| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
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| CLASSIC 5 | BUILDING ENGLISH VOCABULARY THROUGH GREEK AND LATIN ROOTS | 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. |
| CLASSIC 10 | SCIENTIFIC AND SPECIALIZED TERMINOLOGY | STAFF | A study of English terms derived from Greek and Latin and important to contemporary medicine, science and other professions, with emphasis on the development of word-building skills. No prior knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The work is designed to aid undergraduates, particularly those in the sciences, in the development of their technical vocabulary. No prerequisites. |
| CLASSIC 37C | ROMAN LEGACY | GOLDMAN, M. | A survey of Roman civilization from the crisis of the third century to the so-called 'fall of the Roman empire' in 467. This course will focus on the continuity and changes in politics, society, literature, and art that characterize the later Roman Empire. Classics 37C is the final part of the Roman Civilization series (37ABC); it satisfies the Humanistic Inquiry Breadth requirement.
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| CLASSIC 45C | CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY | CLAXTON, C. |
The regular performance of Greek tragedy before a large audience in Athens was an essential part of Athenian religious, political and social life. The plots of these tragedies were well known to the audience; they came not to see what happened to Antigone or Pentheus, but to see how it happened. What is it about these stories and about the culture that produced them that enabled the audience to see multiple versions of the same story by different playwrights? In this course , we will examine the use Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides made of the stories of Greek mythology. We will discuss the confirmation and questioning of cultural values, the use of stereotypes, the role of women, the role of democracy in the performance of tragedy, etc. We will also examine a few modern versions of these plays and consider what how the modern playwright has adapted the story for his audience. This course fulfills the Humanistic Inquiry Breadth Requirement (IV) and must be taken in sequence. Students enrolling in 45C must have taken 45A and 45B. Midterm and final examinations, possible short paper.
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| CLASSIC 160 | ANCIENT NOVEL | GOLDMAN, M. | An examination of the ancient novels and their influence on later fiction, focusing on the representation of love and sexuality, social life, and narrative technique. Ancient texts: Xenephon of Ephesus, Chariton, Achilles Tatius, Longus, Heliodorus, Petronius, Apuleius, Apollonius; Later fiction: Lazarillo de Tormes, Richardson's Pamela, Aucassin, Sidney's Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Walpole's Castle of Otranto, and a Harlequin Romance.
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| CLASSIC 160W | HOMER'S ODYSSEY | SUTTON, D. | This course will focus on Homer’s Odyssey. Students will read the epic in English translation, and discuss it as an illustration of the new values of the newly developing Greek city-state. Its hero Odysseus embodies the values of a rising middle class, and he seems deliberately devised as an alternative to Achilles, the aristocratic hero of the Iliad. Because the Odyssey depends so much on folklore and fantasy, it is also the first work of escapist literature in the Western tradition. This course may be taken to satisfy the upper-division writing requirement, and so a term paper and other writing assignments, as well as mid-term and final exams, are required. Prerequisite: completion of lower-division writing and junior standing. |
| CLASSIC 200C | CONTESTS AND FESTIVALS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD | SCANLON, T. | A survey of Greek and Roman festivals and their contests through examination of textual, archeological and historical evidence. The emphasis will be on Greek culture, with some Roman material (about 75%-25%). The Olympics and other panhellenic festivals, the Panathenaia and other local festivals, and select festivals at Rome will be studied; sources include Homer, Pindar, inscriptions, graffiti, vase paintings, sculpture and architecture. Select texts will be read in Greek and Latin. In-class reports and a research paper are required. |
| CLASSIC 220 | DOWN ON THE FARM | EDWARDS, A. | The Greek polis consisted of a walled settlement surrounded by an agricultural plain. The wall dividing these two spaces was at once economic, political, and cultural. How the literature of the polis represents the rural zone and its inhabitants, and whether it represents them at all, responds in various ways to the status of the countryside within this spatially divided community. This seminar will focus on the representation of that rural zone in the Classical period, but to do that we will also look at material from earlier and later stages of Greek literature. As I foresee it, our approach will be guided along two axes. First, we will attempt to reconstruct the social and economic realities lying behind these texts. Second, the spatiality represented in the texts as the expression of a moral and a social order will be analyzed.
Aristophanes' Acharnians will provide the focal point for the course. We will probably also look at texts from Thucydides, Xenophon, and Euripides. On the flanks of our period, Hesiod's Works and Days and passages from Aristotle's Politics will be included. Secondary sources will develop the two theoretical axes mentioned--theories of social evolution and of peasantries and geographical theory.
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