Fllt 330
Society and Spectacle in Ancient Greece and Rome
SPRING 2004


      Bull Leaping Fresco, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Crete. ca. 1450 BCE

 
Instructor: Dr. Annette L. Giesecke

Office: 445 Smith Hall, office hours 11:05- 11:45 Tues. and Thurs., x0545
             alg@udel.edu

 
General Aims: This course will trace the notion of the spectacle in various aspects of life in classical antiquity, religious and secular alike. From bull leaping contests in Bronze Age Crete, we will shift to mainland Greece, to the Parthenon and other wondrous structures on the Athenian acropolis, and to the sanctuaries at Delphi, Eleusis, and Olympia. Taking into account not only physical, archaeological remains but also literary sources, we will examine the spectacle of cult activity at these sanctuaries. From Greece, the course will shift to Roman Italy. We will decode the Roman villa, Etruscan graveyards, the architectural and artistic propaganda of the Caesars, and gladiatorial contests. 
 
Characterizing the course:
The idea of this course is to give students the impression of travel (albeit back in time), of experiencing life as the Greeks and Romans did in so far as we are able. It will be our aim as a class to discover the ways in which the Greeks and Roman sought out entertainment, spiritual fulfillment and venues for personal aggrandizement via spectacles of various sorts, architectural, theatrical, mystic, and athletic included.
As the spectacular can be found in such a diversity forms, a roughly chronological approach will be taken in order to provide a sense of cohesiveness to the material covered.

Texts:

Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History
        Oxford UP: New York. 1999.

Robin Waterfield (trans.). Plutarch: Greek Lives. Oxford UP: Oxford. 1998.

Karl Christ. The Romans. U of California P: Berkeley. 1984.

Robert Graves (trans.). Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars. Penguin: London. 1979.

 

Course Requirements:

Quizzes (3):15% each

Class Participation: 10%

Paper:45%
 

Paper : This paper has been conceived of as a creative exercise that will afford students the possibility of exploring the aspects of Greek and Roman life most interesting to them in some considerable depth. The style of the is that of a journal or diary. Students will be expected to recount their life experiences (as a citizen of either ancient Greece or Roman Italy) for the period of one month. These experiences must include a minimum of two “spectacles.” The possibilities are endless for such a writing exercise. In composing a journal, it is not necessary to write every day; for instance, illness or a particularly hectic schedule may prevent this.  Students may assume any persona and any gender. Remember that all sorts of events and activities can be included in a journal entry, however mundane they may appear. Think about the whole day, from sunrise to sunset and beyond. What would a Greek or a Roman do upon waking up? What later in the morning?… and so on. Where do you live? Where do you work? What do you do for relaxation and entertainment? Who are your family and friends? 
When research is undertaken for a particular aspect of life, sources of the information recounted must be documented employing proper footnote format (MLA guidelines). You may quote from ancient sources and include illustrations. The sky is pretty much the limit here. Above all, this exercise should be enjoyable. If you have any questions or worries at any time, please contact me. It would be advisable to start thinking about this project very early on in the course. Make a folder to collect ideas that you have as the semester progresses. It is also advisable to submit a draft of the first 1/4 or 1/3 of your paper in draft form prior to the deadline stipulated in the syllabus. The paper should be a minimum of 7,000 words in length (not nearly as hard as you think because it is a “creative” project) and is due on the last day of class. Grading criteria can be found on our course web page.

Guide to grading- autheniticity and descriptive "quality"  in the representation of : character  (20 pts), plot (20 pts), daily life (20 pts), spectacles (20 pts); presentation (10 pts), variety and quality of sources (10 pts)

Honors Section: Course requirements are slightly adjusted: quizzes 40%, class participation 10%, group project 10%, paper 40% / The group project (an activity to be completed in teams of 2 or 3) can be an in-class presentation (approx. 10 minutes) or a model-making exercise (building a simple model of a house, the Colloseum, a bedroom, whatever). The idea is that by participating in a group activity, Honors students will exchange ideas about daily life in classical antiquity and have some fun in the process. Please clear your “topic” with me before you embark on it.
 

 
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES:
TTTopics to be Covered (*nb: Please expect some degree of flexibility in the progression of topics.)

