CAMS 25 Greek Civ has been designed to give students an overview of Greek cultural, political, and social history. Covering roughly the time from the earliest complex societies in Greece to Alexander the Great and Hellenism, this course will focus on such topics as women in ancient Greece, the origins of democracy, the city-state, literary achievements, sexuality, war and warfare, philosophy, and more. Students will encounter these topics and others through lectures and through primary sources. Through our study of the ancient Greeks, students will see the importance of studying this fascinating and important culture, both as it relates to history and our own day..
Course Layout:
This class is entirely online. You do not ever need to be on campus. All you need is a reliable internet connection. This course is "self-paced with deadlines." In other words, you can work at your own pace with the understanding that there are deadlines that must be observed. In semesters past, some students have done a lesson/day, other students have done three or four each weekend, some students wait and do all the lessons in the few days leading up to the midterm (this is not recommended). I do not monitor how you do you work, I just care that you complete your work on time. The self-pacing and the flexibility to be anywhere are two of the attractive features of the course. I have had students complete online courses while studying abroad, while on Co-Op, while on internship, or while working full time in the summer; some students use these online courses to squeeze in an extra three units during a busy semester because the "self-paced with deadlines" flexibility helps them find more time in the day.
CAMS 025 online uses Flash for all lectures, creating a fluid lesson experience. Lectures can be accessed at anytime that ANGEL is available (ANGEL is down daily from 5am-7am); they are easily navigable; further, the lectures are full of images and animation to highlight key points, illustrate the artistic accomplishments of the Greeks, to chart battles, etc.
View a Sample Syllabus!
Textbooks:
The Essential Homer. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Hackett Publishing. ISBN: 0872205401.
Aeschylus. Oresteia. Trans. Peter Meineck. Hackett Publishing. ISBN: 0872203905.
Sophocles. Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra. Trans. D. F. Kitto. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. ISBN: 0192835822.
Sophocles. Aias (Ajax). Trans. Herbert Golder and Richard Pevear. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. ISBN: 0195128192.
Euripides. Medea. Trans. John Harrison. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. ISBN: 0521644798.
Plato. Symposium. Trans. Seth Benardete. Chicago, IL:
U of Chicago P, 2001. ISBN: 0226042758.
Aristophanes. Lysistrata/The Acharnians/The Clouds. Trans. Alan H. Sommerstein. New York: Penguin Classics, 1973. ISBN: 0140442871.
All readings for this class are alternatively available online, for free. Students may choose to buy the textbooks (available in the campus bookstore or through other booksellers), which I recommend, or use the online versions. The online versions certainly cut costs, but the book versions contain better translations, which are easier to read. Many students every semester elect to use online versions, however, and their performance does not seem to suffer for it.
Course Requirements:
Quizzes (there are 8, online and in ANGEL)
Midterm (online and in ANGEL)
Discussion Boards (ANGEL message boards)
Papers (three 2 page essays, submitted electronically; in the summer session there will only be one 4-6 page paper)
Final Exam (online in ANGEL)