Ancient Mediterranean Studies Courses
- Spring 2024
AMS 181A/ANTH 280A/ARTH 281H/GEOG 180C – Archaeology of Rome & Pompeii – Professor Hilary Becker – Gen Ed: N
While it is true that Rome and Pompeii are ancient cities, the archaeology and social history can help us to reanimate them. This course will focus on key cities of Roman Italy and will examine them in a topic-based approach that seeks to illuminate and explicate key pieces of archaeological and historical evidence so that we might arrive at a better understanding not only of these ancient places but also of the people that inhabited them.
AMS 215/COLI 281C – Ancient Tragedy, Greece & Rome – Professor Andrew Scholtz – Gen Ed: H
Today, the word “tragedy” conjures up images of disaster and suffering. In ancient Athens, tragedy above all meant entertainment for a mass audience. But what else was — and is — tragic drama? Is the suffering depicted by ancient Greek and Roman playwrights wholly foreign to modern sensibilities? Or does it offer something with which people today can identify? By studying ancient Mediterranean tragedy, and by comparing it to genres like satyr drama and comedy, not to mention comparison with modern plays, we will seek answers to those and other questions. In the process, we will deepen our understanding of an art form that boldly explores human existence at the extremes.
AMS 232/COLI 230/ENG 200M/MDVL 280I – Classical Mythology – Professor Pavlovskis-Petit – Gen Ed: H and Harpur W Classical myth in ancient literature and art. Myth as theology, cosmology, explanation of psychological and social phenomena. Correlations between history and mythology. Modern schools of myth interpretation. For majors and non-majors. Weekly lecture and discussion session.
AMS 280C/PHIL 201 – Plato & Aristotle – Professor Mateo Duque – Gen Eds: HT Introduction to Greek Philosophy to 323 BCE. Brief introduction to philosophy before Socrates; more extensive study of Socratic dialogues and Plato's philosophy; general introduction to Aristotle¿s science, metaphysics, and ethics. For majors and non-majors. Many short quizzes and three equal essay exams. No prerequisites or co-requisites. This course is appropriate for first year students. Books: Curd & McKirahan, A Presocratics Reader, mostly not available online. Plato, Complete Works, ed. Cooper, dialogues also available online. The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. McKeon, most readings also available online and on Brightspace.
AMS 280M/UNIV 280M – Materials Matter – Professor Pam Smart – Gen Eds: AL Science and the humanities are ordinarily understood to be entirely separate domains of inquiry, each with its distinctive objects and modes of
study. This course draws these two fields into conversation with each other through an interdisciplinary focus on specific materials, from their
elemental structure, the technologies of their manufacture, the social and historical conditions that provoked and sustained experimentation in
their substance and form, through to the impact of innovations in materials at specific historical junctures.
AMS 281Y – Rome: Archaeology of Empire – Professor Jeffrey Becker – Gen Eds: GN
This course addresses the archaeology of the Roman empire and its political culture. The course will first examine the spread of Roman culture and urbanism within Italy and Sicily and then proceed to a survey of the provinces of the Roman empire. The course will focus on archaeological material, in addition to relevant textual and epigraphic evidence, in order to examine the nature of the Roman provinces within their cultural context. A fundamental question that will be explored is what does it mean to be "Roman".
AMS 380H/ARTH 381D – Hellenistic & Roman Sculpture – Professor J. Becker – Gen Eds: ACH
A survey of sculptural forms in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds from the time of Alexander the Great to Late Antiquity. Key sculptural media will be considered from chronological and thematic perspectives. Attention to contextual analysis, social history, form, technique, regionalism, the tradition of copying, artists’ workshops.
AMS 480B/PHIL 458B – Stoic Ethics - Professor Anthony Preus – Gen Eds: HJ Philosophical examination of ethical writings of the ancient Stoic philosophers from Zeno of Citium and other early Stoics via the writings of Cicero
and Diogenes Laertius (primarily), to Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. For the sake of context, we will also look at the ethical teachings of
the Academy, of the Epicureans, and of Skeptics and Cynics.
