| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
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| CLASSIC 5 | LAT/GR ROOTS IN ENG | STAFF | Studies in the formation and use of English words from Greek and Latin derivatives. Particularly useful for first-year students who wish to augment their vocabulary systematically. No prerequisites.
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| CLASSIC 37A | EARLY ROME | STAFF | The course is a survey of some of the highlights of Roman civilization from its 8th century BCE. beginnings to the civil wars of the first century BCE. We will look not only at political history, but also at social history, literature, art and architecture, and religion. The course will consider a number of questions , including the various factors underwriting Rome's rise to global dominion. We will also consider how the Romans were able to develop stable principles of government, and how these principles were eventually transformed by the actions of figures like the bloodthirsty dictator Sulla. Although Rome was, like America, a relatively inclusive mix of different ethnic groups and peoples, it maintained a fundamental cultural continuity throughout much of its history. The Roman achievement is undeniably impressive, but it was not without a great cost in human suffering. We will examine the Roman system of slavery (which was non-racial in character), the patriarchal nature of Roman society, and the plight of the poor and underprivileged. In brief, beside providing the students with a solid factual basis for Roman history, the course will also identify some of the issues that have made Roman civilization an abiding fascination, a source of both admiration and loathing for almost all subsequent ages, including our own.
Classics 37A is the first part of the Roman Civilization series (37ABC), which satisfies the Humanistic Inquiry Breadth requirement.
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| CLASSIC 45A | THE GODS | PANTELIA, M. | Classics 45A is the first part of a three-quarter course on Classical Mythology. This class will be an introduction to the most important Greek and Roman myths, their historical and religious context, various interpretations and influence upon ancient and modern art, film and literature. Some of the topics we will discuss are: the creation of the universe, relations between gods and mortals, gender and sexuality, love, marriage, death and afterlife. We will use a standard textbook, but we will also read selected passages from primary sources such as Hesiod's Theogony, Ovid's Metamorphoses and selections from Greek tragedy. The course will make regular use of ancillary visual materials, especially computer resources. The grade for this course will be based on a combination of multiple-choice quizzes and short essay exams.
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| CLASSIC 160 | HOMER AND THE HOMERIC TRADITION | PORTER, J. | Participants in this course will accomplish two goals: they will become familiar with a fair amount of Homer’s two epics, the Iliad and Odyssey; and they will learn how classical texts are put together, with Homer as the centerpiece example. That is, we will look at the way in which classical texts are transmitted from the past and how they have survived (or have failed to survive); how scholars have sought to make sense of them (starting with antiquity itself); and how Homer’s originally sung texts have changed (been adapted, used, quoted, sometimes maligned and abused, sometimes creatively reshuffled, or translated into different media—sculpture, painting, cinema) over the past several millennia, starting with their written transcription, while still remaining identifiably “Homeric,” and in this way constituting a Homeric tradition. Special focus will be given to the theme of “Helen” of Troy. Requirements: two short papers (5 pp.) and one final collaborative project in some non-textual medium (oral/aural, visual, or digital).
Readings:
Homer, Iliad, trans. R. Lattimore, Chicago.
Homer, Odyssey, trans. R. Lattimore, Chicago.
Beard and Henderson, Classics: A Very Short Introduction, Cambridge.
Euripides Two: Four Tragedies (Cyclops, Helen, Heracles, Iphigenia in Taurus), edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, Chicago. (ISBN-13: 9780226307817)
Further readings will be available from EEE.
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| CLASSIC 170 | RELIGION AND LAW IN ANCIENT GREECE | KARANIKA, A. | In this course we will study ancient Greek religion from Bronze Age to Hellenistic times by investigating relevant literary accounts and the archaeology of the sacred space. The special themes will be festivals and rituals, gender and religion. We will study ancient religion from an anthropological perspective analyzing ritual tradition in its socio-cultural context. The second half of the course will focus on the relation between religion and law, and the regulations that codify religious practice. Final grade of the class will depend on a combination of two exams, a paper/project, and class participation.
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| CLASSIC 200B | HOMER: THE VERY IDEA | PORTER, J. | The Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have been “required reading” in Western culture from its first beginnings. Although a complete mystery in so many respects (their date and authorship are unknown; they resemble more a tradition than a text; they are blemished with imperfections), their literary influence has been vast, from Sappho to Walcott’s Homeros. What are the reasons for this enduring attraction? In this course, we will explore the monumentality of these two poems — less their quality as great works of literature than their role as cultural icons, as signifiers of value, and as landmarks in the evolving relationship between literature, the arts, and culture. Both poems will be read briefly and selectively by way of background, but our main focus will be on Homer’s place — the very idea of Homer — in the reception of Homer and the establishment of Western cultural identities in literature, art, philology, archaeology, and philosophy, from fifth-century Greece to the Second Sophistic to the early modern era, the 19th century, the Fascist era, and the present. The course will in fact be a study in the intellectual and cultural history of value, rather than in literature per se. Students from all disciplines are welcome. Requirements: class participation, class presentations, and a final paper.
Readings will include ancient authors as well as Cyriac of Ancona, Vico, Robert Wood, M. Arnold, Nietzsche, Gladstone, Auerbach, Adorno, S. Weil, M. Parry, and Bernard Williams.
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| CLASSIC 220 | LIVY'S SCIPIO | HAHN, F. | This seminar style class for graduate students will focus on Livy’s characterization of Scipio Africanus in the story of the War against Hannibal. Selected readings in Livy’s History and in secondary scholarship on Livy’s techniques of characterization through anecdote, narrative, comparison and contrast, occasional description, and especially speeches (content, style, diction). Midterm and paper. |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | PORTER, J. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | PORTER, J. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATION RESEARCH | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATION RESEARCH | PORTER, J. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATION RESEARCH | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | KARANIKA, A. | |