Classics
The Classics department is engaged in teaching and research in areas ranging all the way from Homer, through the Classical texts of Greece and Rome, Early Christian texts, and Patristic texts, to the reception of classical authors in the medieval period. Our majors and minors emphasize mastery of Greek and Latin and vigorous discussion of the seminal and enduring ideas and questions.
Classics (CLA)
Introductory topics in Classical literature and culture not covered by regular course offerings. May be repeated once with a change in content or topic.
Designed to help students develop their English vocabulary by examining the Latin and Greek vocabulary bases, prefixes and suffixes from which English evolved as well as commonly used Greek and Latin words and phrases.
Instruction in research methods and the techniques of critical and persuasive writing, drawing from the rich tradition of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric and literature.
Heroes and heroines of ancient world through readings in translation, including Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary, Rama and Sita, Heracles and Deineira, Odysseus and Penelope, King Arthur and Guinevere, and others. Students will also be introduced to the theories of Lord Raglan, Joseph Campbell, Vladamir Propp, and Claude Levi-Strauss.
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Introductory topics in Classical literature and culture not covered by regular course offerings. This course may be repeated once with a change in content or topic.
Ancient Greek literature, emphasizing the works of major writers such as Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, the orators, and comic and tragic poets. All readings are in English translation.
Literature of the Roman republic and empire, covering authors and texts over a range of around 600 years, from Plautus (ca. 200 BC) to Augustine (ca. 400 AD). Focus is on the major literary figures from this period, their works, and their social and historical contexts. All readings are in English translation.
Examines the varieties of religious experience in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Sources include literary texts as well as material culture, and the approach is interdisciplinary.
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Intermediate topics in Classical literature and culture not covered by regular course offerings. This course may be repeated once with a change in content or topic.
History and culture of the ancient Romans from the founding of the city through the reign of Constantine ending in A.D. 337 with attention to literature, religion, political institutions, social issues, philosophy, and art.
History and culture of the ancient Greeks from the Bronze Age through the Classical period ending in 323 B.C. with attention to literature, religion, political institutions, social issues, philosophy, and art.
History and culture of the Greeks and Macedonians from the reign of Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) through the death of Cleopatra (30 BC) with attention to developments in literature, religion, philosophy, art, political institutions, and social issues; interactions between Greeks and peoples of Asia and Egypt; the Greek experience of Roman imperialism.
The history and culture of the Byzantines (Eastern Romans) from their roots in the third-century crisis of the Roman Empire through the fall of Constantinople in AD 1453.
An intensive study of ancient epic with the goal of understanding the structure, nature, and social functions of the genre. The selection of readings, in English translation, may range from Gilgamesh through the Roman poet Statius.
An intensive study of Greek tragedy with the goal of understanding the structure, nature, and social functions of the genre with an emphasis on 5th and 4th century Athens. Readings consist primarily of plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in English translation.
Ancient Greek and Roman plays as performative works. Includes recreating and staging performances of scenes from ancient Greek and Roman plays, informed by ancient performance practice.
Detailed study of the buildings and monuments of Ancient Rome and Pompeii. Readings include primary sources and analyses of excavated material.
Explores the lives of women in ancient Greece and Rome and their representation in art and literature. Also includes modern theories and definitions of gender.
Explores how the ancient Greeks and Romans conceptualized race and ethnicity and how they dealt with racial and ethnic differences in their encounters with other peoples. Includes modern debates about race, ethnicity, and identity.
The military cultural experience of ancient Greece and Rome, drawing upon ancient literary, artistic, and documentary sources.
See ARTH 3352 for course description.
See ARTH 3353 for course information.
Study of the medical vocabulary of English, based upon Greek and Latin prefixes, stems, and suffixes.
Undergraduate research undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Survey of the theory, practice, and literature of western scientific medicine from Hippocrates and the Greeks through the Roman period.
Examination of the major historical figures and intellectual trends of the classical world and examination of the professional life and work of classicists.
Study of the monuments, art, and topographical archaeology of Greece from the Bronze Age through Late Antiquity.
Study of Ancient Greek religion through the literary, artistic, and archaeological sources.
Study of monuments and topographical archaeology of southern Italy and Sicily. Readings include primary sources and analyses of excavated material.
Advanced topics in Classical literature and culture not covered by regular course offerings. This course may be repeated once with a change in content or topic.
See REL 4350 for course information.
Ancient sources in translation on martyrdom in the Roman world. Topics might include the evolving understanding of martyrdom, the development of Christian doctrine on martyrdom, Roman motives for persecuting Christians, and the status of those who fled persecution or surrendered themselves to it.
Developments in Greco-Roman pagan religion and Christianity in the fourth century. Topics might include commonalities and differences between paganism and Christianity, competition for believers, rivalries between thinkers, the development of Christian identity in a pagan world, the role of Roman imperial authority in arbitrating between these traditions.
The linguistic similarities of the Indo-European language, such as Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit, and their cultural manifestations.
See ARTH 4368 for course information.
See ARTH 4369 for course information.
Various texts to be read (in translation) are selected to meet the needs of the student. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of six semester hours.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Greek (GRK)
The basic elements of Classical and Koine Greek and culture, emphasizing both Classical and New Testament authors.
Continuation of GRK 1301.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Attic prose readings and selections from the New Testament, with review of inflection and syntax and discussion of the relationship between Classical and Christian texts.
Readings in Homer's Odyssey with continued emphasis on Greek inflection and syntax and on the interpretive relationship between Classical and Christian texts.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
The principles of Greek historiography emphasizing Herodotus, Thucydides, and other Greek historians.
Greek drama, emphasizing Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Selections from Plato, Aristotle, Lysias, Demosthenes, and the Church Fathers which reflect the principles of classical rhetoric and its importance to the theology and preaching of the early church. Attention will also be given to modern homiletics.
