Classics

Special problems, such as Athenian imperialism, Sparta, political structures, and the political role of cults and festivals, are studied in rotation.

A study of the origins, nature, and impact of Greek contact with the Near East in the Iron Age. Course examines chronology; regional variation and distribution; technology and innovation; differences across media; modes of communication and exchange; patterns of consumption and display; and the social function of the "exotic." Analyzed with a view to changes and developments in settlement and society, particularly migration, colonization, social stratification, and the rise of the polis.

A seminar that introduces graduate students to current methods and debates in Roman history and historiography. Provides a chronological overview of the history of Rome and her expanding empire from early times (8th century BC) to the end of the Severan era (AD 235), accompanied by the study of a wide variety of ancient sources, including texts, inscriptions, coins, material culture, art, and archaeology, and the methods commonly used by modern historians to analyze them. Students acquire the basic tools needed to do research in Roman history.

Ancient Egyptians, like all people, had multiple, intersecting aspects to their identity that were linked profoundly to their social communities. What kinds of objects, images, and material traditions linked ancient people together? What material forms acted as crucial modes of communication within communities and among them? We examine a wide range of material culture considering various sections of society, and we then look in-depth at several ancient sites to examine how these various groups intersected in shared spaces and across time.

Special problems are selected for intensive investigation. The subject matter of the course changes to adapt to the particular interests of the students and the instructor.

An interdisciplinary seminar devoted to the study of aspects of the post-classical Greek literary and cultural tradition, including modern Greek literature, and its relation to classical literature and civilization.

This course discusses central issues in Plato's Political Philosophy based closely on study of the pertinent Platonic dialogues.

A seminar devoted to the long-standing problems concerning the tradition of Greek sculpture, most of which survives in later Roman copies. Replication was fundamental to ancient artistic practice and remains central to both its critical evaluation and its broad appreciation. Emphasis is on stylistic comparison of the surviving copies (Kopienkritik); critical engagement with the ancient written sources that attest the most famous works (opera nobilia); and the historiographic tradition in modern scholarship devoted to these works and the problems they pose.

The seminar generally considers either the Aeneid or the Georgics and Eclogues. Discussions and reports center on the interpretation of the poems in themselves and in the light of Augustan literature and politics.

One or more of the following poets are considered in any given year: Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid.

This seminar explores topics in Greek Architecture from thematic perspectives and focused analysis of individual structures. Trends in ancient building practices and their cultural legacies are investigated in a holistic manner, from the drawing board and quarry to modern reception.

Intensive study of Lucan, Seneca, Statius, and/or other writers.

An intensive study of one or more major historical writers such as Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.

An intensive study of one or more major historical writers such as Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.

Special problems are selected for intensive investigation, such as the origin and development of a genre, analysis of form, and history of ideas.

Special problems are selected for intensive investigation, such as the origin and development of a genre, analysis of form, and history of ideas.

Larger themes, such as Roman imperialism, the decline of the republic, and the rise of the multicultural empire, are considered in rotation with the study of specific problems and ancillary disciplines.

Larger themes, such as Roman imperialism, the decline of the republic, and the rise of the multicultural empire, are considered in rotation with the study of specific problems and ancillary disciplines.

Study of a topic involving both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as imperialism or slavery, from a comparative perspective.

Study of a topic involving both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as imperialism or slavery, from a comparative perspective.

Introduction to Latin historical/comparative grammar via reading of preclassical texts, including both literary texts (Cato, Ennius, Saturnian poetry) and nonliterary forms (early inscriptions, the Twelve Tables, the Latin grammatical tradition); the position of Latin among the languages of ancient Italy; and the development of the literary language.

Introduction to Greek historical/comparative grammar, based primarily on early Greek epic material (including Hesiod), with special attention to topics in Homeric linguistics and poetics. (For Greek dialects and Mycenaean, see CLA 564.)

Special topics are selected for investigation, such as comparative syntax or Indo-European particles. Or, a particular Indo-European dialect may be studied, such as Osco-Umbrian or Hittite.

This course casts a wide net over Medieval literature, Greek and/or Latin, as well as in comparison with other medieval languages and cultures. Its aim is to furnish graduate students in a variety of fields, including Classics, History, Philosophy, Religion, and Art & Architecture, with proficiency in the primary texts of the Middle Ages, as well as the scholarship about medieval literary culture.

The study of the arts at the intersection of the disciplines.