CLASSICS 1G:
Beginning Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 1.) No knowledge of Greek is assumed. Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 1L:
Beginning Latin
(Formerly CLASSLAT 1.) Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language. No previous knowledge of Latin is assumed.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
CLASSICS 2G:
Beginning Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 2.) Continuation of CLASSICS 1G. Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 2L:
Beginning Latin
(Formerly CLASSLAT 2.) Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language. Prerequisite: CLASSICS 1L or equivalent placement.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 3G:
Beginning Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 3.) Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language. Prerequisite: CLASSICS 2G or equivalent placement. CLASSICS 3G fulfills University language requirement.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
CLASSICS 3L:
Beginning Latin
(Formerly CLASSLAT 3.) Vocabulary and syntax of the classical language. Prerequisite: CLASSICS 2L or equivalent placement. CLASSICS 3L fulfills the University language requirement.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
CLASSICS 4L:
Intensive Beginning Latin
(Formerly CLASSLAT 10/210) Equivalent to a year of beginning Latin (three quarters; CLASSICS 1L, 2: and 3L), this course is designed to teach the fundamentals of the Latin language in eight weeks. We will focus primarily on acquiring the basics of Latin grammar, morphology, and vocabulary and developing basic reading skills. At the end of the course, students should be able to read easy Latin prose and poetry. We will be using Wheelock's Latin textbook and meeting three hours a day, four days a week. Grades will depend on class participation and on performance in weekly quizzes and in a final written exam. Classics majors and minors must take course for letter grade. CLASSICS 4L fulfills the University language requirement.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 12
| UG Reqs: Language
CLASSICS 6G:
Biblical Greek (JEWISHST 5, RELIGST 171A)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 5.) This is a one term intensive class in Biblical Greek. After quickly learning the basics of the language, we will then dive right into readings from the New Testament and the Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. No previous knowledge of Greek required. If demand is high for a second term, an additional quarter will be offered in the Spring.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 7G:
Biblical Greek (JEWISHST 5B)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 6) This is a continuation of the Winter Quarter Biblical Greek Course. Pre-requisite: CLASSICS 6G (Formerly CLASSGRK 5) or a similar introductory course in Ancient Greek.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 11G:
Intermediate Greek: Prose
(Formerly CLASSGRK 101.) Transition to reading narrative Grammar review and vocabulary-building.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 11L:
Intermediate Latin: Introduction to Literature
(Formerly CLASSLAT 101.) Phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax. Readings in prose and poetry. Analysis of literary language, including rhythm, meter, word order, narrative, and figures of speech.May be repeat for credit.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 12G:
Intermediate Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 102.) Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 12L:
Intermediate Latin: Cicero and Catullus
(Formerly CLASSLAT 102.) In this class you will practice with and reinforce the advanced vocabulary, forms, and syntax of classical Latin you have previously acquired by reading continuous works of Latin prose (Cicero) and poetry (Catullus). While the primary emphasis of this course is on developing fluency in reading Latin, you will have opportunities to discuss and research the biographical, political, and literary issues raised by the readings. Your knowledge of the content and syntax of the readings will be assessed by several short translation/grammar quizzes. You will also sit for mid-quarter and end-quarter tests. Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 13G:
Intermediate Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 103.) Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 13L:
Intermediate Latin: Selections from Vergil's Aeneid, Books 1 - 6
(Formerly CLASSLAT 103.) Vocabulary, forms and syntax. Discussion of biographical, political and literary issues in the text. Key readings will be the story of Dido and the journey of Aeneas into the underworld (we may also talk about the reception of some Virgilian figures in ancient and modern literature, music and the arts). Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 14:
Greek and Latin Roots of English
(Formerly CLASSGEN 9) Goal is to improve vocabulary, comprehension of written English, and standardized test scores through learning the Greek and Latin components of English. Focus is on patterns and processes in the formation of the lexicon. Terminology used in medicine, business, education, law, and humanities; introduction to principles of language history and etymology. Greek or Latin not required.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
CLASSICS 16N:
Sappho: Erotic Poetess of Lesbos (FEMGEN 24N)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 24N.) Preference to freshmen. Sappho's surviving fragments in English; traditions referring to or fantasizing about her disputed life. How her poetry and legend inspired women authors and male poets such as Swinburne, Baudelaire, and Pound. Paintings inspired by Sappho in ancient and modern times, and composers who put her poetry to music.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-CE, WAY-EDP
CLASSICS 17N:
To Die For: Antigone and Political Dissent
(Formerly CLASSGEN 6N.) Preference to freshmen. Tensions inherent in the democracy of ancient Athens; how the character of Antigone emerges in later drama, film, and political thought as a figure of resistance against illegitimate authority; and her relevance to contemporary struggles for women's and workers' rights and national liberation. Readings and screenings include versions of Antigone by Sophocles, Anouilh, Brecht, Fugard/Kani/Ntshona, Paulin, Glowacki, Gurney, and von Trotta.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 18N:
The Artist in Ancient Greek Society (ARTHIST 100N)
Given the importance of art to all aspects of their lives, the Greeks had reason to respect their artists. Yet potters, painters and even sculptors possessed little social standing. n nWhy did the Greeks value the work of craftsmen but not the men themselves? Why did Herodotus dismiss those who worked with their hands as "mechanics?" What prompted Homer to claim that "there is no greater glory for a man¿ than what he achieves with his own hands," provided that he was throwing a discus and not a vase on a wheel?n nPainted pottery was essential to the religious and secular lives of the Greeks. Libations to the gods and to the dead required vases from which to pour them. Economic prosperity depended on the export of wine and oil in durable clay containers. At home, depictions of gods and heroes on vases reinforced Greek values and helped parents to educate their children. Ceramic sets with scenes of Dionysian excess were reserved for elite symposia from which those who potted and painted them were excluded.n nSculptors were less lowly but even those who carved the Parthenon were still regarded as "mechanics," with soft bodies and soft minds (Xenophon) "indifferent to higher things" (Plutarch).n nThe seminar addresses these issues. Students will read and discuss texts, write response papers and present slide lectures and gallery talks on aspects of the artist's profession.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 20N:
Technologies of Civilization: Writing, Number and Money
The technological keys to the growth of civilization that enabled the creation of complex societies and enhanced human cognition. The role of cognition in shaping history and the role of history in shaping cognition. Global perspective, emphasizing the Western tradition and its ancient Greek roots.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 21Q:
Eight Great Archaeological Sites in Europe (ARCHLGY 21Q)
(Formerly CLASSART 21Q.) Preference to sophomores. Focus is on excavation, features and finds, arguments over interpretation, and the place of each site in understanding the archaeological history of Europe. Goal is to introduce the latest archaeological and anthropological thought, and raise key questions about ancient society. The archaeological perspective foregrounds interdisciplinary study: geophysics articulated with art history, source criticism with analytic modeling, statistics interpretation. A web site with resources about each site, including plans, photographs, video, and publications, is the basis for exploring.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, Writing 2
CLASSICS 24N:
What is a Map?
Exploration of the nature of maps via an overview of premodern mapping practices, combining theory and history of maps. Hands-on research involving Stanford's rare and historical maps, and chance to create own maps.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 26N:
The Roman Empire: Its Grandeur and Fall (HISTORY 11N)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 24N.) Preference to freshmen. Explore themes on the Roman Empire and its decline from the 1st through the 5th centuries C.E.. What was the political and military glue that held this diverse, multi-ethnic empire together? What were the bases of wealth and how was it distributed? What were the possibilities and limits of economic growth? How integrated was it in culture and religion? What were the causes and consequences of the conversion to Christianity? Why did the Empire fall in the West? How suitable is the analogy of the U.S. in the 21st century?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:IHUM-3, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 28N:
Inequality: the Last 100,000 Years (HISTORY 15N)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 13N.) This seminar traces the evolution of resource inequality from the Stone Age to the present. Only this long-term perspective reveals the forces that drive inequality and allows us to address two key questions: what causes inequality, and what factors have been capable of reducing it, at least for a while? We are going to confront challenging arguments: that inequality has been closely tied up with overall economic and human development, and that over the long course of history, war, revolution and pestilence were the most effective equalizers of income and wealth. This class will help you appreciate contexts and complexities that are usually obscured by partisan polemics and short-term thinking. Seminar participants will be directly involved in the instructor's current research project on the history of inequality.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3
CLASSICS 29Q:
Questioning the Gods: Religious Thought and Literature in Classical Antiquity
Ancient Greek and Roman literature and philosophy dealing with theology and ethics. What is a god, and why should gods care about you or me? Do you have a soul, and if so what might happen to it when you die? Should you try to be a good person, and if so, how? Learn viewing fundamental questions like these through the eyes of ancient Greek and Roman thinkers. We will read tragedies and epic poetry, wrestle with the philosophical arguments, and apply forms scientific reasoning developed more than 2,000 years ago. This course offers highly sophisticated perspectives on religious and ethical issues that are still vitally important today, as well as a firm grasp of the culture of classical antiquity and the means it offers of understanding the world and our place in it.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 31:
Greek Mythology
(Formerly CLASSGEN 18.) The heroic and divine in the literature, mythology, and culture of archaic Greece. Interdisciplinary approach to the study of individuals and society. Illustrated lectures. Readings in translation of Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, and the poets of lyric and tragedy. Weekly participation in a discussion section is required during regular academic quarters (Aut, Win, Spr)
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 34:
Ancient Athletics
(Formerly CLASSGEN 34.) How the Olympic Games developed and how they were organized. Many other Greek festivals featured sport and dance competitions, including some for women, and showcased the citizen athlete as a civic ideal. Roman athletics in contrast saw the growth of large-scale spectator sports and professional athletes. Some toured like media stars; others regularly risked death in gladiatorial contests and chariot-racing. We will also explore how large-scale games were funded and how they fostered the development of sports medicine. Weekly participation in a discussion section is required; enroll in sections on coursework.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 35:
Becoming Like God: An Introduction to Greek Ethical Philosophy
(Formerly CLASSGEN 35.) This course investigates key ethical philosophies in classical Greece. After reading several Greek tragedies (representing traditional Greek values), we examine the Greek philosophers' rejection of this tradition and their radically new ethical theories. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle offered different ethical theories, but they shared basic conceptions of goodness and happiness. They argues that we could "become like gods" by achieving philosophic wisdom. What kind of wisdom is this? How does it make us ethically good and supremely happy people?