Readings on the life and times of Alexander the Great.
Readings in ancient Greek associated with the island of Sicily. Readings will come from authors such as Homer, Euripides, or Thucydides.
Epigraphical documents generally comprise those texts incised in durable material-stone, bronze, lead, et cetera. This seminar examines both the contents of those epigraphical documents that survive from Antiquity and the contexts within which they were created. As such, it serves as a general introduction to epigraphical sources and methods, as well as to the ways in which epigraphical information can be used to study ancient society. By offering for study diverse epigraphical examples from various periods of Antiquity, the course will introduce basic bibliography, major collections of documents, research and field methodology (including the study of inscriptions in museums and archaeological sites in mainland Italy and Sicily), and the use of electronic resources available for epigraphical studies.
The letter-form, a genre common in Greek and Roman literature and the dominant structural form of the New Testament, as exemplified in the Pauline and General Epistles.
Literature of the Hellenistic period (323 - 31 BC) with additional attention on New Testament backgrounds, in particular Philo and Josephus.
Apocalyptic literature of the New Testament, including selections from the Gospels, Jude, the Epistles of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Revelation of John.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Readings from Greek authors including either Classical authors or portions of the New Testament, and related background texts. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of nine semester hours.
Readings may include selections from Archilochus, Sappho, Alcaeus, Stesichorus, Anacreon, Simonides, and others.
Readings from the Iliad with emphasis on the characteristics of the archaic oral tradition, as the foundation of Greek literature.
Selected plays of Aristophanes and Menander, emphasizing the style and structure of Greek comedy, and its importance in Greek society for understanding of the comic tradition.
Selected readings in Greek from the writings of Plato. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of six semester hours.
Selected readings in Greek from the writings of Aristotle. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of six semester hours.
Selections from representative Greek orators, such as Antiphon, Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates and Isaeus.
Translation of English text into classical Greek.
Selected readings in Greek from writings (e.g., Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymns) dealing with the gods of the Greeks.
Selected readings in Greek dealing with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers and their respective philosophical systems.
Readings in the Gospels emphasizing the history of New Testament criticism and interpretation. Attention will also be given to the writings of the Church Fathers, as well as to recent methodologies.
The Septuagint as an example of the interaction between the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman worlds.
Selected readings in Greek about the lives of the saints of the early church.
Greek authors selected to meet the needs of the student. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of nine semester hours.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Latin (LAT)
The basic elements of classical Latin grammar and Roman culture, with readings emphasizing ethics, history, morality, philosophy, and mythology.
Continuation of LAT 1301.
Introduction to the Latin language including the same inflection, syntax and easy reading as LAT 1301. Teaching strategies differ from those of the traditional Latin class, including more contact hours and a variety of teaching techniques with emphasis on repetition of particular structures.
Introduction to the Latin language including the same inflection, syntax and easy reading as LAT 1302. Teaching strategies differ from those of the traditional Latin class, including more contact hours and a variety of teaching techniques with emphasis on repetition of particular structures.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Build fluency and understanding in Latin by learning to use Latin actively, in speech and in writing, enabling students to read and understand written Latin texts more quickly and easily.
Selections from Latin prose authors, such as Cicero; review of inflection and syntax.
Selections from Julius Caesar; review of inflection and syntax.
Selections from Latin poets, such as Virgil and Catullus; review of inflection and syntax.
Selections from representative Latin authors, including Caesar, Cicero, and Apuleius; review of inflection and syntax.
Selections from representative Latin authors including Vergil, Ovid, Catullus, Propertius, and Tibullus; review of inflection and syntax.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Selections from the De Rerum Natura.
Selections from the Roman historian Livy.
Selections from the Roman historian Tacitus.
Selections from the Letters and the Epigrams.
Selections from the philosophical writings of Cicero.
Detailed study of selections from the works of Sallust.
Readings on the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar.
Study of imperial epic poetry (selections from Lucan, Statius, Silius, Valerius Flaccus) and its significance for the development of Roman imperial ideology.
Study of Ovid's epic poem, Metamorphoses.
Latin inscriptions and selected letters of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny.
Study of Seneca's tragedies, the Euripidean influence, and their impact on world theatre.
Selected plays of Plautus and Terence.
Selections from the poetry of Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid.
Selected satires of Horace and Juvenal.
Selections from the poetry of Horace.
Selections from representative prose authors, including Peter Abelard, Bede, Ekkehard of Aura, Petrarch, Erasmus, Thomas More; review of inflection and syntax.
Selections from representative poetic styles and poets; authors may include St. Columba, Fortunatus, Paulus Diaconus, Reinardus Vulpes, Walter Map, Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, and Gulielmus Gnapheus; review of inflection and syntax.
A Comparative Reading in Latin of selections of Terence's six comedies and Hrotswitha's six medieval plays on Christian themes, inspired by Terence and transformed into a Christian context.
A Reading in Latin of selections of mystery, morality, and miracle plays from the 10th to the 14th century on Old and New Testament topics.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.
Latin grammar, morphology, syntax, and phonology, prose composition, and reading of theoretical texts and analysis of Latin words in passages from ancient authors.
Translation from Latin into English of selections from the works of Virgil, especially the Eclogues, Georgics, and/or Aeneid.
Readings in Latin on the life and times of the Roman emperor Augustus.
Practice in analysis and composition of Latin prose to improve grammar and syntax and promote knowledge and appreciation of Latin prose style.
The influence of Statius and his masterpiece, the Thebaid on Medieval Latin and vernacular epics.
Latin authors to be read are selected to meet the needs of the student. With content changed, this course may be repeated up to a total of nine semester hours.
Undergraduate research undertaken with the supervision of a faculty member. May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours.