Sample Courses
The following is a list of courses that are typically offered in rotation. For current offerings in the department, click here. For details and specifics about past course offerings, click here.
Classical Studies Courses (CLSS)
all readings in English
110. Intro to Greek Archaeology. This course examines the techniques and methods of Classical Archaeology as revealed through an examination of Greek material culture. Study and discussion focus on the major monuments and artifacts of the Greek World from Prehistory to the Hellenistic Age. Architecture, sculpture, fresco painting, and the 'minor arts' are examined at such sights as Knossos, Mycenae, Athens, Delphi, and Olympia. We consider the nature of this archaeological evidence, and the relationship of Classical Archaeology, to other disciplines such as Art History, History, and the Classical Languages.
120. Intro to Roman Archaeology. This course traces the rise of Roman art and architecture beginning with its early formation under Etruscan influence, continuing on to the urbanization of Rome and Italy in the era of the Republic. The course continues to follow the development of Roman art and architecture under the Imperial system, focusing on the monuments from the reigns of emperors such as Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine. Finally, the rise of Christianity and the breakdown of the Roman Empire is examined through it artistic and archaeological remains. Lecture and class discussion will center on how the art and monuments of Rome and the provinces reflect the culture that produced them and how they relate to the major historical, social and philosophical developments of the era. Topics will include the following: methods and techniques for artistic and architectural production and trade, the problem of cultural affiliation and ethnic identity, urbanization, archaeology of the economy, iconography of political power, the art of engineering, interactivity in art and architecture, art and the viewer, and the material experience of everyday life. This course satisfies the Humanities and Writing II requirement.
130. History of Ancient Greece. This course traces the political, cultural, and social history of ancient Greece from the end of the 'Dark Age' in the eighth century BC through the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 330s B.C. The course focuses upon the development of the religious, political, military and social institutions of Athens and Sparta, but we also consider more widespread phenomena such as colonization, and the interaction between the polities of ancient Greece and the broader eastern Mediterranean world. Reading assignments include selections from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Aristotle, as well as secondary source material. Texts are supplemented by presentations of the archaeological evidence for Greek history.
140. History of the Roman Republic. A survey of the history of Rome, from its earliest days as an Iron Age village to its conquest of the Mediterranean and the century of civil war-accompanied by further foreign aannexation-that followed. Special attention is paid to Rome's interactions with other civilizations (e.g., Greeks, Etruscans, Phoenicians) and the creation of its own distinctive culture, seen in such unique forms as veristic portraiture, verse satire, and gladiatorial combat. Primary sources for the era, both literary and archeological, are examined throughout this course.
142. History of the Roman Empire. This course offers a survey of the Roman Empire, from Augustus to Constantine. It asks what held its many peoples together-from the British Isles and the Black Sea to the Atlas Mountains and the Euphrates-and what threatened to pull them apart. Students will study a wide range of sources, including coins, statues, tombs, and temples.
150. Intro to Greek Literature.
160. Intro to Roman Literature. This course will survey a range of ancient Roman literature from the late republic and early empire. Genres to be read include epic, history,lyric, and novels, covering the works of authors such as Cicero, Livy, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Apuleius and others. A central theme of the course will be the profound importance of Vergil's Aeneid as both a work of art and a culturally definitive poem. We will study the literary background to Vergil's epic and then consider various ancient reactions to and interpretations of it. In the process, we will pay attention to formal aspects of the works that are common to so much western literature.
170. Intro to Classical Mythology. The origins and significance of gods and heroes, the dominant patterns of Greek myth, and a survey of major contemporary approaches to mythology.
210. Cities and Sanctuaries of the Eastern Mediterranean. This course surveys the evidence for the primary archaeological sites of the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greek world. Attention is given to cities and sanctuaries located on the Greek mainland, the Asia minor coast, and in South Italy and Sicily. Developments in town planning and building programs are studied both architecturally and on a more theoretical level as responses to important Greek institutions such as colonization and democracy. Readings are drawn from literary descriptions of the sites, notably the account of the second century traveler Pausanias, and from published excavation reports.
212. The City of Athens. This course will survey the history and archaeology of the city of Athens from the Greek Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1200 B.C.) through the present day. Most class sessions will focus on the archaeological evidence for the "golden age" of Athens in the fifth century B.C. and the city's subsequent fate under Macedonian and Roman rule. Students will research individual topics concerned with Athens and will present the results of their research in a class presentation and a paper.
215. Religious Conflict in the Roman Empire. The Mediterranean world and the Near East under the Roman and Byzantine empires (and to a certain extent the Sassanian empire of Iran as well) served as the backdrop for the rise and development of the world's three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This course traces the development and history of these religions in the context of the Greco-Roman world out of which they emerged and with which they frequently came into conflict. The time period to be covered falls roughly between 200 BC and AD 700, although emphasis will be given to events and movements occurring between 50 BC and AD 400. Among the topics to be covered: the conflict between the Jews and Macedonian and Roman authorities; the development and spread of Christianity and its struggles with the Jews and especially the Roman state; the conflict between monotheism and the traditions of Greco-Roman civilization; conflicting ideological movements within Judaism and early Christianity; persecution and violence motivated by religious belief; the fate of "pagan" religious traditions; non-Abrahamic philosophies and religions such as Manachaeism and Zoroastrianism; the spread of Islam; notions of orthodoxy, heresy, holy war, and martyrdom.
219. Socrates and his Legacy. Who was Socrates? This question is not as easy to answer as you might suppose for a figure of such world-historical significance, whose name is known to everyone. Part of the problem is that Socrates himself wrote nothing, and so we are dependent upon literary works by Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes for our understanding of who he was. Yet more intriguing than the quest for the historical Socrates is the question of why this individual - whoever he really was - as exercised such an enduring fascination over thinkers from ancient times to the present, inspiring literature, philosophy, and entire ways of life. This course will be devoted to exploring Socrates' literary and philosophical legacy. We will meet him as a character in ancient philosophical dialogues and in comedy, as a formative influence on Platonic metaphysics, as a paradigm for Cynic and Stoic lives, and finally as a nemesis for Nietzsche.
229. Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle has been one of the most influential texts in the history of philosophy. It recognizes an objective goal for human life, and its main purpose is to help its readers to live in the best possible way. We will examine this work in detail, giving attention especially to the definition of happiness, the doctrine of virtue as an intermediate state of character, the explanation of akrasia or "weakness of will," the importance of friendship, the difference between practical and theoretical wisdom, and the question of whether or to what degree Aristotle values the contemplative life over a life of intelligent practical action in society. To gain the necessary background in Aristotelian psychology, we will read a few short excerpts from the De Anima in conjunction with the early books of the Ethics; passages from the Metaphysics and from Plato's Timaeus will provide comparanda for the treatment of the contemplative life in Book X.
221. The Trojan War. In this course, we will read literature about the Trojan War, beginning with Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, selections of lyric poetry, and several tragedies; we will then consider how Roman authors, including Vergil, Ovid, and Seneca, adopted and adapted the myth to their own cultural and aesthetic purposes. We will consider such themes as heroism, love, betrayal, suffering, memory, identity that define this mythical war as we investigate the relationship between divinity and humanity, history and mythology, the authority and flexibility of myth, and why the Trojan War has been such a popular subject for so many artists and writers.
241. The Age of Augustus. In April 44 BC the eighteen-year-old Gaius Octavius landed in Italy and launched his take-over of the Roman world. Defeating first Caesar's assassins, then the son of Pompey the Great, and finally Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, he dismantled the old Republic, took on the new name 'Augustus,' and ruled forty years more with his equally remarkable wife Livia. This class explores in depth Augustus' rise to power and the ways in which Rome's first emperor used monumental works of art, architecture, portraits, coins, literature, religious ceremonies, law, and public inscriptions to express his political and social vision; it also examines how these sweeping changes were greeted by men and women in the city of Rome, Italy, and the provinces of the empire. Students will study a range of contemporary visual material and literature as well as two seminal works of modern scholarship, Syme's Roman Revolution and Zanker's Power of Images in the Age of Augustus.
262. Greek Tragedy and Politics. The course focuses upon the political analysis of Greek tragedy. It discusses how closely the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides mirror the political culture of the "polis". The fact that each tragedy was presented once to the whole citizenry indicates the specific gravity of that event. Additional readings from historiography and philosophy will introduce students to the political thought of the city state of Athens in the fifth century.
268. Ancient Near East: Art and Society. This course charts the cultural development of society in the Ancient Near East [roughly equivalent to the modern Middle East], as preserved through ancient texts, art, and archaeological evidence. We will begin with the earliest farming communities of around 8000 BC, and proceed through time to cover the emergence of the first cities in the fourth millennium; the great Bronze Age and Iron Age empires of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Persians; and the communities of the Israelites, Aramaeans, Phoenicians, and Arabs, up until the period of Roman conquest in the first centuries of the common era. Topics to be covered include urbanization and the origins of cities, state formation, literacy and the invention of writing, war and imperial conquest, rise and collapse of empires, trade and economics, iconography and ideology, social stratification, literature, religion, and daily life. The evidence for the diverse and fascinating world of the ancient Near East is rich, but fragmented. As such, we will spend a fair amount of time focusing on artistic and iconographic works as well as the physical remains of ancient cities, such as Babylon, Nineveh, and Persepolis; this will be in addition to reading selections from historical, religious, and literary works, such as the Code of Hammurabi, the annals of the Assyrian kings, and Babylonian mythical accounts. There are no prerequistes for this class; no prior knowledge of the ancient world is required.
278. The Novel in Antiquity. In this course, we will read the Roman novels, Petronius' Satyricon and Apuleius' Metamorphoses, as well as the Greek romances, including those of Chariton, Heliodorus, and Longus, detailing the adventures of lovers as they encounter shipwrecks, pirates, robbers, abductions, and enslavement in their travels. We will consider such questions as the development of the genre, the novel's relationship to other kinds of literature, narrative conventions, representations of love, magic, religion, the imperial context of the novels. We will contextualize our investigations with readings of contemporary scholarship.
