The Golden Age of Athens
The Golden Age of Athens: History and Literature In this course we will trace the unprecedented intellectual innovation that begins with Greece’s triumph over the Persian invasions in 490 and 480-479 BC, continues through the emergence of radical democracy and imperialism at Athens, and culminates in the Peloponnesian War and Athens’ defeat in 404 BC by her former ally, Sparta. Through intensive study of selected works of historiography (Herodotus, Thucydides), tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), comedy (Aristophanes), and philosophy (Plato), we will explore the central concerns of 5th-century Athenians: freedom and power, knowledge and virtue, law and nature, and the place of the divine in the human world. 3 hr. lect., 1 hr. disc.
The Golden Age of Athens: History and Literature In this course we will trace the unprecedented intellectual innovation that begins with Greece’s triumph over the Persian invasions in 490 and 480-479 BC, continues through the emergence of radical democracy and imperialism at Athens, and culminates in the Peloponnesian War and Athens’ defeat in 404 BC by her former ally, Sparta. Through intensive study of selected works of historiography (Herodotus, Thucydides), tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), comedy (Aristophanes), and philosophy (Plato), we will explore the central concerns of 5th …Read more
This is the second class I had taken with Pavlos, and that is for good reason. He is a very passionate and kind teacher, and restructured the class as the semester progressed to match what he got through in lecture. Readings are the key component of the course and are pulled from a wide variety of historical sources. I enjoyed most of the readings, and lecture does a great job summarizing them. Exams are short essay responses and passage identification from the readings, and accordingly substantial effort should be made to study for them.
This is the second class I had taken with Pavlos, and that is for good reason. He is a very passionate and kind teacher, and restructured the class as the semester progressed to match what he got through in lecture. Readings are the key component of the course and are pulled from a wide variety of historical sources. I enjoyed most o …Read more
Pavlos is an absolute joy of a man and has so much enthusiasm for this stuff. He's super understanding and a rather easy grader, and wants to make sure you understand the material. Exams were mostly passage recognition, and 2 five-page essays that were rather open-ended. All in all, had a great time.
I loved Pavlos so much and am now considering a major in Classics because of him. He is so passionate and knowledgeable about our topics and it is a joy to learn from him. The class materials are also really valuable and funny.
I'm obsessed with Pavlos! His lecturing on Thucydides was pretty confusing, but overall this course was fun. Pavlos is very knowledgeable. He understands how difficult classics is and thus grades easily.
One of the best courses I've taken at Middlebury. Pavlos is a fantastic lecturer; every day, he would just come into class and talk off the top of his head for 75 minutes. It is truly incredible how passionate and knowledgeable he is about the material. Grading-wise the course was very easy. We had a midterm and a final (both passage recognition), as well as, if memory serves, one paper the entire semester. If I were to criticize anything, it would be the fairly lackluster discussion sessions, but despite being boring, these still deepened my understanding of the material. Overall, this is a very low pressure course on some very valuable material, taught by a brilliant professor.
One of the best courses I've taken at Middlebury. Pavlos is a fantastic lecturer; every day, he would just come into class and talk off the top of his head for 75 minutes. It is truly incredible how passionate and knowledgeable he is about the material. Grading-wise the course was very easy. We had a midterm and a final (both passage …Read more
Pavlos is an amazing professor and I loved his class. His lecture style is very engaging and I enjoyed the subject material a lot because he was such a knowledgeable professor. Definitely going to take more classes with him at Middlebury.