2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Browse
by subject...
    Schedule
view...
 

161 - 170 of 211 results for: CLASSICS

CLASSICS 249: Democracy Ancient and Modern: From Politics to Political Theory (CLASSICS 149, PHIL 176J, PHIL 276J, POLISCI 231A, POLISCI 331A)

Modern political theorists, from Hobbes and Rousseau, to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl, have turned to the classical Greek theory and practice of politics, both for inspiration and as a critical target. The last 30 years has seen renewed interest in Athenian democracy among both historians and theorists, and closer interaction between empiricists concerned with 'what really happened, and why' and theorists concerned with the possibilities and limits of citizen self-government as a normatively favored approach to political organization. The course examines the current state of scholarship on the practice of politics in ancient city-states, including but not limited to democratic Athens; the relationship between practice and theory in antiquity (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and others); the uses to which ancient theory and practice have been and are being put by modern political theorists; and experiments in democratic practice (citizen assemblies, deli more »
Modern political theorists, from Hobbes and Rousseau, to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl, have turned to the classical Greek theory and practice of politics, both for inspiration and as a critical target. The last 30 years has seen renewed interest in Athenian democracy among both historians and theorists, and closer interaction between empiricists concerned with 'what really happened, and why' and theorists concerned with the possibilities and limits of citizen self-government as a normatively favored approach to political organization. The course examines the current state of scholarship on the practice of politics in ancient city-states, including but not limited to democratic Athens; the relationship between practice and theory in antiquity (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and others); the uses to which ancient theory and practice have been and are being put by modern political theorists; and experiments in democratic practice (citizen assemblies, deliberative councils, lotteries) inspired by ancient precedents. Suggested Prerequisites: Origins of Political Thought OR The Greeks OR other coursework on ancient political theory or practice. (For undergraduate students: suggest but do not require that you have taken either Origins of Political Thought, or The Greeks, or some other course that gives you some introduction to Greek political history or thought. )
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5
Instructors: Ober, J. (PI)

CLASSICS 256: Design of Cities (ARCHLGY 156, CLASSICS 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.
Last offered: Winter 2023

CLASSICS 258: Theories of the Image: Byzantium, Islam and the Latin West (ARTHIST 209C, ARTHIST 409, CLASSICS 158, REES 409)

This seminar explores the role of images in the three major powers of the medieval Mediterranean: the Umayyads, the Carolingians, and the Byzantines. For each the definition of an image- sura, imago, or eikon respectively-became an important means of establishing religious identity and a fault-line between distinct cultural traditions. This course troubles the identification of image with figural representation and presents instead a performative paradigm where chant or recitation are treated as images. As such, students will be able to see the connections between medieval image theory and contemporary art practices such as installation.
Last offered: Spring 2021

CLASSICS 260: Design Thinking for the Creative Humanities (CLASSICS 160)

This class introduces Design Thinking to students in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Under a growth mindset of creative exploration and experiment, we will share a tool kit drawn from design thinking and the arts to develop our imaginative capacity to innovate. The standpoint is that creative imagination is not a property of the artistic or design genius but comprises skills and competencies that can be easily learned and adapted to all sorts of circumstances ¿ personal, organizational, business, community.
Last offered: Winter 2019

CLASSICS 262: Sex and the Early Church (FEMGEN 262, FEMGEN 362R, RELIGST 262, RELIGST 362)

Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine more »
Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine the ways these first centuries of what eventually became the world's largest religious tradition has profoundly affected the sexual norms of our own time. The seminar assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

CLASSICS 273: Hagia Sophia (ARTHIST 208, ARTHIST 408, CLASSICS 173)

This seminar uncovers the aesthetic principles and spiritual operations at work in Hagia Sophia, the church dedicated to Holy Wisdom in Constantinople. Rather than a static and inert structure, the Great Church emerges as a material body that comes to life when the morning or evening light resurrects the glitter of its gold mosaics and when the singing of human voices activates the reverberant and enveloping sound of its vast interior. Drawing on art and architectural history, liturgy, musicology, and acoustics, this course explores the Byzantine paradigm of animation arguing that it is manifested in the visual and sonic mirroring, in the chiastic structure of the psalmody, and in the prosody of the sung poetry. Together these elements orchestrate a multi-sensory experience that has the potential to destabilize the divide between real and oneiric, placing the faithful in a space in between terrestrial and celestial. A short film on aesthetics and samples of Byzantine chant digitally imprinted with the acoustics of Hagia Sophia are developed as integral segments of this research; they offer a chance for the student to transcend the limits of textual analysis and experience the temporal dimension of this process of animation of the inert.
Last offered: Winter 2022

CLASSICS 279: Dancing in Ancient Greece and Rome (CLASSICS 179)

What was the role of dance in Greek and Roman cultures? Who danced and who were their spectators? Dance as an art for its own sake and as a vehicle of meaning; aesthetics and ethics of ancient dance; Philosophical and Anthropological aspects of dance in Greek and Roman societies. Detailed discussion of visual and textual sources (in English) . 
Last offered: Winter 2023

CLASSICS 280: Introduction to Coptic I (CLASSICS 180)

For graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Introductory grammar of Sahidic Coptic. Recommended: knowledge of other ancient languages. Enrollment by permission of instructor.
Last offered: Winter 2020 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 15 units total)

CLASSICS 286: African Archive Beyond Colonization (AFRICAAM 187, AFRICAST 117, ARCHLGY 166, CLASSICS 186, CSRE 166)

From street names to monuments, the material sediments of colonial time can be seen, heard, and felt in the diverse cultural archives of ancient and contemporary Africa. This seminar aims to examine the role of ethnographic practice in the political agendas of past and present African nations. In the quest to reconstruct an imaginary of Africa in space and time, students will explore these social constructs in light of the rise of archaeology during the height of European empire and colonization. Particularly in the last 50 years, revived interest in African cultural heritage and preservation raises complex questions about the problematic tensions between European, American, and African theories of archaeological and ethnographic practice.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5
Instructors: Derbew, S. (PI)

CLASSICS 289: Et in Arcadia Ego: The Pastoral Ideal, from Antiquity to the Present (CLASSICS 189)

In this seminar we will explore ancient Greek and Roman ideas and images of the idealized landscape, reading examples of the pastoral ideal from Greek authors such as Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Theocritus, and Longus and Roman authors such as Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. We will read these works in conversation with the larger tradition of the pastoral and idealized landscape as represented in the landscapes of Roman frescoes, Chinese ink paintings, and French oil paintings, continuing to the modern evolution of the anti-pastoral or post-pastoral positions represented by ecocriticism. Works will be read in translation (although graduate students and advanced undergraduates may elect to read the original Greek and Latin texts for appropriate credit).
Last offered: Spring 2023
Filter Results:
term offered
updating results...
teaching presence
updating results...
number of units
updating results...
time offered
updating results...
days
updating results...
UG Requirements (GERs)
updating results...
component
updating results...
career
updating results...
© Stanford University | Terms of Use | Copyright Complaints