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 36:
Gender and Power in Ancient Rome
(Formerly CLASSGEN 119.) Interactions of gender and power in ancient Roman politics, religion, spectacles, and daily life. Masculinity and femininity in founding legends and public rituals; the ambiguous status of Vestal Virgins; gendered behavior in the Roman Forum; the spatial logic of prostitution; sexual characterizations of good vs. bad emperors in ancient texts; gender and time in Roman houses; inversions of gender and space in early Christian martyr narratives. Readings include modern gender theory as well as ancient Roman texts and material culture.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
CLASSICS 37:
Humanities Core: Great Books, Big Ideas -- Europe, The Ancient World (DLCL 11)
This course will journey through ancient literature from Homer to St. Augustine; it will introduce participants to some of its fascinating features and big ideas; and it will reflect on questions such as: What is a good life, a good society? Who is in and who is out and why? What is the meaning of honor, and should it be embraced or feared? Where does human subjectivity fit into a world of matter, cause and effect? When is rebellion justified? What happens when a way of life or thought is upended? Do we have any duties to the past?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 40:
Greek Philosophy (PHIL 100)
We shall cover the major developments in Greek philosophical thought, focusing on Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic schools (the Epicureans, the Stoics, and the Skeptics). Topics include epistemology, metaphysics, psychology, ethics and political theory.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 41:
Herodotus
For Ancient History field of study majors; others by consent of instructor. Close reading technique. Historical background to the Greco-Persian Wars; ancient views of empire, culture, and geography; the wars and their aftermath; ancient ethnography and historiography, including the first narrative of ancient Egypt.
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 42:
Philosophy and Literature (COMPLIT 181, ENGLISH 81, FRENCH 181, GERMAN 181, ITALIAN 181, PHIL 81, SLAVIC 181)
Required gateway course for Philosophical and Literary Thought; crosslisted in departments sponsoring the Philosophy and Literature track. Majors should register in their home department; non-majors may register in any sponsoring department. Introduction to major problems at the intersection of philosophy and literature, with particular focus on the question of value: what, if anything, does engagement with literary works do for our lives? Issues include aesthetic self-fashioning, the paradox of tragedy, the paradox of caring, the truth-value of fiction, metaphor, authorship, irony, make-believe, expression, edification, clarification, and training. Readings are drawn from literature and film, philosophical theories of art, and stylistically interesting works of philosophy. Authors may include Sophocles, Chaucer, Dickinson, Proust, Woolf, Borges, Beckett, Kundera, Charlie Kaufman; Barthes, Foucault, Nussbaum, Walton, Nehamas; Plato, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Taught in English.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 43:
Exploring the New Testament (RELIGST 86)
The New Testament is many things to many people. Around the globe, it is and has been for two millennia a source of culture, law, and faith. It has been used both to undergird battles for civil rights and to fight against them. It has been used both to justify wars and to argue that all war is unjust. Yet, many people haven¿t read the New Testament and still more haven¿t looked at it from historical, sociological, comparative and literary frameworks. This course will provide you the opportunity to read the New Testament and to study it closely. We will ask questions of the New Testament about the early Jesus movement, how it fits into its historical context and how it developed. We will look at the range of opinions and views about Jesus present in this literature. We will explore the different genres used by early Christians. We will examine how this set of Early Christian texts came to be considered the canon.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 51:
Introduction to Greek Archaeology (ARCHLGY 51)
An introduction to the archaeology of ancient Greece, from the first city states through the cultural achievements of classical Athens to the conquest by Rome.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 52:
Introduction to Roman Archaeology (ARCHLGY 81)
(Formerly CLASSART 81.) This course will introduce you to the material culture of the ancient Roman world, from spectacular imperial monuments in the city of Rome to cities and roads around the Mediterranean, from overarching environmental concerns to individual human burials, from elite houses and army forts to the the lives of slaves, freedmen and gladiators. Key themes will be change and continuity over time; the material, spatial and visual workings of power; how Roman society was materially changed by its conquests and how conquered peoples responded materially to Roman rule.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 53:
Pompeii (ARCHLGY 42)
(Formerly CLASSART 42 and CLASSGEN 60.) The Roman town of Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E., provides information about the art and archaeology of ancient social life, urban technology and production, and ancient spatial patterns and experience. Its fame illustrates modern relationships to the ancient past, from Pompeii's importance on the Grand Tour, to plaster casts of vaporized bodies, to debates about reconstruction, preservation, and archaeological methods.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 54:
Introduction to World Architecture (ARTHIST 3)
This lecture course surveys the history of architecture and urbanism, from the first societies to the present, in Europe, West and East Asia, the Americas, and Africa. The course progresses by case studies of exemplary monuments and cities, and examines the built environment as both cultural artifact and architectural event. It considers the social and political circumstances of architectural invention as well as plumbing the depth of artistic context by which particular formal choices resonate with an established representational culture.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 56:
Introduction to the Visual Arts: Prehistoric through Medieval (ARTHIST 1A)
A survey of the art and architecture from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the Gothic Cathedrals of France; the material is organized both chronologically and thematically and covers a multiplicity of religions: pagan, Christian, and Islamic.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
CLASSICS 76:
Global History: The Ancient World (HISTORY 1A)
World history from the origins of humanity to the Black Death. Focuses on the evolution of complex societies, wealth, violence, and hierarchy, emphasizing the three great turning points in early history: the evolution of modern humans, the agricultural revolution, and the rise of the state.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 81:
Ancient Empires: Near East
Why do imperialists conquer people? Why do some people resist while others collaborate? This course tries to answer these questions by looking at some of the world's earliest empires. The main focus is on the expansion of the Assyrian and Persian Empires between 900 and 300 BC and the consequences for the ancient Jews, Egyptians, and Greeks. The main readings come from the Bible, Herodotus, and Assyrian and Persian royal inscriptions, and the course combines historical and archaeological data with social scientific approaches. Weekly participation in a discussion section is required.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
CLASSICS 82:
The Egyptians (AFRICAAM 30, HISTORY 48, HISTORY 148)
Overview of ancient Egyptian pasts, from predynastic times to Greco-Roman rule, roughly 3000 BCE to 30 BCE. Attention to archaeological sites and artifacts; workings of society; and cultural productions, both artistic and literary. Participation in class is required.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 83:
The Greeks (HISTORY 101)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 101.) 250 years ago, for almost the first time in history, a few societies rejected kings who claimed to know what the gods wanted and began moving toward democracy. Only once before had this happened--in ancient Greece. This course asks how the Greeks did this, and what they can teach us today. It uses texts and archaeology to trace the material and military sides of the story as well as cultural developments, and looks at Greek slavery and misogyny as well as their achievements. Weekly participation in a discussion section is required.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 84:
The Romans (HISTORY 102A)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 60.) How did a tiny village create a huge empire and shape the world, and why did it fail? Roman history, imperialism, politics, social life, economic growth, and religious change. Weekly participation in a discussion section is required; enroll in sections on Coursework.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 87:
Egyptomania! The Allure of Ancient Egypt Over the Past 3,500 Years (AFRICAAM 87, HISTORY 244)
Why does Egypt fascinate us? From Napoleon's invasion to Katy Perry's latest music video, we have interpreted ancient Egyptian history and mythology for centuries; in fact, this obsession dates back to the Egyptians themselves. This seminar explores Egyptomania from the Pharaonic period to the 20th century. Topics include: ancient Egypt, Greek historians, medieval Arabic scholars, hieroglyphic decipherment, 19th century travel, 20th century pop culture, and how historians have interpreted this past over the centuries.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 88:
Origins of History in Greece and Rome (HISTORY 114)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 117.) The beginnings and development of historical writing in the ancient world. Emphasis on major classical historians and various models of history they invented, from local to imperial, military, cultural, biographical, world history and church history. Focus on themes of power, war, loss, growth and decline, as put by the ancients into historical narrative forms and probed by way of historical questioning and explanation. Attention to how these models resonate still today. Readings in translation: Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Livy and others.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 101G:
