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Unit outline_

ANHS2637: Ancient Sparta and Modern Ideology

Semester 2, 2023 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Ancient Sparta still fascinates the modern imagination. This unit examines Ancient Sparta from multiple perspectives, from its early history and ancient institutions to the imagined state of the Western philosophical and political tradition. Modern interpretations of Ancient Sparta will be put to the test via close reevaluations of key ancient evidence. Across the unit approaches will be sought to explain why the Modern world's fascination with Sparta is so enduring.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit Classics and Ancient History
Credit points 6
Prerequisites
? 
12 credit points at 1000 level in any combination of Ancient History, Latin, Ancient Greek, History, Philosophy or Archaeology
Corequisites
? 
None
Prohibitions
? 
ANHS3637
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator Ben Brown, benjamin.brown@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Assignment Final Take Home Exercise
Final Take Home Exercise
30% Formal exam period
Due date: 15 Nov 2023 at 12:00

Closing date: 15 Nov 2023
1500w 5 days
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Participation Participation
Participation
10% Ongoing n/a
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2
Assignment Seminar Preparation Journals
Seminar Preparation Journals
20% Ongoing 2 x 500w = 1000w
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Assignment Research Essay
Research Essay
40% Week 10
Due date: 09 Oct 2023 at 23:59

Closing date: 23 Oct 2023
2000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2

Assessment summary

  • Research Essay: in the research essay the student will select a question from the list of available topics and undertake the presentation of arguments combined with evaluation of evidence.
  • Seminar Preparation Journals: every seminar will require preparation in order to facilitate discussion and stimulate ideas and debate. To reward the student for this preparation and enhance the mark they receive for overall Participation, they will submit two 500 word reviews across the semester.

  • Participation: this unit assumes a level of skill in Ancient History but will assume NO knowledge about Ancient Sparta. The study of Ancient Sparta is one of the most unsettled, controversial and contested sub-fields in Ancient History. Expressing a perspective and point of view is going to oil the machine. We want to enjoy to search for questions and answers and feel comfortable asserting different viewpoints.

  • Final Take Home Exercise: during the exam period you will give a short (750w) answer each to two questions (=2 X 750 = 1500w total). You will have one week in which to complete your responses and upload them to the exercise portal. The questions will invite you to evaluate and respond to general statements about Ancient Sparta. This exercise will invite you to offer your professional opinion as an emerging contributor to Spartan studies. More information about the process and format of this exercise will be given after the mid-semester break.

  • Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas. 

  • More detailed information (e.g. assessment rubrics) and submission instructions can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.html

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

See FASS late penalty policy

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes
Week 01 Sparta between myth and reality, between antiquity and modernity Lecture (1 hr) LO2 LO3 LO4
Week 02 What do we know about Ancient Sparta? The nature of the evidence and the outline of its history. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4
Seminar 1: introduction to the 'problem' of Sparta. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO5
Week 03 The Problem of Early Spartan History (>c.500BCE): foundation, reform, institutions, fragments. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2
Seminar 2: How exceptional was Sparta? Seminar (2 hr) LO2 LO4 LO5
Week 04 What sort of polis is Classical Sparta? Part 1: Political rationality, war and citizenship. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3
Seminar 3: Archaic Sparta and the Spartan 'revolution' of the 7th century BCE. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5
Week 05 What sort of polis is Classical Sparta? Part 2: Land, political economy and labour. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3
Seminar 4: Spartiates: war and citizenship in the Spartan polis. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 06 How 'exceptional' a polis was Sparta in the wider Greek world? Wealth, education, women Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO6
Seminar 5: The Political Economy of Ancient Sparta. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5
Week 07 Can we speak of 'Spartan religion'? Cults and Festivals in Archaic and Classical Sparta. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO6
Seminar 6: Spartan women and Spartan exceptionalism. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 08 Sparta and Greek History: wars, leagues, oracles and hegemony in the Peloponnese. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO6
Seminar 7: Spartan Religion vs Greek Religion? Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 09 Sparta in the Classical Philosophical Imagination: Thucydides, Xenophon, Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO6
Seminar 8: Spartan 'education': ancient reality or modern projection? Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 10 'First as tragedy then as farce'? Postclassical and Roman Sparta. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO6
Seminar 9: Sparta as political utopia in classical philosophy. Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO5 LO6
Seminar 10: Sparta's Hellenistic 'revolution' Seminar (2 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 11 Sparta and the Modern Political Imagination: from the Enlightenment to the Cold War. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO3
Week 12 'This is Sparta!': the ancient fantasy of contemporary popular culture. Lecture (1 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO6
Seminar 11: Sparta and Modernity in the 18th-19th centuries. Seminar (2 hr) LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 13 Afterword: is a history of Sparta possible? Lecture (1 hr) LO4 LO5 LO6
Seminar 12: Sparta in the 20th century—politics, cinema, pop culture. Seminar (2 hr) LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

  • Plutarch, On Sparta, edited by R.J.A. Talbert (Penguin Classics, Revised edition, Harmondsworth 2005).
  • Nigel M. Kennell, Spartans. A New History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Demonstrate knowledge of the society, culture and politics of ancient Sparta.
  • LO2. Read, evaluate, and interpret the diverse body of evidence available for the study of ancient Sparta.
  • LO3. Demonstrate familiarity with, the capacity to explain historically, and critically engage with, modern representations of ancient Sparta.
  • LO4. Evaluate these different types of evidence individually and in combination with each other, using a range of discipline-appropriate concepts and methodologies in the service of integrated historical and cultural analysis.
  • LO5. Examine and solve complex historical problems through research and critical analysis with personal integrity, both independently and collaboratively.
  • LO6. Apply the theories and methods of other disciplines to their own work and utilise the skills and knowledge of ancient historians to address issues encountered in an interdisciplinary context.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

First iteration of the unit.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.