Ancient Greece
Course Info
Assignments
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Announcements
News and updates about the course are posted here.
Bookmark this page as your main entry point to the course website. That way, you’ll be sure to see any changes and other information I’ve posted here.
These announcements are also sent out by email to all actively enrolled students on my roster.
- If you are actively enrolled and are not receiving these emails, it may be that your email system is filtering emails from me (in which case, please whitelist me so you do receive them).
- Or, I may have the wrong email address for you. If you do not find the emails from me in your filtered emails folder, please send me an email and confirm your address so I am able to reach you with information and updates about the course.
Current AnnouncementsRSS feed
Welcome to Week 1!
30 August 2026
This is a quick note to welcome you all to the beginning of History of Ancient Greece! I’m looking forward to exploring the ancient Greek world with all of you, starting with our first meeting on Thursday. The meeting is in-person, 6:00 – 8:40 p.m., in Carman 209.
At our first meeting we’ll be laying some important foundations that we’ll be building on throughout the semester, including the themes of the course and some of the things we’ll be delving into as we navigate the ancient Aegean world. Who were the Greeks, and how did they end up being so important to the cultures that came after them? Is there something about the Aegean environment or the experiences of the different peoples living there that fostered such influential cultures? What do we think it means to be Greek—in other words, what is the Greek idea? We’ll start laying out the basics of those discussions this week, and then return to them throughout the semester as we explore the fascinating, dramatic, and sometimes heartbreaking stories of the ancient Aegean.
Syllabus and video: As a reminder, the syllabus, assignments, and requirements are all on the course website, which is on my website, markbwilson dot com. Make sure you’ve looked through the site and that you’ve watched the welcome video, which talks about how the course works and answers some common questions.
Books: Also make sure you have the textbook. We won’t need the second book, The Birds and Other Plays, until October, but the Pomeroy textbook will be getting regular use starting right away, and it shouldn't be hard to find. The reading assignments are on the Schedule page of the website; they tell you what you need to have read (and thought about) before coming to class.
Email me: Some of you replied back to the welcome-to-the-course email I sent you after you enrolled, confirming that I have a good email address for you. If you didn’t, could you do me a favor and reply back to this one and let me know that I can use this address, or that a different email is better for you? Thanks. I’ll be sending out lots of emails, including weekly previews and information on assignments, so it’s important I’m able to reach you.
Sign up for your first presentation: There is a sign-up page on the course website for your first primary source presentation, which is just you introducing one of the readings to the class along with your take on what the author is trying to say and what you think it means, as a way of kicking off our discussion of that reading. Everyone needs to sign up for one presentation during the first half of the semester, and one in the second. You can get that out of the way now and choose the one that seems interesting to you. To get to the page, click on “Presentation” in the side menu, then “Signup #1.” As always, I'm grateful to those who pick the earlier ones! If you have questions, we’ll talk more about presentations and the rest of the course components on Tuesday.
That’s it for now. Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll see you all on Thursday!
Archive
Welcome to Week 0!
23 August 2026
Just a quick note to say hello and to check around for any questions you have about the course. I’m looking forward to setting out on our journey of exploration next week.
If you haven’t already done so at some point, please reply to one of my emails and email me back at mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu to confirm I have a good email address for you. I like to send out news and course updates by email, and I want to make sure I can contact everyone. If you’ve received an email from me but there is an email address you prefer I use instead of that one, please definitely reply and tell me that. Thanks!
I’ve made the Brightspace page for the course available, so you should be able to see it in your Brightspace course listing. Note that we are using Brightspace this semester only for uploading papers and posting weekly responses. Everything else is on the course website, which is located at markbwilson dot com. Make sure to check that out if you haven’t yet, and to order the required texts. There’s a link to the course website on the Brightspace navigation banner and home page.
That’s it for now. See you soon!
Welcome to History of Ancient Greece (Fall 2026)
14 June 2026
Welcome to History of Ancient Greece! I’m looking forward to a great semester exploring the cultures and transformations of the ancient Aegean, from the Bronze Age to Alexander.
Right now, I need you to do three things.
First, look over the course website, which will be our base of operations. Watch the quick welcome and orientation video (linked here and also on the overview page). Look through each of the pages on the website to see how the course will work and how the readings and discussions are set up. Any questions about how it works, please send me an email.
Second, get the books now if you can. A lot of you will be ordering books online, and you need to make sure you have the books and are ready to go when the course starts on September 3. On the “Books” page, I’ve tried to give you different options for getting what you need, but consider ordering now if there’s going to be any kind of shipping involved. (If you come across a legitimate online/e-text version of one of the assigned readings that’s not already listed, please let me know.)
Finally, please send me an email so that I know I have a working email address for you. You can just reply, reply and say “hi”, or reply with a question or concern, but I want to make sure I can contact everyone. If you receive an email from me but there is an email address you prefer I use instead of that one, please definitely reply and tell me that.
Email me anytime with questions at mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu. I look forward to starting our journey together.