Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

ANME 100 - The Topography and Archaeology of the Ancient Roman City

The city of Rome was the capital and largest city of the ancient Mediterranean's longest-lasting and most geographically expansive empire. During this study tour, we will visit the major monuments and museums of the city, considering Rome's development from a small village (ca. 1000 BCE) to the Augustan age (first century BCE-first century CE) to the capital of a world empire (second-third centuries CE). Through site visits and lectures, students will examine the development of Rome's urban and monumental landscape, including religious, mortuary, and public architecture; learn how to interpret archaeological/architectural evidence and confront its difficulties; and consider the (ab)uses of the Roman past in the present, especially during the Fascist era, and how that has shaped the modern city. We will also visit the exceptionally well-preserved city of Ostia to examine aspects of urbanism and domestic life. Prior to the study tour during spring semester, students will be required to attend several mandatory class meetings (with readings), conduct research on a chosen site/monument, and prepare an oral presentation to be given on site in Italy. 

ANME 102 - Reed in Greece: The Topography and Archaeology of Ancient Greece

This course will center on visits to some of the most important sites of ancient Greece, including Athens, Sparta, Olympia, Mycenae, and Delphi - along with their museums. During the tour, students will develop an understanding of Greek topography, political geography, material culture, and the work that civic spaces performed in the formation of Greek social, political, economic, and cultural structures. Our visit will encompass a variety of civic spaces, including sanctuaries, cemeteries, citadels, theaters, marketplaces, and stadia. During the second half of the fall semester and the first half of the spring semester, students will be required to attend several mandatory class meetings (with readings), conduct research on a chosen site/monument, and prepare a site guide for their fellow students to use on-site.

ANME 251 - Ancient Greek Athletics

For better or worse, the ancient Olympics (motto now "Faster, Higher, Strong-Together") has proved itself one of the most influential of Greek institutions. This course will study the values and meanings given to the ancient Olympics by studying the representation of athletic victory in the poetry and dedications that celebrated victors. What ideas of athletic victory did these memorials produce? How did they link athletic success to moral excellence, natural talent, family history, masculinity, beauty, or divine favor, and build up these very notions so that they seemed real and significant? Who could claim the political capital of athletic excellence for their own-victors? Their cities? Second-place finishers? Non-Greeks? What events counted as events-women's events, team events, running with a shield, dog racing? And what kind of work even qualified you as a victor? Throughout we will use comparisons to the meanings that other sporting movements have sought to claim, and so we will take time to study Roman sports and the modern Olympic movement, again focusing on how various artistic forms (poetry, film, mass choreographed performances) construct victory. Course conducted in English.

ANME 263 - Tragedy in the Polis

This course offers an introduction to the tragic dramatic performances of fifth-century BCE Athens. Through a survey of textual evidence-the extant tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as other testimonia-and material remains, we will familiarize ourselves with the literary and dramatic form of Greek tragic poetry and the circumstances of its performance. Through close reading of individual tragedies, we will identify what elements characterize and unite tragedy as a genre; analyze how tragedy makes use of myth (and, less often, history) to explore urgent questions about identity, difference and belonging, gender, power and obligation, death and loss, and survival; and consider the relationship of these texts and the questions they are concerned with to the historical, social, and political conditions under which they were performed. We will survey and evaluate approaches taken by critics, ancient and modern, to interpreting tragedy as literary texts, as civic religious ritual, and as performance. Time and interest permitting, we will consider how fifth-century BCE Athenian tragedy relates - or does not relate - to other tragic dramatic traditions, and modern uses and receptions of fifth-century BCE Athenian tragedies. All readings in English; no Greek or familiarity with Greek history required. 

ANME 371 - The Greek World from 776 to 404 BCE

This course offers a chronological survey of archaic and classical Greek history and civilization from the traditional foundation of the Olympic games in 776 BCE to the fall of the Athenian Empire in 404 BCE. After beginning with a brief look at Bronze and Dark Age Greece, we will cover the following topics: the rise of the polis; Greek colonization; the "Age of Revolution"; hoplite warfare, aristocracy, and the spread of tyranny; the rise of Athens and Sparta; the Persian Wars; the development of Athens's democracy and empire; the causes and course of the Peloponnesian War; the development of ethnography and historical inquiry; and the nature of Greek social relations, with an emphasis on slavery and gender dynamics in Athens and Sparta. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of ancient evidence, including primary literary works, inscriptions, and relevant archaeological material. 

