CLAS 2010 | GREEK CIVILIZATION

Mr. Petrovic (ap2bd)

DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

This course satisfies Humanities and/or Historical Studies requirements.

An introduction to the literature and history of ancient Greece. All readings will be in translation, including: Homer, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato. Midterm, final and two papers.

CLAS 3210 | TRAGEDY AND COMEDY

TBA (XX2XX)

DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1450 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

This course treats Greek tragedy and comedy and their Roman adaptations in English translation. There will be readings from the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, Plautus, Terence, and Seneca.  Lectures and discussions will cover the conventions of ancient theater, staging, dramaturgy, and the interpretation of individual plays. No prerequisites.

CLAS 3260 | RITUALS IN ANCIENT GREECE

Ms. Petrovic (ip3k)

DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

The course explores Ancient Greek religious practices and beliefs by highlighting tensions between public and private realms. Starting with the rituals belonging to the realm of social interaction and the rites of passage, we move on to investigate the group rituals in their socio-religious contexts. Then, turning from the realm of public religion performed in, and often in service of, a city-state, we will focus on magical practices which Greeks performed in secrecy and solitude, and will explore magical rituals as a touchstone for assessment and evaluation of conceptual differences between the domains of ‘public’ and ‘private’ religiosity, and, more generally, between the realms of ‘religion’ and ‘magic’. 

Course structure: Each week, there will be one lecture (Wednesday) and one seminar (Monday). The preparatory reading must be done between Wednesday and Monday. Reading will average 50 pages/week.

CLAS 3300/5300 | INTRODUCTION TO INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS

Mr. George (chg4n)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1400-1450

DESCRIPTION

Languages as superficially different as English, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit in fact all developed from a single “proto-language,” called Proto-Indo-European. This course will explore the following questions: What was this proto-language like? How do we know what it was like? By what processes did it develop into the various daughter languages? How can we trace words as diverse as wit, idea, video, and Veda back to a common source? Familiarity with Greek or Latin is recommended but not required.

GREE 1010 | ELEMENTARY GREEK I

Mr. Petrovic (ap2bd)

DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

In this course the 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 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

Mr. George (chg4n)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1000-1050

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 3010 | ADVANCED READING IN GREEK

Mr. Dillery (jdd4n)

DAY & TIME
TR 0930-1045

DESCRIPTION

We will read selected orations of Lysias and Aristophanes’ Wasps. Our focus will be on the legal and rhetorical cultures of ancient Athens. There will be quizzes, a midterm, and a final. Additionally, there will be a final research project of the student’s own choosing.

GREE 5160 | HERODOTUS

Mr. Dillery (jdd4n)

DAY & TIME
TR 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

In this class we will be reading much of book 1, 2 and 7, focusing on questions relating to Herodotus as historian of the Persian Wars and ethnographer. Midterm, Final, and a final research project.

GREE/RELC 5559 | WRITING AGAINST THE GRAIN:GENRE-PLAY IN IMPERIAL GREEK LITERARTURE ON RELIGION

Ms. Kuin (ik6mg) and Ms. Spittler (jes9cu)

DAY & TIME
MW 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

What kind of text am I reading, who is this for, and what is it supposed to be doing? The intellectual, religious, and cultural diversity of the eastern Roman Empire make the literature that it produced often hard to decipher. Authors from different backgrounds eclectically drew on a wide variety of genres available to them, and purposely innovated and blended forms to create new hybrids, serving an even wider variety of philosophical, religious, and artistic agendas. In this course we will study imperial Greek texts concerning religion (Christian and otherwise) that all push generic boundaries in one way or another. Our central question will be how the changing religious landscape of the period affected literary developments. Readings will include e.g. Lucian’s Alexander or the False Prophet, the inscribed Abgar-Jesus-correspondence, Diogenes of Oenoanda’s Physics, Acts of Paul and Thekla, Life of Secundus the Silent Philosopher, and Xenophon’s Ephesian Tale. All readings will be made available via Canvas.

