Courses

GREK B010 Traditional and New Testament Greek

Fall 2025

This is the first half of a year-long introductory course to ancient Greek. It is designed to familiarize students with the basic elements of classical Greek grammar and syntax as well as to provide them with experience in reading short sentences and passages in both Greek prose and poetry.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Classics; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B011 Traditional and New Testament Greek

Spring 2026

This is the second half of a year-long introductory course to ancient Greek. It is designed to familiarize students with the basic elements of classical Greek grammar and syntax. Once the grammar has been fully introduced, students will develop facility by reading parts of the New Testament and a dialogue of Plato. Prerequisite: GREK B010.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B101 Herodotus

Not offered 2025-26

Greek 101 introduces the student to one of the greatest prose authors of ancient Greece, the historian, Herodotus. The "Father of History," as Herodotus is sometimes called, wrote one of the earliest lengthy prose texts extant in Greek literature, in the Ionian dialect of Greek. The "Father of Lies," as he is also sometimes known, wove into his history a number of fabulous and entertaining anecdotes and tales. His 'historie' or inquiry into the events surrounding the invasions by the Persian empire against the Greek city-states set the precedent for all subsequent historical writings. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: GREK B010 and B011 or equivalent.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B104 Homer

Spring 2026

Greek 104 is designed to introduce the student to the epic poetry attributed to Homer, the greatest poet of ancient Greece, through selections from the Odyssey. Since Homer's poetic form is so important to the shape and texture of the Odyssey, we will examine the mechanics of Homeric poetry, both the intricacies of dactylic hexameter and the patterns of oral formulaic composition. We will also spend time discussing the characters and ideas that animate this text, since the value of Homer lies not merely in his incomparable mastery of his poetic form, but in the values and patterns of behavior in his story, patterns which remained remarkably influential in the Greek world for centuries. Prerequisite: One year of college level Greek or equivalent.

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B201 Plato and Thucydides

Fall 2025

This course is designed to introduce the student to two of the greatest prose authors of ancient Greece, the philosopher, Plato, and the historian, Thucydides. These two writers set the terms in the disciplines of philosophy and history for millennia, and philosophers and historians today continue to grapple with their ideas and influence. The brilliant and controversial statesman Alcibiades provides a link between the two texts in this course (Plato's Symposium and Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War), and we examine the ways in which both authors handle the figure of Alcibiades as a point of entry into the comparison of the varying styles and modes of thought of these two great writers. Suggested Prerequisites: At least 2 years of college Greek or the equivalent.

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Gender Sexuality Studies; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B350 Topics in Greek Literature

Section 001 (Fall 2025): Greek Tragedy & its Reception
Section 001 (Fall 2026): Greek Tragedy & its Reception

Fall 2025

Open only to advanced undergraduates, this course includes a weekly seminar and a translation session. Three-quarters of the reading will be from primary sources.

Current topic description:We will engage in a close reading of the original text of three ancient plays (Libation Bearers, Oedipus Tyrannus, and Hippolytus) while tracing their afterlife from the ancient world to the present day, in poetry, drama, and film. Our focus will be both on the enduring relevance of Attic tragedy and also on its radical difference from the theatrical traditions which it helped catalyze.

Counts Toward: Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B609 Pindar & Greek Lyric

Not offered 2025-26

We will begin with a careful reading of Pindar's shorter odes, then proceed to his most famous long odes (Olympian 1, Pythian 3, Pythian 1) and then consider interpretative strategies (past, present, and future) as we survey the rest of the odes. One additional hour of reading TBA.

Back to top

GREK B644 Plato

Spring 2026

In this seminar, we will explore the central ideas of a Platonic dialogue as they are unfolded by the varying voices of the interlocutors. In the "Phaedo", Plato presents a poignant picture of the last hours of Socrates. Plato's dialogues all prompt questions about how to read and understand the complex interchanges between the interlocutors, but no dialogue presents these issues as prominently or paradoxically as the Phaedrus. In their rhetorical speeches on love, Phaedrus speaks for Lysias, while Socrates speaks for Phaedrus or for the nymphs or for Stesichorus. And for whom does Plato speak, or rather, write? And what does he mean when he writes for Socrates the speech that no one serious would ever put anything serious in writing? In this seminar, we will explore the ideas of speech and writing, dialogue and rhetoric, philosophy and eros in the Phaedrus. In addition to a close reading of the text itself, we will sample from the scholarly debates over the understanding and interpretation of the Phaedrus that have gone on over the past two and a half millenia of reading Plato's Phaedrus.