GRK 101 – Elementary Ancient Greek I – Professor John H. Starks, Jr.
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning. For majors and non-majors.
LAT 102 –Elementary Latin II – Professor Carina de Klerk
Second of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non-majors. Prerequisites: Latin 101 or equivalent as determined by permission of instructor. - Fall 2023
AMS 180C – Intro to Ancient Mediterranean Studies – Prof Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: GH
This course provides students with a foundational experience in the study of the ancient Mediterranean world. The course adopts a broad perspective that introduces students not only to the disciplines that focus themselves on Mediterranean antiquity but also to the wide range of ideas, perspectives, and interpretations of that world.
AMS 283A/AFST/ANTH/HIST/SOC/WGSS – Women: Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome – Prof John Starks – GenEds: DGN Following the arc of women’s natural life cycles from birth to death, through investigation of law and religion, politics and labor, enslavement and freedom, ethnicity and socio-economic status, and especially gender and sexuality, we will examine and re-construct—as best we can—the daily lives and socio-cultural values of women across the long histories of ancient Egypt and the worlds impacted by Greek and Roman expansion around the Mediterranean.
AMS 360/ANTH/HIST – Trojan War: Epic Archaeology – Prof Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: GHN & Harpur W
Troy has long captured the human imagination. The story of its fall and the tales of both its inhabitants and besiegers have caught the attention of artists and their audiences from antiquity to post-modernity. It seems we are drawn to the struggle that is Troy and the Trojan War, to the paragons of virtue, and the archetypes of other, less noble human traits.
AMS 381Z/CINE/COLI/ENG – Swords ‘n Sandals: Ancient Film – Prof Tina Chronopoulos – GenEds: AGHIO
This course explores how film can act like a lens into the past and the present. We will think about the ways in which film has influenced modern popular ideas about life in Ancient Greece and Rome broadly conceived, and we will also investigate how the themes and cultural anxieties of the 20th and 21st centuries reverberated through the films we will watch (e.g. political and religious persecution; race and racism; gender and sexuality; superpower standoffs, and others).
AMS 480D/PHL 481B – Metaphysics and Epistemology after Aristotle – Prof Anthony Preus – GenEds: CT
This course deals with epistemology and metaphysics in Plato's Academy, from Polemo onward through the Academic Skeptics to the Middle Academy (Plutarch especially); Aristotle's School: Theophrastus and later Peripatetics; the ancient commentators on Aristotle (but none after Simplicius); Epicurus and Epicureans (emphasis on Lucretius); Stoics; "Neoplatonists" especially Plotinus and Porphyry.
AMS 480S/PHIL 458E – The Stoics and Politics – Prof Mateo Duque – GenEds: CT
What does it mean to be a Stoic? A principal tenet of Stoicism is accepting your situation in life. Unfortunately, some have interpreted this to mean that Stoicism advocated for a kind of quietism that is antithetical to fighting for political and social justice. In this class, we go back to the original Stoics and look at the intersection of Stoicism and politics, law, and ethics.
AMS 481L/PHIL 456G – Ancient Theory of Law – Prof Anthony Preus - GenEds: HJ
The first third of the course will focus on archaic law, and go on to Socratic and Platonic legal theory; the second third continues with Plato’s Laws, and concentrate on Platonic dialogues focused on Socrates and ethical theory. The second third of the course will focus on Aristotelian legal theory. The third third will examine the theory of Roman law, beginning from Cicero’s De Legibus.
GRK 102/502 – Elementary Ancient Greek II – Prof Carina de Klerk
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning.
GRK 381A – Serious Fun? Aristophanes Clouds – Prof Andrew Scholtz – GenEd: H
Advanced ancient Greek language course. Prerequisite: GRK 203 or equivalent. In his Clouds (produced 423), the comic playwright Aristophanes presents us with a portrait of Socrates (469-399 BCE), teacher of Plato and others, and a key figure in the Western philosophical tradition. The portrait is unforgettable, but is it true?
