Course

The History of Greek Civilization

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
History
Course code
HIST 2205
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Online
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
HIST 2205, The History of Greek Civilization, surveys political, social, cultural, economic, and intellectual developments of the Hellenic world and the eastern Mediterranean region, from the earliest Aegean civilizations to modern Greece. The course covers the earliest migration period, the Mycenaean and Classical eras, the Byzantine Empire, Ottoman rule, the revival of Hellenism, and the modern Greek state. Greek civilization has had a lasting global influence on laws, languages, architecture, religion, politics and culture. Students will be introduced to the importance of Greek thought for the Western tradition, including the Greek contribution to the development of democracy, philosophy, drama, and historiography, and consider the overall impact of the Greeks on civilization and the modern world.

Course content

1: Aegean civilization and Mycenaean Greece
2: Greek Dark Ages and Classical Greece to the end of the Persian Wars
3: The Peloponnesian War to Philip II of Macedon
4: The Cultures of Classical Greece
5: Alexander the Great and his Empire, and Hellenistic Greece
6: Empire in the East: Constantine to Justinian
7: Monks, Saints and Theologians: The Social and Religious Worlds of Byzantium
8: Tensions on the Borders: Islam, Arabia, Persia
9: Crusaders, Catastrophe and Ottoman Rule
10: Greek Revival and the Greek War of Independence
11: The Greek State and Greater Greece
12 The Balkan Wars, World War I, and the Asia Minor Disaster (1919-1922)
13: Interwar Greece, World War II, and Civil War
14: Modern Greece since 1945; the Colonels, the European Union, and Economic and Humanitarian
Crises 

Learning activities

Classroom instruction will include both lectures and seminar discussions. Lectures will provide instruction on weekly topics with opportunities for student inquiry and discussion. Seminars will encourage active class participation in the analysis of assigned primary and secondary readings. Classroom instruction may also include student presentations on specific readings and/or topics, and other types of student-led activities. Classroom instruction may also include tutorials and workshops on transferrable skills, including research methods, academic citation practice, and presentation skills.

When the course is offered in a hybrid format, students will complete a minimum of 50% of the course content online in a self-directed manner. When the course is offered online, students will be responsible for completing all course content online in a self-directed manner.

 

Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College student evaluation policy. Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans.

Students will have opportunities to build and refine their research capacity and historical thinking skills through assessments appropriate to the level of the course. There will be at least three separate assessments, which may include a combination of midterm and final exams; research essays; primary document analysis assignments and essays; quizzes; map tests; in-class and online written assignments; seminar presentations; student assignment portfolios; group projects; creative projects; class participation.

The value of each assessment and evaluation, expressed as a percentage of the final grade, will be listed in the course outline distributed to students at the beginning of the term. Specific evaluation criteria will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods.

An example of one evaluation scheme:

Quizzes 5%

Weekly reading evaluations 10%

Midterm 20%

Book Review 15%

Online discussion and participation 10%

Discussion facilitation and written report 10%

Final exam 30%

 

 

Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, successful students will be able to demonstrate historical thinking skills, research skills, critical thinking skills and communication skills appropriate to the level of the course by:

1. Locating, examining, assessing, and evaluating a range of primary sources and secondary scholarly literature critically and analytically (reading history).

2. Constructing historical arguments, taking historical perspectives, and interpreting historical problems through different types of writing assignments of varying lengths (writing history).

3. Participating in active and informed historical debate independently and cooperatively through classroom discussion and presentation (discussing history).

4. Independently and cooperatively investigating the ways that history is created, preserved and disseminated through public memory and commemoration, oral history, community engagement, and other forms of popular visual and written expressions about the past (applying history)

Textbook materials

An online custom course text covering historical and historiographic material for each week, and an instructor’s online course reader of primary and secondary sources will be required. Additional online resources may also be assigned, and links to specific resources may be provided in the course outline. Supplemental bibliographies of print and online resources may be provided to students.

Requisites

Prerequisites

One 1000-level History course, or permission of the instructor

Corequisites

none

Equivalencies

none

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for HIST 2205
Alexander College (ALEX) ALEX HIST 2XX (3)
Athabasca University (AU) AU HIST 3XX (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU HIST 2XX (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR HIST 2XX (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU HIST 2XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG HIST 2XXX (3)
North Island College (NIC) NIC HIS 2XX (3)
Northern Lights College (NLC) NLC HIST 206 (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU HIST 277 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU HIST 1XX (3)
University Canada West (UCW) UCW HIST 2XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO HIST_O 2nd (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV HIST_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC HIST 2XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV HIST 2XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC GRS 101 (1.5)
Vancouver Community College (VCC) VCC UNSP 2XXX (3)
Vancouver Community College (VCC) No credit
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU HIST 2nd (3)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025