Counts Toward: Classical Studies; Latin.

Back to top

GREK B645 Ancient Magic

Not offered 2025-26

Magic - the word evokes the mysterious and the marvelous, the forbidden and the hidden, the ancient and the arcane. But what did magic mean to the people who coined the term, the people of ancient Greece and Rome? Drawing on the expanding body of evidence for ancient magical practices, as well as recent theoretical approaches to the history of religions, this seminar explores the varieties of phenomena labeled magic in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans - from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, the people of the Greco-Roman world did not only imagine what magic could do, they also made use of magic to try to influence the world around them. The seminar examines the primary texts in Greek, the tablets and spell books, as well as literary descriptions of magic, in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.

Back to top

GREK B650 Topics in Greek Literature

Section 001 (Fall 2025): Greek Tragedy & its Reception

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

pen only to advanced undergraduates, this course includes a weekly seminar and a translation session. Three-quarters of the reading will be from primary sources.

Counts Toward: Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Latin.

Back to top

LATN B001 Elementary Latin

Fall 2025

Latin 001 is the first part of a year-long course that introduces the student to the language and literature of ancient Rome. The first semester focuses upon the grammar of Latin, developing the student's knowledge of the forms of the language and the basic constructions used. Exercises in translation and composition aid in the student's learning of the language, while readings in prose and poetry from the ancient authors provide the student with a deeper appreciation of the culture which used this language.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Studies; Classics; Greek.

Back to top

LATN B002 Elementary Latin

Spring 2026

Latin 002 is the second part of a year-long course that introduces the student to the language and literature of ancient Rome. The second semester completes the course of study of the grammar of Latin, improving the student's knowledge of the forms of the language and forms of expression. Exercises in translation and composition aid in the student's learning of the language, while readings in prose and poetry from the ancient authors provide the student with a deeper appreciation of the culture which used this language. Prerequisite: LATN B001.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics.

Back to top

LATN B110 Intermediate Latin

Fall 2025

Intensive review of grammar, reading in classical prose and poetry. For students who have had the equivalent of several years of high school Latin or are not adequately prepared to take LATN 101. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: One year of college level Latin or equivalent.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics; Greek.

Back to top

LATN B112 Latin Literature

Spring 2026

In the second semester of the intermediate Latin sequence, readings in prose and poetry are frequently drawn from a period, such as the age of Augustus, that illustrate in different ways the leading political and cultural concerns of the time. The Latin readings and discussion are supplemented by readings in the secondary literature. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: LATN 101 or 110 or placement by the department.

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies.

Back to top

LATN B201 Topics: Advanced Latin Literature

Spring 2026

This is a topics course, course content varies. In this course typically a variety of Latin prose and poetry of the high and later Roman empire (first to fourth centuries CE) is read. Single or multiple authors may be featured in a given semester. Suggested Preparation: two years of college Latin or equivalent.

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Studies.

Back to top

LATN B350 Topics in Latin Literature

Section 001 (Fall 2025): Virgil's Ancient Readers
Section 001 (Spring 2026): Augustine & The Classical Tradition
Section 001 (Fall 2026): Virgil's Ancient Readers

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

This is a topics course. Course content varies.

Current topic description: In this seminar, we dig deeply into the 'archaeology' of Virgil's poetry by considering how other ancient authors variously visited, inhabited, and built atop the 'eternal city' formed by the influential set of Eclogues , Georgics , and Aeneid . Among those authors must be reckoned Virgil himself, as in such intratextual material as the Georgics anticipating a turn to heroic epic-and perhaps already undermining it, in an image like that of the same poem's future farmer wondering at the bones and armor of an unidentifiable ancient warrior ... We examine variations on such metapoetic themes, often in vivid imagery, in significant examples of 'the Virgilian tradition,' including Ovid's Metamorphoses telescoping Aeneas' journey, Apuleius' Metamorphosis revisiting Virgil's mythic Underworld, and Augustine's Confessions with its fraught anticipation of Medieval visions of 'Virgil the magician.' Augustine's reading leads us to Late Antique remixes, the centos , and ultimately to the 15th-century Maffeo Vegio's feeling that the Aeneid , arguably unfinished, needed a proper ending in an added 13th book. To explore different scholarly approaches to these materials, students develop special expertise in significant publications; in connection with regular close-reading assignments, this scholarly throughline provides a context for final research papers

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Greek.

