91700

CLAS / LIT 145 The Iliad of Homer: An Intensive Reading

Daniel Mendelsohn

. T . . .

1:30 3:50 pm

RKC 103

ELIT

This course will consist of an intensive reading of Homers Iliad over the course of a single semester. The course, which mimics the design of a graduate seminara single, two-and-a-half-hour meeting each week, focusing on in-depth discussion and textual explication, with a heavy emphasis on how to write critically about a literary textis designed to introduce first-year students to more profound and sophisticated techniques of reading and thinking about texts than they will have thus far encountered. After two prefatory sessions, in which students will be introduced to the large issues particular both to this genre (the archaic Greek world, oral composition, the Homeric Question) and to this particular text (the epic cycle, the heroic code, violence and warfare, the clash of civilizations, East vs. West, the role of the gods in human history), we will read through the epic at a rate of two books per week. Throughout, students will be introduced, by means of excerpts and shorter articles, to the arc of the scholarly tradition, especially with respect to the Homeric Question: from Wolfs Prolegomenon to Homer to M. L. Wests recent argument that the Iliad was, in fact, written down by a single author/poet. Two summary sessions will conclude the semester as we (a) look at the classical heritage of the Iliad (the Aeneid, especially) and then (b) look back at the broad literary and cultural issues raised by this essential document of the Western tradition, and look at some modern adaptations (Logues War Music, for instance; also attempts to dramatize the Iliadand why they so often fail). A premium will be placed on student participation in class discussion, and each student will be asked to present a book of the poem (focusing on structural analysis, interpretative issues, etc.) to the class. At least three papers, midterm, final exam. This course is designed for First-Year Students.

91242

CLAS 231 Life and Literature in the Age of Augustus

Benjamin Stevens

M . W . .

8:30 -9:50 am

OLIN 204

HUM

An exploration of the Age of Augustus at Rome as represented in the period's literature. Readings, all in English translation, are drawn from poets including Virgil (epic), Horace (lyric), and Ovid (elegy and epic), and from prose authors including Livy and Tacitus (historiography), Suetonius (biography), and the emperor himself (autobiography). Time permitting, some consideration may be given to our authors' influence on the Western literary tradition, including their rich history of translation into English. No prerequisites, but some preference will be given to students in Classical Studies or Literature. Class size: 22

91237

CLAS 242 Classical Mythology

William Mullen

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 204

FLLC

This course will introduce students to selected myths of ancient Greece and Rome, through texts in a variety of genresepic, lyric, dramatic, ancient prose summaries. Selections will be made along the lines of a few of the principal activities in which gods, heroes and mortals all engage and can thus be compared, e.g. war (in the sky and on the earth); speech (the way gods are shown addressing mortals and the actual hymns and prayers in which the ancients addressed their gods); love (everything from lust and rape to affection and amorousness, between gods and humans as well as within each group). Readings (all in English translation) are largely of primary texts from Greek and Roman literature, with occasional texts for comparison from two other sets of cultures: first, the Indo-European cousins of the Greeks and Romans, e.g. Sanskrit, Norse and Irish texts; second, the complex Near Eastern civilizations with whom they interacted, primarily Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts. Along the way, we shall examine and practice deploying various theoretical approaches to myth: psychological, ritual, structuralist, ideological, catastrophist, environmentalist. No previous background is required. Class size: 15

91244

CLAS 326 Afterlives of Antiquity: Paradise Lost and its Classics

Benjamin Stevens

. T . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 305

HUM/DIFF

How does a work engage with 'classics', and how might it bring its own 'classics' into being? What does it mean for us to read a work whose knowledge of a literary tradition or 'canon' far surpasses our own? In this seminar we seek to respond to these questions by examining John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost and by exploring its engagement with five points along a main line in the Western literary tradition: the Bible, Homers Iliad and Odyssey, Virgils Aeneid, and Ovids Metamorphoses. All readings in English. Prerequisite: moderated junior standing, esp. in Classical Studies or Literature; prior knowledge of Paradise Lost or of one or more of our five traditional points could be helpful but is not assumed. This course fulfills the Literature program's junior seminar requirement. Class size: 14

ANCIENT GREEK

91219

GRE 101 Basic Greek I

Carolyn Dewald

M T W Th .

