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HUM199Y Section L0372
Ancient Mediterranean World and the Rise of Christianity
Wednesdays 10-12 am in University College Room 175
Peter Richardson /University College H-12; phone 416-978-7157
Please note that I prefer communication by email <prchrdsn@chass.utoronto.ca> and that I have a webpage on which course information will be posted regularly <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~prchrdsn/>
DESCRIPTION: What was the character of the Mediterranean world 2000 years ago? Whaat features of its cities and towns would have impressed the careful observer? This seminar will examine the countries from Italy eastwards around the great inland sea, emphasizing the intersection of various cultural features (architecture, art, urban design, religion, literature, beliefs, burial practices, daily life). The general approach will emphasize the juxtaposition of physical evidence and literary productions reflecting specific cities or regions in the eastern half of the Mediterranean, using such authors as Strabo, Pliny the Younger and Pausanias as guides. Towards the end of the seminar we will consider the rise of Chrsitianity as a new religious movement, against this broad cultural background and other religious movements.
Open only to first year students.
Bibliography.
There is no textbook for the course. Each student will read widely both in primary and secondary texts relevant to the course; you should acquire some of the following books by ancient writers. Those titles that are bolded are among the most useful. Copies of many of these will be found at the Wycliffe College Bookstore, just north of University College, off Tower Road, at discount prices.
PRIMARY TEXTS
The two most directly relevant are not available in inexpensive editions, but only in bilingual multi-volume editions:
Pliny the Elder, Natural History (Loeb Library Edition, 10 volumes), a compendium of interesting facets of life from an acute observer;
Strabo, The Geography (Loeb Library Edition, 8 volumes), sometimes called the world's first ethnographer;
The following are available in inexpensive editions, and deal in various ways with relevant materials:
Pliny the Younger, The Letters of (London: Penguin, 1961 ff.), includes his correspondence with the Emperor Trajan;
Vitruvius, On Archtiecture (New York: Dover, 1960 ff.), a guide to planning and architecture and related matters at the turn of the eras;
Pausanias, Guide to Greece, 2 volumes ((London: Penguin, 1979 ff.) a guide to cities, buildings, religion, mythology and more.
Josephus, Jewish War (London: Penguin, ), an account of Judean social history from the Hasmoneans to the year 70 CE;
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (London: Penguin, 1979 ff.), a history of the early Principate from Caesar to Domitian;
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome (London: Penguin, 1977 ff.), a history of Rome from Tiberius to Nero;
Livy, Rome and the Mediterranean (London: Penguin, 1976 ff.), a history of Rome in the Late Republic, 201-167 BCE
Plutarch, Makers of Rome (London: Penguin, 1965 ff.), selections from Plutarch's larger work that include the Gracchi, Brutus, Mark Antony.
SECONDARY WORKS
James C. Anderson, Roman Architecture and Society (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)
Ian Hodder, et al., eds., Interpreting Archaeology: Finding Meaning in the Past (London: Routledge, 1995)
Chris Scarre, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (London: Penguin, 1995)
Tim Cornell & John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
John Stambaugh, The Ancient Roman City (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988)
O. F. Robinson, Ancient Rome, City Planning and Administration (London: Routledge, 1992)
Andrew Lintott, Imperium Romanum: Politics and Administration (London: Routledge, 1993)
John Rich & Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, eds., City and Country in the Ancient World (London: Routledge, 1991)
J. B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture (London: Penguin, 1983)
Daily Life in Ancient Rome, several books with similar titles, the best known is by Jerome Carcopino (New Haven: Yale University Press, various dates); also Lionel Casson (New York: American Heritage, 1975); Florence Dupont (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992); Jack Lindsay, on Roman Egypt (Lodonon: Muller, 1963); Henri Daniel-Rops, on Palestine (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962).
Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East 31 BC - AD 337 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)
Joseph Jay Deiss, Herculaneum, Italy's Buried Treasure (Malibu: John Paul Getty Museum, 1989)
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994
L. Richardson, jr, Pompeii, an Architectural History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1988)
Michael Grant, The Art and Life of Pompeii and Herculaneum (New York: Newsweek 1979)
Gustav Hermansen, Ostia, Aspects of Roman City Life (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1982)
SYLLABUS
. Introduction to the Seminar: scope, organization, work
required, grading, etc. n/a 20 Sept Life in the Mediterranean World in a fist-century CE
rural setting: POMPEII, HERCULANEUM Read one of the books on daily life, or an introduction
to Pompeii, Herculaneum, or Ostia 27 Sept Life in the Mediterranean World in a second- to
third-century mercantile setting: OSTIA ditto 4 October Life at the centre of the Mediterranean world in the 1st
century BCE-2nd century: ROME ditto 11 October FIRST ASSIGNMENT DUE CORINTH, a Roman colony Pausanias 2.1-4 (Penguin, volume 1:129-41) 18 October DELPHI and ELEUSIS, two religious sites James Religion: Ancient, Ruler cult Josie Food, drink, clothing Pasuanias 10.1-16 (Penguin, volume 1:403 [esp. 424] - 447) 25 October ATHENS, intellectual centre Kristina Death and burial Debby Religious buildings Pausanias 1.14-24 (Penguin, volume 1: 42-70) 1 November PERGAMUM, centre of healing Ken Patronage & benefactions Adam Army legions & auxiliaries Strabo, Geography 13.4.1-3 (Loeb, volume 6:163-71) 8 November SARDIS and the Imperial cult Maggie Famil y Matt Entertainment, punishment Strabo, Geography 13.4.4-5 (Loeb, volume 6: 171-75) 15 November PRIENE and benefactions Luc Gagnon Medecine & Healing TBA . Strabo, Geography 14.1.12 (Loeb, volume 6: 211) 22 November MILETUS and DIDYMA, processions TBA . TBA . Strabo, Geography 14.1.5-7 (Loeb, volume 6: 205-9) 29 November EPHESUS and Imperial patronage TBA . TBA . Strabo, Geography 14.1.21-25 (Loeb, volume 6: 225-31 6 December APHRODISIAS as a city of sculpture TBA . TBA . .
