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last updated: 4/4/03

 

   

   

Classes Fall 2003

Latin

Greek

Hebrew

Classical Studies

 



Two Brothers
from Roman Egypt,
2nd c. A.D.,
detail of distemper painting on wooden panel
(Cairo, Egyptian Museum)

Latin


Scene from a Roman comedy (Mosaic, 3rd century CE)

Latin 131-01: Elementary Latin I (1) (Knorr)
MWF 09:10am-10:10am, ETN 311
Latin 131-02: Elementary Latin I (1) (Muir)
MTh 06:00pm-7:30pm, ETN 311
(Syllabus) (Answer Sheets) (Mock Final)
Introduction to the language and culture of the ancient Romans. The course emphasizes the fast development of basic reading skills. Students will read three hit comedies by T. Maccius Plautus (ca. 254-184 BCE), Aulularia, Bacchides, and Amphitruo, in gradually less simplified versions.

Textbooks (also used for LATIN 132 in Spring 2004):
• P. V. Jones and K. C. Sidwell, Reading Latin, vol. 1: Text, Cambridge:
  Cambridge University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-521-28623-9, $19.00.
• P. V. Jones and K. C. Sidwell, Reading Latin, vol. 2: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises,
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-521-28622-0, $30.00.

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Alexander the Great (detail from mosaic in the National Museum in Naples)

Latin 231: Latin Prose: Curtius Rufus (1) (Knorr)
MWF 10:20am-11:20am, ETN 311
(Syllabus)
Close reading of classical Latin authors. Texts by Cicero, Sallust, Livy, Suetonius, Seneca, and/or Apuleius will be translated and discussed. Prerequisites: Latin 132.
(catalogue copy)

Fall 2003:
We will read highlights from the very entertaining History of Alexander the Great, King of the Macedons by Quintus Curtius Rufus. This is the only history of Alexander's life in Latin, written probably around the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-54 CE). Curtius writes in a fast-paced, colorful style that manages to aptly capture the contradictory character of Alexander (356-323 BCE) and the exotic people and locales (e.g., Iraq and Afghanistan) of his campaigns. Prerequisites: Latin 132.

Textbooks:
• W.S. Hett (ed.), A Latin Vita of Alexander the Great by Quintus Curtius Rufus, Wauconda, IL:
  Bolchazy-Carducci, 1991, ISBN 0-86516-185-2, $14.50.
• Charles E. Bennett, New Latin Grammar, Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1995,
  ISBN 0-86516-261-1, $24.00.
• John C. Traupman, The New College Latin & English Dictionary. New York, NY:
  Bantam Books, 1995, ISBN 0-553-57301-2, $5.99.

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Greek  

The great relief from Eleusis, site of one of the most important ancient mystery cults:
The goddess Demeter (left) and her daughter Persephone (right, with pine-torch) bid farewell to Triptolemos, the king of Eleusis, who has learned from Demeter how to cultivate the soil and grow wheat and will now teach these skills to mankind.
(National Museum Athens, 450/445 BCE.)












Greek 131 Elementary Ancient Greek I (1)
(Bachvarova)
MWF 03:00pm-04:00pm, ETN 307

Introduction to the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek. (catalogue copy)
Fall 2003:
An intensive introduction to ancient Greek, the language of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, historiographers like Herodotus and Thucydides, tragic poets like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, comic geniuses like Aristophanes and Menander, and the writers of the New Testament. These and other Greek authors stand at the beginning of Western civilization, and their works still reverberate in our contemporary culture.

Textbook (used for the entire first year):
• Hansen, H. and G. M. Quinn. Greek: An Intensive Course. Fordham University Press:
  New York, NY, 1992, ISBN: 0823216632, $37.50.

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Lysias (ca. 458-380 BCE)
Bust in the Capitoline Museum, Rome


Plato (ca. 427-347 BCE)

Greek 231 Ancient Greek Prose: Plato & Lysias (1) (Bachvarova)
MWF01:50pm-02:50pm, ETN 207

Reading and translation of selected Greek prose texts, including works by Herodotus, Plato, Lysias, and others. Prerequisites: Greek 131 and 132 or equivalent.

Fall 2003:
We will read selected passages from the dialogues of the philosopher Plato that feature his famous teacher, Socrates, and from the speeches of Plato's contemporary Lysias, an orator famous for the exemplary clarity and simple elegance of his style who may have been a student of Socrates himself.

Textbooks:
• Lysias: Selected Speeches, ed. Christopher Carey,
              Cambridge U Press, 1989, ISBN: 0521269881, $23.00.
• Lysias, trans. Stephen Todd, U of Texas Press, 2000, ISBN: 029278166, $24.95.
• Plato: Phaedo, ed. C. J. Rowe, Cambridge U Press, 1993, ISBN: 052131318x, $26.00.
• Plato, The Last Days of Socrates, trans. Hugh Tredennick, intro Harold Tarrant
              Penguin, 2003, ISBN: 0140449280, $11.95.
• Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar, revised by Gordon M. Messing, Harvard U Press, 1990,
            
 ISBN: 0674362500, $42.00.
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford U Press, 1963,
              ISBN: 0199102066, $ 45.00.

Cool links:
The Last Days of Socrates (lots of background material, incl. an annotated view of 5th cent. Athens)
The Ancient City of Athens (pictures of ancient monuments in Athens today)
Athenian Litigation (links to websites and scholarly articles)

Who Was Lysias? (short bio of Lysias)

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Hebrew

 

Ark of the Covenant

HEBR 131 Elementary Classical Hebrew I (1) (McCreery)
MWF 08:00a-09:00a, ETN 105

An introduction to the original language of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Using the inductive method, students will be introduced to the morphology and syntax of ancient Hebrew by translating selected passages from the Hebrew Bible.

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Classes in the Classical Studies Program


from left to right: Thales (?), Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

PHIL 230 History of Philosophy: Ancient and Medieval (1) (Lou Goble)
MWF 11:30am-12:30pm, ETN 308
Ancient and medieval philosophy from Thales through St. Thomas. The important ideas of leading philosophers and the movements they influenced. Emphasis is on metaphysics and the problems of knowledge. (from the WU course catalog)

Fall 2003:
In this course, we explore the origins of western philosophy. We begin at the very beginning, with the philosophers known as the Pre-Socratics, who preceded Socrates and Plato. We will then spend several weeks studying Plato's philosophy, followed by some weeks devoted to Aristotle's. We conclude with a brief look at the philosophical movements that came after Aristotle, in the Hellenistic period and in Classical Rome as well as in the European Middle Ages. The emphasis of the course, however, is on the philosophical work of Plato and Aristotle. With both we will work primarily on problems in metaphysics (the one and the many, being, becoming, change), epistemology (knowledge, belief, appearance), and ethics (the good, justice). We will be interested in the questions the philosophers asked, and how they answered them, and we will be especially interested in their methods of doing philosophy.

This course will require writing three or four formal papers and various informal exercises. PHIL 110 (Philosophical Problems), or the equivalent, is a prerequisite for this course. This class is required for all Philosophy majors.
(Lou Goble's course announcement for Fall 2003)

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REL 113 (TH) Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible (1) (McCreery)
MWF 09:10am-10:10am, ETN 110

An introduction to the history and literature of ancient Israel and to modern methods used in studying the Old Testament and the Apocrypha. The course has three basic aims: to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel on the basis of archaeological and form-critical methods, to survey the spectrum of literary forms in the Old Testament, and to identify the major theological themes and symbols used to express Israel's faith.

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REL 237 (W, 4th Sem Lang Req: Hebrew)
Introduction to Syro-Palestinian Archaeology (1)
(McCreery)
W 06:00pm-09:00pm, ETN 110

An introduction to the history and current directions of archaeological research in the Holy Land, concentrating on modern Jordan, Israel, and Syria. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationship between archaeological research and biblical studies. This course is a prerequisite for REL 337 Archaeological Methodology. Writing-Centered.

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