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    Advanced Classics in Greece

    Classics – Advanced Semester Program (CASP) 2009
    The Hellenic Education & Research Center (HERC) runs a semester program of classical studies in Greece. This course is designed for advanced undergraduate/graduate students possessing the relevant background. The aim of the Classics Advanced Semester Program (CASP) is to provide students having a background and strong interest in the Classics with a comprehensive curriculum familiarizing them with both academic on site teaching and study, and equally aiming to develop more research oriented work in the following dedicated academic fields:

    (CASP 401)  Ancient Greek History
    (CASP 402)  Advanced Ancient Greek
    (CASP 403)  Greek Epigraphy
    (CASP 404)  Ancient Topography

    Modern Greek Language (MGL 05). In addition to the four Classics component courses (CASP401-4), classes in Modern Greek language are also offered by HERC on an optional basis for those students whose home institution also requires a modern Greek language course.

    Each component CASP course is taught by experienced academics and acknowledged authorities in their respective fields and each will constitute a full semester course (45 academic contact hours). Students wishing to enroll on the CASP are required to take all four component courses constituting a full semester load.
    Background to the Program
    A primary object of the CASP syllabus is to emphasize and explore the importance of the comprehensive inter-relationship between the chosen academic fields under study. This will involve emphasis on how reading primary sources in the original, by way of both literary sources and hands-on epigraphy, provides the necessary tools for an informed study of ancient history and topography. In context, this will involve interdisciplinary use of ancient text; for instance, texts assigned in the Advanced Ancient Greek language class (CASP 402) will, inter alia, form the basis for analysis in the Athenian topography seminars (CASP 404). Similarly, inscriptions under study in the Greek Epigraphy course (CASP 403) will be utilized to provide valuable primary resource to the Ancient History course (CASP 401). As an integral part of a scholarly and rigorous foundation for a classical education, an underlying philosophy of the CASP is the promotion of each student’s awareness and understanding of the extant physical remains and environment of Greek Antiquity. Thus, all students are instructed extensively in studying monuments and diverse remains in situ at archaeological sites, museums, rescue and systematic excavations and in the field more generally.

    Knowledge and skills gained. By the end of the semester students will have acquired an understanding in the context of Ancient Greek History of the significance of Greek inscriptions together with the basic scholarly skills necessary to approach and analyze this particular kind of archaeological evidence. Students will also gain a crucial understanding of how ancient literary texts provide a uniquely valuable source for the study of Ancient History and topography and insight into the problems of interpretation reflected in the bibliography. They will have learned that ancient monuments need to be studied on site and that familiarity with their physical setting is an integral part of scholarly discipline.
    The program is ideal for students who are majoring in, or wishing to pursue research oriented study, in the fields of Classics, Classical Archaeology, Ancient History and Greek Epigraphy.
    Spring 09 / Fall 09.
    CASP 2009 takes ANCIENT ATHENS as the core academic focus. Course Descriptions:


    (CASP401) - Athenian History (From the Archaic period to the end of the 3rd century B.C.)

    Instructor: Andronike Makres (D.Phil, Oxon)
    Visiting faculty: Peter J. Rhodes, Honorary Professor, Durham University
    Robert C.T. Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford (Spring’08)
    Emily G. D. Kearns, Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford (Fall '08 and Fall '09)
    Michael J. Osborne, Professor Emeritus, The University of Melbourne;Professor, Peking University

    This course focuses primarily on the political history of Ancient Athens. Classes start with an examination of the primary evidence on the early institutions of the polis and then progress to evaluate the various stages of political and constitutional development of Athenian History. This will include the study of the Kylonian Affair; Draco’s and Solon’s legislation; the Peisistratid Rule; the reforms of Kleisthenes; the impact of the Persian Wars in the development of Athenian Democracy; the Delian League; the Golden Age of Athens (Ephialtes-Perikles); the Peloponnesian War; the Peace of Antalkidas; the 2nd Athenian Sea League; The Sacred and Social Wars; and the Macedonian domination. All topics will be examined on the basis of study and interpretation of primary textual evidence, literary and epigraphical, both in the original and in translation. The course will also focus on the study and interpretation of Athenian Religion, its nature, cult, archaeology and topography. A central theme of the analysis will be the complex interplay between the sacred and the civic, both political and social.

