Courses in Classical Civilization
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
The following courses in classical civilization do not require a knowledge of Greek or Latin.
Please note that the distinction between courses in classical civilization at the 100 level and 200 level is not one of difficulty. Rather, courses at the 100 level are broad surveys while those at the 200 level tend to have a narrower focus.
CLAS 101 Greek Literature
Credit: 0.5
This course is a survey of masterpieces of Greek literature set in historical context, from the Archaic through the Hellenistic period, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the poetry of Sappho, and plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Through our reading we will work toward a better understanding of the texts themselves, the people and the culture that produced them, and the continuing relevance they hold for us today. Appropriate for first-year students, but open to all, the course is foundational for the classics major and minor. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
Instructor: Hahnemann
CLAS 102 Latin Literature
Credit: 0.5
This course is a survey of masterpieces of Latin literature set in historical context, from the Republic through the Empire, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence, the histories of Livy and Tacitus, the biographies of Suetonius, the speeches and letters of Cicero, and the poetry of Catullus, Horace, Vergil, Ovid, and Lucan. Through our reading, we will work toward a better understanding of the texts themselves, the people and the culture that produced them, and the continuing relevance they hold for us today. Appropriate for first-year students, but open to all, the course is foundational for the classics major and minor. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
CLAS 111 Greek History
Credit: 0.5
This course surveys the history of ancient Greece from its occluded origins in the pre-Homeric past to the widespread diffusion of Hellenic culture that accompanied the conquests of Alexander the Great. At the heart of the course will be a careful study of the emergence and development of the Greek city-state in its various incarnations. The course will provide a solid grounding in political history but will also explore aspects of the cultural milieu--for example, religion, sexual mores, and the economy--that fostered some of the greatest literary and artistic works produced by Western civilization. We will read from the celebrated Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as from a variety of other sources, ranging from the familiar to the recondite. The course will combine lecture and discussion. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
Instructor: Serfass
CLAS 112 Roman History
Credit: 0.5
This course surveys the history of the ancient Romans from their early years as a negligible people in central Italy, to their emergence as the supreme power in the Mediterranean, and, finally, to the eve of their displacement as rulers of the greatest empire in antiquity. The course combines a chronological account of the Romans' remarkable political history with an examination of Roman society, including subjects such as gender, demography, and slavery. We will read from a variety of ancient sources, including the historians Polybius, Livy, and Tacitus and the poets Horace and Vergil. We will also mine the evidence offered by coins, inscriptions, papyri, and even graffiti, which provide invaluable insight into the realia of daily life. The course will combine lecture and discussion. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
Instructor: Serfass
CLAS 121 Greek Archaeology
Credit: 0.5
This course introduces the techniques and methods of classical archaeology as revealed through an examination of Greek material culture. Emphasis will be placed on the major monuments and artifacts of the Greek world from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. Along with sculpture, architecture, and painting, we will examine coinage, epigraphy, and other material remains that reveal aspects of life in ancient Greece. The course will be based on slide lectures with assigned readings to supplement the images seen and discussed in class. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
Instructor: Kontes
CLAS 122 Roman Archaeology
Credit: 0.5
This course offers an introduction to the artistic, architectural, and archaeological remains of ancient Italy and the Roman Empire from c. 900 BCE to 330 CE. We will study Roman material culture from its early beginnings under Etruscan influence through the era of the Roman republic, the imperial period, the rise of Christianity, and the dissolution of the empire. We will examine architecture, sculpture, pottery, and numismatics in their social and political contexts, with the goal of understanding all aspects of Roman society and those under Roman rule. The course will be based on slide lectures with assigned readings to supplement the images seen and discussed in class. No prerequisites. Offered every other year.
Instructor: Kontes
CLAS 130 Classical Mythology
Credit: 0.5
It is impossible to understand the literatures of the West without some knowledge of classical mythology. Not only are some myths wildly entertaining, they permeate popular imagination and life to this day. This course focuses on the evidence from ancient Greece and Rome but may also include material from other traditions. Class discussion will explore some of the overarching themes contained within the myths themselves and also how these stories have influenced modern culture through literature and art. At the same time, students will have a chance to observe how the treatment of different myths changes from author to author, thus revealing what issues were important to the people who told them. No prerequisites. Offered every year.
