Syllabus - Fall 2025
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Coming Up
Week 1
Wed 3 Sep
Fri 5 Sep
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11
Lecture: “Gilgamesh: When Terrified by Death…”
Nathalia King
Mon 8 Sep
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11
Lecture: “The Forest and the Flood: Environmental Approaches to the Gilgamesh Epic”
Naomi Caffee
Week 2
Wed 10 Sep
Assignment
- Christina Riggs, “Forty Centuries,” in Egypt: Lost Civilizations (London: Reaktion Books, 2017), pp. 33-57, 191-192 (e-reserves)
- Excerpt from Christina Riggs, “Four Little Words,” in Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 3-18 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Stairway to Heaven: The Great Pyramid in and out of Context”
Tom Landvatter
Fri 12 Sep
Assignment
- “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” (The Tale of Sinuhe, ed. Parkinson, pp. 54-88)
- Charles Freeman, “Egypt, the Gift of the Nile, 3200-1500 BC,” in Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 40-62 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Speaking Ma’at, Doing Ma’at, Making Ma’at”
Nathalia King
Full Schedule
Week 1
Wed 3 Sep
Fri 5 Sep
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11
Lecture: “Gilgamesh: When Terrified by Death…”
Nathalia King
Mon 8 Sep
Assignment
- Gilgamesh, Tablets 1-11
Lecture: “The Forest and the Flood: Environmental Approaches to the Gilgamesh Epic”
Naomi Caffee
Week 2
Wed 10 Sep
Assignment
- Christina Riggs, “Forty Centuries,” in Egypt: Lost Civilizations (London: Reaktion Books, 2017), pp. 33-57, 191-192 (e-reserves)
- Excerpt from Christina Riggs, “Four Little Words,” in Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 3-18 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Stairway to Heaven: The Great Pyramid in and out of Context”
Tom Landvatter
Fri 12 Sep
Assignment
- “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” (The Tale of Sinuhe, ed. Parkinson, pp. 54-88)
- Charles Freeman, “Egypt, the Gift of the Nile, 3200-1500 BC,” in Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 40-62 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Speaking Ma’at, Doing Ma’at, Making Ma’at”
Nathalia King
Week 3
Mon 15 Sep
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction
- “The Tale of Sinuhe,” in The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, ed. Parkinson, pp. 21-53
Lecture: “Egypt and its Others: Death as Return in The Tale of Sinuhe”
Kritish Rajbhandari
Wed 17 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction to Egyptian Love Lyrics
- Selections from Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt, trans. Barbara Hughes Fowler (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), pp. xiii-xv, 6-9, 17, 38-41, 57-58, 66-67 (e-reserves)
- Selections from Love Songs of the New Kingdom, trans. John L. Foster (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), front matter, pp. 67, 70-73, 102-103 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Familiar and Strange: Love Poetry of the New Kingdom”
Dustin Simpson
Fri 19 Sep
Lecture: No reading or lecture
Sat 20 Sep
First paper due
Due Saturday, September 20, at 2:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 4
Mon 22 Sep
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction
- Genesis, chapters 1-20 (focus on 1-11), with introduction to Genesis (The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler)
- Martin S. Jaffee, excerpts from Early Judaism: Religious Worlds of the First Judaic Millennium, second ed. (Bethesda: University Press of Maryland, 2006), pp. 1-28 (e-reserves)
Lecture: "THE GENESES OF GENESIS"
Michael Faletra
Wed 24 Sep
Assignment
