Key - General Education Requirements, School of Arts and Sciences

Key - Basic Skills Requirements, School of Arts and Sciences

I   Workshop in Composition
A  Algebra

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CLASS Courses 2097

This course will survey the major achievements of ancient Greek civilization. Arranged on a roughly chronological basis, the readings and lectures will move from the epic poetry of Greece's heroic Bronze Age, through the great intellectual innovations of the Archaic Age, to the Classical era dominated by the contrasting contributions of Sparta and Athens. Although the social and economic background will not be neglected, the chief emphasis will be placed on those aspects of Greek civilization that have retained a perennial significance for Western society, its literature, its politics, its historical writing, its philosophy, its art and architecture.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

Beginning as a small farming settlement situated alongside the Tiber river, Rome rose to become one of the greatest civilizations in human history, which spread its influence over much of the western world. In addition to careful investigation into the social, political, military, and economic organization of Rome as it developed from a monarchy through a republic and into an empire, the class will examine the art, architecture, literature, religion, culture, and daily life of the city across the spectrum of social classes. The class will utilize the large body of surviving Roman literature, including histories, poetry, and personal letters (in translation), as well as visual aids, such as slides and films, to create a living picture of whom the Romans were. Class time will be used for lectures as well as student lead discussion.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

Our subject will be the traditional stories--myths, legends, and folktales--of the Greeks and Romans. Traditional stories are ones that, by virtue of some compelling attraction, manage to survive from generation to generation, so our main task will be to discover just what that 'compelling attraction' was. The creation of the universe, the first woman Pandora, the Twelve Gods and Goddesses, the theft of fire by Prometheus, Helen and the Trojan War, the foundation of Rome by Aeneas, and Ovid's fanciful metamorphoses are examples of the stories from our modern illustrated reader Classical Myth by Barry B. Powell. By way of providing a context for our stories, the instructor will also devote much attention to such topics as popular belief and superstition, cult rituals, sanctuaries of the gods, oracles and prophets, the conceptualization of male and female, sexuality, and the social and cultural basis of myth in general. Throughout, we shall examine the many theories about the meaning of traditional stories from antiquity down to our own day.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

Writing students will fulfill the requirements of the College Writing Board by submitting a paper in draft form, to be revised and resubmitted in line with its evaluation by the instructor.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

This course will introduce classical mythology through careful reading of several ancient literary works, which preserve the stories we call myths. The course has three basic goals: Students will read the basic myths and be able to recount what happens to whom. Second, they will learn to describe the subject of myth in terms of basic categories, which give this initially amorphous body of material order and definition. Finally, students will learn to explain and illustrate different ways of finding meaning in these myths for themselves. This is a Self–Paced course. Workshop attendance is strongly advised. Workshop meetings will be held on: 5/16/2009, 6/13/2009, and 7/18/2009.

Prerequisite(s): none

Check with the department on how often this course is offered.

Preeminent among our sources for the rich mythological tradition of classical antiquity are the literary works, including epic, dramatic, and lyric poetry, which transformed and continued that tradition. Within a broad survey of the wealth of that literature, this course will focus on selected texts of Greek authors of the archaic and classical periods, tracing the span of a transition from oral to written literature. In following this development, we shall explore in some detail the various uses to which traditional tales were put, the attitudes these authors had toward their own literary activity, and the enduring power and significance their works have had for succeeding generations ever since.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

This course will survey the history of ancient Greece from the Minoan civilization in the second millennium BC to the end of the Classical Period in the 4th century BC. We will investigate the major political, intellectual, economic and social factors that contributed to the nature and development of Greek history. We will pay particular attention to the Golden Age of Athens in the 5th century BC and its relations with the Persian Empire, Sparta and the other Greek city-states. Also, we will look at the many political and cultural institutions that combined to make this age unique. Finally, the course will close with the Greek's efforts to cope with the rising power of Macedon.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire and the expansion of Greek culture into western Asia marks the beginning of a new epoch in Greek history. The classical era, characterized politically by a multiplicity of small independent city-states and focused primarily on the Greek mainland and the Aegean basin, is replaced by a new age in which a few large heterogeneous nation-states dominate politically, and the whole of the near east from the Adriatic sea to the Indus river is the scene of action. The course will deal first with the career of Alexander (336 to 323 B.C.E.), then with the rise and development of the several kingdoms which were established after his death, and end with the interaction of those states with the rising power of Rome.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered infrequently.

This course is a survey of Roman history from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BCE to her zenith when her reign stretched from Britain in the West to the Tigris and Euphrates in the East and, finally, to her gradual overexpansion, mismanagement, and decline. This class will investigate Rome's transition from monarchy to republic and how Julius Caesar and a bloody civil war pushed control of the state into the hands of an emperor. As we read a modern narrative history of Rome along with the works of ancient historians, we will examine how she acquired and governed her empire; under what forms of government and under whose leadership the affairs of the Roman People were administered; and what causes led to the breakup of the Roman Empire. Class time will be devoted to lecture, visual presentations (slides, videos, Power Point) as well as student reports.

Prerequisite(s): none

This course is offered at least once a year.

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