Department of History
College of Arts & Sciences 201A
The University of Akron

Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 4pm - 5pm

Phone: 330-972-6076 (office), Email: jana@uakron.edu


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Questions to consider while reading:

Ovid’s The Art of Love

Introduction

  1. Who were the “leading lights in the literary culture of Augustan Rome”?
  2. How were wealthy Roman women different from women of classical Athens?
  3. "Fearful that Roman society was becoming too decadent,” what did Augustus do?

The Art of Love

  1. How does he refer to Love at the beginning of the poem?
  2. According to Ovid, how is a successful man expected to behave toward women?
  3. What is Ovid’s view of the nature of women?
  4. What purpose do allusions to Greek and Roman mythology serve? Are they just “window dressing” or do they significantly enhance the ideas set forth concerning love?
  5. What picture of life in Augustan Rome does this poem give you?
  6. Describe some of the specific “arts” or techniques recommended by Ovid. Do you think that some of them are used today?

Thursday, May 26, 2011

"Antigone, Interrupted: Greek Tragedy and the Future" a lecture by Bonnie Honig



Bonnie Honig presents her inaugural lecture as the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor in Political Science at Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Delivered February 9, 2010.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Cathedral - David Macauley

Watch the David Macauley video Cathedral (the book companion is Cathedral: The Story of its Construction). Good for understanding how the aristocracy, the guilds, the towns, and the church all combined to build a medieval cathedral.

Monday, March 14, 2011

The Horrible News from Japan

By now you are all aware of the terrible news about the Japanese earthquakes and the tsunami that have cost tens of thousands of lives and millions of dollars in damage.

Here are a few links to keep you up to date:

To my World Literature students, here are some things to think about while reading The Ruined Map:

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Mao Tsetung: China's Peasant Emperor

This biography of Mao Zedong was done by the History Channel.

After looking at Mao through the lens of the text book and the novel we read for class what do you think? Was Mao a monster or a genius?

Monday, February 28, 2011

World Civilizations: China - China in Revolution

Off and on for the next few weeks in World Civ. China classes we will see bits of a video series called China in Revolution. If you would like to see the entire video you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/janaruss

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Snow Day Alerts

Be sure to check the UA Snow Line, 330-972-SNOW, before driving to campus on days of heavy snow and ice. You can also check the UA main webpage which will have an alert banner if the campus is closing.

In the event of a closing, the UA Campus Advisory page will have further information.

You can also sign up to get text alerts on your phone about any and all campus emergency and safety issues.