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Each of you is required to write a 15 page research paper as a part of the course requirements of Classical Studies 270. Those of you who are registered for AAMW 413 will need to write a 25 page paper. In either case you will need to use footnotes and cite all of your sources and include a bibliography. For the format of your paper I recommend Kate L. Turabian, A Manual For Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, University of Chicago Press, 1996, Sixth Edition. This useful guide is available at the Reference Desk of most of the University of Pennsylvania libraries.

There are three possible topics for your term paper:

1. Ancient Olympic Victor
2. Ancient Greek athletic event
3. Object in the Mediterranean Section relating to Greek Athletics

Ancient Olympic Victor paper

Each of you will be given the name of an athlete who won a victory in the ancient Olympic Games. You will also be given the name of the athlete's home town. You will need to do the following: Put yourself into the role of the athlete. For the purpose of the project, you will BECOME the athlete. You will need to find out as much as you can about the following subjects by consulting literary, archaeological and historical sources.

The event or events that you competed in. Describe the event in some detail. Are there implements that you need for the event? What is the strategy of the event? What is the history of the event? Where was the event contested? Were there spectators? Describe the scene. Who were your competitors, if you know?

The date that you competed and won. Some of you will have been victors on more than one occasion. Some of you may have lost in other competitions. Did you compete in other Panhellenic contests? Or other local contests? What is your age? How long have you been an athlete? How do we know that you were an Olympic victor?

Where is your home town (if it is a town)? Find out as much as you can about this town or city. Where is it? Is it in mainland Greece or elsewhere in the Mediterranean? What is it known for? At the time of your victory what is going on in the city? Is your city famous for athletes? Are there known athletic facilities in your home town? If there are not, where do you suppose that you would train? Include a brief description of the known archaeological remains within the city as well as a map of the city if possible.

Is there anything known about your family? Was your father or brother an athlete? Do you have a known profession? If so, what is it? Where do you train? Do you have a coach? How do you pay for your training? Is there anything known about your life after you competed at Olympia? You can explain this with the advantage of historical perspective.

What if anything is known about your victory at Olympia? Find out everything you can about the Olympic games in the year(s) in which you competed.

What did the sanctuary of Zeus look like in the year of your competition? Include a plan of the sanctuary including all of the buildings in existence in the year of your competition. Summarize the function of each building and structure.

What did you do at Olympia? How many days were you there? Write out a description of your activities day by day, as a diary. How long did you spend at the training facilities at nearby Elis? How did you get to Elis and Olympia from your home town? Did you have family or friends travel with you? Or a coach? Where did you stay? Who paid for your trip?

Was there a statue erected in your honor either at Olympia or in your home town? If so, do you know the name of the sculptor? Was there an ode written in your honor? Give details if you have them. Discuss in detail the ode if it exists. Who paid for the sculpture? Who paid for the poem?

Are there objects in the Ancient Greek World Exhibit dealing with ancient athletics that have something to do with your event or your city? Don't forget to look at the coin evidence as well as the evidence of the vases, bronzes and maps. Also check the links on the course web page (and others). Include in your paper photographs, drawings, and illustrations whenever possible.

Ancient Greek athletic event paper

You may select an event of Greek athletics, either an event for humans or an event for horses. You should consider the following topics:

Object in the Mediterranean Section relating to Greek Athletics paper

Some of you may wish to pick an object in the Greek Gallery to study as a subject for your research paper. I will give you a copy of the accession card from the Mediterranean Section for you to use with your research. It will probably give you some basic information.

Consider several different aspects of the object:

• Description of the piece itself
  
• Place of manufacture
  
• Date of the object
  
• If the object is a vase, describe the shape and what we may know about it. What was the vase used for originally?
  
• If the object is a coin, describe the type of coin (metal, weight). How does it compare to coins elsewhere?
  
• What is the decoration on the object? If a vase, is there a scene or scenes depicted? What is the subject matter? Mythology? Everyday life scene? Athletic scene? Be sure that you think about the fact that there are often two sides of a vase and two sides of a coin. What is depicted on each side?
  
• Do we know who manufactured the piece? Do we have a name for the artist or for the manufacturer?
  
• Are there similar pieces in the Greek Gallery or in museums elsewhere?
  
• Look through bibliographic references that talk about objects of this type so that you can put this piece in some kind of perspective.
  
• What do you know about what was going on in the city where the piece was manufactured around the time of the manufacture?
  
• Include photographs and drawings of objects that are similar to yours.
  
• You may also be able to include drawings and photographs of the city where the object was manufactured.
  
• Include other objects that are similar to yours for comparison. These should be from our museum as well as from other museums around the world.
  

Incidentally, during the course of the term, as we discuss the individual events of Greek Athletics, ancient athletes and objects from the Museum collections, I will want each of you to contribute to the discussion where appropriate. Should you have questions you can send me e-mail or come to my office hours.

DGR

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