Civilizing the Barbarians

Civilizing the Barbarians is a course at A9.com covering different aspects of western civilization: its history, literature, history, philosophy, art, music, etc., starting with Homer and Plato, and ending with Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. Classes are separated into a 45 minute lecture (without interruptions), followed by 30 minutes of discussion.

Videos on YouTube

Table of Contents

• Handouts
• Recommended Translations
• Film and TV
• Short Canon
• Acknowledgements

Handouts

• Lecture 13
  • Confession at the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost)
  • Abridged Hexateuch
  • Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Masaccio

Recommended Translations

• Mahabharata, by Vyasa
  • The Mahabharata. Translated by John D. Smith.
    Penguin Classics, 2009.
  
  
• Bhagavad Gita
  • The Bhagawad Gita According to Gandhi. By Mohandas K. Gandhi.
    North Atlantic Books, 2009.
  
  
• Iliad, by Homer
  • The Iliad. Translated by Rodney Merrill.
    University of Michigan Press, 2009.
  
  
• Odyssey, by Homer
  • The Odyssey. Translated by Rodney Merrill.
    University of Michigan Press, 2002.
  
  
• Oresteia, by Aeschylus
  • Aeschylus II: The Oresteia. Translated by Richmond Lattimore.
    Edited by David Grene. University Of Chicago Press, Third Edition, 2013.
  
  
• Parallel Lives, by Plutarch
  • Plutarch's Lives, Dryden Edition. Volume 1 and Volume 2.
    Edited by Arthur Hugh Clough. Modern Library Classics, 2001.
  
  
• Histories, by Herodotus
  • The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories. Translated by Andrea L. Purvis.
    Edited by Robert B. Strassler. Anchor Books, 2009.
  
  
• History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
  • The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Richard Crawley.
    Edited by Robert B. Strassler. Free Press, 1998.
  
  
• Plato
  • Plato: Complete Works.
    Edited by John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson. Hackett Publishing Co., 1997.
  • The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 2: The Symposium. Translated by R. E. Allen.
    Yale University Press, 1993.
  • Dialogues mentioned in the lectures:
    • Gorgias: On justice (against Callicles)
    • Apology, Crito, Phaedo: Trial, imprisonment, and death of Socrates
    • Symposium: On love
  
  
• Xenophon on Socrates
  • Xenophon: Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, Symposium, Apology. Translated by E. C. Marchant and O. J. Todd.
    Revised by Jeffrey Henderson. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 2013.
  
  
• Elements, by Euclid
  • The Thirteen Books of the Elements, Vol. 1: Books 1-2. Translated by Sir Thomas L. Heath.
    Dover Publications, 2nd edition, 1956.
  • The Thirteen Books of the Elements, Vol. 2: Books 3-9. Translated by Sir Thomas L. Heath.
    Dover Publications, 2nd edition, 1956.
  • The Thirteen Books of the Elements, Vol. 3: Books 10-13. Translated by Sir Thomas L. Heath.
    Dover Publications, 2nd edition, 2010.
  • Everyone must work through at least Book 1.
  
  
• The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, by Suetonius
  • The Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves.
    Edited by James B. Rives. Penguin Classics, Revised edition, 2007.
  • For a nice hardcover version of the original Robert Graves translation, search for the "Folio Society" edition.
  
  
• Letters from a Stoic, by Seneca
  • Letters from a Stoic. Translated by Robin Campbell.
    Penguin Classics, 1969.
  
  
• Archimedes
  • The Works of Archimedes. Translated by Sir Thomas Heath.
    Dover Publications, 2013.
  
  
• Histories, by Tacitus
  • The Histories. Translated by Kenneth Wellesley.
    Penguin Classics, 2009.
  
  
• The Jewish War, by Josephus
  • The Jewish War. Translated by G. A. Williamson.
    Revised by Mary Smallwood. Penguin Classics, 1984.
  
  
• The Bible
  • The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version, Expanded Edition.
    Edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Herbert G. May. Oxford University Press, Revised Standard edition, 1977.
  
  
• Confessions, by Saint Augustine
  • Confessions. Translated by Henry Chadwick.
    Oxford World's Classics, 2009.
  
  

Film and TV

• The Trojan Women. Produced and directed by Michael Cacoyannis. 1971.
  • Starring Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold, Irene Papas.
  • Based on the play by Euripides, translated by Edith Hamilton.
  
  
• I, Claudius. Directed by Herbert Wise. BBC, 1976.
  • Starring Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, John Hurt.
  • Written by Jack Pulman. Adapted from Robert Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God.
  
  

The Short Canon

• Homer
  • The Iliad
  • The Odyssey
  
  
• Plutarch
  • Parallel Lives
  
  
• Plato
  • Symposium: On love
  • Apology, Crito, Phaedo: Trial, imprisonment, and death of Socrates
  • Gorgias: On justice
  • Republic
  
  
• Euclid
  • The Elements
  
  
• Bible
  • Old Testament
    • Genesis
    • Exodus
    • Samuel 1 and 2
    • Kings 1 and 2
    • Jonah
  • New Testament
    • Luke
    • Acts
  
  
• Shakespeare
  

Acknowledgments

Paramjit Oberoi maintains this Page. Michael Hembrador records and edits the videos.

We thank Professor Andrew Lumsdaine of Indiana University for providing hosting for this website at Open Systems Lab, and we thank DongInn Kim of OSL for his help.