CLASSICAL STUDIES (AS) {CLST}
SM 008. (COML020) Ancient Rhetoric and Speaking. Staff. This course is an introductory-level class in rhetoric and speaking. It has
three main goals: to introduce students to ancient rhetoric; to learn how to draw from these Classical principles to put
together articulate and persuasive speeches; and to explore the formidable role rhetoric plays in the construction of our
own world. Students will study both Classical and contemporary speaking. Assignments will teach students to analyze,
compose and deliver public speeches, while weekly oral presentations and peer-review will further their
understanding of effective argumentation and criticism.
SM 035. Ancient Cities and City Planning. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Romano. Freshman Seminar. An introduction to the study of Greek and Roman city planning systems and techniques.
The course includes consideration of literary, historical and archaeological evidence for ancient
cities and city planning. There will be a discussion of and practical use of some modern techniques of computer and scientific
analysis of cities.
SM 101. Speaking and Writing in Ancient Greece. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff.
L/R 103. (PHIL003) History of Ancient Philosophy. (A) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Meyer. An introduction to the major philosophical thinkers and schools of ancient Greece
and Rome (The Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics). Topics to be covered include:
nature of the universe, the relation between knowledge and reality, and the nature of morality and the good life. We will
also examine some of the ways in which non-philosophical writers (e.g., Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes, and Thucydides)
treat the issues discussed by the philosophers.
104. (ANCS101, ARTH105) Ancient World Cultures. (C) Pittman. This course presents a comparative overview of the ancient civilizations
around the world. It is designed as a gateway course
for the many specialized courses available at Penn.
Its focus is two fold: first, the various forms that
ancient cultures have developed are explored and
compared and second, the types of disciplines that
study these courses are examined. The course has a number of guest lecturers, as well as visits to museums
and libraries to examine original documents. This
course meets the requirement for the Ancient Studies
Minor.
SM 105. (ANCH105) Greece Under the Roman Empire. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. McInerney. "Greece, the captive, took her savage
victor captive", runs the famous line from the
Roman poet Horace. Traditionally the complex relationship
between Greece and Rome has been seen from the Roman
point of view, emphasizing the changes in Roman culture
as a result of Rome's contact with the Greeks. This
class takes a different approach, considering the
impact on Greece. We will use the results of archaeological
survey and excavation to chart the economic transformation
of Greece, especially in relation to the Roman colony
at Korinth. This will involve examining changes in
land distribution, the growth of road networks, and
the increase in large public works such as theatres,
aqueducts and baths. We will also use writers such
as Dio Chrysostom and Pausanias to consider the effect
on the institutions of the traditional Greek city-state
of being incorporated into a single province, Achaia.
We will read some of the ancient novels, such as
Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, as well as the essays
of Plutarch. There are many avenues into the past,
and the particular richness of our sources for Roman
imperial history makes it possible for us to approach
Greece from a variety of perspectives.
SM 106. Dreams in Antiquity. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Struck. Dreams can provide an extraordinary window
on a culture, its imagination, its social organization,
its cultural expectations, and its irrational beliefs.
Dreams in literary works reveal what the author thinks
dreams are like, and how he expects his audience
to interpret them. Explicit dream theories tell us
how people in Anitquity dealt with these "irrational" elements
in their culture. Apart from ancient literary works,
a whole dreambook, full of examples and interpretations,
has come down to us. In this seminar we will look
at a wide variety of famous texts from Greek and
roman literature, pagan and Christian, and some comparative
material from the Near East. we will also read some
Freud, and some other secondary literature, and think
about how Freud's ideas influence our reading of
ancient texts, and to what extent that is permissible.
All texts studied will be in translation -- no knowledge
of Greek or Latin will be necessary. All that is
needed for this course is a waking mind and an interest
in the psychology of Antiquity.
110. (ANCH110, ARTH110, RELS110) Greek and Roman Religions. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. A survey and analysis of the origins and development to ancient Greek and Roman
religion from the Greek Bronze Age to the advent of Christianity. Students will read both primary and secondary
literature.
SM 116. Imagined Worlds: Pastoral, Utopia and the Golden Age. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Wilson.
SM 121. (GSOC120) Sex and Gender in Ancient Greek Culture. (M) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Murnaghan. Freshman Seminar. An interdisciplinary study of ancient Greek attitudes to gender as reflected
in the legal, social, and religious roles of women; conceptions of the family and its place in the city; biological and evolutionary
speculation about sexual difference; the representation of sexuality and gender relations in mythology,
lyric poetry, and drama.
SM 122. The Tragic Muse. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Staff. Although many of us feel that we can recognize tragic stories, films, and even
individuals, we would probably be hard- pressed to come up with a definition of tragedy itself. In this course, we will
be exploring the definitions and uses of Greco-Roman tragedy within western literary and intellectual history. In particular,
we will focus on the subject of the individual in tragedy: representations of the rational and irrational mind and
the relationship between violence and the tragic body. We will see how the ancient texts formulate these notions and examine
the place of tragedy in later theories of the self and civilization. In addition to a number of "classic" tragedies
by authors such as Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca, we will be reading works by later (philosopher-) thinkers
such as Aristotle, E. R. Dodds, Antonin Artaud, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
SM 125. Community, Neighborhood and Family in Ancient Athens and Modern Philadelphia.
(M)Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Rosen. This
seminar will examine the social organization and
ideological foundations of polis life in classical
Athens, and will attempt to compare it with modes
of socio-political organization in present-day Philadelphia.
The course will examine the structure and functioning
of an Athenian polis, how Athenian citizens fostered
a sense of community at both the local and international
level, and how they framed their questions about
the goals of a society and the nature of happiness.
We will consider how we might learn something from
them about our own formulation of and answers to
similar questions. Among the topics to be studied
in the context of Athens and Philadelphia will be:
notions of "community" and citizenship;
attitudes toward the family; ethnic self-definition;
notions of autochthony and "otherness;" myth-making
as a force of social cohesion and fragmentation;
and the role of religion, ritual and the arts in
each culture.
