Autumn

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. 

This two-quarter seminar is focused on situations in which written texts of the Roman period combined with other forms of material reality to produce distinctive cultural institutions. For example, Rome’s Secular Games combined formal prayer and sacrifice with theatrical and musical events, declamation as public entertainment evolved out of training routines in the schools of rhetoric, and the resolution of civil disputes combined complex acts of narration, normative description, and improvisatory skill. The seminar is meant to acquaint graduate students with a variety of literary and subliterary texts (some of which are likely to be unfamiliar), and to provide a first orientation to the scholarly bibliographies concerned with them. For the purposes of this course, the social and material setting that generates texts calls for as careful study as the texts themselves. Ideally, this approach will lead to a fuller appreciation of Roman institutional forms than a focus on texts alone. Students take turns presenting weekly reports on readings from the syllabus during the Autumn Quarter. During the Winter Quarter they prepare a substantial research paper under the guidance of the Instructors, whose expertise is in Roman history and Roman literature respectively. 

The Senior Seminar is designed as a capstone course, and it is required for all Classics majors, whether they are writing a BA paper or not. The course meets once per week over two quarters (Autumn and Winter), for an hour and twenty minutes each week. Enrollment in both quarters is required. There are two sections offered each quarter (meeting as a single class); one is valued at 100 units, one at 0 units. Normally, the students will enroll in the section valued at 100 units during Autumn quarter, and in the section valued at 0 units during Winter quarter; but they may reverse the order of enrollment if need be. NB: students may only enroll in a 100-unit section once. 

Helen of Troy has been a source of fascination for ancient and modern writers alike, serving as a symbol of unattainable beauty and destructive femininity. This course explores the various portrayals of Helen throughout Greco-Roman poetry (epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy) and prose (historiography, oratory), as well as contemporary literature and film. Taking into account the conventions and historical context of each genre we will examine her character as it relates to questions of gender, sexual power, agency, identity, embodiment and social structures. All readings will be in English and include but are not limited to selections from Homer, Euripides, Gorgias, Ovid, Seferis, Marlowe, and Walcott.  

How do public speakers deal with controversial topics when addressing polarized audiences? And how do different approaches affect or influence the reception of their words and ideas, and by extension the audiences’ understanding of the issues at hand? In this course, we will study some of the earliest examples of such articulations by examining how archaic and classical Greek poets addressed the most controversial issues of their times, ranging from Sappho’s musings on the class and civic conflicts of the archaic period to Aristophanes’ provocative forays into debates about identity, education, policy, and even poetry itself in classical Athens. Our focus will be on the manner in which these poets addressed conflict(s) as privileged practitioners of public speech, and how they controlled or manipulated their audiences’ interpretations and receptions of their words, anticipating the maneuvers of Classical era rhetoric. In order to do so, we will look closely not only at the cultural contexts in which the poetry was first presented, but also at theories of communication, conflict, and identity, genre and reception studies (e.g. comedy, invective), along with examples of contemporary music, poetry, and visual art that address similar conflicts. 

Reading a classic from manuscript: Cicero’s Laelius de amicitia from the ninth-century Krakow (ex-Berlin) Codex. We shall read from a high-quality color facsimile and consult in tandem the recent Cambridge edition (2024) by Volk/Zetzel. 

This course examines the development of the Latin elegy from Catullus to Ovid. Our major themes are the use of motifs and topoi and their relationship to the problem of poetic persona. 

Immerse yourself in the Latin prose and poetry written by various authors from ancient Rome through the long tradition and reception of Latin literature.  Readings this quarter involve increasingly longer selections of Roman prose and poetry (e.g. Cicero, Catullus), with an aim to review grammar and improve reading proficiency.   Discussion in class will focus on the literary, historical, and cultural contexts necessary to appreciate the authors and texts.  In addition to review, more advanced grammar will occasionally be introduced and vocabulary will be surveyed as necessary. This course is usually appropriate for students who have completed LATN 103, LATN 112, or several years of high school Latin, or equivalent work. 

Accelerated Introduction to Classical Latin introduces students to the fundamentals of classical Latin through a sequence of two courses.  By the end of this first course, students will have encountered nearly all the most commonly used Latin grammar and a large collection of Latin vocabulary.  They will also develop their reading proficiency by engaging longer, more complex, and more interesting sentences and passages of Latin, including selections from authentic texts.  Through these readings, students will touch upon various aspects of the Roman world, engaging not only with the history of the city, but also with the society, culture, politics, and religion of its people.  Successful completion of this course will prepare students for LATN 112. This course is appropriate for students who have not previously studied ancient Latin. 

Introduction to Classical Latin introduces students to the fundamentals of the Latin language through which students may access the works of Vergil, Horace, Cicero, Tacitus, and Ovid (among countless others).   This course represents the first step.  Course work involves the reading and writing of Latin, alongside the development of vocabulary and the formal study of grammar.  Students encounter authentic texts throughout the course.  Successful completion of this course will prepare students for LATN 101. This course is appropriate for students who have not previously studied ancient Greek.