LAT 101 (01 & 02) – Elementary Latin I – Professor Carina de Klerk
First of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non-majors.
LAT 380L – Pliny: Elder and Younger – Prof Hilary Becker
Students in this course will read selections from the works of two Silver Age Latin authors: Pliny the Elder and his nephew, Pliny the Younger. Readings from the Natural History of Pliny the Elder provide an opportunity to learn about Roman knowledge of and curiosity about the world around them. These readings will be followed by selected letters of Pliny the Younger, which provide a valuable portal to learn about the administration of the Roman empire and elite daily life. - Spring 2023
Note that all coursese are labelled AMS (Ancient Mediterreanean Studies) and not CLAS (Classical Studies) as of summer 2022.
GRK 101 – Elementary Ancient Greek I – Professor Carina de Klerk
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning. For majors and non‐majors.
LAT 102 –Elementary Latin II – Professor Carina de Klerk
Second of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non‐majors. Prerequisites: Latin 101 or equivalent as determined by permission of instructor.
GRK 203 – Intermediate Ancient Greek – Professor John Starks
Review and continuation of grammar, then a selection of ancient Greek literature read in the original with special attention to literary and cultural exploration.
AMS 105/HIST 281A – Daily Life in Greece & Rome – Professor Hilary Becker – GenEd: N
Explore the daily life of ancient Greeks and Romans by examining different aspects of their daily life ranging from the economy to
the legal system, drama, religion, athletics, and art. By considering Greece and Rome side by side and placing these varied social and
historical aspects within a comparative framework, this course will highlight not only similarities and differences that existed
between these civilizations in the Mediterranean ancient world but also make connections to the twenty‐first century.
AMS 280D/ANTH 280U/ARTH 281A ‐ Art in the Ancient Greek World – Professor Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: AN
This course explores the art and archaeology of the Greek world from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman period. The course focuses on architecture, sculpture, painted pottery, and wall painting as its main object classes and situates artistic and stylistic developments within their social, political, and historical context. We will consider issues of style, regional developments, technique
and craftsmanship, trade and economy, and art forms in various contexts.
AMS 280M/UNIV 280M – Materials Matter – Professor Hilary Becker – GenEds: AL
Science and the humanities are ordinarily understood to be entirely separate domains of inquiry, each with its distinctive objects and modes of study. This course draws these two fields into conversation with each other through an interdisciplinary focus on specific
materials, from their elemental structure, the technologies of their manufacture, the social and historical conditions that provoked and sustained experimentation in their substance and form, through to the impact of innovations in materials at specific historical junctures. Classes will integrate lectures across a range of disciplinary fields, with hands‐on interaction with materials, and labs that will include analyses of pigment, ceramics, and glass in the collection of the Binghamton University Art Museum.
AMS 380B/HIST 381A – Rome’s Augustan “Rebirth” – Professor J. Becker – GenEd: H and Harpur W
This course offers a detailed examination of the life and administration of the Roman emperor known as Augustus, who reigned during a time of pivotal social and economic change that forever altered the trajectory of Roman history. The course will examine Augustus and his administration from a variety of viewpoints, drawing on a rich dataset that includes literature, art, architecture,
epigraphy, urbanism, and ritual practice. The course seeks to understand how the relatively obscure young man who succeeded Julius Caesar aimed to repair and stabilize a society wracked by civil war and, in so doing, redirect the nature of the Roman state and of Roman citizenship.
AMS 381C/COLI 381V/ENG 380G/WGSS 383F – LGBTQ Antiquity – Professor Tina Chronopoulos – GenEds: HO
Did you know that Hercules, arguably the most manly of Greek heroes, spent a year wearing women’s clothing and doing women’s work? Or that the god Dionysus lived as a girl during adolescence. In this course we will study ancient (Greek and Roman, for the most part) literature, and some art, with a particular eye (or eyes) on LGBTQ identities. We will take into consideration how identities based on gender, sexual behavior, and sexual desire (as well as how class played into this) were established in ancient Greek and Roman societies and were depicted in the surviving literature and art. (No freshmen).
