Department of Classical Studies | University of Waterloo

Dr. Sheila L. Ager, Associate Professor

Department of Classical Studies, University of Waterloo

Waterloo ON, N2L 3G1, 519-888-4567 x32943

sager@uwaterloo.ca

Curriculum Vitae

BA, MA Queen's University, Kingston, ON

PhD University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

Teaching Schedule 2011/12

Fall 2011

CLAS 100 - An Introduction to Classical Studies

Winter 2012

CLAS 251/HIST 242 - Greek History

GRK 421/621 - Greek Epigraphy

More information on teaching

Research

Greek history is Dr. Ager’s chief area of interest, and her research has focused in particular on the Hellenistic age, the years between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 BC. Dr. Ager has a special interest in interstate relations in this period, and much of her research centers on the issue of peaceful dispute resolution. She is also interested in the history of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and its last representative, Cleopatra VII. The history of the small island of Thera (Santorini) is another area of interest reflected in Dr. Ager’s publications.

Dr. Ager lecturing to University of Waterloo students on the Pnyx in Athens

Courses

Undergraduate Courses

CLAS 100: An Introduction to Classical Studies

An introduction to Greek and Roman civilization, focusing on six key aspects of the discipline of classical studies: history, literature, philosophy, myth and religion, art and architecture, and classical archaeology.

CLAS 103: Colossos – The Major Figures of Classical Antiquity

An introductory study of the achievements of ancient Greece and/or Rome through some of their major figures. Each year two of the following will be featured. These may include Homer, Pericles, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Seneca, Hadrian, and Constantine.

CLAS 201: Greek Society

A survey of the civilization of Classical Greece, featuring such topics as the individual (male and female), political institutions, art, religion, philosophy, literature, social life and leisure activities.

CLAS 251/HIST 242: Greek History

A survey of ancient Greek history, from the Bronze Age to Alexander the Great, emphasizing particularly its political and military aspects.

CLAS 311: Women in Classical Antiquity

A study of the lives of women in the Greek and Roman worlds, focusing largely on the primary evidence.

CLAS 351: Adanced Studies in Greek History

An advanced study of aspects of Greek history, through the examination of a specific time period, event(s) or theme(s). Topics studies may include the Archaic Age and the rise of the Polis, the Persian Wars, the Pelopnnesian War, conflict in the 4th c. BCE, the history of the Hellenistic period and Greek scoial history.

GRK 201: Intermediate Greek

The course will complete the study of Greek grammar and move on to unadapted readings in Greek authors.

GRK 202: Selections from Greek Authors

A course designed to follow GRK 201 including both literature and grammar review. Authors normally read are Plato and Homer.

GRK 421: Greek Epigraphy

An introduction to Greek inscriptions as evidence for the Greek language and Greek political, religious, legal, social and economic history.

The Athenian Acropolis and the Parthenon

Graduate Courses

CLAS 601: The Integration of the Ancient Mediterranean World

The greater Mediterranean Basin, joining Europe, Africa and Asia, has a long influential history. This fall-term course introduces the major processes of cultural integration in the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the end of the Roman Empire and the appropriate research methods. This course will be team-taught with a central co-ordinator.

CLAS 653: The Hellenistic Kingdoms: Conquest and Cultural Interaction

This course examines the cultural interaction that took place within the Hellenistic kingdoms in the wake of the Macedonian conquest and the subsequent Wars of the Successors. It uses both Greek and native source material (where the latter is available) to analyze the character of this interaction and the impact that it had on both sides. The history of the Hellenistic kingdoms, in the specific context of internal relations with the native peoples dominated by the Hellenistic rulers, is one of both alienation and assimilation, of bigotry and acceptance, of rebellion and (often uneasy) co-operation. The course looks at both positive and negative aspects of that interaction between cultures that was so profoundly characteristic of the Hellenistic kingdoms, examining both culture clash and, ultimately, the benefits that mutual intercourse may (or may not) have brought to both sides.

CLAS 654: Greeks and Egyptians in Ptolemaic Egypt

This course focuses on a specific period within Egyptian history: the Ptolemaic era, when Egypt was ruled by the Greco-Macedonian dynasty descended from Ptolemy I. For roughly three centuries, until the suicide of the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, the Egyptians lived under an alien ruling authority of Hellenic heritage. Furthermore, they lived and worked alongside numerous immigrants of the same heritage, immigrants who appear to have benefited frequently from differential laws, practices, and institutions that favoured them and did nothing for the native people of Egypt. Yet at the same time, a study of Ptolemaic Egypt reveals also a pattern of increasing assimilation between Greeks and Egyptians. Such assimilation was not solely the result of increasing mutual tolerance and respect. Indeed, the history of Greco-Macedonian relations with the Egyptians demonstrates that whatever respect and privileges the ruling classes ultimately granted to the natives of Egypt were at least in part the result of violent Egyptian assertiveness, in the form of armed rebellion. The history of interactions between Greeks and Egyptians in Ptolemaic Egypt offers an unmatched opportunity for the examination of the relations between rulers and ruled, of the clash between ethnic groups, and of the forces that lead to reception on the one hand and resistance on the other.

GRK 621: Greek Epigraphy

An introduction to Greek inscriptions as evidence for the Greek language and Greek political, religious, legal, social and economic history.

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion in Attica