COURSE ATLAS SPRING 2008

CCLASSICS

CLASSICS 102 Classical Mythology
Instructor: Bing (MAX: 120, 20 per section)
Lectures: MW 12:50 - 1:40; sections F 11:45 - 12:35, 12:50 - 1:40, and 2 - 2:50.

Content: This course introduces students to some basic myths (about Creation, the establishment of divine and social order, the foundation and history of certain cities, etc.) embodied in selected texts from Archaic and Classical Greece, and Augustan Rome. Through analysis of these texts in lectures, discussion and regular writing assignments, students confront cherished notions about myth, particularly that there was ever a canonical version of a given tale. They learn, rather, that tales were constantly adapted to reflect the concerns of different times and perspectives, as well as the conventions of different literary genres. Because of its privileged position in public discourse, myth drew intense criticism early on. Students examine, and comment on attacks on myth by such ancient critics as Xenophanes and Plato, as well as its equally determined defence by ancient allegorical, historicizing, and anthropological interpreters. In addition, students read and consider modern interpretive approaches to myth (e.g. Feminist, Structuralist, Psycho-analytical, Myth and Ritual).

Texts: Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days The Iliad, Homeric Hymns Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound Sophocles,Oedipus The King, Euripides, Bacchae, Heracles, and Cyclops, Ovid, Metamorphoses, Selected Readings in Handouts

Particulars: Students will be graded on the basis of one mid-term, a weekly writing assignment due in section, and forming the basis for discussion, one paper with draft, a final, and class participation.

ClASSICS 190 (Freshman Seminar) On Nature: Ideas of the Natural in Ancient Rome
Instructor: Tissol, MW 2:00 – 3:15, MAX: 16

Content: What is nature and what does it mean to call something “natural”? People often use these terms intuitively, without reflecting on their origins and deeper significance. In fact modern conceptions of nature have a long history, with many paths and byways; this history has shaped current understandings of nature and the place of human beings in it. This course has two related aims: first to study conceptions of nature in Roman philosophical traditions, especially those of the Epicureans and Stoics; second, to examine the imaginative and poetic responses to the natural world that characterize Roman literature. The major texts of the course are Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, Seneca’s Letters, Virgil’s Eclogues, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Texts: Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, tr. Melville (Oxford)
Seneca, Letters from a Stoic, tr. Campbell (Penguin)
Virgil, Eclogues, tr. Lee (Penguin)
Ovid, Metamorphoses, tr. Raeburn (Penguin)

Particulars: Twice weekly meetings with a seminar/discussion format. Writing assignments are a major feature of the course.

CLASSICS 202 The Romans
Instructor: Perkell, TuTh 11:30 - 12:45, MAX: 25

This course offers a survey of ancient Rome from its origins in legend and myth to late antiquity, as seen through its principal literary texts. We will read the epics of Vergil, Ovid, and Lucan as well as the novels of Petronius and Apuleius in their entirety. These readings will be supplemented by representative selections of pastoral, lyric, and elegiac poetry (Catullus, Vergil, Horace, Propertius), as well as selected lives of major figures in Roman history, as treated by Polybius, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Tacitus. Majors in Classics and Classical Civilization will be helped to see the context of and connections between other, more specialized courses within the major; non-majors will enjoy an overall introduction to the Romans’ fundamental contributions to our world. Additionally, we will view three or four of the many Hollywood films set in the ancient Roman world, which, in their number, reflect Americans’ continuing fascination with the Romans. Gladiator in particular has both brought to life and generated new scholarship about ancient Roman spectacle, empire, and political propaganda. We will use the representation of Roman values in this film as a starting point for study of the “myth” vs. the reality of ancient Rome. (Other films we may view are Quo Vadis, Spartacus, and The Fall of the Roman Empire, focusing on what they suggest about Roman values as well as our own.)

PREREQUISITES: a 100-level course in some aspect of the ancient Classical world or by permission of the instructor.

TEXTS: will include a short history of Rome, an anthology of Latin prose authors, a course packet, Gladiator: Film and History (ed. M. Winkler), as well as editions of the major authors mentioned above.

PARTICULARS: Weekly quizzes and/or one-page papers, viewing of films, midterm examination and final paper. The requirement for engaged and thoughtful attendance goes without saying.