AMS 232/COLI 230/ENG 200M/MDVL 280I – Classical Mythology – Professor Pavlovskis‐Petit – GenEd: H and Harpur W
Classical myth in ancient literature and art. Myth as theology, cosmology, explanation of psychological and social phenomena. Correlations between history and mythology. Modern schools of myth interpretation. For majors and non‐majors. Weekly lecture and discussion session.
AMS 280C/PHIL 201 – Plato And Aristotle ‐ Professor Mateo Duque – GenEds: H
In this course we will examine two of the most intriguing philosophical thinkers of all time: Plato and Aristotle. We will briefly look at the Early Greek philosophers. We will study several of Plato’s dialogues, and investigate the views on epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and politics represented in the dialogues. We will also read several of Aristotle’s treatises, and excerpts of others.
AMS 381A - Race for Glory:GrkCivUnderRome - Professor Andrew Scholtz - GenEds: H, O and Harpur W
In a poem from 1845, Edgar Allan Poe longs for "the glory that was Greece, / And the grandeur that was Rome." But what was Greek glory under Rome? As we shall see, it was in many ways a re-performance of past greatness in the face of a problematic present. For the challenge posed by being proudly Greek under Roman rule involved a tricky sort of negotiation, both with the ruling power and with fellow Imperial subjects. Indeed, it seems to have fostered a climate of intense rivalry in the Greek-speaking Roman East, whose star orators, athletes, and others competed on a grand scale. Hence competition as a theme central to the course: celebrity sophists battling one another for prestige; cities battling for Imperial favor; ordinary folks seeking to get ahead of, or not to be left behind by, other ordinary folks. There were prizes to be won, but dangers, too, especially those posed by envious rivals. In the end, such concerns generated much cultural production, but they reveal as well fault-lines within ideologies shaping the creation and ancient reception of materials to be studied.
AMS 480B/PHIL 458B – Stoic Ethics ‐ Professor Anthony Preus – GenEds: HJ
Philosophical examination of ethical writings of the ancient Stoic philosophers from Zeno of Citium and other early Stoics via the writings of Cicero and Diogenes Laertius (primarily), to Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. For the sake of context, we will also look at the ethical teachings of the Academy, of the Epicureans, and of Skeptics and Cynics.
AMS 480C/PHIL 458C – Ancient Theories of Citizenship – Professor Anthony Preus – GenEds: HJ
Philosophical examination of ancient texts dealing with the concept of Citizenship and Belonging, starting from ancient Israel, through the early Greek philosophers and historians, to the Sophists, Plato Protagoras, Apology, Crito, Republic, Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics (selections) and Politics to sections from the Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers and early Christian writers.
- Fall 2022
Note that all coursese are now labelled AMS (Ancient Mediterreanean Studies) and not CLAS (Classical Studies) as of summer 2022.
AMS 180A – Achilles to Zeus: Ancient Greek Lit – Professor Carina de Klerk – GenEd: H
This course offers a survey of ancient Greek literature in translation, covering the key genres and texts in their social and historical contexts. Many of the texts read in this class are masterpieces that have had and continue to have an extraordinary influence on writers, thinkers, and artists of all kinds. Therefore, this course effectively offers students not only a window into the world of the ancient Greeks but also into any later period that they influenced. Readings will include primary texts in translation as well as adaptations of these works (poems, art, film, graphic novels etc.).
AMS 180M/COLI 180Q/ENG 180M – Mediterranean Myths, Then & Now – Professor Tina Chronopoulos – GenEd: H
In this course we will examine and think about myths from the Ancient Mediterranean alongside some of their modern retellings in order to get a sense of how and why these stories continue to resonate today. We will read and learn about myths from regions/empires such as ancient Greece and Italy, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Carthage, the Achaemenid empire, and others.
