HHIK06747U HIS 74. Alexander the Great and Alexandria. Political strategies and foundation myths
History
Historical core area 2: Academic writing with focus on source
analysis (HHIK03741E) [Curriculum for Master´s Programme in
History, 2015-Curriculum]
Historical core area 2: Academic writing with focus on source
analysis (HHIK03741E) [Curriculum for the Master’s Minor in
History, 2015-Curriculum]
History (ONLY BA-elective for BA students of
History)
Module T5: Historical elective project (HHIB10511E) [BA-elective
studies, 2013-Curriculum]
Alexander the Great and Alexandria. Political strategies
and foundation myths
In the winter of 332/331 BCE Alexander the Great’s Macedonian army
drew nearer and nearer to the Mediterranean shores of Egypt. At a
distance of no more than 50 kilometres westward of the Canopic
mouth of the Nile, on the shores of lake Mareotis (Mariut
in Modern Egyptian), Alexander paused. Acknowledging the strategic
value of the site, he decided to found a city there. While giving
orders to his ingenious city-planner, he let his cloak
(chlamys) drop to the ground. This was the cause for
shaping Alexandria after Alexander the Great’s chlamys. A
couple of generations later, Eratosthenes of Kyrene, head librarian
at the famous library of Alexandria, conceived of a map of the
entire inhabited world (oikoumene) also shaped after a
Macedonian chlamys.
This course is closely linked to the European project CHLAMYS
exploring the foundation myth of Alexandria, its cartographical
expressions and political contexts captured by the Macedonian
military cloak typically worn by Alexander the Great and his
cavalry. In class we will therefore explore the visual and textual
evidence connecting Ancient History, Literature and Myth to the
physical urban tissue of Hellenistic Alexandria. The lectures,
exercises and discussion in this course will be incorporated into
the scientific part of the research project and will potentially
also make part of scientific papers and presentations in
international conferences. If you are interested, the course will
give you the opportunity to write a mock-up scientific paper and
present it in class.
Our focus will be on the political strategies that led to the
foundation of Alexandria and other cities (some of which were also
named Alexandria) by Alexander the Great and his Successors. We
will also compare the foundation myth of Alexandria to those of
other cities, such as Athens, Kyrene or Rome. Moreover in this
course we will examine how historians in the 19th,
20th and 21th have chosen to describe and interpret the
historical figure of Alexander the Great and his conquest of Egypt.
We will introduce you to the primary sources, epigraphy, papyrology
and historical narratives, but also to literary and scientific
texts of the period. We will acquaint you with the visual sources,
such as coins, statues, frescoes, mosaics. We will also focus on
the intellectual history which begins by the founding of the
Library of Alexandria. We will take Eratosthenes of Kyrene, third
head librarian of the Library of Alexandria, as a case study. This
will lead us into the research fields of ancient cartography,
mathematical geography, geodesy and cosmology. We will also discuss
the important historiographical and methodological problems facing
historians and cutting edge research. These class discussions will
lead up to a written assignment. We will discuss the validity of
the most important primary sources alone and in combination to
secondary ones.
This course is taught in English. Discussions in class as well as
student presentations and coursework will be in English. We will
upload all relevant weekly readings on Absalon. We expect you to
read at least a hundred pages of primary and secondary literature
(scholarly texts and sources) per week. We will also expect you to
give one presentation in class on a topic of your choice. We will
assess your performance according to a list of evaluation criteria
that are necessary in the craft of scientific work (this list will
also be available to you via Absalon). We expect you to attend and
participate actively in all classes, since we will work through a
substantial part of the syllabus in class. In the week before
semester starts we would like to interview you in person about your
study plans, skills and ambitions. The interviews will take place
at the Centre for Textile Research (CTR). You will receive a
personal invitation via Absalon.
During the fall semester we will invite you to two film evenings at
the Centre for Textile Research (CTR), where we will watch two
contemporary films on the Hellenistic World and its legacy. This
will give us the opportunity to discuss Hollywood reception and
interpretation of the Ancient world and how the film industry has
chosen to visualize Hellenistic Culture.
-
Alexander
(film) 2004
- Agora (film)
2009
Course objectives (clarification of some of the
objectives stipulated in the curriculum):
After the course students will be able to:
• present a geographical and chronological overview of Alexander
the Great’s Empire
• present knowledge of the most important primary sources about
Alexander the Great and Alexandria and the capacity to work with
them critically
• present a clear understanding of the methodologies and
difficulties of handling different types of sources, with varying
degrees of validity and quality
• have a hands-on approach in the presentations in class of how to
assess, select and use different sources
• approach secondary literature from different scholarly traditions
and the capacity to contextualize them
• contextualize ancient and modern biographies (e.g. the biography
of Alexander the Great) and trace them within the scholarly,
socio-political and cultural environment that gave rise to them
• present insight into the seminal theoretical and methodological
approaches and debates in the field of Hellenistic History and
contemporary historical debates on its reception
• an introduction to the genre of scholarly papers and scholarly
presentations and train you in how to produce a scholarly paper and
a scholarly presentation of your own
• follow and respond to in-group discussions in class
• reflect critically and concisely on scholarly literature
• formulate a thesis statement and expand it into a research paper
for your end-of-term written assignment
- R. Bagnall: “The date of the foundation of Alexandria,” IN
AJAH 4. 1979 (pp. 46-49).
- R. Bagnall & P. Derow: Greek Historical
Documents: The Hellenistic Period: Historical Sources in
Translation. Malden & Oxford, 2004.
- J. Bingen: Hellenistic Egypt. Monarchy, Society,
Economy, Culture. Los Angeles, 2007.
- A. Bosworth: “The death of Alexander
the Great: rumour and propaganda," IN
CQ 21. 1971 (pp. 112-136).
- A. Bosworth: The Legacy of Alexander. Oxford, 2002.
- P. Briant: Alexander the Great: Man of Action, Man of
Spirit. New York, 1996.
- Alexander the Great: Reality and Myth. Eds.: J. Carlsen
et al. Rome, 1993.
- Cartledge, P. Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past. 2004.
- P. Fraser: Ptolemaic Alexandria I-II. Oxford, 1972.
- P. Fraser: Cities of Alexander the Great. Oxford,
1996.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 56
- Exam Preparation
- 129,5
- Preparation
- 203
- Total
- 388,5
[KA] Læs mere på (Danish only):
https://intranet.ku.dk/historie_ka/undervisning/historie/Sider/default.aspx
[KA tilvalg] Læs mere på (Danish only):
https://intranet.ku.dk/historie_ka/tilvalg/tilvalgka/Sider/default.aspx
[BA tilvalg (kun for Historiestuderende)] Læs mere på (Danish
only):
https://intranet.ku.dk/historie_ba/undervisning/historie/Sider/default.aspx
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Other
- Exam registration requirements
Current curricula for History / Aktuelle studieordninger for Historie og Uddannelseshåndbog for Historie; Pensumbestemmelser for kandidatuddannelsen i Historie; Kronologiske spredningskrav for kandidatuddannelsen i Historie
Criteria for exam assesment
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- HHIK06747U
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterBachelor choice,Full Degree Master choice
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn
- Schedule
- See Timetable link
- Study board
- Study Board of Archaeology, Ethnology, Greek & Latin, History
Contracting department
- SAXO-Institute - Archaeology, Ethnology, Greek & Latin, History
Course responsibles
- Marie Louise Bech Nosch (5-75767a6a6f476f7c7435727c356b72)
- Maria Papadopoulou (12-746574656873747379707379446c7971326f7932686f)