CLAS - Classics
CLAS169 Special Topics in Study Abroad I (1-6 Credits)
Special topics course taken as part of an approved study abroad program.
Repeatable to: 15 credits if content differs.
CLAS170 Ancient Myths and Modern Lives (3 Credits)
What are myths and why do we tell them? What powers do myths have? We will tackle these questions by looking at the enduring and fascinating myths from ancient Greece and Rome. In addition to studying how they shaped ancient societies, we will also look at their modern influence and reflect upon the power that myths still hold in our contemporary world. Taught in English.
Cross-listed with: RELS170.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS170 or RELS170.
Additional Information: This course cannot be taken for language credit.
CLAS171 Classical Myths in Europe (1 Credit)
The role which Classical Myths have played in the arts, architecture and politics of a major European city. This will only be offered through the study abroad program.
CLAS180 Discovering the World of Ancient Greece (3 Credits)
An exploration of the cultural traits and developments of ancient Greek civilization and its forerunners, from the Bronze Age Mycenaeans and Minoans, through the rise of the classical Greek city-states, to the expansion of Greek cultural influence in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Drawing upon the evidence of the archaeological remains as well as ancient historical and literary documents, students gain a basic familiarity with the principal monuments and artifacts of classical Greek civilization, the various institutions and values that characterized the Greeks, and the significant historical events that transformed the culture over the course of antiquity.
CLAS190 Discovering the World of Ancient Rome (3 Credits)
An exploration of the cultural traits and developments of ancient Roman civilization from its roots in Etruscan culture, through the rise of the Roman Republic, to the expansion of Roman cultural influence in the ancient world and the emergence of the Roman Empire. Drawing upon the evidence of the archaeological remains as well as ancient historical and literary documents, students gain a basic familiarity with the principal monuments and artifacts of ancient Roman civilization, the various institutions and values that characterized the Romans, and the significant historical events that transformed the culture over the course of antiquity.
Cross-listed with: HIST219T.
CLAS269 Special Topics in Study Abroad II (1-6 Credits)
Special topics course taken as part of an approved study abroad program.
Repeatable to: 15 credits if content differs.
CLAS274 What is Romance? (3 Credits)
What is romance? This course approaches the question by reading ancient Greek romance novels in tandem with works inspired by them from a range of times and places. We will attempt to identify which traits define romance in a society and how romance narratives change in translation and adaptation.
CLAS275 Why do we laugh? (3 Credits)
An introduction to the breadth and complexity of humor's role in society. Students will explore ancient Greek and Roman comedies side-by-side with contemporary sitcoms and movies, to learn the explanations that various disciplines have offered about why we laugh, and to understand the major impact humor has in how we see ourselves and our world.
Additional Information: All readings will be done in English translation.
CLAS276 Are We Rome? (3 Credits)
America, from its very origins as an independent nation, saw itself as the new Rome: its system of government is built on Roman precedents, its national buildings look as if they came from the Roman Forum, and its leisure activities take us to stadiums modeled on the Colosseum. America's relationship to Rome, however, raises its greatest anxiety: will America fall as Rome did? In 1776, the year of American independence, Edward Gibbon published his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; America has been thinking about the trajectory of its history alongside Rome's from the very beginning.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS276 or CLAS289A.
Formerly: CLAS289A.
CLAS277 How Do You Feel? (3 Credits)
Where do our emotions come from? Are they universal biological experiences, or are they shaped by the society in which we live, and therefore different from culture to culture? When do emotions serve the interests of those in power, and when do they resist dominant ideologies? These questions have fascinated scholars from a variety of fields, from linguistics to psychology to literary studies. This course posits that an analysis of artistic and cultural products can reveal important insights about these questions. We will thus read a variety of works of Greco-Roman literature with the above questions in mind, comparing these ancient texts to modern-day films, testing whether and how the portrayal of emotions has changed over time. Still, we will not neglect the discoveries from fields outside of literary studies: throughout the semester, we will periodically discuss relevant works of psychology, sociology, and more, interpreting the texts and films at hand through an interdisciplinary lens.
CLAS305 Archaeological Methods and Practice (3 Credits)
A team-taught, interdisciplinary course discussing theories, methods, and ethical issues in the practice of archaeology.
Prerequisite: ANTH240, ARTH200, or CLAS180.
Cross-listed with: ANTH305, ARTH305, JWST319Y.
Credit Only Granted for: ANTH305, ARTH305, CLAS305, or JWST319Y.
CLAS308 The Classics in Context (1-3 Credits)
A Study Abroad course which introduces students to the topography, archaeology and culture of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Prerequisite: Permission of ARHU-Classics department.
Repeatable to: 9 credits if content differs.
CLAS309 Special Topics in Classical Literature (3 Credits)
Readings in translation.
Repeatable to: 9 credits if content differs.
CLAS310 Ancient Philosophy (3 Credits)
The origins and development of philosophy and science in Ancient Greece, focusing on the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Prerequisite: 6 credits in CLAS courses; or 6 credits in PHIL courses.
