Ancient Historians
HIST 3013 • Spring 2025
This course fulfills the Methods requirement for the History major
Bust of Herodotus, the Father of History
Instructor: Dr. Charles E. Muntz
Time: MWF 9:40-10:30 am
Place: SCEN 206
Dr. Muntz's Office: 408 Old Main
Office Hours: Mon 1:00-2:30 and by appointment.
Phone: (479) 575-5891
Email: cmuntz@uark.edu
Synopsis
This class will introduce students to the rich historical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Beginning with Herodotus, the Father of History, we will examine the origins of history and how different historians developed ways of understanding historical events and their causes. Among other topics we will examine historical points of view, depictions of the “other,” history and power, biography versus history, the reinterpretation of earlier historians by their successors, and other types of evidence available to modern historians to reconstruct the past.
Learning Outcomes
To understand the origins and development of historical inquiry and writing in ancient Greece and Rome
To understand how ancient historians tried to understand historical processes and causes
To understand major issues and problems in ancient historiography
To understand other types of evidence available for reconstructing the history of the ancient world
To understand the specific contexts and audiences of ancient historical works
To present well-reasoned arguments about ancient historians based on primary sources with proper citations
To use feedback from the instructor to improve their writing and arguments
Workload
3 papers (1000 words apiece) on historical problems
Paper 1: A ethnography of the Greeks based on Herodotus. Due Feburary 17 by 5 pm. Assignment here.
Paper 2: An analysis of how Livy has adapted a passage from Polybius. Due March 21 by 5 pm. Assignment here.
Paper 3: TBA. Due May 3 by 5 pm.
3 in-class exams on February 10, March 12, and April 30.
Class Participation.
Attendance: Regular attendance is important. I will allow each student to miss up to three classes without penalty to cover things like illness and religious observances. Please email me in advance if you are going to miss class. For each absence after the first three, unless there is a serious problem, I will lower the final participation grade by 10 points. If you do have to miss a class, make sure you meet with another student to find out what you missed!
Grade Breakdown:
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 15%
Paper 3: 15%
Exam 1: 15%
Exam 2: 15%
Exam 3: 15%
Participation: 10%
Textbooks
Herodotus: The Histories. Robin Waterfield, translator. ISBN 9780199535668. The Library has an eBook of this text as well.
Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War. Martin Hammond, translator. ISBN 9780192821911. The Library has an eBook of this text as well.
Polybius: The Histories. Robin Waterfield, translator. ISBN 9780199534708. The Library has an eBook of this text as well.
Tacitus: The Annals. J. C. Yardley, translator. ISBN 9780192824219. The Library has an eBook of this text as well.
Other texts will be made available via the web - see the daily topics for links.
Super resource if you need to look up a person or topic (much better than Wikipedia or other web sources):
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Policies
Academic Integrity: As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail.
Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at http://provost.uark.edu/. Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.
Equal Access: University of Arkansas Academic Policy Series 1520.10 requires that students with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact me privately at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Center for Educational Access (contact 479-575-3104 or visit http://cea.uark.edu for more information on registration procedures).
Unauthorized Websites or Internet Resources: There are many websites claiming to offer study aids to students, but in using such websites, students could find themselves in violation of our University’s Academic Integrity and Code of Student Life policies. These websites include (but are not limited to) Quizlet, Bartleby, Course Hero, Chegg, and Clutch Prep. The U of A does not endorse the use of these products in an unethical manner. These websites may encourage students to upload course materials, such as test questions, individual assignments, and examples of graded material. Such materials are the intellectual property of instructors, the university, or publishers and may not be distributed without prior authorization. Furthermore, paying for academic work to be completed on your behalf and submitting it for academic credit is considered ‘contract cheating’ per the Academic Integrity Policy. Students found responsible for this type of violation face a grading penalty of ‘XF’ and a minimum one-semester academic suspension per the University of Arkansas Sanction Rubric. The use of AI such as ChatGPT and similar tools is also prohibited. Please let me know if you are uncertain about the use of a website.
