Curriculum: Classics courses
The following information is taken directly from the current college catalogue.
Courses in Classical Civilization
I. Introductory
[101a. Civilization in Question] (1)
(Same as College Course 101)
Not offered in 2008/09.
102b. Reading Antiquity (1)
From the great epics of Homer and Virgil to the intimate lyrics of Sappho and Catullus, the literature of Greece and Rome presents a vast array of forms, subject matter, and styles that played a formative role in the western literary tradition and continue to challenge the imagination. This course tackles the question of how to read classical literature, with an understanding of the cultural conditions and assumptions that went into its making. The topics focus on issues where a twenty-first century perspective may make it difficult for a reader to understand an ancient text. These include the roles of orality, literacy, tradition, and innovation in the composition of ancient literature; polytheism and the relationship of cult, ritual, and myth; ancient concepts of the community and its social constituents; the poet’s persona and the literary construction of individuality. Readings in English translation are selected from a representative variety of Greek and Roman texts by such authors as Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Euripides, Catullus, Virgil, Livy, and Ovid. Ms. Friedman.
103a. Crosscurrents: History and Culture of the Ancient Mediterranean (1)
The axiom of Ancient History that navigable water enables communication is nowhere so true as with the Mediterranean Sea, around which there grew up in antiquity the cultures of, e.g., Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. This course provides an introduction to the ancient Mediterranean from the earliest cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt (c.3000 BCE) to the beginnings of the Christian Middle Ages. Topics such as trade, migration, immigration, conquest, and imperialism are used to illustrate both historical developments and complex cultural interactions. Through primary and secondary readings, students are asked to consider questions like: How do cultures ‘interact?’ What does it mean for one culture to ‘borrow’ from another? What ‘belongs’ to a culture? How do cultures conceive of their debts to, and interactions with, other cultures? Mr. Lott.
[104b. Introduction to Greek Archaeology] (1)
An introduction to Ancient Greek material culture from an archaeological perspective, This course explains the sites and monuments of the ancient Greek world from the Bronze Age to the Classical period. We introduce archaeological methods, examine the history and development of Greek archaeology from the origins as a field in the 1870s to the present, and trace the chronological development of Greek art and architecture across several major sites including Knossos, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, and Athens. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding and interpreting monuments in terms of their political, social, and economic contexts. Ms. Olsen.
Not offered in 2008/09.
II. Intermediate
202a. Myth (1)
This course examines ancient myth from a variety of theoretical perspectives. It compares Greek and Roman myth with other mythic traditions and explores different versions of the same myth within Greek and Roman culture. We also consider transformations of ancient myths into modem versions. Literary, artistic, and archaeological evidence provide ways to understand the function of myth in ancient Greek and Roman society. Instructor to be announced.
210b. Greek Art and Architecture (1)
(Same as Art 210) Ms. D’Ambra.
[211b. Roman Art and Architecture] (1)
(Same as Art 211)
Not offered in 2008/09.
216b. History of the Ancient Greeks (1)
(Same as History 216) This course examines the history and culture of the ancient Greeks from the emergence of the city-state in the eighth century BCE to the conquests of Alexander the Great in 335 BCE. In addition to an outline of the political and social history of the Greeks, the course examines several historical, cultural, and methodological topics in depth, including the emergence of writing, Greek colonialism and imperialism, ancient democracy, polytheism, the social structures of Athenian society, and the relationship between Greeks and other Mediterranean cultures. Students both read primary sources (for example, Sappho, Tyrtaios, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato) and examine sites and artifacts recovered through archaeology; the development of students’ critical abilities to evaluate and use these sources for the study of history is a primary goal of the class. Ms. Olsen.
Prerequisite: Classics 101, 102, 103, or 104, or 1 unit in History or special permission.