Week 1:  Feb. 10 Course introduction – overview of the gods of Greece and Rome
  12 Greece in the Bronze Age – Minoans, the Palace of Minos, Snake Goddesses     and Bull Leaping

Week 2:  17: Santorini – the so-called Naval Fresco, Mycenae, and the Fall of Troy
  19: Dark Age and Geometric Greece- Funeral Games and other fun

Week 3:  24: The city of Athens : Historical background, Solon, Pericles and Alcibiades
  26: The Panathenaic Festival and the Acropolis

Week 4:  Mar. 2 Dionysus and the Origins of the Greek Theater
  4: Daily life in Classical Athens, the Agora

Week 5:  9: The Eleusinian Mysteries and Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron
  11: quiz - Epidauros and the Cult of Asklepios

Week 6:  16: Olympia and the Olympic Games
  18: Delphi and the Oracle

Week 7:  30: Early history of Rome, Romulus & Remus and other tales
  Apr. 1 Etruscans and tomb parties

Week 8:  6: The Roman Republic and its festivals – Roman religion - mini-outline of final project due (one paragraph-one page)
  8: Daily life in ancient Rome and the evidence of Pompeii

Week 9:  13:   “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” film – special class
   evening screening (7:30, Smith 210); no daytime class
  15: Julius Caesar, et tu Brute?

Week 10  20: quiz , Augustus, the beginning of empire, the new state propaganda
  22: Tiberius and Caligula – paranoia and dementia

Week 11: 27: Claudius and Nero – more spectacles and more madness
  29: Flavian Rome, the Colosseum and Gladiators

Week 12: May 4 “Gladiator” – special class, evening screening (7:00) Kirkbride 205, no daytime class
  6: The Roman Triumph - guest lecturer

Week 13: Trajan, the Circus Maximus, Chariot Racing; Hadrian and the Villa Hadriana
  13: last quiz, the Roman obsession with baths, Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla

Week 14: 18: paper due, course retrospective

READINGS: 

Weeks 1 & 2: Ancient Greece, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2

Week 3: Ancient Greece Chapter 3 ; "Solon" and "Pericles"  in Plutarch's Lives

Weeks 4-6: Ancient Greece Chapters 5-8 (remember you don't need to know everything in the book - read to reinforce lectures, focusing on major historical events, Solon, Pericles, festivals, the city of Athens and her buildings, life in Athens); at the very end, read the life of Alcibiades in Plutarch's Lives.

Week 7: Read chapters 1-3 (I-III) (not very long) in The Romans.

Week 8: Read chapter 5 (V) in The Romans, and "Julius Caesar" in Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars.

Week 9: Read chapter 4 (IV) in The Romans and "Augustus" in Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars.

Week 10: Read Suetonius " Tiberius" and "Caligula"

Week 11: Read Suetonius "Claudius" and "Nero"

Remaining weeks : use Christ's book as a reference as needed; concentrate on the final project.

Study Guide, quiz 3:

1. How did Augustus employ architecture and art to convey a "message" about his "program" for re-builiding and remythologizing Rome? What was that message?
2. What sorts of structures do we associate with Tiberius, and what do they tell us about that emperor?
3. Caligula and Nero made spectacles of themselves. How did they do this? (review notes and Suetonius)
4. What was Nero's most infamous building project, and what was its ultimate fate?
5. What are ludi (there are two definitions)?
6. How did public games in Rome differ from games/festivals in Greece? How were they similar?
7. What was everyone's favorite holiday in Rome?
8. How did the Roman theater differ from the Greek (both structurally and in dramatic programs offered)?
9. What was the purpose of a Roman triumph? Who took part in triumphal processions, and where did they culminate?
10. What is an "Ovation"? Who could have a triumph?
11. Review the main characters in "Gladiatior." How accurately were the events and persons in the movie portrayed (from a historical perspective)?
12. When were gladiatorial contests staged and where? Who were the gladiators, and how were they trained and treated? What sorts of costumes and equipment did the gladiators use? How were the fights regulated?
13. What were the venationes?

Study Guide, quiz 2:

