Examines ancient religious traditions and practice through the study of artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean housed in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Students actively engage in the analysis of artifacts from Egypt, Assyria, Etruria, Greece, and Italy that represent aspects of ancient religious practice. Student writing assignments draw inspiration from select objects from the collection that include many examples of sculpture, pottery, and coins. Illustrated presentations and assigned reading provide the archaeological contexts for the artifacts under study, as well as explore the cultural narratives recounted in history and myth. Sites such as Giza, Kalhu, Delphi, Olympia, Athens, Pompeii, and Rome are explored as the settings for the rituals and myths that helped define the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

Introduces the techniques and methods of classical archaeology as revealed through an examination of Greek material culture. Emphasis upon the major monuments and artifacts of the Greek world from prehistory to the Hellenistic age. Architecture, sculpture, fresco painting, and other “minor arts” are examined at such sites as Knossos, Mycenae, Athens, Delphi, and Olympia. Considers the nature of this archaeological evidence and the relationship of classical archaeology to other disciplines such as art history, history, and classics. Assigned reading supplements illustrated presentations of the major archaeological finds of the Greek world. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Art History. (Same as: ARTH 2090)

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Surveys the material culture of Roman society, from Italy’s prehistory and the origins of the Roman state through its development into a cosmopolitan empire, and concludes with the fundamental reorganization during the late third and early fourth centuries. Lectures explore ancient sites such as Rome, Pompeii, Athens, Ephesus, and others around the Mediterranean. Emphasis upon the major monuments and artifacts of the Roman era: architecture, sculpture, fresco painting, and other minor arts. Considers the nature of this archaeological evidence and the relationship of classical archaeology to other disciplines such as art history, history, and classics. Assigned reading supplements illustrated presentations of the major archaeological finds of the Roman world. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Art History. (Same as: ARTH 2100)

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Introduces the techniques and methods of archaeology through an examination of Egyptian material culture. Emphasis is placed upon understanding the major monuments and artifacts of ancient Egypt from the prehistoric cultures of the Nile Valley through the period of Roman control. Architecture, sculpture, fresco painting, and other “minor arts” are examined at sites such as Saqqara, Giza, Thebes, Dendera, Tanis, and Alexandria. Considers the nature of this archaeological evidence, its context, and the relationship of archaeology to other disciplines such as africana studies, art history, anthropology, history, and classics. Course themes include the origins and development of complex state systems, funerary symbolism, contacts between Africa and the Mediterranean, and the expression of social, political and religious ideologies in art and architecture. Selected readings supplement illustrated presentations of the major archaeological finds of Egypt. Class meetings include artifact sessions in Bowdoin College Museum of Art. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Africana Studies. (Same as: AFRS 1105)

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester

Explores the materials, design and construction of ancient buildings and monuments from around the Mediterranean. Explores the connections between form and function using archaeological evidence from select examples of structures drawn from Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman traditions. Students trace the origins and evolution of particular architectural styles that are still in use today, including the Greek orders of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian as well as their antecedents in earlier Egyptian and Near-Eastern traditions. Examines various types of structures including houses, temples, tombs, theaters, aqueducts, and baths while considering architectural planning and design, the manner of construction, and the contexts in which buildings were commissioned, built, and used. Selected readings, including ancient texts in translation, supplement illustrated presentations of the major archaeological finds.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

Adopts a hands-on approach to the study of ancient technologies and craft production to explore how people in the past created, adopted, and used technology to interact with the environment and with one another. Ancient people engaged in ceramic production, flint napping, metallurgy, glassmaking, basketry, and textile production among other technologies. Draws on archaeological and anthropological research to illuminate social, cultural, economic, and functional reasons for the development and adoption of new technologies. Forefronts issues of community, labor, skill development, exploitation of resources, consumption, and waste. Students have opportunities to research and replicate an ancient artifact or technique. This course originates in Anthropology and is crosslisted with: Archaeology. (Same as: ANTH 2108)

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Upon his ascent to power after a century of war, Rome’s first princeps, Augustus, launched a program of cultural reformation and restoration that was to have a profound and enduring effect upon every aspect of life in the empire, from fashions in entertainment, decoration, and art, to religious and political habits and customs. Using the city of Rome as its primary text, this course investigates how the Augustan “renovation” of Rome is manifested first and foremost in the monuments associated with the ruler: the Mausoleum of Augustus, theater of Marcellus, temple of Apollo on the Palatine, Altar of Augustan Peace, and Forum of Augustus as well as many others. Understanding of the material remains themselves is supplemented by historical and literary texts dating to Augustus’s reign, as well as by a consideration of contemporary research and controversies in the field. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Archaeology. (Same as: CLAS 2202, URBS 2402)

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, the archaeological remains of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the neighboring sites around the Bay of Naples are unparalleled in their range and completeness. The study of this material record reveals a great deal about the domestic, economic, religious, social, and political life in ancient Italy. Examines archaeological, literary, and documentary material ranging from architecture and sculpture to wall painting, graffiti, and the floral remains of ancient gardens, but focuses on interpreting the archaeological record for insight into the everyday life of the Romans. In addition, explores the methods and techniques employed by archaeologists since the sites were “rediscovered” in the sixteenth century. Archaeological materials are introduced through illustrated presentations, supplementary texts, and sessions in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Surveys the early history of the Iberian peninsula through its material culture and highlights the interplay between the geography of Spain and diverse patterns of human settlement. Begins with the study of the indigenous Iberian peoples in Spain during their Late Neolithic and Bronze Ages and then examines the impact made by the arrival of traders and colonists from Phoenicia and the Greek world. Connections to Africa highlight the period of Carthaginian occupation starting in the sixth century B.C.E. and leading up to the Roman conquest in the third century B.C.E. Under Roman control the number and complexity of settlements increased and, as early as the first century B.C.E., the Spanish provincial elite began to play active roles in Roman commercial and political life. Concludes with the decline of Roman control in late antiquity and the changes for the peninsula brought about after the invasion of the Visigoths.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Focuses on the meaning and significance of artifacts, archaeology sites, monuments, and art from a diversity of perspectives. Students learn about disagreements regarding who owns antiquities and ethnographic objects. They consider the ethical, cultural, and legal considerations of where heritage materials are housed, and whether they should be published and exhibited, and if so, by whom. They examine the impact of politics, conflicts, and war on cultural heritage sites and monuments, and learn about the illegal trafficking in antiquities and art. Students wrestle with museums’ colonial legacies and consider how decolonizing practices are transforming museums and interpretations of the past. Case studies cover a broad array of museums, cultures, and nations. Readings, class discussions, visits by guest speakers, and hands-on work with objects are augmented by visits to the college’s two museums. This course originates in Anthropology and is crosslisted with: Archaeology. (Same as: ANTH 2105)

