Achilles' heel, the Trojan Horse, Pandora's Box, an Oedipal complex, a Herculean task-themes and figures from classical mythology continue to play an important role in our everyday life. We will read the original tales of classical heroes and heroines as depicted by Homer, the Greek tragedians, Vergil, Ovid, and others. Why do these stories continue to engage, entertain, and even shock us? What is the nature and power of myth? Readings from ancient sources in English translation.

Antigone in Ferguson, Medea from Mexico, Trojan Women in Syria – why do contemporary playwrights and filmmakers keep returning to ancient Greek tragedy?  This class will combine discussion of plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in their original fifth-century BCE context with analysis of their afterlife on the contemporary stage and screen. How do contemporary, cross-cultural re-imaginings of ancient Greek plays like Antigone, Medea and the Trojan Women, unsettle our familiar readings of Athenian drama?  How do these age-old plays create a productive space for questions about politics, community and power that continue to preoccupy us today?  

Ancient Rome’s economy was pre-industrial but highly developed and sophisticated. We will study fundamental large-scale questions such as the labor force with both free and slave labor, raw materials acquisition, start-up capital, transportation by land and sea, state involvement in the economy, banking, production methods, marketing, and retail trade. We will also study how individual businesses and trades operated, such as restaurants, furniture making, agriculture, pottery production, construction, stonework, lodging, sex work, handcrafts, textile and clothing production, dry-cleaning, and professional services (e.g., education). What modern models and approaches, including behavioral economics, help us understand ancient Roman businesses? Possible projects include case studies, consultations with modern craftspeople, and development of business plans.

War is undoubtedly bad. But human beings have always practiced war. Indeed, war preceded history itself by tens of thousands of years-if by history we mean the written inquiry into the past. But what causes wars? How have wars been justified historically? How are wars won and lost? What are their effects? In this class, we examine a series of case studies in warfare, including the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian War, and the Roman Punic Wars. We will read classic accounts of warfare, theoretical literature about tactics, strategy, and logistics, and also will analyze how war is represented in other media, such as art and film.

Greek 102 builds on what you learned in Greek 101 in the fall (see the description of Greek 101 for details) and completes your introduction to the ancient Greek language.  In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading excerpts from actual Greek authors like Lysias, Euripides and Sappho. Steady review throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material.  A single year can take you from knowing no Greek at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political traditions.  Studying Greek will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.

Latin 102 builds on what you learned in Latin 101 in the fall (see the description of Latin 101 for details) and covers the rest of Latin.  In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading actual ancient and medieval Latin texts, such as love poems, letters, and myths.  Steady review throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material.  A single year can take you from knowing no Latin at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political traditions.  Studying Latin will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.

In this course, we will study three literary genres—Roman comedy, historiography, and elegy—each with its own characteristic view of women, from comedy’s scolding wives and young lovers, to history’s villains and heroines, to elegy’s mistresses.  Taking into account authorial perspective, context, language, and style, we will identify how male authors in different genres construct woman as the imagined “other” in society. From Plautus to Ovid, we examine the ways a literary genre reflects cultural perceptions of women and gender in Roman society from Republic to Empire.

A survey of the development of archaeology. The methods and techniques of archaeology are presented through an analysis of excavations and prehistoric remains. Materials studied range from the Bronze Age and classical civilizations of the Old World and the Aztec and Inca empires of the New World to the historical archaeology of New England. Students are introduced to techniques for reconstructing the past from material remains. The course includes a field trip to a neighboring archaeological site.

Roman chariot races and gladiatorial combat were not just entertainment for the masses, just as the ancient Olympic games were much more than sporting events. Athletic competitions, theatrical performances, and militaristic parades were all public enactments of political and religious ideology. This course examines the spectacle of competitive performances and rituals of power that helped shape ancient Greek and Roman society. Students will investigate ancient writings alongside art-historical and archaeological evidence to consider how social values and identities were constructed through these shared experiences. We will also consider how the modern performances of ancient texts, the Olympic Games, and cinematic representations have emphasized the splendor, drama, and gore of antiquity.

Roman chariot races and gladiatorial combat were not just entertainment for the masses, just as the ancient Olympic games were much more than sporting events. Athletic competitions, theatrical performances, and militaristic parades were all public enactments of political and religious ideology. This course examines the spectacle of competitive performances and rituals of power that helped shape ancient Greek and Roman society. Students will investigate ancient writings alongside art-historical and archaeological evidence to consider how social values and identities were constructed through these shared experiences. We will also consider how the modern performances of ancient texts, the Olympic Games, and cinematic representations have emphasized the splendor, drama, and gore of antiquity.