Advanced Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 111.) Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 101L:
Advanced Latin: Livy, the fundamental historian of Rome
(Formerly CLASSLAT 111.) Book 21 of Livy¿s History: the dramatic story of Hannibal¿s passing of the Alps with elephants, and his coming close to conquering Rome itself. What makes this a literary and historical masterpiece of tremendous influence since on representations of the social trauma of a country under siege, and of a world empire¿s fear of its irreducible and brilliant foe? Complementary readings for context and to highlight Livy¿s uniqueness. Close attention to language, style and narrative techniques. Classics majors and minors must take for a letter grade and may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 102G:
Advanced Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 112.) Classics majors and minors may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 102L:
Advanced Latin: Caesar, Man of Letters
(Formerly CLASSLAT 112.) We will read the seventh book of Caesar's "Gallic War". More than a seemingly simple war narrative, it is a highly sophisticated text that engages with Greek and Roman literature, participates in contemporary intellectual debates, and solidifies Caesar's innovative style and revolutionary concept of 'Gaul.' Particular attention will be paid to syntactical and semantic questions. Sections of my forthcoming commentary will also be made available. Classics majors and minors must take for a letter grade and may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 103G:
Advanced Greek
(Formerly CLASSGRK 113.) Classics majors and minors must take for a letter grade and may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 103L:
Advanced Latin: Satire
(Formerly CLASSLAT 113.) We will read selections spanning the entire Roman satirical tradition, looking at Lucilius and Persius in brief and focusing on the first books of Horace's and Juvenal's Satires. We will also devote attention to Greek precursors (in translation) and the later reception of satire. Classics majors and minors must take course for a letter grade and may repeat for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: Language, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 104A:
Latin Syntax (CLASSICS 204A)
(Formerly CLASSLAT 175A/275A.) Intensive review of Latin syntax. Begins Autumn Quarter and continues through the fifth week of Winter Quarter. See CLASSICS 206A/B for supplemental courses. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Latin. First-year graduate students register for CLASSICS 204A.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
CLASSICS 104B:
Latin Syntax (CLASSICS 204B)
(Formerly CLASSLAT 175B/275B) Intensive review of Latin syntax. Began with 104A/204A in Autumn Quarter and continues through the fifth week of Winter Quarter. See CLASSICS 206A/B for supplemental courses. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Latin. First-year graduate students register for CLASSICS 204B.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 105A:
Greek Syntax: Prose Composition (CLASSICS 205A)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 175A/275A.) Review of Greek grammar and instruction in Greek prose composition skills. Begins sixth week of Winter Quarter and continues through Spring Quarter. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Greek. First-year graduate students register for 205A/B.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 105B:
Greek Syntax: Prose Composition (CLASSICS 205B)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 175B/275B.) Review of Greek grammar and instruction in Greek prose composition skills. Begins sixth week of Winter Quarter and continues through Spring Quarter. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Greek. First-year graduate students register for 205A/B.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
CLASSICS 112:
Introduction to Greek Tragedy: Gods, Heroes, Fate, and Justice (TAPS 167)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 110.) Gods and heroes, fate and free choice, gender conflict, the justice or injustice of the universe: these are just some of the fundamental human issues that we will explore in about ten of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 121:
Ecology in Philosophy and Literature
(Formerly CLASSGEN 116.) The basic principles of ecological thinking, exploring the ways that different writers represent and relate to the natural world. Some key questions: What is nature, and where do humans fit in the natural world? How exactly do humans differ from other animals? Do these differences make us superior beings? What are our ethical responsibilities towards the earth and its inhabitants? In what ways have the technologies of writing, television, and computers affected humankind's relationship to the natural world?
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 122:
Invention of Science
Does science have to be the way is it? Does it have to be at all? The creation of science in the ancient Greek world; its invention of concepts such as nature, rationality, and proof; and its invention of fields from biology to geometry. Comparison with the Chinese invention of a different kind of science. The extent to which contemporary science is still Greek science.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 124:
Ancient and Modern Medicine
Imagine a world where the Universe has a built-in purpose and point. How would this belief impact man's place in nature? Imagine a world where natural substances have "powers." How might this impact diet and pharmacology? Magical vs. scientific healing: a clear divide? Disease and dehumanization: epilepsy, rabies. Physical and mental health: black bile and melancholy. The ethical and scientific assumptions hidden in medical language and imagery. How ancient medicine and modern medicine (especially alternative medicine) illuminate each other.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 136:
The Greek Invention of Mathematics (MATH 163)
How was mathematics invented? A survey of the main creative ideas of ancient Greek mathematics. Among the issues explored are the axiomatic system of Euclid's Elements, the origins of the calculus in Greek measurements of solids and surfaces, and Archimedes' creation of mathematical physics. We will provide proofs of ancient theorems, and also learn how such theorems are even known today thanks to the recovery of ancient manuscripts.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 137:
Ancient Dance and its Modern Legacy (CLASSICS 237, TAPS 165C, TAPS 265C)
Descriptions of dance in the Greek and Greco-Roman world; theories about dance in antiquity; dance and the senses; modern and modernist dancers and choreographers discussing ancient dance
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 145:
Early Christian Gospels (RELIGST 132D)
An exploration of Christian gospels of the first and second century. Emphasis on the variety of images and interpretations of Jesus and the good news, the broader Hellenistic and Jewish contexts of the gospels, the processes of developing and transmitting gospels, and the creation of the canon. Readings include the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and other canonical and non-canonical gospels.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 146:
Winged Bulls and Sun Disks: Religion and Politics in the Persian Empire (CLASSICS 246, RELIGST 229, RELIGST 329)
Stretching from India to Ethiopia, the Persian Empire the largest empire before Rome has been represented as the exemplar of oriental despotism and imperial arrogance, a looming presence and worthy foil for the West and Greek democracy. This course will provide a general introduction to the Persian Empire, beginning in the 6th century BCE to the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. We shall not only examine the originality of the first world empire of antiquity, but the course will also attempt to present a broad picture of the diverse cultural institutions and religious practices found within the empire. Readings in translation from the royal edicts and the inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes will allow us to better appreciate the subtle ways in which these Persian kings used religion to justify and propagate the most ambitious imperial agenda the world had ever seen. In concluding the quarter, students will evaluate contemporary representations of Persia and the Persians in politics and popular culture in a wide array of media, such as the recent film 300 and the graphic novel on which it is based, in an attempt to better appreciate the enduring legacy of the Greco-Persian wars.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 147:
Priests, Prophets, and Kings: Religion and Society in Late Antique Iran (CLASSICS 247, RELIGST 209, RELIGST 309)
This course is designed as a broad introduction to the religious and social history of the Sasanian Empire, encompassing the period from 224-651 CE as well as the early years of Islamic rule in Iran. Among the topics we will discuss are: the lives and deeds of the powerful Iranian emperors such as Shapur I and II in relation to the the Roman emperors Diocletian and Constantine; the transformation of Zoroastrianism into a powerful official religion of the state and its subsequent orthodoxy; the emergence of the prophet Mani and the confrontation of Manicheism with the Zoroastrian priesthood; the conversion of Constantine to Christianity and its political and social ramifications in Iran; the establishment of an independent Iranian Christian church; the importance of Armenia in the Sasanian- Roman conflict; and a brief discussion of the history of the Jewish community under the Sasanians. We will end the quarter by examining the Arab¿Islamic¿conquests of Iran and the profound social changes experienced by the Zoroastrian communities in the early centuries of Islam in Iran.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 148:
Imperishable Heroes and Unblemished Goddesses: Myth, Ritual, and Epic in Ancient Iran (CLASSICS 248, RELIGST 209E, RELIGST 309E)
Designed as a broad introduction to the world of ancient Iran, students will be introduced to the Indo-European inheritance in ancient Iranian culture; the shared world of ritual, religion, and mythology between Zoroastrianism in Iran and Vedic Hinduism in India; and to the contours of early Zoroastrian religious thought. We will also survey mythoepic literature in translation from the archaic Avesta through the late antique Zoroastrian Middle Persian corpus to the early medieval national epic of Iran, the Book of Kings of Ferdowsi.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 150:
Majors Seminar
