Course Descriptions: Classics (CLAS) and Classical Archaeology (CLAR)

COURSES TAUGHT EVERY YEAR
Course Number	Course Title	Course Description
CLAS 330	Ancient Epic Tales	An introduction to the most influential epic poems in western literary history. Through lecture and class discussion, the course will explore a variety of aspects of Greek and Roman epic poetry, including myths, themes, methods of composition, social and material culture, and history. Texts may include Iliad, Odyssey, Epic of Gilgames, Aeneid, and others.
CLAS 360	Greek and Roman Mythology	The myths and legends of the Greeks and Roman have played a major role in the development of western thought, literature and arts. Selected readings in English translation from the poetry, hero tales and plays of ancient writers form the basis for examining and interpreting myths and for appreciating their continued influence in modern times.
CLAS 380	Myth, History, and the Movies	Tales from Greco-Roman mythology and history reshaped and transmitted by film as modern storyteller. Analysis of readings in translation of Greek and Roman authors.
CLAS 410	Classical Culture - Greece	The 6th to 4th centuries BCE witnessed profound changes in the lives of the Greeks and their neighbors. The defeat of the Persians and the struggle between Athens and Sparta stimulated a cultural explosion in the arts, especially in literature. Selected readings in English translation from historians (Herodotus, Thucydides), tragic and comic playwrights (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes) and philosophers (Pre-Socratics, Plato), together with art and architecturem will reveal the intellectual excitement of the age.
CLAS 415	Classical Culture - Rome	Latin literature in translation allows the ancient Romans to speak for themselvs and reveal their lives. We will examine the public and private face of ancient Rome, focusing particular attention on the public arena of the theater and forum. From raucous comedy, to anguished love poetry, to biting political invective, the Romans will take shape and substance through our readings.
CLAS 490	The History of Ideas	An interdisciplinary intellectual and cultural history of the ancient classical world of Greece and Rome taken from its earliest beginnings up to the death of Saing Augustine in the 5th century AD. This is a study of the evolution of ideas, their origins, interconnections, impact, and influence on later civilization.
CLAR 250	Archaeology of the Ancient World	Explore the ancient Mediterranean. Sail down the Nile, track the Minotaur in his labyrinth, meet heroes of the Trojan War, and walk through the lost city of Pompeii, buried by Vesuvius. Slides and lectures introduce the art and architecture of the great civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. (No background needed.)
CLAR 500	Egyptian Civilization	The pyramids, tombs, and temples of Egypt have captivated the imaginations of researchers, artists, and adventurers from the ancient Greeks and Romans, to the scholars and soldiers of Napoleon and into the present day. This course examines Egypt's art, archaeology, architecture, religioun, and culture from its earliest beginnings in the Pre-Dynastic period through to the Ptolemaic period and the Roman conquest using material culture and primary readings in Egyptian literature.
COURSES TAUGHT EVERY OTHER YEAR
Course Number	Course Title (Last Instructor)	Course Description
CLAR 507	Ancient Roman Civilization I (Anderson)	The modern world is forever indebted to the civilization of ancient Rome, but how did one small village by the Tiber grow to control an empire that stretched from modern-day Britain to Egypt and from Spain to Iraq? Who were the Etruscans and Villanovans and which other ancient Mediterranean peoples influenced Roman culture? This course will examine the art, atchitecture, history, religion, and culture of the Romans and their antecedents, both at Rome and throughout its empure via close study of the archaeological remains that have been left behind. Images of Roman material culture and readings in primary and secondary sources will supplement course lectures and discussions.
CLAR 508	Ancient Roman Civilization II (Anderson)	Explore the Colosseum, Roman villas, the palace of the emperors, the buried city of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Roman Forum. Examine splendid paintings, sculptures, reliefs, and portraits of powerful emperors. Through slide illustrated lectures we will survey the art and architecture as well as study the culture and history of the Roman Empire from Augustus through Constantine. We will look closely at the ancient city of Rome as well as evaluate Rome's debt and contributions to the "barbarians" of the East and West.
CLAR 515	Ancient Greek Civilization I (Smith)	An introduction to the study of Greek civilization from the Bronze Age to the Persian Wars, through an analysis of material and textual evidence. We develop the skills and knowledge base necessary to generate and critically evaluate interpretations of the ancient Greek world. Emphasis is on understanding the place of Greece with respect to other Mediterranean and Near Eastern cutures and civilizations, and on the interrelationships between art, culture, politics, and society.