AMS 215/COLI 281C/ENG 200R/THEA 289K – Ancient Tragedy, Greece & Rome – Professor Andrew Scholtz - GenEd: H
Today, the word “tragedy” conjures up images of disaster and suffering. In classical Athens, tragedy above all meant entertainment for a mass audience. But what beyond entertainment did tragedy entail? Is the suffering it depicted wholly foreign to modern sensibilities? Or shall we moderns find in ancient Greek and Roman tragedy something to identify with? In this course, students will pursue that and similar questions.
AMS 280A/ARTH 281C – Roman Art: An Introduction – Professor Jeffrey Becker – GenEd: A
This course provides an introduction to the visual culture and art forms of the Italo-Roman world from the Early Iron Age to the beginning of Late Antiquity. The course examines the developmental arcs of art forms in various spheres (public, private, sacred, funereal) and considers key media (sculpture, painting, mosaic, decorative arts). Notable case studies include art in the Vesuvian cities (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae), the Roman port of Ostia Antica, provincial art in the Roman empire (western and eastern provinces, North Africa), the public art and iconographic programs of key emperors including Augustus, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, and Constantine I.
AMS 380A/ANTH 380T - Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology – Professor Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: CN
This course offers a survey of the archaeology of settled landscapes in the ancient Mediterranean world, including both the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean basin. In particular, the course will focus on city-country dichotomies in order to study the patterns of development, demography, and land use in selected case study areas. While the emergence of urban centers in the Mediterranean and Near East will be an important consideration, the main focus of the course will be to study these landscapes in a contextualized way, exploring the interrelatedness of the city center and its hinterland and examining the ways in which human activity in the landscape over time brings about change.
GRK 102/502 – Elementary Ancient Greek II – Professor John H. Starks, Jr.
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning. For majors and non-majors. Students beginning with GRK 101 will be prepared in their fourth semester to join a reading course on texts in the original language. Format may vary by sections: Class participation and attendance required.
LAT 101 (01 & 02) – Elementary Latin I – Professor Carina de Klerk
First of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non-majors. - Spring 2022
CLAS 180C/ANTH 280A/HIST 281H/GEOG 180C – Archaeology of Rome and Pompeii – Professor Hilary Becker – GenEd: N
While it is true that Rome and Pompeii are ancient cities, the archaeology and social history can help us to reanimate them. This course will focus on key cities of Roman Italy and will examine them in a topic-based approach that seeks to illuminate and explicate key pieces of archaeological and historical evidence so that we might arrive at a better understanding not only of these ancient places but also of the people that inhabited them.
CLAS 232/COLI 230/ENG 200M/MDVL 280I – Classical Mythology – Professor Pavlovskis-Petit – GenEd: H
Classical myth in ancient literature and art. Myth as theology, cosmology, explanation of psychological and social phenomena. Correlations between history and mythology. Modern schools of myth interpretation. For majors and non-majors. Weekly lecture and discussion session. One final examination, one 15-page paper.
CLAS 281G/HIST 202 – The Greek World – Professor Nate Andrade – GenEd: GN & Harpur W
This course examines the societies of the classical and Hellenistic Greek worlds, the social and economic factors that underpinned them, and the cultural and intellectual narratives that shaped their ideological perspectives. It also explores how some Greeks defined self-hood through their encounters with foreign peoples in ways that have shaped modern concepts of the “West” and “East.” Main topics include the Greeks’ encounters with “barbarians,” sexuality and gender, slavery, the significance of sports and athletics, the effects of Athenian democracy and empire, the career of Alexander the Great, and the rise of the Hellenistic world.
CLAS 283A /ANTH 280X/HIST 281T – The Archaic Mediterranean – Professor Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: GN
This course considers the archaeology and settlement history of the Mediterranean basin from the later ninth century B.C. to the middle of the fifth century B.C. in order to study, in a contextualized way, the interconnectedness of cultures and economies in this region. The interchange and exchange that occurred in the archaic Mediterranean world was formative - it shaped the trajectory of settlement and economy for well over a millennium.
