Regional Study: Macedonia

CLS-STDY 112 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course will explore the political and cultural history of Macedonia and northern Greece, from the archaic period to late antiquity. We will focus on questions of change, recurrence, and continuity within the long history of this frontier region, at the threshold of the Aegean and Balkan worlds.

The course will be discussion-based, and texts, objects, and ideas will be brought into dialogue around themes that are arranged roughly chronologically. These will include the formation and identity of the Macedonian kingdom, interactions with Balkan and Asian neighbors, conflicts with Greek poleis, imperial expansion and consolidation, provincialization by Rome, and the dynamics of early Christian community building.

Our enquiry will be conducted on several different scales: we will be informed both by close reading of texts and close examination of individual sites and objects, by the different, broader modern arguments into which texts, sites and objects are drawn, and by the big, overarching questions that we will ask as we move across time and place. We will take a week-long, funded tour of Macedonia during Spring Break, in order to visit the most significant archaeological sites and museum collections.

Course Notes

This course is required for concentrators in the Classical Civilizations track, joint concentrators in Ancient History, and all joint concentrators in Classical Civilizations and an Allied Field. Admission is by application only. Students interested in enrolling should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (classicsDUS@fas.harvard.edu).

Recommended Prep

If you are a sole or double concentrator, you will need to have taken both Classical Studies 97a and 97b prior to enrollment; if you have taken 97a, but not 97b, you can apply provided that you enroll in 97b this spring. If you are a joint concentrator, secondary, or non-concentrator, you will need to have taken either 97a or 97b; if you haven’t taken either, you can apply provided that you enroll in 97b this spring.