CLAS 2020 | ROMAN CIVILIZATION

Mr. Hays (bgh2n)

DAY & TIME
TR 0930-1045 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

This course is a general introduction to the history, literature, social life, institutions, and ideology of ancient Rome, from its origins to the 2nd century AD.  We will look especially at the ways in which the Roman elite constructed a shared cultural identity for themselves, with attention also to groups marginal to or excluded from that identity (enslaved and formerly enslaved people, women, Greeks and other foreigners).  Readings will focus on ancient texts and sources, including the comedies of Plautus, historical writing by Sallust, Vergil’s epic poem The Aeneid, the love poetry of Ovid, letters by Seneca and Pliny, and Petronius’s raucous novel Satyrica.  Requirements include a midterm and final exam and several short writing exercises.

CLAS 2040 | GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Mr. Miller (jfm4j)

DAY & TIME
MW 1000-1050 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to the myths of the ancient Greek (and, to a lesser extent, Roman) gods and heroes; to the reception of classical myths in later ages; to some modern approaches to the study of myths (historical, religious, psychological, anthropological, etc.), and to adaptations of myths in selected Greek and Roman literary texts. A few quizzes and written responses to readings; midterm and final. 

CLAS 3220 | ARISTOPHANIC COMEDY

Mr. Williams (ddk5ad)

DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

The surviving comedies of the Athenian poet Aristophanes continue to entertain, perplex, enlighten, and offend readers almost 2,500 years after their initial productions. In this course we will read Aristophanes (in English) as a comic playwright, as a historical source, and as an insightful thinker in his own right. We will also consider how one great comedian’s jokes about the most important issues of his day might still speak to those of ours.

CLAS 3220 | RACE AND ETHNICITY IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME

Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)

DAY & TIME
MW 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

What does it mean to say that Cleopatra was black, or not? Ancient history comes up often in modern debates about race. In this course we will investigate how people understood racial and ethnic differences in the ancient Greco-Roman Mediterranean, and how interpretations of antiquity historically have shaped modern concepts of race. We will study relevant art and literature from the 8th century BCE through the 3rd century CE, and modern responses to both. This course will feature several expert guest speakers, and we will go on a (free) class trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.

GREE 1020 | ELEMENTARY GREEK I

Mr. Petrovic (ap2bd)

DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

In this class the student will complete the study of Elementary Greek, finishing the textbook (Chase and Philips) and begin to read passages of connected Greek.

GREE 2020 | INTERMEDIATE GREEK II

Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1100-1150

DESCRIPTION

In the fourth semester of Greek, we venture forth beyond Attic prose for the first time. We begin with selections from the Histories of Herodotus, who pioneered historical and ethnographic inquiry in easy-going Ionic Greek. Afterwards, as an introduction to the language of Greek tragedy, we will read (most of) Euripides’ Medea, with its tense portrayal of a woman playing the part of a brilliant yet terrifying hero. 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.

GREE 2230 | NEW TESTAMENT I

Ms. Spittler (jes9cu)

DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

In this course we will translate some of the earliest and most influential Christian narratives, with an eye to their immediate cultural context. Readings include selections from the canonical Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, along with various non-canonical narratives, such as the Protoevangelium of James and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Grammar review as necessary; some Greek composition.  

GREE 3020 | ADVANCED READING IN GREECE

Mr. George (chg4n)

DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

In this course we will read as much as we can of Books 1, 6, and 22 of the Iliad. As we follow the rage of Achilles, the domestic harmony of Hector and Andromache, and the final confrontation between Achilles and Hector, we will play close attention to the language the epic poet uses to tell his story, especially the implications of oral composition for how we understand the epithets and formulae so characteristic of the poem. There will be quizzes, a final, and a paper.

GREE 5230 | GREEK PROSE STYLE

Mr. George (chg4n)

DAY & TIME
MW 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

How is the prose style of Demosthenes different from that of Lysias? Is Xenophon really the ‘naughty boy of Attic syntax’, as Gildersleeve put it? And what exactly makes Thucydides so hard? In this course, we’ll consider such questions by reading both ancient stylistic accounts of major prose authors and recent linguistic scholarship that touches on syntactic and pragmatic issues, like word order and particle use, that are relevant to the understanding of prose style. Rather than approaching style through composition, we’ll instead read selections from the authors in question in close conjunction with pertinent linguistic and stylistic literature, to see where existing scholarship is successful at explaining the facts, and where it falls short.

GREE 5559 | GREEK AND LATIN EPIGRAM

Mr. Petrovic (ap2bd)

DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

In this course we will trace the history of one of the most fascinating, most versatile, and most enduring literary genres, the epigram. Its history starts in the 8thc. BC and continues, uninterrupted, until the present day. We will explore select highlights of the Greek and Roman epigram: after we study select poems of Simonides of Keos, the most important early epigrammatist, we will move on to pseudepigrapha (of Homer, Plato and tragic poets), and then on to the superstars 

of the Hellenistic period (Leonidas, Poseidippus, Callimachus, Theocritus, Asclepiades), and we will end with the poets of Agathias’ cycle, and with the most delightful of ancient epigrammatists, Martial, a witty and wise poet whose epigrams are often delicate, sometimes naughty, sometimes terribly rude, but certainly never, ever, boring. Quizzes, tests, oral presentations, a midterm, and a final OR a paper. 

