Classics Courses

Courses

Greek Courses

1301-1302. First-Year Greek I and II. Essentials of the grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek, both classical and koine. Reading of easy passages from classical prose writers and the New Testament. Understanding of the Greek elements in western culture. Fall and Spring.

2315. Second-Year Greek. Grammar review and study of more advanced syntactical structures. Selected readings from classical Greek prose and poetry; in recent years students have read one of Plato's dialogues. Fall.

3119. Foreign Language Internship. A one-credit practicum, undertaken with the approval of the Department Chairman and under the direction of a language professor, involving three hours a week on assignments such as planning and conducting an elementary language class, working with audiovisual materials, designing modules of grammatical study, compiling glossaries and chronologies, and planning activities for the language clubs. Excellent experience for those planning to teach foreign language. Graded Pass/Fail. May be repeated three times.

3324. Advanced Grammar and Composition. Required for majors whose primary language is Greek. Offered every other year.

3325. Greek Historians. Readings in Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, or some combination of the three. A study of their aims, methods, and distinctive styles and a consideration of the principles in terms of which they understand historical action. Offered every other year in Irving. Offered in Rome every spring (contingent on sufficient student participation).

3326. Greek Tragedy. Reading of one of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, focusing on drama as a means of investigating human nature and the relationship between man and the city. Offered every other year.

3327. Homer. Extensive reading from either the Iliad or the Odyssey. Study of the Homeric world, Homeric language, and poetic style. Offered every other year.

3328. Plato. Reading of one or more dialogues with an emphasis upon their literary form and philosophical content. Offered every other year.

3334. New Testament Readings. Longer continuous passages of the Gospels and one letter of Paul are analyzed in language and literary form as well as in their historical and theological contexts. Offered upon demand.

3335. Patristic Readings. An introduction to the rich tradition of Greek patristic literature that analyzes texts of four or five major writers from the second to the fifth century, usually including Ignatius, Athanasius, one of the Cappadocians, Cyril of Jerusalem, and John Chrysostom. Offered as needed.

4342. Senior Project. See description under The Classics Major.

4V51. Independent Research.

5350. Special Topics in Greek. Three-credit courses offered as needed, focusing on particular authors, periods, genres, or other topics of interest to teachers and students. For advanced students only.

Latin Courses

1301-1302. First-Year Latin I and II. Latin grammar and syntax with some emphasis on the historical background of the language and the principles of word-formation. Reading of simple texts. Fall and Spring.

1305. Grammar Review. Designed for students who have studied the equivalent of at least two years of Latin at the secondary school level but need an intensive review in order to study at the intermediate level. Open to students with no prior training in Latin by permission of the program advisor. Fall only.

2311. Second-Year Latin I: Roman Prose. Selected readings of Roman prose writers, primarily Cicero. Prerequisite: Latin 1302, Latin 1305, or equivalent. A placement exam is required for those who have not completed either of these courses. Fall and Spring.

2312. Second-Year Latin II: Roman Poetry. Selected readings from the works of Catullus, Vergil, and Ovid. Prerequisite: Latin 2311. Fall and Spring.

2314. Second-Year Latin III: Ecclesiastical Tradition. Selections from patristic, medieval, and modern Latin texts, illustrating the history, doctrine, and piety of the Church. May be taken by permission of the program advisor. Offered as needed.

3119. Foreign Language Internship. A one-credit practicum, undertaken with the approval of the Department Chairman and under the direction of a language professor, involving three hours a week on assignments such as planning and conducting an elementary language class, working with audiovisual materials, designing modules of grammatical study, compiling glossaries and chronologies, and planning activities for the language clubs. Excellent experience for those planning to teach foreign language. Graded Pass/Fail. May be repeated three times.

3324. Advanced Grammar and Composition. Translation and study of Caesar and Cicero to improve grasp of grammar and syntax and to acquire a sense of style. Required for majors whose primary language is Latin and for those seeking accreditation to teach Latin in secondary school. Offered every other year.

3325. Roman Philosophy. Reading and study of Lucretius and Cicero to investigate the nature of philosophic writing and to seek understanding of the peculiarly Roman contribution to the western philosophical tradition. Offered every other year.

3326. Roman Lyric. Selected poems of Catullus, Vergil (Eclogues), and Horace (Odes). A study of the uses, the power, and the diversity of lyric poetry in Latin. Offered every other year.

3327. Roman Drama. Reading of two comedies, one of Plautus and one of Terence; additional readings from a tragedy of Seneca. Emphasis on the specific character of the drama of Rome, as compared to Greece, and on the nature and function of comedy. Offered every other year.

3328. Roman Historians. Reading in Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. A study of their aims, methods, and distinctive styles, and a consideration of the analytical and didactic functions of Roman historiography. Offered every other year.

3329. Roman Satire. Reading of the satires of Horace and Juvenal and of the Cena Trimalchionis of Petronius. Consideration of the question of satire as a uniquely Roman invention. Offered as needed.

3330. Vergil. Aeneid. A reading of selections from the poem in Latin and a study of the poem as a whole in translation. Offered as needed.

3331. Roman Elegy. Readings in Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid (Amores). Investigation of the nature of elegy in Rome and comparison of each elegist's aims. Offered as needed.

