Herodotean Inquiries: The Central Argument

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In this course we will read and discuss selections from Herodotus’ Histories. While our seminars will be open conversations, the hope is that we will be able to discover something of Herodotus’ core teaching. This is, of course, on the hypothesis that his Histories is a coherent whole, despite all of its apparently accidental digressions, a hypothesis which we will not be able to test in full but which hopefully may be supported by a representative selection.

One of the questions that we will inevitably ask ourselves in some way throughout our conversations will be: What is history? And a reflection on Herodotus may allow us to bring into relief much of what we take for granted when we appeal to “historical context” as a basis of authority, understand ourselves as “historical beings,” or even simply “teach history”.

This course consists of a series of readings along with regularly scheduled seminars held on Zoom. All materials and important links can be found on this page. While Brightspace is the hub where all course materials can be found, learners will also receive an Outlook invitation to the live Zoom seminars. The seminars can be accessed via the Outlook invitation or by clicking the corresponding link in Brightspace.

Text: Any edition of Herodotus’ only work will be fine as long as it has clear designations of book and section numbers for easy reference. Recommended editions include David Grene’s classic translation from 1987, Tom Holland’s recent translation (2013) which is also available in a very listenable audiobook format, and The Landmark Herodotus (2007) which is renowned for its extensive variety of maps and copious notes.

Schedule: 9/2, 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, and 10/28 from 3:45-5:15 PM (AZ time)

Facilitator: Dr. Michael Ivins

GH employees (and affiliate school employees): use voucher code ghemployee (case sensitive) at checkout.

Price: $125.00
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