CLAS 380A/HIST 381C – Archaeology of Athens – Professor J. Becker – GenEds: CN
The ancient city of Athens provides us with a wealth of archaeological and cultural information about the ancient world. Using Athens and its surroundings as our laboratory, this course will focus on the development and growth of the ancient city-state from the Bronze Age through to the third century A.D.
CLAS 381U/HIST 386 – Ancient Christianity – Professor Nate Andrade – GenEds: CGN
This course probes key themes and topics in the history of ancient Christianity, especially as they pertain to the Middle East, East Africa, and Asia. We will examine the ancient Christian communities and landscapes of these regions and analyze their relationships with Jews, Zoroastrians, and polytheists. We will assess the impact of imperialism, martyrdom, monasticism, and relic cults on Christianity’s formation.
CLAS 383Z/ARTH 389C/PPL 380A – Archaeological Ethics – Professor H. Becker – GenEds: GNO & Harpur W
The ethical issues confronted by archaeologists are anything but past. This course aims to provide a forum for informed discussion about cultural property and cultural heritage. Students will think about what stakeholders are involved in issues raised by archaeology; what ethical, financial, legal, and political considerations affect decisions these stakeholders make; what legal statutes, ethical codes, and disciplinary practices are involved.
CLAS 480H/PHIL 458H – Legal Theory in Greece and Rome - Professor Anthony Preus – GenEds: HJ
Around 600 BCE, Solon formulated and reformed the laws of Athens. At about the same time, Lycurgus is said to have established the laws of Sparta. Over subsequent centuries we can trace the development of law and legal theory in the Greek and Roman world. Philosophers often called attention to theoretical issues with law – what is the source of law? The source of its authority? What is the relationship between law and morality? What justifies punishment?
CLAS 481K/PHIL 481C – Knowing and Being in Ancient Philosophy – Professor Anthony Preus – GenEds: HJ
Philosophical examination of ancient philosophical texts exploring knowledge and existence, starting from Heraclitus and Parmenides, through Plato (Phaedo, Theaetetus, Sophist, and other dialogues), and Aristotle (sections of On the Soul and Metaphysics, and other works), to some passages from Stoic and Neoplatonic texts.
GRK 101 – Elementary Ancient Greek I – Professor John Starks
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning. For majors and non-majors.
LAT 102 –Elementary Latin II – Professor Carina deKlerk
Second of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non-majors. Prerequisites: Latin 101 or equivalent as determined by permission of instructor.
- Fall 2021
CLAS 180M/COLI 180Q/ENG 180M – Mediterranean Myths, Then & Now – Professor Tina Chronopoulos – GenEd: H
In this course we will examine and think about myths from the Ancient Mediterranean alongside some of their modern retellings in order to get a sense of how and why these stories continue to resonate today. We will read and learn about myths from regions/empires such as ancient Greece and Italy, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Carthage, the Achaemenid empire, and others.
CLAS 215/COLI 281C/ENG 200R/THEA 289L – Ancient Tragedy, Greece & Rome – Professor John Starks - GenEd: H
Today, the word “tragedy” conjures up images of disaster and suffering. In classical Athens, tragedy above all meant entertainment for a mass audience. But what beyond entertainment did tragedy entail? Is the suffering it depicted wholly foreign to modern sensibilities? Or shall we moderns find in ancient Greek and Roman tragedy something to identify with? In this course, students will pursue that and similar questions.
CLAS 280C/ANTH 280S/HIST 2587C/JUST 280Q – Ancient Cities – Professor Jeffrey Becker – GenEds: GN
This course is an introductory survey of the urban centers of the ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Mediterranean worlds. In this course students will explore the development of urbanism in these areas by studying the archaeological remains from the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, from the Neolithic period until the foundation of Constantinople in the 4th century A.D.
CLAS 281M/UNIV 280M – Materials Matter – Professor Hilary Becker – GenEds: AL
Science and the humanities are ordinarily understood to be entirely separate domains of inquiry, each with its distinctive objects and modes of study. This course draws these two fields into conversation with each other through an interdisciplinary focus on specific materials.
