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Scientific Traditions in Ancient Civilizations
Core Course CORE-UA 400 010, Texts and Ideas, Spring 2021

Third writing assignment, 8-10 pp. (approx. 3000 words), due Wednesday, April 28, 11:59 PM
New York time.


Using an appropriate selection of the ancient texts that you have read, and referring to specific
items in them, write a well-organized discussion of one of the following general statements about
ancient Greek and Roman sciences. First of all, explain what you understand the statement to
mean, and what it is talking about. Then use specific examples from the ancient texts read for
this course to show whether the statement appears to be valid, partially valid, or false. If you
decide that the statement is not correct as it stands, suggest how it needs to be modified to
correspond to the evidence.
For this assignment you should rely for evidence chiefly on the primary (ancient) texts
prescribed in the syllabus. You may supplement this evidence where appropriate with citations
from secondary readings in the syllabus and additional ancient texts quoted in the slides, but
these should not be your main sources. Cite or quote no more than 12 passages from the
readings, taking care to explain (if it isn't obvious) what they mean and how they contribute to
your argument. Your references should make it absolutely clear which texts you are referring to,
with page numbers where appropriate, and, for primary sources, any line numbers or section
numbers that the translations provide.

(A) In all the major scientific traditions of the Greek and Roman world surveyed in this course,
the specialists in the traditions pursued knowledge only for its own sake and not for the sake of
practical applications.
(B) All the major Greek and Greco-Roman scientific authors represented in the course readings
frequently incorporated self-praise and attacks on some of their predecessors and contemporaries
in their scientific writings.



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Bibliography and citations:

At the end of your essay, provide a bibliography of cited sources. Bibliography does not count
towards the page or word limit. For course readings, the necessary information will usually be
retrievable from the work itself (e.g. title page included in pdf) or from the syllabus. The
following are examples of bibliography entries for a book, a chapter in a multi-authored book,
and a journal article:

Gehlken, Erlend. 2012. Weather Omens of Enūma Anu Enlil. Leiden: Brill.

Koch, Ulla. 2011. "Sheep and Sky: Systems of Divinatory Interpretation." In Karen
Radner and Eleanor Robson, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. 447-469.
These page numbers aren't easy to find in the online version uploaded to
NYUClasses. If you don't have page numbers, just leave them out, and say
"Online version."
Robson, Eleanor. 2001. "The Tablet House: A Scribal School in Old Babylonian Nippur."
Revue d'Assyriologie 95, 39-67.

Works listed in the bibliography should be cited either in-line in your essay (in parentheses) or in
footnotes, using author's last name, year of publication, and (if appropriate) specific pages:

Gehlken (2012). [If citing the entire work.]
Robson (2001) 42-43. [If citing a specific passage.]

Class slides can be cited in-line or in footnotes thus:

Week 2 class 1 slides, slide 24.






























































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