerge in the Archaic period, both with opposing and increasingly extreme ideas of what it means to be Greek. One is Sparta, a society dedicated to the art of war, and the other is Athens.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. What do you think goes into making the Spartans like this—so different, so focused on being warriors? What does being a warrior society mean to them? Why aren’t more poleis like this, especially given the other cities are so impressed by the Spartans’ dedication? What are the biggest drawbacks of the Spartan system?

How are the Athenians different, and why? What’s their vision of the ideal society? What makes the Athenian system keep changing so much, while Sparta becomes fixed in their dedication to the art of war?

Also, we enter the middle section of Clouds, where the “Socrates” character gets weirder and weirder, and Strepsiades gets more and more confused. What do you think Aristophanes is getting at here? What was he trying to show by having “Socrates” talk about the gods in this way?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you on Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

Welcome to Week 9!

20 March 2026

This week we’ll be starting our exploration of the Greek idea, beginning with the Greek Dark Age—the period during which the Greeks recovered from the collapse of the Bronze Age and built a new civilization.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. The Greek Dark Age is frustrating and fascinating to historians of ancient Greece, because this period of rebirth, during which the foundations and chief elements of Hellas as we know it come into being, happens while the Greeks have no writing system, and so there are no literature or records until the very end—we can’t hear them creating a new Greek society.

What do you think most drove the Greeks during the Dark Age? If the communities of the Aegean were so isolated and so fiercely independent, how did they end up having so much in common? How did they end up with such a clear idea of what it meant to be Greek?

We’re also reading the first sections of Clouds. What is Strepsiades worried about at the start of the play? What impressions do you get of “Socrates” and the Thinkery? Do you get a sense of what the playwright, Aristophanes, is trying to say here?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you Tuesday!

Link to Schedule page

Welcome to Week 8!

14 March 2026

The midterm exam will be held in-person on Tuesday, March 17 in our normal meeting room and class period. Please arrive on time. You will only have the normal class period (from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m.) to take the exam. Make-up exams will be arranged only in cases of documented medical/family emergency.

The review sheet (detailing content and structure) is posted on the Exams page on the course website, along with links to other resources. Make use of your notes, fellow students, quiz notes, and so on. Remember the Videos page has videos on every subject covered in class. The midterm will cover everything in the course so far up through the meeting on the Persian Empire.

This course focuses on the Mediterranean, but after the exam we’re taking a side trip to ancient Asia this week as well. Why did the Greeks romanticize the Scythian barbarians? Is it a coincidence that the same kinds of things are happening in the Indus valley as are happening in Mesopotamia and along the Nile? What jumps out at you about the culture and religion of ancient South and East Asia?

See the sticky at the top of the Announcements page for more guidance on the exam. Email me with any questions, and good luck!

Link to Schedule page

Midterm Exam review sheet posted

8 March 2026

The midterm review sheet is now available on the Exams page, either as a web page or as a PDF. The first page details the content and structure of the midterm, which will cover everything up through the prior class meeting (March 12).

The midterm exam will be held in person on Tuesday, March 17 in our normal meeting room and class period. Please arrive on time. You will only have the normal class period (from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m.) to take the exam. Please note: You must attend and take the exam in person on March 17. I do not give make-up exams except in the case of a documented medical/family emergency.

The review sheet is not designed to be a list of answers so much as questions you can use to guide you toward the areas you want to focus on in your review. As you read through the questions on the review sheet, group those you have a sense of how you might answer as having a lower priority for review than those questions you’re not sure how you would answer. The ones you’re less sure of, you’d then want to go back and spend some time reviewing, using your notes, the readings, the videos, quiz notes, and class discussions.

Also note that the terms are a useful way of finding concepts you need to go back and review, so I’d advise stepping through the terms at the end of each topic and making sure you have a sense of what they mean and why we’re studying them.

To prepare for the essay, I suggest that you focus on the main themes of the course as discussed in the first meeting and the welcome video—individual/community, mortal/divine, male/female, city/empire—and think about possible questions that relate to those topics across the cultures and peoples we’ve explored. For the essay you’ll be asked to give three examples, so as you prepare, you can sketch out a question about (for example) ancient peoples and their gods and three similar or contrasting examples of societies that show what the gods meant to the ancients.

We will discuss further in class—please come to class with questions about anything you’re not sure of or want to hear more about.

Link to Exams page