CLAS 281P/PHIL 201 – Plato & Aristotle – Professor Anthony Preus – GenEd: H
Introduction to Greek Philosophy to 323 BCE. Brief introduction to philosophy before Socrates; study of several Socratic dialogues and Plato’s philosophy; general introduction to Aristotle’s ethics, politics, theory of language, science and metaphysics. For majors and non-majors. Short quizzes and three equal essay exams. I>Clicker required. Two lectures, one discussion section per week. No prerequisites or co-requisites. This course is appropriate for first-year students.
CLAS 283E/AFST 280F/ANTH 282R/HIST 281G/JUST 284E – Race/Ethnicity in Ancient N. Africa - Professor John Starks – GenEds: GN & Harpur W
We will examine several cultures that inhabited ancient North Africa (Egyptians, Nubians/Kushites, the Jewish communities in Egypt, the Carthaginians, and possibly, given enough time, several ethnic groups of northwest Africa often collectively described by outsiders as ‘Berbers’) before and during the period of Greek and Roman influence around the Mediterranean. To understand these diverse societies we will use the tools of cultural anthropology: ancient Greek and Roman literary texts, native and western art and archaeology, inscriptions, papyri, and coins, qualitative and some quantitative analysis of data, and modern scholarly studies in ethnicity to see how these cultures lived and how they influenced, and were influenced by, the Greeks and Romans.
CLAS 375/SOC 380G/WGSS 383D – America & Classical Antiquity – Professor Tina Chronopoulos – GenEds: HP
This course entails a study of the reception of—that is, the treatment and responses to—the cultural products of Ancient Greece and Italy in the United States, with special attention to how these products were appropriated in politics and popular culture and continue to shape how we see ourselves and the past. After an examination of how the study of Ancient Greece and Italy developed into an academic discipline in Western Europe and how it arrived in North America.
CLAS 380H/ARTH 381D – Hellenistic & Roman Sculpture – Professor J. Becker – GenEds: AC
A survey of sculptural forms in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds from the time of Alexander the Great to Late Antiquity. Key sculptural media will be considered from chronological and thematic perspectives. Attention to contextual analysis, social history, form, technique, regionalism, the tradition of copying, artists’ workshops.
CLAS 450D/PHIL 458D – Justice in Ancient Thought – Professor Tony Preus – GenEd: HJ
Ancient thought was always concerned with the idea of justice – from Egyptian Ma’at and Hebrew tzedek to Greek dike and dikaiosyne, and Roman lex and justicia, the rule of law and fairness were a persistent concern. We will discuss a variety of texts from the ancient Mediterranean world, with special emphasis on Plato’s Republic and other dialogues, on Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, and Cicero, On the Laws.
GRK 102 – Elementary Ancient Greek II – Professor Andrew Scholtz
Homer, Herodotus, Sappho, others — experience ancient Greece through the language of the ancient Greeks. This course introduces you to ancient Greek grammar, vocabulary at the elementary level. Reading of simple texts, including actual quotations from ancient authors. Simple conversation in the target language to aid in learning. For majors and non-majors. Students beginning with GRK 101 will be prepared in their fourth semester to join a reading course on texts in the original language. Format may vary by sections: Class participation and attendance required.
LAT 101 – Elementary Latin I – Professor Carina de Klerk
First of two semesters of essential grammar and vocabulary for developing reading skills in classical Latin. Second half of the assigned grammar textbook will be completed along with a significant introduction to Roman literature and culture and supplementary work in prose composition. For majors and non-majors.
LAT 203 – Intermediate Latin – Professor Hilary Becker
Review of grammar and introduction to Latin literature and development of proficient reading skills through topical passages of real Latin literature written by various Roman authors. Three hours of class each week devoted to discussion and translation of select passages. Over the course of the semester students will transition from Latin exercises highlighting grammatical precision to genuine Latin prose and verse texts. Authors likely to be encountered include Catullus, Cicero, Ovid, Petronius, Suetonius, and others.
