向往的课堂 | 范·韦理克《外国历史文选（上）》教学大纲

本期“向往的课堂”推出的是“外国历史文选（上）”课程的大纲，感谢范·韦理克老师的授权。“外国历史文选（上）”是历史学系世界史必修课程。本课程聚焦于世界历史的古代和中世纪部分，帮助初学者掌握查找和利用历史文献的能力，并且能对一些历史问题提出自己初步的看法和论点。

外国历史文选（上）

READINGS IN WORLD HISTORY (1)

SCHEDULE

Classes take place every Wednesday, 15:10 – 18:00 in 文史101.

OFFICE HOURS

Tuesdays, 12:30 – 14:30 in 老化学楼 326.

OUTLINE

Studying the past of a society requires justification. In my view, two important reasons can be put forward for partaking in this course. Firstly, in order to understand modern European history, one cannot dispense with antiquity or the Middle Ages, which brought forth ideas, institutions and social practices that influenced the way western societies took shape. Secondly, as most of you will be approaching the history of the West from an outsider’s point of view, you will hopefully be able, eventually, to bring unique insights to this subject.

PURPOSE

The intended learning outcomes of this course for the students are:

-To have an awareness of major developments in the history of western civilisation until the later Middle Ages

-To understand what kinds of sources underlie our knowledge of the past

-To possess vital skills to locate sources and research literature, including the ability to use the most important databases

-To have the ability to critically assess sources for historical research

-To have the ability to reflect on matters of categorisation and delimitation as applied by historians to make sense of the past

-To have the ability to express your views and arguments on historical questions clearly both orally and in writing.

ASSESSMENT

You will be assessed on your performance in three ways: general attendance and participation in the course; group presentation; a written essay and a final exam. 

MATERIAL

The textbook used for this course is:

-Pavlac, Brian A., A Concise Survey of Western Civilization. Supremacies and Diversities throughout History (Beijing: Peking University Press 2014).

Syllabus

WEEK 1: METHODOLOGIES AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Contents/Aims

-Outline of the course

-The discovery and construction of Western civilisation

-Some understanding of research methods employed by historians

-Presentations and commentaries

-Writing essays: searching literature and reference conventions.

-Awareness of major historical developments in the Near East and Egypt during the Bronze Age

WEEK 2: THE GILGAMESH-EPIC, GENESIS AND HAMMURABI

Contents/Aims

-The ability to consider the Gilgamesh-Epic and Genesis from a comparative perspective

-Some awareness of legal practises in the Babylonian Empire under Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BC) 

-Some knowledge of shared mythologies

-Awareness of major historical developments in the Near East in the second and first millennium BC

Preparation All

-Read Pavlac pp. 13-47.

-Read the excerpts of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis distributed to you. 

WEEK 3: ARCHAIC GREEK SOCIETY IN HOMER AND HESIOD

-Some understanding of major historical developments occurring in Greece during the so-called ‘Dark Age’.

-Social, political and economic changes during the Archaic Age 

-Some awareness of the source material underlying our understanding of Archaic Greek society

Preparation All

-Read Pavlac, pp. 48-52.

-Read Nagle/Burstein Text 1C1: ‘Homer: the shield of Achilles’ (pp.10-14) and Text 1C2: ‘Hesiod’s Works and Days’ (pp.14-20).

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of Text C1 and C2, and provide a comparison between the two texts

-Guidance questions: (1) how do you think ancient society is reflected in these two sources? In other words, how reliable are these two texts for understanding Archaic Greek society do you think? (2) Could you explain the difference in the portrayal of life in Greece between Homer’s Iliad and the passage taken from Hesiod’s Works and Days?

Select bibliography: K. A. Raaflaub, H. van Wees (eds), A Companion to Archaic Greece (Malden [MA] 2009); G. S. Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary (Cambridge 1985-); M. L. West, Hesiod Works and Days, Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary (Oxford 1978); P. R. Hardie, ‘Imago mundi: cosmological and ideological aspects of the Shield of Achilles’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 105 (1985) 11-31.

