CLASSIC Course Descriptions for 2024-2025

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Fall Course Descriptions
CourseTitleInstructorDescription
CLASSIC 10MEDICAL TERMINOLOGYHERNANDEZ, A.A study of English terms derived from Greek and Latin and important to contemporary medicine, science, and other professions, with emphasis on development of word-building skills. No prior knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
CLASSIC 36AEARLY GREECEBRANSCOME, D.A survey of ancient Greek civilization from its origins in the Bronze Age to the mid-Archaic period. Examines political and social history, as well as literature, art, religion, and archaeological remains.

Same as HISTORY 36A.

(IV)
CLASSIC 37BROMAN EMPIREZISSOS, P.A survey of Roman civilization from Augustus’s consolidation of power following the civil wars of the first century BCE to the crisis of the third century CE. Includes social history, literature, art, architecture, and religion.

Same as HISTORY 37B.

(IV)
CLASSIC 45ATHE GODSKARANIKA, A.An overview of the main myths of the gods of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their influence in contemporary and later literature and art. Includes readings from both ancient and modern sources.

(IV)
CLASSIC 45BTHE HEROESBRANSCOME, D.An overview of the main myths of the heroes of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their influence in contemporary and later literature and art. Includes readings from both ancient and modern sources.

(IV)
CLASSIC 160VILLAINS & GENDERGIANNOPOULOU, Z.We know them, or we think we do: the woman with snakes for hair, “the face that launched a
thousand ships,” the skilled sorceress, the irresistible temptress, “an evil thing in which men
delight while embracing their own destruction,” a vengeful mariticide, a jealous filicide. Their
names are Medusa, Helen, Circe, Scylla, Chimera, Calypso, Pandora, Clytemnestra, Medea—
all powerful females from Greco-Roman mythology that have been villainized for millennia.
This interdisciplinary course foregrounds tropes of female criminalization, from antiquity to
the present, that have sought to subject women to social hierarchies and patriarchal norms. By
studying literary texts, visual and material artefacts, films, popular culture, feminist ethics and
epistemology, legal and critical character theory, the course explores the gendered, political,
social, racial, and religious investments of both western and non-western cultures in the
villainization of women, the shifting narratives and counternarratives that have constructed
and deconstructed ancient literary women and their modern filiations as evildoers. Can we see
vice both as damage inflicted on women by structures of social oppression and as a mechanism
by means of which women seek to challenge or overthrow oppressive structures? Grade is
based on class participation, weekly canvas posts, an oral presentation, and a paper or creative
project.
CLASSIC 166MUSSOLNI,FACSM,ROMEZISSOS, P.This course will examine the fascist regime established by Benito
Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s, which would prove a key inspiration
for other movements, most notoriously that of Adolf Hitler in Germany.
The rise of Italian fascism will be explored in both the national and
international contexts of the early twentieth century. Particular
attention will be paid to Mussolini’s extensive use of the legacy of
Ancient Rome in Fascist propaganda and visual imagery. Through a
program of archaeological excavations and exhibitions, through
architecture and cinema, he cast the ancient Romans not merely as the
ancestors of the Italians, but also as models of imperialist ambition
and political organization. Indeed, the very word ‘fascism’ derives
from Latin fasces, the symbol of the power of magistrates in the
Ancient Roman Republic, and points to the Classical inspiration
underwriting Mussolini’s movement. This course will be conducted in
English. No knowledge of Italian or Latin is required.
CLASSIC 198DIRECTED GROUP STDYSTAFFSpecial topics in Classical studies through directed reading and research.

Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
CLASSIC 199INDEPENDENT STUDYSNYDER, R.Independent research with Classics faculty.

Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
CLASSIC 399UNIVERSITY TEACHINGZISSOS, P.
CLASSIC 399UNIVERSITY TEACHINGKARANIKA, A.