    An integral part of the course will be on site teaching and visits both to archaeological sites and museums in and around Athens and Attica; included being the Akropolis; Ancient Agora; Kerameikos; Marathon; Rhamnous; Brauron; Sounion; Lavrion; Thorikos; and Eleusis. Field trips beyond Attica are also an integral part of the CASP syllabus and will include all main sites in the Peloponnese and Delphi, as well as to the historically important islands of Paros and Anaphi (via Santorini), two members of the Delian League representing the diversity of this alliance.


    (CASP 402) – Advanced Ancient Greek

    Instructor: Leslie L. Threatte, Professor emeritus of Classics, University of California, Berkeley

    The course will involve extensive reading in the original together with the translation of selected texts of Greek literature centering on Athenian History, Attic Epigraphy and topography, notably including passages from Herodotus and Thucydides, Xenophon, Attic orators, the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, texts of Greek inscriptions etc.

    Prerequisite: 1 year of Ancient Greek


    (CASP403) – Attic Epigraphy

    Instructor: Angelos P. Matthaiou, Secretary of the Greek Epigraphic Society, Editor of HOROS, et al.

    This course will introduce students to the study of Greek Epigraphy with a particular focus on Attic Epigraphy and will be underwritten by hands-on experience with inscribed historical monuments kept in the archaeological sites and museums of Athens. CASP 403 makes extensive use of the Epigraphical Museum in Athens. This Museum has the most pre-eminent collection of Greek inscriptions worldwide (over 13.000).

    This course will be predominantly delivered on site where students will be required to become familiar with the wide range of inscribed monuments. Students will learn how to describe the monuments, how to read the text directly from the stone, techniques of copying it onto paper, making squeezes and appropriate other methods, examine and comment upon the state of preservation, letter forms, etc.

    The remainder of the course will comprise class instruction where the transcribed text of inscriptions copied on site will be thoroughly examined/translated with a view to interpreting the content and subsequently placing the epigraphic text in its historical context. CASP 403 will also provide students with a grounding in epigraphical method such as epigraphical symbols, restoration of mutilated texts, the development of letter forms in Attica (from Archaic to Early Christian times) and associated methods and knowledge.

    Focus will be placed on Attic epigraphy with particular attention to inscriptions of historical significance. Examination will cover such inscriptions as the decree on the Athenian Relations with Methone and Macedon, 430 B.C. (ML 65), the decree of the Athenians honoring loyal Samians, 403/2 B.C. (Rhodes & Osborne 2 – ML 97) or the Second Athenian League, 378/7 B.C. (Rhodes & Osborne 22 -TOD 123), the Athenian Law threatening the Areopagus in the event of a plot against the Democracy, 337/6 B.C. (Rhodes & Osborne 79) or a number of inscriptions concerning a particular subject (such as the decrees moved by Lykourgos of Athens), or dedications commemorating victories at the Athenian Festivals etc. Decrees and other inscriptions from the demes of Attica will also be studied with a view to exploring the complex and intricate relationship between the small deme communities and the central-city administration of the polis of Athens. The texts in class will be studied in the original and discussed taking into account the relevant bibliography.


    (CASP404) – Athenian Topography

    Instructor: Angelos P. Matthaiou, Secretary of the Greek Epigraphic Society, Editor of HOROS, et al.

    Athenian topography will be examined on the basis of ancient testimonies in the original concerning the location of sites and monuments, the study of accounts of both early and 19th century travelers in Greece, reports and publications of archaeologists from the 19th century onwards, and the activity of systematic and rescue archaeological excavations in the city of Athens. Students will undertake, under supervision, walking tours covering diverse areas including the Ilisos river, the North slope of the Akropolis, the Agora of Ancient Athens, and the area covered by the Kerameikos, Demosion Sema and Academy, and the fortification walls of Piraeus.