Classical Languages & Literatures

CLS 217/ ARH 217 Greek Art and Archaeology (4 Credits)

Offered as CLS 217 and ARH 217. This course is a contextual examination of the art and architecture of Ancient Greece, from the end of the Bronze Age through the domination of Greece by Rome (ca. 1100-168 BCE) and handles an array of settlements, cemeteries and ritual sites. It tracks the development of the Greek city-state and the increasing power of the Greeks in the Mediterranean, culminating in the major diaspora of Greek culture accompanying the campaigns of Alexander the Great and his followers. The course takes a broadly chronological approach, and the question of a unified Greek culture is stressed. Continuing archaeological work is considered. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 218 Hellenistic Art and Archaeology (4 Credits)

This course examines the art, architecture and material culture of the Hellenistic period, spanning the years from 323 to 31 BCE and representing one of the most exciting and dynamic eras of Greek history. Beginning with the expansionist campaign of Alexander the Great and ending with the conquests of the future emperor Augustus, it is a time of fast-paced change, experimentation and diversity. In addition to examining the archaeology of this period, the course explores ideas about the accessibility of archaeological material and how this may be facilitated through digital collections and virtual reconstructions. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 227 Classical Mythology (4 Credits)

The principal myths as they appear in Greek and Roman literature, seen against the background of ancient culture and religion. Focus on creation myths, the structure and function of the Olympian pantheon, the Troy cycle and artistic paradigms of the hero. Some attention to modern retellings and artistic representations of ancient myths. {A}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 233 Gender and Sexuality in Greco-Roman Culture (4 Credits)

The construction of gender, sexuality, and erotic experience is one of the major sites of difference between Greco-Roman culture and our own. What constituted a proper man and a proper woman in these ancient societies? Which sexual practices and objects of desire were socially sanctioned and which considered deviant? What ancient modes of thinking about these issues have persisted into the modern world? Attention to the status of women; the role of social class; the ways in which genre and convention shaped representation; the relationship between representation and reality. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 237 Artifacts of Daily Life in the Ancient Mediterranean (4 Credits)

This course uses the artifacts of the Van Buren Antiquities Collection as a starting point for investigating the daily life of the Greek and Roman worlds. In particular, students select and research an object or objects for which to develop an "object biography," through which the people who produced, used, and re-used these objects might be accessed. Additional attention is given to the place of objects in archaeological practice and narratives. Enrollment limited to 10. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 238 The Age of Heroes: Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age (4 Credits)

The Mediterranean Bronze Age is often associated with mythological events like the Trojan War. But how did the people of the Bronze Age actually live? This course surveys the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, including Egypt and the Aegean, among others, from 3000 to 1100 BCE. The course explores not only the pyramids and palaces of the period, but also the evidence for day-to-day living, from crafts production to religion. The class also examines how these cultures interacted, and the Mediterranean networks that both allowed them to flourish and led to their collapse. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

CLS 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

For majors, minors and advanced students. Prerequisites: Three classics or other courses on the ancient world and two intermediate courses in Greek or Latin. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring

CLS 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

Department permission required.

Fall, Spring

GRK 100Y Elementary Greek (5 Credits)

A year-long course in the fundamentals of Attic Greek, the dialect of Greek spoken in antiquity in the region of Attica and its capital, Athens, and used by canonical writers such as the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, the historian Thucydides and the philosopher Plato. This course prepares students to read the works of these authors and a wide range of others through a combination of grammatical study, composition and graded reading practice, while learning about the history and culture of classical Greece. It also prepares them to make the transition to both the early Greek of Homeric epic and the later Greek (koine) of the New Testament. This course cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester.

Fall, Spring, Annually

GRK 215 Greek Prose and Poetry of the Classical Age (4 Credits)

An introduction to different genres of prose and poetry in the Classical period with attention to linguistic differences over time and region. Readings are from works such as Herodotus' History of the Persian War, the poetry of Solon the wise Athenian lawmaker, the philosophical dialogues of Plato, the Athenian courtroom speeches of Lysias, the tragedies of Euripides. Prerequisite: three semesters of Greek or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall

GRK 216 Greek Poetry of the Archaic Age (4 Credits)

(Formerly GRK 214.) An exploration of the poetic masterpieces of the Archaic period. Students study some of the songs bards performed to the accompaniment of the lyre, stories of war, exile and homecoming, monsters and divinities, love and lust. Readings are chosen from works such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days, the Homeric Hymns. Prerequisite: GRK 110Y or equivalent. {F}{L}

Spring

GRK 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

For majors and honors students. Prerequisites: Four advanced courses in Greek. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring

GRK 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

Department permission required.

Fall, Spring

LAT 100Y Elementary Latin (5 Credits)

The Latin language has had an extraordinarily long life, from ancient Rome through the Middle Ages to nineteenth-century Europe, where it remained the language of scholarship and science. Even today it survives in the Romance languages that grew out of it and in the countless English words derived from Latin roots. This course prepares students to read Latin texts in any period or area of interest through a study of the fundamentals of classical Latin grammar and through practice in reading from a range of Latin authors. Some attention is also given to Roman culture and Latin literary history. This is a full-year course and cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester. Enrollment limited to 30.

Fall, Spring, Annually

LAT 212 Introduction to Latin Prose and Poetry (4 Credits)

Practice and improvement of reading skills through the study of a selection of texts in prose and verse. Systematic review of fundamentals of grammar. Prerequisite: LAT 100Y or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall

LAT 214 Introduction to Latin Literature in the Augustan Age (4 Credits)

An introduction to the "Golden Age" of Latin literature which flourished under Rome's first emperor. Reading and discussion of authors exemplifying a range of genres and perspectives such as Virgil, Ovid and Horace, with attention to the political and cultural context of their work and to the relationship between literary production and the Augustan regime and its program. Practice in research skills and in reading, evaluating and producing critical essays. Prerequisite: LAT 212 or equivalent. {F}{L}

Spring

LAT 330ve Topics: Advanced Readings in Latin Literature-Vergil, Eclogues and Georgics (4 Credits)

Before he produced ancient Rome’s greatest work of literature, the Aeneid, the young poet Vergil began his career with two very different works: the Eclogues, a collection of ten short pastoral poems, and the Georgics, a learned instructional poem ostensibly about agriculture. Through close readings of the Latin, translations and modern scholarship, the course explores major stylistic and thematic elements of each work, such as: how they depict the natural world, how they interact with Greek and Latin poetic models, and how they speak to the shifting cultural and political landscape of Rome as it transitions into the Augustan Age. Prerequisites: One intermediate Latin course. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

LAT 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

For majors and honors students. Prerequisites: Four advanced courses in Latin. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring

LAT 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

Department permission required.

Fall, Spring