John Lewis

John Lewis Ph.D. - History and Classical Ideals

Esse quam videri -- "to be, rather than to seem" -- is a guide not only to understanding what has been, but also to what we are, and should be.

From Hist 203: Ancient Rome:

To investigate this topic we will not adopt a broad-based, survey approach. Instead we will read several Roman writers in-depth, and peer into certain selected events while placing them into a general chronology of Roman history. Livy, in his Early History of Rome, paints us a picture both of Rome’s founding as well as of the character of the Roman people. Polybius’ Rise of the Roman Empire are the views of a Greek who observed the conquest of the Mediterranean by Rome, including the final destruction of Carthage; we will read his Book 6 on the Roman Constitution. Other writers such as Plutarch and Cassius Dio dealt with military leaders and emperors, bringing to life their virtues and depravity; Dio, for instance, is concerned with the ascension of Augustus. Such accounts can be in marked contrast with the claims of a man such as Augustus himself. Edward Gibbons’ discussion of the Christians clashes with Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, which adopts a Christian perspective to record the lives and virtues of the founders of the early church.

My Courses

I teach the following courses. In each of them our emphasis is on reading the Great Books, and understanding history in terms of dominant political trends and philosophical ideas.

History 112: Western Civilization: This examination of western civilization focuses on the political history of the Ancient and Medieval worlds.

History 113: Western Civilization: The theme of the course is the development of the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman Traditions, with an emphasis on Freedom, Science and Technology, and various reactions to those developments, from the Renaissance to the modern day.

Hist 304: The Ancient Near East: This takes us into the worlds of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.

Hist 380: Greek Language and Society: This course will focus on the Greek language--vocabulary, grammar and inflections--as a means to understand Greek culture in the late fifth-century BC.

History 261: Ancient Greece: This course will consider the political and intellectual history of Classical Greece, from pre-classical periods to the Macedonian conquests. The course will progress from early Heroic poetry through the first city-state settlements to the loss of Greek independence and the spread of Hellenic culture.

History 203: Ancient Rome: Republic, Empire and the Rise of Christianity: This course will read deeply from several ancient sources on the rise and fall of Rome, and the rise of Christianity. As the main transmission belt of the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman Traditions, Rome is a vital link to the roots of Western Civilization.

History 221: The Renaissance and Reformation. This course takes us into the rediscovery of Greek and Latin learning in the Italian Renaissance, its political history, and its effects on the Reformation in Europe.

History 304: Warfare, Ancient and Modern: This course adopts ancient and modern perspectives on the phenomenon of war. Primary source readings will be directed toward specific conflicts, such as the Greco-Persian Wars, the Punic Wars, the Hundred Years War, the American Civil War, or the Second World War.

Honors 101: First Year Honor Colloquium: This course will consider how good reading and writing can help us become better thinkers. Our focus will be on several great readings, perhaps Homer, Virgil, Plutarch, Shakespeare.

Additional Handout Materials:

Additional study questions, specific to individual courses,
can be found on the course syllabi.

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John Lewis
classicalideals@yahoo.com