CLCS 336: The Ancient World Onscreen * Fall 2004

Course Policies

The ancient world is alive today -- above all in our movies, our television shows, and our computer games! How do we represent the ancient Greeks and Romans on these big and small screens? Why are they figured as they are? What happens to the books the ancients wrote when these are turned into modern films, TV shows, or computer games? What aspects of ourselves do we see (or prefer not to see) in the people of ancient times? These are some of the questions that this course will ponder. The class meetings will consist of lecture/discussion sessions; of film and TV-program screenings; and of computer game demonstrations. All readings will be in English. No prerequisite; 3.0 credit hours.

By enrolling in this course, you contract to abide by the following policies. Please read them carefully and completely. (This version revised 040822)

[1] Grading: There will be a full-period midterm test, as well as a final examination and intermittent unannounced quizzes. 40% of the final grade will depend on your midterm test; 40% on the final examination; and 20% on classroom participation, homework, and quizzes, the three latter items in proportion as I deem appropriate. * When the final averages have been computed, a student who has not subscribed to the listserv list in a timely fashion (see below) may at my discretion have 2% docked from his/her final semester average -- which could well bring his/her semester grade down by a full letter. * The grade scale is as follows: 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% - D; 0-59% = F. (Fractional averages above 0.5% will be rounded up to the student's advantage.) * In addition to your subscription to the listserv list, your attendance (see below) may also have an impact on your final grade. * Under no circumstances are Incompletes or extensions given for the course, so do not plan on receiving one.

[2] Attendance: The University Regulations (Part 2, Section VI.A) stipulate that 'Students are expected to be present for every meeting of the classes for which they are enrolled' (emphasis added). I am, however, considerably more lenient than this: I know that everyone, at one time or another, has genuine emergencies (medical or otherwise). Please note the following policies:

  • For this reason, rather than distinguish between 'excused' and 'unexcused' absences, I will allot each student three 'freebies' per terms. That is to say, for any of these freebies, I do not want to hear the details of why you were absent, but three absences or fewer will not result in a grade penalty. Beginning with your fourth absence, however -- while I still do not want to hear the details of why you were absent -- your semester grade will reflect your attendance, as follows. For 4 absences, the final grade will be dropped one full letter; for 5 absences, the final grade will be dropped two full letters; if the student is absent 6 or more times, the result will be an automatic F for the course. There will be no exceptions to this rule, so do not plan on seeking one. Please do not ask me to keep running track of your absences during the semester; this is your own responsibility, as it would be logistically impossible for me to manage such information for all my students each term.
  • Attendance will be taken daily at the beginning of each class. If you are not in your assigned seat by the time attendance has been taken, you will be marked absent for that day. Additionally, you are expected to remain in class for the entire scheduled period; students leaving early may, at my discretion, be marked absent for that entire class. Bear in mind that my tests tend to be drawn specifically from my lectures and from in-class discussions, so it behooves you to be there to hear the former, and participate in the latter.
  • I may, at my discretion, adjust a final average upward in borderline cases where a student has also had perfect attendance for the entire semester. Here again, you can see that it may be numerically to your advantage to be present at every class meeting.
  • I now find, incredibly, that I must also address the issue of another instructor's scheduling a required event for you during MY regularly-scheduled class period for this course. The very notion is shocking. Such a practice is extremely inappropriate and, simply put, SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. No University employee should ever attempt to prevent you from attending ANY class during its regularly-scheduled hours, for any reason whatsoever; thus they must never attempt to require you to attend an event during someone else's regularly-scheduled class time. In any case, should another instructor commit the impropriety of putting you in this awkward position, please do not ask me to excuse you from my class so that you can attend such an event. Instead, you should take this problem immediately to the Office of the Dean of Students, inform them of the inappropriate request this other instructor has made (and the attendant difficulties this causes for you), and ask them to help you resolve the problem with that other instructor (again, NOT with me; having said here everything I have to say on the matter, I will not enter into that dialogue at all).
  • On the subject of attendance: please note that the screening sessions are not optional; each evening screening session is as much an officially-scheduled University event as the Tuesday and Thursday class meetings are, and your attendance at each one of them is equally mandatory. For more on this, see §12 below, 'Screening Sessions.'

