Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Sport in Ancient Greece and Rome (Face-to-Face)

HIST 2200-01

Course: HIST 2200-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: HSOC
CRN: 32347

Course Description

This course traces the development and role of sport and athletics in ancient Greek and Roman societies. Students will encounter and interpret ancient literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence for ancient sport, as well as modern scholarship. In many respects, the study of athletics provides an important tool for understanding the norms, values, and ideals to which these cultures aspired. Therefore, in addition to the mechanics of the ancient festival programs and competitive events, this course will examine the relationships between athletics and society, focusing on various topics such as religion, myth, gender, violence, Athenian democracy, Spartan education, and Roman Imperial politics. (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)] General Education Category: Humanities

Required Texts

David Lunt, The Crown Games of Ancient Greece. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2022. ISBN: 9781682262016
  • This text is available as a T-Bird Text, meaning that students can check out a copy of the book for 2 hours at a time from the Sherratt Library’s Check Out Desk.

Assorted readings and articles, as noted on syllabus, available on CANVAS. They are:
  • A. Raubitschek, “The Agonistic Spirit in Greek Culture” 
  • Map of Ancient Greece and the Aegean
  • Homer, Iliad, Book 23
  • Homer, Odyssey, selections from Book 8
  • Pindar, "Introduction" (by Bowra), Olympian 1, Nemean 5, Nemean 6, Pythian 7
  • Power, "Musical Competitors and Competitions in Greece & Rome"
  • Scanlon, "Racing for Hera"
  • Xenophon, Anabasis 4.8.25-28
  • Herodotus 8.23-26
  • Lucian, Anacharsis or On Athletics.
  • 1 Maccabees 1.1-15 and 2 Maccabees 4.7-20
  • Harris, "Revenge of the Nerds: Xenophanes, Euripides, and Socrates vs. Olympic Victors"
  • Virgil, Aeneid, Book 5
  • Harmon, "The Religious Significance of Games in the Roman Age"
  • Epplett, "Roman Beast Hunts"
  • Bell, "Roman Chariot Racing"
  • Fagan, "Gladiatorial Combat as Alluring Spectacle"
  • Young, "How Amateurs Won the Olympics"

Learning Outcomes

As part of the General Education program at SUU, this course will address the Outcomes of the Humanities Breadth Area Requirement.  A student who has thoroughly learned the material in this course will be able to:
(1) derive evidence from primary sources regarding the complexities and changes in human experience through analytical reading and critical thought; 
(2) describe how human experience is shaped by social, cultural, linguistic, and/or historical circumstances; 
(3) demonstrate attentiveness to linguistic, visual, and/or audio texts when communicating meaning;
(4) use appropriate verbal, perceptual, or imaginative skills when organizing meanings, developing a sense of self, and balancing potentially disparate values.

For more information about General Education at SUU, see:  https://catalog.suu.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=27&poid=10375

Course Requirements

10%     Friday Attendance, starting in Week 2 (after the Add/Drop date).
  • These classes cannot be made up, unless the absence is SUU-excused, as laid out in Policy 6.30.
  • Students can miss one Friday with no penalty.

20%     Quizzes (via CANVAS).  Best 11 out of 12 scores.
The Quizzes will focus on readings and class material from the week, and should be completed (on CANVAS) before class begins on Fridays.

20%     Exam #1
20%     Exam #2

The two Exams will consist of an Ancient Source/Passage Identification and a Short Essay.

30%     Term Paper (final version due Finals Week)
  • The Term Paper has several components, with different parts due as the semester progresses. These parts are:
    • Topic Chosen in consultation with the instructor
    • Annotated Bibliography
    • Thesis Statement
    • Sources Paragraph
    • OPTIONAL: First Draft
    • Final Paper


Grading
A  =     100 – 94.0
A- =     93.9 – 90.0
B+ =    89.9 – 87.5
B  =     87.4 – 82.5
B- =     82.4 – 80.0
C+ =    79.9 – 77.5
C  =     77.4 – 70.0
D  =     69.9 – 60.0
F  =      59.9 – 0.0
The conventional rules of number-rounding will apply.

