Courses listed as Classics (CLAS) are entirely in English and require no knowledge of an ancient language. Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit all involve the study of the language itself.

Unlike the American and French revolutions, the Roman revolution transformed the state from a republican government, in which both the aristocracy and the people participated, into a system of one-man rule begun by Augustus, the first emperor, but prepared by Marius, Sulla and Julius Caesar. The transformation was felt throughout society, in the realms of literature and art as well as politics. This course will utilize a cross-disciplinary perspective to provide an in-depth examination of this crucial period in history, from approximately 120 BCE to 70 CE. In addition to the great authors of Latin literature, such as Vergil, Catullus, Ovid and Cicero, we will be studying the art and monuments of Rome in order to acquire a deeper understanding of Roman culture during this crucial transitional period. All readings will be in English.

This course is designed as an introduction to the civilization of Ancient Greece from the Bronze Age up to the beginnings of the classical period of Fifth Century Athens, and hence as a complement that can be taken before or after Classics 101, The Rise and Fall of Athens. It will combine material offered by art and archaeology with the reading of original texts as sources and will give equal emphasis to political and social history. After a survey of the earliest archaeological record, we will examine in turn the rise of the elaborate palatial states of the Bronze Age, the societies immortalized in the Homeric epics, as well as the two predominant city-states of the historic period, Athens and Sparta. The course will conclude with an examination of the first Pan-Hellenic effort, the war with Persia in the beginning of the Fifth Century BCE. Throughout the course, we will address problems such as the relationship between the Homeric epics and archaeology, the elusive "Minoan matriarchy", the relationship between the Aegean and the societies of Egypt and the Near East, and the role played by religion in each of these societies. We will also be examining the rise of social institutions such as the emergence of the citizen-soldier elite in Sparta, the transition to democracy in Athens, and the creation of social hierarchies based on wealth, gender, and occupational status. Where sources permit, we will also address the early Greek conception of "the other": slaves vs. free, women vs. men, foreign vs. Greek. No prerequisites. All texts read in English.

The "world war" described in Homer's Iliad left in its wake the problems of reconstruction: How to restore an ordered society, heal the rifts between soldiers and their families, and lament the losses suffered by both male combatants and female victims. This course will read a series of texts that pick up where the Iliad leaves off, including the Odyssey, the Oresteia of Aeschylus and other tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, and various historical and philosophic texts from the classical Greek world. Students are expected to be familiar with the Iliad. Two medium-length papers will be required.

This course will introduce students to the major myths of ancient Greece and Rome. The main goal will be for the student to gain an easy familiarity with the myths in thematic contexts (the creation of the world and humanity, the origin of the distinction between male and female, etc). Readings (all in English translation) are largely of primary texts from Greek and Roman literature, though I also plan to bring in comparanda from other cultures, especially ancient India and the Near East. We shall explore the use of myth in the arts (mainly literature, but also painting and sculpture) and in cult. Along the way, we shall examine and practice deploying various theoretical approaches to myth, including psychoanalytic and structuralist methodologies. No previous background is required.

A course in the theory and practice of public speaking, with equal emphasis on both aspects and with one meeting per week devoted to each. As practice the course will ask students to give speeches in various genres, from presentation of information before small groups, to formal addresses recommending courses of action to deliberative assemblies. Videos of the speeches given will be used in the process of critiquing them. As theory the course will study the texts of actual orations and of theoretical treatises on the nature of rhetoric, by Greek, Roman, English and American authors and orators such as Demosthenes, Aristotle, Cicero, Churchill, and Martin Luther King. The emphasis will be on rhetoric as embodied not in written documents but in the spoken word itself. Some time will be spent with tapes and videos of important speeches of the last century. Enrollment will be limited to nine students in order to give enough time for each student to practice speaking each week.

The meanings to be seen in athletics have stirred the meditations of poets in many different cultures and genres. This course will study the strange intersections of the physical, the social and the sacred we still recognize in sports. We will allot equal time to three different sets of readings: 1) victory odes for the ancient Greek games, principally those of Pindar, often considered the greatest lyric poet of the West; 2) case studies of the wedding of poetry to athletics in other cultures around the world, as in songs for the Hawaiian royal surfing festivals and tales of the foundational ball game in the Mayan "Popol Vuh"; 3) an anthology of sports poetry in 19th and 20th century Europe and America. In all three parts we will read not only the poems themselves but also some scholarship by sports historians on the particular athletic events they reflect. All readings will be in English, and no prerequisites are necessary.