WEEK 5: CLASSICAL ATHENS, HERODOTUS AND THE PERSIAN WARS

Contents/Aims

-Some knowledge of the political, social and economic developments in Athens during the Archaic and Classical Age

-History of the Persian Wars

-Familiarisation with historiography as a genre

-Herodotus and his work 

Preparation All

-Read Pavlac, pp. 52-60.

-Read Nagle/Burstein Text 3C1: ‘The muddled Greek response’ (p.81-82); 3C2: ‘Themistocles and the “Alliance of the willing”’ (pp.82-83); 3C4: “Why Gelon of Syracuse refused help”, (pp.84-85). All of these texts are taken from Herodotus’ Histories. 

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of Text 3C1, 3C2 and 3C4 

-Guidance questions: (1) on what sources does Herodotus rely do you think? (2) How would you value Herodotus as a historian based on what you have read in these three passages? 

Select bibliography: D. Fehling, Herodotus and his “sources”: Citation, Invention, and Narrative Art (Leeds 1989); E. J. Bakker, I. J. F. de Jong, H. van Wees (eds), Brill’s Companion to Herodotus (Leiden / Boston [MA] 2002); C. Dewald, J. Marincola (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus (Cambridge 2007); J. Marincola (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (Malden [MA] 2007). 

WEEK 6: LAW AND ORATORY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS

Contents/Aims

-Some awareness of social life in a polis

-Social, political and cultural developments in Greece and the wider Mediterranean from the fourth century BC until the coming of Rome

-Some basic awareness of law in ancient Athens

-Oratory as a source

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 61-69.

-Read M. Gagarin and D. M. MacDowell (trans.), Antiphon and Andocides (Austin [TX] 1998) pp. 10-16: Antiphon 1: ‘Against the Stepmother’.

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of Antiphon 1: ‘Against the Stepmother’

-Guidance questions: (1) why does the speaker claim in section 3 that the murder was intended and premeditated? (2) Why is the stepmother named Clytemnestra? (3) How convincing is the evidence presented by the speaker? (4) what does the text reveal about the involvement of private individuals in the exaction of justice?

Select optional bibliography: M. Gagarin, Antiphon the Athenian: Oratory, Law, and Justice in the Age of the Sophists (Austin [TX] 2002) 146-152; M. Gagarin, D. Cohen (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law (Cambridge 2005); W. T. Loomis, ‘The nature of premeditation in Athenian homicide law’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 92 (1972) 86-95; D. C. Mirhady, ‘Torture and Rhetoric in Athens’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 116 (1996) 199-131; G. Thür, ‘Reply to D. C. Mirhady: Torture and Rhetoric in Athens’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 116 (1996) 132-134; Dmitriev, S., ‘The protection of slaves in the Athenian law agsinst hubris’, Phoenix 70 (2016) 64-76; D. M. MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens (New York 1978); K. A. Kipparis, Athenian Law and Society (London 2019). 

WEEK 7: STRUGGLE FOR DOMINANCE IN THE EARLY HELLENISTIC PERIOD: WARS AND ALLIANCES 

Contents/Aims

-The political constellation of the eastern Mediterranean and the power struggle between the three large realms that emerged from Alexander’s empire

-Political alliances and the role of smaller kingdoms and states in the realisation of Antigonid, Seleucid and Ptolemaic ambitions

-Some awareness of the spread of Greek culture

-Rome and the end of the Hellenistic multipolar Mediterranean world

Preparation All

-Read M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest. A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation (2nd ed. Cambridge 2006) no. 61: ‘Decree of Chremonides on the alliance between Athens and Sparta (between 268 and 265)’, (pp. 130-133) = Roger S. Bagnall, Peter Derow (eds), The Hellenistic Period. Historical Sources in Translation (Malden [MA] 2004) no. 19: ‘Chremonides’ Decree’ (pp. 38-41). 

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of the decree.

-Guidance questions: (1) what circumstances have prompted the conclusion of the alliance? (2) Which parties were involved in the alliance? (3) What was the nature or purpose of the alliance? (4) Could you identify the structure of the decree and treaty? (5) What can the document you have read tell us about the process of passing decrees in Athens and ratifying treaties in Greece?

Select bibliography: A. Erskine (ed.), A Companion to the Hellenistic World (Malden [MA] 2003); P. Green, Alexander to Actium: an Essay on the Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (Berkeley [CA] 1990); references in Austin, Hellenistic World, p.61.

WEEK 8: EARLY ROMAN HISTORY: KINGDOM AND REPUBLIC

Contents/Aims

-Some understanding of the early history of Rome

-Foundation myths and stories 

-Awareness of the so-called ‘struggle of the orders’

-Understanding of Roman historiography

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 71-79.

-Read Livy, I pref – I.6 (i.e. pp. 3-25). Please be aware of the fact that the English and Latin texts do not run parallel in this pdf.

WEEK 9: ROMAN IMPERIALISM AND THE RECEPTION OF FOREIGN INFLUENCES: THE CULT OF BACCHUS

Contents/Aims

-Some knowledge of the Rome’s overseas expansion during the third, second and first centuries BC.

-First and Second Punic Wars

-Some knowledge of the workings of the institutions of ancient Rome, including the Senate and magistrates

-The reception of cultural and religious elements from overseas in Rome

-The suppression of Bacchic rites in 186 BC

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 76-79.

-Read SC de Bacchanalibus (Text 1) and Livy XXXIX (Text 2).

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of the SC de Bacchanalibus and Livy’s account of the discovery nature and suppression of the Bacchic rites.

-Guidance questions: (1) how accurate are Livy’s descriptions of the official Roman policy towards the rites of Bacchus? (2) Why, do you think, the Senate decided on restricting the Bacchic rites?  

Select bibliography: Beard, M., J. North, S. Price, Religions of Rome I: A History (Cambridge 1998) 91-96; II: A Sourcebook (Cambridge 1998) 288-291; Gruen, E., Studies in Greek Culture and Roman Policy (Leiden 1990); Bauman, R.A., ‘The suppression of the Bacchanals: five questions’, Historia 39 (1990) 334-348; Walsh, P.G., ‘Making a drama out of a crisis: Livy on the Bacchanalia’, G&R 43 (1996) 188-203.

WEEK 10: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CRISES IN THE LATE REPUBLIC AND THE ROMAN REVOLUTION

Contents/Aims

-Some knowledge of the political and social developments in the Roman Republic from 133 up to 31 BC and their driving forces

-Rise of extraordinary political offices

-Cicero’s correspondence as a historical source

-The transition from Republic to Principate

-Augustus’ constitutional reforms in the 20s BC

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 80-82

-Read Cicero, ad Atticum, 2.18.1-2; 2.19; 2.21.

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of the three letters written by Cicero to T. Pomponius Atticus.

-Guidance questions: (1) What does Cicero mean when he says: ‘we are hemmed in on all sides and no longer make any objection to our slavery...’? (2) What can the three letters reveal to us about political alliances in the late Republic? (3) What is Cicero’s own position in the political struggles around 60 BC? (4) How objective are Cicero’s letters to Atticus as a historical source?

Select bibliography: D. R. Shackleton Bailey (ed.), Cicero’s Letters to Atticus I: 68-59 B.C., 1-45 (Books I and II) (Cambridge 1965); M. Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman (Cambridge [MA] 1968); C. E. W. Steel, The End of the Roman Republic, 146 to 44 BC: Conquest and Crisis (Edinburgh 2013); T. N. Mitchell, Cicero: The Senior Statesman (New Haven [CT] 1991).

WEEK 11: THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS, NERO AND THE LIBERATION OF GREECE

Contents/Aims

-Developments during Augustus’ reign

-Succession of Augustus and the Julio-Claudian emperors

-Reign of Nero

-Knowledge of the social, political and cultural developments in the Roman empire up to the reign of Domitian

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 83-90.

-Read R. K. Sherk (ed.), Translated Documents of Greece and Rome VI: The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian (Cambridge 1988) 110-112, no. 71: ‘Nero liberates the province of Greece. AD 67’.

Task Presenting Group (in the second hour)

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of the epigraphic record of Nero’s speech delivered at Corinth in AD 67 as well as the appending decree of Akraiphia in Boeotia.

-Guidance questions: (1) What does the freedom conferred by Nero on the province of Greece exactly entail? (2) What might have prompted Akraiphia to publish Nero’s speech? (3) What are the two documents able to tell us about Nero’s self-representation and about the emperor’s reputation among the Greeks in Achaia? 

Select bibliography: M. T. Griffin, Nero: the End of a Dynasty (London 1984); P.A. Gallivan, ‘Nero’s liberation of Greece’, Hermes 101 (1973) 230-234; E. Manders, D. Slootjes, ‘Linking inscriptions to provincial coins: a reappraisal of Nero’s visit to Greece’, Latomus 74 (2015) 989-1005; C. Jones, ‘Nero speaking’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 100 (2000) 453-462; J. H. Oliver, ‘Epaminondas of Acraephia’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 12 (1971) 221-237; J. H. Oliver, Greek Constitutions of Early Roman Emperors from Inscriptions and Papyri, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 178 (Philadelphia [PA] 1989) 572-575: no. 296; S. Alcock, ‘Nero at Play? The emperor’s Grecian odyssey’, in: J. Elsner, J Masters (eds), Reflections of Nero: Culture, History and Representation (London 1994) 98-111.

WEEK 12: TRAJAN, PLINY AND THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR

Contents/Aims

-The emperor at work 

-Some awareness of administrative and economic structures in the Roman Empire

-The operation of law in the empire

Preparation

-Read Pliny, Epistles 10.81-82 in: P. G. Walsh (trans.), Pliny the Younger: Complete Letters (Oxford 2006) 273-274. 

Task Presenting Group

-Give a presentation in which you comment on the context, content and (historical) significance of Pliny, Epistles 10.81-82.

-Guidance questions: (1) What charges were raised against Dio Chrysostom? (2) Who were the litigants? (3) How did the emperor reply to Pliny’s request? (4) What do the two letters reveal about the operation of Roman law in the province of Bithynia-Pontus?

Select bibliography: A. N. Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny: a Historical and Social Commentary (Oxford 1966); G. Kantor, ‘Navigating Roman law and local privileges in Pontus-Bithynia’, in: K. Czajkowski, B. Eckhardt (eds), Law in the Roman Provinces (Oxford 2020) 185-209.

WEEK 13: THE ROMAN EMPIRE FROM NERVA TO CONSTANTINE 

Contents/Aims

-Some comprehension of main political, social and cultural developments during the Roman Empire from Nerva to Constantine

-Rise of Christianity and Rome’s attitude towards this new religion

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 91-99. 

WEEK 14: THE END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST AND THE ONSET OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Contents/Aims

-Disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West 

-Erosion of emperorship

-New institutions

-Transition to the Middle Ages

-Frankish Kingdom

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 100-116.

WEEK 15: EMPIRE-BUILDING, CHARLEMAGNE AND THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

Contents/Aims

-Some knowledge of social life in western Europe during the early and High Middle Ages

-Understanding of the development of Christianity in the early and High Middle Ages

-The political fragmentation of western Europe

-City life

Preparation

-Read Pavlac pp. 116-144.

WEEK 16: THE LATER MIDDLE AGES, RENAISSANCE AND HUMANISM 

Contents/Aims

-Major political and societal developments in the later Middle Ages

-The Hundred Years’ War

-Renaissance and Humanism

-Black Death, the decline of manorialism

-Religious developments

Preparation

-Read Pavlac, pp. 145-162.

范·韦理克，北京大学历史学系长聘副教授。主要研究方向为罗马共和国晚期和帝国早期的国际政治和罗马法，特别是地中海东部地区。主要著作为Rome and the Near Eastern Kingdoms and Principalities, 44-31 BC: A Study of Political Relations during Civil War。

References

关注北京大学历史学系

获得更多课程信息

制作 | 袁之杨

校对 | 于悦