A study of Classical drama in its social context with particular attention to Greek drama in the formative period of the fifth century BC. We will begin by reading representative dramas from the three major tragedians of antiquity, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and the major comic poet, Aristophanes, and by discussing their social and religious context, including drama's origins in a festival for the god Dionysus, questions of staging and acting technique, and what archaeological remains and artistic representations can tell us about Greek drama. We will also look briefly at two influential critiques of drama by Plato and Aristotle. In the last part of the course, we will examine the surprise ending to the history of Greek tragedy in the invention of a new form of comedy that influenced Shakespearean comedy, by reading several examples of the so-called New Comedy by the Greek playwright, Menander, and by the two major Roman playwrights, Plautus and Terence. We will finish up by reading a sample from Seneca, whose tragedies seem to revel in the bizarre and unnatural.

Texts will include (but will not be limited to):
Aeschylus, Oresteia
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, Wasps, Frogs
Aristotle, Poetics
Euripides, Medea, Alcestis, Bacchae, Cyclops
Sophocles, Ajax, Electra, Antigone, Oedipus Rex
Plautus, Amphitryo

Grade will be based on a midterm, a final, 2 4-5 page papers, and contributions to discussion in class and on our Learnlink site.

There is no specific prerequisite to the course, but some background in Classical Literature or Mythology will be helpful.

CLASSICS 215 (=REL 215) Greek and Roman Religion
Instructor: Sandra Blakely TuTh 4 - 5:15 Max: 30

This course explores the ritual realities of the ancient Greek and Roman world through a combination of archaeological evidence and ancient texts.
We will begin with Bronze Age Crete and end with the onset of Christianity in Rome; along the way we will encounter burials, civic festivals, hero cults, magic, and mystery initiations, and explore the relationship between political and religious power, the introduction of new gods, and the economics of cult activity.

CLASSICS 329SWR Virtuous Virgins and Vicious Vixens: Constructing the Feminine in Antiquity
Instructor: Dickson, MWF 11:45 - 12:35 Max: 16

Content: What were the behavioral expectations for women in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Etruria, and Rome? Who decided what roles women could and could not play within the family, within the community, and within society in general? What was the dividing line between virtue and villainy and according to whom? In this course we will survey the roles of women and the creation of these roles as indicated by the literary and visual records from antiquity.

Particulars: TBA—Will include short and long papers as per writing requirement

Applications available from Classics office or Dr. Dickson.

CLASSICS 329WR (= IDS 385WR, HIST 385WR) Byzantine Literature
Instructor: Ekonomou, Mon 5:00 - 8:00

The world of Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, whose focal point was Constantinople, offers a rich variety of writings in prose and verse. In its more than a thousand years of existence the Byzantine Empire drew on its heritage from the classical world of Greece and Rome, blended it with the developing Christian tradition, and produced a unique culture to whose literature this course is intended to be an introduction.
The course will begin with a general introduction to the Byzantine Empire outlining the empire’s history from its foundation by Constantine the Great in the fourth century to its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. We will then turn to a reading, analysis, and discussion of prose and poetry texts that will include a wide range of secular histories and chronicles stretching from the Age of Justinian to the fall of Constantinople, saints’ lives, monastic foundation documents, legal documents, religious poems and hymns, theological and canonical

Texts: secular poetry including medieval Greek romances and epic poetry, the Byzantine novel, fables, bestiaries, ekphraseis (rhetorical description) and a variety of satire, epigrams, and letters.

CLASSICS 498R: Supervised Reading
Instructor: Faculty MAX: 10
By arrangement
Independent study under faculty direction. Students must make arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

CLASSICS 597R: Directed Reading
Instructor: Faculty MAX: 10
By arrangement
This course is open to graduate students pursuing independent work under faculty direction. Student must make arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

GREEK

GREEK 102 Elementary Greek II
Instructor: Slater, MWF 10:40 - 11:30, TuTh 10:25 - 11:15, MAX: 16

Content: A continuation of Elementary Greek I (GRK 101 at Emory or the equivalent is a prerequisite). This course continues the introduction of the basic grammar and syntax of classical Greek within its larger cultural context. The course aims to move students into reading selections from major classical authors as quickly as possible. In the second semester, we will be reading adapted selections from Plato, Aristophanes, historians, and orators, chosen to illuminate the history and culture of ancient Greece at its zenith.

