Ancient Greece: History and Archaeology

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject explores the history and archaeology of Greece, the Near East, and the wider Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the end of the Archaic period to 479BC. The main emphasis will be on the rise and fall of the Bronze Age civiiisations such as the Minoans and Mycenaeans, the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, early Greek colonisation of the Mediterranean and interactions with non-Greeks, the birth of a Hellenic identity, economic and socal affairs, 'Orientalisation' of Archaic Greece via contacts with the Near East, the Greco-Persian conflict, Greek political developments (tyanny, oligarchy and democracy), Greek historiography (Herodotus), as well as material culture of the Greeks in various areas of the Mediterranean seen from archaeological evidence. Furthermore, the emergence of the polis system will be explored; and the role of religious practices and temples. There will be detailed examination of modern scholarship on ethnicity, colonisation, migration and acculturation. These concepts are especially important for the study of the Archaic period, which differs greatly from the succeeding Classical period that has given us the splendid monuments of the Athenian Acropolis.

Students who successfully complete this subject should:

• possess knowledge of the material culture of Greece and the Mediterranean world from the Bronze Age to ca. 500BC
• posess knowledte of major developments in Greek history fromt eh MInoan/Mycenaean period tothe Greco-Persian Wars
• be able to analyse and distinguish the complexities of the historical and archaeological evidence of the different periods
• be able to apply current scholarly methodologies tot ehanalysis of such key topics as religion, social complexity, ethnicity, etc.

An outline, tutorial presentation and essay of 2250 words 50% (10% outline, 10% presentation, 30% essay - due during semester) and a take-home exam of 1750 words 40% (due during the examination period) and tutorial participation 10%.

Hurdle Requirement: students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. After five working days late assessment will not be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

D. Preziosi andL.A. Hitchcock, Aegean Art and Archaeology, Oxford 1999

Morris and B.B. Powell, The Greek: History, Culture and Society, Upper Saddle River, NJ 2006

Subject readings will be available on line

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.