Course Outline

Week 1: Intro & A Brief History of Greece.
  • Friday Activity: Assessing Ancient Sources

Week 2: Bronze Age "Sport"
  • Friday Activity: Discussing Homer

Week 3: Athletics & Competitions in Ancient Greece
  • Friday Activity: Introduction to Research Questions & Thesis-Writing

Week 4: The Crown Games (Olympia & Nemea)
  • Friday Activity: Reading Inscriptions: The Damonon Stele

Week 5: Isthmian Games & Epinikian Glory
  • Friday Activity: Pindar

Week 6: The Pythian Festival & Musical Competitions
  • Friday Activity: Inscriptions from Delphi & The Economist, "Judging Musical Competitions)

Week 7: Athletic Champions & Athletic Heroes
  • Friday Activity: Annotated Bibliography & Thesis Statements

Week 8: Girls, Women, & Athletics
  • Friday Activity: Exam #1

Week 9: Athletics & Identity: Founders and Competitors
  • Friday Activity: Other People's Games

Week 10: Athens: Philosophers & Athletics
  • Friday Activity: Diogenes at the Isthmian Games & IG II2.2311 (Panathenaic Prizes)

Week 11: Ancient Rome: The Historical Background
  • Friday Activity: Games in the Aeneid and the Epitaph of Aulus Clodius Flaccus

Week 12: Athletics in the Roman World
  • Friday Activity: Citing our Sources

Week 13: Roman Spectacles
  • Friday Activity: Magic & Sport

Week 14: Reception & Conclusions: Issues in Sport History
  • Friday Activity: Exam #2

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Attendance on Mondays and Wednesdays is encouraged, but not required.
Attendance on Fridays is required, starting in Week 2 (after the Add/Drop date), and constitutes 10% of the overall grade. These Friday classes are participation-based and cannot be made up, unless the absence is SUU-excused as laid out in SUU Policy 6.30.
  • Students can miss one Friday with no penalty.

Quizzes. 12 weekly quizzes will focus on readings and class material from that week. (There are no quizzes the weeks of the exams). 
  • Quizzes should be completed (on CANVAS) before class begins on Fridays. 
  • The lowest quiz score is dropped in calculating the overall semester grade. 
  • Quizzes cannot be made up. A missed quiz will count as the dropped score. Subsequent missed quizzes will be graded as 0. 
  • Extreme cases will be addressed on an individual basis.

Exams. Exam #1 and Exam #2 will consist of an Ancient Source Identification (commenting on its authorship, content, context, significance, etc.) and a short Essay.
  • If a student must miss an Exam, the student MUST notify the instructor in advance. 
  • Makeup exams must be completed within one week of the missed day. 
  • Extreme cases will be addressed on an individual basis.

Term Paper. The Term Paper has several components, with different parts due as the semester progresses. 
These parts are:
  • Topic Chosen and approved by the instructor
  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Thesis Statement
  • Sources Paragraph
  • OPTIONAL: First Draft
  • Final Paper

For the Term Paper, a portion of the total grade rewards the on-time submission of these various components throughout the semester. 
Students who submit their work late will not receive the “on-time” points, but will still receive credit for the other portions of these assignments.

Attendance Policy

Attendance on Mondays and Wednesdays is encouraged, but not required.
Attendance on Fridays is required and will count towards the overall grade.
  • Most Fridays will feature participatory classroom activities, such as reading ancient sources, practicing thesis-construction, and working on research projects. 
  • Attendance on Fridays will be taken and will count as 10% of the overall grade. 
  • Students can miss one Friday with no penalty. 
  • Friday classes cannot be made up, unless the absence is SUU-excused, as laid out in SUU Policy 6.30. (https://www.suu.edu/policies/06/30.html#)

Artificial Intelligence Statement

Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, and the like are part of our modern world. However, they are not really going to be part of our class. 
Any use of Artificial Intelligence, LLMs, and the like needs to be disclosed. 
In addition, use of such technology is not allowed on any component of this course’s graded work. 

Any violation of this class policy will be subject to SUU’s Academic Misconduct Policy 6.33.
See here for more information about SUU’s Guiding Principles for A.I: https://www.suu.edu/provost/ai-principles.html

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.