{"id":1393,"date":"2017-05-02T22:10:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T22:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2017-05-04T18:28:12","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T18:28:12","slug":"in-the-tracks-of-alexander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/2017\/05\/02\/in-the-tracks-of-alexander\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Tracks of Alexander"},"content":{"rendered":"

[update 5\/4\/2017:  the apparent mistake of Alexander going to Bangladesh derives from an error in the Pleiades database. https:\/\/pleiades.stoa.org\/places\/59910<\/a> Malli is described as \u201cAn ancient Indian people that settled at the confluence of the rivers Hydaspes, Acesines, and Hydraotes.\u201d These are indeed the folks Alexander terrorized in the Mallian Campaign<\/a>. But the current location in Pleiades has them way off near the Padma. They should be much further west, in the Indus valley. I have alerted the good folks at Pleiades to this.]<\/p>\n

I got a nice response on Twitter to a photograph of a composite of Google Earth maps made by my students of the expedition of Alexander the Great. (People were too kind to point out that some of the students thought Alexander made it all the way to the Padma river in what is now Bangladesh).<\/p>\n

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My students’ Google Earth maps of the expedition of Alexander, as seen from space.<\/p><\/div>\n

A.M. Christensen (@AM_Christensen) asked me to post the assignment that generated these maps, and so here it is. I have done this for several years, and the reaction from students ranges from “Google Earth is infuriating” to “That was the best assignment we did–time consuming but really valuable.” I was on the point of cutting it out of the Ancient Worlds on Film class when a former student in that class convinced me to put it back in. <\/p>\n

As with most unorthodox assignments it requires careful preparation and explanation well in advance, and a willingness to be flexible when technical issues crop up. For me this works because it is in sync with my learning goals: learning about the ancient world on the basis of primary sources. To do well a student must summarize and tell the significance material based on the reading, and cite the sources–by no means easy tasks for the average non-classics major in a general education classical studies course.<\/p>\n

I spent some class time demoing Google Earth and showing them the magic of Pleiades<\/a>, which has readily downloadable .kml files of the places.  (Pro tip: “Tyre” is not findable on Pleiades. You have to know to search for Tyros<\/em>.) One problem is that the dates of events are not always indicated in the books they are reading. So I pointed out the very full chronology <\/a>available on Wikipedia. I have learned to be very, very clear about the necessity of having the entire folder highlighted before you save your .kmz. This is by far the most common problem. Second to that are Google Earth crashes, in which some students lose work. Make sure they save their stuff and back it up. I also pitch this as a way to take notes on the reading in Arrian. Pick a couple spots in every night’s reading, write down their significance, and making the map will be easier when the time comes.<\/p>\n

Here is the whole 3-week timeline from start to finish:<\/p>\n

4\/10       Alexander<\/em> (2004)  no reading          <\/em>              <\/p>\n

4\/12       Watch Alexander: Director\u2019s Cut<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

4\/14       Youth; Aristotle; sack of Thebes   Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 1\u201332; Plutarch, Life of Alexander<\/em>, sections 11\u201314.<\/p>\n

4\/17       Granicus \u2192 Fall of Tyre    Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 33\u201369. Plutarch, Life of Alexander<\/em>, sections 15\u201317 and 21\u201323.<\/p>\n

4\/19       Egypt \u2192 Gaugamela; Death of Darius      Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 70\u201393. Plutarch sections 27\u201328, 33\u201334, 36\u201340, and 42\u201343.<\/p>\n

4\/21       <\/em>Central Asia; Roxane      Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 94\u2013113. Plutarch sections 45 and 47.<\/p>\n

4\/24       India; the Gedrosia desert    Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 114\u2013148. Plutarch, sections 64\u201367.<\/p>\n

4\/26       Susa weddings; death of Hephaestion      Romm, Alexander the Great<\/em>, pp. 149\u2013173. Quiz on Alexander.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4\/28     Alexander Map assignment due<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ok, here is the assignment. The grading rubric follows.<\/p>\n

In the Tracks of Alexander the Great<\/h1>\n

The intent of this assignment is to familiarize you with the geography and chronology of Alexander\u2019s conquests through the making a Google Earth map of them. It will act as a kind of combined map and timeline. It is due by noon Friday, April 28, 2017<\/strong>, via Moodle.<\/p>\n

You will need to download Google Earth to your computer. A tutorial by Google on how to create a map with place marks is here<\/a>: http:\/\/www.google.com\/earth\/learn\/beginner.html#placemarks-and-tours&tab=placemarks-and-tours<\/p>\n

 . . . and see below for a step by step guide.<\/p>\n

Using Romm\u2019s book Alexander the Great<\/em> (which contains the writings of Arrian) and the account of Plutarch in his Life of Alexander<\/em>, create a series of place marks and a route to guide you through Alexander\u2019s expedition. For each place, create a place mark, name it, and then write annotations in the description field. Each annotation should contain:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a Pleiades<\/a> link<\/li>\n
  2. a brief discussion of your view of the significance of the place, based on your reading in Arrian and Plutarch.<\/li>\n
  3. specific source citations of Arrian (book and chapter) and\/or Plutarch (chapter) from which you got your information, along with any other sources you used<\/li>\n
  4. an image of any relevant landscape, archaeological remains, artifacts, or an artist\u2019s reconstructions from this place, with a title and specific photo\/artist credit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There should be at least one or two placemarks from every major stage of the expedition, a minimum of 20 total. Observe that the notes in Romm, and your translation of Plutarch\u2019s Life of Alexander<\/em> (Greek Lives<\/em> pp. 448 ff.) specify dates for many incidents. The actual look of the tour is up to you, and you should feel free to add whatever enhancements you like. When you have finished making your place marks, put them in a folder and save the folder (it will save as a file with the suffix .kmz).<\/p>\n

    IMPORTANT:<\/p>\n