Assignments - Persuasion in Ancient Greece

Schedule of Assignments.

Syllabus here. Dates stated below are due dates for assignments. All assignments are due on or before the stated date/time. Readings and SWAs (short writing assignments) are to be done by the beginning of class, not during class or just after, on the due date in question. Papers, annotated bibliographies, and PowerPoints assigned for submission are due by midnight on the stated date. For online submission of assignments, go to Brightspace.

PART ONE
Introduction to Course
19-Aug	No assignment. Introduction to course.
21-Aug	Plato Gorgias pt. 1. Web reading plus Short Writing Assignment. A crucial reading: Plato's Gorgias forms the basis of your first oral presentation and first paper. Here's what to do: Read the Study Guide (req'd) Read Plato's Gorgias 1st half (sections 447a-481b). Access via Study Guide > Text Access Go back to the Study Guide, review Short Writing Assignment (SWA) prompt #1. Do SWA 1. Plato Gorgias class 1 via Brightspace > Fall 2025 Persuasion in Ancient Greece > Assignments > Short Writing Assignments (SWAs) > SWA 1. Plato Gorgias class 1 For the how and why of SWAs, please see the Syllabus.
26-Aug	Gorgias pt. 2. Sections 481b-527e. Review the Study Guide; from which access the reading. Do the Gorgias 2 SWA. Brightspace assignment as per 21-Aug assignment. Henceforward, all reading assignments to be done this way: read Study Guide, read assigned reading, complete SWA.
Theory 1
28-Aug	Modern theory and related. Access the SWA 3 prompt and assigned reading links via the Study Guide.
2-Sep	No class Mon classes meet. Add/drop deadline
Peithō: From Panhellenic Myth to Athenian Reality, part 1
4-Sep	Persuasion reified, personified in cult, myth, art. Access to readings via Study Guide, which also read. Complete SWA 4.
Research Session
9-Sep	Class meets in the Library Classroom, LN 1305, in the Innovation Lab, just across from the Tower Cafe. ASSIGNMENT: Read carefully the Oral Presentations page Papers page Critical thinking page No SWA this time.
Interlude. Oral Presentation 1. Gorgias paper pitch
	Before undertaking presentation 1, students will need to read the Oral Presentations page carefully. Ignoring directions will affect the presentation 1 grade, as will late submission.
11-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 1. Day 1 presenters: By 12pm, submit (upload) your PowerPoint and presentation as separate docs via the appropriate BrightSpace Assignments link.
16-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 2. Day 2 presenters: By 12pm, submit (upload) your PowerPoint and presentation as separate docs via the appropriate BrightSpace Assignments link.
18-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 3. Day 3 presenters: By 12pm, submit (upload) your PowerPoint and presentation as separate docs via the appropriate BrightSpace Assignments link.
23-Sep	No class. Rosh Hashana.
Peithō: From Panhellenic Myth to Athenian Reality, part 2
25-Sep	Aeschylus' Agamemnon (Fagles, Penguin). Study Guide.
30-Sep	Read: Aeschylus Libation Bearers Study Guide Aeschylus' Eumenides Study Guide Aeschylus' Eumenides text When you're done with the reading, do the SWA as per Eumenides Study Guide
2-Oct	No class. Yom Kippur.
7-Oct	TWO THINGS: QUIZ 1 on readings & lectures 21-Aug through 30-Sep. Early Political Theory and Practice. Click here for Study Guide, here for access online to readings.
9-Oct	Plutarch's Themistocles (Penguin). Study Guide.
10-Oct	Paper 1 due via BrightSpace on Friday, 10-Oct by midnight.
14-Oct	Thucydides, part 1 (Hackett). Page 1 (= bk 1 sect. 1), 12-36 (1.20.2-22, 1.68-88, 1.140-146), 39-46 (2.35-46), 52-58 (2.59-65). Study Guide.
16-Oct	Plutarch's Pericles (Penguin). Study Guide.
PART TWO
Democracy and its Discontents: Peitho in Crisis
21-Oct	Theory 2
23-Oct	Readings in the sophists. Click here for readings; here for Study Guide.
28-Oct	Political oratory: Lysias Preserving the Ancestral Constitution; Demosthenes Third Olynthiac, First Philippic, accessed via Brightspace > Persuasion course site > PDF Course Readings. Study Guide.
30-Oct	Aristophanes' Clouds (Focus). Study Guide.
4-Nov	Aristophanes' Knights (penguin) Study Guide.
6-Nov	Aristophanes' Lysistrata (Focus) Study Guide.
11-Nov	Plutarch's Alcibiades (Penguin). + quiz #2 (on readings 2-Mar through 30-Mar). Study Guides: For readings For quiz
13-Nov	Epideixis day 1. *You must* attend class to deliver and / or hear speeches.** If you deliver orally this day, by midnight, 20-Apr, upload final electronic copy via Brightspace > UPLOAD EPIDEIXIS More here.
18-Nov	Epideixis day 2. *You must* attend class to deliver and / or hear speeches.** If you deliver orally this day, by midnight, 22-Apr, upload final electronic copy via Brightspace > UPLOAD EPIDEIXIS More here.
20-Nov	Epideixis day 3. *You must* attend class to deliver and / or hear speeches.** If you deliver orally this day, by midnight, 27-Apr, upload final electronic copy via Brightspace > UPLOAD EPIDEIXIS More here.
25-Nov	No class.
27-Nov	No class. Thanksgiving.
2-Dec	Epideixis day 4. *You must* attend class to deliver and / or hear speeches.** If you deliver orally this day, by midnight, 29-Apr, upload final electronic copy via Brightspace > UPLOAD EPIDEIXIS More here.
4-Dec	Final class, reflections