(Formerly CLASSGEN 176.) Required of Classics majors and minors in junior or senior year; students contemplating honors should take this course in junior year. Advanced skills course involving close reading, critical thinking, editing, and writing. In-class and take-home writing and revising exercises. Final paper topic may be on any subject related to Classics. Fulfills WIM requirement for Classics.nnWinter Quarter topic: investigating a wide range of ethical dilemmas raised by the ownership of the classical past in the 21st centurynSpring Quarter topic: Why study Classics? The uses and abuses of classical studies.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 151:
Ten Things: An Archaeology of Design (ARCHLGY 151)
(Formerly CLASSART 113/213.) Connections among science, technology, society and culture by examining the design of a prehistoric hand axe, Egyptian pyramid, ancient Greek perfume jar, medieval castle, Wedgewood teapot, Edison's electric light bulb, computer mouse, Sony Walkman, supersonic aircraft, and BMW Mini. Interdisciplinary perspectives include archaeology, cultural anthropology, science studies, history and sociology of technology, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 153:
Ancient Urbanism (ARCHLGY 153, URBANST 119)
(Formerly CLASSART 112/212.) Archaeology of Greek, Roman and early Islamic cities and urbanism in the Mediterranean and western Asia. Comparison and contrast of the shaping role of religion and politics; definitions of public and private space, monumental buildings, houses, streets, infrastructure. Special themes are city and country connections; the problems of giant cities; cities in the longue durée. Case studies include Athens, Olynthos, Rome, Pompeii, Constantinople, Damascus and Cairo.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
CLASSICS 154:
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Maritime Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean (ARCHLGY 145)
(Formerly CLASSART 145.) Why do we care about shipwrecks? What can sunken sites and abandoned ports tell us about our past? Focusing primarily on the archaeological record of shipwrecks and harbors, along with literary evidence and contemporary theory, this course examines how and why ancient mariners ventured across the "wine-dark seas" of the Mediterranean for travel, warfare, pilgrimage, and especially commerce. We will explore interdisciplinary approaches to the development of maritime contacts and communication from the Bronze Age through the end of Roman era. At the same time, we will engage with practical techniques of maritime archaeology, which allows us to explore the material record first hand.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 156:
Design of Cities (ARCHLGY 156)
Long-term, comparative and archaeological view of urban planning and design. Cities are the fastest changing components of the human landscape and are challenging our relationships with nature. They are the historical loci of innovation and change, are cultural hotspots, and present a tremendous challenge through growth, industrial development, the consumption of goods and materials. We will unpack such topics by tracking the genealogy of qualities of life in the ancient Near Eastern city states and those of Graeco-Roman antiquity, with reference also to prehistoric built environments and cities in the Indus Valley and through the Americas. The class takes an explicitly human-centered view of urban design and one that emphasizes long term processes.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 157:
The Archaeology of Cyprus (CLASSICS 257)
This seminar course introduces students to the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and its archaeology, from the origins of human occupation to the end of antiquity. Readings and discussions of material culture and texts will explore the history and practice of Cypriot archaeology in relation to those of Greece and the Near East. Key themes will include: islands and insularity, continuity vs. change, sex and identity, the rise of the state, regionalism, and imperial conquest. Suitable for both graduate and undergraduate students.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 158:
Iconoclasm (ARTHIST 209C, ARTHIST 409, CLASSICS 258, REES 409)
By the seventh century three large political entities formed in the Mediterranean the Umayyads, the Carolingians, and the Byzantines each competed for legitimacy; all three emerged from the ashes of Late Antique culture, yet each tried to carve out an identity out of this common foundation. In this parting of the ways, the three empires took among others the issue of what constitutes an image and what role it plays in devotion. Eik'n, imago, ura became the basis on which to built differences and accuse the other political players of idolatry. This course explores medieval image theory, especially the phenomena of iconoclasm, iconophobia, and aniconism. The discussions focus on monuments in the Mediterranean as well as objects in the Cantor collection and facsimiles of manuscripts at the Bowes Art Library.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 159:
Appropriations of Greek Art
Upper division seminar. The history of the appropriation of Greek art by Rome, the Renaissance, Lord Elgin, and Manet. Enrollment limited to 6. Prerequisite: ARTHIST 102 or consent of instructor.
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 161:
Introduction to Greek Art I: The Archaic Period (ARTHIST 101)
This lecture course explores Greek art and culture from 1000-480. In the beginning archaic art forms are more abstract than life-like, closer to Calder than Michelangelo. While Homer describes the rippling muscles (and egos) of his heroes, vase-painters and sculptors prefer abstraction. This changes in the 7th C. as a result of commerce with the Near East and Egypt. Imported Near Eastern bronzes and ivories awaken the Greeks to a wider range of subjects, techniques and ambitions. Later in the century, Greeks in Egypt learn to carve hard stone from Egyptian masters. Throughout the 6th C. Greek artists assimilate what they had borrowed, compete with one another, defy their teachers, test the tolerance of the gods and eventually produce works of art that speak with a Greek accent. When the Persians invade the Acropolis in 480, they find artifacts with little trace of alien influence or imprint - omens of the defiant Greek military that would prevail at Salamis and Plataea.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 162:
Introduction to Greek Art II: The Classical Period (ARTHIST 102)
The class begins with the art, architecture and political ideals of Periclean Athens, from the emergence of the city as the political and cultural center of Greece in 450 to its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404. It then considers how Athens and the rest of Greece proceed in the fourth century to rebuild their lives and the monuments that define them. Earlier artistic traditions endure, with subtle changes, in the work of sculptors such as Kephisodotos. Less subtle are the outlook and output of his son Praxiteles. In collaboration with Phryne, his muse and mistress, Praxiteles challenged the canons and constraints of the past with the first female nude in the history of Greek sculpture. His gender-bending depictions of gods and men were equally audacious, their shiny surfaces reflecting Plato¿s discussion of Eros and androgyny. Scopas was also a man of his time but pursued different interests. Drawn to the inner lives of men and woman, his tormented Trojan War heroes and victims are still scarred by memories of the Peloponnesian War, and a world away from the serene faces of the Parthenon. His famous Maenad, a devotee of Dionysos who has left this world for another, belongs to the same years as Euripides' Bacchae and, at the same time, anticipates the torsion and turbulence of Bernini and the Italian Baroque. In the work of these and other fourth century personalities, the stage is set for Alexander the Great and his conquest of a kingdom extending from Greece to the Indus River. (Formerly CLASSART 102)
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 163:
Artists, Athletes, Courtesans and Crooks (ARTHIST 203)
The seminar covers a range of topics devoted to the makers of Greek art and artifacts, the ancient Greeks who used them in life and the afterlife, and the miscreants - from Lord Elgin to contemporary tomb-looters and dealers- whose deeds have damaged, deracinated and desecrated temples, sculptures and grave goods. Readings include ancient texts in translation, books and articles by eloquent experts, legal texts and lively page-turners. Classes meet in the seminar room and the Cantor Center.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 164:
Roman Gladiators (ARCHLGY 165)
In modern America, gladiators are powerful representatives of ancient Rome (Spartacus, Gladiator). In the Roman world, gladiators were mostly slaves and reviled, barred from certain positions in society and doomed to short and dangerous lives. A first goal of this course is to analyze Roman society not from the top down, from the perspective of politicians, generals and the literary elite, but from the bottom up, from the perspective of gladiators and the ordinary people in the stands. A second goal is to learn how work with very different kinds of evidence: bone injuries, ancient weapons, gladiator burials, laws, graffiti written by gladiators or their fans, visual images of gladiatorial combats, and the intricate architecture and social control of the amphitheater. A final goal is to think critically about modern ideas of Roman ¿bloodthirst.¿ Are these ideas justified, given the ancient evidence?
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
CLASSICS 166:
The Body in Roman Art (ARCHLGY 166)
(Formerly CLASSART 105.) Ancient and modern ideas about the body as ideal and site of lived experience. Themes include representation, portrayal, power, metamorphosis, and replication. Works that exemplify Roman ideas of heroism and power versus works portraying nude women, erotic youth, preserved corpses, and suffering enemies. Recommended: background in ancient Mediterranean art, archaeology, history, or literature. May be repeated for credit.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 167:
Archaeology of Roman Slavery
The archaeology of Roman slavery embodies a paradox: slavery was ubiquitous in Roman society but did not leave distinct material traces that archaeologists can easily identify. Explore that paradox by examining ancient writings on Roman slavery in conjunction with built spaces, visual images, and artifacts. Discuss more recent slave societies for purposes of comparison and contrast. Learn to analyze different kinds of historical and archaeological evidence, how to reconstruct social and spatial dynamics, and how ancient Roman slavery and society worked.
