Classics

This course studies the literature, art, history, and politics of Classical Athens. It looks at a variety of myths that were popular in Classical Athens, the contexts and mediums through which these myths circulated. It discusses the relationship between these stories, democratic ideology, and the Athenians' understanding of their history.

This course explores the time when the “Peoples of the Sea” roamed the southern Italian coasts, to the epic era in which Rome and Carthage fought for control over the Mediterranean basin, all the way to the period when Rome lost control of the Mediterranean at the end of Antiquity. One key component of the course consists in a number of fieldtrips to the most famous archeological sites around Naples, including Ischia, Paestum, and Pompeii. The fieldtrips are organized in temporal sequence, and so are the readings and seminar discussion, so as to arrange the course roughly in historical progression from ancient times to late antiquity. The focuses intensively on certain periods and themes, oscillating from the local to the Mediterranean at large, and from the particular to the general. In-class meetings consist of lectures and seminar discussions focusing on the history of Mediterranean life, culture, and politics in a certain historical period; fieldtrips focus more specifically on local history in that period.

The life of the ancient Romans was guided by two important concepts, otium, or leisure time, and negotium, a more structured use of time that may be associated with work of varying kinds. A good Roman life could, and often did, include both. This course explores Roman daily life and the many activities associated with both otium and negotium. The business of ancient Rome was largely conducted in the central and market areas of the city, and students study the ancient Roman Forum, the ancient river port in Rome and its associated features (wharves, warehouses, and rubbish heaps), as well as the ancient port city of Ostia. The leisure time of the aristocracy was noticeably different than that of the poor. They often spent leisure time in a relaxing environment outside of the city, such as villas, where they could pursue all types of activities deemed beneficial to the mind and body. The poor, instead, tended to stay in Rome, and spend their unstructured time at state-sponsored events and venues such as the games held in the Flavian Amphitheater, or at a monumental bath complex, such as the Baths of Caracalla. Alternatively, they would congregate in small taverns or popinae, or they might just sit on the stairs of a city building and play a game. Students visit and study the places where the Romans spent their leisure time looking closely at the leisure activities. As students get to know the Romans by studying what they have left us in terms of physical and literary remains, they discuss how much of what is "reconstructed" from the evidence can be certain, and how much must remain debatable. This course includes visits to Rome-area museums and sites, and special outings to the Roman cities of Ostia and Pompeii.

What is myth? How do myths deal with fundamental human concerns about who we are and the world we live in? What is the relationship between myth and religion? This course is an introduction to the major myths of the classical world using the full range of primary source material: literary, artistic, and archaeological. This course is offered in semester 1, and the course GREEK AND ROMAN RELIGION taught in semester 2 builds on it. Both can also be taken as a year-long course.