Exams: There will be two exams, a midterm and a final.
Monument Presentation & Podcast: All students will be asked to prepare a ten minute presentation on one of the standing monuments of the Agora. In the second week students will be asked to select the monument of their choice. The list of monuments and dates of presentation are posted on the course’s wiki. The aim of the assignment is not to just reproduce some basic information for each building but to discuss its overall role in the history of the site, its function and architectural form, and its fate from when it was first constructed to its later uses. At the end of the semester we will create a podcast for the Athenian Agora based on these presentations for people to download and use it as an audio guide while visiting the site!
Group Discussion: There are six group discussions organized throughout the semester. The students are expected to have done the assigned reading in order to participate actively in the discussion. The group discussions will require students to work collectively in groups and debate the main issues raised in the literature. At the beginning of each discussion there will be a poll in class to survey the students’ opinions on the main arguments presented in their reading. Group discussions will provide an opportunity to discuss in more depth the archaeological methods employed and the interpretations of the excavation results in the Athenian Agora. Further, the group discussions provide an opportunity to move beyond individual monuments and explore the political, socio-economic, and cultural factors that influenced the architecture, function and symbolism of the Agora in different periods.
Research Project: All students will be asked to write a research paper on the archaeology of the Athenian Agora (ca. 2500 words). The research paper may be a more fully developed version of their Monument Presentation or could be an expansion of one of the topics discussed in group discussion. Students can also write on other topics of their choice after they have discussed them with me.
Evaluation Scheme:
Mid-term test 15%
Monument presentation 15%
Group discussion 10%
Research project 30%
Final examination 30%
Deadlines:
Midterm Exam: Monday 15 Oct
Final research paper: Friday 7 Dec
Final Exam: Friday 15 Dec
Monument presentations: throughout the semester (see here: [link])
Group discussions: 14 Sept, 28 Sept, 29 Oct, 9 Nov, 23 Nov, 5 Dec
