Course Schedule

As always, even after the syllabus has been posted, be aware that assignments may change. HONS 1101 students are always encouraged to watch the Announcements section of the course’s blackboard site and their emails, and to listen and make note of any changes as they are announced in class.

HONS1101 printable syllabus for Fall 2023

PLEASE NOTE: The schedule information that follows hereafter is “under construction.” In the meantime, refer to the course schedule that is included in the syllabus (which can be accessed by clicking the green link above).

Origins – Cosmologies

Marduk and Tiamat
Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Read before class:

  • Enuma Elish, Tablet IV, Course Packet (henceforth CP) 1-3
  • Genesis, chapter 1, The Bible
  • Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, Norton 34-42
  • Extracts from the Rig Veda, CP 4-5

 


Pre-history and patriarchs

Abraham and the 3 strangers. Oil on Canvas, Willem van Herp (circa 1613-1677)Abraham and the 3 strangers. Oil on Canvas, Willem van Herp (circa 1613-1677)
Thursday, September 1, 2022

Read before class:

  • Genesis, chapters 2-4, 6-9, 12, 15-18, 21-22, 37, 39-45 Bible

Exodus, Covenant, Law

Moses and the Red Sea. 3rd century fresco, Synagogue, Dura Europos
Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Read before class:

  • Exodus, chapters 1-15; 19-24 32:1-34:10 Bible
  • Deuteronomy, chapter 4 Bible
  • Semna Stele, Norton 879-881

Buddhism

Buddha Sarnath Deer Park 4th century C.E
Thursday, September 8, 2022

Read before class:

  • Deer Park Sermon, CP 6-7
  • Fire Sermon, CP 8
  • Parable of the Arrow, CP 9-11
  • The Doctrine of No-Self, CP 12-16
  • The Jataka, Norton 1294-97, 1300-1303

Homer

Achilles, rendered in marble by George Rennie, 1826
Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Read before class:

  • The Iliad, Norton 232-55, 272-89, 296-307, 318-24

Paper 1 due


Israel: Monarchy and prophecy

The coronation of David. Paris Psalter, Byzantine 10th century MS
Thursday, September 15, 2022

Read before class:

  • 1 Samuel, chapters 1-3, 8-10, 12, 16-18 Bible
  • 2 Samuel, chapters 7, 11-12 Bible
  • Amos Bible
  • Isaiah, chapters 1-2, 6, 9-11 Bible

Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Read before class:

  • Chhândogya Upanishad CP 17-19
  • Bhagavad Gita, Norton 1276-94

Confucius

Scholar by waterfall Ma Yuan, c. 1200
Thursday, September 22, 2022

Read before class:

  • Analects in Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. I  (henceforth SCT), 41-63

Confucianism and Legalism

Xunzi
Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Read before class:

  • Mencius, SCT 114-129
  • Xunzi, SCT 165-183
  • Han Feizi, SCT 199-203

Doaism and Mohism

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Read before class

  • Mozi, SCT 69-76, sections 16, 26, 27, 39
  • Daodejing, SCT 77-94, sections 1-4, 9-11, 13, 18, 19, 22, 29, 37, 38, 42, 43, 48, 56, 57, 65, 67, 70, 80, 81
  • Zhuangzi, SCT, 95-96, 101-107, 109-111

Paper 2 due


What is real? Philosophy before Socrates

Pythagoras
Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Read before class:

  • Thales, Introductory Readings in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy 2nd edition (henceforth AGRP) 1-2, numbers 1-5,
  • Xenophanes, AGRP 8-9, numbers 1-11
  • Heraclitus, AGRP 9-13, numbers 1, 2, 10, 12, 18, 19, 21, 26, 27, 33, 34, 44, 45, 49, 50, 58, 59, 66
  • Parmenides, AGRP 14-17, numbers 1, 3, 6-8

The Babylonian Exile and Biblical Wisdom Literature

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Read before class:

  • 2 Kings, chapters 24-25, Bible
  • Jeremiah, chapters 1,19, 20, 31;31-34, Bible
  • Isaiah, chapters 40-45, 49-50, 52;13-53:12, Bible
  • Ecclesiastes, Bible
  • Psalms 22, 23,137, Bible

Fall Break – No Classes

Tuesday, October 11, 2022


Greek Tragedy

Medea & her golden chariot, as depicted by Germán Hernández Amores (around 1887 -- oil on canvas)
Thursday, October 13, 2022

Read before class:

  • Euripides, Medea, Norton 756-90

The Meaning of History

Acropolis at sunrise
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Read before class:

  • Herodotus, Histories, Norton 881-87
  • Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, CP 20-28
  • Sima Tan and Sima Qian, SCT 278-82, 370-72

