Courses Offered
CLASSICAL STUDIES
1. Antiquity Today: An Introduction to Classical Studies
08W, 09W: 11
Which ancient faces and personalities come alive for us when we look back at Greek and Roman antiquity? How were the Greeks and Romans like us, and how different? How and why does their world—and what we have inherited from their world—intrigue, repel, awe, amuse, or disturb us, and how much is that to do with our own preoccupations? Taking as its starting point the interface between Classical antiquity and the twenty-first century, this course explores a selection of topics that will introduce you to the different areas and disciplines that make up Classics in the new millennium.
Open to all classes. Dist: LIT or INT; WCult: CI. Christesen.
2. The Tragedy and Comedy of Greece and Rome
08S, 09S: 12
In this course, we shall study in translation selected works of the three major tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as the comic playwright Aristophanes. We shall also watch and discuss modern performances and adaptations of Greek plays. Among the topics considered will be the origin and development of Greek drama, where and how it was performed, and the design of the theatrical space. Special focus will be given to the literary and dramatic characteristics of each play, as well as the role of drama in Athenian society and its social and political context.
Open to all classes. Dist: ART; WCult: W. Tell.
3. Reason and the Good Life: Socrates to Epictetus
09W: 11
An introduction to philosophical thought in antiquity, especially that of Socrates, Epicurus, and the Stoics. We will concentrate especially on ethical questions; e.g. what kind of life is best for humans to pursue, how thoughtful persons should weigh the potentially competing claims of reason, pleasure, and emotion—and on how intellectual activity was perceived at Athens and at Rome. Readings to include Aristophanes’ Clouds, Plato’s Apology and Meno, and selected writings of Epicurus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus.
Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Graver.
4. Classical Mythology
08X: 12
An introduction to Greek myths and the way in which their use in literature developed, from the use of myths as religious story to the utilization of myth in drama and its exploitation in poetry.
Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI. The staff.
5. The Heroic Vision: Epics of Greece and Rome
07F, 08F: 2
The more carefully we read the Iliad, the more puzzling it seems. How can this apparently very old poem have been composed, recorded, and promulgated before the development of a book culture in Greece? We will study the modern classicist’s answer to these and related questions, then move forward to consider the dynamic response to the epic tradition by Greeks of the classical period. Readings in the latter part of the course will come from a variety of genres, from short lyric (Sappho, Alcaeus) to history (Herodotus), drama (Euripides), and dialogue (Plato’s Ion).
Open to all classes. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Graver.
6. Introduction to Classical Archaeology
07F, 08F: 11
The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the basic methods and principles of Classical archaeology through a survey of the principal types of sites and artifacts characteristic of Greco-Roman antiquity. Students will gain a good overview of the approaches useful in the interpretation of a wide variety of material evidence as well as of problems inherent in such evidence. At the same time, through the study of a number of major sites in roughly chronological sequence, students will acquire an appreciation of the development of material culture in the Mediterranean world from prehistory to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The course thus serves both as an introduction to Greek and Roman civilization and to the particular goals of the discipline of archaeology.
Open to all classes. Dist: INT or ART; WCult: W. Rutter.
7. First-Year Seminars in Classical Studies
Consult special listings
10. Topics in Greek and Latin Literature
08W: 10A
In 08W, Fictions of Sappho (Identical to Comparative Literature 67 and Women’s and Gender Studies 41). Goddess of poetry, sexual predator, exotic holiday destination, lovelorn suicide, schoolmistress, parchment scrap: these are among the associations clustering around Sappho. From antiquity to the twenty-first century her poems and the legends about her life and loves have fascinated writers, artists and musicians as different as Queen Victoria, Willa Cather, Boccaccio, Jeanette Winterson, Ezra Pound, Gounod, and Ovid. We sample some of the twists and turns in this seemingly endless stream of fantasy and creative reaproppriation.
Dist: LIT; WCult: CI. Williamson.
11. Topics in Greek and Roman Social and Economic History
07F: 2 08W: 10, 10 08F, 09S: 12
In 07F and 09S, Sex, Celibacy and the Problem of Purity: Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 43.2 and described under Religion 31).