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

The Roman frontier, or 'limites' in Latin, occupied an important place in the history and imagination of the Romans. Dangerous, mysterious, but enticing, the borders of the Roman Empire were active areas of cultural and economic exchange. Examines archaeological evidence to provide a view of what was foreign to the Romans and also how Roman culture was seen by others. Traces the historical development of the Roman frontier and explores important sites from across the ancient world including Hadrian’s Wall in the United Kingdom, Palmyra and Dura Europos in Syria, Leptis Magna in Libya, Volubilis in Morocco, and Chersonesos in the Crimea. Selected readings, including ancient texts in translation, supplement illustrated presentations of the major archaeological finds. Class meetings include artifact sessions in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Explores the ancient civilizations located around the Aegean Sea during prehistory from the end of the Neolithic period to around 1000 BCE. Study focuses on the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures within their wider Mediterranean context, including their contacts with the neighboring cultures of Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, and South Italy. These Bronze Age societies left a rich material record of palaces and funerary complexes, frescoes and vase paintings, and other artifacts that together shed light on the people living around the ancient Aegean. Their culture also inspired the creation of later myths and literature (e.g., the Iliad and the Odyssey). Presentations explore ancient sites such as Thera (Santorini), Knossos, Phaistos, Mycenae, Tiryns, Hattusa, and Troy. Course themes include the origins and development of complex state systems, funerary symbolism, and the expression of social, political, and religious ideologies in art and architecture. Archaeological materials are introduced through illustrated presentations, supplementary texts, and virtual sessions in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Explores the archaeology of ancient Italy from the Neolithic period to the first century BCE, with particular emphasis on Etruscan material culture. Illustrated presentations and class discussions explore the settlement of the Italian peninsula, Sicily, and Sardinia in remote prehistoric times; the development of Iron Age Italic cultures and their contact with the Phoenicians and the Greeks; the emergence of Etruria as a dominant society in Italy; and the Etruscan influence on early Rome. Presentations explore ancient sites such as Caere (Cerveteri), Pyrgi, Tarquinia, Vulci, Orvieto, and Volterra. Artifacts and monuments including architecture, sculpture, pottery, and paintings are studied in their historical and cultural context in order to understand the evolution of early Italic society and the prominent role played by the Etruscans. Class study includes artifacts in the collections of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

Explores the unique environment of islands in the cultural development of the ancient Mediterranean. Geographically, as sites of settlement, refuge, and trade, islands helped connect the ancient Mediterranean world. Illustrated presentations and class discussions explore how island societies develop and their place in the dissemination of culture in the ancient world. Study begins in prehistory with examinations of the archaeological remains on the islands of Malta, the Cyclades, Crete, and Cyprus and continues through the Roman period to include sites such as Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Along the way, smaller island groups such as the Aeolic islands off Sicily and the Balearic Islands near Spain are explored. Artifacts and monuments including architecture, sculpture, pottery, coins, and paintings are studied in their historical and cultural context to understand the evolution of these insular societies. Study includes artifacts in the collections of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Archaeological exploration has exposed a rich array of sites and artifacts that can be experienced first-hand by an ever-growing number of visitors. This exposure has placed unprecedented pressures on countries to provide access while ensuring the protection of this important cultural heritage. Economic challenges, mass-tourism, and political strife challenge our effort to preserve the past. The heightened visibility of these remains coupled with their connections to ancient traditions has also attracted the ire of forces intent on obliterating the past. Examines the state of cultural heritage focusing on ancient sites in the Mediterranean and the Near East, including sites in Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Egypt, and Libya. Explores the factors that have placed archaeological sites in jeopardy and examines possible solutions to these challenges. Sessions in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art incorporate select examples of the ancient collection that are connected to areas of the ancient world at risk. In this setting, explores the role of museums as custodians of the past and how current events have informed the discussions around cultural patrimony.

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Surveys Greek and Roman coinage by examining a series of problems ranging chronologically from the origins of coinage in the seventh century B.C. to the late Roman Empire. How do uses of coinage in Greek and Roman society differ from those of the modern era? How does numismatic evidence inform us about ancient political and social, as well as economic, history? Classes held in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and course assignments are based on coins in the collection.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester

Explores the process, characteristics, and impact of Greek and Roman colonization in the Mediterranean world. Study covers settlements established by the Greeks beginning in the eighth century BCE, as well as colonies founded by Rome in Italy and throughout their empire. Topics include among others the motives for colonial foundations, site selection, commercial interests and economic viability, interaction with native cultures, relationship with the “mother country,” political status of the colony and their inhabitants, the founding myths of colonies, the literary and artistic accomplishments of these colonists.

Examines the importance of pottery in the archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean through the study of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman ceramics in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Ranging in date from Predynastic Egypt to the waning years of the Roman Empire, the Bowdoin collection presents over 4000 years of ceramic evidence that serves as a basis for study of ancient technology and artistic design, as well as economic and social history. Through select reading and direct analysis, students examine the techniques employed by ancient potters to shape, decorate, and fire ceramics while using tools important in the study of ceramics, including methods of scientific analysis, artifact conservation, and restoration. In addition, students contribute to the online catalogue of the ancient collection while engaging in their own original research. Classes are held in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art,with course assignments and final project based on ceramics in the collection.

For ancient cultures the art of portraiture had important religious, political, and social functions. Portraits, whether of gods, rulers, or common folk, were uniquely suited to communicate a variety of messages in a form easily recognizable to the intended audience. The success of the genre is clear from its widespread use and from the ways that it incorporated the accumulated traditions of ancient Mediterranean history. From profiles carved in relief and painted on vases to figures molded in terracotta and portraits sculpted in the round, explores a range of art representing Egyptian, Assyrian, Cypriot, Greek, and Roman cultures. Using artifacts housed in the collections of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, examines the traditions, styles, and techniques that inform the portrayals of individuals in the ancient world, and what they teach about the societies that produced them.

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

This course examines some of the fundamental problems posed in epic and tragic texts from ancient Greece and Rome: What is our responsibility to ourselves, to our families, and to our society and what is beyond our personal control? How does the society in which we are born shape our identities and our values? How can and do individuals choose to act within the constraints of social norms? We will explore these questions by focusing in particular on three concepts strikingly visible in ancient Greek and Roman epic and tragedy: shame, honor and responsibility. Texts include Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey; a selection of tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides; and the Roman poet Vergil's epic, the Aeneid.

