CLA 101-7 College Seminar: American Classics: Ancient Greece and Rome in Modern Culture and Film
In this course we will examine, and learn how to write about, the role of Ancient Greece and Rome in American film and culture. Preliminary steps in this study will involve introductions to various historic eras of the ancient Greco-Roman world as well as important elements of ancient culture. Our emphasis will, however, not be analysis of antiquity itself but rather of recent American engagement with that antiquity, particularly in film. We will examine not just how antiquity perseveres in American culture, but how popular art creatively and critically engages with inherited Classical traditions. We will also consider engagement with Classical antiquity in some non-cinematic media as well, such as the graphic novel and even the architecture of the city of Chicago.
In addition to the scholarly elements of this course, it will also serve as an introduction to college life itself. We will learn about specific resources on campus that exist to enable student success as well as discuss student well-being and personal success strategies. Your instructor will be your academic advisor this term and this will incorporate advising related activities to help students succeed not only in this class but at the university generally.
What do we know of the world inhabited by the heroes of Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey? Do the poems describe a largely imaginary realm, or do they reflect a particular period of ancient Greek history—and if so, which one? How did the circulation of the poems help contribute to a collective sense of Greek identity over a wide area of the eastern Mediterranean?
This course explores the society, economy, and culture of Iron Age Greece with special emphasis on the Geometric and early Archaic periods, emphasizing what scholars have learned through archaeological discoveries along with study of the poems themselves. Topics include the excavations at Troy and other sites; contacts with Egypt and the Near East and overseas settlements in the Mediterranean world; trade, exchange, and the technology of travel; literacy and oral tradition; political communities and warfare; gender and family relationships; religion, burial practices, and the art of ritual and commemoration. We will also examine some of the ways scholars and artists today are re-exploring the poems and their enduring themes.
The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the mythology of the ancient Greek world and to develop tools for using it to improve and interrogate our own understanding of ancient Greek culture. Our focus will be on the mythology of the Greek Archaic and Classical periods, for which we will cover the most of important myths that our sources preserve for us. Beyond the facts of the myths, however, we will study the nature of the literary, historical, and archaeological sources from which they come, their historical circumstances and generic characteristics. This will allow us to consider in an informed way the relationship between evidence, culture, and even author. In doing so we will consider what these myths reveal about cultural attitudes and realities of life in the ancient Greek world for all its inhabitants: Greek and non-Greek, native and immigrant, free and enslaved.
CLA 310 Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean: The Archaeology of Athens
Athens was a renowned center of politics, art, religion, and culture throughout antiquity, and even today many of the ancient city’s archaeological features remain as prominent landmarks. This course will examine the topography, archeology, and history of Athens from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman period. In particular, the course will explore how ancient Athenian notions of identity, nationalism, and aesthetics were formed, perpetuated, and challenged through the city’s rich material footprint and urban development. We will ask questions including: How did the religious, political, and social topographies of the city interact with one another? How did certain spaces develop over time to suit the city’s changing needs? How were canons of aesthetics formed and integrated into the city-state’s fabric? In this course, we will also survey Athenian funerary and festival practices, discuss cultural institutions like the theater and the gymnasium, and examine how Athenian gender norms were reflected in material culture. Finally, we will discuss the benefits and limitations of material culture as evidence and how Euro-American receptions of Athens have shaped the field of Classics (the issue of Atheno-centrism). This course fulfills the college’s Advanced Expression requirement.
CLA 314 Topics in Ancient Science and Technology: Ancient Astronomy
This course will explore the history of European and Near Eastern astronomy from the 7th century BCE to the 6th century CE. Students will learn the fundamentals of the geocentric model, ancient methods of observation, and traditions of cosmology. We will study the history of time-reckoning and calendar-making, as well as portrayals of astronomy and celestial phenomena in myth and literature. In addition to reading ancient texts, students will also make their own observations using models of ancient instruments and the methods of ancient astronomers.
CLA 320 Greek and Roman History: Constantinople: Monuments, People, Texts
Constantinople is no more. Officially, it was renamed Istanbul by the Turkish authorities in 1930, but practically, it acquired this name in 1453, when Eastern Roman Empire vanished from the face of the earth. For more than a thousand years, Constantinople remained the largest, wealthiest, and most famous city in the world. The ancient Slavs admiringly called it Tsargrad—"the Emperor-City," while the ancient Scandinavians knew it as Miklagard—"the Great City." Only scarce remains of Constantinople still protrude here and there in today's Istanbul: no more than a hundred monuments from the Middle Age have survived: churches, aqueducts, walls etc., and in our course, we will certainly explore and discuss them. After studying the ancient underground reservoirs preserved in modern-day city, we will discuss how water was sourced and used in this unique metropolis, which does not stand on any flowing water. Looking at the triumphal columns, we will explore the magical beliefs and sorceries associated with them. Examining the remains of palaces, we will read about the times when court ceremonies required nobles to dance and how many times a day the emperor changed his clothes and what his various garments were. We will read about taverns and barracks, brothels and prisons, orphanages and monasteries. But most importantly, by studying texts, we will learn about the people of Constantinople—so different from us, yet in many ways remarkably similar.