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 168:
Engineering the Roman Empire (ARCHLGY 118)
(Formerly CLASSART 117.) Enter the mind, the drafting room, and the building site of the Roman architects and engineers whose monumental projects impressed ancient and modern spectators alike. This class explores the interrelated aesthetics and mechanics of construction that led to one of the most extensive building programs undertaken by a pre-modern state. Through case studies ranging from columns, domes and obelisks to road networks, machines and landscape modification, we investigate the materials, methods, and knowledge behind Roman innovation, and the role of designed space in communicating imperial identity.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 169:
Archaeology of Britannia (ARCHLGY 169)
Life in the Roman Empire: this course is a broad introduction to the archaeology of one of the best known provinces of the empire.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-4
CLASSICS 171:
Byzantine Art and Architecture, 300-1453 C.E. (ARTHIST 106, ARTHIST 306)
(Formerly CLASSART 106/206.) This course explores the art and architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean: Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Damascus, Thessaloniki, and Palermo, 4th-15th centuries. Applying an innovative approach, we will probe questions of phenomenology and aesthetics, focusing our discussion on the performance and appearance of spaces and objects in the changing diurnal light, in the glitter of mosaics and in the mirror reflection and translucency of marble.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
CLASSICS 172:
Art & Architecture in the Medieval Mediterranean (ARTHIST 105, ARTHIST 305)
Chronological survey of Byzantine, Islamic, and Western Medieval art and architecture from the early Christian period to the Gothic age. Broad art-historical developments and more detailed examinations of individual monuments and works of art. Topics include devotional art, court and monastic culture, relics and the cult of saints, pilgrimage and crusades, and the rise of cities and cathedrals.
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 173:
Hagia Sophia (ARTHIST 208, ARTHIST 408, CLASSICS 273)
By employing a methodology based in psychoacoustics, semiotics, and phenomenology, this course explores the relationship among sound, water, marble, meaning, and religious experience in the sixth-century church of HagianSophia built by emperor Justinian in Constantinople. We will read medieval sources describing the interior and ritual, make short movies exploring the shimmer of marble in buildings on campus, and study the acoustics of domed buildings through computer auralization done at Stanford's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics)
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 174:
Art and Religious Experience in Byzantium and Islam (ARTHIST 209, ARTHIST 309)
This course presents a comparative study of Christian and Islamic paradigms (sixth to the thirteenth centuries) in the construction of religious experience through the material fabric of the building, the interior decor, objects, and rituals. We will read medieval ekphrastic texts and poetry, which stirred the viewer/participant to experience the building/object as animate. Among the sites we will study are: Hagia Sophia, the Ka'ba, the Dome of teh Rock, the Mosque at Damascus and at Cordoba. We will read Byzantine and Arabic writers such as Paul the Silentiary, Patriarch Germanos, Maximus Confessor, Shahrawardi, and Ibn Arabi.
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
CLASSICS 175:
Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium (ARTHIST 208C, ARTHIST 408C, MUSIC 208C, MUSIC 408C, REES 208C, REES 408C, RELIGST 208C, RELIGST 308C)
Onassis Seminar "Icons of Sound: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium". This year-long seminar explores the creation and operations of sacred space in Byzantium by focusing on the intersection of architecture, acoustics, music, and ritual. Through the support of the Onassis Foundation (USA), nine leading scholars in the field share their research and conduct the discussion of their pre-circulated papers. The goal is to develop a new interpretive framework for the study of religious experience and assemble the research tools needed for work in this interdisciplinary field.
| Units: 1-3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 9 units total)
CLASSICS 177:
Describing and Identifying Ancient Coins (CLASSICS 277)
In numismatics, as in all other disciplines dealing with documentary sources of the ancient world (like epigraphy and papyrology), it is essential to work hands-on with the primary material. This course, an optional accompaniment to the graduate seminar in ancient numismatics, will focus on practical work with ancient coins from the collection at the Cantor Arts Center: students will learn how to describe and identify ancient coins and how to properly catalogue and classify them. A special focus will be on the identification of fakes. Participants will be trained to use the main reference works on ancient coinages in the Frank L. Kovacs library, recently donated to Stanford University.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 178:
Ancient Greek Political Thought
This class traces some of the intellectual roots of modern political thought to authors of classical antiquity, such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle. We will read portions of their work, in translation, as well as discuss the historical background. Topics will include: political duty, citizenship, and leadership; the origins and rise of Athenian direct democracy; the development of Greek law, constitutional change, and responses to civic strife and civil war.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 181:
Classical Seminar: Origins of Political Thought (CLASSICS 381, PHIL 176A, PHIL 276A, POLISCI 230A, POLISCI 330A)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 133/333.) Political philosophy in classical antiquity, focusing on canonical works of Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. Historical background. Topics include: political obligation, citizenship, and leadership; origins and development of democracy; and law, civic strife, and constitutional change.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 183:
Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece (ECON 114)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 114.) Cultural and political background for Athens of the 5th and 4th century BC. Athenian economy of the 4th century BC. Economic ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon. Pros and Cons of utilitarianism in light of the ethical theories of Plato and Aristotle. Economy and economics of ancient Greece will be compared to the same of ancient China. There is an interesting parallel.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-SI
CLASSICS 184:
Ancient and Modern Slavery
The ancient Greeks and Roman created the largest and most durable slave system in world history. It formed one of the foundations of classical civilization. While cruelty and exploitation were ever-present features, ancient slavery was not race-based and many slaves came to be freed and fully integrated into society. We will investigate this complex institution from a comparative perspective and in the context of the experience of modern colonial slavery.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 198:
Directed Readings (Undergraduate)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 160.) May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-15
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI);
Bark, B. (GP)
CLASSICS 199:
Undergraduate Thesis: Senior Research
(Formerly CLASSGEN 199.) May be repeated for credit
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-10
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI)
CLASSICS 201G:
Survey of Greek Literature: Archaic Greek
(Formerly CLASSGEN 208A.) Required two-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Greek and Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Greek and Latin material taught in alternate years.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 201L:
Survey of Latin Literature: Literature of the Roman Republic
(Formerly CLASSGEN 207A.) One-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Greek and Latin material taught in alternate years. Focus is on translation, textual criticism, genre, the role of Greece in shaping Roman literature, and oral versus written discourse.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 202G:
Survey of Greek Literature: Classical Greek
(Formerly CLASSGEN 208B.) Required two-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Greek and Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Greek and Latin material taught in alternate years.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 202L:
Survey of Latin Literature: Augustan Age Latin
(Formerly CLASSGEN 207B.) Required two-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Greek and Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Texts of Augustan literature required by the graduate syllabus, emphasizing poetry and major authors.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 203G:
Survey of Greek Literature: Hellenistic and Late Greek
(Formerly CLASSGEN 208C.) Required two-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Greek and Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Greek and Latin material taught in alternate years.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 203L:
Survey of Latin Literature: Imperial Latin
(Formerly CLASSGEN 207C.) One-year sequence focusing on the origins, development, and interaction of Latin literature, history, and philosophy. Greek and Latin material taught in alternate years.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 204A:
Latin Syntax (CLASSICS 104A)
(Formerly CLASSLAT 175A/275A.) Intensive review of Latin syntax. Begins Autumn Quarter and continues through the fifth week of Winter Quarter. See CLASSICS 206A/B for supplemental courses. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Latin. First-year graduate students register for CLASSICS 204A.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
CLASSICS 204B:
Latin Syntax (CLASSICS 104B)
(Formerly CLASSLAT 175B/275B) Intensive review of Latin syntax. Began with 104A/204A in Autumn Quarter and continues through the fifth week of Winter Quarter. See CLASSICS 206A/B for supplemental courses. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Latin. First-year graduate students register for CLASSICS 204B.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 205A:
Greek Syntax: Prose Composition (CLASSICS 105A)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 175A/275A.) Review of Greek grammar and instruction in Greek prose composition skills. Begins sixth week of Winter Quarter and continues through Spring Quarter. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Greek. First-year graduate students register for 205A/B.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 205B:
Greek Syntax: Prose Composition (CLASSICS 105B)
(Formerly CLASSGRK 175B/275B.) Review of Greek grammar and instruction in Greek prose composition skills. Begins sixth week of Winter Quarter and continues through Spring Quarter. Prerequisite for undergraduates: three years of Greek. First-year graduate students register for 205A/B.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
CLASSICS 206A:
The Semantics of Grammar
(Formerly CLASSGEN 205A.) Supplements CLASSICS 104A/204A. 206A: Tense, Aspect, Argument Structure, Location. 206B: Quantification, Plurality, Modification, Negation, Modality.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 206B:
The Semantics of Grammar
(Formerly CLASSGEN 205B.) Supplements CLASSICS 104B/204B. 206A: Tense, Aspect, Argument Structure, Location. 206B: Quantification, Plurality, Modification, Negation, Modality.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
CLASSICS 207L:
The Pastoral in Post-Classical LiteratureÂ
For modern readers, the words pastoral and bucolic evoke picturesque scenes of pastureland and flocks of sheep an Arcadian paradise first envisaged by the classical poets Theocritus and Virgil. This weekly reading group traces the long legacy of pastoral poetry in post-classical Latin literature, including the works of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Sannazaro, and Milton. Through the songs of their shepherds, we will rediscover the pastoral landscape as a site of intergenerational conflict between poets from antiquity to the Renaissance. All readings will be done in the original Latin. Prerequisite: at least one full year of Latin or permission of instructor. Course may be taken independently or as an optional extra weekly session of CLASSICS 102L Advanced Latin: Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics (in the latter case, please register for CLASSICS 102L).
