Course Listings

Classical Studies: Greek

GREEK 131 Elementary Ancient Greek I (4)

Introduction to the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek.

  • Offering: Alternate Fall semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 132 Elementary Ancient Greek II (4)

Introduction to the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek.

  • Offering: Alternate Spring semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 199 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 231 Ancient Greek Prose (4)

Reading and translation of selected ancient Greek prose texts, including works by Herodotus, Plato, Lysias and others.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 131 and 132 or equivalent
  • Offering: Alternate Fall semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 232 Ancient Greek Poetry (4)

Selections from Greek epic poetry or a complete Greek tragedy will be read and discussed.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231 or equivalent
  • Offering: Alternate Spring semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 232a Hellenistic Greek Texts (4)

Reading and translation of selected Greek texts from the Greco-Roman period, including the New Testament, the Septuagint, Josephus, Philo, and the Apostolic Fathers; some attention to Hellenistic grammar, papyrology, and textual criticism.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 299 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 331W Myth and Cult in the Ancient East Mediterranean: Readings in Ancient Greek (4)

Delves into the Near Eastern background of ancient Greek myth and cult, looking at parallels among deities, myths, and cult performances; also how, when, and why shared cultural features moved across linguistic and geographic barriers in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Works with both oral-derived written texts and material culture, including iconography, pottery, and architectural remains, reading them in conjunction to achieve a holistic understanding of how texts and artifacts created or were embedded in performance contexts and spaces where ritual and cult were enacted. Covers the Near Eastern background of specific Greek gods and heroes: goddess of sexuality, storm-god, sun deities, sea deities, “young man” deities, healing deities, agricultural deities, mountain deities, underworld deities, disappearing or dying deities, Achilles, Hector, Heracles; cosmogonies; Chaoskampf and snake-slaying myths; ancestor veneration and its connection to epic and hero worship; curses and black magic; invocations; purification rituals; prayers and other performances in temple and sanctuary settings; festivals and processions; animal sacrifice; ritual drama; “sacred marriage” and other gendered and sexual metaphors for the relations between humans and the divine; genealogies; legitimization of kingship; wisdom literature. Taught concurrently with CLAS 231W, with one extra hour of translation of a Homeric text.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV 
  • Prerequisite: Completion of GREEK 232
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 350W Greeks, Romans and Barbarians: Readings in Greek (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 250W (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 only be earned in one of the following: GREEK 350W, LATIN 350W or CLAS 250W.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 232
  • Offering: Triennially in Spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 360 Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek Society: Readings in Euripides (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 260 (Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek Society), plus one hour per week translating a tragedy by Euripides. This course explores Greek attitudes towards gender roles and sexuality, drawing on primary medical texts, tragedy, comedy, didactic poetry, forensic speeches, the romance novel, philosophy, early lyric poetry, and secondary scholarship about these texts. Topics include gender construction, misogyny, hysteria, virginity, marriage, rape, seduction, inheritance, female and male desire, homosexuality, and rites of passage. Credit may only be earned in oe of the following: GREEK 360 or CLAS 260.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 232
  • Offering: Triennially in Spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 362W Advanced Research and Writing on Greek Literature (4)

This course is intended to provide students with appropriate preparation in Greek, an additional opportunity to read Greek in the original and to polish their research and writing skills.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231
  • Offering: On Demand
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 390 Independent Study (2-4)

Advanced study of selected Greek texts.

  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 399 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 429 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

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