CLAS311 Inventing Ancient Greek Culture (3 Credits)
Who were the ancient Greeks, and were they the founders of Western civilization' The course examines the foundations of ancient Greece. Through an analysis of the historical, archaeological, and linguistic evidence, it sheds light on the so-called Black Athena Controversy, which raised doubts about the ancient Greek contribution to Western culture. The course also focuses on the impact of modern identity politics on scholarly discussions of antiquity and the ways in which the Culture Wars of the 1980s and 1990s have influenced analyses of the ancient Greek world.
Cross-listed with: HIST328D.
CLAS312 The Modernity of Athenian Democracy (3 Credits)
Examines the question of how Ancient Greek thought can be a tool for facing the challenges of the modern world. Topics such as political participation and engagement in politics, lawfulness and justice, freedom and autonomy, democracy and civic responsibility are found at the core of Ancient Greek thought. In addition to these topics, the course explores, through the teachings of ancient Greek philosophers, historians, and poets, the questions of virtue and happiness at a personal level and the pursuit of happiness at the societal level. Love and friendship are necessary virtues to shape a harmonious and prosperous polis. By studying selected excerpts from the primary sources of Ancient Greek literature in translation, the course defines the core values of democratic society from the viewpoint of the Greeks.
CLAS313 From the Stoa to Silicon Valley: Ancient and Modern Approaches to Stoic Philosophy (3 Credits)
Stoicism, ancient Rome's most popular philosophy, posited that virtue is the only human good and that individuals must detach themselves emotionally from the material world in order to live ethical lives. Principles of Stoic philosophy will be explored together with the wide array of artistic, political, and intellectual traditions that have drawn inspiration from it, from the Haitian revolutionary movement of the late 18th century, to the sexist "manosphere" of Reddit and Twitter, to modern cognitive-behavioral therapy.
CLAS314 Ancient Greek & Roman Cultures in Italy (3 Credits)
A study abroad course examining ancient Greek and Roman society in Italy through direct contact with original cultural sites, monuments, and museum collections in the city of Rome and the Bay of Naples area, including Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Paestum. Topics of lectures and discussions include ancient history, archaeology, art, and architecture, as well as daily life in antiquity, urbanism, the illicit trade in antiquities, and the preservation of cultural heritage.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS308G, CLAS314, or ARTH369D.
Formerly: CLAS308G.
CLAS315 Greek and Roman Athletics (3 Credits)
The origin and evolution of athletics in ancient Greece and Rome studied as recreation, as play, as education, as a profession and as mass entertainment.
Cross-listed with: HIST339G.
CLAS316 Classical Antiquity and the Cinema (3 Credits)
Many films, while rooted in the time and place in which they were created, draw upon themes and stories from ancient Greek and Roman literature. While the filmmakers' understandings of modern social forces affect their representations of the ancient world, the ancient works also shape the ways in which filmmakers tell their stories. Film criticism and close reading complement each other in the analysis of films and the ancient works on which they are based.
Cross-listed with: CINE316.
CLAS317 Ancient Medicine and Modern Medical Terms (3 Credits)
Students are introduced to the linguistic roots of medical terminology through a systematic explanation of their Greek and Latin components. At the same time, they learn the intellectual roots of Western medicine by studying selected aspects of medical thought and practice in the Greek and Roman worlds, including the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen, two giants of ancient medicine. Ancient theories of body systems are introduced and compared to modern medical knowledge.
CLAS320 Women in Classical Antiquity (3 Credits)
A study of women's image and reality in ancient Greek and Roman societies through an examination of literary, linguistic, historical, legal, and artistic evidence; special emphasis in women's role in the family, views of female sexuality, and the place of women in creative art. Readings in primary sources in translation and modern critical writings.
Cross-listed with: HIST328W, WGSS320.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS320, WMST320, WGSS320 or HIST328W.
CLAS321 Science & Society in Ancient Greece & Rome (3 Credits)
How did ancient Greek and Roman scientific practices differ from and resemble our own? How do we as historians recognize when someone is conducting scientific inquiry? What were the social and cultural contexts of scientific production in the ancient world? With a focus on the scientific practices and products of ancient Greeks and Romans from around the fifth century BCE to the second century CE, we investigate how several scientific disciplines -- including medicine, astronomy, and biology --developed under the influence of ancient social and cultural contexts, and how ancient literatures, in turn, were shaped by those working in scientific fields of inquiry. In addressing these questions special attention will be paid to the methods employed by the available sources of ancient scientists and the modes of demonstration, argumentation, and rhetoric employed in scientific texts. Readings of primary materials will be supplemented with selections of secondary scholarship.
CLAS322 Roman Freedpersons (3 Credits)
The literary remains of three Roman freedpersons--the editor and biographer Tiro (c. 80-4 BCE), the poet and fabulist Phaedrus (fl. 1st cen. CE), and the philosopher Epictetus (c. 55-135 CE)--give us a rare glimpse into the internal experience of persons enslaved and emancipated by Roman elites. To contextualize these experiences, we study the legal basis of Roman slavery, epigraphic self-representations, and stereotyping representations of freedpersons by free authors. We also read our authors against comparable works by freeborn analogues--the senator Cicero, the poet Horace, and the philosopher Seneca--to test the boundaries of how the identity of libertus ("freedman") affected and failed to affect our authors' literary aims. To deepen our study of how historical conditions shape the creation of freed authorship and the transmission of freed authors, we also read, and consider the conditions surrounding the publication of, American freedpersons' literature.
