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Courses for Fall 2016

  • The Greeks

    For centuries Western civilizations have seen the Greeks as their intellectual and spiritual ancestors. The 'Greek miracle' is explored by reviewing its major achievements and discoveries: poetry (heroic epic, tragedy, political comedy), philosophy, historical research, political analysis and institutions, science. All texts read in English. LILE WRIT
    CLAS 0010 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Kidd

  • Ancient Philosophy

    Ancient Greek views about the prospects and limits of reason in the human being's search for a good and valuable life. What the best life is; how, and how far, reason can provide for its realization; what social/political conditions it requires; how vulnerable it is (and should be) to uncontrolled happenings. Authors include Euripides, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lucretius, Augustine, and Dante. WRIT
    CLAS 0150 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Laidley
    CLAS 0150 C01
    Primary Instructor
    Laidley
    Schedule Code
    C: Conference
    CLAS 0150 C02
    Primary Instructor
    Laidley
    Schedule Code
    C: Conference

  • Who Owns the Classical Past?

    This course offers a forum for informed discussion of a variety of difficult questions about access to the classical past, and its modern-day ownership and presentation, seen primarily from the perspective of material culture (archaeology, art, museum displays, etc.). Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS
    CLAS 0210L S01
    Primary Instructor
    Cherry

  • The Philosophy of Classical Indian Yoga

    This course will introduce the history of the ancient Indian texts and ideas that came to provide the philosophical foundations of the classical school of Indian Yoga. We will examine the oldest evidence for yoga in the ancient texts of the Vedas, the Jainas, and the Buddhists. We will watch it take clear shape in the Upanishads and in texts of the Mahābhārata, especially the Bhagavad Gītā. We will conclude the course by reading the classical exposition of Indian Yoga, Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. This course is a philosophy course, not an introduction to the practice of yoga. FYS
    CLAS 0210Y S01
    Primary Instructor
    Fitzgerald

  • The World of Byzantium

    Caught between the East and West, the culture of Byzantium inherited the ancient worlds of Greece, Rome, and Jerusalem, nurturing many a modern ideology, conflict, and identity. Byzantium is explored through its history, texts, and art. We examine the foundation and history of Constantinople, Iconoclasm, the Crusades, medieval Christianity and Islam, Byzantine court life, concepts of gender, self, and sexuality. WRIT
    CLAS 0660 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Papaioannou

  • From Antiquity to the Humanities (via Humanism) and the History of Ideas

    This course looks at the origins of several subjects in the Humanities in order to explain, question, and sometimes challenge the ways in which those subjects are studied or understood today. Consideration of sources for the Humanities today – in the educational practices of classical antiquity, in the 'humanism' of the Renaissance and in the 17th-20th centuries– will throw new light on ideas and categories which are central to western education. Topics include grammar/language, persuasive argument, scholarship; theory/practice of history, literature, poetry, fiction, fantasy, and the novel; relationship between words and images, and connections between studying the Humanities and being human.
    CLAS 0780 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Laird

  • The Bhagavad Gītā

    This course will study and discuss the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā in the context of its literary, theological, and philosophical origins in ancient India. We will read the text itself (in English, not Sanskrit), parts of the epic Mahābhārata in which the Gītā is situated, and collateral texts, such as Upanisads, Indian myths, Buddhist sermons, or even modern novels, that may shed light on why and how this text has exercised such far-reaching influence across the ages, inside India and beyond. DPLL WRIT
    CLAS 0855 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Buchta

  • Greek Mythology

    “What of these things goes now without disaster?” -Aeschylus, Agamemnon

    This course is an introduction to Ancient Greek mythological traditions. Topics include: the twelve Olympian gods; ‘culture heroes’ (e.g. Heracles), Homer and the Trojan Cycle of myths; mythical traditions about the families of Oedipus and Agamemnon; etc. We will conclude with an investigation of ancient mythical scholarship and skeptical views of myth in antiquity. Throughout we will be considering myth’s relationship with literature, visual culture, and religion. The class focuses on the ancient material (texts, images, monuments, rituals and traditions, etc.), with some secondary readings in mythological and cultural theory.
    CLAS 0900 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Hanink

  • Slavery in the Ancient World

    Examines the institution of slavery in the ancient world, from Mesopotamia and the Near East to the great slave societies of classical Greece and (especially) imperial Rome; comparison of ancient and modern slave systems; modern views of ancient slavery from Adam Smith to Hume to Marx to M.I. Finley. Readings in English. LILE
    CLAS 1120E S01
    Primary Instructor
    Bodel