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 1
CLASSICS 212:
Introduction to Latin Epigraphy
(Formerly CLASSGEN 219.) How to engage with epigraphic evidence through translation and contextualization of inscriptions. The materiality of inscriptions, geographical variation, and current scholarly debates in scholarship. How to use this evidence in research.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2-3
CLASSICS 213:
Proseminar: Documentary Papyrology
The focus will be on documentary papyrology. Students will be introduced to the basics of the discipline.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 214:
Proseminar: Ancient Numismatics
Graduate proseminar. Introductory overview of the heterogeneous coinages of antiquity, from the earliest coins of the Mediterranean to classical and Hellenistic Greek coins, Roman Republican, Imperial and provincial coinages as well as various ancient Oriental coinages. Topics include: numismatic terminology; techniques of coin production in antiquity; numismatic methodology (die studies; hoard studies; metrological analyses); quantifying coin production and ancient financial history; coins vs. other forms of money in antiquity; the study of ancient coinages in the Early Modern world. Students are expected to prepare talks on specific topics to be agreed upon. Required for ancient history graduate students; others by consent of instructor.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
for credit
CLASSICS 215:
Paleography of Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts (DLCL 209, HISTORY 309G, RELIGST 204)
Introductory course in the history of writing and of the book, from the late antique period until the advent of printing. Opportunity to learn to read and interpret medieval manuscripts through hands-on examination of original materials in Special Collections of Stanford Libraries as well as through digital images. Offers critical training in the reading of manuscripts for students from departments as diverse as Classics, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, English, and the Division of Languages Cultures and Literatures.
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 216:
Advanced Paleography (HISTORY 315, RELIGST 329X)
This course will train students in the transcription and editing of original Medieval and Early Modern textual materials from c. 1000 to 1600, written principally in Latin and English (but other European languages are possible, too). Students will hone their archival skills, learning how to describe, read and present a range of manuscripts and single-leaf documents, before turning their hand to critical interpretation and editing. Students, who must already have experience of working with early archival materials, will focus on the full publication of one individual fragment or document as formal assessment.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 237:
Ancient Dance and its Modern Legacy (CLASSICS 137, TAPS 165C, TAPS 265C)
Descriptions of dance in the Greek and Greco-Roman world; theories about dance in antiquity; dance and the senses; modern and modernist dancers and choreographers discussing ancient dance
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 244:
Classical Seminar: Rethinking Classics (DLCL 321)
Literary and philosophical texts from Antiquity (including Homer, the Greek tragedians, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, and Augustine). In each case, we will examine the cultural contexts in which each text was composed (e.g. political regimes and ideologies; attitudes towards gender and sexuality; hierarchies of class and status; discourses on "barbarians" and resident aliens). We will study various theoretical approaches to these books in an effort to "rethink" these texts in the 21st century.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 246:
Winged Bulls and Sun Disks: Religion and Politics in the Persian Empire (CLASSICS 146, RELIGST 229, RELIGST 329)
Stretching from India to Ethiopia, the Persian Empire the largest empire before Rome has been represented as the exemplar of oriental despotism and imperial arrogance, a looming presence and worthy foil for the West and Greek democracy. This course will provide a general introduction to the Persian Empire, beginning in the 6th century BCE to the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. We shall not only examine the originality of the first world empire of antiquity, but the course will also attempt to present a broad picture of the diverse cultural institutions and religious practices found within the empire. Readings in translation from the royal edicts and the inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes will allow us to better appreciate the subtle ways in which these Persian kings used religion to justify and propagate the most ambitious imperial agenda the world had ever seen. In concluding the quarter, students will evaluate contemporary representations of Persia and the Persians in politics and popular culture in a wide array of media, such as the recent film 300 and the graphic novel on which it is based, in an attempt to better appreciate the enduring legacy of the Greco-Persian wars.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 247:
Priests, Prophets, and Kings: Religion and Society in Late Antique Iran (CLASSICS 147, RELIGST 209, RELIGST 309)
This course is designed as a broad introduction to the religious and social history of the Sasanian Empire, encompassing the period from 224-651 CE as well as the early years of Islamic rule in Iran. Among the topics we will discuss are: the lives and deeds of the powerful Iranian emperors such as Shapur I and II in relation to the the Roman emperors Diocletian and Constantine; the transformation of Zoroastrianism into a powerful official religion of the state and its subsequent orthodoxy; the emergence of the prophet Mani and the confrontation of Manicheism with the Zoroastrian priesthood; the conversion of Constantine to Christianity and its political and social ramifications in Iran; the establishment of an independent Iranian Christian church; the importance of Armenia in the Sasanian- Roman conflict; and a brief discussion of the history of the Jewish community under the Sasanians. We will end the quarter by examining the Arab¿Islamic¿conquests of Iran and the profound social changes experienced by the Zoroastrian communities in the early centuries of Islam in Iran.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 248:
Imperishable Heroes and Unblemished Goddesses: Myth, Ritual, and Epic in Ancient Iran (CLASSICS 148, RELIGST 209E, RELIGST 309E)
Designed as a broad introduction to the world of ancient Iran, students will be introduced to the Indo-European inheritance in ancient Iranian culture; the shared world of ritual, religion, and mythology between Zoroastrianism in Iran and Vedic Hinduism in India; and to the contours of early Zoroastrian religious thought. We will also survey mythoepic literature in translation from the archaic Avesta through the late antique Zoroastrian Middle Persian corpus to the early medieval national epic of Iran, the Book of Kings of Ferdowsi.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 257:
The Archaeology of Cyprus (CLASSICS 157)
This seminar course introduces students to the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and its archaeology, from the origins of human occupation to the end of antiquity. Readings and discussions of material culture and texts will explore the history and practice of Cypriot archaeology in relation to those of Greece and the Near East. Key themes will include: islands and insularity, continuity vs. change, sex and identity, the rise of the state, regionalism, and imperial conquest. Suitable for both graduate and undergraduate students.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 258:
Iconoclasm (ARTHIST 209C, ARTHIST 409, CLASSICS 158, REES 409)
By the seventh century three large political entities formed in the Mediterranean the Umayyads, the Carolingians, and the Byzantines each competed for legitimacy; all three emerged from the ashes of Late Antique culture, yet each tried to carve out an identity out of this common foundation. In this parting of the ways, the three empires took among others the issue of what constitutes an image and what role it plays in devotion. Eik'n, imago, ura became the basis on which to built differences and accuse the other political players of idolatry. This course explores medieval image theory, especially the phenomena of iconoclasm, iconophobia, and aniconism. The discussions focus on monuments in the Mediterranean as well as objects in the Cantor collection and facsimiles of manuscripts at the Bowes Art Library.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 273:
Hagia Sophia (ARTHIST 208, ARTHIST 408, CLASSICS 173)
By employing a methodology based in psychoacoustics, semiotics, and phenomenology, this course explores the relationship among sound, water, marble, meaning, and religious experience in the sixth-century church of HagianSophia built by emperor Justinian in Constantinople. We will read medieval sources describing the interior and ritual, make short movies exploring the shimmer of marble in buildings on campus, and study the acoustics of domed buildings through computer auralization done at Stanford's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics)
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 277:
Describing and Identifying Ancient Coins (CLASSICS 177)
In numismatics, as in all other disciplines dealing with documentary sources of the ancient world (like epigraphy and papyrology), it is essential to work hands-on with the primary material. This course, an optional accompaniment to the graduate seminar in ancient numismatics, will focus on practical work with ancient coins from the collection at the Cantor Arts Center: students will learn how to describe and identify ancient coins and how to properly catalogue and classify them. A special focus will be on the identification of fakes. Participants will be trained to use the main reference works on ancient coinages in the Frank L. Kovacs library, recently donated to Stanford University.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 298:
Directed Reading in Classics (Graduate Students)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 260.)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-15
| Repeatable
for credit
(up to 15 units total)
Instructors: ;
Arthur - Montagne, J. (PI);
Austin, A. (PI);
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI)
CLASSICS 301:
Gateways to Classics
(Formerly CLASSGEN 300A.) Focus on skills, methodologies and approaches in the study of Classics topics, with attention both to histories of the disciplines and to new developments. Required for first-year Classics graduate students.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 1
CLASSICS 302:
Workshop on Teaching in Classics
Introduction to pedagogical theories and techniques relevant to careers as Classics instructors. Classics faculty and advanced graduate students will lead sessions on language instruction, class discussions, assignments and feedback, and course design. Participants will read selections from modern scholarship on teaching and learning and engage in hands-on exercises.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1
CLASSICS 304:
Developing a Classics Dissertation Prospectus
This workshop concentrates on the development process of writing a successful dissertation proposal and clarifies expectations of the defense process. Includes peer reviews of draft proposals with an aim to present provisional proposals by the end of term. Highly recommended for current third-year Classics Ph.D. students.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-3
CLASSICS 315:
Aristotle and the Object of Mathematical Reasoning (PHIL 318)
The concept of definition plays a central role in Aristotle's treatment of both philosophical and scientific inquiry, as well as explanation. A definition is an account of what something is, and some definitions are used to guide causal inquiry whereas others function as explanatory starting points. In this course we will examine texts from his logic, natural science and metaphysics in order to see what the different kinds of definition are, how they obtained, and how they are capture the nature or essence of a definable object. Particular attention will be given to the role of matter in the definition of the form of a natural substance, state, process or activity. For instance, what role does a specification of physiological processes play in the definitions of emotions such as anger? No knowledge of Greek is required. May be repeat for credit.
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 12 units total)
CLASSICS 318:
Aristophanes: Comedy, and Democracy
(Formerly CLASSGEN 304.) Intensive study of three plays in Greek (Knights, Peace, Ecclesiazusae) and the rest of the corpus in English, with reference to formal features and a focus on how Old Comedy related to the democratic practices of Athens.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 320:
Horace: Odes 1-3 and Epistles 1
Critical analysis of poetic texts, strengthening and updating the understanding of Latin language and style, and discussion of some of the most influential lyric poetry of all time. Topics include language, style and meter, and also poetics, historical context, gender, ethics, genre, and the history of Western lyric poetry. Classics undergraduates as well as graduate students familiar with other traditions of poetry are welcome.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 327:
Petronius and Apuleius
Petronius' Satyricon and Apuleius' Metamorphoses represent the surviving Latin novel. Differences between them. Readings include Petronius' dinner at Trimalchio's and Apuleius' love story of Cupid and Psyche. Philological analysis, history of the novel, and social history of the Roman empire. The afterlife of these texts. Recent scholarship.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 328:
Augustine on Memory, Time, and the Self
(Formerly CLASSGEN 336.) This course examines Augustine's "Confessions" as an autobiographical discourse. It investigates his theories of memory and of time and address different theories of the "self." How does memory and the passing of time affect the notion of the self? Does Augustine's "subjective" theory of time offer an identifiable self? Is the self constructed by narratives? We will locate these issues in their cultural context by investigating Christian and pagan discourses and practices in Late Antiquity.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 330:
Satire
The concept of "satire" as a social and literary force will be examined with equal attention given to examples in Greek and Latin. Texts to be analyzed include Greek iambos from the 7th century BC to early Byzantine times; selected portions of Old Comedy; Herodas; Lucian; Lucilius; Horace, Ovid, Juvenal, Persius, and Martial. Particular attention will be paid to authorial self-fashioning; limitations on verbal abuse; and ideas of propriety. All texts to be read in the original languages, with supplementary readings in English and on occasion French, German or Italian.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 331:
Words and Things in the History of Classical Scholarship (HISTORY 303F)
How have scholars used ancient texts and objects since the revival of the classical tradition? How did antiquarians study and depict objects and relate them to texts and reconstructions of the past? What changed and what stayed the same as humanist scholarship gave way to professional archaeologists, historians, and philologists? Focus is on key works in the history of classics, such as Erasmus and Winckelmann, in their scholarly, cultural, and political contexts, and recent critical trends in intellectual history and the history of disciplines.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 332:
Continuity in Ancient Science and Philosophy (PHIL 363)
2 unit option is for PhD students only.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2-4
CLASSICS 335:
Ekphrasis in Antiquity
What is "ekphrasis"? How was it theorized and practiced in antiquity? Description, interpretation, and the senses; The relationship between the verbal and the visual in antiquity from Homer to Philostratus.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 336:
Plato on Eros and Beauty (PHIL 306C)
We read Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus; topics: love, beauty, language (oral and written). Graduate seminar, but open to seniors.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 337:
The Second Sophistic
The class will introduce students to the most important aspects of the Second Sophistic: linguistic and literary classicism, rhetoric and performance, typical literary forms. Particular emphasis will be on the social and political background of the movement (Greek identity, social distinction, sophists and gender). For students who wish to take the class for 4 or 5 units, part of the readings will be in the original Greek.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 340:
Rethinking the History of Lyric I : Geography, Politics, and the Lyric Imaginary
Analysis of key questions concerning the social and cultural role of elegiac, iambic, and melic poetry and performance in their divergent political environments throughout the Hellenic world, from the 8th c. BC to the beginning of the 4th c. BC. Ancient theoretical discourses on these issues, especially philosophy, will be included. The Lyric Mapping Project will be employed as a primary tool in the exploration (https://classics.stanford.edu/projects/lyric-mapping-project.) Pairing with Part II in the Spring is recommended but optional
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 341:
Rethinking the History of Lyric II : Selfhood
How is selfhood conceptualized in the ancient world and what is the contribution of lyric genres in shaping notions of the ¿self ¿? An approach to these questions will be enabled by intensive reading in theories about both ancient and modern lyric. Ancient lyric poetry of both the archaic and the classical period will regularly be juxtaposed with modern and modernist lyricism. Some philosophical writings, especially Plato, will also be included. Pairing with Part I in the Winter is recommended for classicists but optional.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 342:
Later Latin Literature
Explorations in post-classical Latin, both prose and verse. Detailed readings of Ausonius, 'Egeria', Jerome, Ammianus and other key authors of the late antique period. Consideration of new genres and of the evolution of literary Latin. Attention to cultural milieux, especially the emergence of Christianity and of regional identities, as well as continuity and change in relation to Latin literature of the late republic and early empire.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 352:
Doing Business in Classical Antiquity: Mediterranean Exchange (ARCHLGY 327)
Exchange was everywhere in the Mediterranean, from the individual household to the state. Yet the specific models by which goods changed hands were as varied as the ideas and values that moved alongside them. This seminar will explore theoretical approaches to commercial and non-commercial exchange, drawing primarily on the crucial but uneven bodies of archaeological evidence and historical sources in an effort to investigate the simple but hardly straightforward question of how business was undertaken in the Greco-Roman world.
