January 24 - The Sources and the Youth of Alexander (Diodorus 1.1-5, Arrian Preface, Plutarch Alexander 1-14)
- What do Diodorus, Plutarch, and Arrian reveal about the aims of their histories? How are they similar, and how are they different? How are the ancient historians similar to, or different from, modern historians?
- What aspects of their works do Diodorus, Arrian, and Plutarch believe set them apart from other histories?
- What are Arrian’s reasons for relying primarily on the accounts of Ptolemy and Aristobulus? How convincing are they?
- What omens does Plutarch describe surrounding Alexander’s birth and what do they signify? Do you think they occurred or were they invented later?
- What does the episode with Bucephalas reveal about Alexander’s character and his relationship with Philip? What parts of the episode might be folkloric in origin?
- Why do Alexander and Philip temporarily part ways according to Plutarch? Why are they reconciled? Can you think of any underlying reasons not in Plutarch that might explain this episode?
- Why does Plutarch include the episode with Timocleia? What does it reveal about Alexander’s character?
- Why does Plutarch include the episode with Diogenes? What does it reveal about Alexander’s character?
- Based on Plutarch, how well-versed in Greek culture do the Macedonians seem to be? What does this show about them?
February 12 - Alexander and Orientalism (Arrian 4.1-15, Curtius 8.1-8)
- What does the nature of Alexander’s court seem to be at this point? What factions seem to exist, and what does Alexander now seem to look for in his closest associates?
- What tensions underly Alexander’s murder of Cleitus (Kleitos) the Black? How does Alexander react to it?
- What does the main objection of the Greeks and Macedonians towards proskynesis seem to be? Why is Alexander so intent on receiving proskynesis? How do Curtius and Arrian differ in their presentation of this?
- How does Anaxarchus attempt to justify proskynesis? What is Callisthenes' response? What does this show about how the Greeks and Macedonians understood the meaning of divinity?
- What is the underlying motivation for the conspiracy of the Pages? Do Arrian and Curtius give different reasons for why the pages wanted to kill Alexander?
- Arrian notes that Aristobulus and Ptolemy give different accounts of the fate of Callisthenes. Which account seems to defend Alexander more? What might this tell us about the relative quality of Ptolemy and Aristobulus as historical sources?
- How does Alexander, according to Curtius, justify his behavior after the conspiracy of the pages? Does Curtius want us to find this speech convincing?
- Overall, how do Arrian and Curtius view Alexander’s increasing orientalism? How far do they go to excuse and/or condemn Alexander’s conduct?
February 21 - The Death of Alexander (Arrian 7, Plutarch Alexander 70-77, Diodorus 17.104-118)
- What aspects of Alexander’s behavior after the death of Hephaestion do the ancient writers criticize? Are there significant differences between the writers? What might this show about how they understand Alexander?
- What do the ancient authors reveal about Alexander’s plans for the future? How much are these plans in keeping with Alexander’s character? Do any of them seem like later fabrications?
- What omens precede the death of Alexander? How believable are they?
- Do any of the ancient writers suspect that Alexander was poisoned? What elements in the accounts of Alexander’s last days might suggest poisoning? Who might have poisoned the king?
- Based on what you now know about Alexander’s life, how accurate an assessment does Arrian give of the king’s good and bad traits (7.28-30)? What does this show about how Arrian views Alexander?
- What is Arrian’s final verdict on Alexander and his divinity?
- Ultimately, how much did Alexander really accomplish in his brief life?
March 27 - Hellenistic Literature 2 (Argonautica)
- Ancient rumor has it that Callimachus and Apollonius were bitter intellectual enemies. Why might Callimachus have disliked the Argonautica? Conversely, what might Callimachus have approved of?
- What is the point of including Heracles in the expedition when he is almost immediately lost?
- One important aspect of Hellenistic literature is the ekphrasis, or description of a work of art. There is an ekphrasis on p 93-94 - what does it describe and how does this relate to or comment on the larger narrative?