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

Examines works of pop culture in order to address the exciting questions that emerge when ancient and modern worlds meet. For example, by examining Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its depiction of Greek philosophy, students engage difficult questions that emerge from the works of Plato, one of the most influential Athenian philosophers. Some of these questions, such as Plato’s idea that imitation and simulation lead to moral corruption, can only be answered to their fullest extent in conversation with modern media that offer immersive simulation and multi-sensory interaction. Similar approaches emerge from dialogue between ancient and modern art, which students explore through works like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Homer, as well as centuries of scholarship about the ancient world and its legacy. Students hone their writing skills while simultaneously confronting issues important both to the discipline of classics and to critics of modern films, books, and video games.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

The modern concept of the superhero is an enduring vestige of the ancient concept of the hero, the ancient Greek word used to describe men of exceptional ability. Looks at heroes and heroines in ancient literature and culture, considering a range of sources from ancient Babylon to imperial Rome. Considers the changing definition of hero, the cultural values associated with heroism, the role played by gender and sexuality in the definition of the hero, and analogues to ancient heroes in modern cinema. Examines more nebulous and problematic models for the ancient villain and considers how contrasting definitions of hero and antihero can be used to understand ancient thought concerning human nature.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

What was it like to live in the ancient Mediterranean? For hundreds of years (e.g., 200 BCE–600 CE), the answer to this question would depend, at least in part, on where someone lived and how they identified themselves in relationship to the Roman empire and its centers of power. This course examines not only what it may have been like to live within the Roman empire as a person who identified with other ancient communities, but also attempts to understand what contact with the Romans would have been like for people who lived under other ancient political systems. What were encounters with the Roman world like for those far away from Rome, for example, on trade routes that connected Rome to India? What was life like for those oppressed by Roman authority, who lived as colonized subjects or enslaved people? This course approaches these questions by directly examining ancient evidence, such as texts from within and beyond the Roman world, as well as the work of modern scholars.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester

Focuses on the mythology of the Greeks and the use of myth in classical literature. Other topics considered are recurrent patterns and motifs in Greek myths; a cross-cultural study of ancient creation myths; the relation of mythology to religion; women’s roles in myth; and the application of modern anthropological, sociological, and psychological theories to classical myth. Concludes with an examination of Ovid’s use of classical mythology in the “Metamorphoses.”

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Introduces students to the study of the literature and culture of ancient Greece. Examines different Greek responses to issues such as religion and the role of gods in human existence, heroism, the natural world, the individual and society, and competition. Considers forms of Greek rationalism, the flourishing of various literary and artistic media, Greek experimentation with different political systems, and concepts of Hellenism and barbarism. Investigates not only what is known and not known about ancient Greece, but also the types of evidence and methodologies with which this knowledge is constructed. Evidence is drawn primarily from the works of authors such as Homer, Sappho, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato, and Hippocrates, but attention is also given to documentary and artistic sources. All readings are done in translation.

Surveys the history of Greek-speaking peoples from the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1100 B.C.E) to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E. Traces the political, economic, social, religious, and cultural developments of the Greeks in the broader context of the Mediterranean world. Topics include the institution of the polis (city-state); hoplite warfare; Greek colonization; the origins of Greek science; philosophy and rhetoric; and fifth-century Athenian democracy and imperialism. Necessarily focuses on Athens and Sparta, but attention is also given to the variety of social and political structures found in different Greek communities. Special attention is given to examining and attempting to understand the distinctively Greek outlook in regard to gender, the relationship between human and divine, freedom, and the divisions between Greeks and barbarians (non-Greeks). A variety of sources -- literary, epigraphical, archaeological -- are presented, and students learn how to use them as historical documents. Note: This course is part of the following field(s) of study: Europe. It fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors and minors. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: History. (Same as: HIST 1111)

Surveys the history of Rome from its beginnings to the fourth century A.D. Considers the political, economic, religious, social, and cultural developments of the Romans in the context of Rome’s growth from a small settlement in central Italy to the dominant power in the Mediterranean world. Special attention is given to such topics as urbanism, imperialism, the influence of Greek culture and law, and multiculturalism. Introduces different types of sources -- literary, epigraphical, archaeological, etc. -- for use as historical documents. Note: This course is part of the following field(s) of study: Europe. It fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors and minors. (Same as: HIST 1112)

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

The fall of Rome has captured the imagination of students and historians for centuries, perhaps to a fault. When conversations focus on destruction, they neglect the many times that the Roman state avoided catastrophes or recovered from them. Studying late antiquity, Rome's most turbulent and dynamic era, uncovers the story of such near misses and recoveries, revealing a civilization that survived for millennia through a paradoxical combination of conservatism and radical change. Even before late antiquity, Rome had changed dramatically from its origins as a city state, transforming into an imperial republic and, later, a monarchy. In late antiquity, that empire became Christian, and its monarchs became despots. Its citizens sought protection from saints as much as from soldiers, from bishops as often as from emperors. Yet for all these changes, the inhabitants of this world continued to claim, perhaps louder than ever, that they were still Romans.

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

The Athenian Democracy and the Roman Republic were formed in a crucible of conflicts over status, wealth, and the distribution of power. Although these different societies took different organizational directions, they faced similar challenges over time. Both also left behind a wealth of literary, legal, and material testimony to these challenges. Primary sources as varied as tragedy and comedy, law-court speeches, insult poetry, painting, sculpture, and philosophical texts provide insights into ancient ideas about freedom, sexuality, property rights, citizenship, individual flourishing, and commitments to a common good. This course takes a comparative approach to social history by exploring how Athenians and Romans tried to solve various kinds of social problems, and how such issues also became opportunities for growth and change. Broad introduction to ancient history, the use of primary sources, and general historical method. First-year students welcome. No prerequisites.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

Goddesses, murderesses, virtuosi, warrior queens: portrayals and performances of women-identifying characters in South Asian epics resonate across centuries and continents, shaping everyday embodied experience in South Asia and its diasporas. This course examines how epic women’s narratives shape aesthetic, domestic, and sociopolitical texts and contexts, from palm leaf manuscripts to pop culture and cinema to sexuality. Texts will be read in translation from a variety of South Asian epic traditions, including Buddhacharita, Mahabharata, Shahnameh. Oral-aural epic traditions from Dalit, Adivasi, and other South Asian ethnic groups will be examined in the course as well. An interdisciplinary approach draws on performance studies, gender and postcolonial theory, diaspora studies, literary study, and embodied practice. The class will collaboratively and critically respond to course texts and themes by developing a multimodal artistic work, culminating in an end-of-semester performance. This course originates in Music and is crosslisted with: Asian Studies; Classics; Theater. (Same as: MUS 1272, ASNS 1272, THTR 1307)

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Explores the figure of Socrates as he is represented in various texts and artifacts in order to introduce students to problems of historical method. By closely reading authors such as Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Aristotle, students learn how to reconstruct a model of Socrates that is less idealized, but more historically accurate, than the Socrates we encounter in the historical imagination and popular culture. This course introduces students to methodological issues regarding evidence and argument that are directly relevant not only to ancient history and ancient philosophy, but to the epistemological contests currently taking place in our present moment.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Through comparative study, this course explores the effects of imperialism and colonialism upon Indigenous peoples. Using a variety of ancient Greek and Latin literary sources, translated into English, students examine how ancient Italic peoples, specifically the Sabines and Etruscans, were forcefully assimilated into the rapidly expanding Roman Republic. In comparison, students are introduced to Indigenous communities living along the stretch of British Columbia’s Highway 16, known as the “Highway of Tears”. We explore the origins of its name, and study how the traumas occurring in this region are representative of the impacts of Canadian settler colonialism. Using ancient and modern cases students examine the impact of colonialism and imperialism upon the cultures of Indigenous peoples, the impacts on their sense of identity, and research what, if any, remaining traces of their voices can be found in the study of both ancient and contemporary history.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Upon his ascent to power after a century of war, Rome’s first princeps, Augustus, launched a program of cultural reformation and restoration that was to have a profound and enduring effect upon every aspect of life in the empire, from fashions in entertainment, decoration, and art, to religious and political habits and customs. Using the city of Rome as its primary text, this course investigates how the Augustan “renovation” of Rome is manifested first and foremost in the monuments associated with the ruler: the Mausoleum of Augustus, theater of Marcellus, temple of Apollo on the Palatine, Altar of Augustan Peace, and Forum of Augustus as well as many others. Understanding of the material remains themselves is supplemented by historical and literary texts dating to Augustus’s reign, as well as by a consideration of contemporary research and controversies in the field. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Archaeology. (Same as: ARCH 2202, URBS 2402)

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Explores the nature of democracy in two distinct historical eras: ancient Greece and the founding of the United States. Employs well-developed classroom simulations. The first half of the semester runs 'The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 BCE'; the second, 'America’s Founding: The Constitutional Convention of 1787.' Students take on roles of historical personae in both of these simulations, which permit them to explore critical events and ideas in novel ways. Pairing games that explore the foundations of democracy in both ancient and modern times permits exploration of this important topic across time and space. This course originates in History and is crosslisted with: Classics. (Same as: HIST 2144)

Examines in depth the approaches to leadership within the governmental system that enabled a small, Italian city-state to take eventual control of the Mediterranean world and how this state was affected by its unprecedented military, economic, and territorial growth. Investigates and re-imagines the political maneuverings of the most famous pre-Imperial Romans, such as Scipio Africanus, the Gracchi, and Cicero, and how political institutions such as the Roman Senate and assemblies reacted to and dealt with military, economic, and revolutionary crises. Looks at the relationship of the Roman state to class warfare, the nature of electoral politics, and the power of precedent and tradition. While examining whether the ultimate fall precipitated by Caesar's ambition and vision was inevitable, also reveals what lessons, if any, modern politicians can learn about statesmanship from the transformation of the hyper-competitive atmosphere of the Republic into the monarchical principate of Augustus. All sources, such as Livy's history of Rome, Plutarch's “Lives,” letters and speeches of Cicero, and Caesar's “Civil War,” are in English, and no prior knowledge of Roman antiquity is required. Note: This course fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors and minors. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: History. (Same as: HIST 2008)

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester

This course explores what makes a monster in the ancient world. Also examines what these monsters reflect about the societies they come from. Since monsters are often not static in meaning and change throughout time, students also investigate how later groups adopt and repurpose monsters as symbols of both disenfranchisement and empowerment. In this course students study monsters from various time periods and cultures within and outside the Ancient Mediterranean. Students encounter these monsters in literary texts, material culture, video games, TV, and film and analyze myths and media through theoretical approaches such as critical race theory, gender studies, queer theory, and postcolonial theory. Students can use this exploration of monsters of the past to reflect on and assess monsters made in contemporary society.

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

A topical history of craft labor and industry in the ancient world. Examines how ideas of manual labor, skill, and artisanship are presented in selected literary texts, and considers ancient and comparative evidence for particular types of work, such as shipbuilding, weaving, pottery, metallurgy, carpentry, and building construction. Also looks at modern analogs to these crafts, and includes at least one field trip to a local shipbuilding workshop. In addition to providing a focused introduction to ancient Greek culture and history, one of the main goals of the class is to develop students’ appreciation for the knowledge, skill, and contributions of common, working people throughout history and in our own society.

We are all now quite familiar with the way in which the American political landscape has been painted (by the pundits at least) in two contrasting colors: Blue and Red. These “states of mind” have become strongly associated with particular spatial differences as well: Urban and Rural, respectively. Examines the various ways in which Roman culture dealt with a similar divide at different times in its history. Explores the manner in which “urban” and “rural” are represented in Roman literature and visual arts, and how and why these representations changed over time, as well as the realities and disparities of urban and rural material culture. Studies the city and the country in sources as varied as Roman painting, sculpture, architecture, and archaeology, and in Roman authors such as Varro, Vergil, Horace, Pliny and Juvenal. Modern authors will also be utilized as points of comparison. Analyzes how attitudes towards class, status, gender and ethnicity have historically manifested themselves in location, movement, consumption and production. One of the main goals of the course is to challenge our modern urban vs. rural polarity by looking at a similar phenomenon within the context of Roman history. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Urban Studies. (Same as: URBS 2424)

Explores male and female sexuality and gender roles in the ancient Greek and Roman world. What did it mean to be male or female? To what extent were gender roles negotiable? How did gender and expectations based on gender shape behavior? How did sexuality influence public life and culture? Using literary, documentary, and artistic evidence, examines the biological, social, religious, legal, and political principles that shaped the construction of male and female identities and considers the extent to which gender served as a fundamental organizational principle of ancient society. Also considers how Greek and Roman concepts of sexuality and gender have influenced contemporary views of male and female roles. All readings are done in translation. Note: Offered as part of the curriculum in Gay and Lesbian Studies. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2220)

Examines the development and character of tragedy and comedy in ancient Greece. Topics include the dramatic festivals of Athens, the nature of Greek theaters and theatrical production; the structure and style of tragic and comic plays; tragic and comic heroism; gender, religion and myth in drama; the relationship of tragedy and comedy to the political and social dynamics of ancient Athens. Some attention will be paid to the theory of tragedy and to the legacy of Greek drama. Authors include Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Includes a performance component.