3332. Cicero. Translation of one of Cicero's works and study, primarily in translation, of additional writings of his with emphasis on his understanding of the education of the statesman in oratory and philosophy. Offered as needed.

3334. St. Augustine. Selections from the Confessions and the City of God reveal a fascinating human being, a most influential Christian thinker, and a great master of Latin prose writing. Offered every other year.

3335. Medieval Readings. This course explores the rich heritage of medieval Latin literature from the fifth century of Leo the Great to the thirteenth century of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure: prose and poetry, texts of history and philosophy, theology and spiritual writings. Offered as needed.

4342. Senior Project. See description under The Classics Major.

4351. Independent Research.

5V45. Teaching Latin (Ed. 5V50-Special Studies-Latin Practicum). A course in the special concerns of the teacher of Latin in secondary school; evaluation of various approaches to teaching Latin; practice in pronunciation and in explaining the structures of the language; ways of relating the cultural background to the language foreground. Required for Latin teaching field if the student has no experience in teaching Latin. Does not fulfill requirements in the BA degree program in Classics.

5350. Special Topics in Latin. Three-credit courses offered as needed, focusing on particular authors, periods, genres, or other topics of interest to teachers and students. For advanced students only.

Courses in Translation

CLC 3301. Fundamentals of Rhetoric. Introduction to the art of speaking persuasively, as taught by the Greeks and Romans. Systematic approach to composing and delivering speeches. Study of model orations, ancient and modern, in English translations. Extensive practice.

CLC 3330. Historical Linguistics. The structural and the comparative approach with an emphasis on Indo-European languages. The formal, historical, and cultural connotations on man's symbol-creating capacity as manifested in vocabularies and grammar. Conducted in English.

CLC 4340. Classical Mythology. A study, through the reading of a series of texts in English translations, of the nature, the uses, and the development of Classical mythology as it appears in poetry and philosophy.

CLC 4350. Special Topics in Classics. Three-credit courses offered as needed, focusing on particular authors, periods, genres, or other topics of interest to teachers and students. For advanced students only.

Courses in Related Fields of Study

"Related fields" refers to advanced courses that are taught by departments other than Classics, but can be counted for Classics credits because they study Greece or Rome.  (To get Classics credits for any course that is not listed here, students must obtain permission from Dr. David Sweet, the Chair of Classics.)

ART 5342. Ancient Art. A history of the art and architecture of Greece and/or Rome. The instructor may choose to emphasize a particular aspect of ancient art.

ENG 3355. Tragedy and Comedy. Studies of the major works of these two genres with a view toward understanding two alternative but concurrently enduring vistas upon the human condition. Readings normally include selections from the major Greek authors through Shakespearean examples of the dramatic genre.

HIS 3303. Ancient Greece. Beginning with the Mycenaean age, the course surveys the political and cultural development of Greece to the Hellenistic era. Topics include the character of the polis, Greece commerce and colonization, the Persian wars, the Athenian empire and its achievements, the Peloponnesian war, the fourth-century philosophy, Alexander the Great, and the Hellenistic successor states.

HIS 3304. The Roman Republic. A survey of Roman history beginning with the founding of the city and concluding with the death of Julius Caesar. Topics include the regal period, the struggle of the orders, Roman imperialism, the development of Roman culture, and the crisis of the republican constitution.

HIS 3305. The Roman Empire. Surveys of the history of Rome from the Augustan age to the fall of the empire in the West. Topics include the principate and the development of absolutism, imperial culture, the impact of Christianity, the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, and the causes of Roman decline.

HIS 3306. Topics in Ancient History.

PHI 3325. Ancient Philosophy. Greek and Roman philosophy, with special attention to Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic schools. Greek philosophy as the source of later western thought. Fall.

PHI 4335. Philosophy of Language. Study of the nature and kinds of language, with particular attention to syntactical, semantic, and logical characteristics. Examination of major past and contemporary theories. Offered as needed.

POL 3311. Thucydides: Justice, War, and Necessity. A careful reading of Thucydides'  History of the Peloponnesian War . The themes of the course include Thucydides' account of international relations, the justice of imperialism, the connections between foreign and domestic politics, rhetoric, and the grounds of politics in necessity and morality. Alternate years.

POL 3312. Political Regimes: Ancients, Christians, and the Advent of Modernity. An examination of ancient, Christian, and modern conceptions of the human soul, morality, and the political order. It will focus on the works of Plutarch or Cicero, St. Augustine, and Machiavelli. Special attention is paid to the different analyses of the Roman Republic and the Empire, and the ways of life found in each. Fall and Spring.

POL 3331. Plato's Republic. The Socratic method in politics studied through a careful reading of the Republic , the seminal book in political philosophy in the Western tradition. An adequate approach to the dialogue form is emphasized in the interpretation. Fall and Spring.

POL 3332. Aristotle's Politics. A careful reading of the fundamental work on politics. Aristotle is said to have systematized and made more practical the philosophic speculations of Socrates and Plato. Discussion of the extent to which this is true, and why Aristotle' s work remains fundamental to the understanding of political life. Fall and Spring.

POL 4350. Aristotle's Ethics. The ethical basis of political life as it comes into sight through a study of the Nichomachean Ethics. Alternate years.