Spring 2021 Class Schedule: Department of Classics

Spring 2021 Class Schedule

Course	Title	Instructor
CLASSICS-101-6	What Makes a Classic?	Weintritt
CLASSICS-101-6 What Makes a Classic? How does a work of literature become a “Classic?” What defines the “classical” style in art, music, and architecture? What belongs in the canon or educational curriculum, and who decides? Most importantly, what do a society’s answers to these questions tell us about their values and their cultural identity? Combining the development of Western classicism with case studies from other cultures, this course examines how the idea of the “Classic” tells a story about where a society comes from through earlier art, architecture, and literature. To answer “What Makes a Classic?,” we’ll divide our attention between the literature and art that constitute the canon and the critical apparatus that maintains this special status for certain works while excluding others. Students of the Spring 2021 course will be introduced to the Deering Library’s renowned Horace collection, which we will use to turn a critical eye towards appropriations of Greco-Roman culture that promote a false narrative of cultural superiority.
Bio coming soon
CLASSICS 212	Roman History and Culture	Terpstra
CLASSICS 212 Roman History and Culture This course is a general survey of Roman history, from the beginnings to the collapse of the Roman Empire. It will trace the story of how a small city state in central Italy built a Mediterranean empire and administered it for centuries; how a long period of crisis led to its decline; and finally how the western half collapsed. The course will also treat several key themes and concepts in Roman culture: the Roman military, gender relations, public spectacles, religion and slavery.
Bio coming soon
CLASSICS 250	Oral Poetry from Homer to Hip-Hop	Radding
CLASSICS 250 Oral Poetry from Homer to Hip-Hop What do Homer, Vyasa, and Kendrick Lamar have in common? All three practiced “oral poetry” – poetry that is improvised or composed extemporaneously before an audience. In this course, we will explore a variety of poetic traditions, beginning with the Homeric epics and weaving our way through the spaces, times, and traditions of Indian epic poets, West African djelis, Slavic bards, and contemporary hip-hop. Along the way, we will study the contents of these poetic traditions, but we will also investigate the modes and moments of poetic creation, and consider the effects of transcribing, and thus rendering immutable, that which was once spontaneous and ever-shifting.
Bio coming soon
CLASSICS 320	The Foundation of Rome through Legends and Objects	Tataranni
CLASSICS 320 The Foundation of Rome through Legends and Objects By conducting a critical survey of the main literary sources available for the study of Rome from her mythic foundation to the establishment of the Republic, this course provides a wide-ranging exploration of how the history of early Rome was shaped through centuries. While exploring the genesis and development of the legendary traditions concerning the beginnings of Rome, students will engage questions which are central to understanding the politics of Roman identity at various stages of the city's growth and expansion. What do the stories of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, the Sabine women, the rape of Lucretia and the expulsion of the kings from Rome tell us about the way the Romans of the Republican and Early Imperial ages conceived of their past? How and with what results did these legends aim at providing mythic justification for the centrality of Rome to the history of the Mediterranean world? Besides examining the historical and political dynamics which account for the fluid, multifaceted, at times even conflicting nature of the literary tradition, students will learn about important archaeological discoveries of the last half-century which have revolutionized our thinking about the origins of Rome.
Bio coming soon
CLASSICS 350 / CLS 301	Comedy and Culture Wars in Antiquity	Radding
CLASSICS 350 / CLS 301 Comedy and Culture Wars in Antiquity Every culture, it would seem, has its wars. In this course, we will examine how the medium of comedy – both on the stage and on the page – has been used as a means to move the needle in these wars, and to force members of their cultures to reflect on the disputes and the debates that raged. Along the way, we will read comic plays by Aristophanes and Plautus, satire from ancient Rome, and many others.
Bio coming soon
CLASSICS 350/ PHIL 310	Shame, Necessity, and Responsibility in Ancient Greek Philosophy and Literature	Marchal
CLASSICS 350/ PHIL 310 Shame, Necessity, and Responsibility in Ancient Greek Philosophy and Literature Description forthcoming.
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CLASSICS 370	Beliefs, Practice, Politics	Weintritt
CLASSICS 370 Beliefs, Practice, Politics Did the Greeks and Romans believe in their myths? How was ancient religion practiced day in and day out? What role did the rites and rules of cult worship play in regulating the lives of citizens and non-citizens, like women and slaves? This course offers an introduction to how religious beliefs and practices shaped life in the ancient Mediterranean by combining literary, material, and comparative evidence. In the second half of the quarter, we take a deeper dive into two religious rites practiced by societal Others—the worship of Bacchus by noble women and the lifelong service to Cybele by castrated priests—and how the high visibility of these norm-breaking individuals in literature lay bare the anxieties of the elite male citizenry.
