Classics

[For more information about major requirements, see Classical and Romance Languages and Literature]

Short Term 2000 Classics Addendum Notes

The classical heritage is a cornerstone of Western civilization; it can be studied in many ways, both as a culture generally and directly through its languages and literatures. Students in every discipline can benefit from exposure to the great ideas and artifacts of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Without requiring familiarity with the ancient languages, courses in classics afford a broad basis for the knowledge of these two ancient cultures. Students may elect to complete an interdisciplinary major in Classical and Medieval Studies. See page 110 for a description of this program.

100. Introduction to the Ancient World. This course introduces the Greco-Roman world, and serves as a useful basis for 200- and 300-level classes in classical civilization. Within a general chronological framework students consider the ancient world under a series of headings: religion, philosophy, art, education, literature, social life, politics, and law. The survey begins with Bronze Age Crete and Mycenae and ends in the first century B.C.E., as Rome makes its presence felt in the Mediterranean and moves toward empire. This course is the same as History 100. D. O'Higgins.

160. Tragedy and the Athenian City. How did Greek tragedy fit into the city life of ancient Athens? In this course, a thematic unit on cultic ritual deals with initiation, marriage and funerary rites, human sacrifice, and conflict between religious and secular authorities. A second unit on construction and depiction of gender introduces such topics as gender relations and the politics of marriage; the stereotype of Greek women as wild, defiant, and irrational; male fear of the feminine and misguided attempts to control it; and manifestations of the wrath of Aphrodite in madness and suicide. A third unit on civic discourse considers tragedy as a mode of critique of contemporary issues such as democracy and imperialism, legitimacy of children, and social function of the idea of native origin (autochthony) in myth. A fourth unit on ancient analysis of tragedy compares how the ancient critics thought about the above subjects. Staff.

170. Introduction to Latin Literature. This introductory survey of classical Latin literature in translation extends from the earliest writings in Latin to the authors of early imperial Rome. Students read and analyze selections from Roman comedy, tragedy, epic, lyric, letters, and satire. They also read modern scholarship on the works and learn about the world in which they were written. This course is the same as Classical and Medieval Studies 170. D. O'Higgins.

200. Ancient Comedy and Satire. Students read (in translation) the comic poets and satirists of Greece and Rome and investigate the nature and social context of ancient humor, satire, and invective. Authors to be read include Homer, Hesiod, Archilochus, Semonides, Aristophanes, Menander, Terence, Horace, Seneca, and Petronius. Recommended background: Classics 100. Open to first-year students. D. O'Higgins.

201. Women in Antiquity. This course looks at women in ancient Greece and Rome, their image in men's art and literature and (in rare cases) in their own, their status under various law codes, their perceived powers and weaknesses, and their role in public and private life. The course also examines female cults and divinities, and myths of rebellion, transsexuality, matriarchies, and monsters. Students read ancient texts (in English translation) and modern works of scholarship on the subject. Recommended background: Classics 100 (or other classics courses). Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 35. D. O'Higgins.

202. Greek Tragedy. This course introduces students to fifth-century Athenian tragedies (in English translation). The plays form the primary focus of the course, but there are many related topics of discussion: the origin of tragedy and its religious significance, its political context and content, tragedy's audience and affective power, tragedy's self-conscious relationship with epic and lyric. Students also read and discuss a representative selection of modern criticism on Greek tragedy. Open to first-year students. D. O'Higgins.

301. Explorations in Greek Prose. This course introduces the student to prose literature in the original Greek, and it assumes a reading knowledge of the language. The course focuses on one of the major genres of Greek prose: historiography, philosophy, law court rhetoric, or political writing. It examines the style and rhetorical ploys of the writers, and heightens the student's awareness of the use and abuse of public discourse. It also includes class presentations and discussions on the social and political outlook of these writers, who created the imaginary past and political ideology of every democracy since that time. Prerequisite(s): Greek 201 or 202. This course is the same as Greek 301. D. O'Higgins.

302. Seminar: Topics in Classics. Topics courses require intensive reading and discussion of a single author or genre. Topics vary from year to year. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff.

