Classics Courses - Spring 2017

Greek and Latin - All courses in Greek and Latin fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement

CG 110: ELEMENTARY GREEK (4 Cr.)
M 11:15-12:10, TuTh 11:10-12:30
Leslie Mechem

This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Greek who are interested in learning this complex and compelling language. Students learn the syntax and grammar of Attic Greek, the dialect of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, in an effort to prepare them to read Homer, Plato, Sophocles and the New Testament. Prerequisite: None.

CG 310: SEMINAR IN GREEK POETRY: EURIPIDES' BACCHAE (4 Cr.)
MW 2:30-3:50
Michael Arnush

The Bacchae was written at the end of Euripides' life, and was not produced in Athens until 405 BC, a year or so after he died. It, and the plays produced with it, won the first prize that had eluded Euripides for most of his career. This is not surprising, for this play is arguably the most perfect of his works, and ranks with the Agamemnon and the Oedipus Tyrannos in skill and artistry. Over the course of the semester we will conduct a careful reading and analysis of the Bacchae, examine some of the rich and wide-ranging scholarship done on this play, compare the Bacchae with other Euripidean tragedies, and attempt an understanding on why this play had such an enduring impact on later Greeks and Romans. Prerequisite: CG 210 or permission of the instructor.

CL 210: INTERMEDIATE LATIN (4 Cr.)
WF 10:10-12:00
Dan Curley

Students will refine their mastery of Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. We will explore the lives of women and slaves, warriors and drunks, the role of the family and education in Roman life, religion, justice and Christianity. We will then read selections of Latin prose and poetry. Prerequisite: CL 110 or permission of the instructor.

CL 310: SEMINAR IN LATIN POETRY: CATULLUS (4 Cr.)
TuTh 3:40-5:30
Dan Curley

Odi et amo, "I hate and I love ..." Folow the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus as he chronicles his blazing love-affair with the mysterious Lesbia. Along the way we consider how politics, myth, gender, and sexuality are refracted through the prism of Latin love poetry. Prerequisite: CL 210 or permission of instructor.

Classics in English

CC 200: CLASSICAL WORLD (4 Cr.)
MWF 1:25-2:20
Leslie Mechem

This class offers an introduction to classical antiquity for students interested in ancient Greece and Rome, the impact of antiquity on Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and a general background in the Western tradition. This interdisciplinary course, team-taught by faculty from the Classics Department, includes studies in literature (epic, dramatic, and lyric poetry, rhetoric, and fiction), history and historiography, art and architecture, philosophy and political theory. Podcasts, travel to NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the annual David H. Porter Lecture all complement the course. Fulfills Humanities requirement. Prerequisite: None.

CC 265: THE PARTHENON: FROM PERICLES TO PRESENT (3 Cr.)
TuTh 2:10-3:30
Michael Arnush and Leslie Mechem
TX 201B: TRAVEL-STUDY TO LONDON & ATHENS (1 Cr.)
May 21-June 3, 2017
Michael Arnush and Leslie Mechem

Students in this interdisciplinary seminar will study the art, architecture, history, politics and culture of ancient Athens during the classical or "golden age" of Pericles on campus, and then travel to London to examine the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum and debate the ethical implications of the acquisition of the Parthenon's art by England. Students in this travel-study course then continue their study in Greece with a close investigation of the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and collections in major Athenian museums. The last portion of the course includes a variety of religious sanctuaries and economics and military sites in Attica, from the home of the Mysteries at Eleusis, to the scene of the Battle of Marathon, to Laurion, where the Athenians hit the mother-lode of silver that, mined by 20,000 slaves, fueled the Athenian empire and, subsequently, the construction of the Acropolis and its monuments. At the heart of the seminar lies the enduring question: who owns the Parthenon?. Students must enroll in CC265.002 and TX201B concurrently. Fulfills Humanities requirement. Prerequisite: none.

 

History

HI 204: ATHENS, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, AND CLEOPATRA (3 Cr.)
TuTh 12:40-2:00
Michael Arnush

Students in this course will explore the social, political, economic and artistic contributions of the Greeks, with a focus on the Peloponnesian War, the empire of Alexander the Great, and the end of the Hellenistic era, concluding with the death of Cleopatra of Egypt. Through readings, discussions, exams and essays, students will demonstrate proficiency in the details that comprise Greek history, and an understanding of such broad topics as the analysis of the Peloponnesian conflict by Thucydides, the jockeying for power over the next half-century, social and political institutions, the rise of Macedonia, the conquest of Greece and Persia by Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic era and its emphasis on creativity, and the waning of Greek relevance with the conquest of Rome and the defeat of Cleopatra of Egypt. Fulfills Social Sciences requirement. Counts towards History & Classics & International Affairs majors.