Unauthorized Recording by Student: Recording, or transmission of a recording, of all or any portion of a class is prohibited unless the recording is necessary for educational accommodation as expressly authorized and documented through the Center for Educational Access with proper advance notice to the instructor. Unauthorized recordings may violate federal law, state law, and university policies. Student-made recordings are subject to the same restrictions as instructor- made recordings. Failure to comply with this provision will result in a referral to the Office of Student Standards and Conduct for potential charges under the Code of Student Life. In situations where the recordings are used to gain an academic advantage, it may also be considered a violation of the University of Arkansas' academic integrity policy.
Recording of Class Lectures: By attending this class, student understands the course may be recorded and consents to being recorded for official university educational purposes. Be aware that incidental recording may also occur before and after official class times.
Unauthorized Use and Distribution of Class Notes: Third parties may attempt to connect with you to buy your notes and other course information from this class. I will consider distributing course materials to a third party without my authorization a violation of my intellectual property rights and/or copyright law as well as a violation of the University of Arkansas' academic integrity policy. Continued enrollment in this class signifies your intent to abide by the policy. Any violation will be reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity.
Please be aware that such class materials that may have already been given to such third parties may contain errors, which could affect your performance or grade. If a third party should contact you regarding such an offer, I would appreciate your bringing this to my attention. We all play a part in creating a course climate of integrity.
Miscellaneous: Please turn off and put away all cell phones and any other non-course related items and finish any food you might be eating or drinking before coming into class. Please remain seated during class - if you need to use the lavatory, do so before or after class.
Daily Topics and Assignments
January 13: Introduction
Part 1: The beginnings of History
January 15: Herodotus and the beginnings of Inquiry
Herodotus: Book 1 to chapter 25
• How does Herodotus deal with Greek myths in the earliest chapters of the Histories?
• What hints does Herodotus give us about his sources here?
January 17: Herodotus and the fall of Croesus
Herodotus: Book 1.26-95, Book 3.38 (pg. 185)
• What does Solon think makes people happy?
• How does Herodotus understand the workings of fate?
January 22: Herodotus and Ethnography
Herodotus: Book 1.95-140, 178-216
• What elements in the remainder of book 1 might be folk tale motifs? Think about other similar stories you may have heard.
• What does Herodotus seem to be interested in the most when describing “barbarian” customs?
January 24: Herodotus and Egypt
Herodotus: Book 2.1-5, 2.35-64, 2.77-84, 2.99-135, 2.142-146, 2.160, 1.163-168, 2.178-179
• What elements of Herodotus’s Egyptian narrative might fit into the “orientalist” ideas we discussed last time?
• How is Herodotus defining what it is to be Greek as he describes the Egyptians?
January 27: Herodotus and His Sources
Herodotus: Book 3.39-60, 3.80-87, 7.1-52
• What does Herodotus reveal about his sources in our readings so far?
• How well does the Persian ethnography serve to characterize Xerxes?
January 29: Thucydides and the beginning of Modern Historiography
Thucydides: Book 1.1-88
• How does Thucydides approach myth differently than Herodotus?
• What kinds of arguments seem to be most successful in speeches?
January 31: Thucydides, Rhetoric, and Philosophy
Thucydides: Book 1.89-146
• How well does the Pentecontaetia (89-118) support Thucydides’s argument about the growth of Athenian power?
• How does the speech of Pericles demonstrate the character of the Athenians? How does it fight it?
February 3: Thucydides, Pericles, and Imperialism
Thucydides: Book 2.1-54
• How well does the Funeral Oration depict the Athenians as we have seen them so far?
• Why does Thucydides go into such detail about the plague?
February 5: Thucydides and Human Nature
Thucydides: Book 2.55-65, Book 3.1-50
• How does the vision of Empire in Cleon and Diodotus fit in with (or not fit in with) that of Pericles?
• Does the better argument ultimately win the Mytilenian debate?
February 7: Thucydides and Leadership
Thucydides: Book 3.51-87
• How does the Mytilenian debate contrast with the Plataean debate? What themes in Thucydides does this highlight?
