CIV 150W
Freshman Writing Seminar:
Greek and Roman Private Life
Fall, 1998

• Instructor Information
  
  
• Meeting Place and Time
  
  
• Important Electronic Addresses
  
  
• Course Description and Objectives
  
  
• Required and Recommended Textbooks
  
  
• Course Format
  
  
• Assignments and Grading
  
  
• Important Course Policies
  
  
• Course Calendar

Instructor: William Hutton
Office: Morton 326
Phone: 221-2993
e-mail: wehutt@facstaff.wm.edu
Office hours: MWF 11-12 noon and by appointment.

Time and place of Class: TR 11-12:20, Morton 303

Important Electronic Addresses:
Class web page:
http://www.wm.edu/CAS/classical_studies/wehutt/CIV150F.html
Class e-mail list: clas150-l@lists.cc.wm.edu
Instructor's e-mail address: wehutt@facstaff.wm.edu

Course Description:
In this course we will read about, write about and discuss the way ordinary and not-so-ordinary people lived in ancient Greece and Rome. Topics covered will include birth, food, work, sex, religion, marriage and death. We will read original sources (in translation) to learn what the ancients themselves thought about these aspects of everyday life. We will also consider how ancient attitudes compare to modern ones, including (especially!) our own.

Course Objectives:
Here is how the W&M Faculty defines the goals of the Freshman Writing Seminar:
"The primary goal of the freshman seminar program is to help the student develop his or her ability to engage in critical thinking and independent learning. To accomoplish this, the seminars provide the student with an active small-class experience that includes opportunities for discussion, writing, and other modes of expression appropriate to the subject matter of the course."

For further information on freshman seminars, click here [coming soon].

To fulfill these goals, most of your work in this class will be devoted to researching, writing and re-writing various written assignments and preparing oral presentations. In addition, this freshman seminar naturally has more specific goals related to its subject:

• To learn about two cultures that are different from ours, but also fundamental to our history
  
• To introduce you to the problems involved in studying the ancient world and to the resources and methods used to approach these problems
  
• To get you thinking in general about the phenomenon of culture: are there some aspects of human culture that are universal, or is the culture of every society determined largely by its historical circumstances?

Required Textbooks:

• Joint Association of Classical Teachers, The World of Athens (Cambridge, 1984)
  
• J. Shelton, As the Romans Did, Second edition (Oxford, 1997)
  
• C. Carey, Trials from Classical Athens (Routledge, 1997)
  
• D. Hacker, A Writer's Reference, Third Edition (St. Martin's Press, 1995)

There will also be a required COURSE PACKET available from your instructor at the cost of photocopying.

Some additional required readings will be available through the reserve desk at SWEM library.

Optional Textbook:
J. Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Yale, 1960).
No assignments will be made from this book, it's just a whopping good read and it's not very expensive. A copy will be placed on reserve in SWEM library.

Course format:
In many ways this class will be different from most others you take at William & Mary. Only rarely will I be lecturing at you for a full 80 minutes. Most classes will consist of a brief lecture (or series of remarks) by me followed by discussion involving the entire class. Some of these discussions will be more formal than others, and some of them will be generated and punctuated by assigned oral reports by individual students. Our discussions will not only be on the assigned readings about the ancient cultures, but also on the process of writing and on the written work you will be doing throughout the semester. There is a heavy element of peer review in this course: the other students in the class will be reading a lot of what you write and, with any luck, helping you improve your writing. We will also continue our discussions outide of class in an e-mail discussion group. This course is designed to help you become an active learner rather than a passive receptacle into which the professor pours knowledge, and for this reason, I and the rest of the class are counting on you to come to each class prepared and ready to contribute.

Assignments and Grading:
Your grade will be calculated as follows:

• Class participation: 20%
  
• Short writing assignments: 20%
  
• Midterm paper 15%
  
• Oral report 10%
  
• Final research paper 35%

NOTE: You must earn a passing grade on your final research paper to earn a passing grade for the course. Aside from that your grade will be calculated on a strictly numerical basis and converted to letter grades on the following scale: 93-100 = A; 89-92 = A-; 85-88=B+; 81-84 = B; 77-80 = B-; 74-76 = C+; 71-73 = C; 68-70 = C-; 64-67 = D+; 60-63 = D; 55-59= D-; Below 55 = F.

Explanation of Grade Components:

• Class participation: Includes attendance, preparation, informal in-class writing, brief oral reports, participation in discussion, cooperative attitude. Your grade for class particiption will be adversely affected by the following (this is not an exhaustive list): Missing class without a very good reason (one percentage point for the first occurrence, two for the second, three for the third, etc.), frequent tardiness, obvious lack of preparation (i.e. not doing the assigned readings, etc.), not participating in discussions, not participating in e-mail discussions (see below), not giving constructive advice to your colleagues, sleeping in class (particularly if you snore), eating noisy food in class, in general, being inconsiderate.
  
• e-mail discussion: to promote the use of this avenue of communication, each student is required to send at least six (6) substantial, paragraph-length (or longer) messages to the class e-mail list, at least three in each half of the semester. At least two messages must be in response to a message from another student.
  
• Short writing assignments: These will occur on a more-or-less weekly basis, and will generally pertain either to the readings and topics discussed during the week or to an ongoing project the student is working on. The assignments will include not only formal expository essays, but more informal and imaginative activities such as short stories and role-playing exercises. The average length of these papers will be 1-3 pages.
  
• Midterm paper: A medium-length paper (1000-1500 words) on a topic to be agreed upon in consultation with me. In general this paper should focus on interpreting an ancient work of literature (such as a play, a biography or a court speech) based on your knowledge of ancient Greek society. You will be required to submit a brief proposal for this paper and a preliminary draft which will be read and commented on by me and by other students in the class.
  
• Oral Report: You will be giving a formal, ten-minute oral presentation on the topic of your final paper.
  
• Final Paper: A longer paper (ca. 2500 - 3000 words) based on a broader problem, generally an aspect of private life considered over a span of time. There should also be, in most cases, an element of cross-cultural comparison, either comparing Greek society with Roman society or ancient society with modern society. As with the midterm paper, you will be required to submit a brief proposal for this paper and two preliminary drafts which will be read and commented on by me and by other students in the class. When you hand in your final paper, it will be published on the world-wide web for the whole world to see and admire.

Important Course Policies:
No late papers or assignments will be acceptible without verifiable evidence of dire circumstances. No special arrangements whatsoever will be made if you do not notify me of your dire circumstances within 48 HOURS after the deadline of the paper/assignment.

Tentative Class Schedule:

       Week 0 Aug 27: Introduction
  
       Week 1 Sept. 1-3: Background; History and Culture
  
       Week 2 Sept 8-10: Home Life: Men & Women
  
       Week 3 Sept 15-17: Life in the City
  
       Week 4 Sept 22-24: Love life
            Sept 22 DEADLINE for selecting topic for Midterm
  paper
            Sept 24: Midterm Proposals due; Brief oral reports on                 Midterm topics
  
       Week 5 Sept 29 - Oct 1: The Good Life
  
       Week 6 Oct 6 - 8: Marriage and Death
            Oct 6 DEADLINE for handing in draft of Midterm paper
            Oct 8 Critiquing session
  
       Week 7 Oct 13-15
            Oct 13 NO CLASS (Fall Break)
            Oct 15 DEADLINE for final version of Midterm paper.
  
       Week 8 Oct 20-22: Roman Life: Background
  
       Week 9 Oct 27-29: Topics in Roman Society: Group work
            Oct 29 DEADLINE for choosing topic of final paper
  
       Week 10 Nov 3-5: Roman Homes
            Nov 3 Final proposals due; Brief Oral Reports on final                paper.
  
       Week 11 Nov 10 - 12: Lives in Letters
            Nov 10 DEADLINE for first draft of final paper
  
       Week 12 Nov 17 - 19: Life at Court: The Emperor's Circle
            Nov 19 DEADLINE for second draft of final paper
  
       Week 13 Nov 24-26:
            Nov 24 Oral Reports
            Nov 26 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
  
       Week 14 Dec 1 - Dec 3
            Dec 1 Oral Reports
            Dec 3 Oral Reports
  
  Dec 10: DEADLINEfor final version of final paper