We will read three authors. We begin with Arrian, and the dramatic events surrounding Alexander's conquest of Persepolis. Then we continue with extracts from Xenophon's Hellenica, the crucial battle of Leuctra which ends Spartan domination. We will finish with Thucydides, some extracts from the history of the Peloponnesian war. The chronological order is purposefully reversed, since Arrian is easier than Xenophon and both are easier than Thucydides, so students will find it easier to cope with the progressive difficulty in the language of these texts. Regarding the length of text that we are going to read our goals are modest: as much as we can. The purpose of the course is not only to allow students to become better in Greek but also to provide the opportunity to study, to some degree, the content and style of these important texts. It is not intended solely to provide a language course, but rather a wholesome approach to the amazing world of the Greek Historians. . 

Assignments

http://www.classics.ufl.edu/CGS/links/Anabasis.html

Historical memory defines identities, and can serve as a source of strength if lessons can be learned from past achievements and failings. Most civilisations have sought to record their presence and leave a lasting monument to future generations. A wide variety of means has been employed by past societies for this purpose, such as art, monuments, epic poetry, and religious texts. However, one civilisation sought to perfect the mechanism of remembering the past by inventing a new literary genre whose exclusive purpose was to record important events and retain their memory for the instruction and entertainment of future generations. From the 6th century BC, the Greeks started experimenting with this new literary genre, and sought to perfect it by trying to find which is the most suitable way of preserving historical memory. History as an independent literary genre was born as a result of this quest in the 5th century BC. Herodotos is traditionally acknowledged as the Father of history, but his methods were questioned even while he was still alive. He wrote in a manner that is entertaining and captivating, but this was precisely the most grave criticism that Thucydides, another 5th century historian, directed at him. For Thucydides history was based on a thorough investigation of the truth, what actually happened, and its primary purpose was to educate rather than entertain. Many other Greek authors wrote history in their own way in subsequent centuries, thus documenting for us the ancient Greek world, and providing valuable insights for the interpretation of present political, economic, social and cultural settings. In this course students will have the opportunity to study a representative selection of Greek Historians, their style, perception of history, and point of view on the events which they describe, and also address some theoretical issues concerning the nature and purpose of historical writing. 

An administrative error resulted in this course being registered under the wrong title. Regardless of the title we will be doing Greek Historians, not Attic Orators.( If you have taken Attic Orators in the past, you are very welcome to take this course too.) 

TIME AND VENUE CHANGE:

We changed the venue and time. We will be meeting every Friday 1.00 -3.30 pm pm in the Classics Library. 

You will not need to buy any books for this course. All obligatory materials will be posted in the course website