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
Regular attendance and participation is expected. Students are responsible for making two oral class presentations (one in each term), and three written presentations (one book review, and two essays), as follows:
Two oral presentations To be scheduled individually one in
each term 20% Three written assignments Book review 1000 words 10% 11 October 2000 Preliminary essay (problem/annotated
bibliography) 1000 words 15% 17 January 2001 Final essay 3500 words 25% 28 March 2001 50% Final exam To be anounced 30% . . 100%
.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Details will be given in class. These may be either discussions of an issue related to a particular site or a particular aspect of life in the ancient Mediterranean, or, in the second term, visual presentations (in which case my collection of slides is available). The rota will accommodate studuents' work schedules. See below for list of topics for first term presentations.
ESSAYS
The book review serves two purposes: to familarize students with some of the wealth of secondary materials available in the course, and to evaluate students' writing skills.
The preliminary essay establishes the subject matter of and the resources for writing the final essay. It consists of a statement of the problem to be tackled and an annotated bibliography of the resources on which you will rely.
The final essay is a careful piece of work, the topic of which will be negotiated individually in November or December through an interview. It focuses on a site, a building, an object, or some aspect of Mediterranean culture, religion or life related to the course material.
All written and oral work must be polished and carefully prepared. Those not familiar with expectations for university-level written work should consult <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/religion/essays.htm>
INTERNET
There is an enormous amount of information and misinformation available on the internet. While it is readily available, is sometimes well illustrated, often has links to other relevant sites, it has serious disadvantages: you cannot tell how reliable or eccentric it is, because many post all their wildest notions. Among the most useful sites available are those with translations of ancient texts (though sometimes old and unreadable translations, and often not carefully proof-read), photos and plans of sites (occasionally even archaeological site reports), and maps. IF you use an internet site, the cardinal rule is that you MUST cite it accurately and fully, giving the name of the "author," the site and page address, and the date it was posted, just as you would in citing a book, so that the reference can be checked.
Texts available include such authors as Horace, Josephus (Antiquities), Livy, Apuleius, Lucan, Ovid, Caesar, Pausanias, Cicero, Plutarch, Diodorus, Epictetus, Strabo, Tacitus, Galen, Virgil, Vitruvius (but do not include, for example, Pliny the Elder, except some short snippets). See list at <http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index.html>
PLAGIARISM
Plargiarism is passing off someone else's work as your work (see standard guides for avoiding plagiarism): not attributing direct quotations or ideas to the proper source, paraphrasing or only sightly changing your sources without attribution, copying material from the itnernet and forgetting where you have taken it from. The University takes plagiarism very seriously and lays on very serious penalties. So give yourself lots of time to work on essays, take careful notes, do not copy materials directly from the internet. It is better to give a reputable author credit than to pretend that the ideas you are using are yours. See further <http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/plagsep.html> or more generally <http://www.utoronto.ca/writing>
MATERIAL CULTURE
Royal Ontario Museum. An optional tour of relevant galleries in the Royal Ontario Museum will be organized some afternoon, in order to get some general sense of the kinds of materials that are available for study in the field.
Archaeology. Students find work on an archaeological excavation somewhere in the Mediterranean area a good opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the area and to gain a hands-on academic credit. I have for some time been involved in excavations in Israel, but there are lots of opportunities in other parts of the Greek and Roman worlds. Details of some will be given from time to time. For the dig at Khirbet Cana, see the information at
http://www.nexfind.com/ or http://www.ups.edu/religion/cana/canahome.htm or elsewhere on my website.
FIRST TERM PRESENTATIONS
The following represents a slight change from the earlier syllabus, to allow us to focus on some useful introductory topics related to life in ancient Rome. Instead of preparing a presentation this term on a specific site, it seems more appropriate to have you prepare a presentation on one of the following topics between now and Christmas. Two will be presented each class from now to Christmas.
General
Military affairs
Organization of provinces
Towns
Travel and trade
Religion
Philosophy (select one or two: Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics, Peripatetics, Middle Platonists, Neoplatonists)
Economy and industry
Daily Life
For general orientations and some bibliographic suggestions, consult the following reference tools. You are expected, however, to do more than summarize what you find in these reference books.
Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (New York: Oxford, 1998)
Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, eds., Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (New York: Oxford, 1998)
Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, eds., Oxford Classical Dictionary (New York: Oxford, 1996)
Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993).