SM 130. Ancient and Modern Prison Narrative. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Copeland. Freshman Seminar. How has the experience of being in prison
changed from ancient to modern times? As in modernity,
so in earlier periods there were many reasons for
imprisonment: charges of treason, political or religious
dissent, crime and war. How do prison narratives
from various historical periods reflect differences
in the way that people have experienced imprisonment?
Did prisoners in the past personalize their suffering
in the way that modern prisoners often do? How do
prison writings establish an idea of community with
other prisoners and with a public outside the prison?
And how have prison writers managed to transform
their individual expereinces into the broad social,
political, or historical statements?
We will begin the course with writings by two well known modern prison writers:Nelson
Mandela (South Africa) and Leonard Peltier (USA).
We'll then turn to writings from the past, including:
Plato's account of Socrates' imprisonment, trial,
and execution; narratives and transcripts of Joan
of Arc's imprisonment and trial; and Oscar Wilde's "Ballad
of Reading Gaol." We will end with further selections
from modern prison writing, including fictional and
real-life narratives. Over the semester we will also
read some historical and theoretical studies of imprisonment,
including Foucault's Discipline and Punish: the Birth
of the Prison and some focused studies of ancient,
medieval, and early modern prison systems. Your work
for the class, in addition to the readings, will
be to write two medium-sized papers (6-7 pages) about
works read for class, and prepare and present one
report on a text of your choice that we are not reading
for class. You will also be asked, from time to time,
to do small research exercises on modern or historical
topics related to our reading; these research assignments
may involve work on the World Wide Web.
SM 135. Art of Persuasive Speaking. (B) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
McInerney.
141. (COML264, ENGL103, THAR141) Ancient Theater. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course will
introduce you to the "roots" of the western
dramatic tradition by surveying a number of well-known
tragedies and comedies from Greco-Roman antiquity.
Although the syllabus varies slightly from year to
year, students can expect to read such influential
works as Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" and Aristophanes' "Clouds." In
addition to reading the plays themselves, students
will gain insight into the reception of dramatic
performances in the ancient world. Individual authors
and works will be presented within their historical
contexts and we will attend to matters such as staging
of drama, the evolution of theatrical performance,
and interpretation of ancient drama as social and/or
political commentary.
145. (ANCH145) The Roman Empire. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Grey. "They create a desert and call it peace," wrote Tacitus in describing
the response of the conquered to Rome's power, but
the Roman Peace also brought with it other, less
dramatic changes. In this class we will concentrate
on the experience of Roman culture. What was it like
to be a Greek ex-slave and millionaire living in
Rome in the age of Nero? How were the Gallic chieftains
made into Roman senators? What was the Roman governor
of Asia Minor expected to do when the provincials
wanted a new aqueduct? We will break the Roman Empire
down into a series of vignettes, using literature
and archaeology to supply us with the material for
a fresh look at Roman Society. What emerges is a
culture more diverse, more flexible and more tolerant
than is usually recognized.
151. (ANCH150, HIST152) Hellenistic History: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra.
(M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. McInerney. The
Hellenistic Age corresponds broadly to the three
hundred year period from the career of Alexander
the Great (354324 BC) until the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium (31BC).
This was a period during which the world of the Greeks
underwent extraordinary and far-reaching changes,
as Greek culture was established as far afield as
northwestern India, central Asia and Egypt. This
class is about those changes, and attempts to evaluate
the nature of Hellenism.
167. (COML167, ENGL029) Ancient Novel. (M) Wilson. The ancient Greek and Roman novels include some of the most enjoyable
and interesting literary works from antiquity. Ignored
by ancient critics, they were until fairly recently
dismissed by classical scholars as mere popular entertainm
ent. But these narratives had an enormous influence
on the later development of the novel, and their
sophistication and playfulness, they often seem peculiarly
modern--or even postmodern. They are also an important
source for any understanding of ancient culture or
society. In this course, we will discuss the social,
religious and philosophical contexts for the ancient
novel, and we will think about the relationship of
the novel to other ancient genres, such as history
and epic. Texts to be read will include Lucian's
parodic science fiction story about a journey to
the moon; Longus' touching pastoral romance about
young love and sexual awakening; Heliodorus' gripping
and exotic thriller about pirates and long-lost children; Apuleius' Golden Ass, which contains the
story of Cupid and Psyche; and Petronius' Satyricon,
a hilarious evocation of an orgiasic Roman banquet.
SM 170. (HSOC170) Ancient Greek Medicine. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Rosen. The history of modern medicine as we know it in the West
is remarkably recent; until the nineteenth century
prevailing theories of the body and mind, and the
many therapeutic methods to combat disease, were
largely informed by an elaborate system developed
centuries earlier in ancient Greece, at a period
when the lines between philosophy, medicine, and
what we might consider magic, were much less clearly
defined than they are today. This course will examine
the ways in which the Greeks conceptualized the body,
disease, and healing, and will compare these to medical
culture of our own time. We will consider sources
from Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle to Galen and
Soranus, and whenever possible we will juxtapose
these writings with modern discourse about similar
topics. Several visitors from the Medical School
are expected to participate on a regular basis. All
readings will be in English and no previous background
in Classical Studies is required.
174. Medical Terminology and Its Ancient Roots. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course will combine detailed analysis of medical terms
with more general discussions of ancient medicine.
Although the primary emphasis in the class will be
on the medical terms themselves, we will also read
selections from a wide array of important figures
in the history of medicine including Hippocrates,
Galen, and Vesalius. Themes will include the place
of the physician in society, conceptions of pollution
and contamination, constructions of gender, and the
relationship of mental and bodily health. We will
finish the semester by considering ancient approaches
to the treatment of trauma and wounds. We will look
at Hippocratic treatises on fractures as well as
literary depictions of battle scenes such as those in Homer. Such texts are not only the source of
much of our terminology, but also provide some sense
of the varying states of medical knowledge throughout
the ancient world.
182. Archaeology and Ancient Greek Society. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. An exploration of the rich variety that constituted Classical Greek society,
drawing upon both archaeological evidence and ancient texts. Topics include the overlapping but quite different lives
of men and women; the slaves and the free; the leisured rich, the artisans, and the farmers. Particular settings on which
we will concentrate are the home, the workshops, the marketplace, the religious sanctuaries, and the countryside.
