Cross-listed: Philosophy

Histories of Greek philosophy have a tendency to stop with Aristotle. But in fact many of the most productive and modern developments in Greek thought occurred in the centuries following Aristotle's death. In this seminar, we will be investigating the changing nature of Greek thought during the Hellenistic and Roman period (about 300 BCE to 250 CE) before the background of the parallel changes in the society and literature of the time. We will follow in particular the fortunes of the later Platonic academy, which soon after Aristotle's death espoused absolute scepticism regarding perception, ethics, etc., but by the end of our period culminated in the mystical and very metaphysical Neoplatonism of Plotinus. Along the way we will be concerned with the forces which led to the contemporaneous growth of Epicureanism, Stoicism, Hedonism and Skepticism outside the Academy of Plato. All readings will be in English.

We will read most of the principal works of ancient Egyptian literature in translation, exploring such genres as funerary spells, hymns to the gods, wisdom literature, monumental inscriptions, prose tales, love poems, and lamentations. After a month the class will divide up for one of its two weekly meetings into two separate tutorials: (1) introduction to the rudiments of the hieroglyphic writing system; (2) Egyptian history, problems in traditional chronology, and questions of contact with other cultures, particularly Greece.