Do any of these images show the real Alexander the Great? (Details here: Image Credits)

Download the syllabus here: CLAS 0810A Alexander syllabus Spring 2017-1.pdf

ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE ALEXANDER TRADITION

CLAS 0810A CRN 14090

Spring Semester 2017

Instructor: Prof. John F. Cherry

Lecture Hour: MWF 11-11:50 am Place: Rhode Island Hall Room 108

Office: Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World (RIH 105)

Office Hours: Tuesday 2-4 pm, and by appointment

Telephone: 863-6412 E-mail: john_cherry@brown.edu

Synopsis and Goals of the Course

This course has a deliberately tight focus on a single historical figure, Alexander the Great; but it uses him as a point of departure for exploring a wide range of problems and approaches that typify the field of Classical Studies. You will be encouraged to think critically about a variety of sources of evidence from the ancient world (e.g., textual, archaeological, artistic, numismatic), and from later tradition too (e.g., literature, legends, and representations from all over the medieval world). Some of the topics we will consider include, for example:

the historiographical problems of establishing his actual deeds and intentions (the “real” Alexander — if there can be such a thing)
the geographical and logistical factors involved in his military campaigns
the lasting effects of his image upon ancient artistic production and royal iconography
his long-term impact on the varied peoples incorporated, briefly, within his empire.

But the course will take us far beyond Alexander's own world, to examine his legacy and impact:

what the Romans made of him
the Medieval Alexander tradition
his importance in post-renaissance western art
his appeal to novelists and Hollywood movie-makers such as Oliver Stone
his powerful and very real significance in modern Greek and Macedonian geopolitics

How knowledge of Alexander has been transmitted and distorted, used and abused, provides a fascinating case study in the formation and continuous reinterpretation of the western classical tradition. Alexander's story is wonderfully romantic, and the impact he had upon his world was profound. Yet his importance and interest stem just as much from the perennial fascination he has exerted over the ages. He is a powerful symbolic figure because he can be (and has been) taken as "meaning", or "standing for", so many quite different things, and thus continues to be culturally contested. Not many individuals in world history have assumed this guise of "Man for All Seasons": you should reach the end of this course with some appreciation of why Alexander did so.

In other words, this course aims to provide a detailed approach to the legacy and impact of one of history's most incomparably famous, epoch-changing figures. Its focus is not so much on the historical “facts" about the Alexander (although you will need to know them), as on the Alexander-traditions that developed in Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, and early modern times, and which continue to have real salience in the geopolitics of our own times. These serve as ways of approaching significant issues concerning the reception of Antiquity, the malleability of traditions, the agency of "Great Men" versus collective entities in the writing of history, and the various forms of cultural production generated from the image and achievements of such a powerfully symbolic figure as Alexander.

The course is based around illustrated lectures, supplemented by occasional excerpts from documentary films and movies, and by in-class discussions. You will read about Alexander in selections from several ancient historians and biographers, an early medieval romance-legend, modern scholarly studies, and a novel about Alexander. Grades will be assigned on the basis set out below.

Requirements and Grading

Your final grade will be based on your performances in the following:

15% Hourly Exam 1
20% Hourly Exam 2
10% Writing Assignment #2
15% Writing Assignment #3
30% Writing Assignment #5 (Term Paper)
10% Participation, attendance, office hours, Assignments #1 and 4

Assignments

#1 Use the maps in your various textbooks to complete the blanks maps of the East Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds with the list of toponyms provided. (Due Monday 6 February)

#2 Write a short (~3 pages) review, of the kind you might read in a newspaper or magazine, of Oliver Stone’s movie Alexander. Several copies of the movie on DVD will be available for you to borrow. (Due Monday 27 February)

#3 Write a short paper (~5 pages) reviewing any historical novel about Alexander (see the wiki for a list of possible novels from which to choose). (Due Friday 24 March)

#4 Choose an individual painting, from any period after ca. AD 1400, depicting a scene from the life of Alexander. Provide a digital copy of it for projecting in class. Come to class prepared to talk very briefly about your chosen image — what it shows and what is interesting about it. (Due Monday 17 April)

#5 Write a term paper (~10-12 pages) on a topic dealing with an aspect of the “afterlife” of Alexander — i.e., the Alexander tradition. (A list of possible topics from which you might choose, with some suggested sources to get you started, will be posted to the course Canvas site.) (Due Tuesday 9 May)

Provisional Syllabus

Preliminaries

1/25 Organization of the course, goals, and student responsibilities

1/27 Introduction: Alexander's life—and afterlife

Readings: Briant, pp. 11-128

I: Introductory Historical Background

1/30 State and society in Classical Greece

2/1 The Greeks and "the other"

2/3 The Persian Empire and east-west relations

Readings: Cartledge, Chs. 1–3

II: Macedonian Origins: Where the Legend Began

2/6 The rise of Macedonia Assignment #1 due

2/8 The life & death of Philip II. The young Alexander.

2/10 The gold of Vergina—the tomb of Alexander's father?

Readings: Cartledge, Chs. 4-6

Briant, pp. 165-169

Romm, Chs. I–II

[Recommended additional reading: M. Andronikos, Vergina: The Royal Tombs]

III: The Surviving Sources: What kind and how reliable?

2/13 How the sources survived: books and libraries in the ancient world

2/15 The historical Alexander-sources I: the primary sources & transmission

2/17 The historical Alexander-sources II: lost histories, letters etc.

Readings: Cartledge, Appendix

Briant, pp. 130-137

Romm, Chs. III–V

[Recommended additional reading: L. Casson, Libraries in the Ancient World]

2/20 No Class Meeting: Brown Long Weekend, 18–21 February

2/22 Visual sources: Portraiture and the genesis of Alexander's image

2/24 Arrian: Who was he, and how reliable a source?

2/27 Class discussion on your readings in the extant Alexander-sources

Assignment #2 due

Readings: Romm, Chs. VI–VIII: read all of Romm prior to Monday 27 February

[Recommended additional reading: A. Stewart, Faces of Power]

IV: Alexander’s Immediate Aftermath

3/1 Alexander's successors & the Hellenistic Age

3/3 From Alexandria to Afghanistan: Alexander's cities

3/6 Viewing of excerpts from the documentary TV series by Michael Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great

Readings: Briant, 138-148

[Recommended additional reading: Michael Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great]

3/8 HOURLY EXAM 1 (Wednesday 8 March)

V: Alexander the Man... What Kind of Man?

3/10 Plutarch as a historical source and the nature of ancient biography

3/13 Biography and psychology: conflicting views of Alexander's character

3/15 The enemy within: Alexander the alcoholic?

3/17 The sexuality of Alexander

3/20 Military genius or dumb luck? The logistics of Alexander's campaigns

Readings: Plutarch, The Life of Alexander [available as a pdf on the class Canvas site] — the lively biography of Alexander by Plutarch (ca. 46-120 AD), one of the 50 Parallel Lives he wrote about famous Greeks and Romans (Alexander's "pair" was Julius Caesar).

Cartledge, Chs. 7-10

[Recommended additional reading: D. Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army]

VI: The Development of the Legendary Alexander

3/22 The so-called "divinity" of Alexander

3/24 Alexander and the (supposed) "brotherhood of man"

Assignment #3 due

3/27 No class meeting: Brown Spring Break

3/29 No class meeting: Brown Spring Break

3/31 No class meeting: Brown Spring Break

4/3 Alexander magnus: Roman responses to Alexander

Readings: Cartledge, chs. 11-12

Briant, 149-158

Stoneman, Introduction and Book I of the Alexander Romance

[Recommended additional reading: D. Spencer, The Roman Alexander: Reading a Cultural Myth, Ch. 1]

VII: The Medieval Alexander-Romance: from Antiquity to the Modern World

4/5 The Alexander Romance: origins and diffusion

4/7 The Alexander Romance and the ancient novel-romance. Discussion.

4/10 Some Tall Tales: I, Alexander's Ascent to Heaven; II, Alexander and the Faithless Lady; III, Gorgons and Neraïds (the Romance and modern Mediterranean folk tradition)

4/12 Re-presentations of Alexander in the art of the West and East

4/14 Alexander in Persian, Indian and other non-western artistic traditions

4/17 Student presentations of individual artworks on Alexander themes

Assignment #4 due

Readings: Stoneman, Books II–III of The Greek Alexander Romance

VIII: Alexander and Modern Culture

4/19 Alexander in fiction: Kipling and The Man Who Would Be King [with video excerpts]

4/21 Alexander, the Macedonian Question, and contemporary Greek politics

4/24 Alexander goes to Hollywood: Alexander the Great (both the Robert Rossen and Oliver Stone versions), Cleopatra, The Black Stallion, etc. [with video excerpts]

[Recommended additional reading: L.M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World; Rudyard Kipling, The Man Who Would be King (in R. Kipling, Collected Stories).]

IX: Wrap-up

4/26 Final class discussion: Does Alexander really deserve to be called “the Great”? Why, or why not?

Reading: I. Worthington (ed.), Alexander the Great: A Reader, ch. 11 [pdf file on the class Canvas site]

5/3 HOURLY EXAM 2 (Wednesday 3 May)

4/28–5/9 Reading Period. Prof. Cherry will be available to consult on your term paper.

TERM PAPER (Assignment #5) is due by 5 pm on Tuesday 9 May

Required Reading

Most (but not all) of the required reading for the class will be from the following books:

Pierre Briant, Alexander the Great: Man of Action, Man of Spirit (Abrams, 1996)

A short introduction to Alexander for the general reader, with many figures and plates illustrating aspects of the Alexander-tradition. This is the best book to read first.

Paul Cartledge, Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past (Overlook Press, 2004)

The most recent scholarly account, very reliable and sound in its judgements. Accessibly written, too — perhaps because it was timed to coincide with the release of Oliver Stone's movie Alexander.

James Romm, Alexander the Great: Selections from Arrian, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius (Hackett, 2005)

Just what it says: selections from four of the five main surviving ancient written sources on Alexander, with introductions and annotations to provide context. This book provides a quick taste of the very different styles and purposes of these key authors.

Richard Stoneman (trans.), The Greek Alexander Romance (Penguin Books, 1991)

Translation, preceded by a very informative Introduction, of the entertaining and (largely) legendary account of Alexander's adventures. One of the most widely-disseminated and influential works of late classical Greek literature, and the chief source of knowledge about Alexander during the Middle Ages.

Copies of all these books and other readings will be available as pdf files on the class Canvas site.

Recommended additional reading:

Green, Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography (University of California Press, 1991).

The classic historical biography.

Michael Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia (University of California Press, 1997)

Tie-in to the BBC-TV series in which the (then!) dashing young historian Michael Wood follows along the route of Alexander's expedition to the east, encountering peoples, customs, and landscapes not much changed since Alexander's time — as well as some distant memories of the man himself. Lavish illustration in color.

Internet Resources

Alexander the Great has a very extensive presence on the Internet — and, as you might expect, these Alexander sites display both the best and worst aspects of the Web. You can find texts of original ancient sources, images of Alexander, scholarly articles, sites concerned with the legend of Alexander through the ages, maps, timelines, information on novels and movies about Alexander, etc. But you will also encounter highly partial sites that you should treat with caution — especially those dealing with issues such as whether Alexander "belongs" to modern-day Greece or Macedonia (FYROM), his sexuality, and other matters reflecting what Alexander has come to mean for different people today.

Obviously, there is a complex network of articles relating to Alexander and his enduring legacy to be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_great

Pothos is agenerally reliable website dedicated to Alexander, including an active blog: http://www.pothos.org/content/

Also helpful is the home page of the Perseus Project which you’ll find especially useful for classical texts, maps, archaeological images, time-lines, etc.:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

The most useful website was called Alexanderama. It gathered in one place many hundreds of links to Alexander-related resources (some of them dead, and not all of them useful or even serious!). Unfortunately, this site has either been taken down or migrated to another host; if any student can help find it, that would be great.

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/Alexanderama.html

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CLAS0810A Spring17 S01 Alexander the Great and the Alexander Tradition