LAB-21: The Images of Alexander the Great

Professor David Gordon Mitten

Mondays, Wednesdays, and some Fridays, 1-2pm

Sackler Lecture Hall (downstairs from the main entrance)

Professor Mitten
Wadsworth House 304
Office Hours: Mondays 3-4, Wednesdays 2-3
Office Phone: 617-495-3355
E-mail: mitten@fas.harvard.edu

Head Teaching Fellow

Almut Trinius
Office Hours TBA
E-mail: trinius@fas.harvard.edu

Course Description and Aims

The images of Alexander the Great provide a context within which students may exercise their
skills of visual analysis and improve their visual literacy. These images will be studied in their
wide-ranging historical contexts, with special attention to how modifications of Alexander's
image emphasize different aspects of his personality, how his images reflect artistic conventions,
and to what extent later images are grounded in the Hellenistic tradition. Important themes of the
course include how images can be used for political purposes, how different portraits of rulers
reflect changing ideas about leadership, and how other cultures reinterpret visual imagery.

Sections will involve intensive examination of relevant themes and monuments. Two of the short
papers will analyze original objects from local museum collections.

Grading

Section participation 20%

One-hour midterm examination 15%
Three papers 35% (1st=5%, 2nd=10%, final=20%)
Final examination 30%

Sections

Attendance at weekly sections is required. Note that section participation is 20% of the final
grade: attendance without participation is not enough to receive full participation credit.
Web page

www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/colgsas/2267
The site will contain course information, TF e-mail addresses and office hours, hours and
locations of sections, and an image base of slides shown in lectures and sections. Announcements
and assignments will be posted throughout the semester.

Required Texts, Films, and Museum Trip

The following may be purchased at the Harvard COOP, Textbook Division. They are available on
reserve at Lamont Library.

--Pseudo-Callisthenes, The Greek Alexander Romance, London – New York: Penguin, 1991.

--Romm, James. Alexander the Great: Selections from Arrian, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Quintus
Curtius, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2005.

--Sourcebook: Literature and Arts B-21, Images of Alexander the Great

--Spencer, D., The Roman Alexander, Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2003.

-- and either: R. Lane Fox, Alexander the Great, London: Folio Society, 1997.**

or: P. Green, Alexander of Macedon 356-323 BC: A Historical Biography,

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.**

**These are about 500 pages each, and should be read over the semester.

Please note that the following required book may be purchased at the desk in the foyer of the
Sackler

Museum:

--Arnold-Biucchi, C. Alexander's Coins and Alexander's Image, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard

University Art Museums, 2006.

Films

The Michael Wood two-part video series, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, is on reserve at
Lamont. This film should be viewed before the final exam.
We will be asking you to view one of two movies made about Alexander the Great: the 1955
version starring Richard Burton, and/or the 2004 edition made by Oliver Stone. The films will be
screened in the Sackler Lecture Hall, time TBA. Both films will be available on reserve at
Lamont, along with all of the other course materials.

Museum Trip

Please note that there will be a required field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston during the
reading period in January. We will be viewing some of the objects on display there, and the
materials covered in this discussion will be covered on the final exam.

Final Examination

This course is in Exam Group 6.

Time and location of the final will be announced as soon as possible.
Schedule of Lectures

WEEK I: Introduction

Lectures: Monday, 9/17/07 Alexander the Great: A Man for all Seasons

Wednesday, 9/19/07 Repeat of first lecture

Friday, 9/21/07 Images of Rulers in Egypt and the Near East

Readings for this week:

Sourcebook 2: Bieber, "Alexander the Conqueror of Europe and Persia (336-330)," pp. 29-38.

Sourcebook 3: Badian, "Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind," pp. 425-444.

WEEK II: Conceptualizing Kingship

Lectures: Monday, 9/24/07 Heroic Images of Rulers and Kings in Ancient Greece and Asia Minor

Wednesday, 9/26/07 Persia and Greece: Traditional Rivalry and Different Conceptions of
Kingship

NOTE: ELECTRONIC SECTIONING WILL TAKE PLACE THIS WEEK

Readings:

Sourcebook 11: Keegan, "Alexander the Great and Heroic Leadership," pp. 13-91.