• How does the account of civil war in Corcyra fit into Thucydides’s larger depiction of the effects of war?
Febrary 10: Exam 1
Interlude
February 12: Literary sources for history: Aristophanes versus Thucydides on the origins of the Peloponnesian War
Aristophanes: Acharnians (you may need to be on campus for this link to work)
February 14: An Historical Problem: The Peace of Callias
Sources for the Peace of Callias
February 17: Coins and History: The Hellenistic World
February 17: First Paper Due by 5 pm.
Part 2: Encyclopaedic History
February 19: Snow day!
February 21: Polybius and Universal History
Polybius Book 1.1-15, 3.1-19
• How well does Polybius’s analysis of beginnings, pretexts, and causes work? How well does it apply to any other wars you might know about?
• Why (according to Polybius, at least) should you prefer Polybius's History over other historical works?
February 24: Polybius and Hannibal
Polybius Book 3.20-69
• Why is it important to study history, according to Polybius? Who does he seem to be targeting his work at?
• What makes Hannibal such a great leader as Polybius portrays him?
February 26: Polybius and Rome at War
Polybius Book 3.70-118
• How do the Roman commanders compare to Hannibal in Polybius?
• What does Polybius reveal about how the Roman state functions in a time of war?
February 28: Polybius on Government
Polybius Book 6, especially 6.2-18 and 6.43-58
• How does Polybius's understanding of constitutions build on or reject the famous debate in Herodotus 3.80-87?
• How might the organization of Rome's government not be as great a check on one group gaining power as Polybius thinks?
March 3: Polybius and historical polemic
Polybius Book 12 (all)
• What specific historical practices does Polybius criticize Timaeus for? How valid do his criticisms seem to be?
• How does Polybius use Book 12 to establish his own authority as an historian for his readers?
March 5: Livy & Patriotic History
Livy Preface and Book 1 beginning
• What does Livy think the purposes of history are, and how objective and accurate does he feel he needs to be?
• How does Livy know about early Rome and what does he reveal about his ultimate sources for this?
March 7: Livy & Early Rome
• How does Livy use his account of the Regal Period to reveal the nature and character of the Romans?
• How well does Livy's narrative of Rome's kings fit in with the theories of monarchy that we've seen in Herodotus and Polybius?
March 10: Livy as a Secondary Source Historian
• How does Livy depict the origins of the war around Saguntum, especially compared to Polybius?
• How does Livy depict Hannibal and explain his success, especially compared to Polybius?
March 12: Livy versus Polybius on the Punic Wars
• What does Livy show us about how he evaluates earlier historians?
• How does Livy portray the Roman commanders, especially compared to Polybius?
March 14: Exam 2
Interlude
March 17: Fragmentary Historians
March 19: Documentary Evidence
March 21: Art as History: The Augustan Era
March 21: Second Paper due by 5pm
Spring Break
Part 3: Imperial History
March 31: Coins as History II: The Roman Empire
April 2: Caesar’s Commentaries, the raw material of history
Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul, Book 1
April 4: Caesar’s Commentaries as propaganda
Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul, excerpts from Books 4, 5, 6
April 7: Tacitus and the Roman Empire
Annals Book 1
April 9: Tacitus and the nature of Power
Annals Book 2
April 11: Tacitus on Germanicus and Tiberius
Annals Book 3
Speech Concerning Piso
April 14: Tacitus and History under a Tyrant
Annals Book 4
April 16: Tacitus and the Corruption of Power
Annals Book 6
April 18: Suetonius: Biography versus History
Life of Tiberius
April 21: Velleius Paterculus: The Alternative View of Power
Velleius Paterculus: Book 2 on Augustus and Tiberius
Aftermaths of History
April 23: How NOT to write history
Lucian: How to Write History
April 25: Reader’s Digests of History: Epitomes and Summaries
Livy: Epitomes of Book 1 and Book 21
April 28: Dangers of Reception - Tacitus’s Germany
Tacitus: Germany
April 30: Exam 3
May 4: Third paper due by 5 pm