L/R 185. (PSCI180) Ancient Political Thought. (A) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Staff. Through reading texts of Plato (Socrates), Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas,
the student encounters a range of political ideas deeply challenging to--and possibly corrosive of--today's dominant democratic
liberalism. Can classical and medieval thinking offer insight into modern impasses in political morality?
Is such ancient thinking plausible, useful, or dangerous?
SM 190. (ANCH190) Alexander the Great and the Growth of Hellenism. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. By the time he died in 323
BC at the age of 33, Alexander had conquered most
of the known world and had transformed forever the
shape of politics and culture. His legacy is an enduring
one, since the year of his death marks a transition
from the old Greek city state to what has been called
a Hellenistic (i.e. hellenized) world in which, arguably,
we are still living. This course will take an interdisciplinary
approach to this period by examining its history,
social organization and beliefs, literature and art.
We shall also explore the glamorous myths that have
surrounded Alexander from his own day to the present.
Our aim will be to separate fact from fiction and
to determine the significance of Alexander not only
for the fourth century but also for ourselves who
have inherited from the world he created certain
values and assumptions about politics, art, cultural
diversity and diffusion, and the place of human beings
in the universe.
195. (ANCH195, EALC005) Worlds Apart: Cultural Constructions of "East" & "West".
(M) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. LaFleur/McInerney. Multiculturalism
increasingly characterizes our political, economic,
and personal lives. This course will focus on real
and perceived differences between the so-called "East" and "West." Taking
a case study approach, we shall read and compare
literary materials from classical Greece and Rome,
a major source of "Western" culture, and
Japan, an "Eastern" society. Through analysis
of these texts, we shall explore some of the concepts,
values, and myths in terms of how "East" and "West" define
themselves and each other: e.g. gender, sexuality,
rationality, religion, society, justice, nature,
cultural diffusion, work, leisure, life, and death.
Readings will include selections from Greco-Roman
and Japanese myths, poetry, drama, essays, history,
and philosophy. Class format will be lecture with
opportunity for questions and discussion. Grading
will be based on midterm and final examinations,
a short paper, and class participation. No prerequisites.
199. Independent Study. (C) Staff.
L/R 200. (COML200, FOLK200) Greek and Roman Mythology. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Struck. Myths are traditional stories
that have endured many years. Some of them have to
do with events of great importance, such as the founding
of a nation. Others tell the stories of great heroes
and heroines and their exploits and courage in the
face of adversity. Still others are simple tales
about otherwise unremarkable people who get into
trouble or do some great deed. What are we to make
of all these tales, and why do people seem to like
to hear them? This course will focus on the myths
of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as a few contemporary
American ones, as a way of exploring the nature of
myth and the function it plays for individuals, societies,
and nations. We will also pay some attention to the
way the Greeks and Romans themselves understood their
own myths. Are myths subtle codes that contain some
universal truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses
of a particular culture? Are they entertaining stories
that people like to tell over and over? Are they
a set of blinders that all of us wear, though we
do not realize it? Investigate these questions through
a variety of topics creation of the universe between
gods and mortals, religion and family, sex,love,
madness, and death.
204. (COML204, GSOC202) Hollywood "Classics". (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course will introduce students both to several foundational
texts of classical literature and to the study of
popular culture. We will accomplish this through
a comparison of ancient works with popular film.
Students will read a number of well-known texts from
antiquity, one or two 20th-century works, and view
8-12 (mostly) recent popular films that in some way "translate" classical
themes, ideas, or methods of narration. We will examine
the texts and films
first within their cultural contexts and then against one another. This comparative
approach will allow us to address a number of different
themes, issues, and reading strategies. Topics and
films may change slightly from year to year, but
some likely themes include: Homer's Odyssey, Sophocles'
Oedipus Rex, Apuleius' Golden Ass, Euripides' Hippolytus,
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, and a number of
critical essays. Probable films include: Die Hard,
Aliens, Angel Heart, and Mighty Aphrodite. Students
should plan to attend weekly screenings in addition
to the regularly scheduled course meetings.
L/R 211. (PHIL211) Ancient Moral Philosophy. (B) Society Sector. All classes. Meyer.
L/R 220. (ARTH220) The Tragic Muse. (A) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Although many of us feel that we can recognize tragic stories, films,
and even individuals, we would probably be hard-pressed
to come up with a definition of tragedy itself. In
this course, we will be exploring the definitions
and uses of Greco-Roman tragedy within western literary
and intellectual history. In particular, we will
focus on the subject of the individual in tragedy:
representations of the rational and irrational mind
and the relationship between violence and the tragic
body. We will see how the ancient texts formulate
these notions and examine the place of tragedy in
later theories of the self and civilization. In addition
to a number of "classic" tragedies by authors
such as Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca, we will
be reading works by later (philosopher-) thinkers
such as Aristotle, E. R. Dodds, Antonin Artaud, and
Friedrich Nietzsche.
240. (COLL004) Scandalous Arts in Ancient and Modern Communities. (M) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Rosen. What do the ancient Greek comedian
Aristophanes, the Roman satirist Juvenal, Howard
Stern and Snoop Doggy Dogg have in common? Many things,
in fact; but they are all fundamentally united by
an authorial stance that constantly threatens to
offend prevailing social norms, whether it be through
obscenity, violence or bigotry. This course will
examine our conceptions of art (including literary,
visual and musical media) that are deemed by certain
communities to transgress the boundaries of taste
and convention. It juxtaposes modern notions of artistic
transgression, and the criteria used to evaluate
such material, with the production of and discourse
about transgressive art in classical antiquity. Students
will consider, among other things, why communities
feel compelled to repudiate some forms of art, while
others into "classics".
260. (AAMW414) The Ancient City of Athens. (M) Staff. We will take into account the development of the city of Athens from
the Mycenaean period to Late Antiquity but will concentrate
on the era when the city was at its height, from
the sixth to fourth centuries B.C. We will examine
the great public places--notably, the sanctuary of
Athena on the Acropolis and the political and commercial
core of the Agora-and will explore as well the neighborhoods with their private houses, small
shrines, fountain houses and craft workshops.