Back to top

LATN B650 Topics in Latin Literature

Section 001 (Fall 2025): Virgil's Ancient Readers
Section 001 (Spring 2026): Augustine & The Classical Tradition
Section 001 (Fall 2026): Virgil's Ancient Readers

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

Advanced reading and interpretation of Latin literature: content varies

Current topic description: In this seminar, we dig deeply into the 'archaeology' of Virgil's poetry by considering how other ancient authors variously visited, inhabited, and built atop the 'eternal city' formed by the influential set of Eclogues , Georgics , and Aeneid . Among those authors must be reckoned Virgil himself, as in such intratextual material as the Georgics anticipating a turn to heroic epic-and perhaps already undermining it, in an image like that of the same poem's future farmer wondering at the bones and armor of an unidentifiable ancient warrior ... We examine variations on such metapoetic themes, often in vivid imagery, in significant examples of 'the Virgilian tradition,' including Ovid's Metamorphoses telescoping Aeneas' journey, Apuleius' Metamorphosis revisiting Virgil's mythic Underworld, and Augustine's Confessions with its fraught anticipation of Medieval visions of 'Virgil the magician.' Augustine's reading leads us to Late Antique remixes, the centos , and ultimately to the 15th-century Maffeo Vegio's feeling that the Aeneid , arguably unfinished, needed a proper ending in an added 13th book. To explore different scholarly approaches to these materials, students develop special expertise in significant publications; in connection with regular close-reading assignments, this scholarly throughline provides a context for final research papers

Back to top

CSTS B206 Cosmos: Myth, Medicine, & Law in Ancient Greece

Spring 2026

The ancient Greek word 'cosmos' means 'order' or 'system'; it also means 'beauty' or 'adornment'. The Greeks thought of the world around them as an orderly system, adorned with beauty, but their imaginings of that order took many different forms, from the most fantastic of myths to elaborate mathematical and physiological models. This course explores the systems of order that the Greeks imagined for the universe - the macrocosm, for the human body - the microcosm, and for society - the the system of laws that brings order to humans in the world. Throughout the course, we examine the ways ideas of generation, justice, and gender inflect the cosmic systems, beginning with early Greek epic and moving through the philosophical texts (especially Plato's Timaeus), Hippocratic medical treatises, and lawcourt speeches. We will explore the discourses of myth, science, and law in the ancient Greek context and their relation to contemporary discourses. Students will gain familiarity with the conceptual schemas of ancient Greek thought that have been fundamental for cosmology, medicine, and law in the Western tradition and will learn to analyze the ways in which these models have shaped ideas of generation, justice, and gender throughout the ages. Students will also improve their skills of critical reading and analytic writing through their work with the readings and writing assignments in the course, and they will hone their skills of reasoned discussion in the class.

Writing Attentive

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society.

Back to top

CSTS B211 Dysfunctional Families, Gods from Machines: Intro to Greek Tragedy

Spring 2026

This course will introduce the student to the world of Greek Tragedy as it flourished in Athens in 5th century BC. We will read the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, & Euripides and discuss the playwrights' treatment of myth, the role of the chorus, the relation between text and performance, and the relevance of Greek tragedy for subsequent centuries, down to the present day. Special attention will be given to modern performances of these ancient plays in theater and in film as well as to the themes of choral voice, disability, euthanasia, slavery; the impact of war on women & children; and the relation between mortals and immortals. Please Note: NO KNOWLEDGE OF ANCIENT GREEK IS REQUIRED. ALL TEXTS WILL BE READ IN ENGLISH!

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society.

Back to top

CSTS B233 Mysteries of the Ancient Greco-Roman World

Fall 2025

This course explores the Mysteries of the ancient Greco-Roman world, examining the evidence for the rituals and religious ideas associated with these often secretive and hidden practices. From the Mysteries for Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis, carried out by thousands of Athenians in a multi-day festival, to the Bacchic revels for Dionysos celebrated by mountain-roaming maenads or sedate civic associations, to the secret rites for the Persian god Mithras, performed by Roman soldiers in cave shrines throughout the empire, these mysterious rituals have exercised their fascination over the centuries, playing an outsized role in the depictions of polytheistic religion in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Classical Languages; Classics; Classics; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B238 Classical Traditions & Science Fictions

Spring 2026

What might ancient classics say about the modern world? In this course we explore intersections between ancient, Greco-Roman texts and the genre that is most characteristic of the modern, technoscientific world, science fiction. Raising questions about genres and traditions; the role of the 'humanities' in relation to 'technology'; and ways of discovering and evaluating 'knowledge', we consider the possibility that, although antiquity and the present day differ, at base ancient literature has given science fiction its profound sense of wonder about the world. Texts from authors such as Sappho, Sophocles, and Plato; Lucretius, Ovid, and Apuleius; Shelley, Borges, Dick, and Eco; Le Guin, Morrison, Atwood, and Edson; Cameron, Cronenberg, and Demme; and Benjamin, Baudrillard, Haraway, and Hayles.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Comparative Literature.

