98240 |
CLAS / HIST 157 The Athenian Century |
James Romm |
. T . Th . |
9:00
-10:20 am |
PRE
101 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: History In
the fifth century BCE, Athens dramatically developed from a small, relatively
unimportant city-state into a dominant power in the Aegean basin. Athenian political, artistic, literary, and
intellectual traditions continue to reverberate through the world today:
democracy, tragedy and comedy, rhetoric, philosophy, and history itself, as
well as the classical style of sculpture and architecture stem from this
remarkable culture. The course will
confront some of the ambiguities and tensions (slavery, exclusion of women and
non-citizens from political power), as well as the glories, of Athenian art,
literature, and history during this period.
98236 |
CLAS 226 Virgil, Augustine, Dante |
Joseph Luzzi / Benjamin Stevens |
. T . Th . |
1:00
-2:20 pm |
OLIN
202 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Italian, Literature An intensive study of Virgil's Aeneid (published c. 19
BCE), Augustine's Confessions (c.
CE 397), and Dante's Divine
Comedy (completed c. CE 1321). Although the texts span centuries and
disparate cultures, they are a natural triad whose readings richly harmonize
with each other and whose reading, all together, raises fundamental questions
for literature, literary history, and the humanities. In this course we explore
not only the lines of continuity between ancient and more modern cultures, but
also the ways in which Augustine and Dante refashioned their literary
inheritance -- specifically Virgilian, more generally Greco-Roman -- in light
of the changing concerns of their times. In general we ask, How may the present
sympathize with the past, or the modern world draw inspiration from antiquity, in
light of changed worldviews and premises, or promises, that no longer seem
relevant or valid? Our topics include tradition, innovation, and literary
translation; natural mortality, and immortality in culture; the past and its
relationship to the present and future; piety or duty and desire; the
capacity of art to capture lived experience, and the tendency to read
experience as art; free will, fate, and grace; the changing status
and purpose of language and literature over time; and the human struggle, both
individual and social, to live in and leave behind a meaningful world. In
addition to the three primary texts, we consider select scholarship, criticism,
and 'creative' responses to them. All readings in English; optional concurrent
tutorials on select passages in the original Latin and/or Italian. No
prerequisites.