We will also turn to the port of Peiraeus, which was so essential to Athens'
trade and naval power and which in its layout and
in the character of its population contrasted sharply
with Athens itself.
270. (AAMW413) Ancient Athletics. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Romano. The art, archaeology and history of athletics in ancient Greece. Among the topics
to be included are: famous Greek athletetes, female athletes, the ancient Olympic Games and other athletic festivals,
ancient athletic facilities and equipment, the excavation of ancient athletic sites and practical athletics.
SM 296. (COML296, ENGL229) Classical Background. (C) Staff. This advanced seminar will examine the classical backgrounds to English poetry,
in particular the Biblical and Greco- Roman antecedents to Renaissance lyric verse and verse drama (such as, preeminently,
Shakespeare). Different versions of this course will have different emphases on Biblical or Hellenist
backgrounds.
SM 301. Transformations of Language in Antiquity. (M) O'Donnell. Senior Seminar. This seminar will examine the workings and interplay of spoken and written language
in Roman and late antiquity (roughly B.C. 100 to 600 A.D.). Attention will be given to the way language
was used by powerful elites to maintain and expand their position in society, but also to the ways the oral and written
word were used by marginalized communities to defend and enhance their social existence. Each week's seminar
will concentrate on one or two specific ancient artifacts, interpreted with the help of a wide range of recommended
background reading. A particular feature of the course will be attention to the concrete ways in which the written word
evolved: inscriptions and manuscripts, texts for public display and consumption and texts for private delectation and rumination.
Each student will write a single substantial paper in two drafts. Background in classics, languages, or Cultural
Studies will be helpful but not necessary.
302. (COML302) Odyssey & Its Afterlife. (B) Murnaghan. As an epic account of wandering, survival, and homecoming, Homer's
Odyssey has been a constant source of themes
and images with which to define and redefine
the nature of heroism, the sources of identity,
and the challenge of finding a place in the world.
This course will begin with a close reading of
the Odyssey in translation, with particular attention
to Odysseus as a post-Trojan War hero; to the
roles of women, especially Odysseus' faithful
and brilliant wife Penelope; and to the uses
of poetry and story-telling in creating individual
and cultural identities. We will then consider
how later authors have drawn on these perspectives to construct their own visions, reading works, or
parts of works, by such authors as Virgil, Dante,
Tennyson, Joyce, Derek Walcott, and Louise Gluck.
303. (RELS302) Computing and Humanities. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course is an introduction to the use of computers in the humanities.
The focus will be upon consideration of issues and
techniques involved in developing quality resources
for use in the student's field of study. A major
project will be the creation of a web site related
to the student's major. The class will utilize a
combination of lectures, discussion, presentations
and practical lab experience. Techniques will include
the basics of HTML (for the development humanities
web pages), graphics, and a brief introduction to
simple programming concepts. The course will also
consider methodological issues such as the movement
from text to multimedia, ethical/legal problems,
and the phenomenon of "cyberculture."
SM 310. (GAFL510) Ancient and Modern Constitutionmaking. (C) Mulhern. What actually was it that the Greeks were thinking of when they used
the word politeia-- an expression that we often translate
by "constitution"? What do their thoughts
suggest about prospects for constitutionmaking today?
This course builds on contemporary scholarship to
reconstruct what we may call the constitutional tradition
as it develops in the main ancient texts, which are
read in English translations. The ancient texts are
taken from Herodotus, Xenophon, the Pseudo-Xenophon,
Thucydides, Plato, the author of the Aristotelian
Athenian Constitution, Aristotle himself, Polybius,
Cicero, Augustine, and the codifiers of Roman law.
The course traces this tradition through the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance and the great thinkers of
the Seventeenth Century, following linguistic and
other clues that carry one up to Madison and put
the product of the U.S. Constitutional Convention
in a somewhat new light; and it continues through
Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century constitutionmaking
into today's consitutionmaking efforts in Eastern
Europe.
The course is conducted interactively as a group tutorial. The professor offers
a prelecture to the class each week on the text that
they will read next to help them understand its historical,
literary, and political context. In the next class,
the students read short papers on the text, and these
papers are discussed by other students and by the
professor. The professor then provides a summary
lecture on the text just completed and a prelecture
on the reading set for the next class. At the end,
the students have reconstructed the constitutional
tradition for themselves from the sources.
SM 312. (ANCH312) Writing History in Greece and Rome. (C) Staff.
SM 314. (ANCH314, HIST314) Roman Law and Society. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Roman magistrates, emperors, jurists, and lawyers developed many of the fundamental
legal principles that have remained at the basis of our modern legal systems. This course will introduce
the students to the principal sources of the Roman law, to the nature of legal actions and trial procedures (for both
civil litigation and criminal prosecution), and also to the main institutions of the legal system. there will be strong
emphasis on the basic principles and norms of the Roman law itself. The main areas of the civil law that will be dealt with
in detail will include the law of persons, succession, obligations (including contracts and damage), delicts and 'crimes'.
The application of the law in social contexts will be studied by the consideration of historically documented cases
such as a murder trial, a dispute over a sale, and divorce proceedings. The analysis of model cases will also be an important
part of each student's involvement in the class.
SM 320. Greek and Roman Magic. (M) Struck. The Greeks are often extolled for making great advancements in rational thinking.
Their contributions to philosophy, architecture, medicine, and other fields argue that they surely did advance
rational thought. However, this view gives us an incomplete picture. Many Greeks, including well-educated, prominent Greeks,
also found use for casting spells, fashioning voodoo dolls, toting magical amulets, ingesting magic potions, and
protecting their cities from evil with apotropaic statues. In this course you will learn how to make people fall in
love with you, bring harm to your enemies, lock up success in business, win fame and respect of your peers, and also some
more general things about Greek and Roman society and religion -- you will also learn what "apotropaic" means.
321. (COML021, ENGL021, ENGL029) Classical Themes in Medieval Literature. (M) Staff.
SM 352. Teaching Plato's Republic. (A) Rosen. Plato's "Republic" begins as a casual conversation among Socrates
and his friends about morality and justice, and ends
up constructing an elaborate utopian city which would
promote justice and happiness among all its citizens.
