| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| CLASSIC 36B | CLASSICAL GREECE | CLAXTON, C. | Same as History 36B. This course is a survey of classical Greece 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 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 45B | THE HEROES | KARANIKA, A. | This course will concentrate on 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. The grade for this course will be based on five exams, each of which will have a combination of multiple-choice questions and short essay questions. |
| CLASSIC 99 | SPEC STDS:CLASSICS | STAFF | |
| CLASSIC 160 | ROMAN EPIC | ZISSOS, A. | This course will examine the development of the Roman epic tradition, with a particular focus on Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Lucan’s Pharsalia, all read in translation. We will consider these epic poems both as adventure narratives (whether mythical or ‘historical’) and as ideologically driven texts developing various imperialist themes that touch on national destiny and the greatness of the Roman empire. |
| CLASSIC 170 | CLASSICAL GREEK ART | KENNEDY-QUIGLE, S. | This course will examine the art and architecture of the Greek civilization from the end of the Persian War to the death of Alexander “the Great” of Macedon (ca. 480-323 B.C.E.). Particular attention will be directed to how religion, politics, and historical events inform visual culture during the Classical Age. Organized chronologically, this investigation of art in context will trace the development and evolution of style, iconography, the human figure, propaganda in art, and viewer response. Prior exposure to the Classical tradition is helpful, but not required or presumed. Course requirements include participation in class discussions relative to required readings, a research paper, and midterm and final examinations. |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | CLAXTON, C. | Under the guidance of a faculty mentor, 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 200A | AESTHETICS OF LIFE | PORTER, J. | Why do Hume and others speak of the vivacity of aesthetic judgment? We speak of life
imitating art or art imitating life, but does life have its own aesthetic principles? What is the
relationship between biology and art? Why do we need art? What vital functions if any does
art fulfill?
This seminar will explore the intersection of aesthetics and life, taking our cue from two
major authors, Aristotle and Kant. Aesthetics is normally relegated to the realm of art or
nature. But a powerful if underexplored thread runs through the Western aesthetic tradition
that connects aesthetics to its root meanings of sensation and perception, and from there to
the vital functions of life. To be alive is to be an aesthetic subject; to sense the world is to
create values (distinctions). Aristotle and Kant both betray a hidden agenda behind their
more well known aesthetics of poetics and judgment, respectively—one that has to do with
the most basic human capacities to think and to feel. The aim of this seminar will be
threefold: to explore this alternative strand in aesthetics; to look closely at the surrounding
corpus of writings in Aristotle and Kant that feeds into their aesthetics; and to give students
an opportunity to branch off in their own directions for a final paper, depending upon their
own research interests. The seminar will start out with readings from Dewey and Saito on
everyday aesthetics, then turn to Kant (first and third Critiques, selections), and then
Aristotle (Poetics, Ethics, Parts of Animals, On the Soul, sels.). As time permits, related
supplemental readings will be provided to enrich the discussion (e.g., Bataille and others
on archaeoaesthetics). No prerequisites apart from graduate standing. Seminar
presentations and a final paper. |
| CLASSIC 220 | HOMERIC PROBLEMS | PORTER, J. | The seminar will offer an introduction to the Iliad and Odyssey by way of a series of Homeric
problems and readings (e.g., the Homeric question, the gods, Homeric aesthetics, the
authenticity of select passages, the language of Achilles, poetic memory, poetic self-
reflexivity, etc.). By the end of the term, students will have read a good amount of Homer in
the original and have grappled with some of the foundations and a selection of
contemporary scholarship. Grades to be determined by a midterm test in Greek (partly
sight), weekly or bi-weekly presentations, and a short final seminar paper (12 pp).
Class Website: https://sites.google.com/site/homericproblems/ (for updates) |
| 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 | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | 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. | |