  • The Idea of Self

    Literature gestures us toward a certain kind of knowledge not quite psychological, not quite philosophical. We read widely in the classical and medieval traditions in order to gauge the peculiar nature of what this knowledge tells us about experience and the ways in which expressions of selfhood abide or are changed over time. Authors include but are not limited to Sappho, Pindar, Catullus, Horace, Augustine, and Fortunatus. LILE WRIT
    CLAS 1120G S01
    Primary Instructor
    Pucci

  • Ovid's Metamorphoses

    Ovid’s epic Metamorphoses, a prime source for ancient mythology from the Renaissance to Disney films, has often been received as a delightful compendium of older myths retold with urbane wit; yet its blithe treatment of horrific mythological events can also unsettle, as when its place in the Columbia University curriculum recently prompted a discussion of “trigger warnings.” We will read it in English translation, exploring its capacity to inspire disparate responses. What must we suppress to find the Metamorphoses pleasant or menacing? How does it create its tensions? How do they get projected onto a later culture’s assumptions?
    CLAS 1120X S01
    Primary Instructor
    Reed

  • Roman History I: The Rise and Fall of an Imperial Republic

    The social and political history of Ancient Rome from its origins to the death of Augustus in 14 CE. Focuses on the social conflicts of the early Republic; the conquest of the Mediterranean and its repercussions; the breakdown of the Republic and the establishment of monarchy. Readings emphasize ancient sources in translation. WRIT
    CLAS 1310 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Mignone

  • Special Topics

    Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
    CLAS 1970 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Buchta
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S02
    Primary Instructor
    Amanatidou
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S03
    Primary Instructor
    Reed
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S04
    Primary Instructor
    Cherry
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S05
    Primary Instructor
    Debrohun
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S06
    Primary Instructor
    Bodel
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S07
    Primary Instructor
    Mignone
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S08
    Primary Instructor
    Nieto Hernandez
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S09
    Primary Instructor
    Gill
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S10
    Primary Instructor
    Fitzgerald
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S11
    Primary Instructor
    Haynes
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S12
    Primary Instructor
    Scafuro
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S13
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S14
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1970 S15
    Primary Instructor
    Pucci
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research

  • Conference: Especially for Honors Students

    Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
    CLAS 1990 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Amanatidou
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S02
    Primary Instructor
    Reed
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S03
    Primary Instructor
    Gill
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S04
    Primary Instructor
    Debrohun
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S05
    Primary Instructor
    Bodel
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S06
    Primary Instructor
    Kidd
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S07
    Primary Instructor
    Hanink
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S08
    Primary Instructor
    Oliver
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S09
    Primary Instructor
    Nieto Hernandez
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S10
    Primary Instructor
    Pucci
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S11
    Primary Instructor
    Fitzgerald
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S12
    Primary Instructor
    Mignone
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S13
    Primary Instructor
    Scafuro
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S14
    Primary Instructor
    Bodel
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S15
    Primary Instructor
    Haynes
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 1990 S16
    Primary Instructor
    Papaioannou
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research

  • Proseminar in Classics

    Introduction to standard research methods and tools in major subdisciplines of classical philology and ancient history. Required of entering graduate students. Survey of various subdisciplines in order to become familiar with field and scholarly principles.
    CLAS 2000 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Debrohun

  • Preliminary Examination Preparation

    For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination.
    CLAS 2970 S01
    Schedule Code
    E: Grad Enrollment Fee/Dist Prep

  • Reading and Research

    Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course. Instructor permission required.
    CLAS 2980 S01
    Primary Instructor
    Alcock
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S02
    Primary Instructor
    Bodel
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S03
    Primary Instructor
    Cherry
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S04
    Primary Instructor
    Reed
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S05
    Primary Instructor
    Mignone
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S06
    Primary Instructor
    Pucci
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S07
    Primary Instructor
    Fitzgerald
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S08
    Primary Instructor
    Papaioannou
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S09
    Primary Instructor
    Debrohun
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S10
    Primary Instructor
    Nieto Hernandez
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S11
    Primary Instructor
    Haynes
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research
    CLAS 2980 S12
    Primary Instructor
    Scafuro
    Schedule Code
    I: Independent Study/Research

  • Thesis Preparation

    For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing a thesis.
    CLAS 2990 S01
    Schedule Code
    E: Grad Enrollment Fee/Dist Prep

  • Courses of Interest to Classics Concentrators

    The following courses may be taken for concentration credit. Please see the sponsoring department for the time and location of each course.

    Comparative Literature
    COLT 0710Q Odysseus in Literature
    CLAS XLIST 0