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HomeARCH 0200 Sport in the Ancient Greek World (First-Year Seminar)
Athletics and sports were as popular and significant in the ancient Greek world as they are today, and so offer an excellent introduction to its archaeology and history. This class will discuss the development of Greek athletics, the nature of individual events, the social implications of athletic professionalism, women and athletics, and the role of sport in Greek education.
MWF 12:00-12:50 pm. Instructor: [link] John Cherry
Download the syllabus by clicking on the icon, or view the syllabus on-line below
ARCH 0200 Syllabus 2008.doc
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Click here for Mid-term Take-home essay questions
Class: TTh 10:30-11:50 am, 204 Sayles Hall
Instructor: Professor John Cherry
Phone: 863-6412; e-mail: john_cherry@brown.edu
Office Hours: Wednesday 2-4 p.m. (and by appointment)
Office: Room 301, Joukowsky Institute (70 Waterman Street)
Class wiki site: [link]
Athletics and sports were as popular and significant in the ancient Greek world as they are today, and so offer a good introduction to many aspects of Greek culture over the centuries. Illustrated lectures, reinforced and amplified by readings from ancient and modern writers, as well as by discussion in class, will introduce you to such topics as: the development of Greek athletics, sites where games were held, the nature of individual events, and social implications such as athletic professionalism, women and athletics, the role of sport in Greek education, etc. Wider cultural aspects to be explored include the religious, political, and economic contexts of athletics; how their ideology found expression in literature and the visual arts; issues of class, gender, nationalism, and ethnicity; and, of course, whether the modern Olympic Games are anything like the ancient ones. You will encounter the primary data drawn from archaeology, art, and literature, and read modern studies of this ancient evidence.
None (but any previous courses in Classics, Archaeology and the Ancient World, or Ancient Studies will help... )
• take-home Midterm Exam (20%, issued March 11, due March 13)
• Final Exam (30%, 9 a.m. May 13)
• two short quizzes (5% each, Feb. 21 and Apr. 3)
• one Internet-based assignment (10%, due Mar. 20)
• one short (8-10 pages) piece of written work (20%, due May 2)
• attendance and active participation (10%)
• The essay-based, take-home, Midterm Exam will be handed out in class on Tuesday March 11, and will be due at the following class (Thursday March 13). The Final Exam (2 hours) will consist of a combination of visual or verbal identifications and essays.
• Your short paper will be based on a topic agreed upon with me in advance (you will need to come to office hours to discuss it) and should provide a detailed discussion of some aspect of sport in the ancient world. This paper is not due until near the end of the Reading Period, so there is no acceptable excuse for late papers.
• Readings from the required textbooks have been sequenced to correspond, approximately, to the topics I shall be presenting in class at, or soon after, the time you’ll be reading them. Since this is a seminar, I expect you to do these readings regularly by the stated deadline (see below), and to come to class prepared to discuss them in an informed manner; your active participation in discussion will count towards your final grade.
Jan. 24 Introduction to the class and logistical matters. The nature of sport. Olympic facts and myths.
Jan. 29 The ancient games as ritual and politics.
Jan. 31 Sport in Minoan and Mycenaean times; Sport in Homer and the epic tradition.
Feb. 5 The origins of Greek athletic festivals.
Feb. 7 Olympia, the Olympic games and its athletic program.
Feb. 12 Spectators and facilities at the site of Olympia.
Feb. 14 Video and discussion: The Real Olympics, Part I.
Feb. 19 No class — Brown Long Weekend.
Feb. 21 Athletic events I: running and jumping; Experimental archaeology: Nemea and the hysplex (Video). Quiz 1
Feb. 26 Athletic events II: the pentathlon.
Feb. 28 Athletic events III: combat sports and equestrian events.
Mar. 4 Festivals other than the Olympics: the rise of the periodos.
Mar. 6 The games at Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea.
Mar. 11 Rules, officials, judges, bribery, and corruption.
Take-home Midterm Exam issued.
Mar. 13 Civic athletics: the Panathenaia of Athens.
Take-home Midterm Exam due in class.
Mar. 18 Gymnasia, training, trainers, and athletic diets; ancient sports anecdotes.
Mar. 20 What happened if you won? I: Victory poetry; II: Victors’ statues, politics. Internet assignment due
Mar. 25 and 27 Spring Break: No classes.
Apr. 1 Women and ancient Greek sport.
Apr. 3 Sport and the erotic; the issue of nudity. Quiz 2
Apr. 8 Hellenistic athletics and the internationalization of sport.
Apr. 10 What did the Romans do with Greek sport?
Apr. 15 Dissenting voices: ancient critics of athletes and the games.
Apr. 17 Into the modern era: transformation of the ancient Olympics.
Apr. 22 Modern myths of Olympic amateurism and professionalism.
Apr. 24 Dangerous Olympics: Nazism and Riefenstahl’s Olympia (video)
May 2, 5 p.m. Written paper due
May 13, 9.a.m. Final Exam
(1) Stephen G. Miller, ARETE: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources (3rd edn., Berkeley 2004, paperback)
(2) Stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics (Yale, 2004, hardback)
(3) Judith Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games (2nd edn., Texas 2002, paperback)
•All three books are available at the Brown Bookstore
Arete = Stephen G. Miller, ARETE: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources
Miller = Stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics
Swaddling = Judith Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games
Week 1 (by Jan. 24) Miller, chs. 1-3
Week 2 (by Jan. 31 ) Miller, ch. 6; Arete, ch. I
Week 3 (by Feb. 7) Swaddling, chs. 1-5
Week 4 (by Feb. 14) Swaddling, chs. 6-8
Week 5 (by Feb. 21) Miller, ch. 4; Arete, ch. III
Week 6 (by Feb. 28) Miller, ch. 5
Week 7 (by Mar. 6) Miller, ch. 7; Arete, ch. IV
Week 8 (by Mar. 13) Miller, chs. 10-11; Arete, chs. V and VI
Week 9 (by Mar. 20) Miller, ch. 8; Arete, chs. VIII and X
Week 10 (by Mar 27) Spring Break. Arete, chs. II and VII
Week 11 (by Apr. 3) Miller, chs. 9 and 12
Week 12 (by Apr. 10) Arete, chs. XI and XII
Week 13 (by Apr. 17) Miller, chs. 13-16; Arete, chs. XIII-XV
Week 14 (by Apr. 24) Swaddling, ch. 9
• A selection of key books on topics relating to ancient Greek sport, in its widest sense, will be placed on reserve in the non-circulating library on the third floor of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World (70 Waterman Street).
• You will use The Perseus Digital Library (a huge text and image database of ancient Greek civilization, accessible at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ ). I will direct you to, and encourage you to make use of, other resources available on the Web, including a few on-line articles. Here are some links to start with (mostly about ancient Olympic Games, but with much information about ancient sport in general):
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
[The Ancient Olympics: A Special Exhibit of the Perseus Digital Library Project]
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/olympics/olympicintro.shtml
[The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games, from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]
http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp
[Official website of the Olympic movement]
http://minbar.cs.dartmouth.edu/greecom/olympics/
[The Olympic Games in the Ancient Hellenic World: A Virtual Museum, from Dartmouth College]
http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/dgr/clips.html
[Press clippings and weblinks about the Ancient and Modern Games]
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/olympics/index.html
[Ancient Olympics Guide, from Archaeology magazine]