In 08W at 10 (Section 1), Roots of Feminism (Identical to and described under Women and Gender Studies 15).
In 08W at 10 (Section 2), Greek and Roman Engineering and Technology. This course will offer an introduction to the most important machines and processes of Greek and Roman technology. Emphasis will be on the practical implications and applications of ancient technologies and engineering. Within the broad range of technologies surveyed, students will focus on specific case studies to provide deeper analysis and understanding of individual topics. Reading will be based on a textbook and selected chapters and articles from secondary sources. Greek and Roman writers will also be read in translation.
Open to all students. Dist: TAS; WCult: W. Ulrich.
14. Greek History: Archaic and Classical Greece (Identical to History 94.3)
Not offered in the period from 07F through 09W
This course surveys the major events in the history of ancient Greece from 1600 to 338 BCE. During this period, the Greeks formed individual communities and developed political structures that satisfied particular communal definitions of liberty, spread their culture throughout the Mediterranean, invented democracy and enshrined in their art, literature, and political systems the beginnings of humanism. During the same period, democratic Athens became an imperialist power and a slave society and, unlike other Greeks, kept wives and daughters closeted. This course considers the peculiarities and genius of these Greeks.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Christesen.
15. Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Kings
07F: 12
This course has two aims: (1) to establish a basic understanding of the history of Alexander the Great and of Greek-speaking peoples in the eastern Mediterranean during the fourth through first centuries BCE and (2) to explore the cultural, military, political, and economic innovations of what was a singular age of experimentation.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: W. Christesen.
17. Roman History: The Republic (Identical to History 94.5)
09W: 12
This course surveys the history of the Roman people from 753 (traditional date of the founding of Rome) to 44 B.C. (the assassination of Julius Caesar). Topics include the development of Roman law, the conquest of all lands bordering on the Mediterranean, and the civil wars that destroyed Republican government. Particular emphasis is placed on the Roman political community: the political, religious and social factors that influenced the definition of the Roman aristocracy in the fourth century, the institutions that maintained the ascendancy of the elite, the military and political values inherent in the citizenship, the social and political mechanisms that militated against civil dissent, and the role of political values in the eventual destruction of Republican government from within.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Stewart.
18. History of the Roman Empire: Roman Principate to Christian Empire (Identical to History 94.6)
08W: 12
This course is designed to survey the major events in the history of Rome from 31 B.C. (Octavian/Augustus’ success at the battle of Actium) through the accession and rule of Septimius Severus. During this period, the Roman empire (signifying the territorial extent conquered by Roman armies and administered by Roman officials) became a political community extending throughout the Mediterranean and northwards into Europe as far as Scotland. This course considers the logic of the Roman system: the mechanisms promoting the political identity of diverse peoples as Roman, and the endurance of local traditions within the Roman world; the reasoning whereby the overarching leadership of a single individual was conceived as necessary and good, and the evolving relationship between the princeps and the Roman senatorial aristocracy with a tradition of competitive participation and self identity in politics at Rome; the definition of the Roman frontiers and the role of the army in the assimilation of non-Roman peoples.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in History. Open to all classes. Dist: INT or SOC; WCult: W. Stewart.
19. Methods and Theory in Ancient History (Identical to History 94.7)
09W: 2A
This course is designed to introduce the student to the various types of documentary evidence available to the ancient historian and to the various perspectives for framing and answering historical questions. We consider the interpretive methodologies for each type of document (coin, inscription, papyrus) as well as the particular historical context in which these documents were produced. Topics include the function of coinage and economic thinking in the ancient world and the political significance of the publication of law. The final weeks of the term allow for in-depth consideration of a specific problem in ancient history.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Christesen.
20. Greek Prehistoric Archaeology: The Emergence of Civilization in the Aegean
08W: 11
This course traces the cultural evolution of humanity in the Aegean basin from the era of hunting and gathering (Palaeolithic-Mesolithic) through the early village farming stage (Neolithic) and the formative period of Aegean civilization (Early Bronze Age) into the age of the great palatial cultures of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. The emphasis in the early part of the course will be on the different economic bases of early life in the Aegean and on regional variation within it. In the latter half of the course, study of the palaces, fortified citadels, and royal tombs at such sites as Knossos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Troy will lead to discussions of the Greek myths about Atlantis, King Minos’ sea empire, and the Trojan War, and their basis in historical fact.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Rutter.
