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CS92PROD
Hold My Wine: Drinking Culture in Ancient Greece (FYS)
CCIV 175F
Fall 2019
Section: 01  

Wine. Politics. Poetry. The potential for destructive behavior. All of these went hand-in-hand with the ancient Greek "symposium," or drinking party. In this course we will study this custom and the roles it played in Ancient Greek society and art, as an institution that regulated membership in elite society, a source of political and social unrest, a religious practice, an arena for the contestation of philosophical ideas, and a venue for the performance of music and poetry. In addition to the symposium itself, we will also consider related institutions, such as Spartan military feasting.

In this course, the symposium will be viewed through a variety of lenses. We will survey Greek literature from Homer down through Athenian drama and Plato. We will also study the archaeological record, with units on Greek vases and drinkware, and on the architecture of public and private drinking spaces. But the Greek symposium will itself be a lens through which we consider drinking culture in our own society, and its representation, for instance, in music and film.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CLAS
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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