Winter

A study of the creation of the canonical Greek prose style in the 5th and 4th centuries. Rapid reading and translation exercises. 

Every culture has its wars, and Aristophanes’ Athens was certainly no exception. In this course, we will read selections of several Aristophanic comedies in Greek (Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Frogs), and consider how these plays engage with a number of issues that were cultural flashpoints: the workings and ideologies of Athenian democracy, contemporary intellectual movements and education, attitudes towards the Peloponnesian War, shifting notions of Athenian and class identity, and the manner in which dramatic poetry itself – from Euripidean tragedy to Aristophanes’ own comedies – related to, or even exacerbated, these issues. Along the way, we will consider how contemporary comedians (e.g. Trevor Noah, Hari Kondabolu) continue to put to use the same techniques and dynamics that we see in Aristophanes’ plays, and to what effect(s).  

Immerse yourself in real writings from Ancient Greece. Readings this quarter concentrate on selections of Greek poetry (for instance, by Euripides), with an aim to improve reading skills, discuss key concepts in Greek history and culture, and expand knowledge of grammar and vocabulary as necessary.

For thousands of years, people have learned this language to go deeper into the thoughts and worlds of Plato, Homer, Sappho, and Early Christianity and more. In this course sequence, you too can begin to learn this language. GREK 102 continues the study of basic Ancient Greek. Course work involves reading practice, writing individual sentences and coherent stories, formal study of grammar and vocabulary, and other linguistic skills as necessary. Throughout the course, students will encounter authentic Ancient Greek texts. Students who complete this course will be able to understand complex sentences and combine them into larger units of meaning.

Course readings include satires of Horace and Juvenal in Latin together with selections in English from the long tradition of their European reception history. 

Several months after the death of his beloved daughter and just two years before his own death in 43 BC, Cicero composed a dialog with an imaginary interlocutor arguing that death, pain, grief, and other perturbations were an unimportant part of the big picture.  A reading of this famous contribution to the genre of consolation literature (all of it to be read in English, selections in Latin) affords an opportunity to weigh his many examples and his arguments for ourselves.  

Course readings include satires of Horace and Juvenal in Latin together with selections in English from the long tradition of their European reception history. 

Several months after the death of his beloved daughter and just two years before his own death in 43 BC, Cicero composed a dialog with an imaginary interlocutor arguing that death, pain, grief, and other perturbations were an unimportant part of the big picture.  A reading of this famous contribution to the genre of consolation literature (all of it to be read in English, selections in Latin) affords an opportunity to weigh his many examples and his arguments for ourselves.   

Immerse yourself in real writings from Ancient Rome, and the long subsequent tradition of Latin literature. Readings this quarter concentrate on selections of Roman poetry (for instance, by Ovid). The class involves discussion of poetic language, the literary and historical context of Roman poetry, and study of grammar and vocabulary as necessary.  

This course is intended for students with some experience in Latin to quickly review what they know and upgrade their skills in reading and understanding Latin. In this course, students will expand their vocabulary, learn more advanced grammar, and practice extensive reading