Texts: JACT, Reading Greek (Cambridge), text and grammar volumes (students enrolled for the first semester will already have these texts).

Particulars: Quizzes, four or five tests, and a final examination. Class work and homework are important components of the final grade.

Homer's Iliad is one of the foundations of Western literature. In this course, students will learn to read this great work in Greek, examining its language, style, and meter, discussing its major themes, and exploring the values of the world it portrays. We will read extensive selections of the Iliad in Greek, and the remainder in English.

Texts: Benner, Selections from Homer's Iliad Cunliffe, A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, R. Lattimore (tr.), The Iliad of Homer

Evaluation: Students will be graded on the basis of a mid-term and final exam, one class presentation, one 5-7 page paper, and class participation.

GREEK 498R Supervised Reading
Instructor: Faculty by arrangement Max: 10

Independent study in Greek. This course is open to undergraduate students of Greek who have made arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

Independent study in Greek. This course is open to graduate students pursuing independent work in ancient Greek. Student must make arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

LATIN

LATIN 102-000 Elementary Latin II
Instructor: Tissol MWF 9:35 - 10:25; Tu 9:25 - 10:15 Candler Library 222A MAX: 18

Content: A continuation of Latin 101, this course is a basic introduction to the grammar and syntax of classical Latin with emphasis on the acquisition of reading knowledge.

Texts: Keller & Russell (Yale): Learn to Read Latin, text & workbook

Particulars: An introduction to the basic grammar of classical Latin, with an emphasis on acquiring reading skills. Grading: periodic quizzes, midterms, and final examination, daily attendance, and classroom work. This course is valuable for students in English, other languages and literatures, history, philosophy, history of art and religion.

LATIN 102-001 Elementary Latin II
Instructor: Master MWF 11:45 - 12:35; Tu 11:30 - 12:20 MAX: 18

Content: A continuation of Latin 101, this course is a basic introduction to the grammar and syntax of classical Latin with emphasis on the acquisition of reading knowledge.

Texts: Keller & Russell (Yale): Learn to Read Latin, text & workbook

Particulars: An introduction to the basic grammar of classical Latin, with an emphasis on acquiring reading skills. Grading: periodic quizzes, midterms, and final examination, daily attendance, and classroom work. This course is valuable for students in English, other languages and literatures, history, philosophy, history of art and religion.

LATIN 102-002 Elementary Latin II
Instructor: Dickson MWF 2 - 2:50, TU 2:30 - 3:20 MAX: 18

Content: A continuation of Latin 101, this course is a basic introduction to the grammar and syntax of classical Latin with emphasis on the acquisition of reading knowledge.

Texts: Keller & Russell (Yale): Learn to Read Latin, text & workbook

Particulars: An introduction to the basic grammar of classical Latin, with an emphasis on acquiring reading skills. Grading: periodic quizzes, midterms, and final examination, daily attendance, and classroom work. This course is valuable for students in English, other languages and literatures, history, philosophy, history of art and religion.

LATIN 202 Intermediate Latin: Poetry
Instructor: Slater MWF 2 - 2:50 MAX: 18

Content: An introduction to Latin poetry through selections from Ovid’s Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”), the poem for which he was supposedly banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus. The fundamental aims of the course are to increase the students’ reading facility in Latin in general and to develop appreciation for Latin poetry, including a basic understanding of meter, in particular. We shall also consider Ovid’s unique style, his parodies of myth, history, and other poetic genres, the possible dangers he posed to Augustan political and moral order, and of course his sense of humor. Through particular attention to Book III, the only book of Latin poetry ostensibly addressed to a female audience, we will consider the roles of women and men in Roman society.

Texts: Ars Amatoria 1, ed. E. Block (Bryn Mawr Commentaries) xeroxed selections from Books II and III of the AA Ovid, The Erotic Poems, (Penguin)
Particulars: At least two midterms and a final examination. Class performance is a significant component of the final grade.

Latin 370S Cicero
Instructor: Master, MW 3:30 – 4:45 Max: 12

Content: This advanced Latin course will be an introduction to Cicero’s oratory and prose style. We will read the Pro Caelio and In Catilinam I and II. In these speeches we will see Cicero at his sneering best and his most self-important.

