Appetitive: Ancient Greek Drinking Parties

Symposia, or Ancient Greek drinking parties, were one of the mainstays of aristocratic society in classical Greece. I have mentioned Ancient Greek drinking songs in a previous post. Last night, while mourning the loss of some the Berkeley classes to which I wanted to listen, I came across a panel from the University of Warwick on iTunes U which discussed symposia. The podcast was quite enjoyable. The moderator was nt the most adept at phrasing or timing his questions, which was a little annoying, but overall it was both amusing and informative. For example, I did not know preciously that the original toasts at a symposium were consumed with unmixed wine or that the party was spoken of as a kind of journey into the excesses of drunken behavior. In the last few moments of the program, the group turns their attention to Plato's Symposium, which also proved to be quite an interesting topic. Enjoy!

Appetitive: It's Just Wrong!

I've spent a lot of time studying Greek today, so I decided I would reward myself by listening to the Berkeley class on Archaeology (Anthropology 2AC from Spring 2008). However, I went to webcast.berkeley in vain; the class is no longer there. In fact, a huge number of classes are no longer there.

Distressed, I looked for an explanation on Berkeley's website. I found a letter to the large group of perturbed self-education fans. The general gist is that the Real Player server has been retired, and all those courses with it. The team has been unable to find what they believe is an adequate conversion format for the files and seem to be hoping for donations in order to increase the possibility that they might find something. They claim that they might obtain a temporary stint on another server, but they give not hint as to when this might be: "We have requested additional temporary storage space on a new server, when this space comes online we will restore the Real Player files and make them available for the public to download for a limited period of time (Contingent upon instructor approval)." I do not have much faith in this limited period of time because they provided no warning whatsoever about the websites renovation.

I find this whole move quite saddening. Berkeley's webcasts are on of the great ways for people to educate themselves for free, and they are cutting off access to those who would seek out that education. I am posting this same note on Fragments of Sulpicia because I believe it's an important problem.

Reasoning: Donald Kagan's Defense of Studying the Classics

I am approaching the history of Rome in the Berkeley Mediterranean history class, so I decided to look for another Greek history class to which to listen. I obviously need to revisit the history of Rome at some point (I have another Berkeley history course in the cue), but I want to do the enjoyable history (Greece) first. Today, since I am sick and not capable of doing much of anything, I decided to listening to Donald Kagan's Greek history course. Serendipitously, Kagan uses the Pomeroy et al Greek History textbook that my grandfather gave me many years ago and that I decided to use as a basis for my Greek history review. I have decided to start reading the textbook in conjunction with the class as I listen to it. You can find the introduction here, along with the assigned reading, if you want to follow along. You can also subscribe to it on iTunes U.

In the introductory lecture, Kagan provides a defense of studying classical history by demonstrating the influence that the classical Greeks had on the history of the modern era. It's a fun 33 minute lecture, although not nearly as enjoyable as Oliver Taplin's defense which I spoke about previously.

Enjoy!

Appetitive/Reasoning: Greek History Review #7: A Brief History of the Mediterranean

Although I have been working on improving my Greek and Latin reading, some of my attempt to review my history has fallen by the wayside. I have, however, been listening to various lectures while I do chores. I decided that I should listen to history in my own field (what a concept!) while I cook and do the various chores I have to do anyway. I am currently listening to Berkeley's History 4A which is a basic history of the Mediterranean. It can be found on Berkeley's Webcast Site or on iTunes U (the lectures are in reverse order on iTunes). The professor's voice is a little grating and she has a lazy way of speaking, but she is informative and reasonably engaging in her content. I am on the second lecture that is available, which is on Egypt. The lectures will move into Greece soon. I recommend the lectures thus far.