Ancient Athletics (ClassGen34)
Winter 2015
T Th 10:00-10:50 + section (students must enroll in section)
Instructor: Susan Stephens (susanas@) Office Hours: T Th 11.00 am-1.00 pm
Section Leaders:
Stephen Sansom (sasansom@), Boris Shoshitaishvili (borissh@), Scott Weiss (sweiss14@)
Course Description and Goals
Athletic competitions, whether individual or group, are fundamental in our experience of modern life. So much so that statements like that of the late sportscaster Howard Cosell have become a cliché: “I learned early on that sports is a part of life, that it is human life in microcosm, and that the virtues and flaws of the society exist in sports even as they exist everywhere else.” Yet competitive sports do not have this same intrinsic value in all cultures nor would many cultures feel comfortable with the notion that sports are ‘human life in microcosm’. Where do these attitudes come from? These and many other of our modern western ideas about sports are inherited from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the central goal of this course is to study the growth and the development of ancient sports in these societies in order to better understand our own attitudes about the value of the athlete and competitive sport in our society including development of the Olympic Games, debates about amateur vs. professional, athletic training and health regimen, issues of class in sports, and the role of money in the cost of events, payments for athletes, betting and bribery. You will be encouraged throughout the course to identify patterns and make connections between what you are learning about ancient sports and sports in the contemporary context.
Required Texts
AAW = Athletics in the Ancient World, Z. Newby (Bristol, 2006)
TRG = The Roman Games: Historical Sources in Translation, A. Futrell (Blackwell 2006)
CSSGR = A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity, P. Christesen and D. Kyle, eds (Blackwell, 2013).
This book is available on-line through Stanford Libraries with your Sunet ID:
http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.stanford.edu/lib/stanford/reader.action?docID=10804669
All other readings will be posted to Coursework AND they will be on the course website: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/classics/cgi-bin/wordpress/
Use your Sunet ID and password to log into the website.
Please note that for reasons of file size we cannot post the video clips on Coursework, but they will be on the website or on YouTube.
Grading Formula
75% Break out session participation + five follow-up 2 page papers (15% for each)
25% Final (Take Home Exam)
Course Requirements
The course may be taken for 3 or 4 units.
For 3 units:
Students are expected to attend lectures and participate in break out sessions. It is important to complete all assigned readings before arriving in class, and to be prepared to discuss the materials. Please do come to office hours to discuss your questions or raise them on e-mail.
Sections: Sections are organized for viewing educational films that attempt to explain or capture what ancient athletic competitions might have been like and selections from modern films, like Gladiator, that attempt to recreate the ancient experience. Sections are scheduled from 9-9.50 Tuesday or Thursday in Lathrop 282. You MUST enroll in a section. If none is available to fit your schedule, please enroll anyway. We can arrange for you to view materials at other times, but you will need a section leader who will monitor your participation in break out sessions and read your papers.
Breakout sessions: The classroom (Lathrop 282) for this course has tables that seat 7-8. Part of each class hour will be lectured, but there will also be periods (15-20 minutes) devoted to small group discussion. There will be five longer breakout sessions (35-40) minutes that you will be expected to follow up with a 2-page paper that expands on some part of the earlier discussion. The topics will be announced in advance so that you may think about what materials are relevant for discussion and follow-up.
Written Assignments: You will have five written assignments in the course of the term as outlined above. These must be turned in on the day noted on the Course Schedule. There is a 2-page limit to each paper, though the formats might vary. We will discuss each in greater detail at the appropriate time.
Final examination: The final is take home and open book. It consists of: (1) images or concepts for recognition and discussion (this section will be based on images you have seen in class and/or in course readings and films, and discussed in breakout sessions), (2) two short essays chosen from four alternatives, and (3) the paper from your final break out session.
For 4 units:
In addition to the requirements for 3 units, students taking the course for 4 units will be responsible for a project or paper, the nature and scope of which should reflect their own interests and be framed in discussion with their instructors. Examples of projects from previous years will be posted on the website. This paper/project will be due no later than the day of the final examination. This may be a collaborative effort, if you have gotten permission from your TA in advance.