Classics (CLA)

CLA 101. Greek and Roman Mythology. 3 Credit Hours.

The major political, cultural, and social themes that appear in Greek and Roman mythology, examining literary and material evidence.
Requisite: Not Allow Enrollment in CLA 220 if already Enrolled/Took CLA 219.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 102. Writing on Greek and Roman Mythology. 3 Credit Hours.

A companion writing course for students enrolled in CLA 220, Greek and Roman Mythology.
Requisite: Not Allow Enrollment in CLA 219 if already Enrolled/Took CLA 220.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 105. Greek Civilization. 3 Credit Hours.

This course introduces key concepts, events, and personalities of Greek culture.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 106. Roman Civilization. 3 Credit Hours.

Introduces key concepts, events, and personalities of ancient Roman culture.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 210. The Greek and Latin Roots of English. 3 Credit Hours.

Equips students with the tools needed to analyze and understand the meanings of English words with Ancient Greek and Latin roots. Special attention will be paid to legal and medical terminology.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 211. Medical Terminology. 3 Credit Hours.

Medical Terminology is an introduction to the international vocabulary of medical science derived from Ancient Greek and Latin. We will approach this topic linguistically, beginning with the roots of ancient words and examining the rules and techniques by which Greek and Latin elements (prefixes, suffixes, and stems) are constructed into medical and scientific vocabularies. We will also look at some of the intellectual contributions of Graeco-Roman civilization to modern science and medicine.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 221. Sports and Society in the Ancient World. 3 Credit Hours.

The role of sports in ancient Greek and Roman culture. Topics covered include: Mycenean bull-Jumping; athletic events in Homer; the Olympic games; chariot racing and gladiatorial combat at Rome; and the connection between public athletics and religion. Students learn to interpret literary and iconographic evidence, and study architectural remains such as the stadium at Olympia. the Circus Maximus, and the Colosseum.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 222. Sexuality and Gender in the Ancient World. 3 Credit Hours.

Basic questions of sexuality and gender in ancient Greece and Rome: What does it mean to be male or female? What can we discover about ourselves from the way(s) we have sex? How are all these things related to life, love, power?
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 224. The Heroic Journey. 3 Credit Hours.

The figure of the Hero On a Journey has long captivated the minds of story- tellers and audiences. This motif, known as "The Monomyth," speaks the profoundest hopes and fears of humankind. This course will examine the Monomyth as it occurs particularly in the classical tradition from Gilgamesh to Tolkien.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 225. Magic and the Occult in Antiquity. 3 Credit Hours.

A broad sweep of evidence for magic and the occult in the ancient Mediterranean world. The focus is Graeco-Roman Egypt, renowned in antiquity for occult arts such as divination, daemonology, astrology, and alchemy. The primary sources analyzed are diverse, and include magical formulae, manuals, recipes, curses, philosophical writings, and literary accounts, in particular those by Lucian and Apuleius, purporting to provide true tales of magic.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 226. Greek and Roman Art. 3 Credit Hours.

The course is an introduction to ancient Greek and Roman art within its socio-political and religious context. It includes a survey of stylistic movements, elements of architecture, and a brief historical background for each period outlined in the syllabus.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 231. Sciences in Ancient Greece and Rome. 3 Credit Hours.

The beginnings of scientific investigation in ancient Greece and its development and codification under the Roman Empire.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 232. Ancient Greek and Roman Law. 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines selected trials from ancient Greece and Rome both as a way to understand these legal systems in themselves and as a way to explore the cultures, values, and biases that shaped them.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 233. Ancient Medicine. 3 Credit Hours.

Provides a historical survey of evidence, practices, and ideas from the world of ancient medicine.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 243. Ancient Politics: Theory and Practice in Greece and Rome. 3 Credit Hours.

Introduces key concepts and models of Greek and Roman Statecraft, including the polis democracy, the Republic and the Empire.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall Even Years.

CLA 246. Ancient Rhetorical Theory. 3 Credit Hours.

The historical development of, and key topics in, theories of persuasive communication developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 271. Ancient Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

What is knowledge, and how can it be known? Why be moral? What is justice? What is the good life? If we really have free will, can there be such a thing as destiny? In what does friendship consist? What exactly is love? What is the meaning of death? These and other questions were addressed powerfully by the ancient Greeks and Romans. This course will explore such crucial philosophical themes, along with the actual method(s) of inquiry that the ancients devised for examining them. Major figures such as Plato and Aristotle will be featured, along with fragments of the Presocratics and selections from other ancient philosophers.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 301. Ancient Greece. 3 Credit Hours.

