| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| CLASSIC 37B | ROMAN EMPIRE | STAFF | The course is a survey of some of the highlights of Roman civilization during the early centuries of the Roman empire (end of the first century BCE to the third century CE). In this period, the Roman world was ruled by emperors who increasingly came to have absolute power. 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 political and social consequences of living under absolute an absolute ruler - especially when, as was often the case, he was unbalanced. This is the period of "bread and circuses" in which the emperors bought off the lower classes by providing the grain dole and spectacular free entertainment such as chariot races and gladiatorial contests. We will also look at how the emergence of Christianity affected the Roman world, and how complex social systems and entrenched institutions such as slavery evolved over time. The early centuries of the empire were a time of great prosperity in which Roman power reached its zenith; it was a period of relative stability but also, in some respects, a time of decadence, which has been a source of both admiration and loathing for almost all subsequent ages, including our own. |
| 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. Classics 45A is the first part of the Classical Mythology series (45ABC), which satisfies the Humanities General Education Requirement IV. |
| CLASSIC 99 | SPEC STDS:CLASSICS | STAFF | |
| CLASSIC 160 | GENDER IN GREEK LIT | JARRATT, S. | In this course, we will read examples of ancient Greek literature in translation (8thC BC to AD 4thC) from many genres—the Homeric epic, lyric poetry, comedy, oratory, legal argument, philosophical dialogue, poetic treatise, Christian epistle, the first work of science fiction, and a very early novel—focusing our critical attention on modes of persuasion. Speakers and writers use the beauty and power of language to persuade others to go to war or embrace peace, fall in love, punish wrong-doing, submit to belief systems or keep a skeptical distance from the claims of philosophy and religion. Gender is a key component of persuasion in each case we will encounter. The forms of masculinity demanded by warring states, women’s civic status and arguments in response to war, women as tokens of exchange, the gendering and homosociality in philosophical relations, and the invention of heterosexual romantic love, among other topics, will engage our critical imagination. The class will be conducted through discussion. Students will exchange short reading responses online, write one critical essay, and take mid-term and final exams.
Readings may include the following:
Homer, Iliad, from Books II and IX
Sappho, Fragment 1
Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Gorgias, “Encomium of Helen”
Thucydides, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” (Book II, History of the Peloponnesian War)
Lysias, “Against Eratosthanes”
Plato, Phaedrus
From Aristotle, Rhetoric
Longinus, “On the Sublime”
Paul, “First Letter to the Corinthians”
Longus, Daphnis and Chloe
Lucian, True Story |
| CLASSIC 160 | FEMALE VOICES | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | In this course, we will read in translation most of the extant plays by Euripides which have
women in leading roles. We will look at women at times of war and peace, in love and out of
love, women as mothers, wives, and would-be lovers, allies and foes of men. Students are
expected to participate in class discussions and will be evaluated on the basis of two exams
and one final paper. |
| CLASSIC 170 | GREEK SANCTUARIES | MILES, M. | Greek Sanctuaries A study of the art and architecture of the sanctuaries of ancient Greece, with special attention to how archaeology helps illustrate the history of Greek religion. The sanctuaries served as centers of worship of the gods, and were focal points for Greek politics, athletics, medicine, art and architecture. This course covers the panhellenic sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia; selected city sanctuaries; Eleusis, the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries; and Epidauros, the primary center for the healing god Asklepios. One mid-term examination, one paper, final examination. Recommended prerequisite: Art History 40A or background in Classics.
|
| CLASSIC 220 | GREEK SURVEY | KARANIKA, A. | In this course, we will do a survey of Greek literature, prose and poetry,
focusing on the topic of religion and rituals and their representation in
literature with emphasis on women's rituals. We will cover large
selections from Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides,
Aristophanes, Lysias, Apollonius and Theocritus. |
| CLASSIC 220 | ANTIGONE AND THEORY | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | In this course I examine the reception of the figure of Antigone from Sophocles’ Theban Saga (Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus) by philosophy, psychoanalysis, and contemporary debates about feminism, culture, and politics. I focus on the tension and relationship between culture and nature, female subjectivity and sexuality, feminist ethics and politics, desire and ethics, psychoanalytic theory, kinship, authority and action, embodiment, tensions between the private and the public, and the intersection between sexism and other forms of oppression. |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | PORTER, J. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | PORTER, J. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | CLAXTON, C. | |