    [3] Makeup Tests: The midterm test may be made up only [a] with an excuse signed by an MD (not a prescription bottle, a generic note from PUSH, etc.) explaining your absence and [b] within four calendar days of the original test. (Please do not ask me to contact your physician; it is your responsibility to furnish this written documentation for me to keep in my files. PLEASE NOTE: your MD-signed excuse must pertain to a GENUINE MEDICAL EMERGENCY -- not events like the common cold, and certainly not events like a doctor's or dentist's appointment that you schedule ahead of time. Test dates are published in the course syllabus at the beginning of the term; please note these carefully and do NOT schedule appointments -- for job-interviews, for family events, with with physicians, or with anyone else -- at those times, or for that matter during any class-period when our course is scheduled to meet. Genuine and unavoidable medical emergencies aside, if you elect to be elsewhere on a day when a period test is held, this will indicate that you thereby accept a grade of 0 for that test.) The student taking a makeup test is on his/her honor not to discuss the original test with those who have taken it. PLEASE NOTE: Quizzes, whether announced or unannounced, may not be made up, and a quiz missed because of absence will receive an automatic score of 0.

    [4] Written Assignments: Written homework assignments, if any, must be complete and submitted by the beginning of the class at which they are due. Homework to be turned in must be typed neatly on 8.5" x 11" white paper, double-spaced, with margins of 1" or 1.5" all around. If you use a computer, which I strongly recommend, please use 12-point type. If there is more than one page, staple them together once in the upper left-hand corner. Papers not conforming to these specifications may be refused. Make a copy to keep for yourself; never turn in your only copy of a written assignment.

    [5] Books: Textbooks are available at Von's Books. If your budget allows, I strongly suggest that you buy all the books assigned -- the 'recommended' as well as the 'required' -- and the specific translations listed in the syllabus (for reasons enumerated there). If, however, your budget is in severe straits, certain assignments may be read online for free (online versions are accessible from clickable links in the online syllabus).

    For all your textbooks -- not just these -- it might also be worth your while to check such online second-hand book dealers as abebooks.com, alibris.com, bookfinder.com, and powells.com -- the savings at such sites can often be dramatic.

    [6] Special Needs: The Americans with Disabilities Act requires the University to make reasonable allowances for special difficulties associated with certain documented disabilities. If you have special disability-related needs that may affect your performance in this course, please speak to me privately, or email me, by no later than the first class-day of the second week of the semester.

    [7] Academic Integrity: The University Regulations describe the maintenance of academic honesty as ‘our foremost responsibility’ (§5.II). Please remember that cheating, plagiarism, and all other forms of academic dishonesty are very serious offences; none of them will be tolerated. Any student who is shown to be guilty of any of these offences -- or indeed of dealing dishonestly with me in any way -- will immediately be barred from returning to the class, will receive an automatic F for the semester, and may also be subject to additional retribution. It is your responsibility to become familiar with the University's regulations on this topic, and to abide by them. A good place to begin learning about academic integrity is on the Dean of Students' website at http://www.purdue.edu/odos/administration/integrity.htm (or, if you have the slightest concern, confusion, or question about any aspect of this topic, contact the Office of the Dean of Students in 207 Schleman Hall, or by telephone at 494-1747).

    [8] Classroom Behavior: It goes without saying that we are all here to learn. For this to happen, we must all work together to create an environment where intellectual discourse can occur freely, without fear of ridicule or rudeness of any kind. COURTESY is key in this regard. Be respectful of one another's ideas, however strange they may initially seem to you. Refrain from making any racial, ethnic, religious, sexual and/or sexist slurs. Once again, and rightly so, the University maintains strict sanctions against such intolerance.

    It should also go without saying -- but I will say it anyway -- that I expect you to be attentive and engaged during lectures. I will do my best to make this palatable for you. I do not mind such things as eating and drinking, provided they are done discreetly and quietly, but I do mind having anyone other than myself speaking during class. If you speak to your neighbor, not only are you missing what I am saying: s/he is too. And in the process you may also distract still other people around you. Activities such as reading the newspaper during class are unspeakably rude, and you will be ejected from the classroom if you engage in them. So please note that I will take decisive action if I determine that someone is inattentive and/or is distracting others in the class.

    As new technologies impact our daily lives, we also find it necessary to adapt course policies accordingly. Cellular telephones and pagers should never be audible in class; they are seriously distracting and disruptive. Because of this, I have adopted the following policy: any student whose cellular telephone or pager rings during class-time will be obligated to provide free pizza (1 large slice) for every other member of the class at the next class meeting. Please note that by bringing a cellular telephone or pager into the classroom at any time, you are agreeing to this stipulation! (The number for Mad Mushroom Pizza, whose delivery is very fast, is 743-5555; you should probably store this number on your cellular phone if you plan on bringing it to class.)

