J400: P-HIST-J300
ABOVE CLASS OPEN TO MAJORS ONLY
ABOVE CLASS OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES ONLY


	“It is not of history we are writing but of lives”—
Plutarch, "Life of Alexander the Great"

Men in the ancient world distinguished between writing a biography
and composing a history of the time in which they lived.  In this
class, we will do both.  We will focus upon the lives of ancient men
as they were presented by ancient authors.  In the course of the
semester, we will learn about ancient philosophers like Socrates,
political leaders like Julius Caesar, and saints like St. Antony.
The lives of all of these people are notable and distinct.  The
texts describing them, however, were written by authors who share
similar ideas about the characteristics that separated an
exceptional individual from ordinary people.

This course will use ancient biographies to reconstruct the lives of
prominent Greeks and Romans.  At the same time, we will use these
texts to understand the historical circumstances of the ancient
world.  The reading will include some modern scholarship describing
the techniques of the ancient biographer.  Most of the assigned
reading, however, will be comprised of ancient biographical texts by
authors like Xenophon, Plutarch, Suetonius, and Porphyry.  Students
will be expected to complete this reading (approximately 80 pages a
week) as well as 3 short essays (4 pages), and a final research
project (12-15 pages).