Classical Studies Home

Undergraduate Conference 2008

Classics Faculty

Major and Minor Requirements

Fall 2007 Classes

Student Research

Study Abroad

Why Study Classics?

Classics VIPs

FAQ

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

last updated: 10/17/07

 

   

   
Classes Spring 2008

Latin

Greek

Hebrew

Classical Studies



Girl picking flowers
from Stabiae near Pompeii, Museo Nazionale, Naples,
( ca. 50-60 CE)

Latin


Cesare Maccari, Quo usque tandem (1882-1888, Sala Maccari in the Italian Senate, Rome)
The consul Cicero is giving his famous First Catilinarian Speech in the Curia or Senate House (63 BCE), the rebel Catilina in front is being shunned by his fellow senators. Contrary to the impression given by the picture, Catilina (born 108 BCE) was actually two years older than Cicero, who was 43 years old at the time.
(enlarged picture)

LATIN 13-012: Elementary Latin II (1) (Nickbakht)
MWF 9:10am-10:10am (Answer Sheets)
LATIN 132-02: Elementary Latin II (1) (Warren)
TTh 9:40am-11:10am

This course continues last semester’s intensive introduction to the Latin language and the culture of the ancient Romans. This semester, readings will focus on the famous orator, lawyer, and statesman Cicero (106-43 BCE) and two of the greatest triumphs of his career, the Verres Scandal (70 BCE), in which Cicero successfully prosecuted the former governor of Sicily, Verres, for his outrageous corruption, and the Catilinarian Conspiracy (63 BCE) which the 43-year-old consul Cicero uncovered and crushed. Once in a while, we will also continue to make forays into the sphere of Latin poetry. You will substantially enlarge your Latin reading skills and learn more about the tumultuous Roman politics of the 1st century BCE that caused the end of the Roman republic.

Required Textbook:
P. V. Jones and K. C. Sidwell, Reading Latin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 (vol. 1: Text; vol. 2: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises).
 

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Catullus at Lesbia's (1865)
(enlarged picture)

LATIN 232: Latin Poetry: Vergil, Aeneid (1) (Nickbakht)
MWF 10:20am-11:20am

Vergil’s Aeneid follows the story of the Trojan prince Aeneas who leads the survivors of the Trojan War first to Greece, then Sicily, Carthage, and finally Italy where his descendants will found the future mistress of the world, Rome. One of the most beautiful and most influential Latin works ever written, many Romans knew the entire Aeneid by heart. In this course, we will read large selections from the first six books in Latin. The goal of the course is to introduce you to Latin poetic vocabulary, familiarize you with the dactylic hexameter (the meter used in all Greek and Latin epic poetry), and inform you about content, historical background, and poetic technique of the Aeneid. Prerequisite: Latin 132.

Required Textbook:
Clyde Pharr, Vergil’s Aeneid, Books I-VI, Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1998
Aeneas and his family during the destruction of Troy
Creusa restrains Aeneas (far right) as flames appear above the head of Ascanius, and Anchises recognizes the omen (Aen. 2.673-91); page from a manuscript, the so-called Vergilius Vaticanus, written around 400 CE (Vat. lat. 3225, fol. 22r).
LATIN 350W: Readings in Caesar and Tacitus: Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians (1) (Bachvarova)
MWF 1:40pm-2:40pm (concurrent with CLAS 250), plus one additional hour TBA
Prerequisite: Latin 232.
Back to top
Greek

Acropolis in Athens

GREEK 132 Elementary Ancient Greek II (1) (Bachvarova)
MWF 3:00pm-4:00pm

This course continues last semester’s intensive introduction to the language and culture of the ancient Greeks.

Required Textbook:
Hansen, H. and G. M. Quinn. Greek: An Intensive Course. Fordham University Press: New York, NY, 1992, ISBN: 0823216632, $37.50.
 
GREEK 232 Ancient Greek Poetry (1) (Bachvarova)
MWF 1:50pm-2:50pm

Interested students will have the opportunity to read one of the most wonderful works ever written, Homer's Odyssey. Prerequisite: Greek 132.

GREEK 350W: Greeks, Romans, and Barbarian: readings in Greek (Bachvarova)
MWF 1:50pm-2:50pm, ETN 305

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 250 (Greeks, Romans and Barbarians), one hour per week translating Herodotus and/or Heliodorus. Primary sources will be consulted to see how perceptions of barbarians changed over time, affected by the ways that Greek and Roman interactions with them changed. In order to better understand how recent history shapes our interpretation of ancient culture, we will study post-colonialist, Afro-centric, and "anti-anti-Semitic" approaches to the Greco-Roman image of Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Scythians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phrygians, Lydians, Gauls, Britons, and Germans. Credit may not be earned for both GREEK 350 and LATIN 350 or CLAS/HIST 250.
Preliminary Syllabus
 

Back to top
Hebrew

 

Excerpt of the Psalm Scroll from Qumran

HEBR 132 Elementary Classical Hebrew II (McCreery)
MWF 10:20am-11:20am

This course continues last semester's 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.
 

