This lecture course focuses on what is generally considered the zenith century of ancient Greek civilization and culture, the era when the Greeks were at their peak of cultural and political innovation and productivity. In literature, the arts, philosophy, and medicine as well as politics, the Greeks of the 5th century, the height of the so-called Classical Age of Greece, produced ideas, innovations, and works that still continue to delight, inform, and influence western culture especially, but people throughout the world more broadly. This is the century in which, under the leadership of those two polar opposites Sparta and Athens, the southern Greeks defeated a vast invading force of the mighty Persian Empire, and in the flush of that unexpected victory they unleashed a burst of creativity with few if any parallels in world history. The focuses of Greek political life in this century were of course Athens and Sparta, and the center of Greek cultural and economic developments was Athens, so the course will necessarily focus extensively on those two states, especially on Athens, but the rest of Greece will be covered too. We shall be examining political, social, cultural, philosophical, and economic developments in our attempt to understand the life of Greece at this time, and its unique contributions to world history. Runs from the week of May 23 to Jul 01, 2016.

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