Classical Studies

A study of certain major works of ancient Greek literature in their entirety, and a survey of the major Greek authors and of their contribution to European literature. All works will be read in English translation.

An introduction to the history of archaeological activity in the Mediterranean, and archaeological theory and field techniques. Course will also examine major sites and monuments of ancient Greece and Rome. (Also listed as ANTH 1304.)

An examination of the roles of women and men in the society, religion, and culture of the ancient world. Readings will include historical, religious, medical, legal, philosophical, and literary texts. Representations of men and women in the visual arts will also be considered. (Also listed as HIST 1311.)

This course explores how human relations with the sea affected the social, economic, military, political, and technological aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean littoral. Evidence includes hulls and cargoes of shipwrecks, harborworks, inscriptions, graffiti, wall painting and mosaics, literary texts, and gravestones. A central focus will be an introduction to the methodology and technologies of archaeology, but the subject matter of this course and the nature of the discipline of maritime archaeology incorporate methodologies and substance also from the fields of Anthropology , Ethnography, Physical Sciences, Engineering, Art History, History, and Geography. (Also listed as ANTH 1309.)

This course gives students an opportunity to examine the cultures and achievements of peoples labeled "barbarians" by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Students will use a broad selection of historical documents originating from the Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as the results of archaeological research, for investigating the social structures and values of these cultures. Critical methods for interpreting ancient and modern evidence about these societies will also be discussed. (Also listed as HIST 1312.)

In this course we trace an important, recurrent theme in the Western tradition, in which journey into the underworld, or katabasis, is closely linked to the encounters with the dead, or nekyiai. Each variation on that theme represents a way of asking, How might we respond to the fact of mortality, of death, in the immortal fictions of literature and art? Centering our study around the influential depiction of the underworld in Virgil's great epic, the Aeneid, we consider a wide range of authors and texts. (Offered every other year).

This course examines the sports and spectacles of ancient Greece and Rome through the close study of archaeological, artistic, and literary evidence relating to athletes, competitions, and festivals-e.g., ancient training facilities and performance spaces, statues, mosaics, coins, graffiti, inscriptions, and literary texts. The goal is a deeper understanding of the cultural values and practices associated with athletics in antiquity (including the differences between Greece and Rome) as well as of the general relationship between sports and their historical circumstances. Comparison of ancient and modern athletic practices and ideologies will be a regular feature of discussions and assignments. (Once every four semesters).

Advanced study of topics related to the ancient Mediterranean world and its legacy, such as Neronian culture, ancient scripts, Hellenistic and Greek Imperial literature, the Byzantine world. May be taken more than once, provided that topics vary. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor.

A study of Greek and Roman tragedies and comedies, read in English, with attention to how the plays reflect contemporary and enduring social, theatrical, and political concerns. Students will also produce, adapt, direct, and/or act in a performance of Greek or Roman drama. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or consent of instructor.

Antiquity and Modernity explores the ways in which the ancient world is constructed through the lenses of modern art, literature, and scholarship, focusing especially on contemporary media. Topics to be covered include the influence of classical texts on modern constructions of sexuality; the links between the avant-garde of both the ancient world and the modern; the political uses and abuses of antiquity; and the production of 'camp.' The course also serves as an introduction to reception theory, a subfield of cultural criticism. All readings are in translation. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor

The Homeric Iliad provides an intensive examination of a fundamental text of antiquity, including its historical, archaeological, and anthropological contexts. All readings are in English translation. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or Consent of Instructor.

A comparative study of epic traditions in literature and film. In the first half of the course, we focus on traditional epics, such as Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, the Intuit tradition of the Fast Runner, and the Korean song tradition of Chunhyang, focusing especially on themes such as the heroic journey, exile and homecoming. In the second half of the course, we examine the reception of traditional epic in the modern Western literacy tradition and films. (Also listed as CMLT 3309.) Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor.

A study of the political, cultural, and religious life of the Roman Empire from the second to the fifth centuries CE-a vital transitional period between the classical and medieval worlds. Beginning with the "golden age" of the Antonine emperors, this course examines the military and political "crisis" of the third century, the Christianization of the empire in the fourth, and the religious and cultural conflicts that accompanied the fragmentation of power in the fifth. (Also listed as HIST 3319.) Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or Consent of Instructor

A survey of theoretical approaches to myth from the eighteenth century to the present. This survey begins with the transition from renaissance belief that myth is a form of moral instruction conveyed by allegory to the romantic belief that myth is a symbolic mode of discourse offering insight into transcendental reality. We will then chart the evolution of this approach, beginning with its inspiration in Kantian metaphysics and early formulations by German romantics such as Schiller and proceeding on to Freud and Ricoeur. A second strand begins with Hegel's theories of "false consciousness" that would in time develop into interpretations of myth as ideology , under the influence of Marx, Adorno, and Althusser. A final strand begins with the earlier folklorists, the brothers Grimm, and would in time develop into functionalist approaches to myth by anthropologists such as Malinowski, Boas, and Levi-Strauss. The resulting big picture is as much an intellectual history of modernity as a history of theorizing myth. (Also listed as PHIL 3361.) Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor.

Participation in an approved excavation in the Mediterranean world, Western Europe, or the Near East. Students will be expected to receive instruction in excavation techniques and in the recording and study of the site and the material. Two weeks' work will normally be counted as equivalent to 1 credit, up to a maximum of 3 credits. (Also listed as ANTH 3-72.) (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisites: Approval of the department chair and of the excavation director.

Individual work under supervisor in areas not covered by other courses. May be taken more than once as content varies. Prerequisite: Consent of the Department Chair.

A seminar on selected special topics in Classical Studies. May be taken more than once, as topics vary. Prerequisite: Classical Studies major with senior standing.

Individual work under supervisor in areas not covered by other courses. May be taken more than once, as content varies. Prerequisite: Consent of the department chair.

Individual research and scholarly investigation under faculty supervision leading to the preparation of an Honors Thesis. To be taken only by senior Honors students in both semesters of their senior year.

3 class hours a week for 1 semester. Fall. Prerequisite: GREK 1301 or the equivalent.

Selections from Greek authors; emphasis on developing reading skills. Fall. Prerequisite: GREK 2301 or the equivalent.

Readings in Attic prose writers, especially Plato, Xenophon, and the orators. Prerequisite: GREK 2402, 2303, or the equivalent.

Readings in Greek historians, especially Herodotus and Thucydides. Prerequisite: GREK 2402, 2303, or the equivalent.

Individual work under supervisor in areas not covered by other courses. May be taken more than once, as content varies. Prerequisites: GREK 2402, 2303, or the equivalent, and consent of the department chair.

3 class hours a week for 1 semester. Spring. Prerequisite: LATN 1401 or the equivalent.

Selected readings from the Eclogues, the Georgics, and/or the Aeneid together with consideration of Virgil's sources and his impact upon the pastoral, didactic and epic. May also include other epic poets. Prerequisite: LATN 2302 or the equivalent.

Selections in lyric and elegiac poetry, from authors such as Catullus, Horace, Ovid, Propertius or Tibullus. Prerequisite: LATN 2302 or the equivalent.

Selections in comedy and in satire, from authors such as Plautus, Terence, Horace, Juvenal, Martial or Petronius. Prerequisite: LATN 2302 or the equivalent.

An intensive study of the poetry of Ovid, with a particular emphasis on the poet's engagement with Augustan ideology. Texts may include a variety of genres, including epic, elegy, exile poetry, and epistolary fiction. Prerequisite: LATN 2302 or the equivalent

Individual work under supervisor in areas not covered by other courses. May be repeated more than once, as content varies. Prerequisites: LATN 2402 or the equivalent, and consent of the department chair.