It is no surprise that this monumental project has
engaged readers so intensely since antiquity, for
it manages to address so many of the perennial questions
of human existence: what, for example, constitutes
the "good life"? How do we balance the
demands of the state and those of the individual?
On what criteria can a society base its ethical system?
Beyond such grandiose questions other very practical
ones are discussed, such as what kinds of art should
be allowed in the ideal city, whether women are fit
for military service, or how children should be educated.
This seminar sets out to accomplish two intersecting
goals: the first is to allow students to savor the
full text of the Republic, and its relation to other
Platonic works, through close, detailed reading over
an entire semester; second, it will approach Plato's
work as a dynamic and vibrant pedagogical text that
can inspire even young students to to reflect on
the most urgent, if often puzzling, questions of
life.
One of the three weekly meetings of the seminar will take place at University
City High School (UCHS). We will work closely with
a high school class and their teacher at UCHS, using
Plato as a springboard for discovery and discussion.
Such a format would surely please Socrates himself,
who held that ongoing dialogue with others consitutes
the truest philosophical enterprise.
SM 360. (COML354, ENGL229) The Epic Tradition. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Copeland. Benjamin Franklin Seminar. This course looks at a number
of strands in the broad epic tradition: narratives
of warfare, quest narratives (both geographical and
spiritual), and the combination of the two in narratives
of chivalry and love. We will start with Homer, reading
good portions of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey",and
then see how Homeric themes are reprised in Virgil's
narrative of travel, conquest, and empire, the "Aeneid".
We will then look at St. Augustine's "Confessions",
which has some claim to being considered an "epic" of
spiritual discovery, and consider how Augustine reflects
back upon his classical narrative sources. From there
we will move to one medieval epic of warfare, conquest,
and empire, the "Song of Roland", which
emerges from the same kind of oral poetic culture
that produced the ancient Homeric epics. In the last
part of the course we will read some Arthurian romances,
which take up certain themes familiar from epic,
but place them in a new context: the medieval institution
of chivalry, where the ancient warrior is replaced
by the medieval knight, where the collective battle
is replaced by the individual quest, and where the
psychology of sexual desire is now foregrounded as
a motivation for heroic self-realization.
Among Arthurian romances we will read at least one by the French poet Chrtien
de Troyes, as well as the English "Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight" and selections from Malory's "Morte
Darthur". All readings will be in modern English.
Course requirements will consist of one short paper
and one longer (research-based) paper (which will
presented in two stages, draft and final version).
SM 365. (ENGL258) Homer & Joyce. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Murnaghan/Mahaffey. In his 1952 film "Voyage in Italy," Roberto Rossellini
has a couple named Joyce (George Sanders and Ingrid
Bergman) set out on a journey to settle the estate
of their uncle Homer. This, in a sense, is also the
object of this course. Reading Homer's Odyssey and
Joyce's Ulysses side-by-side, we will consider how
Joyce's use of Homer both defines his own project
and provides a fresh perspective from which to return
to the Odyssey. Both texts will be examined as works
of epic scope that summon up an entire world, whether
ancient Greece or early twentieth century Dublin,
and as meditations on the nature of heroism, the
value of ordinary experience, the relations of men
and women, and the techniques and purposes of story-telling.
SM 371. (HSOC353) Greek & Roman Medicine. (M) Rosen.
SM 376. (ANCH376, HIST376) Slavery and Society in Ancient Rome. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This class examines the phenomenon
of slavery in Roman society. A careful reading of
primary sources, including many inscriptions dealing
with the life and death of slaves will be combined
with modern critical readings in order to explore
the institution of slavery and to increase our understanding
of slavery to both the Roman economy and Roman society.
We will try to determine where the slaves came from,
how guaranteeing a slave supply affected Roman policies
abroad, and how slaves reached the markets of Rome,
Delos and North Africa. We will also look at the
relationship between slaves and masters in the Roman
household. What tasks did they perform, what treatment
could they expect, and how did the presence of a
significant portion of the population in servitude
affect the social relations governing Roman society.
We will also examine the position of slaves in Roman
law and examine changing attitudes towards the rights
of slaves. Finally, using slave narratives from the
antebellum south, we will explore the possibility
of reconstructing the slave experience in Roman society.
SM 396. (COML383, ENGL394) History Literary Criticism. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Benjamin Franklin Seminar. Approaching literature from its cultural or political context, this course includes
sections such as "American Political Fiction," "Literature and Medicine," or "Literature of the
Holocaust," focusing on novels, short stories,drama,
and poetry reacting to the horror of modern genocide.
402. Post-Baccalaureate Individualized Studies in Greek. (D) Staff. Corequisite(s): CLST 403. Advanced individualized study in Greek for students enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate
Program in Classical Studies. Permission of the instructor
required.
403. Post-Baccalaureate Individualized Studies in Latin. (D) Staff. Corequisite(s): CLST 402. Advanced individualized study in Latin for students enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate
Program in Classical Studies. Permission of the instructor
required.
SM 406. Topics Classical Studies. (B) Staff.
416. (AAMW415) Survey of Greek Sculpture. (M) Staff. An examination of key phases in the development of Greek sculpture from the
later Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period.
SM 418. (COML510, ENGL524) Medieval Education. (M) Copeland. This course will cover various important aspects of education and
intellectual culture from late antiquity (c. 400
A.D.) to the later Middle Ages (c. 1400 A.D.) across
Europe. We will look especially at how the arts of
language (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic) were formalized
and "packaged" in late antique/early medieval
encyclopedias (e.g., Martianus Capella's "Marriage
of Mercury and Philology," Cassiodorus' "Institutes
of Divine and Secular Learning," Boethius and
Augustine on rhetoric, Donatus and Priscian on grammar,
Boethius on dialectic, Isidore of Seville on all
the sciences), and at how later theorists and systematizers
recombined and reconfigured knowledge systems for
new uses (especially monastic education, including
notably Hugh of St. Victor's "Didascalicon").