305. Africa and the Classics. The field of classics, long seen as fundamental to and defining the culture of the Western world, recently has begun to examine its own definitions, canons, and presumptions. One of the most controversial areas of this self-reflective research is that of race and the role that race has played in our definitions of cultural heritage. This course examines the cultures of ancient Egypt and Nubia and how the ancient Greeks and Romans viewed the African civilizations with which they came in contact. In the last part of the semester students read and discuss M. Bernal's Black Athena (among other things) and consider how the modern study of classics has been shaped. Recommended background: previous courses in Greek or Roman antiquity, the ancient Mediterranean, historiography. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission of the instructor is required. D. O'Higgins.

360. Independent Study. Independent study of individually selected topics. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Permission of the department is required. Students are limited to one independent study per semester. Staff.

365. Special Topics. Designed for the small seminar group of students who may have particular interests in areas of study that go beyond the regular course offerings. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Written permission of the instructor is required. Staff.

Short Term Units

s20. Readings in the Odyssey of Homer. The Odyssey had proved an inspiring and inexhaustible text over the centuries. This unit explores the poem in detail, examining its cultural and literary context and considering modern approaches to this most enigmatic text. The unit is taught in English, but students who have completed one or more years of ancient Greek are encouraged to read sections in Greek, and learn how to "perform" the poetry. Recommended background: Classics 100. Written permission of the instructor is required, with priority given to students of Greek. Enrollment is limited to 15. This unit is the same as Greek s20. D. O'Higgins.

s21. Readings in Latin Epic. This unit introduces students to two major Latin epics: Vergil, Aeneid, and Lucan, Pharsalia. These poems span a critical century during which Rome moved from republic to empire. Taken together, they provide insights into sharply changing views of the Roman state and of the poet's function within it. Students read both poems, together with relevant modern scholarship. The unit is taught in English, but a section of reading (and performance) in Latin is available to students with one or more years of Latin. This unit is the same as Latin s21. Enrollment limited to 15. D. O'Higgins.

s22. Lights, Cameras, Centurions: Hollywood's Imagined Rome. This unit proposes the hypothesis that Hollywood's fascination with Roman epics is linked, at least in part, to the "Red Scare" of the 1950s and government inquiries about and witchhunts against alleged communists active in the American government, academe, and the entertainment industry. Students watch five films (including Spartacus, Ben-Hur, and The Robe), from the period and read the novels on which they were based. Students also read secondary material on the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the "Hollywood Ten," in order to consider the question: Why did American filmmakers in the 1950s choose to imagine and speak about contemporary politics with the metaphors of the Roman world? This unit is the same as Classical and Medieval Studies s22. Open to first-year students. M. Imber.

s23. Fighting Monsters: Gladiators, Slaves, and Emperors in Imperial Rome. The Roman gladiatorial games were extremely popular for hundreds of years. This unit studies the games from a variety of perspectives to explain their enduring appeal to ancient and modern audiences. The gladiators themselves and their status in Roman society, and the ways in which gladiators seem simultaneously monstrous and heroic, are central topics. Other topics include slavery in Roman society (since most of the gladiators were slaves); how the gladiators both exemplify and defy their status as slaves; and the spectacle of imperial cruelty (with a focus on the personal lives of emperors who at once declared themselves to be gods and yet perpetrated unfathomable acts of all-too-human savagery). This unit is the same as Classical and Medieval Studies s23. Open to first-year students. Staff.

s25. Roman Law. Modern America's obsession with the law, demonstrated most recently by public response to the O.J. Simpson, Unabomber, and Oklahoma City bombing trials, can be traced back two millennia to ancient Rome. The Romans had their celebrity lawyers, "trials of the century," and professional legal pundits, just as we do. In this unit, students learn how to think like a Roman lawyer, by studying the Roman law of delict (a branch of the law analogous to both modern criminal and tort law), using the American law school "case book" method of analysis. In addition students explore the role of law in Roman culture and the practice of law as an activity in ancient Rome. Recommended background: Classics/History 100. This unit is the same as Classical and Medieval Studies s25. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. M. Imber.

s50. Individual Research. Registration in this unit is granted by the department only after the student has submitted a written proposal for a full-time research project to be completed during the Short Term and has secured the sponsorship of a member of the department to direct the study and evaluate results. Students are limited to one individual research unit. Staff.

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