Texts: Cicero, Pro Caelio, ed., W. Englert, and O Tempora, O Mores, Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations, ed., S. Shapiro.

Particulars: There will be a mid-term, a final, a 5-7 page paper, and a short article report.

Latin 487S Roman Poets on Man and Nature
Instructor: Perkell, TuTh 2:30 - 3:45, MAX: 10

In this class we will read selections from Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, Vergil’s Eclogues, and a book of Vergil’s Georgics in Latin. We will consider first Lucretius’ missionary zeal on behalf of an enlightened life of Epicurean calm within his hypothesized atomic universe and its indifferent gods. We will then turn to Vergil, who was profoundly inspired and moved by the De Rerum Natura , for its art as well as for its moral earnestness. He responded to this great work --in the Eclogues (ten short pastoral poems in the genre developed by Theocritus) and in the Georgics (a self-proclaimed “didactic” poem on farming and rural life, in the tradition of Hesiod’s Works and Days) --with a newly musical verse and a challenging alternative perspective on the relationship among man, nature, and the gods.

PREREQUISITES: Two terms of Latin at the intermediate level or above.

TEXTS: Virgil: the Eclogues and Georgics, ed. R.D. Williams
Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, trans. D.R. Slavitt
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura: Selections, ed. P. Michael Brown
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things, trans. Rolfe Humphries

PARTICULARS: Three short papers; three translation quizzes; three class presentations. The requirement for engaged and thoughtful attendance goes without saying.

LATIN 498R: Supervised Reading
Instructor: Faculty By arrangement MAX: 10
Independent study in Latin. This course is open to advanced students of Latin who have made arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

LATIN 597R: Directed Reading
Instructor: Faculty By arrangement MAX: 10
Independent study in Latin. This course is open to graduate students pursuing independent work in Latin. Student must make arrangements with a faculty member prior to registration.

Ancient Mediterranean Studies

ANC MED 101 – Introduction to Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Instructor: Gopnik, TuTh 1 - 2:15 Max: 30

This course offers an introduction to the great range of ancient cultures that flourished around the Mediterranean Sea thousands of years ago. We will read the poems, stories and letters written by ancient Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans to learn how these cultures adapted in many different ways to the rich Mediterranean environment. We will also examine the abundant art, architecture and artifacts that these cultures left behind them as material testimony to how they led their lives. Themes covered in the class will include the growth of the first cities, states, and empires; the development of writing and the first written histories; and the impact of the exchange of ideas and materials across the Mediterranean.

ANC MED 201 ­ Introduction to Mediterranean Archaeology
Instructor: Blakely, TuTh 10 - 11:15 Max: 30

The cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world are often viewed as Œfrogs around the pond¹ ­ defined by their interaction as much as their unique identities. In this course, we focus on the material evidence for how these cultures, reaching from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules, interacted with each other, sharing everything from raw materials and food to myths and technologies. Units include Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, Greece and Rome, as well as the island cultures of Palestine,Cyprus, Crete, and Sicily, the Phoenicians, and the world of nautical archaeology.

ANC MED 202: Literature and Traditions
Instructor: B. Lawatsch Melton TuTh 10:00-11:15 MAX: 16

The Classical Tradition and the American Founding

This course explores the classical tradition in Colonial America and the United States. A central theme is the connection of the classical legacy to the American quest for self-definition and cultural independence, the formation of the Republic and American civic identity. We will examine texts both ancient and American as well as visual/archaeological evidence, such as architecture, sculpture, and film, and place them in the context of their time. Throughout the course we will also discuss the extent to which the ideas expressed in the classical tradition continue to carry meaning, and under what guise we might encounter them today.

Readings may include excerpts from the Homeric epics, Thucydides, Polybius, Aesop, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Tacitus and Plutarch, Andrew White’s Voyage to Maryland, Cotton Mather, Jane Turell, William Livingston, The Federalist, the correspondence of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton as well as Joseph Addison,’s Cato, the U.S. Constitution, and Tindall/Shi’s America. A Narrative History.

Particulars: Class participation and discussion emphasized; mid-term and final exams, response to readings, 1-2 short presentations and one 4-6 page paper.