Greek civilization from the Late Bronze Age to the end of Greek independence at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C.E.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall Odd Years.

CLA 302. The Hellenistic Age. 3 Credit Hours.

Conquests of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture in the Near East under Alexander's successors until the death of Cleopatra in 31 B.C.E.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 303. The Roman Republic. 3 Credit Hours.

Roman civilization from the establishment of the Republic until the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall Even Years.

CLA 304. The Roman Empire. 3 Credit Hours.

Roman civilization from the reign of Augustus in 37 B.C.E. to the Fall of Rome in 476 C.E.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring Even Years.

CLA 305. What is a Classic?. 3 Credit Hours.

An explanation of what it means to designate a work of art as 'a classic', in our own culture as well as in other times and places. In order to arrive at a more sophisticated understanding of the category, readings will be chosen from a variety of texts, selected from the world's treasury of acknowledged 'classics,' beginning from the canon of ancient Greek and Roman literature that for many centuries has been the touchstone of Western civilization.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 310. Survey of Ancient Greek Literature and Culture. 3 Credit Hours.

Classical Greek culture, paying special attention to Greek literature from Homer to Aristotle. It is intended to lay a foundation for understanding how Hellenic thought and art influenced the development of all subsequent Western culture. All texts will be read in English translation.
Components: SEM.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 311. Survey of Classical Latin Literature and Culture. 3 Credit Hours.

A broad introduction (in English translation) to the literature of the Roman Republic and Empire. The Greek heritage behind Latin literature will be highlighted. Readings will be chosen from authors such as Catullus, Cicero, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Juvenal, Tacitus, and Suetonius, and from genres such as epic and lyric poetry, oratory, history and satire.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 315. The Classical Epic Tradition. 3 Credit Hours.

The course treats the rise and development of the Western epic tradition from Homer, Lucretius, and Virgil in the classical world, through Dante in the Middle Ages, Milton in the Renaissance, and Wordsworth and Eliot in modernity.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring & Summer.

CLA 322. Monsters and Fantastical Creatures in Western Antiquity and Other Cultures. 3 Credit Hours.

An explanation of the notion of the "monster" and the "fantastic creature" in a range of literary and visual representations from classical antiquity (the Greek and Roman World) and other cultures from various time periods. Starting with Hesiod's "Catalogue of Monsters" we examine the following questions: Whose mental projection is embodied in a given monster? Are there different categories of monsters? What does the monster represent? What fears does the monster crystallize?
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 323. The Ancient World on Screen. 3 Credit Hours.

How do we represent the ancient Greeks and Romans in modern media? What happens to the books the ancients wrote when these are turned into modern films, TV shows or video games?
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring & Summer.

CLA 324. Classical Myth and Contemporary Art. 3 Credit Hours.

The use, adaptation, transformation, and re-figuring of Classical myth in contemporary art. The artwork will range from photographs to installations and videos. We will use theories drawn from both art criticism and literary criticism. Female artists and post-feminist theory will figure prominently as a way to bring a broader perspective to a scrutiny of the marked gender imbalance in Classical myth.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 325. The Vampire in Folklore, Fiction, and Film. 3 Credit Hours.

By pondering the role of vampires and other such monsters, in folklore, fiction, and film, this course attempts to ponder such fundamental questions as "What does it mean to be human?" and "What are the implications of death?" The tradition will be traced from its earliest antecedents in the ancient world to its latest manifestations in current fiction and screen media.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Summer.

CLA 326. What Does it Mean to be Human. 3 Credit Hours.

Questions of Artificial Intelligence, the Singularity, Superintelligence, and Robotics capture our imaginations (and sometimes stir profound anxiety and fear). But are these technological developments merely phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries? Or are the key issues entailed already adumbrated in the literatures and cultures of the ancient Greeks and Romans? This course explores the parameters of that most-fundamental question of the Humanities: What does it mean to be human? Is 'human' a discrete category with well-defined boundaries, or have fuzzy logic and the dizzying pace of technological percentage a human body must be organically/naturally produced (as opposed to mechanically/technologically engineered) in order to be considered human. The course will entail reading assignments from the Greek and Roman classics (in English translation); weekly screenings of movies (including television programs); and in -class discussion.
Components: SEM.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 327. Heroes Ancient and Modern. 3 Credit Hours.

