Graduate

This course examines the portrayal of female villains in Greek tragedy. We will read plays by the three major tragedians, focusing on their depictions of Clytemnestra, the Furies, Phaedra, Medea, and Helen, as it relates to questions of gender, mythmaking, power, and reception. We will discuss the societal dynamics and generic norms through which those characters emerge and we will explore their intertextual journey through myth and literature, ancient and modern. Key questions of the course include: What makes a woman evil? How is the evil female constructed through the writing, visuals, and performance of tragedy? What does it mean to present an evil female in a genre where all writers and actors are male? To what extent does tragedy shape and reflect the patriarchal structures of the Athenian society? All readings will be in English.

This course examines the portrayal of female villains in Greek tragedy. We will read plays by the three major tragedians, focusing on their depictions of Clytemnestra, the Furies, Phaedra, Medea, and Helen, as it relates to questions of gender, mythmaking, power, and reception. We will discuss the societal dynamics and generic norms through which those characters emerge and we will explore their intertextual journey through myth and literature, ancient and modern. Key questions of the course include: What makes a woman evil? How is the evil female constructed through the writing, visuals, and performance of tragedy? What does it mean to present an evil female in a genre where all writers and actors are male? To what extent does tragedy shape and reflect the patriarchal structures of the Athenian society? All readings will be in English.

This course offers a survey of the fundamentals of pedagogy for the ancient language classroom with an emphasis on introductory and intermediate instruction.  Topics include methods of language teaching, language skills and proficiency, modes of assessment, course design, textbook selection, educational technology, online resources, lesson planning, effective presentation, support materials, and the principles and practices of classroom management.  Activities include the creation of sample materials and mock teaching.  Students who successfully complete this course will acquire a foundation in language pedagogy and be well prepared for introductory and intermediate instruction in languages such as Latin and ancient Greek.

Martial’s epigrams can be funny, obscene, groveling, literary, outrageous, illuminating, and more.  In this course we’ll read a selection from the many volumes he wrote, starting with the fascinating Liber de Spectaculis describing apparent snuff plays. We will be using the epigrams as a window into different aspects of first century imperial Roman culture, including doctors, criminal justice, mythology, misogyny, city life, intertextuality, sexuality, obscenity, politics, and more.  Please be aware that he can be very vulgar.

Tacitus made his debut as a historian with the Histories, a grim but vivid account of Roman imperial rule from Galba to Domitian.  The focus of the course is book 1, which describes the succession of coups and revolts that made 69 AD the “Year of the Four Emperors”.  It provides a rare opportunity to see how Tacitus structures his narrative in comparison with parallel sources, and to appreciate the bold effects which make his style uniquely Tacitean.”

This course is a practical introduction to the styles of classical Latin prose. After a brief and systematic review of Latin syntax, we combine regular exercises in composition with readings from a variety of prose stylists. Our goal is to increase the students' awareness of the classical artists' skill and also their own command of Latin idiom and sentence structure.

We shall read extended selections from poetry writers of recognized importance to the Latin tradition. Our sampling of texts will emphasize writers of the Late Republic and Early Principate.

Substantial selections will be read from Cato, Caesar, Cicero, Sallust, Livy, Seneca, Pliny, and Tacitus with an eye toward how the collapse of the Roman Republic affected literary expression.

Plautus' Pseudolus is read in Latin, along with secondary readings that explain the social context and the theatrical conventions of Roman comedy. Class meetings are devoted less to translation than to study of the language, plot construction, and stage techniques at work in the Pseudolus.

This course comprises an introduction to Greek papyrus texts with a view to their contributions to Biblical and early Christian backgrounds. We will read and discuss examples of different genres of documentary papyri, including private letters, marriage contracts, adoption agreements, leases, receipts, and many others. We will also examine documents which directly illustrate religious practice, such as oracles and formal decrees regulating and prohibiting religious activity. In general we will address topics such as the important contribution of papyrology to the language of the New Testament, the form of papyrus letters compared with the NT “epistle,” and the contribution of historical, social, and religious insights gleaned from the papyri to the early Christian context.