Research project 2005 block 1

Reinventing the Greeks

 

Classics is the original area studies program, multidisciplinary and comparative in a distinctive way. This block we are considering the ancient time period and the geographical area settled and navigated by Greeks in that period. The disciplines to be brought to bear are

• philology—linguistic and rhetorical analysis of texts, often as transmitted through antiquity and the middle ages in successive re-copyings
• epigraphy and palaeography—analysis of actually remaining writings on stone, papyrus, parchment, etc.
• archaeology—analysis of the remaining material culture (both everyday objects—pottery, tools, building and human remains) and aesthetically distinguished objects like painted pottery, sculpture, and monumental buildings
• history—scientific examination of peoples, individuals, movements, societies in time
• history of philosophy (and philosophy itself)--ideas and their development through time
• religious studies: history of religions, comparative religions, comparative mythology
• art history—historical study of visual arts; a field developed distinctively in the 18^th century, with comparable later development of theater and dance history
• anthropology—scientific examination of physical and cultural traits of humans in a case-by-case, comparative and evolutionary perspective
• political theory—philosophical examination of the ideas that bring societies together into polities

These all had origins or precursors in antiquity, as implied by the Greek names we use for them. The present exercise seeks to introduce students to as many of them as possible, in the course of developing an “annotated bibliography” or prospectus for the study of a classics problem or question.

 

Choose a topic which can have 3 to 4 different parts that utilize different types of information and thus different sources, i.e. art, inscriptions, and/or other types of physical evidence in addition to primary and secondary literary sources.    3-5 pages for each participant.  You must use a minimum of 2 sources in addition to any literature you might be using from our selections. 

 

Note on primary and secondary sources. For ancient studies especially, "primary" means something made in antiquity: a text--which will have been recopied in medieval times and printed in modern times; an object, including a piece of art--which may be known to us through modern photographs; a modern survey of an ancient site, where all the photographs, mapping etc. are modern but the site itself provides direct evidence of ancient life. "Secondary" means the processing of such materials by scholars and others--including ancient scholars but largely (since this is academic work) modern academics. You can find primary material in books and online as well as in repositories of ancient material like museums and special library collections. Perseus, for example has primary text materials (the translations less primary than the Greek and Latin, but still primary for someone who doesn't know those languages), images of ancient objects (primary), and linguistic data; secondary are the annotations to the texts and the specific translation-qualities of the translations, as well as the history and encyclopedia resources.

 

Examples of possible topics and possible research divisions:

 

Empire in Ancient Greece

1) Persia – Greek attitudes toward the Persian Empire.  (Persian and Jewish attitudes) Artistic and literary representations, historical outcomes of conflict and resolution, evidence for the main events of the conflicts and resolutions

2) Athens – Athenian aggression?  Fear of other Greeks. Visual and literary representations, historical facts, inscriptional and other evidence, political theories of ruler/ruled, justice etc.

3) Alexander’s Empire—Athenian and other Greek attitudes, Persian, Egyptian and Babylonian responses, philosophical, artistic, literary (dramatic) outcomes

 

Greek Democracy

1) origins and application in Athens (evidence, representations)

2) spread of democracy in Greece and Greek colonies (historical trends, evidence, representations

3) conflict of democracy with oligarchy and/or other forms of government

4) democratic tradition in political theory and practice: later reading of Greek texts, construction of an image of the Greeks

 

Women in Ancient Greece

1)     slaves vs. free

2)     Women in different cities e.g. Athens and Sparta

3)     Physical evidence: Women on pottery, jewelry, toiletry items

 

Meet today (Tuesday) and work out a preliminary plan for your collective and individual approach to the problem you choose. Each member of the team should be responsible for one identifiable part of the problem, and for one type of evidence and the relevant disciplinary approach(es) to that evidence. Your individual pieces should complement each other. Learn from Jessy Randall, other reference librarians and the course faculty what sources are likely to be available and relevant.

 

Between now and Friday, start locating (in the library and on the internet) the sources you will be scrutinizing.

 

Fri. 9/23 is research day.  Spend the hours looking at and making notes on as many different sources as you can for your project. You are not responsible for reading and assimilating these sources: your product will be a preliminary survey or annotated bibliography not a finished thesis. Owen and I will keep office hours in the morning.  All groups are encouraged to stop in to discuss their projects so as to make the best use of this time. 

 

Style: you may use any consistent style in presenting your discoveries. APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association) and Chicago (“Turabian”) style are explained online at sites available through http://www.coloradocollege.edu/learningcommons/writingcenter/resources.asp

 

Final projects are due W 9/28 at noon.  If you would like to turn in your project as a draft no later than class time Mon. 9/26, we will read your work and meet with you Tuesday afternoon so you have the best chance to turn in a quality project.