Announcements

Welcome to Week 5!

27 September 2026

This week we’re talking about Sparta and the art of war.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. What do you think went 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?

Is the Spartan experiment a success, in Greek terms? What are the most positive aspects of the Spartan society, in terms of things like the well-being of its citizens? What are the biggest drawbacks of the Spartan system?

A lot is made of the distinctive situation for women in the Spartan culture. How do the Spartan women view their society, do you think?

And there’s this thing called the “Spartan Mirage.” What do you think that’s really about—for Greeks living in the same time as the Spartans, and for modern historians as well?

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

Link to Schedule page

History Club and Phi Alpha Theta

21 September 2026

The Lehman College History Club is looking for students to fill its leadership positions! Interested in joining or becoming President, Vice President, Secretary, or Treasurer? Please contact Professor Holtzman at benjamin.holtzman@lehman.cuny.edu.

The Club is open to ALL, not just History majors. In the past, the Club has organized movie nights, study sessions, trivia nights, field trips, etc. The Club has also tabled at various student events, which has helped draw students to the Club and to our classes.

The purpose of the History Club is to discuss topics about history, make friends who are interested in history, and create an environment where people can discuss history and their interest in history, and give advice to those who are unsure of what they want to pursue in history and related fields.

Lehman College also hosts the Pi Upsilon chapter (established in 1970) of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honors Society. After several years of inactivity, the chapter has experienced a resurgence in recent years, inducting two dozen new members. Phi Alpha Theta members are among our most accomplished students. The national Phi Alpha Theta Society was formed in 1921 and boasts over 900 chapters with more than 350,000 members. It sponsors regional meetings, scholarships and prizes, and the student journal Historian.

To be eligible, students must maintain at least a 3.1 GPA in four or more History courses and a 3.0 overall GPA (non-History majors are eligible to join). If you meet these standards and are interested in joining Lehman’s chapter, please contact Prof. Rhiannon Dowling (rhiannon.dowling@lehman.cuny.edu) or Prof. Benjamin Holtzman (benjamin.holtzman@lehman.cuny.edu).

Link to History Club

Welcome to Week 4!

20 September 2026

This week we’re talking about the period after the so-called Greek Dark Age, when from our perspective Hellas can be heard and seen again, with the foundations of Greek culture already laid down in the previous, unseen centuries.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. This is the time of the polis—the distinctive, kingless Greek city-state; of colonization, with Greek cities sending their people out into the Aegean, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean; and of the hoplite warrior. Also during this time: the rise of lyric poetry, a sharp contrast to the epic poetry of earlier times; and pan-Hellenism, the curious sense of commonality that grows among all these city-states with defiantly distinct and competitive identities. What do these cities really have in common? What does it mean to be Greek during this time, do you think? And how does that square with their bitter rivalries—not to mention reinventing war?

Two writers emerge during this period that are characteristic of the shifting Greek culture. One is Hesiod, who speaks from the point of view of the small landed farmer—unlike Homer, whose perspective was from the top of society down. What does Hesiod have to tell us about what it meant to be Greek, and is it different from the key values present in Homer’s work? Another author is Sappho, the most famous of the lyric poets. What does her poetry tell us about how Hellas is changing from the days of epic poetry told by rhapsodes?

Looking forward to discussing all this with you. See you Thursday!

Link to Schedule page

Welcome to Week 3!

13 September 2026

This week we’re talking about the so-called Greek Dark Age—the period during which the Greeks recovered from the collapse of the Bronze Age and built a new civilization.

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.

Some things to consider as you do the readings. Based on what you found notable in the text, 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?

Our best evidence is Homer, the result of stories performed and passed down orally through these centuries and written down at the end, and we’re reading a few excerpts from Iliad and Odyssey —two works that are to become the starting point for all Greek education, both in the Aegean and beyond.

I’m looking forward to discussing the readings from Homer. What is Homer telling us when he describes Achilles and Agamemnon decrying each other, with Briseis in the middle? What’s so significant about Patroklas’s death in Achilles’s armor? When Odysseus meets Nausicaa, what’s this story really about? Is Penelope just being a dutiful wife waiting all those years, or is there more to it, and why are the suitors shown as being so awful?

I enjoyed our discussion last week, and there’s some good stuff to explore this week. Looking forward to discussing it all with you on Thursday!

Link to Schedule page

Weekly responses start this week

6 September 2026

Each week, in addition to our in-class lecture and discussions, we’ll be having an online discussion in which everyone responds to a reading or some other prompt that relates to the week’s topics. The responses start this week with the Week 1 response, which is sort of an open introduction to thinking about history.

The weekly responses are a part of your grade, so making a substantive post every week will be part of the routine for this course. (I used to ask these kinds of questions about the readings on the quizzes in class, but I opted for shorter quizzes and shifted this discussion to the online responses.)

Responses are due by the Sunday after the class meetings for that week. For example, this week’s responses are due Sunday, September 6. Of course you can make your responses anytime during the week, and I’ll always particularly appreciate responses posted before the class meeting in case there are ideas or questions I want to bring up in class.

To post your response, go to the course website (follow the links sent previously, or find markbwilson dot com and click on Courses), then click on Responses on the side menu or site map. There’s a link there to the Week 1 thread on Brightspace. You can also go directly to Brightspace and click on the Discussion section. Click on “Week 1 Responses”; read the prompt; and then click on “Reply to Thread.”

Make sure your response is substantial—a paragraph or two of your personal thoughts, ideas, and reasoning. Please try to write in complete sentences so your thoughts are clearer to others. Remember, the environment here is academic, not social media; think of this page as being like a group discussion in class about a subject we’re all trying to explore and give our ideas and perspectives on. Try to add to the discussion with new ideas or a new take on what’s been brought up so far by other students.

Any questions or issues, email me and let me know!

Link to Responses page

Sign up for your first presentation!

6 September 2026

Thanks for the great meeting on Thursday. Here’s a quick reminder about signing up for presentations.

Over the course of the semester, we’ll be exploring a number of primary source readings—people from the ancient Greek world telling us what it’s like for them. Everyone will have a chance to briefly introduce two of these to the class in order to kick off our discussion of the text and what the reading is telling us. One’s on one of the readings from the first half of the semester, and the other is on a reading from the second half.

If you have not already, go ahead and sign up now for your first presentation. The sign-up page is on the course website (at markbwilson dot com), under Presentations. Look the list over and find one that seems like it might be interesting to spend a little time with when it comes up later in the semester. Each of the titles has a URL link to the reading, so you can get a preview. The dates we’ll be getting to each reading are there, too.

Feel free to ask me any questions!

Link to Presentations page