LATI 2010 | ELEMENTARY LATIN I

Zachery Haines (scd2nb)

Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1100-1150 

MWF 1200-1250

DESCRIPTION

Readings from Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses, including the stories of Daedalus and Icarus and Apollo and Daphne, and from Nepos’ biography of Hannibal the Carthaginian general. Grammar and vocabulary review as necessary. Students will complete quizzes, exams featuring unseen passages, and short composition assignments.

LATI 2020 | INTERMEDIATE LATIN II

DAY & TIME
Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)

Sarah Herbert (seh9b)

MTW 0900-0950
MTW 1100-1150

DESCRIPTION

In this course you will continue your study of Latin through the translation of ancient authors in prose and poetry. This class will focus on reading the works of Cicero and Catullus. Students in this course must have completed Intermediate Latin I (2010) with a minimum grade of D-. Successful completion of this course will complete the Intermediate Latin sequence, and meet the language requirement for the College of Arts & Sciences.

LATI 3110 | OVID

DAY & TIME
Ms. Huff (ksm8m)
MWF 1000-1050

DESCRIPTION

In this course we will read selections from Ovid’s elegiac love poetry.  Careful translation of the Latin will be stressed (with grammar review), as well as interpretation. 

LATI 3150 | SALLUST

DAY & TIME
Ms. Celotto (gc4fw)
 

DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to introduce you to the first historical monograph in extant Latin literature: Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae. This work provides an account of the famous Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BCE, which threatened to overthrow the Roman government. We will engage in close reading of the most significant episodes in order to evaluate the text as a historical source against the backdrop of Late Republican culture, and examine Sallust’s peculiar use of language and rhetorical strategies. Particular attention will be devoted to issues of grammar, syntax, and style.

LATI 4559 | AGUSTUS IN POETRY AND PROSE

Ms. Myers(ksm8m)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1200-1250

DESCRIPTION

In this course we will read selections from Latin poetry (Vergil, Horace, Ovid) and prose (Cicero, Augustus, Tacitus) that treat the Emperor Augustus. We will consider how Augustus fashioned his own image and how he was constructed and understood by contemporary and later authors. 

LATI 5300 | SURVEY OF LATIN LITERATURE

MR. MILLER (JFM4J)

DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

This course will study selected texts from the beginnings of Latin literary history to St. Augustine. We will examine various genres, e.g. satire, epic, epigram, letters, philosophy, historiography. The syllabus aims to set up productive comparisons and contrasts among the works studied. Requirements include one or two written/oral reports on an author/work not covered on the syllabus, a midterm exam, and a comprehensive final examination.

LATI 5559| PETRONIUS

Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)

DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

This course will involve reading of the Satyrica in Latin, with attention to language, genre, social context, manuscript transmission, and later reception.

ARTH 2054 | ROMAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Ms. Kreindler (waf5tg)

DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215 + DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTIONFollowing an overview of Etruscan art, the course examines the development of Roman architecture, urbanism, sculpture, and painting from the Republic to Constantine. A focus is Rome itself, but other archaeological sites, such as Pompeii, in Italy and throughout the empire are also considered. Themes, such as succession, the achievements of the emperor, the political and social rose of art, and the dissolution of classical art, are traced.          

ARTH 3591-1 | MEDITERRANEAN ART AND MYTH

Ms. Smith (tjs6e)

DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345

DESCRIPTION This course focuses on the mythological stories, figures, and settings of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, including the Near East and Egypt. Works of ancient literature and art are introduced and analyzed, as well as the theories of anthropology, religious studies, and art history. Important themes are landscape, memory, narrative, and the role of Classical myth on popular culture.

Course Objective

Introduce textual and visual sources for ancient mythology

Define the mythological systems of ancient Mediterranean cultures

Understand mythology in relation to other phenomena (i.e., religion, ritual, rites of passage)

Learn the basic principles of art historical analysis

HIEU 2041 | ROMAN REPUBLIC AND EMPIRE

Ms. Meyer (eam2n)

DAY & TIME
MW 1100-1150 + DISCUSSION 

DESCRIPTION

A survey of the political, social, and institutional growth of the Roman Republic, with close attention given to its downfall and replacement by an imperial form of government: and the subsequent history of that imperial form of government, and of social and economic life in the Roman Empire, up to its own decline and fall. Readings of ca. 120 pages per week: midterm, final, and one seven-page paper.