This course meeds with CLCV 205 in room PNW 001.

Greek 101 and 102 will teach you all you need to know to learn to read Plato, Sappho, Sophocles, and Herodotus in their original language, with no previous knowledge required. While learning Greek, you will also learn another amazing language at the same time: English. Students who study Greek also learn English grammar and vocabulary with a level of detail and clarity that you must experience to believe. Students interested in math and the sciences will excel at Greek and benefit enormously from the vocabulary you learn, since 90% of scientific vocabulary comes from classical languages.  In Greek 101, you will learn how to pronounce ancient Greek, and we will cover more than half of Greek grammar, so by the end of the year, you will be reading Attic Greek.

In a single year that assumes you have not studied Latin before, Latin 101 and 102 will teach you how to read major Latin works in their original language, substantially increase your English vocabulary (thousands of English words come ultimately from Latin), improve your writing skills in English, enhance your command of English grammar, and either build on your knowledge of Spanish, French, or Italian if you’ve already studied one of them or help you learn them if you haven’t (they are called “Romance” languages because they come from Latin, the language of the Romans).  You’ll learn how to pronounce Latin out loud so you know how it sounds and you’ll acquire a reading knowledge, but we will not converse in Latin.  Latin 101 covers roughly half of the year’s material, and by the end of the semester you’ll be able to read simple stories. 

Romans based their history in myth and made their history into myths. This course includes reading from major authors such as Livy, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, and Tacitus, focusing on historical myths such as Romulus and Remus, the Rape of the Sabine Women, Tarquinius Superbus, and Hercules and Cacus. We will then examine how later Romans reworked those myths to serve current political purposes and how they transformed historical events into powerful myths.

Achilles' heel, the Trojan Horse, Pandora's Box, an Oedipal complex, a Herculean task-themes and figures from classical mythology continue to play an important role in our everyday life. We will read the original tales of classical heroes and heroines as depicted by Homer, the Greek tragedians, Vergil, Ovid, and others. Why do these stories continue to engage, entertain, and even shock us? What is the nature and power of myth? Readings from ancient sources in English translation.

Achilles' heel, the Trojan Horse, Pandora's Box, an Oedipal complex, a Herculean task-themes and figures from classical mythology continue to play an important role in our everyday life. We will read the original tales of classical heroes and heroines as depicted by Homer, the Greek tragedians, Vergil, Ovid, and others. Why do these stories continue to engage, entertain, and even shock us? What is the nature and power of myth? Readings from ancient sources in English translation.

Ancient Greek historians associated the ruins of Bronze Age cities with the legends of the Trojan War, the lost city of Atlantis, and the labyrinth of the Minotaur. This course takes a more archaeological approach, combing the ruins for evidence that allow us to reconstruct complex societies that integrated contributions from diverse participants, including enslaved people and foreigners, as well as heroic adventurers. We will investigate the role of African and Asian cultures in early Greek state formation and collapse, technologies of art and writing, and religious traditions featuring a mother goddess. The course requires no background and offers an introduction to archaeological analysis as well as the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean.

Greek 102 builds on what you learned in Greek 101 in the fall (see the description of Greek 101 for details) and completes your introduction to the ancient Greek language.  In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading excerpts from actual Greek authors like Lysias, Euripides and Sappho. Steady review throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material.  A single year can take you from knowing no Greek at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political traditions.  Studying Greek will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.

Latin 102 builds on what you learned in Latin 101 in the fall (see the description of Latin 101 for details) and covers the rest of Latin.  In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading actual ancient and medieval Latin texts, such as love poems, letters, and myths.  Steady review throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material.  A single year can take you from knowing no Latin at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political traditions.  Studying Latin will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.

Romans read Latin as quickly and with as much pleasure as we read English. They looked forward to a new book just as eagerly as we might pre-order a new novel by our favorite novelist. In this non-traditional Latin course you will read a variety of authors (many chosen by the class members), and you will learn to read Latin more like a Roman. Double or triple your reading speed, improve your comprehension, appreciate the language more richly, and simply enjoy it more. This course focuses not on reviewing grammar and forms but on learning concrete, practical reading techniques that go far beyond just looking up every word online or hunting for a verb. The specific interests of the members of the class will help determine what we’ll read, which might include some famous classics but also little-known but fascinating works like Perpetua’s autobiographical account of her own martyrdom (recently transformed into a graphic novel), Sallust’s portrait of scandals, Egeria’s record of her pilgrimmage, the wild adventure/romance novel Apollonius, King of Tyre, or medieval Latin texts. Homework assignments, some of them analogous to problem sets or labs, will help you develop specific reading techniques.