Sourcebook 4: Badian, "Alexander the Great and the Loneliness of Power," pp. 192-205.

WEEK III: The Young Alexander

Lectures: Monday, 10/1/07 "Philip the Barbarian": The Rise of Macedon

Wednesday, 10/3/07 The Young Alexander and the Construction of his Self-Image

Section 1: Greek Art and the Athletic Image

Topic for Short Paper #1 assigned in section

Readings (to be completed before section each week): - please turn page -

Sourcebook 1: Barnet, "Writing about Art," "Analysis," pp. 32-39, 99-119.

Romm, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-32.

WEEK IV: Alexander on Campaign

Lectures: Monday, 10/8/07 Columbus Day, classes cancelled

Wednesday, 10/10/07 Alexander in Troy and Asia Minor

Friday, 10/12/07 Alexander in the Levant and Egypt

Section 2: Recognizing Alexander: Realism and Symbolism in Portraiture

Readings:

Sourcebook 8: Bieber, "The Portraits of Alexander the Great," pp. 390-421, 423-427.

Sourcebook 9: Hartle, "The Search for Alexander's Portrait," pp. 153-176.

Sourcebook 13: Green, "Alexander's Alexandria," pp. 3-25.

Romm, Chapters 4 and 5, pp. 70-93.

WEEK V: Alexander in Triumph

Lectures: Monday, 10/15/07 King of all Asia: Mesopotamia, Persia, Bactria

Wednesday, 10/17/07 Alexander in India; The Death of Alexander

Section 3: Materials and Meaning in the Art of Alexander's Court

Short Paper #1 due in section; Topic for Final Paper distributed in section

Readings:

Romm, Chapters 6, 7, and 8, pp. 94-173.

Sourcebook 15: Carney, "Artifice and Alexander History," pp. 263-285.

Optional: Sourcebook 14: Carney, "Women in Alexander's Court," pp. 227-252

Sourcebook 16: Stoneman, "The Legacy of Alexander in Ancient Philosophy," pp. 325-345.
WEEK VI: Art in Alexander's Time

Lectures: Monday, 10/22/07 The Alexander Mosaic

Wednesday, 10/24/07 The Alexander Sarcophagus

Section 4: Review for the Midterm: How do We read Historical Sources?

Readings:

Sourceboook 7: Ridgway, "Court Art and Hellenistic Art: The Role of Alexander," pp. 43-58.

Sourcebook 12: Badian, "Darius III," pp. 241-267.

Sourcebook 19: Beard/Henderson, "Alexander the Great Rides in: A Mosaic at Pompeii," pp. 13-23.

Sourcebook 20: Badian, "A Note on the 'Alexander Mosaic'," pp. 75-92.

WEEK VII: Midterm Examination; More on Alexander's Time

Lectures: Monday, 10/29/07 MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Wednesday, 10/31/07 Pella and Vergina

Section 5: Numismatic Evidence: Ancient Coins as Clues about the Past

Readings:

Sourcebook 5: Hammond, "Evidence for the Identity of the Royal Tombs at Vergina," pp. 111-127.

Sourcebook 6: Green, "The Royal Tombs of Vergina: A Historical Analysis," pp. 129-151.

Sourcebook 10: Bauslaugh, "The Numismatic Legacy of Alexander the Great," pp. 34-41.
WEEK VIII: Alexander's Legacy

Lectures: Monday, 11/5/07 Coinage and Image

Wednesday, 11/7/07 The Ptolemies and Alexandria

Friday, 11/9/07 The Romans: Pompey, Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony, Augustus, Trajan,

and Constantine

Section 6: Republic and Empire in the History of Rome

Topic for Short Paper #2 assigned in section

Readings:

Sourcebook 17: Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (selections), pp. 16, 63, 83, 179-180, 222.

