Catalog Description

Formerly known as HUM 300G
Advisory: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: An examination of the Classical World's influence on the Contemporary Western World with special emphasis on theology, body image, love and sex, gender roles, democracy, conceptions of the good life, and entertainment based upon evidence from the art, architecture, literature, and philosophy of the Classical World. (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Identify and describe diverse cultural artifacts and values from the ancient through medieval eras from the classical Greek cultures.
  • CSLO #2: Analyze and explain diverse cultural artifacts and values from the classical Greek cultures.
  • CSLO #3: Compare and contrast diverse cultural artifacts and values within and/or across classical Greek cultures.
  • CSLO #4: Communicate effectively orally or in writing on a topic in classical Greek cultures.

Effective Term

Fall 2022

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

Students will, through oral and written work, gain the ability to:
1. Describe the displacement stories of Goddesses by Gods, Ouranos by Cronos, Cronos by Zeus, Titans by Olympians;
2. Describe the movement from Gods to God;
3. Compare and contrast body ideals expressed in modern advertising with body ideals expressed in Ancient Greece;
4. Describe, compare and contrast the perfect male body in Ancient Greece with male body ideals in the contemporary Western World;
5. Describe, compare and contrast contemporary gyms and exercise with the gymnasium for Ancient Greek Men with regards to body development, spiritual development, moral development and social functioning;
6. Describe the public functions of male nudity in Ancient Greece with privacy and prohibitions for nudity in the Contemporary Western World;
7. Describe the relationship between male desire, female desire, female nudity and classical gender relationships;
8. Describe, compare and contrast love/desirous relationships between men and women, men and men, and women and women in Classical Greece;
9. Evaluate the evidence of vase paintings, art works, architectural elements and literature for contributing to the contemporary understanding of these love relationships;
10. Describe the social functions, prohibitions and regulations governing male/female, male/male and female/female relationships for both the Ancient and the Modern Western worlds;
11. Describe and evaluate the Classical Greek ideals for attaining the Good Life;
12. Compare and contrast virtue ethics with contemporary approaches to ethical issues;
13. Describe and evaluate the role of moderation and the experience of pleasure in Artistotelean Ethics;
14. Describe the advent of Christianity and its affinity for and distrust of Ancient Philosophy;
15. Describe both the continuities and discontinuities between the Classical Greek/Roman Worlds and the early Christian world;
16. Describe the birth of democracy in Ancient Athens through the personages of Solon, Peisistratus, Hipparchus and Hippias, and Cleisthenes;
17. Compare and contrast Athenian direct democracy with contemporary representative democracies with special attention to the role of participatory citizenship in each;
18. Define and explain the origins of Parrhesia, Isegoria and trial by Jury in Ancient Athens;
19. Describe, compare and contrast the role of critiques of democracy within a democracy between Ancient Greek political systems and contemporary Western systems;
20. Describe and evaluate the personality and behaviors of Socrates including the Elenchus, his regard for an examined life, his martyrdom, his democratic dissent with his democratic government and the possible social disruption that he caused;
21. Compare and contrast classical forms of entertainment such as tragedy and gladitorial games with contemporary forms of entertainment including, but not limited to, drama, movies, sporting events, television shows, reality television shows, etc.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C2 Humanities
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 3B Humanities

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: After learning about the Athenian direct democracy, students will be prompted to compare and contrast Athenian direct democracy with contemporary representative democracies, and based on these discussions, students will write a short paragraph identifying which system they would most like to live under, and explain their choice. Submitted paragraphs will be evaluated by whether they include relevant concepts and coherent reasoning.
    • Essay Examinations
      • Example: In a short essay, students describe and interpret the visuals on a Greek vase, and explain their meaning in light of the way sexuality functioned and was regulated in Ancient Greek Culture.
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: A. Students will take a multiple-choice examination on relationship between male desire and female desire in classical gender relationships For example: In a paederastic relationship, the ___________________ was the older male while the _________________ was the younger boy. (Erastes/Eremenos)
    • Projects
      • Example: Create a poster board that presents the continuities and discontinuities between the Classical Greek/Roman Worlds and the early Christian world.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. Using a slide-presentation for an on-ground lecture format, the instructor will present the various themes present in Plato's dialogue, Symposium. Through an interactive discussion, students will be asked to compare and contrast the different perspectives on Eros/Love as presented by the speakers in the Symposium.

    Distance Learning

    1. The instructor will assign and mediate an online discussion that asks students to compare and contrast their two favorite speeches praising Eros/Love in Plato's Symposium. Students will be asked to reply to at least one other peer's post reviewing it for accuracy of interpretation and the use of supporting quotes from the dialogue.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. Read chapter on Love, Sex and Tragedy and be ready to discuss the role of the Herm and the meaning of the symbol of the phallus in Classical Greece. 2. Read Plato's dialogue, Symposium and be prepared to discuss the relationship Plato makes between Eros and Socrates, the philosopher.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. Based upon the description of the meaning of the image of the Satyr found in chapter on Love, Sex and Tragedy, analyze in a formally written, three page paper the Symposium scene and characters portrayed on the attached image of a Classical Greek vase. 2. Compare and contrast the moral expressed in the attached image of a Satyr with the moral expressed in the attached image of a Paederastic relationship from Classical Greece. Both of these images were found on vase paintings.

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    Required Materials

    • Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I
      • Author: Kleiner
      • Publisher: Cengage Learning
      • Publication Date: 2020
      • Text Edition: 16th
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives
      • Author: Goldhill, Simon
      • Publisher: University of Chicago Press
      • Publication Date: 2004
      • Text Edition: 1st
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Iliad and the Odyssey
      • Author: Homer (Translated by Fagel, Robert)
      • Publisher: Penguin Classics
      • Publication Date: 1991
      • Text Edition: 2nd
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Greece
      • Author: Keuls, Eva
      • Publisher: University of California Press
      • Publication Date: 1993
      • Text Edition: 1st
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Aegean Art and Architecture
      • Author: Preziosi, Donald
      • Publisher: Oxford University Press
      • Publication Date: 2014
      • Text Edition: 1st
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.