How will we be remembered? How should we be remembered? And how do we decide to honor or sanction events that have occurred or people who have died, whether in the past or in our own lifetimes? This course explores these questions by comparing the commemorative practices of ancient Greece and Rome with those of our own time. Examines public and private memorials to those who have died, including poems, eulogies, mausoleums, statues, and gravestones, along with tributes to those who have triumphed (and sometimes those who have lost), whether on the battlefield or in less deadly contests. Also considers practices such as damnatio memoriae (erasure from historical memory) and ancestor worship, literary tropes such as 'immortality through song,' and the changing interpretation and reuse of commemorative monuments over time. Includes analysis of materials in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, as well as field trips to local cemeteries and memorials. All readings in English.

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

The word “transformations” is a translation of the title of the Latin poet Ovid's most famous work, the Metamorphoses, whose theme is mythical transformation. The mythical changes narrated by Ovid have inspired creativity of all sorts in the arts and will serve as the basis for this course. The first half of the semester will be devoted to careful reading and discussion of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The remainder of the semester will turn its focus outward, to consider Ovid’s afterlife in the many poems, novels, and plays his work has inspired. We will also consider Ovid’s enduring status as 'artist in exile.' Readings for the course, in addition to selected works of Ovid, may include works by Shakespeare, Ted Hughes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Franz Kafka, Mary Zimmerman, David Malouf, Christoph Ransmayr, and Nina MacLaughlin.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

Examines the presentation and reception of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds in cinema. Considers how filmmakers interpret ancient Greece and Rome for the silver screen and modern audiences. Questions how Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra differs from the ancient queen; why Hollywood allows the slave in “Gladiator” to become more powerful than an emperor; why ancient audiences continue to be fascinated with the ancient world; and how ancient texts are changed to fit modern expectations. Integrates the reading of ancient authors with the viewing of films based on these texts, such as “Chi-Raq,” to explore both the ancient world and its modern reinterpretation by today's filmmakers. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Cinema Studies. (Same as: CINE 2670)

The truism that the women of classical antiquity are silent plays out all too literally in the historical record: the women of ancient Greece and Rome have left only scarce and fragmentary remains of texts in their own voices. This erasure has provoked a remarkable response in contemporary literature, as writers have taken up the challenge to restore the missing voices of ancient women. In this course, several recent works of fiction will be read against their ancient models in epic and drama, and the cultural and political forces influencing both ancient and modern texts will be examined. Readings may include Madeline Miller, Circe; Margaret Atwood, Penelopiad; Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls; Colm Toibin, House of Names; Christa Wolf, Medea; and Ali Smith, Girl Meets Boy; other readings may be included to reflect student interest. All readings are in English, and no prior familiarity with classical antiquity is required. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2243)

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

Examines various myths in Arabic literature in translation. Discusses how myths of different origins (Ancient Near East, Greco-Roman Mediterranean, Ancient Arabia, Iran, India, Judeo-Christian traditions) have been reinterpreted and used in Arabic-speaking cultures from the sixth until the twenty-first century, to deal with questions such as the struggle of people against gods, their defiance against fate, their quest for salvation, their pursuit of a just society, and their search for identity. Explores various genres of Arabic literature from the Qur’an, the hadith (i.e., prophetic sayings), ancient and modern poetry, medieval prose and travel literature, '1001 Nights', Egyptian shadow theater, and modern short stories and novels. In this way, presents Arabic literature as global, rooted in different ancient traditions and dealing with the perennial questions of humanity. This course originates in Arabic and is crosslisted with: Classics; Religion. (Same as: ARBC 2350, REL 2350)

Seminar. Explores the development of scientific thinking in the ancient Greek world by examining the history of Greek medicine. Topics include the development of Greek rationalist thought; concepts of health and disease; notions of the human body, both male and female; the physician’s skills (diagnosis, prognosis, remedy); similarities and differences between religious and scientific views of disease; concepts of evidence, proof, and experiment; and Greek medical thinking in the Roman world. All readings in English. This course emphasizes the skills and approaches to writing in the Classics discipline.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Can one honorably serve, and even flourish under, a leader who is widely understood to be dishonest, incompetent, and corrupt? Before the Roman author Tacitus was a historian, he was a senator who advanced himself politically during the rule of Domitian, who was arguably the very worst of the Roman emperors. As a central focus, a careful reading of the works of Tacitus, with accompanying secondary scholarship, seeks to answer the question of how and when to collaborate with a deplorable regime and what such collaboration might cost. All readings in English. (IRBW)

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester

Most Greek city-states entered the Archaic Period as aristocracies, but exited the Classical Period as democracies. This transition was marked by the brief but widespread emergence of individual rulers: tyrants. Analyzes how tyranny, surprisingly, was a precursor to democracy. Readings include Herodotus and Plato, as well as drinking songs, inscriptions, and curse poetry. Secondary scholarship includes studies of modern popular resistance to despotic regimes, networks of economic associations as foundations for popular governance, and game-theoretic approaches to collective action problems. Note: This course is part of the following field(s) of study: Europe. It fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors and minors. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: History. (Same as: HIST 2237)

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Thucydides is arguably the classical author who speaks to our present moment most clearly. He is cited as an authority on US-China relations, on the twin crises of democratic governance and ideology, on the rise of populist politics, and is generally recognized as the founder of the study of international relations. A sustained and focused reading of the Peloponnesian War is central to this course of study. Students also read selections from other ancient Athenian authors, such as Euripides, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as modern scholarly interpretations. All readings in English. Note: This course is part of the following field(s) of study: Europe. It fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors and minors. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: History. (Same as: HIST 2238)

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Just as the English words school and scholar derive from the Greek word for leisure, so too do many of our own ideas about what constitute a liberal arts education derive from a particular place and moment in time: ancient Greece. Examines not only a wide variety of idealistic prescriptions for educational practice by writers such as Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle, but also the historical context within which such ideals were born. Confronts, among other things, questions of time, socio-economic status, political ideology, and intellectualism -- issues that have as much importance today as they did 2,500 years ago.