ANME 372 - The Hellenistic World: Egypt, the Middle East, and Central Asia after Alexander the Great

This course examines the political, cultural, and social landscape of the Middle East, Central Asia, and Egypt from the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) to the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE and the incorporation of the last Graeco-Macedonian successor state into the Roman Empire. Topics to be covered include the development and character of the great Hellenistic empires, with a focus on the Ptolemaic and Seleucid states; Hellenistic Central Asia and interactions with India, especially Ashoka and the Mauryan Empire; the nature of kingship; political and cultural continuities and disruptions; the Hellenistic city, especially Alexandria in Egypt; and scientific, literary, and religious developments. Throughout this course, we will emphasize and interrogate the nature of cross-cultural interaction in the Hellenistic period, considering its social, cultural, and material consequences. We will also consider the relevance of modern concepts such as colonization and globalization to our understanding of this period. Classes will focus on the examination and interpretation of ancient evidence (textual, documentary, and archaeological) as well as discussions of secondary scholarship.

ANME 377 - Women in the Ancient World

This course examines the female experience in the ancient Mediterranean from the middle of the eighth century BCE to the second century CE. We will begin by briefly considering some main themes in women's history and the applicability of gender as a category of historical analysis to the study of the ancient world. We will then turn to a close analysis of the available literary, documentary, and archaeological evidence that illuminates ancient attitudes toward women, women's daily lives, the female life cycle, and the various practical and symbolic roles that women played in Greece, Rome, and the broader Mediterranean world. Topics include the portrayal of women in ancient myth, literature, and art; the political, legal, economic, and social status of women; women's roles in state and private religious activities; women in the family and household organization; women's education and female literacy; philosophical treatments of gender; scientific knowledge and folklore concerning gender and sexuality; and the function of gender in ancient ideologies. The course follows these topics chronologically, with special emphasis given to the coincidences and conflicts between literary images of women and the realities of their everyday experience recoverable through documentary and archaeological evidence.

ANME 382 - Material Culture and Empire: The Archaeology of the Roman World

This course considers the archaeology and material culture of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome, Italy, and the provinces. This course is theoretically grounded in the archaeology of empire, but will also be content-based, covering major sites throughout the empire and classes of material culture. Topics to be covered may include the origin and development of the city of Rome; imperial display; daily life in the Roman Empire; the archaeology of the Roman economy; the archaeology of cult and religion; provincial archaeology and the relationship between center and periphery; the archaeology of border regions; and methodological and disciplinary issues in approaching a vast territorial empire. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on the archaeology of identity in an imperial context.

ANME 383 - Contact and Exchange in the Mediterranean: The Archaeology of the Greek World

This course considers the archaeology and material culture of the Greek world, centering on the Aegean and the wider eastern Mediterranean and Near East, as well as other areas of Greek settlement. The focus will be both theoretical and content-based, covering important sites, objects, and classes of material culture. Topics to be covered may include the development of urban and public space; monumental architecture; sculpture and other fine arts; houses, households, and the archaeology of daily life; Greek colonization and city foundations; ceramics and the use of pottery as archaeological evidence; and funerary practices. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on the interaction between Greeks and other groups in the Mediterranean, and the material effects of that interaction.

ANME 384 - Empires of the Nile: The Archaeology of Egypt and Nubia

This course examines the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt and Nubia from late prehistory (ca. 3000 BCE) through the Nubian Meroitic period (ends ca. 400 CE). These two regions of northeast Africa were economically, culturally, and politically intertwined throughout their history, and offer an exceptional case study for the examination of the material effects of imperialism and cross-cultural interaction over the long term. This course will survey major aspects of Egyptian and Nubian archaeology, including death, burial, and mummification; tombs and their development; ideologies and iconographies of kingship; material culture and religion; temples and other religious architecture; the emergence of the state; archaeologies of imperialism; and archaeologies of daily life. Specific attention will be paid to Nubian material culture, the reciprocal political and cultural interactions between Egypt and Nubia, and the unique material culture that resulted from these interactions, though the course is overall centered on Egyptian archaeology due to the quantity and quality of data. Emphasis will be placed on engaging with and critically analyzing archaeological and visual data, as well as some primary textual sources. We will also consider the modern reception and study of ancient Egypt in relation to Nubia and the broader archaeology of Africa.

ANME 385 - Mummies, Urns, and Ancestors: The Archaeology of Death and Burial

This course examines archaeological approaches to human death and burial, introducing how archaeologists use the material remains of mortuary practice to analyze ritual, social, economic, and ideological institutions, structures, and identities in past societies. Using case studies drawn from ancient Egypt and the wider ancient Mediterranean, this course will present a theoretical grounding for the archaeological investigation of human burial, including bioarchaeological and osteological approaches. From the perspective of funerary practice, we will examine social structure, class, and rank; religion and belief systems; ethnicity and cultural identity; age, sex, and gender; and memory and ancestor veneration. This course will also consider aspects of archaeological ethics as it relates to the study of human remains.

