CLA 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar: What Makes a Classic?
How does a work of literature become a “classic?” What separates a classic from all the other good books that exist? What belongs in our educational curriculum or “What to Watch” lists, and who decides? In this course, students will practice "thinking through writing" as we divide our attention between one classic, Vergil's [Aeneid], and the critical apparatus that has maintained its special status for millennia.
CLA 211 Greek History and Culture: From Homer to Alexander the Great
This course will act as an introductory survey course to Greek history and civilization from the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Hellenistic Period. The course will be interdisciplinary, using art, archaeology, and literature in all units. Topics covered will include: Homer and societal ideals, the formation of the polis, the development of religion and sanctuaries, trends in material and literary culture, the development of theatre, social institutions, and major historical events. Our inquiry will be focused through the following lenses: Sources and Bias: what evidence do we have access to, and what is missing? Greece and their Neighbors: how was power negotiated and how did international relations develop? Identity: how did politics intertwine with other elements of socio-cultural self-fashioning? Exceptionalism: How does the notion of Athenian exceptionalism shape our understanding of ancient Greek history?
CLA 245 Classics and the Cinema: Ancient Greeks and Romans on the Big Screen
This course examines the phenomenon of adaptations of Greco-Roman narratives to the languages and conditions of modern cinematography. The class begins with an overview of the framework and methods of Reception Studies, and a short account of some technical tools and terminology necessary to appropriately examine the audiovisual aspects of film. Equipped with these analytical instruments, we will discuss selected ancient narratives, both mythological and historical, and then interrogate the mechanisms through which those stories have been adapted to the technological apparatuses, sociocultural expectations, and economic dynamics constitutive of the practice of modern filmmaking. Through an eclectic selection of film adaptations from different periods and parts of the world, we will interrogate the ways world cinema negotiates between the “old” and the “new,” both by deploying visual and narrative techniques to depict ancient motifs, and by using those tales to convey modern historical preoccupations, political ideals, and cultural expectations.
CLA 310 Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean: The Archaeology of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae
The cities buried by Mt Vesuvius hold an undying place in the modern imagination. Tourists marvel at the size of the sites and empathize with the plight of the towns’ inhabitants. However, Campania’s destroyed cities have more to offer than the story of the 79 AD volcanic eruption. Rather than present a static picture of Campania’s towns as “frozen in time,” this course takes a diachronic approach to the rich archaeological material. Campania was not originally Roman territory and was conquered by force of arms. Pompeii, often seen as an archetypal Roman town, was not Roman at all for most of its existence. Still, at the time of the eruption Campania’s cities had been thoroughly Romanized; they are now famous for the evidence they provide for Roman daily life. This course will survey key aspects of the evidence, as well as current archaeological techniques and fieldwork. The course will also discuss the 18th and 19th century uncovering of Campania’s cities, which is a story in its own right.
It is perhaps unsurprising that our time - obsessed as it is with GDP growth, the ups and downs of the stock market, inflation rates, the trade deficit - produces scholarship that studies the ancient Roman economy. This scholarship has made us increasingly aware of how different Rome was from the modern world. This course will focus on what that difference means for the realities of everyday life. Questions to be addressed are: What did economic growth mean for the economy of the Romans? Can we even measure it? What role did energy consumption play in economic performance? What was the role of social class in business? What was the influence of a demographic regime with low life expectancy? How was trade conducted over long distances without fast means of communication and transportation? What was the role of technology and technological progress in the economy?
CLA 370 Greek and Roman Religion: Sacred Space in the Ancient Mediterranean
Religion permeated every aspect of life in the ancient Mediterranean. Even though it was believed that one could encounter the gods anywhere, some places were more sacred than others, and over time the concept of a sanctuary formed. This course will investigate sacred spaces in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on Greece and Rome. We will ask: what made one place more sacred than others? What activities and rituals occurred in a sanctuary? How can we recognize a sanctuary archaeologically, and how were they discussed in ancient literature? By investigating ancient sacred spaces, students will explore the social, political, and economic realities and imaginations of religious spaces as they effected polities, empires, and interconnected cultures.
