Classics 101-6 First-Year Seminar: Justice, Punishment, and Revenge in Ancient Greek Literature
All of us have a sense of justice, and, whether we like it or not, all of us feel the pull to punish and exact revenge on those who’ve done us or others wrong. This is no truer for us than it was for the ancient Greeks, who, like us, grappled with these sentiments in their literature. In this course, we’ll study their masterful portrayals and examinations of justice, punishment, and revenge in mythology, epic and lyric poetry, history, drama, forensic speeches, and philosophy. Our goal will be not merely to understand ancient Greek literary attitudes towards our themes, but also to gain a deeper understanding of our own views about them. No less importantly, we will improve our interpretive and argumentative skills by way of seminar discussion and written assignments.
Classics 211-0 Greek History and Culture: From Homer to Alexander the Great
This course will serve as an introduction to the history, culture, and peoples of the Ancient Greek world between the age of Homer (c. 7th century BCE) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE). Our emphasis will be on social, political, artistic, and intellectual developments across the period. We will pay special attention to the unique nature of ancient Athenian democracy as well as the politics and culture of other city-states, including Sparta. Our primary sources will be literary, but we will also examine evidence from ancient art and archaeology for unique insights into ancient people's lives, ideas, and values.
Classics 320-0 Greek and Roman History: Thucydides The Peloponnesian War
Thucydides’ account of the war between Athens and Sparta is widely considered one of the world’s greatest histories, and a foundational text for Political Science. In addition, current work has progressively exposed the writer Thucydides as highly charged and a remarkable literary artist. Thucydides’ literary brilliance, including his drive to tell a great story, has contributed to an increasing unease about his historical judgments and even his representations of fact. What factors shaped Thucydides' account? And how far can we reconstruct a history of this war independent of his testimony? Weekly two-page papers. No midterm or final exam.
Classics 350-0 Greek and Latin Literature: Women of the Trojan War: Ancient and Modern Adaptations
Homer, the Roman poet Statius tells us, left some things out. In this course, we’ll study the long history of supplementing Homer’s epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, by revisiting the experiences of mythical women, from the early fragmentary poems of Sappho to the 2018 novel, The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. Combining literary and visual evidence, this course examines the techniques by which authors writing in the wake of Homer intersect with brief moments in his foundational poems to authorize new stories for Helen, Penelope, Briseis and others. Along the way, we’ll apply the theories and methods of modern fan studies, narratology, and adaptation studies to the evolving story-world of ancient Greek and Roman myth.
Classics 380-0 Classics and Reception: 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.
Classics 397-0 Exhibiting Antiquity: The Culture and Politics of Display
How do institutions such as museums, along with other created contexts such as websites and archaeological sites developed as tourist destinations, shape and construct our notions of the past? How are these institutions enmeshed with broader cultural and political agendas regarding cultural identity and otherness, the formation of artistic canons, and even the concept of ancient art? This course explores modern strategies of collecting and display of material culture from ancient Egypt, the Middle East, Greece, and Rome, both in Europe and the United States and in their present-day homelands.
The course approaches the construction of ancient Mediterranean, Egyptian, and Near Eastern art through modes of reception over the past two centuries. By analyzing programs of collecting and display, it seeks to understand both the development of modern scholarship in ancient art and the intersection of institutional and scholarly programs. Topics examined include the historical development of modern display practices in public and private museums; notions of authenticity and identity; issues of cultural heritage and patrimony; temporary and “blockbuster” shows; virtual exhibitions and museums; and the archaeological site as a locus of display. Chicago-area museums will provide important resources for studying firsthand examples of temporary and long-term installations.
This is the first course in the second-year ancient Greek series, designed to transition students into reading unaltered ancient texts while introducing them to some of the most important works written in the language. This first course will cover the Greek of the New Testament, introducing students to the history and idiosyncrasies of the texts, and allowing them their first real opportunity to know an ancient work in the original language. Accordingly, this course will focus on the gospel of Mark, the oldest, and shortest, of the gospels, which we will read nearly in its entirety. We will read selections from other gospels as well, to study the relationship between the texts. This course will also serve as a review of the grammar learned in first-year Greek and will include homework and classwork specifically geared toward that end.
Set in primordial times, Prometheus Bound dramatizes the conflict that led newly installed divine ruler Zeus to chain and torture the Titan Prometheus, dispenser of fire and inventor of all human techniques. The play offers a fascinating reflection on such themes as tyranny, justice, divine order, and the respective role of technology and political values in human societies. Its original production would have amounted to a spectacular performance, complete with a flying entrance by Oceanus, a virtuoso piece of solo dancing by Io, and a final cataclysm. We will read most of the tragedy in Greek and discuss its significance in the context of fifth-century Athens.
Elementary Latin is a year-long course designed to provide students with the basic skills for reading, understanding, and translating both Latin prose and poetry. In the first quarter of the sequence students acquire knowledge of the essential grammar of the Latin language and basic Latin vocabulary, and develop an ability to read, understand, and translate simple passages in both adapted and unadapted Latin. In addition, the course provides an introduction to Roman culture and history.
Latin 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
Latin 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
Latin 310-0 Readings in Latin Literature: Memory and Prophecy in the Aeneid
The poem of the Aeneid promises a sweeping course of events from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome. But its main narrative actually 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.
