Undergraduate courses in Classics History

(F,Sem) (Same as HISTORY 12N.) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. The politics, drama, and characters of the period after the fall of the Roman Republic in 49 B.C.E. Issues of liberty and autocracy explored by Roman writers through history and biography. The nature of history writing, how expectations about literary genres shape the materials, the line between biography and fiction,and senatorial ideology of liberty. Readings include: Tacitus' Annals, Suetonius' Lives of the Caesers, and Robert Graves' I Claudius and episodes from the BBC series of the same title. GER:DB-Hum

3 units, Aut (Saller, R)

CLASSHIS 60. The Romans

How did a tiny village create a huge empire and shape the world, and why did it fail? Roman history, imperialism, politics, social life, economic growth, and religious change. GER:DB-Hum

3-5 units, Spr (Scheidel, W)

CLASSHIS 101. The Greeks

Greek history from the rise of the city state through Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. Economics, society, culture, and technology. Competition and cooperation within and between states; the emergence of strong forms of citizenship along with chattel slavery and gender inequality; the origins and practices of democracy; and relations with non-Greek peoples. Focus is on ancient sources and archaeological remains. GER:DB-Hum

4-5 units, Win (Morris, I)

CLASSHIS 106. Life and Death in China's Late Antiquity

(Same as CLASSHIS 206.) Multidisciplinary, heuristic approach. How to piece together the worldview of life and death during the Eastern Han dynasty and subsequent Three Kingdoms period; the emergence of a new elite that would dominate the sociopolitical landscapes of medieval China and the birth of the Silk Road, the world's first international highway of commerce, culture, and religion. Sources include: materials and methods of archaeology, history, textual studies, and art history to interpret excavated evidence; and visual and interactive resources. GER:DB-Hum

4-5 units, Win (Staff), given once only

CLASSHIS 133. Classical Seminar: Origins of Political Thought

(Same as CLASSHIS 333, HUMNTIES 321, POLISCI 230A, POLISCI 330A.) Political philosophy in classical antiquity, focusing on canonical works of Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. Historical background. Topics include: political obligation, citizenship, and leadership; origins and development of democracy; and law, civic strife, and constitutional change. GER:DB-Hum

5 units, Win (Ober, J)

CLASSHIS 137. Models of Democracy

(Same as CLASSHIS 237, COMM 212, COMM 312, POLISCI 237, POLISCI 337.) Ancient and modern varieties of democracy; debates about their normative and practical strengths and the pathologies to which each is subject. Focus is on participation, deliberation, representation, and elite competition, as values and political processes. Formal institutions, political rhetoric, technological change, and philosophical critique. Models tested by reference to long-term historical natural experiments such as Athens and Rome, recent large-scale political experiments such as the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, and controlled experiments.

3-5 units, Spr (Fishkin, J; Ober, J; Luskin, R)

CLASSHIS 171. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World

When Alexander the Great swept through and conquered the Persian empire at the end of the 4th century B.C., it touched off massive changes in the political and socioeconomic structure of the Mediterranean world. Focus is on the major developments in the history, culture, and economy of the Mediterranean world from these conquests of Alexander to the annexation of Egypt by Augustus in 30 B.C.E. GER:DB-Hum

3-5 units, offered occasionally

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Stanford Bulletin, Archive 2008-09

Stanford Bulletin, Archive 2008-09

Alphabetical Index

Bulletin Archive

Undergraduate courses in Classics History