Sourcebook 18: Zanker, "Introduction," "Conflict and Confliction in the Imagery of the Dying

Republic," "Man and God: Role-Playing and Self-Image," pp. 1-11, 44-53.

Spencer, Chapters 1 and 5, pp. 1-38, 165-203.

WEEK IX: Medieval Traditions of Alexander

Lectures: Monday, 11/12/07 Veterans Day, classes cancelled

Wednesday, 11/14/07 The Alexander Romance in Byzantium

Friday, 11/16/07 The Alexander Romance in the West

Section 7: Alexander in the Medieval and Byzantine Traditions

Readings:

Sourcebook 21: Kazhdan, "Alexander Romance," "Alexander the Great," pp. 58-59.

Sourcebook 22: Strayer, "Alexander of Roes," "Alexander Romances," pp. 149-151.

Sourcebook 23: Galavaris, "Alexander, Conqueror and Captive of Death," pp. 12-18, 74-77.

Sourcebook 24: Cary, The Medieval Alexander, pp. 1-5, 83-86, 223-225, 273-274.
WEEK X: Alexander and the Islamic World

Lectures: Monday, 11/19/07 Introduction to the Islamic Context

Wednesday, 11/21/07 Alexander in Illuminated Manuscripts

Sections will not be held this week, Happy Thanksgiving!

Readings (they will be discussed in section 8):

The Greek Alexander Romance, Introduction and pp. 35-39, 100-125, 127-159.

Optional: Sourcebook 26: Baynham, "Who put 'Romance' in the Alexander Romance?," pp. 1-13.

WEEK XI: Islamic and Renaissance Interpretations of Alexander

Lectures: Monday, 11/26/05 Iskander and the Islamic Alexander

Wednesday, 11/28/07 Alexander in the Western Renaissance

Section 8: Alexander in the Islamic Traditions

Short Paper #2 due in section

Readings:

Sourcebook 27: Renard, "The Royal Hero", pp. 66, 86-92, 278-282.

Sourcebook 28: Waugh, "Alexander in Islam," pp. 237-253

Sourcebook 29: Southgate, "Portraits of Alexander in Persian Alexander Romances of the Islamic

Era," pp. 278-284.

WEEK XII: Alexander in Modern Western Europe

Lectures: Monday, 12/3/07 Alexander from the Renaissance to the 17th Century

Wednesday, 12/5/07 Alexander in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Section 9: Printed Images: Alexander through Early Modern Eyes

Readings: Spencer, Chapter 6, pp. 205-218.

WEEK XIII: Alexander into the Twentieth Century

Lectures: Monday, 12/10/07 A Champion of Hellenism: The Megali Idea

Wednesday, 12/12/07 Twentieth Century Ruler and Personality Cults: Hitler, Stalin, Mao

Tse-Tung, and Ataturk

Friday, 12/14/07 Alexander and Modern Popular Culture

Section 10: Alexander as a Hero for Modern Greece

Readings:

Sourcebook 30: Abbott, "Alexander and Philip in Folk Tradition," pp. 279-289.

Sourcebook 31: Barr-Sharrar, "Macedonian Studies and the 'Macedonian Conflict'," pp. 19-20.

Sourcebook 32: Danforth, "Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Conflict," pp. 347-364.

Sourcebook 33: Kinzer, "The Hero," pp. 35-51.

Sourcebook 34: Solomon, "Greek and Roman History," pp. 42-45.

WEEK XIV: Conclusions

Lectures: Monday, 12/17/07 Will the Real Alexander Please Stand Up

Final Paper due at start of Monday's lecture

No sections this week; see you in January!

**** **** **** ****

Reading Period Reminders:

*Be sure to view the Michael Wood 2-part series, In the Footsteps of Alexander, which is on
Reserve at Lamont Library. Get there early, since everyone will need to watch it before the final
exam!
*We will be handing back your final papers and scheduling review sessions for the final
examination in January.