CLA 101-7 College Seminar: American Classics: Ancient Greece and Rome in Modern Culture and Film
In this course we will examine, and learn how to write about, the role of Ancient Greece and Rome in American film and culture. Preliminary steps in this study will involve introductions to various historic eras of the ancient Greco-Roman world as well as important elements of ancient culture. Our emphasis will, however, not be analysis of antiquity itself but rather of recent American engagement with that antiquity, particularly in film. We will examine not just how antiquity perseveres in American culture, but how popular art creatively and critically engages with inherited Classical traditions. We will also consider engagement with Classical antiquity in some non-cinematic media as well, such as the graphic novel and even the architecture of the city of Chicago.
In addition to the scholarly elements of this course, it will also serve as an introduction to college life itself. We will learn about specific resources on campus that exist to enable student success as well as discuss student well-being and personal success strategies. Your instructor will be your academic advisor this term and this will incorporate advising related activities to help students succeed not only in this class but at the university generally.
CLA 211 Greek History and Culture: From Homer to Alexander the Great
This course will serve as an introduction to the history, culture, and peoples of the Ancient Greek world between the age of Homer (c. 7th century BCE) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE). Our emphasis will be on social, political, artistic, and intellectual developments across the period. We will pay special attention to the unique nature of ancient Athenian democracy as well as the politics and culture of other city-states, including Sparta. Our primary sources will be literary, but we will also examine evidence from ancient art and archaeology for unique insights into ancient people's lives, ideas, and values.
In this course we will study the myths of the ancient Greeks through the reading of ancient texts themselves, in translation. We will begin by studying Greek myth broadly, focusing on our very earliest texts, and then gradually narrow our focus to mythology in Classical Athens. The legacy of Greek mythology is timeless yet the myths themselves grew out of unique times and a unique culture so we will work to understand these myths within their original contexts, yet we will also keep our eye on uses of Greek mythology in the modern world, including in contemporary Chicago.
We will study the theory and practice of Greek and Roman medicine, looking at ancient texts in translation, ancient artifacts and materials, and some modern scholarship. As a term project, students will learn to think as ancient physicians, diagnosing and prescribing treatments for patients from the Hippocratic case studies. During class discussion, we will engage critically with primary sources and examine the differences between ancient and modern science from a balanced historical perspective. We will also investigate the social, cultural, and economic forces that have affected the development of western medicine throughout its history.
CLA 340 / CLS 301 Greek and Roman Drama: Athenian Tragedy, Then and Now
The scripts and fragments from plays produced in fifth-century BCE Athens in honor of Dionysos, god of wine and theater, are among the most enduring and powerful legacies of ancient Greek culture. Since their rediscovery in the early modern period, directors, translators, and adapters have repeatedly turned to the poetry of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to reflect on political, ethical, social, and theological issues of their time. Most recently, the plays have proved fertile ground for directors eager to imagine alternative ways of thinking about race, gender, and class. We will read a selection of Athenian tragedies, with special emphasis on their form, ancient performance context, and themes, as well as select examples of contemporary adaptations for diverse audiences. All readings will be in translation, and students will be encouraged to work in groups to perform and develop creative responses to individual scenes.
CLA 370 Greek and Roman Religion: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World
In this course, we will examine the magicians, witches, wonder-workers, and quacks of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to manipulate the world around them. We will consider magical practices both real and imagined—from curse tablets, spell books, and amulets to elaborate descriptions of sexy sorceresses and hideous hags—all in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.
CLA 390 / ART HIST 319 / HUM 395 Topics in Greco-Roman Civilization: Constructing Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World
How did individuals define themselves in the ancient Mediterranean world, and how did they express their affiliation with multiple and diverse ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other collective social identities? How did groups portray perceived differences between themselves and others? What do we know of the construction of gender identities, race, age, and class distinctions? What dynamic roles did dress, hairstyle, body decoration or ornament, and personal possessions play in establishing and expressing individual and collective identities?
This course explores evidence for self- and group-fashioning in Greece, Rome, and their neighbors in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. We examine a wide range of textual and material sources, including works of art, archaeological contexts such as burials and religious institutions, biographies, autobiographies, and legal documents, including dowries. We also consider culturally significant modes of self-representation and commemoration, such as portraits and funerary monuments, along with the collecting and transfer of objects that represented accumulated social entanglements, such as heirlooms.
GREEK 201-1 Introduction to Greek Literature: New Testament
This course, the first of the second-year Greek series, is designed to build fluency in reading Greek as students transition from the study of Greek grammar to Greek literature. This course will introduce students to the Greek New Testament, particularly the gospels, as we investigate how this unique genre functions. We will focus on the book of Mark, the oldest and shortest of the gospels, which we will read nearly in its entirety. We will read selections from other gospels as well, to study the relationship between the text. This course will also serve as a review of the grammar learned in first-year Greek and will include homework and classwork specifically geared toward that end.
GREEK 301 Readings in Greek Literature: Euripides' _Medea_
The range of contemporary retellings of the myth of Medea attests to the powerful resonances that a modern audience may attach to a story of exile, abandon, and infanticide. Yet a full appreciation of the significance of these plays, films, or novels as discourses on contemporary culture requires a careful examination of their relation to Euripides’ paradigmatic treatment of the myth in his 431 BCE tragedy. The course will explore how Euripides’ _Medea_ is shaped by, responds to, and challenges the social and cultural background of fifth century Athens. In order to better appreciate the specificity of the Euripidean version, a comparative perspective will be offered by looking at earlier and later treatments of the story, including Pindar, Apollonios of Rhodes, Pasolini, and Christa Wolf.
Elementary Latin is a year-long course designed to provide students with the basic skills for reading, understanding, and translating both Latin prose and poetry. In the first quarter of the sequence students acquire knowledge of the essential grammar of the Latin language and basic Latin vocabulary, and develop an ability to read, understand, and translate simple passages in both adapted and unadapted Latin.
NEW MATERIALS and IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES! In addition to the exercises and readings included in the textbooks, students will see and read Latin as it appeared on ancient monuments, walls, coins, and everyday objects. By uniting the study of language and culture, this course provides unique insight into the daily life of the people who spoke Latin in the Roman world.
LATIN 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
LATIN 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: Sisters and Sisterhood in Roman Epic
From Romulus and Remus to the Horatii triplets, from the idealized solidarity of the Scipio brothers to Cicero’s letters "ad Quintum fratrem", from Catullus’ farewell to his dead brother to the tragic stories of Euryalus and Nisus and Pandarus and Bitias in Vergil’s "Aeneid", fraternal relationships figure prominently in Roman history and literature. But what about sisters? In this course, we will examine how epic poems of the Augustan and Flavian age depicted the emotional bond between sisters and ask ourselves to what extent these narratives can illuminate the otherwise scantly documented significance of sisterhood in Roman society. Vergil’s and Ovid’s stories of Dido and Anna, Herse and Aglauros, Procne and Philomena will guide our exploration of ideals of women’s behavior as sisters, wives, and mothers. The course will end with an investigation of the large-scale treatment of sisterly relations (by blood and by choice) in Statius’ "Thebaid".