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

“One cannot read Plutarch without a tingling of the blood.” A prolific author, Plutarch produced dynamic writings on such topics as education, self-improvement, the nature of the soul, the virtues of men and women, music, natural science, vegetarianism, and love. His eclectic philosophical thought culminated in his greatest work, the “Parallel Lives,” a collection of biographies on statesmanship designed to present examples from Greco-Roman history—like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, not to mention preeminent leaders from Sparta and Athens—to serve as mirrors for ethical self-reflection. Considers the context of Plutarch’s philosophy and literary presentation and how they relate to modern leadership, ethical behavior, multi-cultural understanding, and the utility of moral instruction. Readings likely to include works of Plato as well as selections from Plutarch’s “Moralia” and “Parallel Lives.” All readings in English. Research Seminar.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Begins with reading and close analysis of the three foundational epic poems of classical antiquity, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid, and then moves on to selections from several of the “successor” epics, including Apollonius’ Argonautica, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lucan’s Pharsalia, and Statius’ Thebaid. Discussion of the ancient poems complemented by an ongoing examination of central issues in contemporary criticism of classical texts, including the relationship of genre, ideology, and interpretation; the tension between literary tradition and authorial control; and the role of intertextuality in establishing a dialogue between and among these poems and their poets. All readings are in English, and no familiarity with Greek or Latin is required.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

The mythical fate-driven foundation of Rome and the city’s subsequent self-fashioning as caput mundi (capital of the world) have made the city an idea that transcends history, and that has for millennia drawn historians, poets, artists, and, most recently, filmmakers to attempt to capture Rome’s essence. As a result, the city defined by its ruins is continually created anew; this synergy between the ruins of Rome -- together with the mutability of empire that they represent -- and the city’s incessant rebirth through the lives of those who visit and inhabit it offers a model for understanding the changing reception of the classical past. This research seminar explores the cycle of ancient Rome’s life and afterlife in the works of writers and filmmakers such as Livy, Virgil, Tacitus, Juvenal, Petrarch, Shakespeare, Keats, Goethe, Gibbon, Hawthorne, Freud, Moravia, Rossellini, Fellini, Bertolucci, and Moretti. All readings in English. This course originates in Classics and is crosslisted with: Urban Studies. (Same as: URBS 3410)

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Wily Odysseus, the man of many ways, is famous as a clever strategist, an outstanding archer, and a first-rate fighter; he is also an expert storyteller, whose fantastic tales are embedded within the compelling narrative of Homer’s Odyssey. Both the figure of Odysseus and the epic poem that tells his story had an enduring power and influence over centuries of Greek and Roman culture. Begins with a careful reading of the Odyssey; then turns to other texts that engage with the poem, whether by explicitly exploring Odysseus’ character and motivations, or by using the narrative patterns and themes of the epic to construct their original tales of heroes (and heroines) who experience “odysseys” of their own. Texts likely to include Sophocles’s Philoctetes, Chariton’s Chaereas and Callirhoe, Lucian’s True Histories, Petronius’s Satyrica and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Considers the importance of storytelling in the construction of human identity and the meaning of a human life. Readings in English.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester

In the ancient Mediterranean world, speech was fraught with danger and uncertainty. Words had enormous power—not just the power to do things but a tangible power as things. Words attached themselves to people as physical objects. They lived inside them and consumed their attention. They set events in motion: war, conversion, marriage, death, and salvation. This course investigates the precarious and deadly presence of oral language in the religious world of late antiquity (150 CE to 600 CE). Focusing on evidence from Christian, Jewish, and pagan sources—rabbinic literature, piyyutim, curse tablets, amulets, monastic sayings, creeds, etc.—students will come to understand the myriad ways in which words were said to influence and infect religious actors. For late ancient writers, words were not fleeting or ethereal, but rather quite tactile objects that could be felt, held, and experienced. It is the physical encounter with speech that orients this course. This course originates in Religion and is crosslisted with: Classics. (Same as: REL 3325)

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester

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.

A thorough presentation of the elements of Latin grammar. Emphasis is placed on achieving a reading proficiency.

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

A continuation of Latin 1101. During this term, readings are based on unaltered passages of classical Latin.

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

A review of the essentials of Latin grammar and syntax and an introduction to the reading of Latin prose and poetry. Materials to be read change from year to year, but always include a major prose work. Equivalent of Latin 1102, or two to three years of high school Latin is required.

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

An introduction to different genres and themes in Latin literature. The subject matter and authors covered may change from year to year (e.g., selections from Virgil’s “Aeneid” and Livy’s “History,” or from Lucretius, Ovid, and Cicero), but attention is always given to the historical and literary context of the authors read. While the primary focus is on reading Latin texts, some readings from Latin literature in translation are also assigned. Equivalent of Latin 2203 or three to four years of high school Latin is required.

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

All that remains of the Roman novel comes from two texts: Petronius’s Satyrica and the Metamorphoses by Apuleius. Petronius’s fragmentary, funny, and often bizarre Satyrica (probably late first century CE) follows a same-sex love triangle slumming its way around ancient Italy. Apuleius’s Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass (late second century CE) tells the story of a young man who dabbles in magic and accidentally transforms himself into an ass. The ass’s quest for salvation is the frame for several sub-narratives illuminating the larger story’s themes. Focuses on selections from one or both novels in Latin and complements these with the remainder in translation. Focus is also on a precise understanding of the Latin text and an appreciation of the author’s style, but also examines what the novels reveal about the social, historical, economic, religious, linguistic, and literary contexts in which they were produced.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Near the end of the first century B.C., a general-poet named Gallus established the conventions of a new poetic form, Roman elegy, perhaps the most Roman of all poetic genres. It employs Greek meter and draws heavily from Greek models, and yet has no true analogue from the Hellenic world. The elegists—charming, playful, and downright funny—were part of a unique literary circle and offer a rare opportunity to see how poets engaged in literary rivalry and one-upmanship. Readings include works of the Augustan elegists, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. Discusses the origins of elegy as well as its relationship to other genres, especially epic and oratory, conceptions of gender in the Augustan age, and Latin elegy’s role in challenging Roman cultural and political expectations, as the dalliances portrayed by the elegists are strikingly at odds with the social agenda of the first Roman emperor, Augustus.Taught concurrently with Latin 3308.

Few figures altered the course of the Mediterranean World as much as Julius Caesar: warlord, historian, general, statesman, orator, and innovator, his deeds were as horrific as they were transformative, and symbolize the chaotic era of strife that devastated Rome, but also led to the genocide and provincial conquest of Gaul. By reading selections from his own works as well as works of poetry, epistolography, history, and oratory from the late Republic, as well as modern works that examine or re-imagine his legacy, students will come to grips with the grand game Caesar was playing that resulted not only in the demise of the nearly 500 year old Republic of Rome and the subjugation of millions of Gauls, but his own murder at the hands of his fellow senators. Students will also examine the validity of the use of Caesar as a politically evocative model. This is a bilevel course, with students at the 2209 and 3309 levels meeting together but with a different syllabus for each level.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester

The intimacy and immediacy of Catullan lyric and elegiac poetry have often been thought to transcend time and history; in his descriptions of a soul tormented by warring emotions, Catullus speaks to all of us who have felt love, desire, hatred, or despair. Yet Catullus is a Roman poet, indeed, the Roman poet par excellence, under whose guidance the poetic tools once wielded by the Greeks were once and for all transformed by the Roman world of the first century BC. Catullus is a product of his time; in turn, he helps to make his time comprehensible to us. Catullus is studied in all his complexity by engaging the entire literary corpus he has left, and so to understand his crucial role in shaping the Roman poetic genius. Taught concurrently with Latin 3310.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

T. Lucretius Carus (c. 94-55 BCE) is the author of a poem, “on the nature of things,” composed in six books of didactic-epic hexameters. A student of Epicurean philosophy, Lucretius adapts both the beliefs and protoscientific discoveries of one of classical antiquity’s most influential intellectual traditions to Latin poetry; his poem proves a model both for subsequent classical poets and for the rationalist movements of the Renaissance. In this seminar, we will read selections from the poem in Latin, and the entire work in English, and consider recent scholarly approaches to Lucretius’s work. We will also devote several weeks at the end of the semester to Lucretius’s postclassical influence and reception. This is a bilevel course, with students at the 2215 and 3315 levels meeting together but with a different syllabus for each level.

Terms offered: 2025 Fall Semester

Roman comedies are the earliest works from Roman antiquity that have survived in something close to their original forms. Students read one to two plays in Latin and supplement this reading with discussion of scholarship around these plays. There may be additional readings of primary sources in translation. This course examines issues beyond the history, humor, and language of comic plays, and also investigates the serious issues—such as identity, communication, hierarchy, power and oppression—that inhere in any discussion of comedy. Focuses on readings from either or both Plautus or Terence, the two authors of Roman comedy whose work has survived.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Marcus Tullius Cicero (103-43 BC) lived through a period of great social, political, and cultural upheaval and through his prolific writings left us a detailed, if subjective, record of what he did, saw, and experienced. He did so, furthermore, with style—that is, he wrote in a Latin style of such remarkable purity and elegance that he has set the standard not only for scholars through the centuries who have studied Latin style but also for many writers of prose of all sorts—rhetorical, philosophical, historical—throughout the course of Western intellectual history. Our focus this semester, therefore, will be twofold—to read selections from Cicero’s works that can give us some sense of the world in which he lived and the Roman identity he helped to shape, and to acquire an appreciation for Latin prose (and perhaps give us some new techniques for reading it) as Cicero created it. Taught concurrently with Latin 3304.

Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid, 43 B.C.E.–17 C.E.) is a sophisticated and rewarding writer of Latin poetry, whose work was greatly influential on the writers and artists of succeeding eras. His epic-style Metamorphoses, in fifteen books, gathers together several hundred episodes of classical myth, organized through an elaborate play with chronology, geography, history, philosophy, and politics; the resulting narrative is at once clever, romantic, bleak, and witty, and repeatedly draws attention to its own self-conscious poetics while carrying the reader along relentlessly. Focuses on a close reading of three books in Latin, against the background of the entire poem read in English, and considers at length the ideological contexts for and implications of Ovid’s work. Assignments include several projects intended to train students to conduct research in Classics; this seminar counts as a research seminar.

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

From archaic Rome to the latest tweet of Pope Francis, the Latin language boasts a history of nearly 3,000 years, and unites communities of speakers and readers from every part of the world. These communities look to the ancient period for inspiration, revering authors like Vergil and Cicero—but they also persevere in the creation of new works. In fact, the output of these “postclassical Latinists” represents nearly all of the texts written in Latin. The works that survive from the classical period comprise less than 1 percent of all extant Latin literature and documents. In this course, we will explore the possibilities that lie within this enormous corpus of understudied Latin texts. We will focus on three main areas: a) Late Antique Latin (roughly 200—600), Medieval Latin (roughly 600—1300), and Renaissance and early modern Latin (roughly 1300—1750). The latter will focus particularly on the Americas, especially Latin America.

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

Marcus Tullius Cicero (103-43 BC) lived through a period of great social, political, and cultural upheaval, and through his prolific writings left us a detailed if subjective record of what he did, saw, and experienced. He did so, furthermore, with style—that is, he wrote in a Latin style of such remarkable purity and elegance that he has set the standard not only for scholars through the centuries who have studied Latin style but also for many writers of prose of all sorts—rhetorical, philosophical, historical—throughout the course of Western intellectual history. Our focus this semester, therefore, will be twofold—to read selections from Cicero’s works that can give us some sense of the world in which he lived and the Roman identity he helped to shape, and to acquire an appreciation for Latin prose (and perhaps give us some new techniques for reading it) as Cicero created it.

Born in 70 BCE, the poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) lived through the traumatic decades that saw the end of the Roman republic and witnessed firsthand the political rebirth of Rome managed by Octavian after the battle of Actium. Virgil’s “Aeneid,” written in the first decade of the restored Republic, reflects both the historical turmoil of the time and its outcome; at the same time, it stands as the greatest artistic achievement of the period (and, arguably, of all Latin literature). Three books of the “Aeneid” read in Latin, and the remainder of the poem read in English, with special attention given to political and cultural approaches to the epic and its reception. Research seminar.

