Courses
I. CLASSICS:
CLASSICS COURSES IN TRANSLATION.
CLAS 1080 | THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC AND LEGAL TERMINOLOGY
Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)
DAY & TIME
MW 1500-1550 + Online Asynchronous Discussion
Why are many scientific and legal terms so complex, difficult to pronounce, and hard to remember? Blame it on the ancient Greeks and Romans! We will investigate how thousands of years ago ancient scholars developed their own specialized terminologies, and what role these played in the development of the life sciences and law in the early modern period. We will study ancient Greek and Latin word roots, etymology, and word formation in order to master modern scientific and legal terminologies more easily. Finally, we will consider the societal impact today of the use of specialized terminologies rooted in ancient languages with respect to care accessibility, patient and client understanding, and public trust in expertise.
CLAS 2010 | GREEK CIVILIZATION
Ms. Arthur-Montagne (hvk9ks)
DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515 + FRIDAY DISCUSSIONS
This course satisfies Humanities and/or Historical Studies requirements.
DESCRIPTION
This course serves as a general introduction to the history, literature, social life, institutions, and ideology of ancient Greece. All readings will be in translation, including focus on ancient texts and sources, including Homer, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato. Requirements include a midterm and final exam and several short papers.
CLAS 2300 | ANCIENT ROME AT THE MOVIES
Mr. Hays (bhg2n)
DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215
DESCRIPTION
Why has Ancient Rome exercised a fascination on movie producers and directors almost since the beginnings of cinema itself? This class will study the representation of Rome on both the big and small screen from the early days until now. We'll watch some of the major achievements of the genre, from Mervyn LeRoy's Quo Vadis through William Wyler's Ben Hur, Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, and Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire, to Ridley Scott's Gladiator. We'll also view and discuss some less distinguished efforts, from the "sword and-sandal" era and beyond. We'll look at predecessors from the silent and black & white years, and at depictions of Rome on television. Throughout the semester we'll be asking how these imagined Romes relate to historical reality, how they engage in dialogue with one another, and how they function as a mirror for the concerns and anxieties of our own society.
CLAS 3040 | WOMEN AND GENDER IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)
DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
This course will examine issues of sex and gender in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome through the study of literature, art, and science. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the sources and the current debates focusing on the representation of men and women, and the perception of masculinity and femininity in two cultures that have profoundly influenced Western thought.
CLAS 3210 | TRAGEDY AND COMEDY
Mr. Williams (ddk5ad)
DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
Standing at the beginning of a long literary and performance tradition, ancient Greek and Roman drama remains a rich source of artistic and intellectual inspiration. This course is designed to introduce you to these plays. We will consider the time and place in which the plays were originally produced as well as the questions of enduring concern that they address. As we read our texts, we will also be attentive to how these texts came alive––and continue to come alive––in performance. Plays studied will include tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca and comedies by Aristophanes and Plautus.
II. THE GREEKS:
Courses in Greek language and literature, and in Greek art, ideas, history, and other aspects of Greek civilization.
GREE 1010 | ELEMENTARY GREEK
Mr. Dillery (jdd4n)
DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215 +DISCUSSIONS
DESCRIPTION
In this course, students will be introduced to ancient Greek, one of the most fascinating languages of the world, the language of Plato, Aristotle, Sappho, and Homer. What’s not to love? We will learn the forms of verbs and nouns, the rules of syntax, and equip you with a beginning vocabulary (imagine: after a while you might discover that you are able to write in the style of Plato!). And when you continue with your Greek at the Intermediate and Advanced levels, you will be able to appreciate the brilliance of Homer and the pathos of Euripides as people did 2500 years ago, as well as to gain a much deeper understanding of the New Testament. There will be short readings, exercises in writing Greek, plenty of quizzes, a midterm and a final. It will not always be easy — really good things seldom are — but it will be a lot of fun (if you like coding, philosophy, math, or physics, it won’t be difficult either).
GREE 2010 | INTERMEDIATE GREEK I
Ms. Arthur-Montagne (hvk9ks)
DAY & TIME
MWF 1100-1150
DESCRIPTION
This course aims to help students make the leap from the basic principles of Greek introduced in the first-year sequence to the reading of extended passages of actual Attic prose. In it, we’ll read selections from Xenophon’s Anabasis and Plato’s Crito, with regular quizzes and three tests along the way.
GREE 3030 | ADVANCED READING IN GREEK
Mr. Williams (ddk5ad)
DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
In this course, we will read a comedy and related prose work. Weekly exercises in writing Greek.
GREE 5160 | HERODOTUS
Mr. Dillery(jdd4n)
DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645
DESCRIPTION
We will read Herodotus Books I, II, and VI in their entirety in Greek. Important scholarly questions from the past century to the present will be considered. Close reading of the text will be done every class period. In addition, there will be student reports on passages; a translation mid-term and final; and a final paper.