21. From Disaster to Triumph: Greek Archaeology from the Destruction of Mycenae to the Persian Wars
08S: 11
This course examines in detail through archaeology the cultural process whereby Greece evolved from a scattered group of isolated and backward villages in the Dark Ages (ca. 1100-750 B.C.) to a series of independent, often cosmopolitan city-states united against the threat of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece in 480 B.C. Where did the Greeks acquire the concept of monumental temple architecture and why did they choose to build temples in only two or three different architectural styles? Where did the Greeks learn to write in an alphabetic script and what did they first write down? Who taught the Greeks the art of sculpture and why did they begin by carving what they did? When and why did the Greeks begin to portray their myths in art?
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Rutter.
22. Greek Classical Archaeology: City-States and Panhellenic Sanctuaries
09W: 10
From the allied Greeks’ expulsion of Persian invaders through their great victories at Plataea and Mykale in 479 B.C. to their catastrophic defeat by Philip, Alexander, and the Macedonians at Chaeronea in 338 B.C., the history of Greek culture is that of dozens of individual city-states in constant competition for hegemony in a wide variety of different arenas, from battlefield to stadium to pan-Hellenic sanctuary. In this course, particular attention is paid to the material cultural achievements of the richest and artistically most influential of these poleis, the city of Athens, when that city developed the western world’s first democracy, built the Parthenon, and played host to the schools established by Plato and Aristotle.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: ART; WCult: W. Rutter.
24. Etruscan and Early Roman Archaeology: The Rise of Rome
08F: 2A
This course begins with the archaeology of Late Neolithic and Iron Age Italy, then focuses upon the Etruscans, early Latium and the development of Republican Rome and her colonies, concluding with the death of Caesar in 44 B.C. In addition to a chronological development of the material culture of Italy, we will explore at least two important cultural topics: 1) Etruscan religion and its influence on the Roman sacro-political system; 2) the machinery of Roman government as expressed in the spaces in Rome (and other sites) that played host to political ritual: the Arx, the Forum, the Comitium, the Curia, the Tribunal and the Basilica.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC; WCult: W. Ulrich.
25. Early Roman Imperial Archaeology: The First Emperors
09S: 11
Through archaeological sites and related artifacts, this course examines the Roman empire as it was transformed under the rule of the emperors. This course begins with a close look at the first emperor, Augustus, then continues with an examination of the reigns of the Julio-Claudians, Flavians, and Trajan. Discussion focuses on how ancient Italic traditions were transformed to suit the needs of the Imperial government (for example, the adaptation of the Republican, Hellenized Domus to the Imperial Palatium). The most dramatic change in religious practice is the development of the Imperial cult. Site analysis will stress the need for an imperial idiom, the accommodation of urban masses and the promotion of a sense of a shared cultural experience. The course will also examine the technological developments that led to Rome’s ‘architectural revolution.’
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: ART; WCult: W. Ulrich.
26. Later Roman Imperial Archaeology: The Golden Age and Beyond
08S: 12
This course surveys Roman archaeology from Hadrian to Constantine. Emphasis is placed upon the Antonine and Severan emperors, then shifts rapidly over most of the mid-third century to focus on Diocletian and the tetrarchy, Constantine and the move of the capital to Constantinople. The course ends with a look at the great church of Hagia Sophia, and consideration of the debt of early Christianity to pagan religious traditions. A major component of the course is the study of the Romanization of the provinces, and, more specifically, the complex process of cultural hybridization (imported Roman traditions melding with local practices). Such sites as Baalbek, Petra, Dura-Europos, Palmyra, Roman Egypt, Tripolitania, Tunisia and Algeria, Constantinian Jerusalem, Trier, Spalato, etc., may be included.
May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. Open to all classes. Dist: ART; WCult: W. Ulrich.
29. Independent Study Project
09S: D.F.S.P. (Greece) 09F: D.F.S.P. (Italy)
The independent study project to be completed by a student while a member of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Greece or Italy.
Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program. WCult: W. Christesen, Stewart, Ulrich.
30. Classical Art and Archaeology: Study Abroad
09S: D.F.S.P. (Greece) 09F: D.F.S.P. (Italy)
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the work of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Greece or Italy. May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art.
Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program. Dist: ART; WCult: W. Christesen, Stewart, Ulrich.
31. Ancient Literature and History: Study Abroad
09S: D.F.S.P. (Greece) 09F: D.F.S.P. (Italy)
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the work of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Greece or Italy.
Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program. WCult: W. Christesen, Stewart, Ulrich.
85. Independent Reading and Research
All terms: Arrange
87. Thesis
All terms: Arrange
Independent research and writing under supervision of a member of the Classics faculty. Open to honors students in their senior year and to other qualified students by consent of the Department.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
GREEK
1-3. Intensive Greek
Not offered in the period from 07F through 09S
1. Introductory Greek
07F, 08W, 08F, 09W: 9
Study of Greek grammar, syntax, and vocabulary accompanied by reading of simple Greek prose selections. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive Requirement. The staff.
3. Intermediate Greek
08W, 08S, 09W, 09S: 9
Continued study of Greek grammar and syntax. Readings in Greek prose authors. Completion of Greek 3 satisfies the College language requirement and serves as a prerequisite to the major in Classical Archaeology. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive Requirement.
Prerequisite: Greek 1, or equivalent. The staff.
10. Readings in Greek Prose and Poetry
07F, 08S, 08F: 10 09S: 2
Readings in Greek prose and poetry at the intermediate level, typically including selections from Plato and/ or Euripides. Prerequisite: Greek 3, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W (unless otherwise indicated).
In 07F, Philosophy , A thoughtful reading of Plato’s Symposium, the dinner-party dialogue on erotic love. Accompanying material from Greek poetry, oratory, and the visual arts illustrates the cultural backdrop against which Plato developed his ideas. Requirements commensurate with registration in Greek 10 or Greek 28.
Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Graver.
In 08S, Williamson.
11. Modern Greek I
09W: 2
(See Modern Greek section below)
20. Homer
08W: 2
Reading in Greek and discussion of selections from the Iliad or Odyssey. Reading of the whole poem in translation and discussion of its character, style, and composition.
Prerequisite: Greek 10, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Tell.
22. The Lyric Age of Greece
09W: 2
A study of selected poetry from the archaic period of Greek literature. In addition to excerpts from the hexameter poems of Hesiod and the Homeric hymns, readings will include shorter lyric poems such as those of Archilochus, Alcaeus, Sappho, Theognis, Xenophanes and Anacreon. Discussion will include both literary aspects of the poems and their social and cultural context, including the ways in which gender is figured in their performance.
Prerequisite: Greek 10, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
24. Theatre
09S: 2
A study of the tragedy and comedy of Classical Greece through detailed reading of at least one play of Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Aristophanes.
Prerequisite: Greek 10, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
26. Intellectual Enquiry in Classical Athens
08S: 2
This course centers on the period of intellectual ferment and enquiry in fifth and fourth century Athens, when traditional beliefs came under scrutiny and many different figures laid claim to truth telling, from orators and sophists to poets and the practitioners of philosophy and history. Texts studied will be taken from the following: philosophy (the sophists, the early dialogues of Plato); history (Herodotus and/or Thucydides); the medical writers; dramatists (Euripides, Aristophanes): orators.
Prerequisite: Greek 10 or equivalent. Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Williamson.
28. Philosophy
07F: 10
A thoughtful reading of Plato’s Symposium, the dinner-party dialogue on erotic love. Accompanying material from Greek poetry, oratory, and the visual arts illustrates the cultural backdrop against which Plato developed his ideas. Requirements commensurate with registration in Greek 10 or Greek 28.
Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Graver.
29. New Testament
08F: 2
A brief introduction to the language, vocabulary, and idiom of New Testament Greek, followed by readings in the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul.
Prerequisite: Greek 10, or equivalent. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Whaley.