Readings will be drawn from the following:

Sinnegan and Boak, A History of Rome (text)

Livy, The Early History of Rome

Plutarch, Makers of Rome

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars

Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome

Apuleius, The Golden Ass

R. MacMullen, Roman Social Relations

And a course packet

HIEU 3091 | ANCIENT LAW AND SOCIETY

Ms. Meyer (eam2n)

DAY & TIME
MW 1730-1845

DESCRIPTION

This new course examines the relationship of law and society in classical Athens and ancient Rome:  their legal systems in their respective historical contexts.  Such a comparison allows us to ask, What is law?  What do Athenians and Romans think its role should be?  How effective is law in meeting its goals?  How do law, judicial procedure, legal argument, and legal culture develop over time?  Each system offers fundamental insight into the influence of social norms and politics on the development of law, but also into how societies differ, depending on their legal institutions and legal culture.  Requirements include class discussion, two 5-7 page papers, midterm, final.  Readings will be drawn from extensive selections posted on the course web site, as well as from:

C. Carey, Trials from Classical Athens (2^nd edition, 2011)

J. Crook, Law and Life of Rome (reprint, 2008)

Graduate students interested in this course should plan to sign up for the 9000-level tutorial on Greek and Roman Law, whose meeting time we will determine on the basis of students’ schedules.

HIEU 3021 | GREEK AND ROMAN WARFARE

Mr. Lendon (jel4c)

DAY & TIME
MW 1200-1250 + Discussion

DESCRIPTION

An advanced course for students familiar with the outlines of Greek and Roman History, Greek and Roman Warfare will survey the military history of the classical world from Homeric times to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West.  Themes of the course to include the influence of social and cultural factors on methods of warfare—and vice versa, the birth and development of tactics and strategy, the relationship of technology to warfare, and the evolution of the art of battle description.  Topics will include the nature of Homeric warfare, the Greek phalanx, Greek trireme warfare, the Macedonian phalanx, the rise and evolution of the Roman legion, the culture of the Roman army, the defense of Roman frontiers, suppression of rebellions, the Roman army and politics, and Roman military decline in late antiquity. 

Reading of c. 140 pages a week, midterm, final, and two seven-page papers, one of which can be replaced with a construction project.

J. Warry, Warfare in the Classical World (U. Oklahoma Pr.)

J. E. Lendon, Soldiers and Ghosts:  A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity (Yale U. Pr.)

V. D. Hanson, The Western Way of War, 2^nd ed. (U. Cal. Pr.)

Aeneas Tacticus, Asclepiodotus, Onasander (trans. Illinois Greek Club; Loeb Classical Library:  Harvard U. Pr.) 

D. Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army (U. Cal. Pr.)

Polybius, Rise of the Roman Empire (trans. Scott-Kilvert; Viking/Penguin)          

B. Campbell, The Roman Army, 31 BC - AD 227:  A Sourcebook (Routledge)

Julius Caesar, The Gallic War (trans. Hammond; Oxford U. Pr.)

Josephus, The Jewish War (trans. Williamson; Viking/Penguin)

E. Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire (Johns Hopkins U. Pr.)

Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire (trans. Hamilton; Viking/Penguin)

And a xerox packet with selections from Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, & Tacitus.

HIEU 5021 | GREECE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY

Ms. Lendon (jel4c)

DAY & TIME
T 1630-1900

DESCRIPTION

This course examines the political, military, and social history of Greece from the end of the Persian Wars (479 BC) to the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BC).  This is the age of the creation of Athenian democracy and Athenian Empire, as well as of the growing tensions with Sparta that eventually resulted in the Peloponnesian War.  This class will proceed by discussion, including discussion of three seven-page papers written by each student (due variously throughout the term) distributed before the class in which they will be discussed.  There will also be two exercises (on working with ancient evidence) and a final exam.  (Graduate students write four papers or do three exercises).

Prerequisite:  HIEU 2031 or equivalent for undergraduates; or instructor permission.

Undergraduates are permitted to take this class as a graduate class or for 4511 (i.e., History Major Seminar) credit.

Reading is substantial, averaging approximately 200 pages/week, and will be drawn from the following:

The Landmark Thucydides (R. Strassler, ed.; Free Press)

Plutarch, Greek Lives (Oxford World Classics)

J. M. Moore, Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (California)

Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History vols. 4-5 (Loeb/Harvard)

P. Green, Diodorus Siculus Books 11-12.37.1. (Texas).

Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History, trans. C. H. Oldfather vol. 5 (Harvard/Loeb Classical Library)

The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, ed. Robert Strassler (Anchor)

C. Fornara, Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War (Cambridge)

D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (Cornell)

J. E. Lendon, Song of Wrath:  The Peloponnesian War Begins (Basic Books—copy provided free to all members of the class)

and readings on the Canvas course website

PHIL 3120  | ARISTOLTLE

MR. McCready-Flora (icm5h)

DAY & TIME
TR 0930-1045

DESCRIPTION

An introduction to the philosophy of Aristotle through close reading of key texts in translations with the aim of achieving a philosophical understanding of his views and their lasting influence. Readings will focus on his metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind and theory of natural science, though expect material from his ethics and social philosophy as well        

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.