All that remains of the Roman novel comes from two texts. Petronius’s fragmentary, funny, and often bizarre “Satyrica” (probably late first century CE) follows a same-sex love triangle slumming its way around ancient Italy. Apuleius’s “Metamorphoses” or “The Golden Ass” (late second century CE) tells the story of a young man who dabbles in magic and accidentally transforms himself into an ass. The ass quest for salvation is the frame for several sub-narratives illuminating the larger story’s themes. Focuses on selections from one or both novels in Latin and complements these with the remainder in translation. Focus is also on a precise understanding of the Latin text and an appreciation of the author’s style, but also examines what the novels reveal about the social, historical, economic, religious, linguistic, and literary contexts in which they were produced. Research seminar.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Near the end of the first century BC, a general-poet named Gallus established the conventions of a new poetic form, Roman Elegy. This genre, in which the devoted lover laments his treatment at the hand of his fickle domina, is perhaps the most Roman of all poetic genres. It employs Greek meter and draws heavily from Greek models, and yet has no true analogue from the Hellenic world. The elegists charming, playful, and downright funny were part of a unique literary circle, and offer a rare opportunity to see how poets engaged in literary rivalry and one-upmanship. Works of the Augustan elegists Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid are read, and the origins of elegy are discussed as well as its relationship to other genres, especially epic and oratory. Reading this comical and self-aware branch of poetry reveals insightful perspectives on conceptions of gender in the Augustan age. Also questions Latin elegy’s role in challenging Roman cultural and political expectations, as the dalliances portrayed by the elegists are strikingly at odds with the social agenda of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. Research seminar.

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Few figures altered the course of the Mediterranean World as much as Julius Caesar: warlord, historian, general, statesman, orator, and innovator, his deeds were as horrific as they were transformative, and symbolize the chaotic era of strife that devastated Rome, but also led to the genocide and provincial conquest of Gaul. By reading selections from his own works as well as works of poetry, epistolography, history, and oratory from the late Republic, as well as modern works that examine or re-imagine his legacy, students will come to grips with the grand game Caesar was playing that resulted not only in the demise of the nearly 500 year old Republic of Rome and the subjugation of millions of Gauls, but his own murder at the hands of his fellow senators. Students will also examine the validity of the use of Caesar as a politically evocative model. This is a bilevel course, with students at the 2209 and 3309 levels meeting together but with a different syllabus for each level.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester

The intimacy and immediacy of Catullan lyric and elegiac poetry have often been thought to transcend time and history; in his descriptions of a soul tormented by warring emotions, Catullus appears to speak to and for all who have felt love, desire, hatred, or despair. But Catullus is a Roman poet -- indeed, the Roman poet par excellence, under whose guidance the poetic tools once wielded by the Greeks were once and for all appropriated in and adapted to the literary and social ferment of first century BCE Rome. Close reading of the entire Catullan corpus in Latin complemented by discussion and analysis of contemporary studies of Catullus work, focusing on constructions of gender and sexuality in Roman poetry, the political contexts for Catullus’s work, and Catullus in Roman intellectual and cultural history.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester

The Roman poet Horace famously commented that captured Greece took captive its fierce captor -- in other words, that though Rome conquered Greece, the culture of Greece captivated uncivilized Rome; his reference to Greece includes first and foremost Sicily, which was the richest center of Greek culture in the Mediterranean and became Rome’s first extra-peninsular colony in 242 BC. Regards the history of Sicily both before its transformation into a Roman province and during the first three centuries of Roman rule through a number of central primary texts: readings in Latin from the historian Livy, the politician Cicero, and the poets Ovid and Horace are supplemented by readings in English from relevant Greek sources, including the poet Pindar and the historian Thucydides, in the context of the archaeological record. Students have the option of participating in a study tour of Sicily during the spring break. Research seminar.

T. Lucretius Carus (c. 94-55 BCE) is the author of a poem “on the nature of things,” composed in six books of didactic-epic hexameters. A student of Epicurean philosophy, Lucretius adapts both the beliefs and protoscientific discoveries of one of classical antiquity’s most influential intellectual traditions to Latin poetry; his poem proves a model both for subsequent classical poets and for the rationalist movements of the Renaissance. In this seminar, we will read selections from the poem in Latin, and the entire work in English, and consider recent scholarly approaches to Lucretius’s work. We will also devote several weeks at the end of the semester to Lucretius’s postclassical influence and reception. This is a bilevel course, with students at the 2215 and 3315 levels meeting together but with a different syllabus for each level.

Terms offered: 2025 Fall Semester

An introduction to the earliest complete texts that survive from Latin antiquity, the plays of Plautus and Terence. One or two plays are read in Latin and supplemented by the reading of other plays in English, including ancient Greek models and English comedies inspired by the Latin originals. Explores not only the history, structure, and language of comic plays, but also issues such as the connection between humor and violence, the social context for the plays, and the serious issues— such as human identity, forms of communication, and social hierarchies—that appear amidst the comic world on stage.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Ovid’s “Fasti,” an elegiac poem on the Roman calendar in six books, is the focus of much recent scholarship on Roman literature and culture. Rather than being read, as formerly, as an escapist and antiquarian foray into the byways of Roman religion and folklore, it is now read as a political poem—perhaps the most explicitly political of Ovid’s career. Considers contemporary readings of the poem in an attempt to make sense of what it means to call Ovid an Augustan poet. In addition to reading three books of the “Fasti” in Latin, students read and discuss the whole work in translation. Research seminar.

During Nero’s time as princeps (54-68 CE), despite the unstable and often cruel nature of the ruler himself, Rome experienced a period of literary, artistic, and cultural development unseen since Augustus. Works in Stoic philosophy, Roman tragedy, epic poetry, and a new genre, the satiric novel, thrived under Nero’s rule. By reading selections of the works of Seneca, Lucan, and Petronius, and analyzing historical works about Nero, we can see how thinkers and artists function in a world dictated by an eccentric and misguided—but artistically inclined—autocrat. Examines the relationships of the works to the principate and to Roman culture, how the authors were affected by the powers that be, and what their works say about the ever-evolving society of Rome. Research seminar.

Persephone and her mother, Demeter, represent enduring figures in the mythological imaginary of the ancient Mediterranean. The story of Persephone’s abduction and ultimate reunification with her mother became a popular subject for Roman poets as they rivaled their Greek predecessors in creating hexameter epics. The Persephone myth was commemorated in two separate works by the Augustan poet Ovid. Centuries later, in order to assert his own claim to Latin poetic excellence, the Egypto-Greek immigré Claudius Claudianus crafted his own retelling of the myth. In this course students read both Ovid and Claudian as they study not only the myth itself, but also how diverse Roman audiences related to it in their changing cultural contexts. Students analyze the poem as a case study in literary reception, paying close attention to the ways that these poets seek to differentiate themselves, often quite self-consciously, from their predecessors.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester

Focuses on the varied poetic works of Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE). Students read selections from a number of his extant works, including “Epodes,” “Satires,” “Odes” and “Epistles”; special attention is paid to the reflection of contemporary life and politics in Horace's work, and to Horace's literary relationship to other poets.