- Genesis, chapters 21-50 (focus on 21-22) (The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler)
- Martin S. Jaffee, excerpts from Early Judaism: Religious Worlds of the First Judaic Millennium, 2nd ed. (Bethesda: University Press of Maryland, 2006), pp. 50-67, 86-87 (e-reserves)
Lecture: "Another Abraham"
Jan Mieszkowski
Fri 26 Sep
Assignment
- Hesiod, Theogony (trans. Lombardo)
Lecture: “Making Gender in Hesiod’s Theogony: Cosmic Parents, Monstrous Children, and Cannibal Consorts”
Nathalia King
Week 5
Mon 29 Sep
Assignment
- Introduction
- Anaximander (all), Anaximenes (21, 23, 24), Xenophanes (all), Heraclitus (all), and Parmenides (all) (A Presocratics Reader, ed. Patricia Curd, ed., pp. 16-17, 31-65)
- Hesiod, Works and Days, lines 1-128, 430-500 (pp. 23-6, 35-7, trans. Lombardo)1-65
Lecture: "Presocratic Philosophy"
Meg Scharle
Wed 1 Oct
Assignment
- Introduction
- Exodus, chapters 1-15, with introduction to Exodus (The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler)
Lecture: “A PEOPLE IN BETWEEN: EXODUS AND THE ISRAELITES AT THE CROSSROADS OF EMPIRE”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Fri 3 Oct
Assignment
- Exodus, chapters 15-25, 32-37, 40 (The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and
Brettler)
Lecture: "The Book of Exodus: A Three Part Exploration"
Chauncey Handy
Week 6
Mon 6 Oct
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Iliad : books 1, 2, 3 and 6
- Summaries of the other books (Summary Handout)
Lecture: “Great Books”
Nigel Nicholson
Wed 8 Oct
Assignment
- Iliad : books 9, 18
Lecture: "Achilleus: Brooding Whiner or Skeptical Sage?”
Ann Delehanty
Fri 10 Oct
Lecture: No reading or lecture
Sat 11 Oct
Second Paper Due
Due Saturday, October 11, at 2:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 7
Mon 13 Oct
Assignment
- Iliad : books 22, 23, 24
Lecture: “The Epic Scale"
Jay Dickson
Wed 15 Oct
Assignment
- Archilochus 4, 18; Tyrtaeus 7; Alcaeus 4; Sappho 1, 4, 6, 14, 18; Hipponax 1-9 (Greek Lyric, ed. Andrew Miller [Cambridge: Hackett, 1996], pp. 2, 5, 18-19, 40-1, 51-2, 54-6, 59-61, 104-6)
Lecture: "How to Read Poetry and Why."
Marat Grinberg
Fri 17 Oct
Assignment
- Galleries: Kouroi and Egyptian Sculpture (study these images before lecture and conference)
- Andrew Stewart, Art, Desire, and the Body in Ancient Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 3-top of 13, pp. 63-70; p. 268 (glossary) (e-reserves)
Lecture: "Stay and Mourn"
Jenny Sakai
Sat 18 Oct
Fall Break
October 18 – October 26
Week 8
Mon 27 Oct
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Introduction
- Herodotus, The Histories, title paragraph, Book 1, chapters 1-12 (= “1.1-12”), 1.28-33, 1.53-54, 1.71-91, 1.201-216, 2.1-5, 28-64, 2.113-120 (Note that page numbers differ by the edition, but for the most recent de Selincourt edition, this equates to pp. 3-8, 13-16, 23, 32-43, 88-97, 105-121, 138-142. There is also a structural outline on pp. 607-614.)
Lecture: “Same Difference: Telling Tales of Others in The Histories of Herodotus”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture bibliography - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Wed 29 Oct
Assignment
- Introduction to Achaemenid Era Inscriptions
- Achaemenid era inscriptions, from The Persian Empire, vol. I, ed. Amelie Kuhrt (New York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 70-74, 141-158, 492-495, 503-505
- Herodotus, The Histories, 1.131-140, 3.37-38, 3.61-89
Lecture: “Empire of All Kinds: Achaemenid Persia from Cyrus to Herodotus”
Margot Minardi
- Lecture handout - Word or PDF
- Lecture slides
- Lecture recording
Fri 31 Oct
Assignment
- Visual Images: explore these images from the University of Chicago Oriental Institute before lecture and conference.
- Margaret C. Root, "Circles of Artistic Programming: Strategies for Studying Creative Process at Persepolis," in A. C. Gunter (ed.), Investigating Artistic Environments in the Ancient Near East (Washington, DC, 1990), 115-39. (e-reserves)es)
Lecture: “Art as Propaganda at Persepolis”
Jenny Sakai
Week 9
Mon 3 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction
- Gallery: Parthenon
- Rachel Kousser, “Destruction and Memory on the Athenian Acropolis,” Art Bulletin 91.3 (2009): pp. 263-282 (e-reserves)
Lecture: “Architecture, Memory, and Meaning: The Parthenon and Beyond”
Christian Kroll
- Lecture recording
- Lecture Handout Word & PDF
Wed 5 Nov
Assignment
- Herodotus, Histories, 6.125-130, 7.8-57, 7.101-104, 7.138-144, 7.201-238, 8.40-99, 9.114-122
Lecture: "Herodotus, Oracle of Halicarnassus"
Meg Scharle
Fri 7 Nov
Assignment
- Esther (The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Berlin and Brettler)
Lecture: "Beyond the Scapegoat"
Michael Faletra
Week 10
Mon 10 Nov
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Agamemnon,” (trans. Fagles)
Lecture: "Feminine Speech in Aeschylus' Oresteia."
Michael Faletra
Wed 12 Nov
Assignment
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Libation Bearers”
Lecture: “Aeschylus to Alfaro: Tracing Lineage, Rethinking Gender”
Simone Waller
Fri 14 Nov
Assignment
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia: “Eumenides”
Lecture: “The Eumenides”
Peter Steinberger
Sat 15 Nov
Third Paper Due
Due Saturday, November 15, at 2:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 11
Mon 17 Nov
Assignment
- Excerpts from Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), vii-xi [excerpt from preface], 1-14 [introduction, “The Constituent Elements of Slavery”], 334-342 [chapter 12, “Slavery as Human Parasitism”] (e-reserves)
- Image gallery
Lecture: "Resistant Reading: Slavery and Social Death in Ancient Greece"
Kritish Rajbhandari
Wed 19 Nov
Assignment
- Introduction
- Apollodorus, “Against Neaera” (Demosthenes, Speeches 50-59, ed. Victor Bers, [Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003], 151-194) (e-reserves)151-194.
Lecture: "The Case against Neaera: Performing Citizen Status in the Athenian Lawcourt"
Alice Hu
- Lecture handout
- Lecture bibliography - Word or PDF
- Lecture recording
- Lecture slides
Fri 21 Nov
Assignment
- Aristophanes, Lysistrata (trans. Ruden)
Lecture: "Lysistrata to Lizzo: Ancient Athens and the Construction of Gender”
Simone Waller
Week 12
Mon 24 Nov
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.34-65, 3.36-50, 3.69-85 (trans. Warner)
Lecture: "A History for All Ages"
Ariadna Garcia-Bryce
Wed 26 Nov
Assignment
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 6.1-32, 6.88-93, 7.10-18, 7.55-87
Lecture: “A Reversal in National Character? Thucydides' Account of the Sicilian Expedition.”
Ellen Millender
Thu 27 Nov
Thanksgiving Break
November 27 – November 30
Week 13
Mon 1 Dec
Assignment
- Plato, “Apology,” “Euthyphro,” and “Crito,” in Trial and Death of Socrates, pp. 20-42 (trans. Grube)
Lecture: "A Kind of Gadfly"
Pancho Savery
Wed 3 Dec
Assignment
- Plato, Republic, 327a-417a (=Books 2–3), pp. 36-102 (trans. Reeve)
- For the summary of the whole book, see Reeve, pp. xxx-xxxiii
Lecture: "Lovers of Laughter"
Jan Mieszkowski
Fri 5 Dec
Lecture: No Reading or Lecture
Sat 6 Dec
Fourth Paper Due
Due Saturday, December 6, at 2:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 14
Mon 8 Dec
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Assignment
- Plato, Republic, 497a-541a (part of Book 6 to end of Book 7), pp. 191-237
Lecture: "Plato's cave: A Metaphysical Response to Sophistry"
Meg Scharle
Wed 10 Dec
In-Person lecture: 9:00-9:50am in Vollum Lecture Hall
Lecture: "Comparables and Incomparables"
Jan Mieszkowski
Week 15
Mon 16 Dec
Final Exam
December 16 – December 20
Course Logistics
REQUIRED TEXTS
- Aeschylus. The Oresteia. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1977.
- Aristophanes. Lysistrata. Trans. Sarah Ruden. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003.
- Berlin Adele, and Mark Zvi Brettler, eds. The Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014
- Curd, Patricia, ed. A Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia. Trans.
Richard D. McKirahan. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2011. - The Epic of Gilgamesh the Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Trans. Andrew George. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt. London: Penguin, 2003.
- Hesiod. Works and Days and Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993.
- Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Emily Wilson. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2023.
- Parkinson, R. B., ed. and trans. The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems,
1940-1640 B.C. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. - Plato. Republic. Trans. C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004.
- Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates. Trans. G. M. A. Grube, rev. John Cooper. 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000.
- Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Trans. Rex Warner. New York: Penguin, 1954.
Additional assigned texts are available on e-reserves accessible via links embedded in the syllabus below. You will need your Reed username and password to access these texts. Please bring a copy of the day’s reading assignment to class each day. The library has on reserve a limited number of the required books.
LECTURES
On most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of the semester, a lecture is assigned. On many Mondays (weeks 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) and on the very first and last Wednesdays of the semester, these lectures are delivered in-person, and for these lectures we will meet in Vollum Lecture Hall at 9:00 am. Please be on time; the moments when we all gather together as a unified class are important. In-person lecture days are flagged on the syllabus. The other lectures will be posted so they can be accessed online; you can review these when it is most convenient to do so, but, obviously, do so before your conference meeting. Some of these lectures have been reused from last year, but, of course, only when still relevant. Lecture are regularly updated.
CONFERENCE ASSIGNMENTS
Humanities 110 is a yearlong course, and students are expected to remain in the same conference throughout the year. In cases of absolutely unresolvable schedule conflicts, students may petition for a change of conference time. Petitions (in the form of an email) should be addressed to Ariadna Garcia-Bryce, including an explanation of the conflict and why it cannot be resolved. Students granted a change of conference time will be assigned to new sections based on available slots and the student’s schedule; requests to move into a particular conference generally cannot be honored.
PAPERS AND WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Four course-wide papers will be assigned in the fall semester, due at the times designated on the syllabus. Individual conference leaders may assign additional writing. If the due date for an assignment conflicts with a religious holiday or obligation that you wish to observe, please consult with your conference leader. Over the course of the semester, students are also required to submit at least three conference discussion questions, in writing, to their conference leader. Due dates for these questions are determined by individual conference leaders.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
If you have a documented disability requiring accommodations, please contact Disability Support Services. Notifications of accommodations on exams, papers, other writing assignments, or conferences should be directed to your conference leader. Notifications of accommodations regarding lectures can be directed to the chair of the course, Ariadna Garcia-Bryce. You are advised to consult with your conference leader about how your accommodations might apply to specific assignments or circumstances in this course.
RESOURCES FOR SUPPORT
Your conference leader is your first line of support for any questions you have about the course. Please also be sure to explore the Hum 110 website for additional information. The Course Resources entries provide brief introductions to upcoming readings and suggestions for how to approach them. The Writing in Hum 110 page provides tips on the writing process.
To support your success in HUM 110, we encourage you to sign up for tutoring early in the semester. Tutors can help you not only with course content but also with developing essential skills such as critical reading, and analytical writing skills. There are two main tutoring resources available.
- Writing Tutors: Our writing tutors are here to help you with all aspects of your
writing, from brainstorming and organizing your ideas to refining your final drafts.
(Type “Writing” in the search for a course tutor box.) - HUM 110 Tutors: These tutors are specialized in helping you understand the
course material and improve your overall study skills. They can assist with both
content-specific questions and general academic skills. (Type “Hum 110” in the
search for a course tutor box.)
Students are eligible for one free hour of individual tutoring per course, per week. In addition, they may receive one free hour of one-on-one writing tutoring per week. We recommend scheduling regular sessions with a tutor to build a consistent support system throughout the semester. These sessions can be scheduled well in advance of the papers, for example. Further information on tutoring is available here.
Drop-in Writing Tutors. If you need immediate assistance or have a quick question, there are also drop-in tutoring hours for the Writing Center, with extra hours scheduled around Hum papers. Drop-in hours for the Writing Center are posted here. Drop-in tutoring is free.