| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLASSIC 37B | ROMAN EMPIRE | ZISSOS, P. | 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 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 150 | THE UNDERWORLD | SNYDER, R. | The Underworld: Ancient Literature on Life, Death, and Regeneration. Taking a spatial or topographical approach to mythology, this course will explore the significance of “the underworld” to ancient Greek and Roman thought. We will explore the role of the underworld in ancient cosmologies, examine its importance to notions of (im)mortality and terrestrial fertility, and investigate the central role of “the descent” in the ancient hero’s quest. To explore these ideas, we will read such authors as Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Virgil, Lucretius, Ovid, and others. These readings will be supplemented with critical and theoretical texts, and the course will conclude with a look at more modern adaptations of these ideas in literature. |
| CLASSIC 160 | ROMAN EPIC | SNYDER, R. | This course will explore the amazing vitality of epic poetry in late republican and early imperial Rome. While a close reading of Virgil’s foundational Aeneid will be the centerpiece of this course, Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura and selections of Ovid’s Metamorphoses will offer evidence of the breadth and variety of Roman epic. The beginnings of the epic tradition in Rome will be examined through the fragments of archaic poets, such as Ennius, and Catullus’ epyllion, poem 64, will provide insight into later variations on epic tropes. These readings will be informed by critical texts that examine the historical and social context in which they appeared, as well as broader considerations of the genre’s relation to notions of gender, nature, and national identity. |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 192A | SENIOR CAPSTONE | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 198 | DIRECTED GROUP STDY | STAFF | |
| CLASSIC 280 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | ZISSOS, P. | |
| 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 | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 290 | RESEARCH IN CLASSIC | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | CLAXTON, C. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | GIANNOPOULOU, Z. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | KARANIKA, A. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | PANTELIA, M. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | ZISSOS, P. | |
| CLASSIC 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | MILES, M. |