The democratic Athens of Perikles has seemed to many the high point of Greek history, a period in which Athens became both one of the world's first democratic states and the most powerful state in the Greek world. It was also a time of a tremendous flowering in art and literature.  This course will explore the development of Athenian democracy in the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, and the way in which democratic Athens became an imperial power in the 5th century.  The course will look at Athens in the context of Greek political and social structures, and consider the relationship, in Athens' case, between democracy and empire.  Students will read important ancient authors, including Herodotos and Thucydides.

Course Outline

Greek states and society in the archaic period

Development of Athenian democracy from Solon to Kleisthenes

Herodotos and the Persian Wars

Athenian democracy, society and the arts in the 5th century

Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War

- Ability to read ancient sources critically

- Research and writing abilities

- Ability to construct and criticise arguments

- Ability to present material orally and in writing

- Understanding of ways other societies differ from our own

Source exercise (10%)
Tutorial participation and in-class geography test (10%)
Group presentation (museum) (15%)
One 1,500 word essay (30%)
One three-hour exam in the examination period (35%)

Herodotus, The Histories (trans. A. de Sélincourt: Penguin Classics, rev. 2003)

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (trans. Martin Hammond: Oxford World's Classics, 2009)

Aristotle, The Athenian constitution (trans. P.J. Rhodes: Penguin Classics, rev. 2002)