ARCH , Assignment 3: Short paper
Select some aspect of ancient Greek culture during the Archaic through Hellenistic periods (ca. 600-30 BC)
for which there is archaeological/historical evidence and compare ancient Greek practices explicitly with
modern ones in your experience, with a focus on the material aspects of these practices. Examples of
possible topics include the spatial arrangement of rooms in private houses or apartments, the conduct of legal
trials, religious services, weddings, funerals, cooking, medical treatments, personal dress, or constructing
buildings. Keep in mind that some of these practices varied considerably over time or from place to place,
and you will want to be sensitive to that. For example, an Athenian grave of any kind of around 460 BC
would NOT be adorned with an elaborate sculpted gravestone, while one a century before or after that date
might well be.
You must locate and use a minimum of three academically respectable sources for the ancient Greek aspect
of your paper. One of these may be your textbook. You may also use primary sources (translations of ancient
Greek authors) where relevant.
Format requirements:
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The paper should be 1200-1500 words; it must not exceed 2000 words.
Margins are to be 1.5" on the left margin, 1" on all other margins. The paper is to be typed and
double-spaced.
Use a standard font such as Arial or Times New Roman and black toner/ink
Illustrations, where appropriate, are encouraged. These should be numbered sequentially (Fig. 1, Fig.
2, ….), referred to explicitly in the text, and placed on separate pages at the end of the paper.
Citations and reference lists should follow either the MLA or APA styles. Do not use any other
documentation style, or, God forbid, the ever-popular “roll your own” style.
Staple or clip your paper in the upper left-hand corner. Do not put it into a folder or other cover.
The basic purpose of this assignment is to make you think actively about your own culture and experience
in connection with something comparable in ancient Greek culture. It should be something you have
personal familiarity with. If you are a Christian, for example, you should not be comparing mosques to
Greek temples, nor should Muslims be comparing churches to Greek temples, and the non-religious who
don’t attend religious services should not be writing about religious buildings at all.
Begin by selecting a topic that is of interest to you. Take, for example, the question of the arrangement of
rooms in houses. Where and when do we have good evidence for house plans in the Greek world during the
assigned periods? You would likely find that the most abundant evidence comes from the 4th century BC and
later, and from some sites such as Olynthus, Halieis, and Pella. Is there a broad range of different plans? As
in modern houses, we find rooms dedicated to storage and cooking, but also rooms specifically intended for
entertaining guests. What about bathrooms and bedrooms? Textual evidence that you will find cited by your
sources suggests that at least in some Greek city houses, certain areas were effectively segregated and
intended for usage by men. Do modern houses with which you are familiar have areas that are segregated for
usage by particular sexes or age groups?
For a paper of this length, you need to select a topic that is narrow. You also must select one for which we
have archaeological evidence available. The topic of the education of Spartan men is a fascinating one, but
our knowledge of it is based almost completely on ancient textual sources. No buildings and few artifacts
that shed any separate light on Spartan education have been discovered. Likewise, Greek philosophy is an
important aspect of their culture, but there are not many obvious physical manifestations of it in the
archaeological record that could be dealt with in a short paper.
Checklist to help determine whether a source is acceptable and/or academically respectable:
Is it a book or book chapter with named authors and/or editors published by a university or college press?
→Yes, acceptable
Is it a book or book chapter with named authors and/or editors published by other major academic presses,
such as Blackwell, Routledge, Thames & Hudson, etc.? →Yes, acceptable
Is it an article with named authors in a scholarly journal? →Yes, acceptable
Is it an article in an encyclopedia, dictionary, or other reference book that is specifically dedicated to Greek
civilization, archaeology, or Classical Studies (for example, the Oxford Classical Dictionary or Brill’s New
Pauly)? →Yes, acceptable
Is it a major academic website dedicated to archaeology, Greek civilization, or Classical Studies, such as
Perseus or Stoa.org →Yes, acceptable
Does the author indicate qualifications that make him or her likely to be knowledgeable about the topic, such
as a graduate degree in archaeology or Classical Studies? →Yes, acceptable. If your topic was about
something like constructing roofs, a graduate degree in a logically connected area, such as engineering or
architecture, would be acceptable as well.
Is it Wikipedia? →No, not acceptable [this is not because Wikipedia is bad per se, but because the
authors/editors are anonymous and the content is very uneven in quality. Some Wikipedia articles do have
useful, academically respectable bibliographies that you could follow up on.]
Is it in an encyclopedia or other reference aimed at a secondary or elementary school audience, such as
World Book? →No, not acceptable
Is it a website aimed at schoolchildren (e.g., MrDonn.org)? →No, not acceptable
Is it a website known to be academically disreputable (e.g., Crystalinks.com)? →No, not acceptable
Is the author a college undergraduate, high school, or elementary student? →No, not acceptable
Is it an anonymous page on a website that has no college/university or other academic affiliation? →No, not
acceptable
Is it a set of class notes from a course that you have taken or are taking, including this one? →No, not
acceptable
If you are not sure whether a source is acceptable, please ask.
Good, readily available sources to start with background on Greek cultural practices include the Oxford
Classical Dictionary, the Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization, and Brill’s New Pauly, which are
available in the library.
The full text of Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, is
available on the Perseus website [www.perseus.tufts.edu]. This book has segments on many aspects of Greek
institutions, not only history.
The following form must be completed and brought to me (not e-mailed).
Name: _________________________________
My proposed topic: __________________________________________
Three sources I plan to use:
1)
2)
3)
I will be using the MLA _______ or APA ______ documentation style (check
one)
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