Assignments - Persuasion in Ancient Greece

Schedule of Assignments.

Syllabus here. For online submission of assignments, go to Brightspace.

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 2Brightspace 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 Myth to Athenian Reality
4-Sep	Persuasion reified, personified in cult, myth, art. Access to readings via Study Guide, which also read. Complete SWA 4.
Interlude. Oral Presentation 1. Gorgias paper pitch
8-Sep	Monday evening. 8-Sep, all paper pitch documents (PowerPoint, word doc) due via BrightSpace
9-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 1
11-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 2
16-Sep	Paper pitch in-class presentation day 3
Peithō: From Myth to Athenian Reality (continued)
18-Sep	Aeschylus' Agamemnon (Fagles, Penguin). Study Guide.
23-Sep	No class (Rosh Hashana)
25-Sep	Aeschylus' Libation Bearers (Fagles, Penguin). Study Guide.
30-Sep	Aeschylus' Eumenides (Fagles, Penguin). Study Guide.
7-Oct	TWO THINGS: QUIZ 1 on readings & lectures 19-Jan through 14-Feb. Early Political Theory and Practice. Click here for Study Guide, here for access online to readings.
9-Oct	Plutarch's Themistocles (Penguin). Study Guide.
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.
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.
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