We will also look at how the earlier and later Middle
Ages differentiated between "primary" and "advanced" education,
how children and childhood are represented in educational
discourse, how women participate in (or are figured
in) intellectual discourse (Eloise, Hildegard of
Bingen, Christine de Pizan), how universities changed
ideas of intellectual formation, and how vernacular
learning in the later Middle Ages added yet another
dimension to the representation of learning.
Among the later texts to be covered will be Abelards's"Historica Calamitatum," John
of Salisbury's "Metalogicon," selections
from Aquinas and other university masters, Jean de
Meun's "Roman de la Rose," Christine de
Pizan's "Chemin de Long Estude," Gower's "Confessio
Amantis" (book 7), and possibly selections from
Dante's "Convivio."
Students from all disciplines across the humanities are welcome. Classicts are
encouraged to enroll, as well as, of course, medievalists
and early modernists. Readings will all be available
in English translation, but many of the readings
can be done in the original languages (Latin, Old
French or Middle French, Italian) as students wish
(on an individualor collective basis). Class discussions,
however, will always have reference to available
translations. One seminar paper (15+ pages) will
be required, along with (probably) one report.
427. (AAMW427, ARTH427) Roman Sculpture. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Kuttner. Survey of the Republican origins and Imperial development of Roman sculpture--free-standing,
relief, and architectural--from ca. 150 BC to 350 AD. We concentrate on sculpture in the
capital city and on court and state arts, emphasizing commemorative public sculpture and Roman habits of decorative display.
Key themes are the depiction of time and space, programmatic decoration, and the vocabulary of political
art.
436. (PHIL436) Hellenistic Philosophy. (M) Meyer. Greek philosophy in the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE) is dominated by three
schools, which continue to be influential well into the era of the Roman Empire: Stoicism, Epicureanism, and
Scepticism. Our focus this year will be on the Stoics, with emphasis on their natural philosophy, theology, and ethics.
Significant Stoic claims we will examine include: the theory of fate, the insistence that the world is governed
by divine providence, and the view that following nature is the key to living a good life, while such things as health,
family, and material well-being are of no value. Sources to be read include Cicero, ON THE NATURE OF THE GODS, and ON
DIVINATION; Marcus
Aurelius, MEDITATIONS; Epictetus, HANDBOOK; and Seneca, ON ANGER and selected
letters. All texts will be read in English translation; no knowledge of Greek or Latin will be presupposed.
499. Independent Study. (C) Staff.
SM 500. Materials and Methods. (A) Staff. Introductory graduate proseminar on the study of the ancient Greco-Roman world.Topics
include: history of the discipline; textual scholarship; material culture; social, political, and intellectual
history; relations between classical studies and other humanities disciplines.
SM 502. Greek Meter. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Ringe. Prerequisite(s): A fluent reading knowledge of ancient Greek. This course will cover the theory of ancient Greek verse forms, the relation
between traditional Homeric metrics and formulaic analysis, the development and use of specific metrical systems by
post-Homeric poets, and the use of meter in Greek verse to create literary and dramatic effects. Work for the course
will include the reading and scansion of a substantial body of ancient Greek verse in class; the grade will be based on
classwork and a final paper.
SM 503. Historical Grammar of Greek. (M) Ringe/Cardona. Prerequisite(s): A fluent reading knowledge of ancient Greek. Investigation of the grammar of Classical Greek from the viewpoint of historical
linguistics. The course will offer historical explanations for numerous structural peculiarities of the Greek language
and anomalies of Greek grammar, touch on the relationship of Greek with other languages, and incidentally introduce
the student to some basic concepts of language analysis likely to be useful in teaching Greek and learning other
languages.
SM 505. (AAMW505) Archaeology of the Greek Iron Age. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Examination of the "dark age" between the fall of the Mycenaean kingdoms
and the emergence of Archaic Greek culture.
SM 506. (AAMW506) Greek Vase Painting. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. A study of Greek vase painting utilizing the artifacts of the University Museum.
SM 508. (PHIL510) Imagining the Orient. (M) Staff. The critical theorist Edward Said has written, "The Orient had been since
antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences." In this course,
we will explore the west's visualization of "The Orient" by focusing upon three specific locations: the mid-east
as antiquity's "original orient" and south-east
Asia and India/Tibet as the contemporary west's locations for war/darkness and peace/enlightenment,
respectively. We will use theoretical work, fiction, and travel writing (ancient and modern) to supplement
our examination of films such as Apocalypse Now, The Cup, The Man Who Would Be King, Three Seasons, and A Year
of Living Dangerously. By working between and among a variety of media, we will be able to attend not
only to what "the Orient" is or means but to the process of that imagining process.
SM 509. (ANCH509) Advanced Readings in Greek and Latin. (A) Staff.
SM 510. (AAMW510) Topography of Athens. (M) Staff. Layout and monuments of Athens from the Bronze Age into the time of Roman Empire.
SM 514. (COML514, ENGL504) History of Language. (M) Staff. An introduction to the methods of historical linguistics through a study of
English from its prehistoric origins to the present day, with emphasis on the Old and Middle English periods: also writing
systems; the development of comparative linguistics in the nineteenth century and ideas about language before
the nineteenth century; semantic change; English lexicography; concepts of "correct" English and prescriptive
grammar in the eighteenth century; the material recovery of a literary text (example: Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES).
Two exams, weekly problems and exercises.
SM 515. (AAMW515) GIS Applications in Archaeology. (M) Staff. An introduction to the procedures and uses of GIS in modern archaeological field
and laboratory work. The course will introduce the student to computerized GIS, discuss the philosophy and theory
of its use, as well as the analytical potential of its utilization. Archaeological case studies will be presented.
Open to graduate students. Undergraduates with permission.
SM 523. Greek and Roman Magic. (M) Staff.
SM 525. (AAMW525, ARTH525) Aegean Bronze Age. (M) Betancourt. An examination of a selected problem in the Greek Bronze Age, focusing on the
Minoan, Mycenaean, and Cycladic cultures. Lectures by the instructor and reports by the students will examine
a series of interrelated topics. Topic varies.
SM 526. (ARTH526) Material & Methods in Mediterranean Archaeology. (M) Staff.
SM 531. (ARTH531) ANATOLIA,ETRURIA,&GREECE.