1. Olympia - To what god was this sanctuary dedicated? What mythological figures are associated with the beginning of the Olympic Games? Who competed in the games and for what?
2. Delphi - To what god was this sanctuary dedicated? Why did so many people go to Delphi all year round? What do we know about the priestess of Apollo? What was the source of her "inspiration"?  - in other words, how did she become able to receive the word of the god? How did people go about consulting the oracle?  What was the name of the games that took place at this sanctuary, and with what sort of competition did they originate?
3. What do we know about the Eleusinian Mysteries? In honor of what deities were these performed? What do we know about the Brauronia and Arkteia?
4. Study the mythology of Asclepius (his parentage and major deeds). Why did people visit his sanctuary at Epidaurus, and what did they do once they were there?
5. What did the Roman house look like on the inside and on the outside? What were Roman meals like, and where were they prepared? 
What did the Romans wear? What was the morning ritual of the wealthy Roman (hair, makeup, etc)? Did the Romans have slaves, and what
" place" did they have in the family? What were the standard parts of the Roman name?
6. Review the mythological history of the Romans. Who was their Trojan ancestor? Who founded Rome?
7. Who was Hannibal, and how did he get to Italy?
8. Who were the members of the First Triumvirate? Why did these men join forces? What was the ultimate outcome of their arrangement?
9. Who was Cleopatra, and how does she figure into Roman history?
10. Who were the members of the Second Triumvirate? What relation to Julius Caesar did one of them have?  Why did they join forces?  What was the ultimate outcome of their arrangement?
11. Is there anything authentically Roman about the plot of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"? Is it based on the work of a Roman author? What dioes it owe to Greece?  What does this film tell us about Roman taste in dramatic performances? What, briefly, is the plot of this film? 

Study Guide, quiz 1:

1. What do we know (or think we know) about Minoan civilization? What evidence do we have? Why is this culture called Minoan? Are there any spectacles that we can reconstruct belonging to this culture?

2. What do we know about Mycenean civilization? Do we know less or more about Mycenean "politics" and religion than we do about Minoan? What is the source of our information about this culture?

3. Who were Solon, Peisistratos, and Cleisthenes? These figures, who belong to the so-called Archaic Period in Greece, were responsible for certain political measures and spectacle-refinements. What was Solon known for in particular, and what does Plutarch's "Life of Solon" tell us about Athenian life generally in this period? What role did Peisistratos play in shaping the City Dionysia and Greater Panathenaia?

4. How did the Persian Wars influence Athenian attitudes about themselves? What role did Pericles play in shaping the physical appearance of 5th century Athens? Why did he believe it was important to institute changes?

5. What was the Panathenaia, and what events did it consist of? What was the purpose of this festival? Where was it held? What evidence do we have for recreations of the festival?

6. What is the City Dionysia? Was this a secular or religious festival? Try to reconstruct the origins of drama and theatrical production. Where were plays produced. (P.S. The City Dionysia was not the only dramatic festival in Athens, merely the greatest. The Lenaea and Rural Dionysia were both festivals of Dionysus at which tragedies and comedies were produced. We know less about these festivals, but we do know that they were mid-winter festivals.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Footnote guidelines:

There are many ways of composing footnotes correctly, and I will provide you with two different ways here. You can choose the method you prefer.
 *** I have added examples of referencing CD-ROMs and websites below.

Type 1:

For first-time references to a work, provide all pertinent information as follows:

        1 David Cressy, Birth, Mariage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England (New York: Oxford UP, 1997) 32.
           * what you have here is: author, title, place of publication and press, date of publication, and page/s cited in your essay. For an article you would cite: author, title of article (in quotes "  "), journal title, volume, date of publication and pages as follows:

              1  Frederick Barthelme, "Architecture," Kansas Quarterly 13 (1981) 77-90.

If you refer to a work again in your paper, use the following abbreviations: (use just last name of author, abbreviated title, and page cited)

              12 Cressy, Birth, Marriage and Death 278.
***If you cite only one work by a particular author, you may abbreviate the subsequent reference even further: last name and page (Cressy 278)

Type 2:

Create a list of works cited, and place that list at the end of your essay. In this list you would provide the following information:

         author (last name first), title, place of publication and press, date of publication, and (for a journal article) the pages of the article.

       example:  Giesecke, Annette. Atoms, Ataraxy, and Allusion. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2002. (Hildesheim is the place of publication, and Georg Olms is the press)

       example of an article: Giesecke, Annette. "Elpenor, Amymone, and the Truth in the Lykaon Painter's Painting." BABesch 74 (1999): 63-78. (Here BABesch is the title of the journal; this is followed by the volume number, the date of publication in brackets, a colon, and the pages on which the article appears).

In the text of your essay, the footnotes themselves can then take the form of the short citation type shown above (for subsequent references to a work, footnote type 1): 
     (use just last name of author, abbreviated title, and page cited)

              12 Cressy, Birth, Marriage and Death 278.

***If you cite only one work by a particular author, you may abbreviate the subsequent reference even further: last name and page (Cressy 278)

For CD's and websites, use the following formats:

"Albatross." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. CD-ROM. Oxford : Oxford UP, 1992.

Holland, Norman. "Overcoming Depression." Online posting. 19. Mar. 1997.  <http://www.class.ufl.edu/ipsa/psyart.htm>.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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