CLAR 516	Ancient Greek Civilization II (Smith)	An introduction to the study of Greek civilization from the Persian Wars to the successors of Alexander, through an analysis of materian and textual evidence. We continue to refine the skills and develop the knowledge base necessary to generate and critically evaluate interpretations of the ancient Greek world. Emphasis is on understanding the institutions and interactions of the Classical city-states and Hellenistic monarchies, and on the interrelationships between art, culture, politics, and society.
CLAS 700	Graduate Proseminar: Texts & Contexts (Smith)	An introduction to the interdisciplinary study of the ancient Greek and Roman world by practicing skills such as paleography, epigraphy, numismatics, archaeological interpretation, literary criticism, research and writing strategies. Focus will be on the origin and development of the field of Classics, its criticisms and justiications, and its interactions with other fields of study and various cultural and theoretical paradigms.
GRADUATE OR PAIRED COURSES TAUGHT ON A ROTATING BASIS (MOST RECENT LISTED FIRST)
Course Number	Course Title (Last Taught)	Course Description
CLAR 570/870	Archaic Greece (Wonder, Spring 08)	Investigation of material culture of Archaic Greece. Topics may include colonization, coinage, agriculture, development of sanctuaries, origin of new styles of sculpture and painting, burial practices, rise of the polis.
CLAS 720	Exile and Epistolography in the Late Republic and Early Empire (McIntosh, Spring 08)	This seminar introduces students to the genre of epistolography, with a specific focus on exilic letter-writing. Through the lenses of three prominent Romans (Cicero, Ovid, and Seneca), students will gain a solid grasp of what it meant for a Roman to be displaced , as well as how each figure reacted to and presented his former and current historical, political, and personal contexts.
CLAS 720	Pindar (Smith, Fall 07)	Introduces students to the study of the epinician genre through translation of and scholarship on the works of Pindar and Bacchylides.
CLAR 545/845	Pompeii & Herculaneum (Anderson, Spring 07)	This course will introduce students to the archaeology and history of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The course will focus on the results of modern research and the challenges posed by sites buried by Vesuvius in 79 CE through detailed discussion of the site's art, architecture, and archaelological interpretation. Houses, temples, shops, artefacts and paintings will be the tools used to understand Pompeii's life, religioun, burial practices and social history. Prior knowledge of Roman history or archaeology will be essential, but no knowledge of Pompeii or Campania is assumed at the outset of the course.
CLAS 720	Presocratics & Hippocratics (Leitao, Spring 07)	Introduces students to the development of Greek thought, especially in science, theology, and metaphysics, in the 5th c. BC.
CLAR 590/890	Myth in Ancient Art (Wonder, Fall 06)	Examination of ancient myths as depicted in the art of ancient Greece and Rome, the use of art in illuminating literary myths and in reflecting changes in myth over time.
CLAR 555/855	Cities of Syria (Stanley Spring 06)	Archaeological and literary investigation of the development of urbanism in Syria from the 4th milennium BCE to the end of the 3rd c. CE, with particular attention paid to Ebla, Mari, Damascus, Aleppo, Dura-Europa, and Palmyra.
CLAR 535/835	Ancient Sicily and Southern Italy (Smith, Fall 05)	At the center of the Mediterranean, a point of confluence and conflict between peoples from three continents, ancient Sicily and its environs in the first millenium BC played a key role in shaping the lines of economc, political, and cultural dominance still present in the modern world. In this course, we will study the material development of the Greek and Roman political communities side by side with native, Punic, and even mythological societies in Sicily and Southern Italy - a region known in antiquity as "Great Greece" as much for its rich and innovative cultural identity as for its fabulous wealth and abundance.
CLAS 720	Aristophanes' Women Plays (Leitao, Fall 05)	Students will read Aristophanes' three plays which mediate on the relations between women and men in ancient Athens: Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazousai, and Ekklesiazousai. Class discussion will deal with philological, dramaturgical, and social-historical issues.
CLAR 530/830	Roman Britain (Stanley, Spring 05)	Examination of the historical, artistic, cultural, and economic development of Roman Britain, including the Celtic background, Roman conquest, and intermixing of Celtic and Roman cultures.
CLAS 720	Euripides (Leitao, Spring 05)	Introduces students, through the close reading of a single play, to the historical, philological, and dramaturgical issues of keenest interest to modern Euripidean scholarship.