Ancient Mediterranean Studies
The Program in Ancient Mediterranean Studies provides students with important skills that serve as assets to those who plan advanced study in a variety of fields, and it can be an absorbing lifetime interest. The fields of Ancient Mediterranean Studies is inherently interdisciplinary and it employs some of the most sophisticated technologies available to advance our understanding of Ancient Mediterranean peoples. Students discover how contemporary questions and cultures can connect directly to the human experience of living in the Ancient Mediterranean region millennia ago, including connections within and beyond the region due to newly discovered trade routes, economic exchanges and the movement of objects through and across cultural communities. Students can customize their course of study with an Individually Designed Major. Minors reflect the entire range of Schools and Departments at the University and they pursue a wide range of careers.
The program also makes available, as a general service to the University, courses in English and the original languages for those interested in specific aspects of classical antiquity.
The Program in Ancient Mediterranean Studies offers two minors. The 24-credit minor in Greek and Latin is intended for students wishing to focus on the ancient languages. The 15-credit minor in Ancient Mediterranean Studies is a broader program, consisting of courses drawn from the program's offerings and from related courses in other departments.
Students may also design a major in Ancient Mediterranean Studies. For more information, please consult the Individually Designed Major catalog section.
Classical Civilization
CLST 1060 Masterpieces of Greek Literature in English Translation 3 Credits
Attributes: E_BF English Literature Before 1800
This course surveys major works of ancient Greek literature, emphasizing the content of this literature as a key to understanding classical Greek civilization and as meaningful in a contemporary context. This course may be taken to fulfill the Magis Core exploration tier requirement in literature. Crosslisted with ENGL 1060. Previously CL 0106.
CLST 1070 Masterpieces of Roman Literature in English Translation 3 Credits
Attributes: E_BF English Literature Before 1800
This course surveys major works of Roman literature of the republic and early empire, emphasizing the content of this literature as a key to understanding Roman civilization, and as meaningful in a contemporary context. This course may be taken to fulfill the Magis Core exploration tier requirement in literature. Crosslisted with ENGL 1070. Previously CL 0107.
CLST 1080 Myth in Classical Literature 3 Credits
This course introduces students to classical mythology through an examination of the diverse ways in which myth and legend are treated in the literatures of ancient Greece and Rome. Students read texts in English translation; knowledge of Greek or Latin is not required. This course may be taken to fulfill the Magis Core exploration tier requirement in literature. Crosslisted with ENGL 1080. Previously CL 0108.
CLST 1090 Greek Tragedy in English Translation 3 Credits
An intensive study in translation of the surviving works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Knowledge of Greek is not required. This course may be taken to fulfill the Magis Core exploration tier requirement in literature. Crosslisted with ENGL 1090. Previously CL 0109.
CLST 1115 Greek Civilization 3 Credits
Attributes: MWAC Magis Core: Writing Across Curriculum
Students study the Greek experience: the social and cultural values, political institutions, and economic structures of the ancient Greeks and their effect on the historical process in the period down to the death of Alexander. Knowledge of Greek is not required. This course may be used to fulfill the Magis Core orientation tier requirement in History. Previously CL 0115.
CLST 1116 Roman Civilization 3 Credits
Attributes: MWAC Magis Core: Writing Across Curriculum
Roman civilization spanned more than 1000 years of history and culture, and influenced western society in profound ways. This course traces Rome's development from a small local tribe to a world power, examining how it expanded and conquered the Mediterranean and absorbed into its culture aspects of the peoples it defeated. Knowledge of Latin is not required. This course may be used to fulfill the Magis Core orientation tier requirement in History. Previously CL 0116.
CLST 1270 Romantic Love in Greek and Roman Literature 3 Credits
Attributes: E_BF English Literature Before 1800
The course of true love never did run smooth. From Homer's Penelopoe to Ovid's Remedies of Love we will examine the permutations of romantic desire and its frustrations in the literature of Greece and Rome. Readings also include selections from Sappho's poetry, Sophocles' Women of Trachis, Euripides' Hippolytos and Medea, comedies by Menander and Terence, Catullus poems to Lesbia, Vergil's tale of Dido and Aeneas, selections from the elegies of Tibullus Sulpicia, Propertius and Ovide, and briefer excerpts from other authors. All readings are in English translation. This course may be taken to fulfill the Magis Core exploration tier requirement in literature. Crosslisted with ENGL 1270. Previously CL 0127.
CLST 1900 Special Topics (Shell) 3 Credits
This course explores a specific topic in the interdisciplinary field of classical studies. Content will vary in successive offerings of this course. Previously CL 0199.
