Undergraduate Course: Sparta and Crete: Classical Greek Society Beyond Athens (ANHI10061)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Ancient History |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course aims to go beyond an Athenocentric view of 'Greek society' and examine evidence from Sparta and Crete during the classical period.
Students will encounter the complex and contradictory evidence for the fabric and character of classical Spartan society and the nature of her institutions through a close study of texts in translation. Lectures will focus upon political, social and economic institutions as well as ideologies of warfare and community, the role of women, and sexuality. Other topics include the character of slavery in Sparta (helotage), how it compares in legal terms to slavery at Athens, and its function in Sparta's political economy. Crete presents very different material for study. Though the lectures shall present the evidence of Aristotle, Ephorus and other non-Cretan writers who comment on Cretan society, the main focus will be on epigraphy and in particular the 'Great Code' of Gortyn (IC IV 72), supplemented by a selection of other Gortynian inscriptions in translation. Beyond an in-depth study of Gortynian laws on the household, family, and slavery, students will compare the example of Gortyn to the generalisations found in the literary sources which present Crete as undifferentiated (though it contained over 60 different city states, most of them independent of one another) in order to gauge the degree to which Cretan city states displayed common institutions and practices. At the end of the course, students will compare Spartan and Cretan society to reflect on the similarities and differences between the two.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter(at least 2 of which should be in Ancient History) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 31 |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 17,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this course the student will be able to demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion:
i. a specialist knowledge of the evidence for classical Spartan and Cretan society;
ii. a familiarity with theoretical and conceptual issues such as property, legal procedure, and institutional structures;
iii. the critical ability to compare historical societies (here, Sparta and Crete) and discern their distinctive cultural and institutional features;
iv. a familiarity with the nature and use of epigraphic evidence, particularly in relation to Gortyn;
v. improved source critical skills with historical texts (Quellenforschung);
vi. a competence in comparative methodology in relation to the legal concepts of property and procedure;
vii. improved presentation skills in tutorial discussions;
viii. improved research skills in producing an item of summative coursework, along with skills in prose style, citation style and the compilation of bibliography;
ix. improved problem solving skills through study of complex issues such as the nature of land tenure in Sparta and the law of slavery in Gortyn;
x. an ability to access, understand, and employ the standard conventions in the field, from publisher's conventions (e.g. bibliographical styles, referencing systems, text displays, etc.) to scholarly conventions in the study of evidence pertaining to ancient Sparta and Crete (e.g. epigraphic abbreviations, legal and literary referencing, etc.).
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Assessment Information
60% degree examination (2 hours)
40% coursework (c. 3,000 words)
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Special Arrangements
| In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580/3582 in order for approval to be obtained. |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1. Introduction
2. The mirage of classical Sparta and the invention of tradition (Sparta in the basic textbooks; Sparta in popular culture; invention of tradition as a subject in historiography)
3. Behind the mirage: problems with our sources, with classical land tenure as a case study
4. Sparta's political institutions
5. Social groups and aspects of status (citizens, helots, perioikoi and other subaltern groups)
6. The political economy of helotage
7. The threat of helots? Revolts and management of slavery in Sparta
8. Citizen military ideology in Sparta: the education system
9. Spartan women: myth and reality
10. Messenia and national identity
11. Wealth and the power of wealth in Sparta
12. Sparta: an unusual society?
13. The archaic origins of Sparta's institutions
14. Introduction: Plato and Aristotle on the similarity of Spartan and Cretan society (and a look at the Geography and settlement archaeology of Crete)
15. Introduction to the Gortyn lawcode: formation, purpose, format
16. The family and the household in Gortynian law
17. Legal procedure at Gortyn
18. Slavery at Gortyn
19. Cretan pederasty and education
20. Common institutions of the Cretans? The question of diversity
21. Helotic slavery in comparative perspective: Crete, Sparta, Thessaly, Heraclea
22. Review: How similar was Spartan and Cretan society?
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Sparta Crete |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mirko Canevaro
Tel: (0131 6)51 1256
Email: Mirko.Canevaro@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Elaine Hutchison
Tel: (0131 6)50 3582
Email: E.Hutchison@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 10 October 2013 3:20 am
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