CLAS127

Description

The course aims at an overview of key aspects and events of the political and social history of the classical world-inclusive of cultural data-on the evidence afforded by historiographical research among Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians of the Greco-Roman antiquity. Firstly, we will look at pivotal moments of the history of Greece, where the Ionian intellectual movement of the sixth century BC led to the awakening of the critical, scientific temper that spawned the novel discipline of history. Secondly, we will explore key aspects of the Roman history, afforded by an anthology of sources, such as Tacitus's terse, brilliant prose of the Histories and the Annals, Josephus's apologetic historiography and the Jewish Revolt, and Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, reflecting Rome's conversion to Christianity. All the readings will be in English. The course is designed to broaden the students' worldview respecting historical events, ethnic and cultural varieties as well as political changes in the evolution of Greco-Roman societies so as to afford them a deeper understanding and appreciation of our Western world.