CLAS330 Ancient Greek Religion: Gods, Myths, Temples (3 Credits)
Survey of Greek religious ideas and practices as they evolve from the Bronze Age to the early Christian period.
Cross-listed with: RELS370.
CLAS331 Roman Religion: From Jupiter to Jesus (3 Credits)
Survey of the major institutions of Roman state and private religion and of the diverse religions, including Judaism and Christianity, practiced in the Roman empire.
CLAS340 Ancient Slavery and its American Impacts (3 Credits)
Interrogates how slavery permeated the ancient Mediterranean societies of Greece and Rome. We will pay particular attention to how hierarchical inequalities are institutionalized, experienced, and represented and to how different marginalized and dominant groups interacted. Enslaved persons performed necessary labor in Greece and Rome and their work was essential for the formation of ancient society in agriculture, mining, domestic spaces, literature, finance, and government. Studying ancient slavery offers a chance to examine Greece and Rome from the bottom up, parsing the scant literary and material evidence for the lives and struggles of enslaved persons. We will practice several different approaches in order to tease out the systematic, economic, political, and personal effects of slavery in the ancient world. The United States of America was also founded as a slave society, and discussions of slavery in the Americas often look back to the ancient Mediterranean. The course will therefore conclude with a unit on how enslavers and abolitionists in the United States utilized and responded to slavery in antiquity.
Cross-listed with: HIST339J.
CLAS369 Special Topics in Study Abroad III (1-6 Credits)
Special topics course taken as part of an approved study abroad program.
Repeatable to: 15 credits if content differs.
CLAS369A Ancient Greece and the Athletic Spirit (3 Credits)
From the time of the poems of Homer to the end of the Roman Empire, exercise of the body and physical competition played an essential role in ancient Greece. Athletics was regarded as both a sphere of excellence and a form of exciting entertainment. Students will travel around Greece and study firsthand the sites, monuments, and objects that defined the ancient experience of athletics, with the aim of understanding its principal forms, the spirit and values that guided it, and its interrelationship with other aspects of society and culture.
CLAS374 Greek Tragedy in Translation (3 Credits)
Study and analysis of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides with special attention to the concepts of character and of thought as conceived by Aristotle in The Poetics.
CLAS375 Ancient Comedy (3 Credits)
Representative plays by Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus and Terence in translation; examination of Greek tradition in Roman and postclassical periods.
CLAS380 Archaeological Fieldwork in Greece (4 Credits)
Students will learn about the archaeology, history and culture of Greece by participating in the archaeological investigations at Kenchreai, the eastern port of ancient Corinth. Students will learn about data analysis, artifact processing, and conservation, all important components in archaeological fieldwork. This program also gives students a rare chance to live and to learn in one of the most archaeologically rich, historically important, and naturally beautiful regions in Greece, the northeastern Peloponnese. Students will visit sites and museums throughout this region, attend seminars, and experience life in a small village. In this way they will learn not only about the practice of archaeological field research, but also about Greek history and culture from ancient to modern times. While the course focuses on southern Greece during the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity, a period of prosperity and diversity at Kenchreai and in its broader area, students will also explore cultural and historical developments that influenced other regions and longer periods, from the Bronze Age to the Modern era, including religion and cult-practice, art and iconography, settlement and the environment, and the construction of identity.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS369K or CLAS380.
Formerly: CLAS369K.
CLAS386 Experiential Learning (3-6 Credits)
Prerequisite: Must have a Learning Proposal approved by the Office of Experiential Learning Programs, faculty sponsor, and student's internship sponsor.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
CLAS409 Classics Capstone Seminar (3 Credits)
Comparative study of selected central aspects of both ancient Greek and Roman cultures as viewed from the standpoints of literary study, history, art history, and other fields as appropriate. Seminar format involving intensive student research.
Restriction: Permission of ARHU-Classics department.
Repeatable to: 6 credits if content differs.
CLAS419 The Classical Tradition (3 Credits)
Examination of the role of Greek and Roman civilization in shaping the arts and ideas of western culture.
Repeatable to: 9 credits if content differs.
Credit Only Granted for: CLAS419 or CLAS420.
Formerly: CLAS420.
CLAS470 Approaches to Greek Mythology (3 Credits)
Ancient and modern approaches to understanding Greek myth as expression of human experience, including interpretations drawn from psychology, anthropology, and comparative mythology.
Prerequisite: CLAS170; or permission of ARHU-Classics department.
CLAS488 Independent Study in Classical Civilization (3 Credits)
Prerequisite: Permission of ARHU-Classics department.
Repeatable to: 6 credits if content differs.
CLAS499 Independent Study in Classical Languages and Literatures (1-3 Credits)
Prerequisite: Permission of ARHU-Classics department.