HIS590: Ancient Mediterranean History

This course examines pressing and problematic debates concerning ancient Mediterranean history. We will examine the so-called Hellenistic period, bookended by the conquests of Alexander of Macedon and the death of Cleopatra VII. While the fifth and fourth centuries BCE have long been considered the "Classical" golden age of the Greek world, the subsequent Hellenistic period is often viewed as somehow tarnished in comparison. Yet, during these centuries, the bounds of the Greek-speaking world were at their widest, contacts their most diverse, and myriad developments made that continue to influence our modern world. This term, we will deconstruct ideas of a derivative, decadent, and inferior Hellenistic world to examine a Mediterranean world at its most multicultural, a "global" Mediterranean history that centers not just Greek perspectives and material, but those from a wide range of cultures. This course aims to provide broad exposure to a number of approaches to the study of Mediterranean history. To use a metaphor drawn from geography, the terrain of ancient history is vast, so this course cannot possibly cover everything. Rather, this course is intended to help students develop their own toolkit so they can extend their conceptions of the ancient Mediterranean and refine its details. Students will be entering a conversation with scholars that explores a diversity of people, places, political systems, social structures, and time periods quite different from our own yet whose study raises questions that echo questions prevalent in the modern world.