Seminar Topics

 

Seminars will be held every other day.  There will be a total of 11 seminars, covering the following topics.  All readings will be included in a reading packet, which will be distributed prior to departure.  

 

Seminar 1 Topic: The ideals of beauty in Greek art and architecture

Readings: Essays on Greek Art/Architecture and Greek Mythology

Sample questions to be explored:  (1) Upon what ideals was Greek art based in its various phases of development, and how were these ideals expressed in art?  (2) What was the structure of the Greek temple, and what purpose did it serve?  (3) What are some of the finest examples of Greek architecture?  When were they built?  Who designed them?  What principles of design do they exhibit? (4) What were the most common subjects of Greek sculpture?  In what ways did Greek sculpture of the Classical period differ from earlier periods?  What are some of the finest examples of Greek sculpture?  When were they built?  Who designed them?  What principles of design do they exhibit? (5) What are some contemporary examples that manifest the artistic ideals of the Greeks? 

 

Seminar 2 Topic: Homeric ideals

Readings: Selections from Homer’s Odyssey

Sample questions to be explored: (1) What role did Homer’s epics serve in the life of the Greeks? (2) What does the Odyssey tell us about the life of the Greeks, their customs, their religious practices? (3) What does the Odyssey reveal about the ideals of Bronze Age Greece?  (4) How are these ideals expressed in the Odyssey? (4) What are some of the underlying moral messages of the Odyssey?

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Seminar 3 Topic: The perfection of the body: gymnastics and athletic competition

Readings: Selections from Perrottet: The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Olympic Games

Sample questions to be explored:  (1) What role did gymnastics play in the upbringing of the Greeks?  Why was it so highly valued?  (2) When did the Olympic Games originate?  What function did they serve? What events were held at the Games?  Who was allowed to compete?  What kind of prizes were offered?

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Seminar 4-6 Topics: The ideals of Greek tragedy

Readings: (1) Aeschylus’ Orestia; (2) Sophocles’ Antigone; (3) Euripides’ Medea

Sample questions to be explored: (1) What function did Greek drama serve in the life of the Greeks?  In what ways was that function more than just entertainment? (2) What were the parts of a Greek tragic play?  How was it structured?  What was the role of the chorus? (3) What can we learn about the ideals of the classical Greece from the Greek tragedians? (4) What are the underlying moral messages of the Oresteia?  the Antigone?  the Medea? (5) In what ways do the values that are portrayed in Greek tragedy differ from Homeric values?  In what ways do they overlap?

 

Seminar 7-8 Topics: The ideals of governance: Athens vs Sparta

Readings: (1) Selections from Herodotus’ Histories; (2) Selections from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War; (3) Essays on Athenian Democracy; (4) Selections from Aristotle’s Politics and Ethics

Sample questions to be explored: (1) What was the structure of a typical Greek polis (city-state)?  How did this structure emerge?  In what way were the poleis (pl) of Greece unified?  In what ways were they separate entities? (2) How did the city-states of Athens and Sparta differ? (3) What were the reforms of Cleisthenes, and how did they establish the basis for Athenian democracy? (4) What did the Greeks mean by democracy, and in what ways was the Athenian political system a democracy? In what ways did Athenian democracy help establish Athens’ Golden Age? (5) What brought about the Persian War?  How did the Greeks ultimately defeat Persia? (6) Who was Pericles, and what changes did he institute in Athenian political life?  (7) What led to the Peloponnesian War? (8) What led to Athens' ultimate decline? (9) How, according to Aristotle, should the ideal polis (political community) be structured?  In what ways does this ideal resemble or differ from the city-state of Athens?  How, according to Aristotle, does the ideal polis enable citizens do develop their full potential as human beings?

 

Seminar 9-11 Topics: The improvement of the self: the ideals of mind and character

Readings: (1) Plato’s Apology and death scene from the Phaedo; (2) Selections from Plato’s Republic; (3)  Selections from Aristotle's Ethics

Sample questions to be explored: (1) In what ways does Socrates present a new model of human excellence, and how does this model differ, in particular, from that offered by Homer? (2) How does the Socratic method operate?  What is it used for? (3) Why does Socrates liken himself to a gadfly? (4) What does Socrates mean by “The unexamined life is not worth living?” (5) What, according to Plato, are the ideals of human excellence?  How are they acquired? (6) What, according to Plato, is the structure of the ideal polis?  How is this structure a magnified image of a beautiful soul? (7) What is Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean?