Classical Studies

 

The Greek World

 

Professor:

James Romm

 

Course Number:

CLAS 115

CRN Number:

90087

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Olin 201

 

Distributional Area:

HA Historical Analysis  

 

Crosslists:

Historical Studies

This course will explore the social, artistic, and political history of the Greek world in its archaic and classical ages. We will examine the creation and growth of Athenian democracy, contacts and conflicts between Greece and the East, the war between Athens and Sparta, and the rise of Alexander the Great. Material remains such as vase paintings, sculptures, and archaeological sites will inform our discussions, which will be primarily based on literary texts: tragic and comic dramas, lyric poetry, historical narrative and philosophic dialogue. Intended as an introductory course for both majors and non-majors, this course assumes no prior knowledge about the ancient world.

 

The Invention of Difference

 

Professor:

Tyler Archer

 

Course Number:

CLAS 227

CRN Number:

90088

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Olin 201

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit D+J Difference and Justice

From the Persian Empire, to Egypt, to Gaul, and ancient Judea, the literatures of the classical world were concerned with the representation of other peoples, places, and cultures. How did ancient writers think about difference? How did their conception of difference affect the ways in which they defined themselves? How do the ever-shifting boundaries of self and the so-called Other shape the meaning of literature in antiquity? What is the relationship between structures of power and the literature of difference, and how do both of these concepts factor into the reality of violence and conquest? This seminar will explore the invention of difference in antiquity in texts such as Aeschylus’ "Persians and Suppliant Women", Euripides’ "Hecuba and Trojan Women", Herodotus’ "Histories", Aristophanes’ "Acharnians", Plautus’ "Captives", Caesar’s "Commentaries on the Gallic War", and Josephus’ "Jewish War". We will consider difference from several points of view: ethnicity, class, education, language, sexuality, and religious belief. We will also reflect on how our reading of ancient texts is informed by and can contribute to discussions of difference in other literatures and cultures, including our own. All readings will be in English translation.

 

Classical Mythology

 

Professor:

Robert Cioffi

 

Course Number:

CLAS 242

CRN Number:

90089

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Olin 201

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

What is the meaning of our mythologies? How do we understand and interpret traditional stories about the past? What is the relationship between mythology and history? This course will explore these questions by examining selected myths from ancient Greece and Rome, and by applying to them theoretical approaches to understanding and interpreting myth. We will proceed through close analysis of ancient texts in a variety of genres (epic, hymns, lyric poetry, tragedy, comedy, philosophy, and prose accounts as well as material culture (art, architecture, coins, and domestic goods). Topics will include: origin myths, Greco-Roman gods and heroes, the human-divine relationship (prayer, sacrifice, communication), war and disease, divine love and lust, death and the afterlife, and the complex interactions between Greco-Roman and Egyptian, Persian, Jewish, and Christian myths. We will also consider myth-making practices in the United States, and the ways in which we have refashioned Greco-Roman myths to suit modern circumstances. All readings will be in English translation. No previous background is required.

 

Plato’s Symposium: Desire, Sexuality, And The Purposes Of Love

 

Professor:

Daniel Mendelsohn

 

Course Number:

CLAS 362

CRN Number:

90090

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Olin 101

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

 

Crosslists:

Gender and Sexuality Studies; Literature; Philosophy

Plato’s dialogue "Symposium" (ca. 380 BCE) stands as one of the preeminent investigations into the origins, nature, and meaning of love and sexual desire in the European tradition. Taking the form of a series of extemporaneous speeches given in honor of Eros, the god of desire, at a banquet given by a celebrated playwright, the dialogue examines desire and sexuality in numerous forms and iterations—homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, physical and "platonic"—while posing ever-larger questions about the ethical and educational implications of erotic attraction. This seminar will consist of a close reading of the text in its entirety and of important secondary literature (in English translation), and will conclude by tracing the afterlife and influence of Plato’s text on works by classical writers such as Plutarch, Tacitus, and Plotinus, continuing through the Renaissance to later thinkers and artists, including Kierkegaard’s "In vino veritas," the musical compositions of Leonard Bernstein, and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." All readings will be available in English translation. Note: for students with advanced Greek, this seminar will involve an additional weekly meeting devoted to reading the Greek texts in the original. Students who participate in the Greek reading section will be exempted from certain writing requirements for the seminar, and may count the course toward the Philology track of the Classical Studies major.

 

The Romans and the Natural World

 

Professor:

Lauren Curtis

 

Course Number:

CLAS 363

CRN Number:

90583

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

   Tue    3:10 PM - 5:30 PM Olin 204

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

 

Crosslists:

Environmental & Urban Studies; Environmental Studies; Literature

As modern humans grapple with their relationship with nature, this course asks how people in the Roman empire – whose language, Latin, has given English-speakers much of our vocabulary for talking about nature and the natural – understood their relationship with the environment. Rome’s vast imperial infrastructure transformed – and in some cases, ravaged – the lands of Europe, North Africa, and the Levant on a scale never before seen (mining, water diversion, road-building). At the same time, Romans cultivated natural beauty in poetry (Virgil, Horace), gardens (villas in Pompeii), and the visual arts (paintings for the Roman empress Livia, zoological mosaics from Algeria). This course is for students interested in the relationship between environmental history and the arts, and the debates that arise when a society expands the possibilities for human agency. All texts will be available in English translation. The course is open to all interested students. *Note: For students with advanced Latin, this seminar will involve an additional weekly meeting (1 hour, time TBD) devoted to reading texts in the original language. Students in the Latin reading section will get credit for translation work in lieu of certain writing requirements in the seminar.*

 

Cross-listed Courses:

 

Ancient Art of the Mediterranean World

 

Professor:

Anne Chen

 

Course Number:

ARTH 136

CRN Number:

90065

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Olin 102

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

 

Crosslists:

Classical Studies; Middle Eastern Studies

 

Dura-Europos and the Problems of Archaeological Archives (Part 1)

 

Professor:

Anne Chen

 

Course Number:

ARTH 318

CRN Number:

90066

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Olin 301

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

 

Crosslists:

Classical Studies; Experimental Humanities; Human Rights; Middle Eastern Studies

 

Early Greek Thinking

 

Professor:

Jay Elliott

 

Course Number:

PHIL 212

CRN Number:

90358

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Olin 308

 

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

 

Crosslists:

Classical Studies

 

Classical Languages: Greek

For advanced Latin and Greek, please see the 300-level Classics courses listed above.

 

Beginning Ancient Greek

 

Professor:

James Romm

 

Course Number:

GRE 101

CRN Number:

90100

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue Wed Thurs    8:50 AM - 9:50 AM Olin Languages Center 206

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

This course teaches students at the beginners’ level the fundamentals of the ancient Greek language. Spoken and written for many centuries in mainland Greece, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, ancient Greek was the language of the Iliad and Odyssey, Sappho, Greek tragedy, Plato and Aristotle, the Septuagint, and even innovative genres like the ancient Greek novels. In this first semester of a two-semester sequence, students will begin to learn Attic Greek, the language spoken in and around Athens. The approach foregrounds reading original (and slightly modified) Greek literary texts and primary documents with an emphasis on grammar and syntax; by the end of the sequence, students will be ready to read most Greeks texts in the original. No prior experience is expected (students with prior experience of Greek should consult with the teaching faculty).

 

Intermediate Greek

 

Professor:

James Romm David Ungvary

 

Course Number:

GRE 201

CRN Number:

90101

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

        -  

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

This course will continue the readings and exercises from the point reached by Greek 102 in Spring '24. (Students with Greek from some other source may enroll in the class after speaking with Prof. Romm about placement). By the semester's end we will be reading unadapted selections from Homer, Euripides and Herodotus. Meeting days and times will be arranged with the participants after registration.

 

Classical Languages: Latin

For advanced Latin and Greek, please see the 300-level Classics courses listed above.

 

Beginning Latin I

 

Professor:

Lauren Curtis

 

Course Number:

LAT 101

CRN Number:

90112

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue Wed Thurs    8:50 AM - 9:50 AM Olin Languages Center 210

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

This course introduces students to the Latin language. Spoken and written for many centuries, first at Rome and then across the Roman Empire from Britain to Syria, Latin has shaped the history of English and many other living languages today. In this first semester of a two-semester sequence, you will learn classical Latin using new course materials specially designed by Bard faculty. They combine engaging introductory texts with selections of original Latin written by a diverse array of Romans, including women, enslaved people, and literary authors such as Livy, Virgil, and Ovid. A focus on reading comprehension and grammar is combined with an emphasis on understanding the Latin language within its cultural and historical contexts. By the end of the full-year sequence, you will have learned the fundamentals of Latin and will be ready to read original texts in full. The course is for complete beginners and has no prerequisites (if you have previous experience with Latin, you should consider Latin 201 and consult with the teaching faculty).

 

Politics, Poetry, and Love in Republican Rome

 

Professor:

TBA

 

Course Number:

LAT 201

CRN Number:

90584

Class cap:

16

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

  Mon Wed        11:50 AM – 1:10 PM  Reem Kayden Center 115

 

Distributional Area:

FL Foreign Languages and Lit  

Designed for students reading continuous Latin for the first time, this course focuses on readings from the poetry of Catullus and from Cicero's defense speech of 56 BCE, the Pro Caelio. Composed in the dying days of the Roman Republic, these texts offer insights into the intersection of political power, public speech, literary culture, gender relations, and shifting morals in the first century BCE. We will combine grammar review with an emphasis on developing reading fluency in both poetry and prose. We will also consider questions of literary style, language and rhetoric, and will situate these authors within their cultural and historical context. Open to students who have completed Latin 102 or 106 at Bard or its equivalent elsewhere. Students with high-school Latin are welcome to enroll but should consult with Prof. Curtis, [email protected]