Ms. Christine Albright

Park Hall 213; 542-6644
email: calbrigh@uga.edu

Course Description

This course strives for a general understanding of ancient Greek culture. Because it is a 1000-level introductory course, it will survey a wide range of material. In contrast to what many seem to believe, students should not interpret its 1000-level designation to mean that the work load is easier than in upper-level classes. The 1000-level designation simply indicates that the course covers a wide range of material rather than a specific subject.

The course will be taught as a traditional lecture-style course for the first part of the semester and as a game for the second part of the course. In about the ninth week of the semester, each student will be assigned a role in the game. The setting for the game is Athens in 403 B.C.. Students must act in the capacity of their Athenian characters at all times thereafter, even when encountering fellow students outside of class. After an introduction to fifth-century Athenian culture, most of our class sessions will be competitive elements of the game, and they may include participation in religious festivals and rituals, athletic contests, dramatic readings, and, most imortantly, in the Athenian Assembly. Students are expected to prepare for each session before coming to class.

There is a heavy reading load in this class. Students should expect several hundred pages of reading per week at times. Plan ahead! Students are expected to have reading assignments completed BEFORE coming to class. We will focus primarily on literature, although our examination of ancient Greek culture also will include art, archaeology, history, philosophy, and religion. Students will be graded according to a traditional scale (90-100=A, 80-89.999=B, etc).

Further Important Information

This course assumes college-level skills in reading and writing, and all work will be graded according to both content and presentation. Students who do not feel that they are strong writers are encouraged to take advantage of the English Department’s Writing Center in the basement of Park Hall, although students who do visit the Writing Center should explain to their tutor that they are enrolled in a classics course, not an English course. Otherwise, students may be encouraged to document papers according to MLA style, which is used in English but not typically in classics. This course uses Turabian-style documentation. If you are not familiar with the the Turabian style, it is your responsibility to become familiar with it. (The main library has handouts with basic forms as well as Turabian’s book. Copies of the book should be available at most bookstores.) Students who take freshman English at UGA learn MLA-style documentation, but this is only one of several styles of academic documentation. MLA-style is not acceptable in this class. This course also assumes a basic understanding of geography, history and western civilization.

(Go to the UGA library Research Central for sample Turabian citations.)

Come to class on time and do not leave class early. Turn cellphones off. Bring the reading material assigned for each class to class with you. Everything covered in class, including videos, dramatizations, and all readings are fair game for the exams. Students who miss class are responsible for material assigned during that class and for collecting notes, etc. Do not expect the instructor to provide you with copies of notes or handouts, and certainly do not expect private tutoring sessions after missing class. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to collect copies of materials and copy notes. It is a good idea to get the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of several fellow students in case you have to miss class. This class assumes familiarity with the University’s libraries, particularly with the main library. It is assumed, of course, that all students have active student IDs and may legitimately make use of UGA libraries and other University facilities.