Back to top
Classes in the Classical Studies Program

ARTH 270 (TH, 4th Sem Lang Req: Greek) Roman Art and Architecture (1) (Nicgorski)
MWF 10:20am-11:20am, ART 212 (?)

This course offers a comprehensive study of Roman civilization through its artistic and architectural monuments beginning with its roots in the Etruscan and Greek past, through the varied stylistic idioms of the Empire, to its gradual transformation in the Constantinian era, the prelude to the new Christian civilization of Byzantium. Topics include the Villa of the Mysteries, the Ara Pacis Augustae, the column of Trajan, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli and the Arch of Constantine. A special emphasis will also be placed on art historical methodology (i.e., which questions are posed, what evidence is cited and how meaning is construed) and on exploring issues of gender and private patronage as well as imperial propaganda and social policy.
Back to top

CLAS 250W/HIST 250W (TH, 4th Sem Greek/Latin) Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians (1) (Bachvarova) MWF 12:40pm-1:40pm, ETN 305
Greece and Rome are viewed as the founders of Western civilization, but how did they compare themselves to the barbarians around them? Herodotus, Caesar, and Tacitus will be consulted, along with comedy, tragedy, fragments of ethnographers, and passages from other primary sources to see how the perceptions of barbarians changed over time, affected by the ways that Greek and Roman interactions with them changed as well. In order to better understand how recent history shapes our interpretation of ancient culture, we will study post-

The Dying Gaul, Roman copy of a
Greek original from ca. 230 BCE
(Rome, Musei Capitolini)
colonialist, Afrocentric, and "anti-anti-Semitic" approaches to the Greco-Roman image of Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Scythians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phrygians, Lydians, Gauls, Britons, and Germans. Credit for this writing-centered course may not be earned for both LATIN 350 and CLAS/HIST 250.
Preliminary Syllabus
 
CLAS 496W Senior Seminar in Classics (1) (Bachvarova)
Time TBA

Required course for Classical Studies majors. Students will choose a topic in consultation with Classics faculty, read a text appropriate to that topic in the ancient language(s), and write a substantial research paper. Writing-Centered.
Prerequisite: Senior standing in Classical Studies or consent of instructor.

Back to top

HIST 231W Athens in the Classical Age (1) (Nickbakht) MWF Time: 12:40pm-1:40pm, Walton 21

The great legacy of the 20th century may be the rise of democracy as a universal value. Both the term, however, and the idea of “popular rule” go back to ancient Greece. The Athenian democracy of the classical age is considered the earliest democratic constitution in world history. But how did the Athenians come up with this new form of government? And how did it function? This course will examine the origins and development of the democratic constitution of Athens from the 6th through 4th centuries BCE. Within this historical framework, close attention will be given to political, social, and cultural themes and institutions. Through careful analysis of both primary sources (historical narratives, philosophical treatises, epigraphic evidence) and secondary sources, students will be encouraged to take a multi-faceted approach to examining the working and self-presentation of an ancient democratic society.

Required Textbooks:
Herodotus, The Histories, translated by A. de Selincourt, Penguin Books.
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, tr. by R. Warner. Penguin Books.
Aristotle, The Politics and The Constitution of Athens, Ed. by S. Everson, Cambridge Univ. Press.
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro; The Apology; Crito; Phaedo, Penguin Books
Aristophanes, Birds and other plays, Oxford World's Classics
Sophocles, Antigone, Oedipus the King,Electra, Oxford World's Classics

Back to top

 

  
REL 340 Hebrew Torah/Pentateuch (1) (McCreery)
MWF 09:10am-10:10am, ETN

A critical analysis of the first five books of the Bible: Genesis through Deuteronomy. The course will focus on modern literary analysis of the pentateuchal traditions and archaeological discoveries which are helping to clarify the historical and cultural context from which the Bible emerged. Topics will include the formation of the canon, biblical saga and history, and the origins of Israelite law.
(Fulfills the fourth-semester language requirement for Hebrew)
Prof. McCreery (winner of the national AIA teaching award 2003)
examining Archaeological Methodology students in 2002.
Back to top
RHET 231-01 Classical Rhetoric (1) (Collins)
MWF 09:10a-10:10a, ETN 412
RHET 231-02 Classical Rhetoric (1) (Collins)
MWF 10:20a-11:20a, ETN 412
Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.E.)

We will be looking at why the Greeks and Romans were so anxious to master the skills of persuasion at the same time they feared that power. We talk about the obligations of citizenship and why this led to the development of a "grammar" of the rhetorical act. We model forensic, deliberative and epideictic speeches by Pericles, Demosthenes, and Cicero, among others.
Back to top