History of Ancient Greece (Fall 2025)

Welcome to Week 10!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Here it is, the big war.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. With the Peloponnesian Wars, the Greeks are fighting each other in a massive, generation-long slog unlike anything the ancient war has seen. Why? Why are they fighting, and why does it last for decade after decade? Can we blame a particular city for this? What is this war really about?

Which leaders stand out the most to you? Are Perikles, Archidamus, Kleon, Brasidas, Nikias, Alkibiades, and the like important to the shape of this war, or are they perhaps more representative of the key issues within Sparta and Athens?

Why do you think the war turns out the way it does? Did Sparta win this war, or did Athens lose it?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you on Thursday!

Notes and reminders about the Birds essay (due Nov. 17)

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Here are a few reminders on the Birds essay, which is due on Monday, Nov. 17.

The starting point I’d like you to bear in mind is that this essay is about making an argument and supporting that argument with evidence—in this case, three specific moments from Birds that demonstrate and illustrate your argument concerning what Birds tells us about fifth-century Athens.

Comparing two works. For this essay you need to compare Birds to another ancient Greek work. Which one depends on which prompt you are answering. This also means that you need to carve out time to read through and consider how best to use the other work as well as a separate chunk of time to plan and write the essay.

The goal for this essay to make an argument about fifth-century Athens using just these two pieces of primary source evidence. You don’t need anything else but the two primary sources.

Structure. In your introduction, make sure you have a clear thesis statement—what you intend to show in the paper. Try to develop a concrete, specific thesis statement that lines up with and responds directly to one of the prompts.

In the main body of your essay, focus on three specific moments from Birds that support your thesis. You should have three sections, one for each moment in Birds you’re discussing. In each section, talk about the moment from Birds, then a similar or contrasting moment in your other work, then discuss what this evidence tells us. When discussing both works, be specific and concrete.

I talk about the structure in the Structure Musts video (on the Essay Musts page).

Evidence and cites. A major rule of thumb for writing about history (and for academic work in general, but especially history) is that all assertions must be supported by evidence, and all evidence must be cited. When you describe events from Birds and the other work (whether it’s in quotes, a paraphrase, or just describing specific ideas present in the story), you need to provide a citation—a footnote or parenthetical cite that gives your source (the book version of Birds and the other work you are using) plus a page number. You also need a bibliography listing the versions used of both works. For more on this, see the Evidence Musts video on the Essay musts page, and the bibliography and footnotes pages in the Citation Center on the course website.

Requirements for all papers. Make sure to fully review the requirements for all papers (on the Essay Musts page of the course website) before completing and uploading your essay. Also review the prompt for the Essay you’ve chosen to make sure you answered what it’s looking for.

Any questions at all, please come to me. I’m really looking forward to hearing your insights on Birds and what it has to tell us about fifth-century Athens.

BIrds presentation slides posted

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The slides for Leonela’s Birds presentation have been posted on the Slides page.

Welcome to Week 9!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re exploring the city of Athens itself, and we’re also looking at the very thing we’re engaged in thanks in part to the Greeks—education, both formal and communal.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. How do you think the Athenians thought about education and the role it played? How does sophistry—the ability to argue successfully regardless of truth or merit—become a thing in Athens, which is otherwise so devoted to the cultural ideal? Why can’t anyone agree on right and wrong?

A particularly important idea, relevant to both the cultural turbulence in Athens and the conflicts in Birds, is the debate between nomos and physis. What does this philosophical controversy relate to, and why is it so emblematic of classical Athens?

And in connection with that topic: what I most want to do is hash out what you guys think of Birds now that we’re finishing it. There are some very striking scenes toward the end, as the prospect of Cloudcuckooland becomes more absurd and further from the simple desires the ex-Athenian humans evinced at the start of the play. What is this play about? What is Aristophanes telling us by having the ideas of utopia, civilization, and divinity twist around so much? What do you think the play is telling us beyond what Aristophanes intended?

Also: a reminder to make sure you’re planning for your Birds essay as you read. Which of the three topics are you exploring? What is Birds telling us about classical Athens?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you on Thursday. See you then!

Quizzes #4 and #5 grades and markups posted

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The grades and markups for Quizzes #4 and #5 are posted on the My Grades page on the course website.

I recommend spending a moment to take a look at the Quiz Notes for these quizzes, which are live on the Quiz Notes page and on the Print/PDF page, and are also included in the quiz markups.

Welcome to Week 8!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re exploring the wild ferment that is classical Athenian culture, spanning everything from political innovation to theater and visual art to oratory, philosophy, and natural science. Where does this explosion of cultural expression come from? What drives the Athenians not only to develop new forms like tragedy and comedy, but make them absolutely central to their culture? What is all of this about, to the Athenians?

Not only is all of this cultural combustion happening at the same time during the fifth century, but it’s happening alongside the worst wars in Greek history. Is there a connection? How do the extremes of war relate to the pursuit of extreme cultural expression?

As historians (and in this course we are all historians) we should naturally pay close attention to the “invention” of historical writing, attributed both to Herodotos and to Thukydides. How different are they in terms of method and intent? Are their approaches conflicting or complementary, do you think? What do you recognize in the way they write about the past, compared to how we do it now?

This week we’re also shifting from our Reader excerpts to the exploration of an entire play, Aristophanes’s comedy Birds. It’s ribald, a biting Athenian comedy that’s also meant to be experienced as a spectacle. How do the two lads from Athens introduce us to that city’s culture? What kind of perspective do the other characters, like the Hoopoe, have? What elements do you see in this first part that signpost what Aristophanes is trying to accomplish here?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you Thursday!

Readings in Birds

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

I’ve had a few questions about readings in Birds, so here’s an email to help clarify things. The syllabus says to read this play in two halves, but what does that mean?

Unlike modern plays, ancient Greek plays aren’t divided into acts. Instead, there are generally six segments. These are called prologue, parodos (chorus entry), agon (debate/problem), parabasis (chorus’s commentary), episodes (results of the problem), and exodos (conclusion). These are not usually marked in modern translations, but you can feel the shift in the kind of action, whether it's character dialog vs. chorus, etc.

Since there is only one act, and many different printed versions of the play with different page numbering, we use line numbers to mark off where they start and end.

For Birds, one way of breaking this down is: prologue (lines 1-208); parados (lines 209-433); agon (lines 434-675); parabasis (lines 676-800); episodes (801-1057); second parabasis (1058-1117); second episodes (1118-1705); and exodus (1706-1765).

Roughly halfway through would take us to the beginning of the episodes, so we can break at line 800, after the chorus section that ends with the fourth-wall-breaking speech about how useful wings would be when at the theater. The end of this speech mentions Diitrephes (first a captain, then a colonel, then, in the Penguin edition, “and look at him now—Lord High Admiral of the Hobby-Horse Marines!”). If you don't have line numbers in your edition, look for the chorus/chorus leader section almost halfway through the play that ends with that bit.

The second half can then start with the episodes section, where the chorus stops speaking and the action starts again. Look for where Peisthetaeros and Euelpides re-enter the stage, each wearing a large set of wings and teasing each other about how silly they look wearing them (Peisthetaeros tells Euelpides he looks like a goose, etc.).

Bottom line: this week, we’ll do the first half, with all the setup. Next week will be the second half, with all the consequences.

Welcome to Week 7!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re continuing our discussion of the Persian Wars and the long shadow they cast over the story of Hellas.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. There are a lot of what-ifs about the Persian Wars and the aftermath. In the end the Greeks worked together to fight off the Persians, so why was Hellas so divided afterwards? Did the Persian Wars bring about the friction of the following years, or was it there the whole time? And when it comes to their relations with the rest of the Greeks, why did the Spartans and the Athenians turn into such jerks? Was the Delian League a racket to increase Athenian power or a real effort to advance a shared Greek culture and economy? (Or both?)

Also this week we get a chance to delve deeper into Athenian cultural expression in the fifth century. This is a time of great military, social, and political turbulence for Athens, and also the period of its greatest creative innovations. What’s the connection between the two phenomena? Why is Athens, in particular, a greenhouse of extreme cultural expression?

Looking forward to discussing all this with you. See you Thursday!

Sign up for your second presentation

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

If you have not done so already, please go ahead and sign up now for your second presentation for the bottom half of the semester. The sign-up page is on the course website (at markbwilson dot com), under Presentations.

Look the list over and find one that seems like it might be interesting to spend a little time with when it comes up later in the semester. Each of the titles is linked to the reading, so you can get a preview, and the dates we’ll be getting to each reading are there, too.

Welcome to Week 6!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Lots to talk about this week as we cover the foundations of Athenian society.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. Culturally, Athens is the most important of the Greek poleis—just ask them!—but their story is like a fever dream, starting out as a tightly-managed oligarchy of a few privileged families and ending as Hellas’s only radical democracy.

Why do you think Athens was so volatile? What is it about Athens that made them become so aggressive in seeking cultural dominance? What do you think drove them in the direction of democracy? And: Was democracy good for the Athenians? What do you think were the biggest downsides to democracy as practiced by the Athenians?

Looking forward to discussing all this with you. See you Thursday!

Reminder: The Proposal is due Monday, October 20

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Here are a few brief reminders about the proposal, which is due very soon on Monday, October 20.

I’m looking for: a problem that can be argued; your proposed thesis; and any other thoughts about what you might want to explore or how you think you might go about supporting your argument in the position paper itself. I’ll give feedback on topic viability, scope, and possible primary and secondary sources.

There is also a video on the course website (see the Essays page or the Videos page) that details exactly what I’m looking for. A sample is also posted on the proposal page. I’m happy to discuss possible ideas and approaches in office hours, after class, or by email.

Here’s what the syllabus has for the proposal assignment.

The assignment: The proposal is just a brief one-page preview of your position paper. It should include:

The topic you think you’ll want to write about and the problem you’re interested in addressing. You should be able to delineate the problem by describing the opposing views people might take. To make sure you have two clear opposing opinions, you might want to express them in the form “Some say… . Others say….”
Your preliminary thesis statement—in other words, what you think you might be arguing in your paper.

Your thesis statement, both here and in the final paper, should be a statement of opinion that someone could disagree with. It can take the form of following up the description of the opposing opinions with your own: “I believe….”
Remember that your thesis is provisional. You can change anything about your approach and interpretation after the proposal; in fact, uncovering information as you do your research makes refining or changing your initial assessments very likely.

Your proposal is structured like the introduction to your final paper, and may serve as the basis for it.

The proposal is not graded, but whether you submitted a proposal on time will be factored into the final grade for the position paper. I will give you feedback on things like the feasibility of researching your topic, whether the scope is too big or too narrow for a paper like this, and some possible sources you might want to look at.

Quiz #3 grades and markups posted

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The grades and markups for Quiz #3 are posted on the My Grades page on the course website.

I recommend spending a moment to take a look at the Quiz Notes for this quiz, which are live on the Quiz Notes page and on the Print/PDF page, and are also included in the quiz markups.

No meeting this week

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Thursday classes don’t meet this week, giving you a chance to catch up and plan ahead and/or goof off (according to preference). See you next week!

Quiz #2 grades and markups posted

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The grades and markups for Quiz #2 are posted on the My Grades page on the course website.

I recommend spending a moment to take a look at the Quiz Notes for this quiz, which are live on the Quiz Notes page and on the Print/PDF page, and are also included in the quiz markups.

Welcome to Week 5!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re talking about Sparta and the art of war.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. What do you think went into making the Spartans like this—so different, so focused on being warriors? What does being a warrior society mean to them? Why aren’t more poleis like this, especially given the other cities are so impressed by the Spartans’ dedication?

Is the Spartan experiment a success, in Greek terms? What are the most positive aspects of the Spartan society, in terms of things like the well-being of its citizens? What are the biggest drawbacks of the Spartan system?

A lot is made of the distinctive situation for women in the Spartan culture. How do the Spartan women view their society, do you think?

And there’s this thing called the “Spartan Mirage.” What do you think that’s really about—for Greeks living in the same time as the Spartans, and for modern historians as well?

Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you on Thursday!

Quiz #1 grades and markups posted

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

The grades and markups for Quiz #1 are posted on the My Grades page on the course website.

I recommend spending a moment to take a look at the Quiz Notes for this quiz, which are live on the Quiz Notes page and on the Print/PDF page, and are also included in the quiz markups.

Welcome to Week 4!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re talking about the period after the so-called Greek Dark Age, when from our perspective Hellas can be heard and seen again, with the foundations of Greek culture already laid down in the previous, unseen centuries.

Things to ponder as you explore the materials. This is the time of the polis—the distinctive, kingless Greek city-state; of colonization, with Greek cities sending their people out into the Aegean, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean; and of the hoplite warrior. Also during this time: the rise of lyric poetry, a sharp contrast to the epic poetry of earlier times; and pan-Hellenism, the curious sense of commonality that grows among all these city-states with defiantly distinct and competitive identities. What do these cities really have in common? What does it mean to be Greek during this time, do you think? And how does that square with their bitter rivalries—not to mention reinventing war?

Two writers emerge during this period that are characteristic of the shifting Greek culture. One is Hesiod, who speaks from the point of view of the small landed farmer—unlike Homer, whose perspective was from the top of society down. What does Hesiod have to tell us about what it meant to be Greek, and is it different from the key values present in Homer’s work? Another author is Sappho, the most famous of the lyric poets. What does her poetry tell us about how Hellas is changing from the days of epic poetry told by rhapsodes?

Looking forward to discussing all this with you. See you Thursday!

Welcome to Week 3!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re talking about the so-called Greek Dark Age—the period during which the Greeks recovered from the collapse of the Bronze Age and built a new civilization.

The Greek Dark Age is frustrating and fascinating to historians of ancient Greece, because this period of rebirth, during which the foundations and chief elements of Hellas as we know it come into being, happens while the Greeks have no writing system, and so there are no literature or records until the very end—we can’t hear them creating a new Greek society.

Some things to consider as you do the readings. Based on what you found notable in the text, what do you think most drove the Greeks during the Dark Age? If the communities of the Aegean were so isolated and so fiercely independent, how did they end up having so much in common? How did they end up with such a clear idea of what it meant to be Greek?

Our best evidence is Homer, the result of stories performed and passed down orally through these centuries and written down at the end, and we’re reading a few excerpts from Iliad and Odyssey —two works that are to become the starting point for all Greek education, both in the Aegean and beyond.

I’m looking forward to discussing the readings from Homer. What is Homer telling us when he describes Achilles and Agamemnon decrying each other, with Briseis in the middle? What’s so significant about Patroklas’s death in Achilles’s armor? When Odysseus meets Nausicaa, what’s this story really about? Is Penelope just being a dutiful wife waiting all those years, or is there more to it, and why are the suitors shown as being so awful?

I enjoyed our discussion last week, and there’s some good stuff to explore this week. Looking forward to discussing it all with you on Thursday!

Sign up for your first presentation!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Thanks for the great meeting on Thursday. Here’s a quick reminder about signing up for presentations.

Over the course of the semester, we’ll be exploring a number of primary source readings—people from the ancient Greek world telling us what it’s like for them. Everyone will have a chance to briefly introduce two of these to the class in order to kick off our discussion of the text and what the reading is telling us. One’s on one of the readings from the first half of the semester, and the other is on a reading from the second half.

If you have not already, go ahead and sign up now for your first presentation. The sign-up page is on the course website (at markbwilson dot com), under Presentations. Look the list over and find one that seems like it might be interesting to spend a little time with when it comes up later in the semester. Each of the titles has a URL link to the reading, so you can get a preview. The dates we’ll be getting to each reading are there, too.

Feel free to ask me any questions!

Welcome to Week 2!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

This week we’re talking about the Bronze Age Aegean: the indigenous inhabitants, especially the mysterious Minoans, and the invading Greeks, who swarm in from the north and take over the Aegean world before bringing about their own spectacular collapse, bringing down the whole Bronze Age with them.

There are a lot of things to talk about here. What strikes you as most intriguing about the Minoans—what we know of them? Why do you think the Mycenaean Greeks were so successful in surpassing them? If you were to talk about what was important to the Minoans and to the Mycenaean Greeks, what would be similar, and what would be distinctive? Were the Mycenaean Greeks their own worst enemy in too-greedily building a trade empire, or should we emphasize other factors in the great cataclysmic collapse of the Bronze Age and its civilizations?

We had a swell discussion last week, and this time we have some great stuff to explore. Looking forward to discussing all of this with you. See you Thursday!

Welcome to Week 1!

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

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: Many 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!

Welcome to History of Ancient Greece (Fall 2025)

mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0400

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 web page, which will be our base of operations. Watch the quick welcome and orientation video (linked here and 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 August 28. On the “Books” page I’ve tried to give you some 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, send me an email so that I know I have a working email address for you. You can just send a blank email, email and say “hi”, or email 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 this one, please definitely reply and tell me that.

Email me anytime with questions at mark.wilson@lehman.cuny.edu. I’m looking forward to starting our journey together.