Back to top

CSTS B242 Magic in the Greco-Roman World

Not offered 2025-26

Bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans - from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, the people of the Greco-Roman World made use of magic to try to influence the world around them. In this course students will gain an understanding of the magicians of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to serve their clientele, as well as the cultural contexts in which these ideas of magic arose. We shall consider ancient tablets and spell books as well as literary descriptions of magic in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society.

Back to top

CSTS B246 Eros in Ancient Greek Culture

Fall 2025

This course explores the ancient Greek's ideas of love, from the interpersonal loves between people of the same or different genders to the cosmogonic Eros that creates and holds together the entire world. The course examines how the idea of eros is expressed in poetry, philosophy, history, and the romances.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classics; Gender Sexuality Studies; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B307 Guided Research in Classical Studies

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

This course provides the student with the opportunity to engage in seminar-level work on the topic of another CSTS course being offered in the term. With the guidance of the professor, the student will participate in the course activities of that course but will also develop a research project that enables the student to pursue aspects of the topic at a deeper level. This course should provide the student with experience in developing research and writing skills appropriate to the discipline. Prerequisite: Declared major in CLAN or CCAS and permission of instructor.

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classical Studies; Classics.

Back to top

CSTS B362 Feeling Greece & Rome

Spring 2026

Feeling Greece & Rome is about emotions-what they are to us, to ancient people, and how we can study them in Greek and Latin texts. In Weeks 1-7 of this course, we explore theoretical paradigms-of emotion, its history/ies, and its presence in ancient texts and in classical scholarship. In the second half of the course, class sessions become more like workshops to facilitate flexibility and an active posture toward our material. Each Week from 8 on revolves around a particular feeling-anger, desire, grief, and so on. Everyone reads a theoretical or philosophical take on that particular feeling, as it's experienced or evoked. Then, students are assigned to a pair of readings, either A, B, or C. A/B/C texts are classics-related, and each group includes one piece of scholarship and one Greek or Latin case study to think it with. The case study may be philosophical; involve characters that express feeling/s in-text; and/or they may seek to stimulate or suppress feeling/s in their audience. The case study/scholarship pairs won't be directly related to encourage their readers to imagine how our sources can constellate. Prerequisite: At least one 200-level CSTS course or permission of instructor.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Classical Studies; Classics; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B375 Interpreting Mythology

Fall 2025

The myths of the Greeks have provoked outrage and fascination, interpretation and retelling, censorship and elaboration, beginning with the Greeks themselves. We will see how some of these stories have been read and understood, recounted and revised, in various cultures and eras, from ancient tellings to modern movies. We will also explore some of the interpretive theories by which these tales have been understood, from ancient allegory to modern structural and semiotic theories. The student should gain a more profound understanding of the meaning of these myths to the Greeks themselves, of the cultural context in which they were formulated. At the same time, this course should provide the student with some familiarity with the range of interpretations and strategies of understanding that people of various cultures and times have applied to the Greek myths during the more than two millennia in which they have been preserved. Preference to upperclassmen, previous coursework in myth required.

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Comparative Literature; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B398 Senior Seminar

This is a bi-college seminar devoted to readings in and discussion of selected topics in the various sub-fields of Classics (e.g. literature, religion, philosophy, law, social history) and of how to apply contemporary critical approaches to the primary sources. Students will also begin developing a topic for their senior thesis, composing a prospectus and giving a preliminary presentation of their findings.

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Classics; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B399 Senior Seminar

This is the continuation of CSTS B398. Working with individual advisors from the bi-college classics departments, students will continue to develop the topic sketched out in the fall semester. By the end of the course, they will have completed at least one draft and a full, polished version of the senior thesis, of which they will give a final oral presentation.

