CLAS/HIST240 Ancient Societies
Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois
Instructor: Thomas J. Sienkewicz (toms@monm.edu)
Africa in the Ancient World
Schedule of Topics and Readings
REVISED 10/2/98
Key:
BIA = Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity
Pharaohs = The World of the Pharaohs
Week IV / Week V / Week VI / Week VII / Week VIII / Week IX / Week X / Week XI / Week XI / Week XIII / Week XIV / Week XV / EXAM WEEK
Part III: "Black" Athena
Week VII
Oct. 12
Greeks and Egyptians: Aeschylus, Suppliants
Electronic Resource Report Due.
FOX LECTURE 7:30 P.M. ATTENDANCE REQUIRED
Oct. 14
"Was Cleopatra Black?": Read Newsweek Sept. 23, 1991:42-50
Part IV: Greece and Africa
Oct. 16 The Bronze Age and Homer
Read BIA 101-102, 122, Homer on Eurybates (Iliad 2.183-185; 9.170; Odyssey 19.244-248)
Archaic Greece: First Encounters--Cyprus and Naucratis
Read BIA 103-104, 122-123
Week VIII
Oct. 19 Advising Day. NO CLASS
Oct. 21 FIRST UNIT EXAM
Oct. 23 Ancient Images of Africa and Egypt: Read Euripides' Helen
Week IX
Oct. 26 No class. Fall Break
Oct. 28 Brainstorming for Individual Project
Helen Cont.
Oct. 30 Research Day for Individual Project
Week X
Nov. 2 Classical Greece
Read BIA 105-107, 123-125, Herodotus. Books VII-VIII
Nov. 4 Hellenistic Greece: Alexandria and Cyrene
Read BIA 107-109, 126-129, Asclepiades hand-out
Part V: Rome and Africa
Nov. 6 Introduction: Dido and Aeneas
Week XI
Nov. 9 Carthage and Rome: The Punic Wars
Read BIA 125-126, 130-131; Livy's description of Hannibal in Book XXI
Nov. 11 Slavery in the Ancient World
Read Seneca. Epistle XLVII (hand-out), Aesop hand-outs
Nov. 13 Rome and African Monarchs: Cleopatra, Masinissa and Jugurtha
Read BIA 109-112, 131-136, Horace. Odes. I.37 (hand-out)
Week XII
Nov. 16 Cleopatra
Read Smithsonian Magazine Feb. 1997:57-63; Bevan 344-361
Nov. 18 Rome and Meroe
Read BIA 115-116, Apuleius, books 1-2
Nov. 20 Axum and the Blemmyes
Read BIA, 116-120, 136-141, Apuleius, books 3-4
Week XIII
Nov 23 Roman North Africa
Read BIA 141-143, Apuleius, books 5-6
Nov. 25 Roman North Africa Cont.
Read Apuleius, books 7-8
Nov. 27 No class. Thanksgiving break
Week XIV
Nov. 30 Blacks in Daily Life: Entertainers and Athletes
Read BIA 156-168, 182-188, 192-195, Latin Poetry hand-outs
Dec 2 Blacks in Religion: ISIS
Read BIA 189-192, Apuleius, books 9-10
Dec. 4 Blacks in the Old Testament
Read Numbers 12:1-15, Jeremiah 38-39, 1 Kings 10:1-13, Song of Solomon
Week XV
Dec. 7 Christianity and the Ethiopians
Read BIA 196-215, Acts 8:26-40, hand-outs from Church Fathers
Individual Project Due
Dec. 9 Before Color Prejudice
Read BIA 169-182, 216-218
EXAM WEEK
Dec. 17 Oral Reports and Course Evaluation
1 P.M.