10:30 - 11:30 am

OLIN 304

FLLC

In this two-part course, Greek grammar and fundamental vocabulary are introduced, with attention given to pronunciation and recitation of poetry and prose. Reading includes significant passages from Homer and important classical Greek authors, in Greek. Students with high school Greek are welcome and should see the instructor about placement. Class size: 18

91220

GRE 201 Intermediate Greek: The Historian and the Dramatist

Carolyn Dewald

M . W . . . . . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm 1:30 -2:30 pm

OLIN 307 OLIN 307

FLLC

Herodotus was the first historian and is often called 'the father of history'; we will read the earliest portion of his text, exploring "the causes why Greeks and barbarians went to war with one another" in the Persian Wars of 481-479 BCE. We will also continue reading the Alcestis of Euripides, and will explore ways in which Herodotus and Euripides were both important participants in what we still call "The Greek Enlightenment." Throughout the semester, we will continue to review grammar, syntax, and morphology to help strengthen command of the language. Prerequisite:one year of classical Greek. Class size: 15

91341

GRE 301 Advanced Greek: The Historian and the Dramatist

Carolyn Dewald

M . W . . . . . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm 1:30 -2:30 pm

OLIN 307 OLIN 307

FLLC

See above. Class size: 5

LATIN

91235

LAT 101 Beginning Latin I

James Romm

M T W Th .

10:30 - 11:30 am

OLIN 310

FLLC

This two-semester sequence is designed to bring students with no prior knowledge of Latin to the level of reading ancient poetry and prose. In the first semester we will focus on grammatical exercises and drills, but gradually work toward reading short selections from classical Roman and medieval literature. Class size: 15

91259

LAT 201 Intermediate Latin: Caesar, Catullus, Lucretius

James Romm

. T . Th .

11:50 1:10 pm

OLIN 304

FLLC

This class will build reading proficiency by focusing on the prose and poetry of the Late Republican period. Grammar drill and review will accompany selections from the three great stylists of the 60's and 50's B.C. Students with high-school Latin are welcome to enroll but should consult with the instructor. Class size: 10

91239

LAT 301 Advanced Latin: Horace

William Mullen

M . W . .

3:10 -4:30 pm

RKC 200

FLLC

We will read samples of all four genres Horace chose to work in at successive phases of his literary life, which spanned from the uncertainty of the late phases of the Civil War to an eminence and security so great under Augustus that when the Princeps asked him to be his personal secretary Horace modestly declined, preferring to continue composing verses on his Sabine farm. Thus we will read a few Epodes and Satires, then many of the Odes, and finally one or two of the great final Epistles. Much attention will be paid to the poets positioning of his own persona over against that of chosen Greek predecessors, most notably Alcaeus in lyric poetry, and his virtuoso transformation of Greek lyric meters into Roman equivalents with their own differentiating weight and wit. Since many students will have read recently the two other great Augustan writers, Vergil and Livy, we will pause at a few points to take the literary measure of The Age of Augustus, and to that end will look at the varying points of view on that phenomenon from a range of scholars. As final treat, we will survey the prodigious variety of masterful English translations, from Elizabethan times to the present, of Horace into English, most the odes. Class size: 8

91240

LAT 404 Horace

William Mullen

M . W . .

3:10 -4:30 pm

RKC 200

FLLC

See above. Class size: 5

91523

ARTH 227 Roman Urbanism

Diana Minsky

. T . Th .

4:40 -6:00 pm

OLIN 102

AART

91331

HIST 2110 The Early Middle Ages

Alice Stroup

. T . Th .

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 308

HIST

91335

HIST 300 Major Conference: Creating History

Carolyn Dewald

. T . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 101

HIST

91382

REL 140 Sanskrit

Richard Davis

. T W Th .

9:00 - 10:00 am

OLIN 101

FLLC