- What defines Jason as a hero? What qualities does he show over the course of the poem? How does he differ from earlier heroes in Greek literature, such as Odysseus or Achilles?
- As we discussed earlier, Hellenistic writers were also scholars and researchers. How does Apollonius work his scholarship, research, and knowledge of the world into the Argonautica? What does this say about his audience?
- What role do the gods have to play in the Argonautica, especially at the start of Book 3? How does this compare to the gods in the Iliad and the Odyssey, and what does this show about Hellenistic sensibilities?
- How is Medea compared/contrasted with the male characters? What does Apollonius’ portrayal of Medea and her femininity reveal about the Hellenistic world (think about Penelope in the Odyssey)? How does Medea serve as a foil for Jason?
- Why would this epic poem have been so popular among the elite in the Hellenistic world, and what does that reveal about them and their society?
April 12 - Ptolemies 3 (Enteuxis Papyri, Readings in Austin on Egypt)
- What are the most common instructions Diophanes issues to the epistatai? What does this show about how Diophanes preferred to resolve quarrels? What can we infer about the efficacy of this approach?
- What do the most common complaints between Greeks and Egyptians seem to be? What does this show about their proximity and relationship? Do the Greeks seem to be taking advantage of the Egyptians in these documents?
- What are the most common complaints between Greeks and other Greeks? Between Egyptians and other Egyptians? What does this show about how the different populations lived?
- What do these documents tell us about the economy in Egypt - contracts, payments, loans, leases, etc.? How do they relate to the documents we’ve seen in Austin?
- What do these documents tell us about the family in Egypt - relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, etc.?
- What can we infer about literacy in Egypt from these documents?
- What else can we infer about life in Egypt in the late 3rd century from the Enteuxeis papyri?
April 17 - Hellenistic Literature 3 (Theocritus, Herodas, and Moschus in Fowler, Austin 255)
- Theocritus 1 marks the beginning of the European tradition of pastoral or bucolic poetry. What elements are particularly prominent? What is the nature of the countryside, as portrayed in the poem and in Thyrsis’ song within the poem? What pastoral elements appear in the other poems?
- What are the characteristics of the shepherds, goatherds, etc. of Theocritus’ poems? What do they do? How realistic are they?
- Pastoral poetry always has herdsmen, never agricultural workers. Why might that be?
- Why might the world of the countryside, as portrayed in pastoral poetry, have been so appealing to the elite of the Hellenistic world?
- What is the imagery of the ekphrasis at the start of Theocritus 1, and how does it contribute to the mood and story of the poem?
- What is the power of love in these poems (not just Theocritus, but Bion and Moschus)? How does this relate to what we have seen in Apollonius and in the art of the Hellenistic world? What does this reveal about the concerns of the audience?
- What is the role of the gods in the poetry of Theocritus? To what extent does the natural world take the place of traditional divinities?
- The Mimes of Herodas were discovered on papyrus last century and very little is known about them or their context. How do they fit into the broader trends in Hellenistic literature and thought that we have seen? What can we surmise about their intended audience?
April 26 - Hellenism and the Jews (1 Maccabees, Austin #214-216)
- What does it say that so many Jews were willing to follow the orders of Antiochus IV, at least initially?
- What may have motivated Antiochus to crack down on the Jews?
- How much is the Maccabean rebellion a fight to preserve Jewish tradition, and how much is it a war of conquest?
- How does religion become a weapon of war and a political instrument for the Maccabees?
- How are the Maccabees able to achieve independence? Why are the Seleucid kings so willing to grant them special privileges in the end?
- What role does Rome have to play in this? What does the author of Maccabees’ view of Rome show about the power of the Romans by this time? How accurate is the depiction of Rome?
- What elements of Judaic culture does Hecataeus (Austin 214) emphasize? What does this show about Greek perceptions of Judaism?
- Ultimately, how much evidence for a policy of “Hellenization” of the Jews do we see? What does this show about the spread of Greek culture in general during the Hellenistic period?