GREE 5250 | DEMOSTHENES
Mr. George (chg4n)
DAY & TIME
WF 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
Demosthenes has long enjoyed a reputation as the foremost of the Greek orators—a view found, for instance, in Cicero, who knew a thing or two about how to give an effective speech. Through close reading of the First and Third Philippics, On the Crown, and selections from other speeches, together with secondary literature on the wider cultural and historical context, this course will examine what it is about Demosthenes’ language, style, and rhetoric that led to his preeminence in the field. .
III. THE ROMANS:
Courses in the Latin language and Roman literature, and in Roman art, ideas, history, and other aspects of Roman civilization.
LATI 1010 | ELEMENTARY LATIN I
New Instructor
DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345 + Discussions
DESCRIPTION
This course introduces the basic principles of Latin grammar. Elementary exercises in comprehension and composition will be complemented by lectures, during which we read adapted Latin passages about ancient myth and Roman history. A plenary session meets with the lead instructor on TR; discussion sections MW meet with teaching assistants. This course continues in the spring with LATI 1020, when we cover the remaining grammar and begin reading texts in the original Latin.
LATI 1030 | FUNDAMENTALS OF LATIN (INTENSIVE)
Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)
DAY & TIME
MTWR 1100-1150
DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to introduce you to the Latin language through Wheelock’s Latin. Your main objective in this course will be to gain a working knowledge of the fundamentals of Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary by learning paradigms, and reading and translating sentences and passages adapted from and inspired by ancient Roman orators, historians, poets, and playwrights. At the end of this semester, the successful student will be able to identify the morphology of nouns and verbs and understand Latin syntax.
LATI 2010 | INTERMEDIATE LATIN I
New Instructor
DAY & TIME
MWF 0900-0950
DESCRIPTION
We will be reading selections from Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses, including the stories of Daedalus and Icarus and Apollo and Daphne, and Nepos’ biography of Hannibal the Carthaginian general in its entirety. Particular attention will be devoted to issues of grammar, syntax, meter, and style. Students will complete quizzes, exams featuring unseen passages, and short composition assignments.
LATI 2020 | INTERMEDIATE LATIN II
Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)
DAY & TIME
MWF 0900-0950
MWF 1200-1250
DESCRIPTION
In this course we will dive into the life of the Roman woman Clodia, (in)famous from a court speech by Cicero (Pro Caelio) and Catullus’ love poetry, both of which we will read. In addition to prepared readings, we will do in-class (group) exercises, short Latin compositions, and a creative translation project. Successful completion of this course will fulfill the World Languages Requirement for the College of Arts and Sciences.
LATI 3110 | OVID
Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)
DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345
DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to introduce you to one of the masterpieces of Latin poetry: Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The fifteen books of this epic poem chronicle the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar by means of more than two hundred transformation tales. In this course we will engage in close reading of some of the most famous and significant passages of the poem. Particular attention will be devoted to issues of grammar, syntax, meter, and style.
LATI 3559 | NEW TOPIC COURSE IN LATIN
New Instructor
DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
The topic for this new undergraduate Latin seminar will be announced shortly.
LATI 4060 | TACITUS AGRICOLA
Mr. George (chg4n)
DAY & TIME
MWF 1000-1050
DESCRIPTION
“Plundering, slaughtering, stealing—with false names they call these things empire, and, where they create a wasteland, they call it peace.” In a biography that chiefly covers his father-in-law Agricola’s time as governor of Britain, the bracingly caustic historian Tacitus suggests that maybe not everything the Romans did in the provinces was entirely admirable. In this course, we will not only read the primary text with care and precision, but also discuss scholarship on literary, cultural, and historical questions raised by the work.
LATI 5559 | RECEPTION OF THE AENEID
Mr. Hays (bgh2n)
DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515
DESCRIPTION
This seminar will survey the ancient, medieval, and modern reception of Vergil's epic. We will look at exegesis and commentary (Servius, Macrobius, Tiberius Claudius Donatus, manuscript scholia), allegorical readings (Fulgentius), manuscript illumination (including the "Vatican Virgil" and "Roman Virgil"), and popular folktale (legends of "Vergil the magician"). We will also explore creative responses to the epic, in poetry (Ovid, the Old French Eneas, Maffeo Vegio's thirteenth book), painting (Claude, Turner, and others), opera (Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, Berlioz's Les Troyens), and fiction (Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil, Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia).
LATI 5559| NEW TOPIC COURSE IN LATIN
New Instructor
DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645
DESCRIPTION
The topic for this new Latin graduate seminar will be announced shortly.
IV. COMPARATIVE COURSES:
Courses presenting Classical studies in relation to other subjects.