    [9] Course Content Advisory: Ancient Mediterranean civilizations had a markedly different attitude toward such topics as sexuality. As part of our academic inquiry into the culture of the ancient world, lectures and readings -- and of course the films being screened -- may sometimes focus on questions of a frankly sexual nature. If this sort of topic offends you, please drop the course now. The films may, in addition, include scenes of graphic violence, which some viewers may find objectionable. If you are such a viewer, please drop the course now. Your not dropping the course will serve as official acknowledgment that you are not offended by reading or discussing such topics, nor by viewing such films.

    In connection with this, please do not assume, because I make reference in class discussions to ancient ideas that are sexist or otherwise offensive, that these represent my own opinions or positions.

    On the subject of films: as I am sure you are aware, the vast body of extant films falls into a very broad spectrum -- or indeed a series of spectra. Some are more 'entertaining,' some less; some are perhaps more 'fun' to watch, some less; some require more effort on the part of the audience, some less. And so forth. Moreover, no single movie gains everyone's approval or disapproval (a recent case in point: the Peter Jackson 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy). My main point here is this: some of the movies we will be screening in CLCS 336 will be easier for you to understand than others; some will inevitably appeal to you more than others. A lot of time and thought has gone into choosing which items to screen, and partly for the reasons I have mentioned. So please don't make any snap judgments: just because a movie seems like 'mind candy' or simple entertainment, doesn't mean that we will not be working hard at examining it intellectually and aesthetically. And just because a movie challenges you more than you initially expected it to, doesn't mean that our work on it together can't be a kind of rigorous fun. (That word 'challenge' is key here: prepare to have your comfortable ideas stretched.)

    [10] Electronic Mail: As technology advances, the price of paper increases, and natural resources dwindle worldwide, it becomes both expedient and necessary for me to use the internet to communicate with you. I will do that both via the website we have created for the course and via email. Class announcements (from me) will be distributed by listserv list (see below), so you will be responsible for checking your email for listserv messages at least every other day. * Each of you has been assigned a 'career account' (ending in 'purdue.edu') by the University; you must use this career account to subscribe to the list. It may well be that you also have another personal email account with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, or the like; you are free to give your career account a forwarding command so that listserv messages may be read from another account, but, as already indicated, you must subscribe to the list from your career account.

    [11] LISTSERV: I have created an internet mailing list for this class, and I will be posting handouts and other information to this list periodically throughout the course. It is your responsibility to subscribe to this list, by no later than 5:00 pm on Tuesday of the second week of the semester (see above for the grading implications of failing to do so); as I have already indicated, you should check for mail from me at least every other day.

  • Subscribing to the list is done by following these easy steps:
    [a] address an email message to majordomo@purdue.edu;
    [b] in the body of the message -- not on the subject-line -- put subscribe kirby336
    [c] omit your signature file, if you usually have one;
    [d] send!
    [e] You're not done just yet. When you have done all this, Majordomo will respond by sending, to the email account you have written from, a confirmation request asking whether you really intend to subscribe to the list. This message from Majordomo will include an authorization code for you;
    [f] send that authorization code back to Majordomo, just as stipulated in their message to you, and you will then be subscribed. (Majordomo will send yet another email back to you with the message 'succeeded,' just so you'll know.) Once you have subscribed, all messages that I send to the list will automatically come to you.
  • If you need further instructions, please do not ask me to assist you with this; it is your responsibility to deal with PUCC on all matters of email management. They maintain an information desk for your assistance in Room 231 of the Math Building; take this information with you when you go, and ask them to help you subscribe. If no one is available there, you can also seek assistance by contacting the Instructional Computing Coordinator for the Department of FLL, Françoise Bachelder, at fll-mgr@icd.cc.purdue.edu (or visit her in her office in 270 Stanley Coulter Hall, or phone her at 496-6214). * In addition to handouts and announcements, I may periodically post discussion-questions to the list. That is the only point at which students should be posting to the list. Subscription to this list is mandatory, and students who do not subscribe to the list may at my discretion incur a grade penalty (see above), but posting to the list, when I have sent out a discussion question, is not mandatory. That is to say, I will not count off points for people who do not post to the list. I will, however, at my discretion, *award* points to people whose posts have been particularly thoughtful and helpful to the discussion. * Something else that ought to go without saying, but that I will say anyway, is that you should be extremely careful when posting to the list -- as in class -- that you conduct yourself in a polite, courteous, and scholarly manner. This is not the place for clowning, and is even less the place for obscenity, rudeness, or unseemly interaction of any kind. 'Flaming' is strictly prohibited, and may result in severe disciplinary action (and/or serious grade-penalty). In short: please do not post any message to the list that you would not yourself welcome reading if you were its target. Under no circumstances should any 'spam,' commercial messages, or the like, be posted to the list.

