Greek 111 - First-Year Greek: Part I

One-unit semester course. 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. Conference.

Greek 112 - First-Year Greek: Part II

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: GRK 111 or equivalent. Conference.

Greek 201 - Intermediate Greek

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: GRK 112 or equivalent. Conference.

Greek 301 - Advanced Greek I

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: GRK 201 or equivalent. Conference. May be repeated for credit.

Greek 302 - Advanced Greek II

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: GRK 301 or consent of the instructor. Conference. May be repeated for credit.

Latin 111 - First-Year Latin: Part I

One-unit semester course. 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. Lecture-conference.

Latin 112 - First-Year Latin: Part II

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: LAT 111 or equivalent. Conference.

Latin 201 - Intermediate Latin

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: LAT 112 or equivalent. Conference.

Latin 301 - Advanced Latin I

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: LAT 201 or equivalent. Conference. May be repeated for credit.

Latin 302 - Advanced Latin II

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: LAT 301 or consent of the instructor. Conference. May be repeated for credit.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 100 - The Topography and Archaeology of the Ancient Roman City

One-quarter-unit semester course. 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. Students must register for both the fall and spring sections of the course. Prerequisite: students must apply to participate; approval is required from the instructor and from the International Programs Office. Lecture-conference. May be repeated for credit.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 251 - Ancient Greek Athletics

One-unit semester course. 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; no Greek required. Conference. Cross-listed as LITL 251.

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 261 - Greek and Roman Mythology

One-unit semester course. We will study different theoretical approaches to mythology and a variety of literary and material sources for Greek and Roman myths. Where do myths come from and how are they perpetuated and made distinct? How do they contribute to different forms of knowledge, custom, and creative expression? What role do they have in the formation and maintenance of group identities? How have Greek and Roman myths been received and revised to comment on contemporary experiences? Ancient authors studied may include Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Apollonius, Virgil, Ovid, and Apuleius. Prerequisite: first semester of HUM 110. Conference. Cross-listed as LITL 261.

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

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Lecture-conference. Cross-listed as HIST 392.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 373 - The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic

One-unit semester course. This course offers a chronological survey of Republican Roman history from Rome’s consolidation of power on the Italian peninsula in 266 BCE to the death of the Emperor Augustus in 14 CE. We will begin with a consideration of Rome’s rapid growth from 264 to 146 BCE and the various theories concerning the factors behind Roman imperial expansion. We will then explore the political, social, economic, and cultural repercussions of Rome’s transformation into the leading power in the Mediterranean and the various factors that led to the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire under Augustus. During the semester we will cover the following topics: the structure and evolution of the Roman constitution; the development of the “professional” Roman army and its political ramifications; changing gender relations in Roman society; imperial governance; the growth and practice of slavery; Rome’s cultural interaction with Greece and the East; the social and cultural function of gladiatorial combat; Rome’s relations with its allies; the politicization of the Roman people and the rise of “popular” politicians; and the Augustan settlement. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of ancient evidence, including primary literary works, inscriptions, and relevant archaeological material. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Cross-listed as HIST 393.

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 374 - The Athenians and the “Other”

One-unit semester course. This course examines the conception and construction of otherness from the vantage point of the male citizen in fifth- and fourth-century Athens, who framed himself as the ultimate insider. We will begin by briefly considering both the “other” as the object of historical analysis and the various lenses through which male Athenians constructed their identity during this period. We will then spend the rest of the semester examining the Athenians’ construction of self and other via a number of intertwined categories including ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and disability. This examination will involve the close study of a number of different genres, such as historical accounts, tragedy, comedy, and oratory. In addition to reading authors such as Herodotus, Euripides, Aristophanes, and selections from the Hippocratic corpus, this course will also examine relevant archaeological evidence. Prerequisite: HUM 110. Conference. Cross-listed as HIST 394.

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 377 - Women in the Ancient World

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: HUM 110. Conference. Cross-listed as HIST 397.

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 382 - Material Culture and Empire: The Archaeology of the Roman World

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: HUM 110, or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. 

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

One-unit semester course. 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. Prerequisite: HUM 110, or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. 

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 384 - Empires of the Nile: The Archaeology of Egypt and Nubia

One-unit semester course. 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. Lecture-conference.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 385 - Mummies, Urns, and Ancestors: The Archaeology of Death and Burial

One-unit semester course. 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. Lecture-conference. 

Not offered 2023–24.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies 481 - Independent Reading

Variable (one-half or one)-unit semester course. Prerequisite: approval of instructor and division.

Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies 470 - Thesis

Two-unit yearlong course; one unit per semester.