CLASSIC Course Descriptions for 2009-2010

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Winter Course Descriptions
CourseTitleInstructorDescription
CLASSIC 5LAT/GR ROOTS IN ENGSTAFFStudies in the formation of use of English words from Greek and Latin derivatives. Particularly useful for first-year students who wish to augment their vocabulary systemically. No prerequisites.
CLASSIC 36BCLASSICAL GREECECLAXTON, C.Same as History 36B. This course is a survey of classical Greece society and its main cultural achievements, specifically in the fields of literature, philosophy, historiography, and art. Special attention will be paid to these achievements as a reaction or response to the major historical events of the period and their overall cultural settings. Readings will include selections from the works of ancient authors such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato and others.
CLASSIC 45BTHE HEROESZISSOS, P.This course will concentrate of myths about ancient heroes, such as Hercules, Odysseus, Jason and those featured in the Trojan and Theban Saga. The overall goal is to understand the nature of the heroic, as depicted by ancient writers and artists, and to appreciate the ways in which the ancient Greeks used myths in order to interpret their world.
CLASSIC 98GROUP STUDYSTAFF
CLASSIC 99SPEC STDS:CLASSICSSTAFF
CLASSIC 150CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGYGIANNOPOULOU, Z.This course focuses on literary appropriations--both classical and contemporary--of various Greek divinities and heroes, such as Hades, Hercules, Theseus, and Prometheus. Some of the issues we shall grapple with are: the plasticity of myth; sociopolitical influences on the literary adaptations of myths; gender and myth; psychoanalysis and myth.
CLASSIC 160WTHE ART OF TRAGEDYPORTER, J.This course will offer students an insight into the art of Greek tragedy through a selection of plays by the three surviving Athenian tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) along with some commentary on tragic theory, both ancient and modern (Aristotle, Plato, and later). Coverage will include a brief history of the genre, its evolution, conditions of performance, and its cultural context, but the main focus will be on the nature of tragedy and tragic effects and on the specific workings of the plays we read in class together. No prerequisites. Course site (for syllabus, required books, and updates): http://sites.google.com/site/theartoftradedysite/
CLASSIC 170ANCIENT GREEK SEXUALITYGIANNOPOULOU, Z.This course focuses on ancient Greek sexuality and sexual behavior as historical knowledge and as they relate to our own attitudes, values, and practices. We examine both the ancient texts and other evidence, along with the interpretations scholars have placed upon them, and attempt to assess the nature and extent of our knowledge of ancient Greek sexual mores. Topics of examination: 'natural' and 'social' constructions of sexuality; sex, and violence; marriage; male/female prostitution and the law; homosexuality; pederasty and pornography.
CLASSIC 192ASENIOR CAPSTONECLAXTON, C.Under the guidance of a faculty member, majors design and execute a senior project. This project may be a research paper, dramatic production, school curriculum, etc. All projects must be approved by the faculty mentor. Prerequisite: satisfactory completion of the lower-division writing requirement. 192A: In-progress grading.
CLASSIC 200CFLAVIAN ROME IN ITS CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL CONTEXTSZISSOS, A.In this course we will undertake a wide-ranging examination of the Flavian Age (69-96 CE), in which Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian ruled as Rome’s short-lived second imperial dynasty. We will consider political developments, along with the material and social dimensions of Flavian culture, examined through the prism of social scientific and other theory.
CLASSIC 220HISTORY OF LATINVINE, B.This course explores the linguistic history of the Latin language, with primary attention to the position of Latin among the languages of ancient Italy, the development of Latin phonology and morphology from their sources in Proto-Indo-European, archaic and dialectal features of pre-classical texts (both literary and epigraphic, including a concise introduction to Latin epigraphy), the evaluation of archaic and dialectal features in classical authors, the development of the literary language, and fundamentals of the evolution of post-classical Latin. These major topics provide a framework for addressing more specialized issues, such as the following: Classical Latin pronunciation (and other pedagogical applications of Latin linguistics); historical-comparative metrics and the Saturnian meter; the nature of Faliscan (Latin's closest Italic relative) and "Osco-Umbrian" (including the newly-interpreted South Picene tests), and the reconstruction of Proto-Italic religion and poetics; origins and development of the Latin alphabet, and trends in the development of Latin writing and orthography; the linguistic basis of the alliterative tradition in Latin prose and poetry; practical experience with the major linguistic handbooks and lexica; evaluation of linguistic/etymological arguments in literary and textual analysis. Lecture/seminar format, with one in-class presentation and choice between final exam or paper.
CLASSIC 280INDEPENDENT STUDYCLAXTON, C.
CLASSIC 280INDEPENDENT STUDYGIANNOPOULOU, Z.
CLASSIC 280INDEPENDENT STUDYPANTELIA, M.
CLASSIC 280INDEPENDENT STUDYPORTER, J.
CLASSIC 280INDEPENDENT STUDYZISSOS, P.
CLASSIC 290RESEARCH IN CLASSICCLAXTON, C.
CLASSIC 290RESEARCH IN CLASSICZISSOS, P.
CLASSIC 290RESEARCH IN CLASSICPANTELIA, M.