'What is a hero?' Throughout time and across a variety of cultures, beginning with the ancient Greeks various types or categories of 'hero' are considered from these cultures, including the classical model of the aristocratic hêrôs; the Monomyth Hero (most famously formulated by Joseph Campbell); Public & Private Heroes; the Tragic Hero; the Comic Hero; the Antihero; the so-called 'Dark Hero'; and the modern 'Superhero.' Key elements will include the relations between [a] the heroic and the divine, and [b] the notion of the hero and the concepts of social and civic leadership in the 21st century.
Components: SEM.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 340. Greek Tragedy. 3 Credit Hours.

Readings in English of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.

CLA 341. Comedy in Ancient Athens and Rome. 3 Credit Hours.

The comic plays of the ancient Greeks and Romans in English translation. The focus is close reading and analysis of plays by Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence, with a view to their socio-political, cultural, and historical milieu. The final weeks are devoted to reception of these works by Shakespeare and Molière.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 360. Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity. 3 Credit Hours.

The lives of women in ancient Greece and Rome. The historical panorama extends from the Mycenaean period ca. 1200 BC to the end of the Roman Empire in the West, 476 AD. The role and influence of Women as mothers and wives in controI of the household will be examined In detail. Other themes such as Iove, death, marriage, divorce, legal and social status, foreign women, spinsters, wise women such as Diotima and Aspasia, Women in the arts and women of power, these will be considered through a close study of historical and literary texts as well as material culture.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.

CLA 370. Self and Other in the Ancient World. 3 Credit Hours.

The course examines Greek and Roman depictions of outsiders in a wide range of ancient texts and material sources.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 372. Greek Religion. 3 Credit Hours.

Examines the religious thought and practice of the ancient Greek-speaking world from the Bronze Age to the first century CE. Major topics include ritual, sacrifice, prayer, chthonic and sky deities, oracles, and mystery-cults. Students will learn to interpret primary source material, such as the epic poems of the archaic period, the so-called Homeric Hymns, and objects of material culture.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 373. Religions of Rome. 3 Credit Hours.

The religious practices of ancient Romans. Major topics include the machinery or state cult, the importation of foreign divinities to Rome, the deification of emperors, and Roman attitudes towards the Christians. Students will learn to interpret primary source material, such as the writings of Varro, Cicero, the historians, and St. Augustine, and archeological evidence
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.

CLA 401. Special Topics in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific author, topic or text (appearing as a subtitle). Required readings will be in English. Analogous to REL 404-409 courses.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 402. Special Topics in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific author, topic or text (appearing as a subtitle). Required readings will be in English. Analogous to REL 404-409 courses.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 403. Special Topics in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific author, topic or text (appearing as a subtitle). Required readings will be in English. Analogous to REL 404-409 courses.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 404. Special Projects in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific project in Classics (appearing as a subtitle). Analogous to REL 407-409.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 405. Special Projects in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific project in Classics (appearing as a subtitle). Analogous to REL 407-409.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 406. Special Projects in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific project in Classics (appearing as a subtitle). Analogous to REL 407-409.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 422. Aristophanes. 3 Credit Hours.

Readings from Aristophanes' plays in the original Ancient Greek.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.

CLA 491. Directed Reading in Classics. 1-3 Credit Hours.

Content to be determined by faculty member and registering student(s).
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 492. Directed Reading in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific author, topic or text (appearing as a subtitle). Analogous to REL 401-403 courses and to (existing)CLA 491.
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 493. Directed Reading in Classics. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will address a specific author, topic or text (appearing as a subtitle). Analogous to REL 401-403 courses and to (existing) CLA 491.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 495. Senior Thesis I. 3 Credit Hours.

Part I of the project or thesis normally completed in the senior year.
Components: THE.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 496. Senior Thesis II. 3 Credit Hours.

Part II of the project or thesis normally completed in the senior year.
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 505. Seminar in Ancient Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Topics in Greek and Roman studies.
Components: SEM.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.

CLA 605. Graduate Seminar in Ancient Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

A graduate-level seminar focused on various topics in Classical history, literature and culture.
Requisite: Graduate Standing.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.

CLA 691. Direct Readings in Classical Studies for Graduate Students. 3 Credit Hours.

Graduate students will pursue supervised, directed readings on various classical topics.
Requisite: Graduate Standing.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.