CLCV

 From the strong, rapid fourteeners of Chapman’s Elizabethan English to the taut rhythms of Alice Oswald’s Memorial, Homer’s Iliad takes on new meaning and feel each time the poem is translated anew. This workshop-style course will engage the many English versions of Homeric poetry, attending to theme, image, word, line, paragraph, and meter; noting what is kept and what is changed. We will also consider the theory and practice of translation, especially as it has been understood by these poets over the last four centuries. No knowledge of Greek is required.

The course will study processes of democratic erosion and collapse in classical Athens and republican Rome. Assignments: in-class presentations and a long paper. 

Part III examines late antiquity, a period of paradox. The later Roman emperors established the most intensive, pervasive state structures of the ancient Mediterranean, yet yielded their northern and western territories to Goths, Huns, Vandals, and, ultimately, their Middle Eastern core to the Arab Muslims. Imperial Christianity united the populations of the Roman Mediterranean in the service of one God, but simultaneously divided them into competing sectarian factions. A novel culture of Christian asceticism coexisted with the consolidation of an aristocratic ruling class notable for its insatiable appetite for gold. The course will address these apparent contradictions while charting the profound transformations of the cultures, societies, economies, and political orders of the Mediterranean from the conversion of Constantine to the rise of Islam.

Part II surveys the social, economic, and political history of Rome, from its prehistoric beginnings in the twelfth century BCE to the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 CE. Throughout, the focus will be upon the dynamism and adaptability of Roman society, as it moved from a monarchy to a republic to an empire. The course will also cover the questions of social organization (free and unfree people, foreigners), gender relations, religion, and specific forms of the way of life of the Romans. It will be based both on lectures and on discussions of textual or archaeological documents in smaller discussion groups.

Part I surveys the social, economic, and political history of Greece from prehistory to the Hellenistic period. The main topics considered include the development of the institutions of the Greek city-state, the Persian Wars and the rivalry of Athens and Sparta, the social and economic consequences of the Peloponnesian War, and the eclipse and defeat of the city-states by the Macedonians.

From Herodotos to Hitler, ancient Sparta has continued to fascinate for its supposedly balanced constitution, its military superiority, its totalitarian ideology and its brutality. Yet the image we possess of the most important state of the Peloponnese is largely the projection of outside observers for whom the objectification of Sparta could serve either as a model for emulation or as a paradigm of "otherness." This course will examine the extant evidence for Sparta from its origins through to its repackaging in Roman times and beyond and will serve as a case-study in discussing the writing of history and in attempting to gauge the viability of a non-Athenocentric Greek history. Assignments: short papers.

Augustus’ accession to power after decades of civil war was a moment of tremendous cultural and political change. Rome breathed a sigh of relief, but the price was virtual monarchy. We will examine contemporary painting, sculpture, and monuments, contemporary authors (Livy, Vergil, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid), historical accounts (Velleius, Tacitus, Suetonius), Augustus’ own writings, the marriage legislation and legal reform to evaluate his claim to have restored politics and society. Topics include: empire and constitution; orientalism and gender norms; the power of the prince and that of writers.

Whether fighting incredible monsters or baking bread, mythological texts invite us to consider the value of labor in unique ways. By reading across a number of premodern traditions (including Greek, Roman, Near Eastern, Scandinavian, Iranian, South African, Indian), this course looks at differences between heroic labor and manual or domestic labor, labors usually expected of men and of women, labors with religious value versus labors with material consequences, as well as the role of affective labor in the ancient world. As we learn about labor in the past through these texts, the readings will allow us to raise new questions about labor today in the world of global capitalism. Examples of primary texts we will cover are portions of the Homeric epics, Hesiod’s Works and Days, Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Livy’s History of Rome, the Norse Edda and “Prose Edda,” Xhosa narratives, the Near Eastern Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish, chapters from the Vendidad, and some Vedic hymns. The course readings will be given in translation, and no prior language knowledge is expected, but students with knowledge of a relevant language can take the class for credit toward their major on the basis of a specifically tailored midterm exam and/or final paper. 

This course will examine some of the ancient Greek roots of early Christianity. We will focus on affinities between Christianity and the classical tradition as well as ways in which the Christian faith may be considered radically different from it. Some of the more important issues that we will analyze are: "The spell of Homer." How the Homeric poems exerted immeasurable influence on the religious attitudes and practices of the Greeks. The theme of creation in Greek and Roman authors such as Hesiod and Ovid. The Orphic account of human origins. The early Christian theme of Christ as Creator/Savior. Greek, specifically Homeric conceptions of the afterlife. The response to the Homeric orientation in the form of the great mystery cults of Demeter, Dionysus, and Orpheus. The views of the philosophers (esp. Plato) of the immortality of the soul compared with the New Testament conception of resurrection of the body. Ancient Greek conceptions of sacrifice and the crucifixion of Christ as archetypal sacrifice. The attempted synthesis of Jewish and Greek philosophic thought by Philo of Alexandria and its importance for early Christianity. 

Plato’s intellectual influence in our everyday lives is apparent in phrases such as “Socratic method,” “Platonic relationship,” and “Platonic ideal.” In fact, even the name of our institutions for the development of the intellect, the Academy, derives from the name of Plato’s school. Despite this seeming ubiquity of Plato, popular understanding of him remains casual. It is equally true that widespread interpretations of Plato are often polarized. Rejection of his radical gender proposals and practical scorn for his too ethereal abstractions are two of the more common criticisms. On these same topics, on the other hand, others see in Plato proto-feminist sympathies and theoretical insight fundamental to the later development of theologians, e.g. Augustine, or philosophers, e.g. Kant, and even psychologists, e.g. Carl Jung. In this course we will examine the root of Plato’s vast ideological heritage by focusing on ten of his most influential, controversial and fascinating ideas. In doing so, we will turn both a sympathetic and critical eye to selections from Platonic dialogues with the following themes: women, love, poetry, Socratic method, psychology, immortality, virtue, the theory of Forms, and the transcendent/immanent. We will season our reading with some secondary literature addressing our topics directly. The examination of these themes will lead to a better understanding of Plato, as well as a greater sense of what both his friends and foes take the great thinker to be saying.