    [12] Screening Sessions: The screening sessions are not optional. They are officially-scheduled class meetings that every enrolled student is required to attend. If you elect not to attend a screening session, you should make every effort to find the film and view it on your own time. But please note that the theatrical/cinematic experience is qualitatively different than the experience of viewing a film on a computer screen or television. The aesthetic and cognitive effects of these varying experiences will be one of the foci of our study this term, for which reason it is vitally important that you do everything you can to view the films in their officially-scheduled screening sessions. Moreover, though I customarily refer to these class meetings as 'screening sessions,' such a class session will typically not consist solely of a screening: in most cases we will be using the extra time left over after the film to discuss what we have just seen. I may also elect to give a quiz during the extra time. For these reasons you should NOT miss a screening session for any reason -- including common-hour tests for other courses. If you have an instructor who schedules a test or examination at such times, rather than during their officially-allotted class times as they ought to do, please make arrangements with them to take the test at some time other than during my official class sessions. Do NOT ask me to excuse you from an officially scheduled meeting of this course to take a test for another course.

  • Please be sure to arrive on time. Some of the films being screened are quite long, and we will need virtually the entire class period just to screen them. In fact, very occasionally, a film will last a few minutes longer than the three-hour period. In such cases, please do what you can to arrange your schedule so that you can sit through the entire film. I will do my best to alert you in advance when a film is this long.
  • In a screening session more than ever, no cellular phone or pager should ever be audible during the class period. Remember that any student whose cellular phone or pager goes off during a class period has thereby agreed to buy pizza for the entire group!
  • In keeping with the foregoing, please help us enhance everyone's enjoyment by maintaining silence during the screening session. Laughter at appropriate moments is of course fine, but please be grown-ups about dramatic or emotional moments in the show; if you think a particular scene is snicker-worthy, that fact will itself be worth our discussing after the show, but during the screening itself, please be respectful of others in the audience, who may find themselves genuinely moved; everyone should be afforded the opportunity to experience their own emotions freely. There should definitely be NO conversation, even in whispers, during a screening, as this can distract those around you.
  • You are welcome to bring friends, significant others, et alios/as, to join us for the screening sessions, as there are generally plenty of spare seats in SC 239. Please, however, ensure that all guests are 17 years of age or older.
  • I do not myself have any objection to your consuming refreshments during a screening session, providing you [a] do so quietly, [b] keep the desks, seats, and floors clean, and [c] dispose of all refuse after you are done.
  • You are responsible to sign the attendance sheet before it stops circulating. Please do not ask to sign the attendance sheet at the end of the session. All the guidelines for attendance obtain for screening sessions, as for any other officially-scheduled class meetings (see above). Also, it is not permitted for me to lend out departmental materials such as videos or DVDs, so please do not put me in an awkward position by asking me to do so.

    [13] UGRL Reserve Materials: Whenever possible, I have arranged for the University to purchase a copy of the shows we are screening for this course. These items (which are marked in the syllabus by the siglum **UGRL call no.**) have been gathered and placed on reserve in the Undergraduate Library. They must be viewed on the Library premises, and I am told that you must also bring your own headphones with you for the audio. I hope that, whenever possible, you will use these resources to view the show a second time, at your own leisure, and in an environment where you can easily take notes. NOTE: Please do NOT plan on using these reserve resources as a substitute for the screening sessions, for reasons specified above. They are intended to make it possible for you to supplement, not to replace, our official screening sessions during class. In some cases -- most notably, The Gospel at Colonus -- it has not been possible to obtain a Library copy, and not even the local libraries or video rental stores have a copy. For that reason, my strong advice is: whatever else happens, do not miss that screening session.

    [14] Individual Appointments with Me: My office is in 123 Stanley Coulter Hall; my office hours for the Fall term of 2004 are: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 pm, and at other times by appointment. The best way to communicate with me, outside of class, is by email. I monitor my email continually each day, and will do my best to return your mail promptly. If you wish to communicate with me privately by email, please do not send your message to the list; email me directly at corax@purdue.edu .

    [15] Syllabus: The course syllabus constitutes an extension of this document. Please note that you are responsible for all the information included in both documents.

    [16] Policy Revisions: Although such changes are unlikely, it is the prerogative of the instructor to revise (or augment) these policies as necessary during the course. Any such revisions will be announced in class or by email, and will be effective immediately upon announcement.