30. Comparative Studies in Greek and Latin Literature (Identical to Latin 30)
08X: 10A
A joint seminar for students in Greek and Latin on a topic that will involve common meetings of both Greek students and Latin students, as well as selected texts in Greek for those electing Greek 30, and texts in Latin for those electing Latin 30. Previous topics have been such themes as “Tragicomedy” (a cross reading of Euripides and Plautus) and “The Poet and the City.”
Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
85. Independent Reading and Research
All terms: Arrange
87. Thesis
All terms: Arrange
Independent research and writing under the supervision of a Department member. Open to honors students in their senior year and other qualified students by the consent of the Department.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
MODERN GREEK
11. Modern Greek I
09W: 2
An introduction to Modern Greek as a spoken and written language, with emphasis on practical conversation. Intensive study of basic grammar, syntax and vocabulary through drills, conversation, written exercises, and oral presentations, supplemented by laboratory exercises and by drill-sessions with a teaching assistant.
No previous knowledge of Greek is assumed. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive Requirement. Kacandes.
LATIN
1. Introductory Latin
07F: 9, 2 08W: 9 08F: 9, 2 09W: 9
Introduction to Latin grammar, vocabulary, and syntax through prose readings of gradually increasing difficulty. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive Requirement. The staff.
3. Intermediate Latin
08W: 9, 2 08S: 9 09W: 9, 2 09S: 9
Continued study of Latin grammar, vocabulary, and syntax with reading of selected literary texts. Completion of Latin 3 satisfies the College language requirement. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive Requirement.
Prerequisite: Latin 1, or equivalent. The staff.
10. Readings in Latin Prose and Poetry
07F: 9 08S: 10A 08F, 09S: 9
Readings in Latin prose and poetry at the intermediate level, typically including selections from Catullus, Cicero, Livy, or Ovid.
Prerequisite: Latin 3, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Van den Beg.
20. Vergil
09W: 10A
We will consider how Vergil’s tripartite career (Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid) relates to his difficult political situation and how it sets him apart from earlier Roman poets. We will read from all three of these major works, but will spend most time on Aeneid IX, which is especially interesting for its searching questions about the intersection between heroism and the realities of war. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
22. Literature of the Republic
07F, 08F: 10A
In 07F, we will read a play by the Roman playwright Terence, often regarded as Rome’s most elegant author of comedy. We will also venture into snippets from other ancient authors to understand better Terence’s literary milieu. Students will consider Terence’s literary models (Greek and Roman) and the social role of ancient comedy.
Prerequisite: Latin 10 or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Van den Berg.
24. The Augustan Age
08W: 10A
Ovid’s Fasti: we will read at least one book of Ovid’s fascinating poetic Fasti and the entirety in English. As context we will read passages from Varro and the inscriptional Fasti. Thematically, we will focus on the cultural function of festivals and the social relevance of calendars and time.
Prerequisite: Latin 10, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Van den Berg.
26. Literature of the Early Empire
08S: 2A
The particular interest of the course is in the inner dynamics of literary works that gesture toward an emperor as the premier internal reader. Readings include Horace’s Epistle to Augustus, Ovid’s Letters from Pontus, Seneca’s On Clemency, Martial’s humorous epigrams, and selections from Lucan and Tacitus.
Prerequisite: Latin 10 or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Graver.
28. Literature of the Later Empire and the Middle Ages
09S: 10
Readings from the late Empire to the high Middle Ages that will include selections from the Vulgate, St. Augustine’s Confessions, the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Hrotsvitha’s Dulcitius, and the Carmina Burana.
Prerequisite: Latin 10, or equivalent. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
30. Comparative Studies in Greek and Latin Literature (Identical to Greek 30)
08X: 10A
A joint seminar for students in Greek and Latin on a topic that will involve common meetings of both Greek students and Latin students, as well as selected texts in Greek for those electing Greek 30, and texts in Latin for those electing Latin 30. Previous topics have been such themes as “Tragicomedy” (a cross reading of Euripides and Plautus) and “The Poet and the City.”
Dist: LIT; WCult: W. The staff.
85. Independent Reading and Research
All terms: Arrange
87. Thesis
All terms: Arrange
Independent research and writing under the supervision of a member of the Classics faculty. Open to honors students in their senior year and to other qualified students by consent of the Department.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.