Autumn

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. D. Wray. Autumn. 

This course examines the phonological and morphological development of the Latin language from Indo-European to Vulgar Latin.  That development is studied both for its own sake and as a point of departure for introducing linguistic concepts useful for the analysis of other layers of language and of aspects of literary texts.  Discussion of major topics in phonology and morphology will alternate with close examination of sample or otherwise relevant texts and lexical families.  Major topics are: the principles of historical and comparative linguistics; the development of the Latin sound inventory; Latin and its sister languages; the creation of the Latin nominal and verbal systems; (some of) the varieties of classical Latin; and the influence of Greek on Latin. B. Krostenko. Autumn.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–44 BC) was the most accomplished orator of the Roman Republic.  Among the most fascinating of his speeches are the three “Caesarian” speeches delivered to Julius Caesar on behalf of persons who had opposed Caesar in the civil war.  In the speeches Cicero, in many different ways, uses his hard-won rhetorical and literary skills, practiced over a lifetime in lawsuits, political debates, and philosophizing, not merely to speak on behalf of the immediate subjects of the speeches, but also to suggest social and political roles for Caesar himself.  Caesar’s place in the Roman world is as much a topic of the three speeches as the immediate issue of each speech.  The chief purpose of this class is to reach an understanding of the basic issues of each speech and the roles that Cicero scripts for Caesar in them. B. Krostenko. Autumn.

This class will read selections from the poetry of the Hellenistic period, especially the hymns of Callimachus, the pastoral poetry of Theocritus, and the epic parody “The Battle of the Frogs and Mice.” Alongside these Hellenistic texts we will read some of their poetic predecessors (Homer, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, choral and monadic lyric), with an eye to the Hellenistic poets’ interest in poetic form, self-positioning, and play. E. Austin. Autumn.

A workshop for students who have completed coursework and qualifying exams, it aims to provide practical assistance and a collaborative environment for students preparing the dissertation prospectus. It will meet bi-weekly for two quarters. S. Torallas Tovar Autumn, Winter.

Ancient Greek tragedy has been of continuous interest to philosophers, whether they love it or hate it.  But they do not agree about what it is and does, or about what insights it offers.  This seminar will study the tragic festivals and a select number of tragedies, also consulting some modern studies of ancient Greek tragedy.  Then we shall turn to philosophical accounts of the tragic genre, including those of Plato, Aristotle, the Greek and Roman Stoics (especially Seneca), Lessing, Schlegel, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Iris Murdoch, Sartre, and Bernard Williams. If we have time we will include some study of ancient Greek comedy and its philosophical significance. M. Nussbaum. Autumn. 

This two-quarter seminar, which fulfills the seminar requirement for graduates in History and Classics, seeks to explore how we might reconstruct the religious experience of the ancient Greeks through texts in translation (especially hymns), inscriptions, and material culture, paying particular attention to issues of methodology. The first quarter will be devoted to guided reading and discussion, focused on individual sanctuary sites, while the second quarter will be reserved for writing a major research paper. Non-Classics students will also be permitted to enroll for just the first quarter by arrangement with the instructors. C. Faraone. J. Hall. Autumn.

This course explores the historic development and dynamics of the ancient Greek countryside (oikoumene, chora) alongside the emergence of the city (polis). Recent historical analyses of demography and economy, archaeological fieldwork, and research on the cultural lens of town/country are revealing a highly complex world surrounding the city walls. What are the benefits and potential interpretive challenges of investigating these places and their constituent actors? Discussions will question the construction of urban vs. non-urban categories of ancient life, agropastoral economies and markets, political and social boundaries, rural sanctuaries, diachronic change, and methods and theories for examining the countryside through material culture and textual evidence. C. Kearns. Autumn.

The course will explore the human adaptation to a climatic phenomenon and its transformative impacts on the littoral societies of the Indian Ocean, circa 1000 BCE–1000 CE. Monsoon means season, a time and space in which favorable winds made possible the efficient, rapid crossing of thousands of miles of ocean. Its discovery—at different times in different places—resulted in communication and commerce across vast distances at speeds more commonly associated with the industrial than the preindustrial era, as merchants, sailors, religious specialists, and scholars made monsoon crossings. The course will consider the participation of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East African actors in the making of monsoon worlds and their relations to the Indian Ocean societies they encountered; the course is based on literary and archaeological sources, with attention to recent comparative historiography on oceanic, climatic, and global histories. R. Payne. Autumn.