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 353:
Archaeology: Post-Humanist Agendas (ARCHLGY 353)
How do people and their artifacts connect? Just what is the subject of archaeological history? A seminar reviewing the latest materialist approaches in archaeology and heritage studies.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 354:
Space and Mapping
How do we define cities and urban space, and why and how does that matter? How did cities and urban space work in the ancient Mediterranean? In this graduate seminar, we will work through some fundamental theoretical writings on cities and urbanism, including Childe and his critics, Weber, Lynch and Jacobs, LeFebvre, Hillier and Hanson, Harvey, Soja and others. We will explore the ways in which these ideas have been applied or could be applied to the ancient Mediterranean world, and we will read comparative material on other urban traditions to help us think through the issues.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 355:
Landscape & Archaeology (ARCHLGY 355)
TBD
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 356:
Mediterranean Regionalism (ARCHLGY 356)
The ancient world enjoys scholarly traditions of both grand pan-Mediterranean narratives and focused studies of the individual landscapes and peoples who comprise them. Within archaeology, these latter explorations generally rely on expedient geographical designations, modern political boundaries, or survey areas as focused ¿regions¿ for discussion. Defining and interrogating the regions created and experienced by ancient peoples and assembling these into a coherent larger ancient picture proves far more difficult. This seminar explores the varied forms of ancient regionalisms¿from archaeological (architecture, ceramics, coinage, sculpture, etc.) to social (language, religion, etc.)¿and tools for investigating such patterns of human interaction.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 357:
Building Big: Architecture and Monumentality in Classical Antiquity
This seminar explores the interrelated mechanics, aesthetics, and economics of the monumental construction programs that characterized Classical Greece and Rome. Using archaeological remains of architecture alongside the crucial corpus of written testimony (especially Vitruvius), we investigate how and why immense resources were lavished on monumental projects in antiquity and what practical impact such projects might have had on ancient citizens and spectators, their cities, and the economy more broadly.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 358:
The Archaeology of Ancient Mediterranean Environments
This seminar examines the interplay between classical archaeologists¿ conceptions and analyses of ancient Mediterranean environments. These themes loom large now - during what might be called the ¿environmental turn¿ of the Anthropocene in the humanities and social sciences - and their increasing resonance provides the basis for critical reflection of the discipline¿s past and future trends. Topics will include: environmental determinism, ¿non-human¿ agency, the role of science in archaeological/historical practice, and the compartmentalization of environment/climate as analytic focus.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 361:
Performance
TBD
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 367:
Mediterranean Networks (ARCHLGY 367)
The the ancient Mediterranean was highly interconnected is common knowledge, and the idea of integration has become a defining factory in current approaches to Greco-Roman cultural identities. Yet how connectivity functiond, and how we should effectively analyze it, are less well understood. This seminar highlights emerging network approaches--both broad theoretical network paradigms and specific network science methodologies--as conceptual tools for archaeological and historical investigations of cultural interaction (economic, religious, artistic, colonial, etc.) across the Mediterranean world.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 372:
Archaeology of Roman Slavery (ARCHLGY 342)
(Formerly CLASSART 342.) The archaeological study of Roman slavery has been severely limited by a focus on identifying the traces of slaves in the material record. This seminar explores a range of newer and more broadly conceived approaches to understanding slavery and slaves' experiences, including spatial analysis, bioarchaeology, epigraphy, visual imagery, and comparative archaeologies of slavery. Students will learn about the current state of research, work with different kinds of evidence and a range of methodologies, and develop original research projects of their own.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 373:
Reception and Literacy in Roman Art (ARTHIST 422)
(Formerly CLASSART 322.) Beyond a focus on artists and patrons: how Roman art was seen and understood by its contemporary viewers. Themes include memory, performance, gender, replication, and constructions of space. Goal is to draft a differentiated model of viewing and literacy, with attention to collective experience, hierarchy, access, and subversion.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 376:
Art, Ekphrasis, and Music in Byzantium and Islam (ARTHIST 405)
Focus is on the interrelation of art, architecture, verbal description, poetry, and music, including the singing of psalms and recitation of the Qur'an. How ekphrasis, the style of writing vividly intended to transform the listeners into spectators, structures the perception of and response to artistic production be it an art object, building, or a musical performance. The role of ekphrasis in animating the inanimate and the importance of breath and spirit, which become manifest in visual, acoustic, olfactory, and gustatory terms. Religious and courtly settings: Hagia Sophia, the Great Palace of Constantinople, the Dome of the Rock, the palaces of Baghdad and Samarra, the mosque at Cordoba, Medinat al-Zahra and the Alhambra. Greek and Arabic writers on ekphrasis in translation, juxtaposing the medieval material to the ancient theories of ekphrasis and modern scholarship.
| Units: 5
CLASSICS 377:
Animation, Performance, Presence in Medieval Art (ARTHIST 411)
(Formerly CLASSART 311.) This course will explore concepts of animacy, performance, and presence in the art of Byzantium, focusing on the concept of image understood as the living bodies of the saints, the space of Hagia Sophia and its Eucharist ritual, the polymorphism of the mixed-media icon, and the interaction with these objects in prayer and recitation of epigrams.
| Units: 5
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 10 units total)
CLASSICS 378:
Ancient Greek Law and Justice (POLISCI 337L)
The development and practice of law and legal procedure in the ancient Greek world, emphasizing the well documented case of classical Athens. Constitutional, criminal, and civil law, approached through analysis of actual laws and speeches by litigants in Athenian courtrooms. Review of a growing scholarship juxtaposing Greek law to other prominent legal traditions and exploring the role of law in Greek social relations, economics, and literature, and its relationship to Greek conceptions of justice.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 379A:
State and Society in Antiquity (POLISCI 330D)
This seminar explores the characteristics and development of ancient states from a social-scientific and comparative perspective. Key issues include state formation, state-society relations, citizenship, sovereignty, and diversity in political ecologies from city-states to empires. Basic background knowledge of ancient history is highly desirable. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates majoring in relevant fields.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 379B:
State and Society in Antiquity
This seminar explores the characteristics and development of ancient states from a social-scientific and comparative perspective. Key issues include state formation, state-society relations, citizenship, sovereignty, and diversity in political ecologies from city-states to empires. Basic background knowledge of ancient history is highly desirable. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates majoring in relevant fields.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 380:
Ancient Empires
What is an empire? How did they begin? Why have some imperialists been successful, while others failed dismally? Why do some people collaborate with imperialism, while others resist fiercely? This seminar examines the empires of the ancient East Mediterranean between 800 and 300 BC, focusing on two great imperial powers (Assyria, Persia) and three smaller societies on the receiving end of imperial conquest (Israel, Egypt, Greece), and asking why societies that were successful in resisting imperialism often then tried to create empires themselves. The evidence used comes mainly from epigraphy, the Hebrew Bible, and Herodotus. Some background in ancient history and/or comparative politics preferred.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 381:
Classical Seminar: Origins of Political Thought (CLASSICS 181, PHIL 176A, PHIL 276A, POLISCI 230A, POLISCI 330A)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 133/333.) Political philosophy in classical antiquity, focusing on canonical works of Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. Historical background. Topics include: political obligation, citizenship, and leadership; origins and development of democracy; and law, civic strife, and constitutional change.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 382:
High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests (POLISCI 231, POLISCI 331)
Normative political theory combined with positive political theory to better explain how major texts may have responded to and influenced changes in formal and informal institutions. Emphasis is on historical periods in which catastrophic institutional failure was a recent memory or a realistic possibility. Case studies include Greek city-states in the classical period and the northern Atlantic community of the 17th and 18th centuries including upheavals in England and the American Revolutionary era.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 384A:
Ancient Greek Economic Development (POLISCI 430A)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 330A.) Drawing on Herodotus and other literary sources, ancient historians have traditionally seen classical Greece as a very poor land. Recent research, however (much of it conducted here at Stanford), suggests that Greece in fact saw substantial economic growth and rising standards of living across the first millennium BCE. This seminar tests the poor Hellas/wealthy Hellas models against literary and archaeological data. We will develop and test hypotheses to explain the rate and pace of economic change in the Greek world.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 384B:
Ancient Greek Economic Development (POLISCI 430B)
(Formerly CLASSHIS 330B.) Drawing on Herodotus and other literary sources, ancient historians have traditionally seen classical Greece as a very poor land. Recent research, however (much of it conducted here at Stanford), suggests that Greece in fact saw substantial economic growth and rising standards of living across the first millennium BCE. This seminar tests the poor Hellas/wealthy Hellas models against literary and archaeological data. We will develop and test hypotheses to explain the rate and pace of economic change in the Greek world.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 1-5
CLASSICS 388:
Histories of Greece
The first modern historical rewritings of ancient Greece: What made them modern? How did they shape what Greek history is today? Texts and things in the modern recovery of the Greek past; women, colonies, democracy and art as modern subjects of ancient Greek history; modern historiographical methods and theories in their social and cultural contexts; modern historicity and the Greek past. Reading includes ancient historians, Renaissance antiquarians, eighteenth-century Greek histories and Enlightenment writings on ancient Greeks, and current intellectual history scholarship.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
CLASSICS 391:
Early Empires: Han and Rome
(Formerly CLASSHIS 344.) This course systematically compares the Han Empire and the Roman Empire in order to provide insight into the distinctive features of the empires as a political and social type. Topics examined will include geographic frames, the nature of the ruler, the role of the city, the form and function of military forces, religious aspects, legal codes, structures of kinship, and the relation of these states to the outside world.
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 396:
Humanities+Design: Visualizing the Grand Tour (DLCL 396, HISTORY 336E)
Study of the eighteenth-century Grand Tour of Italy through visualization tools of the digital age. Critical readings in both visual epistemology and current Grand Tour studies; interrogating the relationship between quantitative and qualitative approaches in digital humanities; what new insights in eighteenth-century British travel to Italy does data visualization offer us? Students will transform traditional texts and documents into digital datasets, developing individual data analysis projects using text mining, data capture and visualization techniques.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4-5
CLASSICS 399:
Dissertation Research in Classics
(Formerly CLASSGEN 360.)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-10
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI)
CLASSICS 801:
TGR M.A. Project
(Formerly CLASSGEN 801.)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI)
CLASSICS 802:
TGR Ph.D. Dissertation
(Formerly CLASSGEN 802.)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Ceserani, G. (PI);
Devine, A. (PI);
Gleason, M. (PI);
Klopacz, J. (PI);
Krebs, C. (PI);
Leidwanger, J. (PI);
Martin, R. (PI);
Maxmin, J. (PI);
McCall, M. (PI);
Morris, I. (PI);
Netz, R. (PI);
Nightingale, A. (PI);
Ober, J. (PI);
Parker, G. (PI);
Peponi, A. (PI);
Rehm, R. (PI);
Saller, R. (PI);
Scheidel, W. (PI);
Shanks, M. (PI);
Stephens, S. (PI);
Trimble, J. (PI)