Bio coming soon
GREEK 115-2	Accelerated Elementary Ancient and Biblical Greek	Platte
GREEK 115-2 Accelerated Elementary Ancient and Biblical Greek This course is the second in a two-term accelerated series designed to teach students to read ancient Greek, making accessible much of the world's most influential literature, from the biblical New Testament to Homeric poetry and Platonic philosophy. In this course we will complete our study of the fundamentals of Greek grammar, making students ready to transition into second-year courses in the New Testament, classical Greek oratory, and Homeric epic. Thereafter students will be able to progress to a wide range of genres from the classical and post-classical periods, including ancient Greek history, poetry, philosophy, drama, and more.
Bio coming soon
GREEK 201-3	Introduction to Greek Literature: Iliad	Platte
GREEK 201-3 Introduction to Greek Literature: Iliad This course is the third and final element of the second-year Greek series. In this course we will read significant sections of Homer’s Iliad in the original language. Students will develop an ability to read the Homeric dialect and gain an understanding of the conventions of ancient epic poetry. As we explore the earliest European literary work we will also survey several important scholarly issues regarding the nature and history of the poem, including the nature of its composition and its place in ancient Greek society.
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LATIN 101-3	Elementary Latin	Tataranni
LATIN 101-3 Elementary Latin Latin 101-3 is the third quarter of the year-long Elementary Latin sequence designed to introduce students to the basic principles of classical Latin grammar and vocabulary. In addition to the review and continued reinforcement of these tools, the class focuses on the development of reading competency and translation skills through a close reading of Cicero’s First Catilinarian Oration with attention to its rhetorical techniques and historical significance.
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LATIN 201-3-20	Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus	Byros
LATIN 201-3-20 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus The third quarter of second-year Latin combines literary analysis of Catullus poems with mastery of grammar and syntax at the intermediate level. This is mainly a workshop course, with discussion focusing on questions to and from members of the course. Though translation will be a component in evaluation, it will be a relatively minor criterion of success. The main topics of discussion will be how meaning and emphasis are communicated in the poetry of Catullus. Though Latin 201-3 concentrates on language skills, it also develops skills of analysis that are foundational for the future study of literature in any language. A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the WCAS language requirement.
Bio coming soon
LATIN 201-3-21	Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus	Byros
LATIN 201-3-21 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus The third quarter of second-year Latin combines literary analysis of Catullus poems with mastery of grammar and syntax at the intermediate level. This is mainly a workshop course, with discussion focusing on questions to and from members of the course. Though translation will be a component in evaluation, it will be a relatively minor criterion of success. The main topics of discussion will be how meaning and emphasis are communicated in the poetry of Catullus. Though Latin 201-3 concentrates on language skills, it also develops skills of analysis that are foundational for the future study of literature in any language. A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the WCAS language requirement.
Bio coming soon
LATIN 310	Christian Reinventions of Latin Literature	Kieckhefer
LATIN 310 Christian Reinventions of Latin Literature The course will examine how Latin literature in late antiquity and in the medieval West did not simply continue classical traditions but self-consciously reinvented them. We will begin with writers who were in direct continuity with classical Latin tradition and gave it Christian inflection (e.g., Prudentius and Faltonia Betitia Proba). Then we will turn to Carolingian writers who in the ninth century reconceived Latin as a literary and liturgical language distinct from the emerging vernaculars. We will see how twelfth-century poets experimented with new forms but were deeply conscious of what they viewed nostalgically as the lost culture of Latin antiquity. Finally we will see how Humanist writers self-consciously reasserted what they viewed as classical alternatives to Scholastic and other recent trends.
Bio coming soon
latin-400	Christian Reinventions of Latin Literature	Kieckhefer
latin-400 Christian Reinventions of Latin Literature The course will examine how Latin literature in late antiquity and in the medieval West did not simply continue classical traditions but self-consciously reinvented them. We will begin with writers who were in direct continuity with classical Latin tradition and gave it Christian inflection (e.g., Prudentius and Faltonia Betitia Proba). Then we will turn to Carolingian writers who in the ninth century reconceived Latin as a literary and liturgical language distinct from the emerging vernaculars. We will see how twelfth-century poets experimented with new forms but were deeply conscious of what they viewed nostalgically as the lost culture of Latin antiquity. Finally we will see how Humanist writers self-consciously reasserted what they viewed as classical alternatives to Scholastic and other recent trends.
Bio coming soon