CL 309-000: Warfare in Classical Culture (Spring 2010)

For a man is not brave in war, unless he endure seeing the bloody slaughter, and standing close reach out for the foe. This is arete, this is the best and loveliest prize for the young man to win.

                                                                        Tyrtaeus

There's no respect or fame from townsmen when you're dead. It's the praise of the living we want---while we're alive. A dead man gets the worst of it, every time.

                                                                        Archilochus

I come now to the chief mainstay and glory of Roman empire, ... the tenacious bond of military discipline, in the bosom and protection of which rests our serene and tranquil state of blessed peace.

                                                            Valerius Maximus II. 7

Content: 

This seminar will examine warfare, both as it was practiced and as it was imagined in the Greek and Roman worlds.  Our evidence will be drawn from literary masterpieces (epic, martial lyric, and both tragic and comic representations of war and military heroes) as well as practical manuals of tactics and siege warfare.  We shall also look at visual and monumental representations of warfare and their role in fabricating cultural meaning.  Participants will pursue an individual research theme, suited to their own interests, as well as the shared temporal survey.

numerous primary and secondary texts on e-reserve