Making History

History is ‘made’ as much by those who write about events as by those who cause and experience them. In this course we will focus on Alexander the Great to consider how people make past events meaningful for themselves in their own historical circumstances.  Using Paul Cohen’s History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth, we will consider how Alexander figures as an event, an experience, and a myth in the ancient world.  Authors including Arrian, Plutarch, and Curtius Rufus will allow us to study how Greeks and Romans explained and emulated Alexander. 3 hrs. sem.