A broad introduction to the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome from the Bronze Age to the collapse of the Roman Empire. Gives particular emphasis to examining how archaeologists go about posing and answering questions.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

This course will look at several ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, examining the many different methods we use to learn about the past and learning how a multitude of modern institutions and ideas are rooted in early antiquity from religious and philosophical ideologies to social institutions to artistic and architectural forms. We will also look at many ways in which we now use the past when we are talking about the present, for example in films and literature, in political and social debates. Our focus will be on the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, and we will examine material from the early Paleolithic era up into the Byzantine and Islamic eras. Throughout the course, you will be encouraged to reflect on connections between the distant past and our contemporary world, using the past to better understand the present, and using the present to make better sense of the past.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Provides an introduction to the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. In addition to considering the myths themselves, we study how they have been employed by ancient through contemporary cultures as reflected in areas ranging from religious and social practice to works of art and architecture.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Grading: Graded (GRD)

History and structure of scientific terminology; the use of Latin and Greek roots in formation of technical terms in zoology, botany, and medicine.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Based on material in translation, the culture of competition in the ancient world: funeral games, celebrating the winners, tragedy, the Olympics and other Greek games, the gymnasium, Roman gladiators, education in Rome, emperors and Roman games, reaction against Roman sport.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces the material world of Greece and Rome through the study of great archaeological discoveries and archaeologists from the renaissance to the present. Relates the archaeologists and their discoveries to the general development of classical archaeology and the cultural history of the era in which they took place.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

The archetype of the hero as it occurs in the psychology of the life cycle, in ancient heroic literature, and in modern popular culture. Readings from Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, Beowulf, the Arthurian cycle, and the Bible. Examples from cinema, comic books, etc.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Explores status of women; roles in literature; their social and economic context; and the origins of contemporary stereotypes and prejudices.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces the political, military, intellectual, and social history of ancient Greece, from the neolithic beginnings to the eastern conquests of Alexander in the fourth century B.C.E.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Elements of Greek civilization analyzed from synchronistic and developmental views to produce a coherent image of that culture as a living and expanding entity.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Survey of Rome's mythical beginnings to the time of the emperors that covers the full spectrum of Roman cultural expression. Topics covered are not only literature, painting, sculpture, and architecture but also details of everyday life in the Roman world, as well as the roles played by marginal figures (women, slaves, foreigners).

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Religion played a major role in the daily life of ancient Romans. This course examines the pervasive role of religion and ritual in all aspects of Roman society from the early Republic to Late Antiquity. After considering the gods, mythology, origins and nature of Roman religion, the course will turn to the relationship between religion and politics (public and provincial religion, priests, emperor worship, forbidden cults and persecutions), ritual activities (sacrifices, votive offerings, prayers, funerals), religious innovations (the mystery religions, Christianity), and the nature of personal religion and superstition (rites of passage, magic, curses and amulets). These topics will be illustrated by relevant texts (manuscripts, papyri and inscriptions) archaeological evidence (temples, shrines, grave markers, burials and grave goods) and Roman religious art (religious symbolism, cult images, catacomb paintings). Students will be confronted by a society in which the boundaries of religious and secular are often blurred or impossible to determine.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Traces the history and development of ancient Assyrians' culture; helps students see how individual strains of different cultures - the variegated peoples that make up the ancestry and contemporaries of the historical Assyrians - can be reworked by these ancient peoples to create (or force the creation of) a sense of common heritage; introduces the specific character of the Assyrian Palace and its bureaucracy; improves student skills in analyzing both written text and the visual record of an ancient culture for the purpose of writing history.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces the development of Greek intellectual life in myth, literature, philosophy, and political thought.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Readings in translation designed to provide an understanding of the forms and particular visions of the epic genre, especially its Greek and Roman exemplars.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Studies the major dramatic works of Greece (in English translation), the historical, philosophical, and cultural background of Greek drama, as well as its subsequent influence on Western theatre.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

The Roman Empire lasted over 600 years, occupying most of Western Europe, much of the Middle East, Asia Minor and the northern coast of Africa. It must be considered the most successful empire in western history. Its impact can still be found in the geography, language, institutions, customs and culture of modern western society. What made the Roman Empire so great? What challenges did it face, and how did it overcome them? This course will explore how the Roman Empire formed, maintained control, the nature of its seemingly invincible army, the defense of its borders, how it dealt with rebellions and resistance, and what strategies it used to integrate its many and ethnically diverse inhabitants.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Athenian Empire of the fifth century B.C.E.; consequences of its policies toward Sparta and Persia.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Remains of the Aegean littoral and their relation to the more advanced civilizations of the Near East, from earliest beginnings to ca. 700 B.C.E.; emphasizes advanced Bronze Age civilizations of Crete and Mycenae.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Surveys architecture, sculpture, and painting from ca. 700 B.C.E. to ca. 350 B.C.E. Traces the development of artistic types, towns, and sanctuaries against the setting of the history, political institutions, and public figures of the times.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Traces the development of Italic culture (early Iron Age, Etruscan, and during the Roman Republic) via avenues ranging from burial practices to urbanism.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Focuses on the Roman Empire from Augustus (d. A.D. 14) to Constantine (d. A.D. 337), considering art, architecture, and archaeology both at home and in the far-flung provinces.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