CLAS 202 Sophocles
Credit: 0.5
The life of Sophocles coincides very nearly with the rise and fall of the Athenian Empire: he was a boy when Athens led Greece to victory over Persia, and he died just before Athens in turn was devastated. In the intervening ninety years, he played a prominent role both in the military and in the religious life of his city. Most importantly, though, he wrote and produced more than one hundred plays, only seven of which survive intact, while we have some scraps of the others. In this course we will take the time to read through (almost) the complete works of Sophocles twice, exploring such pervasive themes as the justice of the universe, the social institution of the family, and the (im)possibility of human heroism. Thus our seminar will take us through fifth-century Athens into the mythical world of Oedipus, Antigone, Heracles, and many others. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Hahnemann
CLAS 208 Homer, Vergil, and the Ancient Epic
Credit: 0.5
This course will examine in depth the three greatest works in the loftiest genre of ancient Greek and Roman poetry: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Vergil's Aeneid. The aim will be to achieve a thorough appreciation of the poetic technique of Homer and Vergil and the literary qualities that so profoundly influenced other ancient poets and later Western literatures. Because these works stand at the head of European literature, study of them will also provide the opportunity to consider fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of literature. To help put these masterpieces into the broader context of ancient epic poetry and sense something of their influence, we will also read two versions of the story of Jason and the Argonauts, composed by the Greek poet Apollonius Rhodius and the Roman Valerius Flaccus, the latter in a new verse translation by the instructor of the course. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Barich
CLAS 210 Greek and Roman Drama
Credit: 0.5
In this course we will explore ancient drama as an artform that is deeply rooted in the specific historical context where it originated and yet continues to resonate powerfully with audiences all over the world today. Readings will be taken from the works of such famous playwrights as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Terence, and Seneca. The scope and format of the course will vary from year to year. Thus the course may take the shape of a chronological survey or focus on a particular type of play, cultural period, or theme. No prerequisite. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Staff
CLAS 221 Topography and Monuments of Athens
Credit: 0.5
The ancient city-state of Athens is renowned for its achievements in architecture, art, politics, literature, philosophy, and drama. In this course we will study the development of Athens from the Bronze Age to the Roman period in order to understand the context of these accomplishments. Our examination of Athenian topography and monuments will include the geography of the city and its natural resources, the architectural plan of the city as it develops over time, and the functions of different areas of the city, such as sanctuaries, cemeteries, and private dwellings. This study of the archaeological record, along with ancient texts, will reveal many aspects of Athenian society, including religion, economy, government, and social stratification. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Kontes
CLAS 222 Art and Archaeology of Ancient Sicily
Credit: 0.5
In this course we will explore the archaeology of Sicily and neighboring islands from the Neolithic period through Roman times. Sicily's location in the central Mediterranean allowed for significant contact and interaction among various peoples throughout its history, which makes for fascinating and widely varied material remains. We will discuss the native cultures, evidence of trade with the Mycenaeans, Phoenician settlements, Greek colonies and cities, and Roman occupation. We will examine architecture, sculpture, pottery, and numismatics in their social and political contexts, with the goal of understanding how local and foreign cultures influenced one another and how this is reflected in the archaeological record. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Kontes
CLAS 230 Religions of the Roman Empire
Credit: 0.5
The Romans ruled an empire of remarkable religious diversity, whose population embraced a variety of polytheistic, Jewish, and Christian practices and beliefs. Combining lecture and discussion, this course will examine these three religious traditions in the cultural and historical context of the Roman empire. Recurrent issues in our examination will include religion and the state; "licit" and "illicit" religions; the architectural context of religious practice (e.g., temples, churches); proselytism and religious conflict; the relationship between ritual and belief; and, finally, the problems encountered in studying ancient religion from a contemporary perspective. Although some secondary scholarship will be read, most readings will be taken directly from ancient sources in translation. Students will have the opportunity, therefore, to read, discuss, and write about texts seminal to Western religious thought. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
CLAS 240 Women and Men in Antiquity
Credit: 0.5
