Introduces students to basic elements of ancient Greek grammar and syntax; emphasizes the development of reading proficiency and includes readings, both adapted and in the original, of various Greek authors. Focuses on Attic dialect.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

A continuation of Greek 1101; introduces students to more complex grammar and syntax, while emphasizing the development of reading proficiency. Includes readings, both adapted and in the original, of Greek authors such as Plato and Euripides. Focuses on Attic dialect.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

A review of the essentials of Greek grammar and syntax and an introduction to the reading of Greek prose through the study of one of Plato’s dialogues. Equivalent of Greek 1102 or two to three years of high school Greek is required.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

An introduction to the poetry of Homer. Focuses both on reading and on interpreting Homeric epic. All materials and coursework in Greek.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester

Introduces students to three major types of early Greek poetry: Choral Lyric (Pindar and Bacchylides), Monodic Lyric (Sappho, Alcaeus, Simonides, and Anacreon), and Elegy (Archilochus, Tyrtaeus, Solon, Xenophanes, Simonides, and Theognis). Research Seminar.

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Focuses on the histories of Herodotus or Thucydides. Course may be repeated for credit if the contents change. Research seminar.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

Examines the genre of ancient Greek comedy through the close reading of one play in Greek and additional plays in translation. Considers the history, structure, language and performance of Greek comic plays, the role of comedy in Athenian society, and definitions of comedy and the comic. Explores issues such as comic critiques of contemporary social and political problems, the connection between humor and violence, and questions of universality and specificity in comic humor.

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Introduces the genre of tragedy through the reading of Sophocles' play “Philoctetes.” Considers the nature of tragedy, the particular style and interests of Sophocles, the place of the play within Sophocles' works, his relationship to other tragedians, and the role of theater in classical Athens. Several other tragedies read in translation. Final portion devoted to a production of a section of the play in Greek.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester

Examines Greek literature of the Alexandrian Age, the period after the Alexandrian conquest of much of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Mesopotamian regions, when the Greeks had established new centers of their culture and society in other lands, such as Assyria and Egypt. It was an era of innovation and at the same time intense engagement with the past. Writers of this period, also known as the Hellenistic Period, such as Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Theocritus, looked to the past to maintain and ensure their Greek cultural identity, even as they interacted with the new cultures and societies around them. The course seeks to determine the specific “Hellenistic” qualities of different literary works, investigating both their links to the past and their participation in contemporary Mediterranean cultures.