EUH 2011 (U01) Western Civilization – Early Europe

Course Outline – Fall 2009

Course Provider: Prof. Gwyn Davies

DM 388A (tel. 305 348 2974)

(e-mail – daviesg@fiu.edu)

Office Hours: TTR 15.30-16.30

Teaching Assistant: Joseph Holbrook and Monica Crowe (office hours tba)

The objective of this course is to introduce you to the various sources that are employed by historians in the pursuit of their research interests so that you will become familiar with the relevant categories of evidence that may be consulted and with the strengths and weaknesses of each of these different data-sets. As this course is intended as an introduction to HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY, it will NOT seek to provide you with a chronological narrative relating to the evolution of any given civilization nor will it adopt a ‘life and times’ style approach to the careers of the great characters of the past.

Course Details : EUH 2011 will be taught be means of two weekly lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14.00-15.15 in Room DM 100. Attendance at class is compulsory and attendance will be monitored throughout the semester. If you are unable to attend for any reason, please advise the course provider (or a teaching assistant) in advance. Absenteeism is likely to mean that your grade in the assessed work and in the examination will be adversely affected and regular absenteeism may result in the award of a lesser grade overall OR EVEN AN ABSOLUTE FAIL.

Course grading: Students will complete TWO assessed essays of not less than 1500 words each (20% of the final grade EACH); two class-based tests (10% of the final grade EACH); and the Final Examination (the balancing 40%). A failure to complete any of these component elements will result in the awarding of an automatic F grade. The deadlines for essay submission will be absolute. Late submissions (defined as any work submitted to the course provider/TA after 5pm on the due date) will be penalized with an automatic deduction of 5% per day (so, for example, if you hand in an essay 3 days late, 15% will be subtracted from your grade). NOTE: no work will be accepted for marking more than 7 days after the due date. Requests for extensions based on legitimate medical/other grounds must be made in advance of the submission date and must be supported by appropriate documentation. Please also note that NO ‘make-up’ work nor any ‘re-writes’ will be permitted. SEE below for an explanation of the grade-scale that will be employed.

Plagiarism : Written work should be properly referenced throughout (include a full bibliography). Please ensure that you restrict yourself to the quotation where relevant of single sentences or short passages only as these are relatively short assignments. Any work that is not the result of your own thought processes should be credited to the original source and any failure to observe this basic rule of academic discipline will be treated as plagiarism. Any student undertaking plagiarism of this nature will receive an automatic FAIL and will be reported to the appropriate authorities for further sanctions that may include the option of expulsion. Do not take a chance of copying another’s work…it is likely that you will be discovered and dealt with appropriately. All essays MUST be submitted through TURNITIN.com (as well as the hard copy delivered to the course provider/teaching assistant). You will be given log on information for Turnitin at the start of the semester.

Course Contents Summary :

The course will proceed in the following order (UNLESS COURSE BOOK AVAILABILITY FORCES A CHANGE )

• An introductory session when the course objectives and the method of teaching will be outlined.
• Evidential Category 1. – The Literary Sources. The writings of ancient authors (including both poets and prose narrators) are one of the most important databases for the historian and we will be spending considerable time in studying the nature of these texts and what they can tell us about the past. An important element of this will include a critical analysis of these materials to determine whether the picture that they provide is necessarily accurate and objective. See Grant and Potter in particular.
• Evidential Category 2. - Archives. The role of archival material will be considered and in order to understand how these types of database came to be created, we will also look at the evolution of writing.
• Evidential Category 3. – Archaeology. The study of the material culture of the past is a very direct way of gaining an understanding of the processes operating in the past but although archaeology offers us the prospect of a uniquely detailed perspective, weaknesses in the interpretation of the data may result in the distortion of reality. We will look at the processes of archaeological investigation and at the potential for the political manipulation of the resulting information. See Renfrew and Bahn in particular.
• Evidential Category 4. - Epigraphy. The role of inscriptions and the visible public record will be examined, and we will see how building dedications and the commemoration of individuals can fill in many of the gaps left by our other sources.
• Evidential Category 5. – Art. We will look at the role played by representational media in the conveying of images and messages to the populace and we will also see how visual clues provided by the artists of the ancient world can help us reconstruct not only the appearance but also the manner in which ancient objects and buildings may have worked.
• Summary

Required Reading :

Grant, M. 1997. Greek and Roman Historians. Routledge.

Potter, D.S. 1999. Literary Texts and the Roman Historian. Routledge.

Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 2004. Archaeology. Theories, Methods and Practice. Thames & Hudson.

Recommended background reading :

Morkot, R. 1996. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece.

Scarre, C. 1995. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome.