CLAS 319 - Alexander the Great

A Classics course that will survey the accomplishments and age of Alexander the Great through a study of both history and literature. Moving in chronological fashion through his brief lifetime, we shall study closely his astonishing victories in Persia and elsewhere, his political settlements, his private life, and how his dramatic performance on the world stage paved the way for the ultimate transition to a Roman East. Some comparison of Alexander and Julius Caesar. Readings in the surviving primary sources for his life: Plutarch; Arrian’s Anabasis; Diodorus Siculus; Quintus Curtius Rufus; and the Greek Alexander Romance, as well as some attention to the vast secondary literature that has surrounded Alexander. This course provides a good introduction or supplement to the surveys of the Roman Republic and Empire, as we survey the beginnings of the Hellenistic Age. (Group III)