SM 532. (AAMW532) ANCIENT GREEK COLONIES.
SM 601. (AAMW601, ANCH601) Archaeology and Greek History. (M) Staff. An examination of archaeological evidence relevant to selected problems in Greek
history.
SM 603. (AAMW603) Archaeology and the Greek Theater. (M) Staff. The course will examine the written and especially the archaeological evidence
for the production of Greek drama. Topics will include the theater buildings themselves, stage machinery, scene
painting, and costumes. The main chronological focus will be on the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., but some
attention will be paid to later developments.
SM 608. Ancient Greece and the Modern/Post-Modern World. (M) Rosen. It is commonplace to regard Classical antiquity in some sense as the "foundation" of
Western culture, yet few people ever examine more closely how or whether this may be so. Can we in fact speak
meaningfully of a cultural continuum from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present? Do we see in the ancient Greeks a
reflection of ourselves or of an entirely alien culture? This course will explore how the Greeks of the "classical" period
(5th-4th Centuries B.C.E.) addressed a set of concerns and problems fundamental to most human cultures, and will compare
their approaches to these issues to those of modern society. Topics will include political organization, gender
relations, family culture, art and society, among others. Sources will be wide-ranging and comparative, including such material
as Plato, Thucydides, Euripides, Benjamin Franklin, Freud and Rap Music.
SM 610. (ENGL525) Chaucer's Classicisms. (M) Copeland. This course takes Chaucer's uses of antiquity as a point of entry into questions
about the ancient lineages of medieval literary and intellectual culture. The coverage of Chaucer's writings in relation
to classical and late classical authors will be quite substantial. We will survey the medieval textual histories of
Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Statius,and Boethius as they materialize in specific Chaucerian sites, including: "Troilus and
Criseyde", "Knight's Tale". "Legend
of Good Women", "House of Fame" (and perhaps one other dream poem), "Boece",and
Nun's Priets's Tale".These texts are sites for opening broader inquiries about the uses of antiquity in the Middle Ages:
medieval transformations of ancient theories of narrative, of allegory and allegoresis, and of hermeneutics, translation,
and invention; medieval receptions of ancient pedagogical discourses (including how classical authors were used
in medieval schooling) and reconfigurations of ancient systems of knowledge; and medieval assimilations
of ancient intellectual currents (Platonisms,scientific epistemologies,theories of language and signification).
To these ends we will also look at various late classical expositors who mediated many of these problems to the Middle
Ages, including Fulgentius, Martianus Capella, Marcrobius, Priscian, and St. Augustine.
This seminar will be designed to address the interests of two constituencies:
classicists who want to know more about the medeival
fortunes of ancient traditions; and medievalists
and early modernists,for whose ongoing research the
long diachronic structure of this course can offer
a good foundation. The course is designed to accomodate
the particular expertise that classicists can bring
to study of post-classical literary history. For
non-classicists considering the course, knowledge
of Latin isn't a requirement, but it is certainly
helpful. Readings of Chaucer will be in Middle English.
Course texts will include The Riverside Chaucer,
Loeb editions of Horace and Boethius, a photocopied
packet of promary and seconadry readings, and possibly
some paperback English translations of late classical
sources (e. g. Macrobius). Requirements will consist
of one research paper and (depending on size of the
class) one or two brief discussion presentations.
SM 612. (COML616, GSOC612) Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece. (M) Murnaghan. A study of how sexuality and sexual difference figured in the social
practices and representations of the ancient Greek
world. Topics for discussion include medical constructions
of the male and female bodies, the politics of prostitution,
the intersections of gender and slavery, depictions
of sexuality in lyric poetry, drama, philosophy,
legal discourse, and the novel, and the cultural
significance of same-sex sexual relations. Emphasis
will be placed on the role of ancient gender arrangements
and sexual practices in contemporary discussions,
such as the feminist rediscovery of ancient matriarchies,
Foucault's reconstructions of ancient models of the
self, and the recent debates about the Colorado Amendment
2 Case. The course is open to interested graduate
students in all fields, and no knowledge of Greek
is required.
SM 616. (ANCH616) Ancient Economies. (C) Grey. Scholars have long debated the nature of the ancient economy, the terms in which
it can best be approached, and the decision-making processes that underpinned economic behavior in antiquity. In
particular, controversy has surrounded the extent to which the economies of Greco-Roman antiquity can be modeled using
contemporary tools of analysis. In recent scholarship, many of the tenets laid down by Moses Finley in his The
Ancient Economy have been re-evaluated, with the result that the field is currently in a state of intellectual ferment.
It is the purpose of this course to explore the terms in which contemporary debates over ancient economic systems are formulated,
with reference to a variety of societies and periods, from the palace economies of the Mycenaean period to
the system of taxation introduced in the early fourth century by the emperor Diocletian and his colleagues in the Tetrarchy.
SM 625. (AAMW625) City and Landscape in Roman Corinth. (M) Romano. This seminar considers the procedures and the results of the Roman agrimensors
who planned the city and landscape of the Roman Colony of Corinth of 44 B.C. Founded on the site of the former Greek
city by Julius Caesar, Roman Corinth was to become one of the great cities of the Roman world. Considerable attention
will be paid to the modern methods employed by the Corinth Computer Project, 1988-1997, as well as the resulting
new information about the history of Roman Corinth.
SM 701. (ENGL701) Piers Plowman. (M) Copeland. This course takes the great kaleidoscopic poem Piers Plowman as its ostensible
subject and point of departure for thinking about the literary cultures in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
century, as well as their continuity with older and indeed later literary and intellectual discourses. The cultural lens
of Piers Plowman takes in a fascinating range of social and historical categories, including the political (political
organization, rebellion, state formation, labor, law, reforms); language (Latin and vernacular, literacy, mixing of dialect,
registers, rhetorical modalities, and genres); religion (orthodoxy and heterodoxy, piety, apocalypticism, spiritual "literacies")
geography (from pilgrimage to fantasy to agricultural labor); intellectual histories; and the very status of textuality
itself.