The complex cultural and literary corpus of the so-called “Greco-Roman classics,” or simply “the classics,” has for centuries constituted a major instance of world literature. Classical narratives and motifs largely transcended their local audiences to become the subject of intense forms of appropriation and adaptation—processes which, far from merely seeking to reproduce “original” texts, redefined their content in accordance with various ideological premises and interests. By this account, the notion of “the classics” turns out to be somehow paradoxical: while the classics have been imagined as canonical rulers of artistic style and propriety, they have simultaneously been subordinated to the varied interests of those who defended their canonical stature.
In this polymorphic and often contradictory deployment, the history of classical reception permits us to trace a fascinating network of texts and periods that seem difficult to associate otherwise. Consider, for example, the following questions: How did Christian writers justify their fascination with ancient authors whom they also dismissed as pagan? How was the “discovery of America” connected to ancient writers who knew nothing about the so-called “New World”? Why did the classics become instrumental in the French and American revolutions and classical iconography become representative of new republics? Why would mythological characters such as Oedipus and Narcissus become the expressions of unconscious predicaments in modern psycho-therapeutic models? Why are the classics still fundamental modes of reference and expression in contemporary art?
We will approach these questions through case studies of major motifs from the Greek and Roman classics and their reception in later periods. We will read and discuss traditional literary pieces (narrative and poetic) but also examine non-fictional texts (e.g., philosophical and political writing) and other forms of expression (comic books, architecture, films, video games, etc.). Assignments will include exams, quizzes, class presentations, essays, and a group project.
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. We will also read longer passages of unaltered Greek, including passages from the New Testament and a song of Sappho. 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.
GREEK 201-3 Introduction to Greek Literature: The 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.
Latin 101-3 is the third quarter of the yearlong elementary Latin sequence designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of classical Latin. Alongside the grammatical material in this class, students will work on expanding their Latin vocabulary and developing the basic skills for reading Latin texts that are necessary to continue successfully in the second year. Throughout the quarter, class meetings will be devoted to grammar review and completing Chapters 32-40 of Wheelock's Latin. Students will also read extensive selections from the Letters of Pliny the Younger.
LATIN 201-3-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus
Latin 201-3 is the third quarter of the second-year Latin sequence designed to combine mastery of grammar and vocabulary with literary analysis at the intermediate level. The central focus of the course is an exploration of how meaning and emphasis are expressed in the poetry of Catullus. Structured primarily as a workshop, the course emphasizes collaborative discussion driven by student questions. Translation will be included in assessment but will constitute a relatively small portion of the overall evaluation. While the course continues to strengthen students' Latin language skills, it also fosters interpretive skills fundamental to the study of literature in any language.
A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the Weinberg language proficiency requirement.
LATIN 201-3-2 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus
Latin 201-3 is the third quarter of the second-year Latin sequence designed to combine mastery of grammar and vocabulary with literary analysis at the intermediate level. The central focus of the course is an exploration of how meaning and emphasis are expressed in the poetry of Catullus. Structured primarily as a workshop, the course emphasizes collaborative discussion driven by student questions. Translation will be included in assessment but will constitute a relatively small portion of the overall evaluation. While the course continues to strengthen students' Latin language skills, it also fosters interpretive skills fundamental to the study of literature in any language.
A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the Weinberg language proficiency requirement.
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: Writing Rome: Memory, Landscape, and the Idea of the City
“The city of Rome is built not only of bricks and marble but also of the words of its writers. For the ancient inhabitant or visitor, the buildings of Rome, the public spaces of the city, were crowded with meanings and associations. These meanings were generated partly through activities associated with particular places, but Rome also took on meanings from literature written about the city: stories of its foundation, praise of its splendid buildings, laments composed by those obliged to leave it.” Catharine Edwards, "Writing Rome: Textual Approaches to the City," CUP, 1996
By bringing together a variety of texts, this course investigates how writers of the Augustan age such as Livy, Propertius, and Ovid engaged with the material city—its geography, natural features, and built environment—to explore the complexities of Roman history, power, and identity.
