An overview of the history of the Greek World from the end of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Actium, the final stage in the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic World. Major topics will include: Greek-Persian relations in the fourth century; the rise of Macedon under Philip II; the conquests of Alexander the Great; the Hellenistic kingdoms; cultural interactions between Greeks and non-Greeks; Hellenistic economics; and the Roman conquest of the Greek world. Most readings will be in translated primary sources.

At the end of the Peloponnesian War, some of Athens’ enemies proposed that the great city, now starved into defeat, should be razed to the ground and turned into pasture land for sheep. So dramatic a reversal, so severe a punishment, was unthinkable to most Greeks even in the heated moment of their unexpected victory, and the proposal was not approved. It remains, however, indicative of a major turning-point in Greek history and will serve as our point of departure. This course will explore the changing face of the Greek world in the late Classical period, an age of political experiment and struggle for hegemony; the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century and the Hellenistic world of the kings and dynasts who fought their way to power after his death; and the process by which Rome, nothing more than a little Italian city-state at the beginning of this period, was drawn into the eastern Mediterranean and came to conquer the entire Greek world. Other topics will include cultural interactions between Greeks and their non-Greek neighbors, including Persians, Indians, Jews, Egyptians, and Romans; kings; cities, civic identity, and civic benefactors; federalism; religious change; economic growth and practices; mercenaries and pirates; warfare; patronage of the arts; and major developments in science, mathematics, and philosophy. Readings are assigned on a weekly basis, and must be completed before your section meeting for the week in which they are assigned. There will be two short papers (5-7pp), a midterm, and a cumulative final exam.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills