Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor Paul McKechnie paul.mckechnie@mq.edu.au Contact via paul.mckechnie@mq.edu.au W6A500 Open door policy
Credit points	Credit points 4
Prerequisites	Prerequisites Admission to MA in (Ancient History or Coptic Studies or ECJS or Egyptology or History or Late Antiquity or Ancient Art and Architecture) or PGDipArts in (Ancient History or ECJS) or PGCertArts in (Ancient History or Coptic Studies)
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description This unit provides an in-depth study of Athens and its empire in the fifth century BCE, commencing with Cleisthenes' reforms. Athens' role in the Persian wars will be examined, and the evidence (documentary and literary) for the Delian League will be studied from the foundation of the League until its dissolution with the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due
Minor essay	20%	4 April 2014
Major essay	40%	23 May 2014
Take-home exam	40%	20 June 2014

Minor essay

Due: 4 April 2014
Weighting: 20%

Write an essay (word-limit 1500 words including footnotes but not including bibliography list) on one of the four titles given below.

1. ‘Herodotus’ emphasis is on demonstrating the inadequacy of simple slogans to do justice to the reality of a complex piece of history and complex motivations’, writes Emily Baragwanath. How helpful, or otherwise, for historical purposes is Herodotus’ account of the end of the Athenian tyranny?

2. ‘Cleisthenes knew that there could be no turning back to rule by aristocratic faction―or at least he saw that any attempt to turn back the clock would bring on a bloodbath and make effective resistance to Sparta impossible’, writes Josiah Ober. Is he right to make a connection between Cleisthenes’ changes at Athens and ‘resistance to Sparta’?

3. ‘[The battle of Lade],’ writes Rosaria Vignolo Munson, ‘from the point of view of the text [of Herodotus], is both analogous and antithetical to the battle of Salamis, just as the entire Ionian Revolt comes across as a sort of botched-up preliminary of the PersianWars’. Is this a perceptive comment on Herodotus’ historical treatment of the Ionian Revolt?

4. Was Ephialtes (as T.E. Rihll phrases it) ‘the man who finished what Solon began and Kleisthenes pushed forward’?

Whichever title you choose, use the Department of Ancient History Style Guide, and see the assessment section in the iLearn site for further hints. Submit your essay by 5 p.m. on Friday of Week 5 (4 April 2014) through the online submission system or in hard copy, and make sure you do the cover sheet right.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Major essay

Due: 23 May 2014
Weighting: 40%

Write an essay (word-limit 3000 words including footnotes but not including bibliography list) on one of the four titles given below.

1. How important were the Megarian decrees as compared with other causes of the Peloponnesian War?

2. M.H.B. Marshall writes that ‘Thucydides’ dislike of Cleon, contrasting with his favour for Pericles, is despite considerable similarity in their actual policies.’ Is this fair comment?

3. ‘Our author may not be a great thinker and he is certainly not a stylist. But he gives us a unique view on the Athenian democracy from the period not long before it faced its crisis and was temporarily overthrown. The brief rule of the Four Hundred and the early transition from a compromise government to full democracy curiously and impressively confirms the main thesis of the anonymous work’ H.B. Mattingly

How strong is Mattingly’s case for a late dating of pseudo-Xenophon’s Constitution of the Athenians?

4. About the Melian Dialogue, A.B. Bosworth writes, ‘For the Athenians the Melian position is the ultimate triumph of hope over expediency, and the appeals to justice are simply an evasion of reality. … For many scholars this exemplifies the degeneration of moral terminology …; in their opinion the Athenians rewrite the language of moral discourse to serve their immediate interests. On the contrary I would argue that the Athenians use highly traditional arguments and it is the Melian position which is sophistical.’

Has Bosworth taken his provocative argument so far that it fails to make sense?

Whichever title you choose, use the Department of Ancient History Style Guide, and see the assessment section in the iLearn site for further hints. Submit your essay by 5 p.m. on Friday of Week 10 (23 May 2014) through the online submission system or in hard copy, and make sure you do the cover sheet right.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Take-home exam

Due: 20 June 2014
Weighting: 40%

A take-home examination will be set. Four questions must be answered. The word-length for answers to the exam as a whole is 2,500 words, so that each answer should be approximately 625 words long. Some leeway is allowed on length, but there will be no extra marks for long answers.

The take-home examination is not another essay. Footnoting should not be used, and bibliographies should not be given. What is required is a set of well thought out but relatively brief answers to analytical questions drawn from across the ideas and events dealt with in the unit. The idea is that is should be possible to do the take-home exam in three hours, although there is no way of checking that a student does not spend four or five hours writing the answers: note again that there will be no credit for extra length.

The questions for the take-home examination will be made available in the iLearn unit during Week 13 of the Study Period.

Submit your answers by 5 p.m. on Friday of Week 14 (20 June 2014) through the online submission system, and make sure you do the cover sheet right.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Delivery and Resources

Delivery mode

External and internal

This unit will use

iLearn and Echo 360

Handing in work

Written work must be submitted by internal students through the Arts Student Centre (via the AHIS assignment box) on Level 1, W6A. External students submit work through the Centre for Open Education. Students must print and attach a completed coversheet to all submitted work. A personalized assignment coversheet is generated from the student section of the Faculty of Arts website at:

http://www.arts.mq.edu.au/current_students/undergraduate/admin_central/coversheet

Please provide your student details and click the Get my assignment coversheet button to generate your personalized assignment cover sheet.

Lecture times and locations

No face to face lectures in the external version of this unit.

Internal: Wednesdays 4.00-5.00, X5B 134; Thursdays 4.00-5.00 E5A 150.

For current updates, lecture times and classrooms please consult the MQ Timetables website: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au

Required and recommended resources

Online units can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/

PC and Internet access are required. Basic computer skills (e.g., internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement. Any problem, contact onehelp@mq.edu.au (9850 4357) and not the course convener.

Please contact onehelp@mq.edu.au (9850 4357) for any further, more specific IT requirements:

Face-to-Face IT help: Building C5C Room 244, Macquarie University Online: OneHelp Phone: (02) 9850 HELP, (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1800 MQ HELP (outside Sydney) Email: help@mq.edu.au

Unit Schedule

Week

Date

Lecture

Assessment

3 March

1	The overthrow of the Athenian tyrants
2	Cleisthenes’ Athenian revolution: Athenian democracy instituted

10 March

3	Athens and Persia: the Ionian Revolt
4	Athens in the 490s; Marathon

17 March

5	Athens in the 480s; Xerxes’ invasion of Greece
6	Aeschylus’ Persians

24 March

7	Aristides and the Delian League
8	Cimon and the Fourth Persian War

31 March

9	The Ephialtic revolution: Athenian democracy radicalized
10	How democratic Athens worked 1: justice

Hand in minor essay

April

11	How democratic Athens worked 2: bureaucracy
12	The Athenian Tribute Lists; how the empire was paid for

28 April

13	Athens on land: the ‘First Peloponnesian war’
14	Monuments to the democratic order: the Acropolis and Agora

5 May

15	Who started it?
16	The Periclean strategy and the phony war

12 May

17	Pylos, Sphacteria, Delium; Brasidas
18	The many and the few 1: the Old Oligarch

19 May

19	The many and the few 2: Athenian democracy theorized
20	The Peace of Nicias and the Melian dialogue: the iron hand of democratic Athens

Hand in major essay

26 May

21	The Sicilian Expedition 1: the insane genius of Alcibiades
22	The Sicilian Expedition 2: the eclipse of an Athenian gentleman

2 June

23	The Ionian war 411-405
24	Conon and the battle of Aegospotami

9 June

25	Lysander takes over
26	Democratia redux: the archonship of Euclides and after

Do take-home exam

Learning and Teaching Activities

Lectures

Listen to lectures in Echo360

Primary source studies

Access and study primary sources

Reading

Read books and learned articles as listed in bibliographies

Extended reading/research

Find and study further modern scholarly literature relevant to your own work

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Criteria and standards for grading against which individual pieces of work will be judged

*Knowledge, approach & argument*	HD	D	Cr	P	F
Knowledge of relevant subject matter	Extensive knowledge of relevant subject matter	Thorough knowledge of relevant subject matter	Substantial knowledge of relevant subject matter	Sound knowledge of relevant subject matter	Little or no knowledge of relevant subject matter
Mastery of appropriate techniques and methodologies	Mastery of appropriate techniques and methodologies	Thorough application of techniques and methodologies	Substantial evidence of knowledge of appropriate techniques and methodologies	Some evidence of knowledge of appropriate techniques and methodologies	Little or nor evidence of knowledge of appropriate techniques and methodologies
Your argument	Consistent evidence of deep and critical thinking; substantial originality	Clear evidence of deep and critical thinking.	Some evidence of deep and critical thinking	Sufficient evidence of some critical thinking	Little or no evidence of critical thinking
Competing arguments	Competing arguments mastered; some success in attempting to go beyond scholarship	Competing arguments mastered; attempt to go beyond scholarship	Substantial evidence of knowledge of competing arguments; arguments reported rather than analysed	Some evidence of knowledge of competing arguments, but this not integrated into your argument	No evidence of knowledge of competing arguments
*Sources & their use*	HD	D	Cr	P	F
Use of ancient sources	Extensive and critical use of ancient sources	Thorough and critical use of ancient sources	Substantial use of ancient sources; some uncritical use	Sufficient use of ancient sources; substantial uncritical use	Very little or no use of ancient sources
Use of modern scholarship	Extensive and critical use of modern scholarship	Thorough and critical use of modern scholarship	Substantial use of modern scholarship; some uncritical use	Sufficient use of modern scholarship; substantial uncritical use	Little or no use of modern scholarship; uncritical use.
Citation of sources	Approved system used consistently	Approved system used consistently	Approved system used consistently	Approved system used, but not used consistently	No attempt to use approved system or no citation [plagiarism]

*Style, presentation and language*	HD	D	Cr	P	F
English language: grammar	Excellent use of English language throughout	Excellent use of English language	Proficient use of English; some minor errors eg in use of apostrophe	Generally sound use of English; consistent minor errors	Substantial inappropriate or ungrammatical use of English
English language: spelling	Spelling correct throughout	Spelling correct throughout	Spelling mostly correct throughout; some inconsistency eg in treatment of foreign language words in English	Minor spelling mistakes but otherwise sound	Spelling poor
Structure of argument	Argument structure excellent	Argument well structured	Argument has proficient structure	Argument has clear structure	Little or no structure to argument
Length of paper	Within limits set for this assignment	Within limits set for this assignment	Within limits set for this assignment	Within limits set for this assignment	Not within limits set for this assignment
Presentation	Well presented	Well presented	Well presented	Well presented	Poor presentation: eg untidy and difficult to read

Extensions and Penalties

Without documentation (medical or counselling certificates) or prior staff approval, a penalty of 2% a day, including weekends, will be applied.

If you need an extension ask for it before hand-in time. Unless of minimal duration, extensions can only be granted for documented medical reasons or on documented compassionate grounds.

Returning assignments

Marked work will be returned to external students via Australia Post. Internal students will receive their work back in class.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

PG - Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay
Take-home exam

PG - Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique of practice and theory.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay
Take-home exam

PG - Research and Problem Solving Capability

Our postgraduates will be capable of systematic enquiry; able to use research skills to create new knowledge that can be applied to real world issues, or contribute to a field of study or practice to enhance society. They will be capable of creative questioning, problem finding and problem solving.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay

PG - Effective Communication

Our postgraduates will be able to communicate effectively and convey their views to different social, cultural, and professional audiences. They will be able to use a variety of technologically supported media to communicate with empathy using a range of written, spoken or visual formats.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay
Take-home exam

PG - Engaged and Responsible, Active and Ethical Citizens

Our postgraduates will be ethically aware and capable of confident transformative action in relation to their professional responsibilities and the wider community. They will have a sense of connectedness with others and country and have a sense of mutual obligation. They will be able to appreciate the impact of their professional roles for social justice and inclusion related to national and global issues

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Demonstrate ability to evaluate and critique modern academic studies of Athens and the Athenian empire, in English.
Write analytical and argumentative studies relating to important questions in Greek history
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay
Take-home exam

PG - Capable of Professional and Personal Judgment and Initiative

Our postgraduates will demonstrate a high standard of discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgment. They will have the ability to make informed choices and decisions that reflect both the nature of their professional work and their personal perspectives.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Demonstrate understanding of primary source based information relating to Athens 510-404 BC
Show ability to interpret primary literary sources relating to Athens 510-404 BC, in English translation
Show ability to interpret published archaeological data relating to Athens and Greece 510-404 BC.
Present written work to a high standard, with relevant footnoting and accurate bibliographies

Assessment tasks

Minor essay
Major essay
Take-home exam