Objectives:
- To introduce you to the ancient historians who are seen by ancient and modern scholars alike as essential to our understanding of history
- To experience the authors’ literariness and differing aims and methods of writing history.
- To introduce you to works of literature that are characterized as important to the Western canon of literature.
- To show an in-depth understanding of a central text and how it fits into the larger context of Greek culture and society.
Instructions. The following are the rules for all papers:
- Your essays must be 1.5-double spaced, size 12 font, New Times Roman.
- Make sure that your name, date, course and course number are on the paper
- Provide a title that suitably describes your paper.
- Papers should be analytical and argumentative. Do not just describe what is going on in the text. You want to argue something.
- Provide a clear and arguable thesis early in your paper.
- In order to argue about a text effectively, you must provide numerous examples from the primary source to support your claims.
- Citation from the text must be consistent (if you use in-text citation, do so throughout. The same is true with footnotes). Use Chicago Manual of Style format.
- You may use outside sources, but they must be vetted by professionals in the field (i.e., no wikipedia). Any additional source you use must be cited fully and correctly. Make sure you do so, or it will be considered plagiarism.
- Provide a bibliography for your paper (even if it is just one source) and make sure that it aligns with Chicago Manual of Style.
Please also consult the course policy for Academic Honesty below.
Arrian, Alexander the Great
Pick one of the topics below.
- The purpose of ancient historical writing was primarily to provide moral guidance to readers. To what extent is Arrian’s account a “moral” text? Explain by using examples from the text.
- A common aspect of ancient historical writing is to depict the “other” (in this case, the Persians), as the opposite of who the Greek are. To what extent are the Persians diametrically opposed to the Greeks? Is it more complicated than a black and white comparison? How does Arrian depict the Persians, their culture and practices, institutions, their leaders, etc.?
- According to Arrian, what are Alexander’s motivations for undertaking an invasion of the Persian Empire? Are these consistently portrayed throughout the text?
- What are Arrian’s primary sources and how does he use them to construct his own authority as a historian?