CLST 2221 Hellenistic World, 336-30 BCE 3 Credits
Attributes: H_BF History Before 1750, H_EU European History, H_NW Non-Western History
Prerequisite: CLST 1115 or CLST 1116 or one 1000-level history class.
The course examines the Mediterranean world and the ancient near east from the late fourth to late first centuries BCE. Focus is on: the career of Alexander the Great; the Greek kingdoms that emerge after the collapse of his empire; the interaction between local cultures and religions - e.g. Egypt, ancient Judaism - and Greek civilization; the social history of daily life in conquered lands under Greek rule; and the transformations in the Hellenistic world with the arrival of Roman rule. Crosslisted with HIST 2221. Previously CL 0221.
CLST 2222 The Roman Revolution 3 Credits
Attributes: H_BF History Before 1750, H_EU European History
Prerequisite: CLST 1115 or CLST 1116 or one 1000-level history class.
This course presents a comprehensive study of the political, social, artistic, literary, and military transformation of Rome from the middle of the second-century BCE through the reign of Augustus, with special attention given to Rome's response to the cultural and governmental challenges imposed by its growing empire and how its responses forever changed the course of Western civilization. Crosslisted with HIST 2222. Previously CL 0222.
CLST 2223 Roman World in Late Antiquity, 284-642 CE 3 Credits
Attributes: H_BF History Before 1750, H_EU European History
Prerequisite: CLST 1115 or CLST 1116 or one 1000-level history class.
The course examines the Mediterranean world from the third to seventh centuries CE. Focus is on: the collapse of the Roman Empire in western Europe; the dramatic upheavals caused by the arrival in the Roman Empire of the Visigoths, Vandals, and other barbarian tribes; the survival of the Byzantine East through the early Islamic conquests; the rise of Christianity from a persecuted religion to the official religion of the Roman Empire; and the accompanying cultural transformations, including the rise of monasticism and the importance of the holy man. Crosslisted with HIST 2223. Previously CL 0223.
CLST 2224 Byzantine World 3 Credits
Attributes: H_EU European History
Prerequisite: CLST 1115 or CLST 1116 or one 1000-level history class.
This course is an introduction to political and social history of Byzantine Empire. It also highlights Byzantium's role as a bridge between Greco-Roman antiquity and modern European civilization. Course lectures will cover Byzantium's origins in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, Byzantium's middle period as a major Mediterranean power, and its late period as an increasingly shrinking city-state. The course will also introduce students to some of the major Byzantine historians and to methods of analysis using these sources, and train students to form historical arguments based on these analyses. Crosslisted with HIST 2224. Previously CL 0224.
CLST 3325 Athenian Democracy and Empire 3 Credits
Attributes: H_BF History Before 1750, H_EU European History
Prerequisite: CLST 1115 or CLST 1116 or one 1000-level history class.
This history seminar provides an in-depth exploration of classical Athens at the height of its power in the fifth century BCE. Its focus is on close reading of the primary sources describing the rise and fall of Athens in this period. It places particular emphasis on the parallel rise of Athenian democracy at home and the Athenian empire overseas. It places secondary emphasis on the nature of Athenian intellectual discourse in this period. A final research project will engage modern scholarly debates on the nature of fifth-century Athens. Crosslisted with HIST 3325. Previously CL 0325.
CLST 4999 Capstone Project in Classics 3 Credits
Prerequisite: At least seven courses in the individually designed major.
Students completing an individually designed major in classical studies develop and carry out a major project that allows them to pull together the multiple threads of their interdisciplinary major. Enrollment by permission only. Previously CL 0399.
Greek
GREK 1111 Elementary Attic Greek 3 Credits
Students study the grammar of Attic Greek. The course employs readings in easier authors to develop a practical reading knowledge of ancient Greek. Previously GR 0111.
GREK 2211 Intermediate Greek Readings I 3 Credits
Prerequisite: GREK 1111.
This course includes intensive reading of selected authors of moderate difficulty in various genres, with extensive readings in translation, to give a survey of classical Greek literature. Previously GR 0210.
GREK 2212 Intermediate Greek Readings II 3 Credits
Prerequisite: GREK 2211.
This course, a continuation of GREK 2211, includes intensive reading of selected authors of moderate difficulty in various genres, with extensive readings in translation, to give a survey of classical Greek literature. Previously GR 0211.
Latin
LATN 1111 Basic Latin 4 Credits
The course presents an intensive study of Latin grammar. Students who complete this course continue in LATN 2211 and LATN 2212. Previously LA 0111.
LATN 2211 Readings in Latin Prose and Poetry I 3 Credits
For students with a high school background or the equivalent in Latin, this course fills out that background through extensive readings in the principal authors and genres not read in high school. Previously LA 0210.