Advanced Classical Studies Seminars
300- and 400-level Classics Seminars are designed especially for advanced majors and minors, to foster in-depth study of special topics. Seminars are discussion based, and emphasize research, methodology, and critical analysis.
Recent topics include:
Power, Image, and Propaganda
Greeks and the East
Rome after Nero
Alexander the Great and his Successors
The Ancient Economy
Latin Courses (CLSL)
001. Beginning Latin 1. An intensive introduction to the Latin language and the culture of the ancient Romans. Readings and composition exercises will focus on the acquisition of solid reading skills. At the same time, the study of Latin will enlarge students' English vocabulary and their understanding of the structures of their own language.
002. Beginning Latin 2.
109. Medieval Latin. For students with three semesters of college Latin or the equivalent. The course is an introduction to the Latin writings of the Middle Ages. Slected works from a variety of genres are read and discussed, with particular attention paid to the development of the Latin language of the post-Classical period. Spring.
101. Intermediate Latin. For students with the equivalent of one year of college Latin. The course is designed to prepare students to read Latin prose and verse with facility. Readings vary from year to year, but will generally include both poetry and prose. Past authors have included Cicero, Caesar, Vergil, Ovid, and Catullus. Fall.
Advanced Latin Courses:
210. Roman Drama. A survey of drama at Rome, from its origins to the high empire. We will examine what sorts of theatrical entertainments the Romans staged, where and when they took place, who performed in them, and how they were scripted - and also how these scripts came to be viewed as 'literature.' Readings in Latin will include one comedy of Plautus (Menaechmi), one tragedy of Seneca (Phaedra), fragments of otherwise lost dramas, as well as other Greek and Latin plays in translation and selected modern studies. There will be special emphasis in the first part of the class on the peculiar features of Plautus' language, and throughout the semester on mastering the basic dramatic meters.
215. Lucretius. For advanced students of Latin only. Selections of the great philosophic epic are read in Latin, the remainder in English. This poem is studied both for its literary beauty and its missionary fervor.
231. Catullus. In this course we will read the poems of Catullus in their entirety. We will consider such issues as the social and literary context of the late Republic, the elegant and refined world of neoteric poetry, the Roman adaptation of Greek poetic forms, the representation of myth, love, invective; we will contextualize our investigations with readings from contemporary scholarship.
243. Petronius. In this course, we will read substantial portions of Petronius' Satyricon, which recounts the exploits of the lovers Encolpius and Giton. We will explore such issues as the novel's relationship to other literary forms, the representation of imperial extravagance and excess, the innovative prosimetric language; we will supplement our investigations with reading from contemporary scholarship.
245. Tacitus on Germany.
249. Ovid: Metamorphoses.
264. Roman Elegy. In this course we will explore Roman love elegy through a reading of select poems of Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid. We will consider such issues as the development of the genre, conventions and innovations, the representation of love, gender, the Augustan context we will supplement our investigations with readings from contemporary scholarship.
265. Roman Satire. Satire was thought to be one genre of poetry that Rome did not borrow from the Greeks. How, then, did Roman poets use this genre to reflect upon their particular form of art and its relationship to other genres such as epic and drama? And what did the unique status of this genre mean in terms of Roman conceptions of literature and its place in Roman life? In order to address these kinds of questions, we will read copious selections from the satirical works of Horace and Juvenal, two of the genre's greatest practitioners; other authors such as Persius will be considered as well.
270. Apuleius. We will read the *Golden Ass* of Apuleius, the funniest, sexiest, holiest, weirdest novel of antiquity. Students are not required to convert to Isis-worship during the course nor will they be given extra credit for doing so, but the challenge of figuring out when Apuleius is serious and just what he's serious about will be adventure enough. Requires advanced Latin, detective skills, and a sense of humor.
280. Augustine: Confessions.
300. Advanced Latin Reading Courses
Ancient Greek Courses (CLSG)
001. Ancient Greek I. This is an intensive introduction to the ancient Greek language. By the end of the year, students will have been introduced to all basic Attic Greek syntax and grammar and will be able to read texts in the original with the aid of a dictionary.
002. Ancient Greek II. A continuation of CLSG 001
101. Intermediate Ancient Greek.
Advanced Greek Courses
200. Homer. For advanced students of Greek only. Extensive selections from one of the epics are read in Greek and the remainder in English. The poem is studied in the light of contemporary criticism based on theories about nature and transmission of oral poetry.
222. Euripides. For advanced students of Greek only. One play of Euripides is read in Greek, others in English, against the background of the changing outlook and mores in fifth century Athens under the pressures of the Peloponnesian War. Fall.
280. Plato's Symposium.
286. Herodotus. For advanced students of Greek only. Selections from Herodotus' Hsitories will be read in Greek and the remaining in translation. Clss discussions will focus upon Herodotus' methods of writing history, which will be explored through secondary source readings.
310. Sophocles. For advanced students of Greek only. Students read two plays in Greek, focusing on the playwrights poetic language and meter. The literary and cultural significance of the plays is also discussed.
325. Hellenistic Poetry.