[217b. History of the Ancient Romans] (1)
(Same as History 217) This course examines the history of the ancient Romans from the foundation of their city around the eighth century BCE to the collapse of their Mediterranean Empire in the fifth century CE. The course offers a broad historical outline of Roman history, but focuses on significant topics and moments in Roman history, including the Republican aristocracy, the civil and slave wars of the Late Republic, the foundation of the Empire by Caesar Augustus, urbanism, the place of public entertainments (gladiatorial combats, Roman hunts, chariot races, and theater) in society, the rise of Christianity, the processes of Romanization, and barbarization, and the political decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Students read primary sources such as Plautus, Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius, and secondary accounts dealing with important issues such as slavery, religious persecution and multiculturalism. Students also examine important archaeological sites and artifacts. The development of students’ critical abilities to evaluate and use these sources for the study of history is a primary goal of the class. Mr. Lott.
Prerequisite: Classics 101, 102, or 103, or 1 unit in History or special permission.
Not offered in 2008/09.
283b. Women in Antiquity (1)
(Same as Women’s Studies 283) Greek and Roman literary and historical accounts abound with vividly drawn women such as Helen, Antigone, Medea, Livia, and Agrippina, the mother of Nero. But how representative were such figures of the daily lives of women throughout Greek and Roman antiquity? This course investigates the images and realities of women in the ancient Greek and Roman world, from the Greek Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE) to the Roman Empire (up to the III c. CE) by juxtaposing evidence from literature, historical sources, and archaeological material. Throughout, the course examines the complex ways in which ancient women interacted with the institutions of the state, the family, religion, and the arts. Ms. Olsen.
298a or b. Independent work (1/2 or 1)
III. Advanced
Classics 301 and 302 are offered every year. Since their topics change annually, they may be taken for credit more than once. The prerequisite for each course is one unit of Classics, Greek, or Latin at the 200-level, or, with special permission, work appropriate to the topic at the 200-level in other disciplines.
301a. Seminar in Classical Civilization (1)
Topic for 2008/09: Classics and Colonialism. By the beginning of the twentieth century the British Empire held sway over approximately one quarter of the world’s population. Because of the central role that classical learning played in the self-definition of the British elite, this meant not only that a classical education was imposed on many colonized peoples, but also that classical learning itself became implicated in the projects of British imperialism. This course examines the ways in which these projects were both furthered and undermined by a cultural poetics that centered on the classics. We look first at how classical material was used to express colonial authority, considering, for example, the way that the Roman empire was used as an idealized model, or the role that classical education played in advancement through the Indian Civil Service, and then we turn towards the ways that classics were later appropriated by imperial subjects in moves towards decolonization and the articulation of a postcolonial poetics. Some authors that we might consider in this regard include Wole Soyinka, Seamus Heaney, and Derek Walcott. Ms. Friedman.
302b. The Blegen Seminar (1)
The course is offered by the Blegen Distinguished Visiting Research Professor or the Blegen Research Fellow in Classics, appointed annually to pursue research and lecture on his/her scholarly concerns in classical antiquity. We encourage students to take note of the fact that each Blegen Seminar is uniquely offered and will not be repeated. Since the topic changes every year, the course may be taken for credit more than once.
Topic for 2008/09: An Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics. Many modern languages, including English, are “sisters” in a family of languages we call “Indo-European.” Although we have no documents written in their “mother” tongue, linguists have been able to reconstruct many aspects of Proto-Indo-European by working backwards from early languages in the family like Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. This course explores the different features of language—phonology, morphology, syntax, for example—that allow us to reconstruct a completely extinct language, as well as features of its literature and culture. We examine how linguistic theory guides this reconstruction and what we learn about the form of language in general by looking back from living languages to “dead” languages to languages whose existence we can only deduce. Some knowledge of Greek, Latin, Sanskrit or another Indo-European language, or of linguistic theory, is advantageous but not required. Mr. Mercado.
305a or b. Senior Project (1)
306a-307b. Senior Project (1/2, 1/2)
[310b. Seminar in Ancient Art] (1)
(Same as Art 310)
Not offered in 2008/09.