Midterm exam


Second Temple Judaism

Maccabees - Illuminated Manuscript, Leiden, The Netherlands
Thursday, October 20, 2022

Read before class:

  • Ezra, chapter 1, Bible
  • Nehemiah, chapters 1, 2, 8, 13, Bible
  • Ruth, Bible
  • 1 Maccabees, chapters 1-2, Bible
  • 2 Maccabees, chapters 6-7, Bible
  • Daniel, chapters 7, 12 Bible

Plato

The Death of Socrates, by Jacques-Louis David Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Read before class:

  • Euthyphro, Apology AGRP 52-70

Plato

The Cave
Thursday, October 27, 2022

Read before class:

  • Apology, Crito AGRP 70-85
  • Republic, Book 5, AGRP 183-93

Paper 3 due


Plato

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Read before class:

  • Republic, Book 5-7, AGRP 194-210

Aristotle: On knowing and the known

Aristotle, marble portrait bust, Roman copy (2nd century) of a Greek original (c. 325 B.C.E.) in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome
Thursday, November 3, 2022

Read before class:

  • Posterior Analytics, AGRP 266 Book 1 section 2, first 5 paragraphs; 269-70 Book 2, section 19
  • Physics, AGRP 271-72 Book 2 section 1; 274 Book 2 section 3 first 5 paragraphs
  • De Anima, AGRP 288-89 Book 3 section 4
  • Metaphysics, AGRP 291-92 Book 1 section 1

Aristotle: What is the best way to live?

Alexander, National Archaeological Museum, Istanbul
Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Read before class:

  • Nicomachean Ethics AGRP 310-16 Book 1 sections 1-5, 7, 9; 317-21 Book 2 sections 1, 3, 6; 339-40 Book 10 section 7
  • Nicomachean Ethics CP 29-32, Book 8 chapters 2-5
  • Politics AGRP 345-47 Book I section 2, Book III section 7; 349-51 Book IV section 11

Roman Philosophy

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Read before class:

  • Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, AGRP 396-97 section 1 lines 1-75; 401-402 section 2 lines 1-60; 407-409 section 3 lines 670-865; 421-22 section 5 lines 1105-1205.
  • Epictetus, The Handbook, AGRP 444-53 sections 1,2, 5, 6, 8-16, 22, 23, 31, 33, 41, 44, 48, 49, 51, 53,
  • Seneca, AGRP 426-27 “On the Happy Life” IX; 429-32 “Moral Letters to Lucilius,” letters 76, 66, 95; 439-41 “On Providence” sections 4.6-4.11, 5.7-5.9.
  • Seneca “Epistle 47,” Norton 898-901
  • Epictetus, The Handbook, AGRP 444-53 sections 1,2, 5, 6, 8-16, 22, 23, 31, 33, 41, 44, 48, 49, 51, 53

Rome: from republic to empire

Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar (Oil on Canvas, Lionel Noel Royer, 1899)
Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Read before class:

  • Livy: The History of Rome, CP 33-44
  • Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti, CP 45-47
  • Vergil, Aeneid, Norton 926-47, 974-88, 1014-25

Han Dynasty

A Ming period (1368-1644) portrait of Sima Qian
Thursday, November 17, 2022

Read before class:

  • Introductory material, SCT 227-28, 283-84, 367-68
  • The Springs and Autumns of Mr Lu, SCT 235-41
  • Dong Zhongshu, SCT 292-310
  • Ban Zhao, Admonitions for Women, SCT 821-24

Paper 4 due


Christianity – The Gospel According to Luke

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Read before class:

  • The Gospel According to Luke, Bible

Thanksgiving Holiday

Thursday, November 24, 2022


Christianity: Paul

St. Paul, from the Grotto of St Paul in Ephesus c. 500
Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Read before class:

  • First Letter to the Corinthians, Bible
  • Letter to the Galatians, Bible

Christianity – The Johannine Community

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Read before class:

  • The Gospel According to John, chapters 1-3, 13-17 Bible
  • The First Letter of John, Bible 

Paper 5 due


Christianity, Judaism, and philosophy

Philo
Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Read before class:

  • Philo, “On Creation,” CP 48-53
  • Early Christian texts (Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen excerpts), CP 54-55
  • Justin Martyr, Second Apology, Readings in World Christian History, (hereafter WCH) 39-43, sections 6, 8, 10, 12-15
  • Plotinus, selections, AGRP 480, 495-502

Christians and The Roman Empire

Catacomb gravestone of Firmia Victora 2nd-3rd century
Thursday, December 8, 2022

Read before class:

  • Letter of Pliny to Trajan, WCH 23-24
  • The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, WCH 30-37
  • The Letter to Diognetus, CP 56
  • Justin Martyr, on eucharist  (from First Apology) CP 57-58
  • Celsus, On the true logos, CP 59-60