This course considers the lives of women and men in the Greco-Roman world as they were shaped and determined by their sex. We will deal with such topics as the historical position of men and women, their leisure activities, their sexuality, and their treatment according to their sex in poetry, art, drama, medical treatises, and oratory. The sexes will be studied both individually and in relation to each other. We will analyze behavior patterns and expectations, mythical and historical role models and ideals, psychological tensions, and philosophical speculations. Most of the reading for the course will be from ancient sources, with some study of the growing modern scholarship on women's history and men's sexuality. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
CLAS 255 Rhetoric in Antiquity
Credit: 0.5
Training in rhetoric--the art of public speaking--was a cornerstone of education in antiquity. The techniques developed in Greece and Rome for composing and analyzing speeches remain invaluable today, but the formal study of these techniques has all but disappeared from undergraduate curricula. This course seeks to fight this trend. In the opening weeks, we will read ancient handbooks on rhetoric, which anatomize the strategies and tropes available to the public speaker, and will engage in classroom exercises in speechmaking developed millennia ago. We will then examine the crucial role that rhetoric played in three venues: the assembly of democratic Athens, the criminal courts of republican Rome, and the cathedrals of Christian bishops in late antiquity. We will read and analyze extant speeches delivered in these three venues, by figures such as Pericles, Cicero, and John Chrysostom, as well as comparable speeches delivered by more contemporary figures such as Churchill, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. It is hoped that the academic study of ancient rhetoric will aid students in developing their own skills as public speakers. No prerequisites. Offered occasionally.
Instructor: Serfass
CLAS 393 Individual Study
Credit: 0.5
Individual study in classics allows students to explore aspects of the field not covered, or minimally covered, in the curriculum. To be eligible for an individual study in GREK or LATN, a student must also concurrently enroll in the appropriate intermediate or advanced language course offered during the semester in which the individual study is to take place. If this is impossible, the student must petition for an exemption. To be eligible for an individual study in CLAS, a student must have completed two courses germane to the study's topic. One of these must be the core course in translation that provides the essential background for the project. The student should present his or her case for the approval of the second course in the proposal to the department. To enroll in an individual study, a student must meet with an appropriate faculty member and, if the professor is willing to supervise the project, submit a proposal by e-mail to all members of the department then on campus. Departmental approval is required. The student should take the initiative in designing the course and, with the supervisor, develop a syllabus. It is expected that the student and instructor meet at least one hour each week. For an individual study worth .5 unit, the typical value, the work load must be equivalent, at minimum, to that encountered in an intermediate or advanced language course or one of the core courses in translation. For individual studies worth .25 unit, the work should be approximately half that encountered in the courses just described.
CLAS 471 Senior Seminar in Classics
Credit: 0.5
In this capstone course, the content of which will change on a regular basis, students will study closely a particular topic in classics that benefits from an investigation based on a wide range of approaches (e.g., literary, historical, archaeological). The course seeks to further students' skills in written and verbal communication: each student will write a major research paper on a subject related to the topic of the seminar and will outline the results of his or her inquiry in an oral presentation. This course is required of and restricted to classics majors and minors in their senior year. Offered every year.
CLAS 493 Individual Study
Credit: 0.25-0.5
Individual study in classics allows students to explore aspects of the field not covered, or minimally covered, in the curriculum. To be eligible for an individual study in GREK or LATN, a student must also concurrently enroll in the appropriate intermediate or advanced language course offered during the semester in which the individual study is to take place. If this is impossible, the student must petition for an exemption. To be eligible for an individual study in CLAS, a student must have completed two courses germane to the study's topic. One of these must be the core course in translation that provides the essential background for the project. The student should present his or her case for the approval of the second course in the proposal to the department.
To enroll in individual study, a student must meet with an appropriate faculty member and, if the professor is willing to supervise the project, submit a proposal by e-mail to all members of the department then on campus. Departmental approval is required. The student should take the initiative in designing the course and, with the supervisor, develop a syllabus. It is expected that the student and instructor meet at least one hour each week. For an individual study worth .5 unit, the typical value, the work load must be equivalent, at minimum, to that encountered in an intermediate or advanced language course or one of the core courses in translation. For individual studies worth .25 unit, the work should be approximately half that encountered in the courses just described.