In considering these problems we will read a variety of Piers intertexts, including
selections from penitential manuals, Lollard sermons
and trial records, treatises on translation, rebel
broadsides, radical knock-off versions of Piers Plowman
such as Piers the Plowmans Creed and Mum and Sothsegger,
and selections from better known works such as The
Book of Margery Kempe and Chaucers Parliament of
Fowls. We will also make use of earlier Latin and
continental materials (in English translation) that
illuminate the intellectual traditions on which Piers
Plowman draws. Requirements will include two oral
presentations and a final paper. Students outside
of medieval studies, and outside of English literary
studies, are warmly encouraged to take this class,
as Piers is truly a nexus of intellectual and cultural
histories. It is also a very moving text about work,
poverty, and social action.
SM 702. (AAMW702, ANCH702) Greek Sanctuaries. (M) White. The formation and development of key religious sites, including Olympia, Delphi,
Cyrene, Selinus, Cos and Lindos.
SM 721. Ovid, Fasti. (M) Staff.
SM 728. (AAMW728, ARTH728) Roman Architecture & Topography. (M) Haselberger. An intensive exploration of Rome's urban topography during the Late Republican
and Imperial periods. Using primarily monumental
and archaeological sources, and also including ancient
texts, the goal will be to visually reconstruct a
limited area of one's choice. The nearly completed
Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae (4 volumes, so
far) serves as the basic reference work. We will
also receive first-hand information on methods and
progress of the current publication project Mapping
Augustan Rome, as it is developing in cooperation
with the Corinth Computer Lab under Dr. David Romano,
University Museum. - Of interest for students of
art history, architecture, archaeology, and Classics.
Knowledge of Latin and some familiarity with Rome
will be a plus, but are not required.
SM 735. (JWST735, RELS735) Papyrology. (F) Staff. Selected topics from current research interests relating to early Judaism and
early Christianity.
999. Independent Study and Research. (C) Staff. Prerequisite(s): Permission of Graduate Chair and instructor required. For doctoral candidates.
GREEK (GREK)
015. Elementary Modern Greek I. (M) Staff. Offered through Penn Language Center. Study of Modern Greek language, designed for students with no knowledge of Modern
Greek. Basic oral expression, listening comprehension,
and elementary reading and writing.
016. Elementary Modern Greek II. (M) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 015 or equivalent. Offered through Penn Language Center . this section is reserved for heritage learners or by permission
of instructor. Continuation of Elementary Modern Greek I, with increased emphasis on reading
and writing.
017. Intermediate Modern Greek I. (M) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 015 and 016 or equivalent. Offered through Penn Language Center. This course is designed for students with an elementary knowledge of Demotic
Modern Greek, and aims mainly at developing oral expression, reading and writing skills.
018. Intermediate Modern Greek II. (M) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 015, 016, and 017 or equivalent. Offered through Penn Language Center . Further attention to developing oral expression, reading, and writing skills
for students with knowledge of Demotic Modern Greek.
SM 101. Elementary Classical Greek I. (A) Staff. Morphology and syntax of Greek. Intensive exercise in grammar, Greek composition,
translation from Greek to English (both prepared and sight). Emphasis is placed upon developing the ability
to read Greek with facility.
SM 102. Elementary Classical Greek II. (B) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 101 or equivalent. Work in grammar and composition is supplemented and gradually replaced by reading
one entire work of an ancient author, e.g., the ION of Plato.
SM 203. Intermediate Classical Greek: Prose. (A) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 102 or equivalent. Practice in rapid reading; exercises in writing Greek prose.
SM 204. Intermediate Classical Greek: Poetry. (B) Staff. Prerequisite(s): GREK 203 or equivalent. Selections from Homer's ILIAD and/or ODYSSEY.
SM 309. Topics in Greek Literature. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Staff. Prerequisite(s): Reading knowledge of Greek or permission of instructor. Close reading and discussion of a Greek author or a particular genre of Greek
literature. Topics will vary each semester and the course may be repeated for credit.
399. Supervised Study in Greek Literature. (C) Staff. Preparation of Honors Thesis in Greek Literature
401. Greek for Advanced Students. (C) Staff. For graduate students in other departments needing individualized study in Greek
literature.
SM 409. (PHIL403, PHIL406, PHIL409) Readings in Greek Literature. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Prerequisite(s): A 100- or
200- level course or equivalent. The cross-listing with Philosophy is not always applicable. An advanced reading and discussion seminar on varying subjects in Greek literature:
authors, genres or topics. Focus will vary each semester, and the course may be repeated for credit.
SM 480. Advanced Readings. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Staff. Prerequisite(s): A 100- or 200-level course or equivalent. For the needs of advanced undergraduates and graduate students.
SM 503. Historical Grammar of Greek. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Ringe. Prerequisite(s): A fluent reading knowledge of Greek. Investigation of the grammar of Classical Greek from the viewpoint of historical
linguistics. The course will offer historical explanations for numerous structural peculiarities of the Greek language
and anomalies of Greek grammar, touch on the relationship of Greek with other languages, and incidentally introduce
the student to some basic concepts of language analysis likely to be useful in teaching Greek and learning other
languages.
SM 530. Selected Readings. (M) Staff. For the needs of graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
SM 601. Graduate Greek Prose. (M) Staff. Reading and discussion of authors and texts to be announced. May be repeated
for credit.
SM 602. (COML606, ENGL705) Graduate Greek Poetry. (M) Staff. Reading and discussion of authors and texts to be announced. May be repeated
for credit.
SM 605. Historians. (M) Staff. A study of Herodotus and/or other historians.
SM 607. Homeric Language. (M) Staff. A close look at the artificial Homeric dialect from the point of view of historical
linguistics. Some reading of Homer will also be involved, but for the purpose of investigating the language, it
will be taken for granted that students can translate the text.
SM 608. Greek Dialects. (M) Ringe/Cardona. A study of Greek dialects.
SM 611. (AAMW611, ANCH611) Greek Epigraphy. (M) Staff. An introduction to the principles and practices of Greek Epigraphy. Study of
selected Greek inscriptions.
SM 612. Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus. (M) Kahn. A close reading and analysis of Plato's two major dialogues on love.
999. Independent Study. (C) Staff. For doctoral candidates. |