ARTH 3062 | POMPEII
Ms. Kreindler (waf5tg)
DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345
DESCRIPTION
This course explores the art, architecture, urban development, religion, economy, and daily life of a Roman city in the early Empire. Pompeii, and the surrounding cities of Herculaneum, Boscoreale, and Oplontis, were destroyed in the cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, preserving evidence that rarely survives in other Roman cities.
ARTH 4591 | ARCHAEOLOGY OF SPORT AND SPECTACLE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Ms. Kreindler (waf5tg)
DAY & TIME
W 1100-1150
DESCRIPTION
This class will be dedicated to the study of material traces of sport and spectacle in the ancient Mediterranean. Topics will include ancient dramatic and athletic contests, funerary games, gladiatorial combat, and historical reenactments. This course will not simply be a survey of ancient spectacles, but rather will interrogate how spectacles reinforced social norms, practices, and institutions in classical antiquity.
HIEU 2031 | ANCIENT GREECE
Mr. Lendon (jel4c)
DAY & TIME
MW 1100-1150
DESCRIPTION
Studies the political, military, and social history of Ancient Greece from the Homeric age to the death of Alexander the Great, emphasizing the development and interactions of Sparta and Athens.
HIEU 3041/HIEU9025 | THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Ms. Meyer (eam2m)
DAY & TIME
TR 1100-12150
DESCRIPTION
Surveys the history and culture of the last century of the Roman Republic (133-30 B.C.), emphasizing the political and social reasons for the destruction of the Republican form of government and its replacement by a monarchy.
HIEU 4501/5063 | LATE ANTIQUITY, AD 235-410
Mr. Lendon (jel4c)
DAY & TIME
W 1530-1800
DESCRIPTION
This class, a discussion seminar, examines the great Roman crisis of the third century and the Romans’ response to it, as well as the nature of reestablished Roman rule through the fourth century AD. This is the great age of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine, of Julian and Theodosius. Topics to be examined include governance, warfare, the late-antique economy, religious strife, the life of cities, similarities and differences between East and West, and more general assessments of different aspects of late-antique culture. The major work of the course will be a twenty-five-page research paper, along with two oral reports (one on the research underway), as well as continued high-quality contribution to discussion. Reading will be mainly drawn from primary sources in translation and selected texts.
V. SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
The Arthur F. Stocker Lectureship
The Arthur F. Stocker Endowment Fund for Classical Lectures was established in 1984 by the colleagues, friends, and former students of Arthur F. Stocker, a longtime member of the Department, in recognition of his contributions to the field of Classics. The Endowment supports an annual lecture by a distinguished visiting scholar on a topic related to Latin literature or culture.
The James S. Constantine Lectureship
The James S. Constantine annual lectureship was established in 1987 by the colleagues, friends, and former students of James S. Constantine, a longtime member of the Department, in recognition of his contributions to the teaching and study of the Classics. Every fall a distinguished visiting scholar delivers a lecture on a topic related to Greek literature or culture.
Margaret Lowe Annual Memorial Undergraduate Lecture
A memorial lecture series endowed by Drs. Sandy and Whitson Lowe honoring the memory of their daughter, Margaret Helen Lowe. Margaret died tragically and unexpectedly at the beginning of her fourth year of study as Greek Major in 2015. Having had enough credits in order to graduate, at the Final Exercises in 2016, Margaret was awarded her BA degree posthumously. This annual talk reminds us and our future Classics students of Margaret’s kind and generous spirit and her love for Classics.
The Classics Graduate Student Colloquium
Each year the graduate students of the Department of Classics sponsor a colloquium, at which graduate students from the University of Virginia and other universities, and a distinguished senior scholar, present papers on a selected theme.
Friday Luncheons
At Friday Luncheons during the academic year, students, faculty of the Classics Department, and other persons with classical interests hear and discuss papers relevant to the Classics. Those interested in attending should contact Inger Kuin (ik6mg@virginia.edu).
The Virginia Senior Classical League
The Virginia Senior Classical League is a statewide organization of college students who are interested in the ancient world. The VSCL assists the Virginia Junior Classical League at the VJCL Convention each fall. Each year the VSCL also runs two Certamina (academic competitions for high school Latin students) for the VJCL. Students interested in joining should consult the League website at http://www.vscl.org/
The Classics Club at UVA
The purpose of the Classics Club is to promote community both among Classics Majors and other interested undergraduates through the facilitation of educational, social, and service-related activities. For further information send an e-mail to: classicsclub@virginia.edu.
The Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America is an educational and scientific society of archaeologists and others interested in archaeological study and research. There is a chapter of the AIA in Charlottesville, and those interested in joining should contact Professor Tyler Jo Smith (tjs6e@virginia.edu). The AIA sponsors a series of lectures, which are free and open to the public.