ANME 386 - Karanis: The Archaeology of a Roman Egyptian Town

The Roman Egyptian town of Karanis, first excavated by the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s, remains one of the most important archaeological sites for understanding aspects of daily life in Egypt during the Roman and Byzantine periods (30 BCE to 641 CE). These excavations were remarkable for the time, but were never fully published, and the excavation techniques employed at the time have made a reconstruction of the site's chronology difficult. As a result, our understanding of the site remains incomplete, and numerous questions abound. This course focuses on specific issues in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological and textual data from Karanis, and uses the site as a means of exploring the archaeology of Roman Egypt, its culture, and the nature of daily life in Egypt under Roman rule. In the course, we will focus on, among other things, the archaeology of houses and households; the effect of abandonment on archaeological deposits; problems of chronology and dating; archaeologies of religion; and papyrological texts as archaeological artifacts. Students will also gain experience working with and interpreting legacy archaeological data.

ANME 481 - Independent Reading

GLAM 470 - Thesis

GRK 111 - First-Year Greek: Part I

This course offers a study of the elements of ancient Greek grammar and syntax, introduces students to the cultures that used ancient Greek, and conducts first readings in Greek prose and poetry.

GRK 112 - First-Year Greek: Part II

This course offers a study of the elements of ancient Greek grammar and syntax, introduces students to the cultures that used ancient Greek, and conducts first readings in Greek prose and poetry.

GRK 201 - Intermediate Greek

This course offers an intensive review of the grammar and syntax studied in first-year Greek, while refining and extending students' facility with the Greek language. Students will develop close reading and interpretive skills as well as familiarity with a variety of literary styles and authors.

GRK 301 - Advanced Greek I

This seminar focuses on expanding students' interpretive skills and critical vocabulary. Students analyze primary texts in the original and in translation, and employ and critique relevant scholarship and theory that aids the reading and understanding of these texts. Students typically study one landmark work of Greek literature, such as the Iliad or Odyssey or an Attic tragedy. Students also gain a broader understanding of Greek literary production.

GRK 302 - Advanced Greek II

This seminar utilizes and expands the linguistic and interpretive skills that students have developed in first-year and intermediate Greek. Students analyze primary texts in the original and in translation, and employ and critique relevant scholarship and theory that aids the reading and understanding of these texts. A wide range of seminars is offered over a four-year period. While some seminars are organized around specific works, others focus on authors, genres, and periods or places. Recent seminars have explored fifth-century Athenian tragedy, the development of historiography and ethnography, the politics and representation of athletics, the transformation of Greek literature in the Hellenistic world, and the Hellenistic urban environment.

LAT 111 - First-Year Latin: Part I

This course offers a study of the elements of Latin grammar and syntax, introduces students to the cultures that used Latin, and conducts first readings in Latin prose and poetry.

LAT 112 - First-Year Latin: Part II

This course offers a study of the elements of Latin grammar and syntax, introduces students to the cultures that used Latin, and conducts first readings in Latin prose and poetry.

LAT 201 - Intermediate Latin

This course offers an intensive review of the grammar and syntax studied in first-year Latin, while refining and extending students' facility with the Latin language. Students will develop close reading and interpretive skills as well as familiarity with a variety of literary styles and authors.

LAT 301 - Advanced Latin I

This seminar focuses on expanding students' interpretive skills and critical vocabulary. Students analyze primary texts in the original and in translation, and employ and critique relevant scholarship and theory that aids the reading and understanding of these texts. Students typically study one landmark work of Roman literature, such as Vergil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Horace's Odes, Statius's Thebaid, or Apuleius's Metamorphoses. Students also gain a broader understanding of Roman literary production.

LAT 302 - Advanced Latin II

This seminar utilizes and expands the linguistic and interpretive skills that students have developed in their prior Latin work. Students analyze primary texts in the original and in translation, and employ and critique relevant scholarship and theory that aids the reading and understanding of these texts. A wide range of seminars is offered over a four-year period. While some seminars are organized around specific works, others focus on authors, genres, and periods or places. Recent seminars have explored the genre of Roman love elegy and how it changed in the hands of its different practitioners, the reception of Roman love poetry in English, the politics of bodily change, epic and encyclopedism in relation to the imperial power exercised both on and by the Roman elite male, the decay of the Roman Republic, and the formation of the imperial system.