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages; Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B403 Supervised Work

Back to top

CSTS B662 Feeling Greece & Rome

Spring 2026

Feeling Greece & Rome is about emotions-what they are to us, to ancient people, and how we can study them in Greek and Latin texts. In Weeks 1-7 of this course, we explore theoretical paradigms-of emotion, its history/ies, and its presence in ancient texts and in classical scholarship. In the second half of the course, class sessions become more like workshops to facilitate flexibility and an active posture toward our material. Each Week from 8 on revolves around a particular feeling-anger, desire, grief, and so on. Everyone reads a theoretical or philosophical take on that particular feeling, as it's experienced or evoked. Then, students are assigned to a pair of readings, either A, B, or C. A/B/C texts are classics-related, and each group includes one piece of scholarship and one Greek or Latin case study to think it with. The case study may be philosophical; involve characters that express feeling/s in-text; and/or they may seek to stimulate or suppress feeling/s in their audience. The case study/scholarship pairs won't be directly related to encourage their readers to imagine how our sources can constellate.

Back to top

CSTS B675 Interpreting Mythology

Fall 2025

The myths of the Greeks have provoked outrage and fascination, interpretation and retelling, censorship and elaboration, beginning with the Greeks themselves. We will see how some of these stories have been read and understood, recounted and revised, in various cultures and eras, from ancient tellings to modern movies. We will also explore some of the interpretive theories by which these tales have been understood, from ancient allegory to modern structural and semiotic theories. The student should gain a more profound understanding of the meaning of these myths to the Greeks themselves, of the cultural context in which they were formulated. At the same time, this course should provide the student with some familiarity with the range of interpretations and strategies of understanding that people of various cultures and times have applied to the Greek myths during the more than two millennia in which they have been preserved.

Counts Toward: Greek; Latin.

Back to top

CSTS B701 Supervised Work

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

Back to top

ARCH B102 Introduction to Classical Archaeology

Spring 2026

A historical survey of the archaeology and art of Greece, Etruria, and Rome.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Classical Culture and Society; Classical Studies; History of Art; Museum Studies.

Back to top

ARCH B301 Greek Vase-Painting

Fall 2025

This course is an introduction to the world of painted pottery of the Greek world, from the 10th to the 4th centuries B.C.E. We will interpret these images from an art-historical and socio-economic viewpoint. We will also explore how these images relate to other forms of representation. Prerequisite: one course in classical archaeology or permission of instructor.

Writing Attentive

Counts Toward: Classical Studies; Classics; History of Art.

Back to top

ARCH B354 Money in the Ancient World

Spring 2026

In this course we shall investigate the ancient world through one of its most fundamental institutions: money. We will learn about different types of ancient money, including coinage, bullion, grain and credit, the various coins used by the Greeks and Romans (as well as other groups, such as ancient Mesopotamians, Persians, Indians and Jews), and about the different methods used to study them. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach to major topics in the history of money, including the origins of coinage, monetization, imitations and forgeries, debasement, trade, and the politics of issuing coins. We shall think about economics and social history, as well as the role played by coins in archaeology, and the complex ethical (and legal) issues surrounding the modern practice of coin collecting.

Counts Toward: Classics.

Back to top

ARCH B357 The Hellenistic Age: Art in a Multicultural World

Fall 2025

Following the campaigns of Alexander, the Greeks spread across the Middle East as far as Egypt, Central Asia and India, where they encountered many cultures vastly different from their own. The result was the creation of a diverse, multicultural world, connected by shared elements such as the use of the Greek language, but in which every individual region and society was unique. This diversity is especially evident in the art produced in this period, where we see the Greek obsession with human form, preferably nude, mixing with older artistic traditions in Egypt and Mesopotamia that relied on hierarchy and repetition to perform their functions. In Italy the Romans adopted aspects of Greek art as a means of disrupting their rather stodgy political ideology, with mixed results, whereas in India Greek motifs, popular for reasons as yet unknown, were pressed into the service of Buddhism. In this course we shall examine the art of this dynamic period from ca. 300 to 30 BCE. It is organized geographically, beginning in the Greek mainland and moving across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to Iran, Central Asia and India. We will focus especially on themes of interaction - how do old and new artistic traditions combine? - and identity - what did these combinations mean to the people who made and used them? - as well as on the roles of power and resistance. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 and 102; or ARCH B101 and a 200-level ARCH course; or ARCH B102 and a 200-level ARCH course; or two 200-level ARCH courses; or permission by instructor.

Counts Toward: Classics.

