A study in social history of the richly documented tradition of competitive artistic, athletic and combat-performances sponsored by rulers, cities and wealthy individuals, with special attention to the ongoing connections and cross-influences between them.  We will take our materials from the fifth century BCE to the late Roman empire, including ancient treatises, inscriptions, mosaics, wall-paintings and terracottas (all readings in English).

BOOKS (on sale at the campus store)
Csapo and Slater, The Context of Ancient Drama (University of Michigan Press, paperback) ISBN 0472082752 (REQUIRED)
Miller, S. G., Arete : Greek Sports from Ancient Sources 3rd and expanded ed (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). ISBN 0520241541(REQUIRED)
Futrell, Alison, The Roman Games: A Sourcebook (Blackwell, paperback, 2006) ISBN 1405115696 (REQUIRED)
Kyle, D. G., Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, Ancient Cultures (Malden, MA ; Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2007). ISBN 063122971X (REQUIRED)

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
-3 short essays (1250 words [ca. 5pp] each) on 1) Greek, 2) Roman and 3) Modern topics.(If the course size allows, a ten minute in-class presentation on an item of evidence or an article may be subsituted for one  essay.)
--2 sets of "discussion starters" (provocative observations, questions on a major  item of ancient evidence or text) on the readings for one class, submitted to the instructor a full 24 hours before the relevant class (I will ask for volunteers for these after every class).
--two 30 minute exams (week VI and week XIV) to identify map-sites, historical periods and concepts, and other important items from the course. (no final exam)
--1 long essay (2500 words ca. 10 pp.) on a topic of your choice but you must bring a proposal to a paper conference with me in Weeks XIII or XIV.

Outline of Topics
Friday, August 28 Introduction 1 (Historical Eras, Geographic Places, Types of Evidence, Course-Organization and Major Themes)

(Weeks I-II)
I. The Dramatic competitions: Tragedy, comedy and the chorus in Athens (VI-IIII BCE)
(offical organization, choregia, theaters, seating, records)

(Weeks II-III)
II. Olympics and other panhellenic athletic competitive festivals (Beginning VI BCE)
(mythic origins, events, qualification, training, prerogatives of victory, Pindar and the ideal of aristocratic athletic achievement, sanctuary-claims to panhellenic prestige)

(Weeks IV-V)
III. The Gymnasium (beginning IV BCE-)
(Physical and civic education, idealization of the young nude male, the rituals of the gymnasium)

(Weeks V-VI)
IV. Local musical/dramatic festivals in hellenistic Greece (III-I BCE)
(royal and local patrons, professional guilds of actors, influence on Romans)

(Weeks VII-IX)
V. "Ludi" and "munera": Roman republican (II-I BCE) adaptations of Greek competitive festivals
(political ambition and individual patronage, new emphasis on combat and animal-hunts, temporary theaters and amphiteaters)

 (Weeks IX-X)
VI. The earlier Roman empire (I-II CE)
(Centralization of organization and financing under the emperors, Roman versions of Greek theaters and the rise of 'mimes', the official amphitheater ('Colisseum') and gladiators, political demonstrations in the theater and amphitheater, Nobles and Emperors as performers, 'shows' climaxing in an execution (criminals and martyrs))

 (Weeks XI-XII)
VII. The later Roman empire (III-VI CE)
(The circus, celebrity chariot-racers and their factions, revival and criticism of Greek athletics (Lucian, Galen, Philostatus), the rise of mythological dance-theater ('pantomime'), Christians against theater (Augustine, John Chrysostom) and spectacle (Tertullian).

 (Weeks XIII-XIV)
Epilogue: Can Greco-Roman spectacles illuminate modern ones?
(The ideals, organization, politics and spectacle of the modern Olympics (and Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia), modern education and athletics, spectator behavior and sporting events, "world's fairs", famous and infamous modern festivals, which TV competition-shows are relevant and how could ancient models suggest improvements? Sports-reporting and concert-theater reviews)

Some questions to keep in mind:
--Origins: scapegoat ritual, human sacrifice to honor the dead, ambition of sponsor, innate competitive spirit, social safety-valve?
--Who initiates the spectacle? How is it organized?
--Competition: are some events more suitable for competition than others? How are the winners decided?
--Who pays? what do they expect to get from it?
--What is the venue, how designed, what effect on type of performance and spectators?
--Performers: how recruited and organized? How rewarded?
--Spectators: what socio-economic level? Where are their sympathies? Why do they attend?
--Value of the experience to spectators: elevating or degrading? (are the events educational, socially cohesive (or the opposite), titillating or vicarious evil pleasure?)