The poets and writers of ancient Greece and Rome created countless innovations in their literary works that became the inheritance of Western culture. These range from narrative techniques like flashbacks, found already in Homer, to the creation of meaning through sustained allegory, to the development of genres and tones like the macabre. The goal of this course is to introduce students to the range of classical literature by surveying key innovations that continue to make Greek and Roman literature exciting, and that have influenced the work of centuries of writers in the Western tradition down to the present. Students will read selections from early modern and modern writers alongside those of classical authors to consider how these later authors directly or indirectly build upon, adapt, and even abandon the techniques and themes of classical authors. We will consider not only how later authors developed classical modes and methods, but equally how the perspectives of later authors can help us isolate what is interesting and perhaps unexpected in the work of classical authors. The class will include comparisons with Arabic and Chinese poetics to provide additional perspectives on the Western literature. This course satisfies the SUNY General Education Requirement in Humanities and Western Civilization.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Examines the life and world of Alexander the Great, beginning with his father, Philip, and concluding with the division of his kingdom among his lieutenants. Analyzes the sources, both literary and archaeological, for Alexander's life.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Topics vary by semester. See department for course description.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

History of the Greek city as a political and social institution with attention to physical environment, economic and agricultural resources, use of urban space, public architecture, and representations of civic ideology.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Analyzes the role of religion in the ancient Greek polis with attention to the archaeological evidence for cult practice, the representation of ritual acts in Greek literature, gender difference and religious ideology, and the ritual of life cycle.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Examines in depth the nature of economic activity in the Greco-Roman world. Places particular emphasis on the employment of general models to understand the ancient economy, and how textual and archaeological evidence has been used to develop and evaluate these models.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Systematic survey of the archaeological remains of the buried city of Pompeii. Uses the unique evidence offered by Pompeii to examine the nature of municipal life in Roman Italy, including society, economy, politics, and private life.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

The Classics Capstone is a required and crucial component of the coursework for a Classics major and is recommended for a Classics minor. While the topic of exploration will vary from term to term, the course will consistently provide the Classics student with the opportunity to integrate all elements of her/his prior preparation in the discipline (linguistic and literary, historical, cultural), in such a way as to engage synthetically phenomena of Classical antiquity at a high level of intellectual discussion and writing.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Grading: Graded (GRD)
Pre-Requisites: CL Majors, Minors or P.I

Students collaborate with faculty research mentors on an ongoing faculty research project or conduct independent research under the guidance of a faculty member.

Credits: 1-3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces ancient Greek, studying the essential grammar and readings in a variety of simple texts. Also deals with the Greeks' linguistic and historical background, and the cultural milieu in which the great literary and philosophical works were created. Same as RSP 110, RSP 120.

Credits: 5
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces ancient Greek, studying the essential grammar and readings in a variety of simple texts. Also deals with the Greeks' linguistic and historical background, and the cultural milieu in which the great literary and philosophical works were created. Same as RSP 110, RSP 120.

Credits: 5
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)
Pre-Requisites: GR 101

Advanced work in grammar and composition together with readings from prose and poetry. Includes selections from a wide range of authors in order to demonstrate the diversity and appeal of Greek literature. Emphasizes developing reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Advanced work in grammar and composition together with readings from prose and poetry. Includes selections from a wide range of authors in order to demonstrate the diversity and appeal of Greek literature. Emphasizes developing reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)
Pre-Requisites: GR 201

Selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Emphasizes improving reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Selections from Herodotus' Histories, and representative Greek poets, such as Sappho, Alcman, and Pindar. Emphasizes improving reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Selections from Thucydides' Peloponnesian War.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Selections from Plato's dialogues, such as Apology, Crito, Republic, Phaedrus.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Readings from the great Athenian dramatists, including Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Slander, murder, and innuendo - great political speeches and courtroom dramas from the ancient world. Selections from Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, etc.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Selections could include Plato, Herodotus, Thucydides, oratory, the Greek novel, the New Testament.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Greece's great lyric poets, including Sappho, Bacchylides, Alcman, Pindar, selections from Greek Anthology.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Topic varies from semester to semester.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces Latin; the reading of simple texts by various Roman authors. Also deals with Roman culture and civilization, and with the influence of Latin in English vocabulary.

Credits: 5
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Introduces Latin; the reading of simple texts by various Roman authors. Also deals with Roman culture and civilization, and with the influence of Latin in English vocabulary.

Credits: 5
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)
Pre-Requisites: LAT 101

Advanced work in Latin grammar with readings from Latin prose and poetry. Includes selections from a wide range of authors in order to demonstrate the richness, diversity, and appeal of Latin literature. Emphasizes developing reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Advanced work in Latin grammar with readings from Latin prose and poetry. Includes selections from a wide range of authors in order to demonstrate the richness, diversity, and appeal of Latin literature. Emphasizes developing reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)
Pre-Requisites: LAT 201

Selections from the work of Ovid, which includes Metamorphoses, Ars Amatoria, Herodies, Fasti, and other poems. Emphasizes improving reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Selections from the Latin lyric poets, from Horace and Catullus to poetry of the early Middle Ages. Emphasizes improving reading ability.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Slander, murder, and innuendo from the Roman world. Political speeches and courtroom oratory by Cicero, the Roman world's greatest public speaker.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Data not available
Grading: Graded (GRD)

For advanced undergraduates. Topic varies from semester to semester.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Grading: Graded (GRD)

Engages two distinct, and yet ultimately complimentary tasks: the reading of and stylistics analysis of selected Latin prose texts.

Credits: 3
Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall
Grading: Graded (GRD)