Back to top

ARCH B501 Greek Vase Painting

Fall 2025

This course is an introduction to the world of painted pottery of the Greek world, from the 10th to the 4th centuries B.C.E. We will interpret these images from an art-historical and socio-economic viewpoint. We will also explore how these images relate to other forms of representation. Prerequisite: one course in classical archaeology or permission of instructor.

Counts Toward: Classical Studies; Classics; History of Art.

Back to top

ARCH B554 Money in the Ancient World

Spring 2026

In this course we shall investigate the ancient world through one of its most fundamental institutions: money. We will learn about different types of ancient money, including coinage, bullion, grain and credit, the various coins used by the Greeks and Romans (as well as other groups, such as ancient Mesopotamians, Persians, Indians and Jews), and about the different methods used to study them. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach to major topics in the history of money, including the origins of coinage, monetization, imitations and forgeries, debasement, trade, and the politics of issuing coins. We shall think about economics and social history, as well as the role played by coins in archaeology, and the complex ethical (and legal) issues surrounding the modern practice of coin collecting.

Counts Toward: Classics.

Back to top

ARCH B557 The Hellenistic Age: Art in a Multicultural World

Fall 2025

Following the campaigns of Alexander, the Greeks spread across the Middle East as far as Egypt, Central Asia and India, where they encountered many cultures vastly different from their own. The result was the creation of a diverse, multicultural world, connected by shared elements such as the use of the Greek language, but in which every individual region and society was unique. This diversity is especially evident in the art produced in this period, where we see the Greek obsession with human form, preferably nude, mixing with older artistic traditions in Egypt and Mesopotamia that relied on hierarchy and repetition to perform their functions. In Italy the Romans adopted aspects of Greek art as a means of disrupting their rather stodgy political ideology, with mixed results, whereas in India Greek motifs, popular for reasons as yet unknown, were pressed into the service of Buddhism. In this course we shall examine the art of this dynamic period from ca. 300 to 30 BCE. It is organized geographically, beginning in the Greek mainland and moving across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to Iran, Central Asia and India. We will focus especially on themes of interaction - how do old and new artistic traditions combine? - and identity - what did these combinations mean to the people who made and used them? - as well as on the roles of power and resistance.

Counts Toward: Classics.

Back to top

GSEM B625 Dots and Loops: Form and Aesthetics Across Time and Media

Fall 2025

Though it has long been at the heart of aesthetic criticism, the subject of form as an axis of methodological inquiry has regained conspicuous popularity in recent years. Scholars working across, and at the intersection of, various media--including but not limited to material culture, visual art, sound, film, and literature--have been thinking through the ways that form both informs and is informed by what were considered its various antitheses, such as history, politics, and the material archive. The presumed extrication of external "context" was integral to a hermeneutic of form. This was a driving factor, for instance, in nineteenth-century formalism, used to construct coherent narratives surrounding Classical Antiquity through archaeological and art historical understandings of ornament and architecture. These interests continued with the inception of Russian literary Formalism in the early twentieth century, and then French narratology of the midcentury, for whom Homeric form was particularly important. This seminar will examine the various modes of formalist analysis that have emerged in contemporary criticism and their relationships to the formalisms that have come before, studying them alongside artworks across media and through various global histories. How can form speak across Art History, Classics, and Archaeology and to projects that vary widely in their temporal and geographic scopes, we will ask? What does attention to form yield for interdisciplinary scholars, specifically? What are the scope and limits of thinking with lines, dots, loops, circles, squares, parabolas, and shapes of any kind?

Counts Toward: Classical & Near Eastern Arch; Classical Studies; Classics; Classics; History of Art.

Back to top

PHIL B101 Happiness and Reality in Ancient Thought

Fall 2025

What makes us happy? The wisdom of the ancient world has importantly shaped the tradition of Western thought but in some important respects it has been rejected or forgotten. What is the nature of reality? Can we have knowledge about the world and ourselves, and, if so, how? In this course we explore answers to these sorts of metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political questions by examining the works of the two central Greek philosophers: Plato and Aristotle. We will consider earlier Greek religious and dramatic writings, a few Presocratic philosophers, and the person of Socrates who never wrote a word.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Classical Studies.

Back to top

PHIL B212 Metaphysics: Are You Free?

Fall 2025

Metaphysics is inquiry into basic features of the world and ourselves. This course considers topics of time, free will, personal identity, and their relationship. What is free will and are we free? Is freedom compatible with determinism? Does moral responsibility require free will? What makes someone the same person over time? Can a person survive without their body? Is the recognition of others required to be a person?

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Classical Studies.

Back to top