CLA 370 Greek and Roman Religion: Ancient Sacrifice: Belief and Ritual
How could humans forge meaningful and sustainable relationships with the gods, when the gods were believed to be infinitely more powerful than they were? This class will examine the ancient practice of offering sacrifice to the gods broadly across the Mediterranean basin, exploring a wide range of geographies, beliefs, customs, religions, and sources. The act of sacrifice, practiced in ancient Greece, Rome, the Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, was practiced for a variety of reasons related to appeasing, supplicating, and currying favor with the gods. We will consider all types of sacrifice, including animal, vegetal, liquid, and even human offerings to the gods, while considering how concepts including expiation, catharsis, supplication, substitution, communion, and authority factored into the ritual. How did this ritual develop in response to changing or sustained religious beliefs? Did the gods of the ancient world eat the blood and flesh of sacrifices? What about the various minority groups in antiquity who rejected the practice of sacrifice? Throughout the class, students will examine the art historical, archaeological, and literacy evidence for this practice, while also critiquing different lenses and theoretical approaches to sacrifice.
CLA 380 / HUM 325 Classical Reception Studies: Ancient Rome in Chicago
Ancient Rome is visible in Chicago—walk the city and learn to “read” the streets, buildings, and monuments that showcase Chicago’s engagement with the classical past! You’ll gain digital mapping and video editing skills as you collaborate on a virtual walking tour mapping Chicago’s ongoing dialogue with antiquity. With a combination of experiential learning and rigorous research methodologies, you’ll explore architecture, history, visual arts, and urban topography in this quintessential modern American city.
GREEK 201-1 Introduction to Greek Literature: New Testament
This first course of the second-year Greek series is designed to build fluency in reading ancient Greek as students transition from the study of grammar to literature. This course will introduce students to the Greek New Testament, particularly the Gospel of Mark, the oldest and shortest of the Gospels, which students will read nearly in its entirety as they review the grammar, vocabulary, and morphology learned in first-year Greek. Additionally, students will read selections from other New Testament texts and apocrypha, as well as some other 1st – 4th century Greek literature, as we investigate how this unique genre functions.
GREEK 301 Readings in Greek Literature: Socrates the Joke: Aristophanes' Clouds
Aristophanes' Clouds portrays Socrates and his students as ridiculous comic figures. We will read the Clouds in the original Greek, with an eye to how this depiction contradicts and corroborates Socrates' other literary appearances. In addition, students will learn the history, structure, and legacy of Greek Old Comedy.
Latin 101-1 is the first quarter of the year-long Elementary Latin sequence designed to introduce students to the basic principles of classical Latin grammar and syntax. In addition to the mastering of these basic tools, the course will focus on vocabulary acquisition and the development of translation skills and reading competency necessary to read, understand, and translate simple passages in both adapted and unadapted Latin. In addition to the exercises and readings included in the textbooks, students will see and read Latin as it appeared on ancient monuments, walls, coins, and everyday objects. By uniting the study of language and culture, this course provides unique insight into the daily life of the people who spoke Latin in the Roman world.
LATIN 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Cicero's Pro Caelio
This first course of the 2nd year Latin series is designed to build fluency and proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. Students will be introduced to the work of Marcus Tullius Cicero, who, in the late Republic, emerged as Rome’s most skilled public speaker. We will read one of Cicero’s most famous speeches, Pro Caelio, in which Cicero defends the aristocratic Marcus Caelius Rufus, notably by attacking the (allegedly) debauched lifestyle of Caelius’ former lover, Clodia. Time in class will be spent reading the Latin text and reviewing essential points of grammar and syntax, as well as discussions that will deepen students’ appreciation of Roman oratory, Cicero’s style, and the political and social context of the late Roman Republic.
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: Memory and Prophecy in Vergil's Aeneid
The proem of the Aeneid promises to include a sweeping course of events from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome. But in fact its main narrative delivers very little of this action, adhering instead to an ancient preference for abbreviated plots. This class will investigate how Aeneas’ past and Rome’s future nevertheless find their way into the Aeneid through two narrative tools: memory and prophecy. As we shall see, memory is faulty, and prophecy is full of half-truths. Without the poet’s endorsement of any one version of events, we are left to piece together the story of Rome’s rise from Troy’s ashes on our own.
This course is ideal for students who want to bring their appreciation of the Aeneid to a new level by immersing themselves in the poem and its scholarship. Special attention will be paid to gaining fluency reading Latin and to developing a point of view in current critical debates. For graduate students, additional meetings will be curated around research interests.