LATI 1010 | ELEMENTARY LATIN I

Mr. Corbeill (apc3m)

DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345 +DISCUSSIONS

DESCRIPTION

This course introduces the basic principles of Latin grammar and syntax. Elementary exercises in comprehension and composition will be complemented by frequent illustrated lectures, during which we read adapted Latin passages about ancient myth and Roman history. A plenary section 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

DAY & TIME
Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)
MTWR 0900-0950
MTWR 1000-1050

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

DAY & TIME
Ms. Huff (ahv5wr)
MWF 0900-0950
Ms. Freestone (aqe6wv)
MWF 1200-1250
Mr. Hamilton (cdh5cu)
MWF 1400-1450

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

DAY & TIME
Ms. Kuin (ik6mg)
MWF 0900-0950
Ms. Basile (cb8vd)
MWF 1200-1250
TBA (XX2XX)
MWF 1200-1250

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 poems of Catullus and Cicero’s Pro Caelio. In addition to prepared readings, students will do in-class exercises to improve their understanding of Latin grammar, as well as short Latin compositions. 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 and Sciences.

Text editions:

Garrison, D.H. 2012. The Student’s Catullus (4th ed.). University of Oklahoma Press.

Englert, W.G. 1990. Cicero: Pro Caelio. Bryn Mawr College Commentaries. (Out of print, PDF will be supplied.)

LATI 3070 | LIVY

TBA (XX2XX)

DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

We will read Book 1 of Livy’s History, which presents Rome’s regal period—from Romulus to Tarquinius Superbus—and offers lots of interest as lively and complex narrative, as engagement with Rome’s topography, and as evidence of Roman institutions. Careful translation of the Latin will be stressed (with grammar review).

LATI 3100 | VERGIL'S AENEID

Ms. Myers (ksm8m)

DAY & TIME
MWF 1100-1150

DESCRIPTION

This course will consist of translation and analysis of selections of Vergil’s Aeneid. We will read closely, with an alertness to matters of translation, meter, style, allusion, poetics, arrangement, and cultural and political context. We will consider Vergil’s Greek and Latin models, as well as his influence on later Latin literature. Students will be expected to translate and scan in class and participate in discussion. Careful translation of the Latin will be stressed (with grammar review). There will be two one-hour tests (translation and meter, sight and prepared), quizzes, occasional extra secondary readings, and a short paper (5 pages).

LATI 4559 | ROMAN WOMEN WRITERS

Mr. Celotto (gc4fw)

DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345

DESCRIPTION

The main challenge in writing the history of Roman women is their silence, for they either did not themselves write, or what writing they did was not kept and transmitted. Stripped of their own voices, they primarily speak to us through the writings of elite male authors. Thus, the study of Roman women is predominantly a study of representation rather than reality. There are, however, a few welcome exceptions, such as the work of the elegiac poet Sulpicia and of a few other personalities, for whom only scant evidence survives. In this course we will read all preserved writings by female authors in the attempt to assess what their voices have to say to subsequent ages.

LATI 5070 | LATIN ELEGY

Ms. Myers (ksm8m)

DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1515

DESCRIPTION

This course will focus on the Latin Elegiac Poetry of Tibullus, Sulpicia, Propertius, and Ovid. We shall aim to read selections from these poets very closely (translation and literary analysis). We will read selections of the poems closely, with an alertness to matters of translation, meter, style, allusion, poetic, arrangement, theoretical approaches, and cultural and political context. The elegies will be considered individually and as parts of collections. We will explore the poets’ negotiations with the various ideologies and cultural discourses of Augustan Rome, literary, political, social, and sexual. Weekly topics and secondary scholarship will also be assigned and discussed. Students will be expected to translate and scan in class, deliver article reports, line reports, and participate in discussion.

LATI 5559 | FALL 44 BCE

Mr. Corbeill (apc3m)

DAY & TIME
TR 1530-1645

DESCRIPTION

Fall 44 BCE was one of the most significant periods in the long history of Rome. Following the assassination of the dictator Julius Caesar the previous March, hope revived among most of the elite that the Republican form of government could be restored. Cicero represents our only significant source for this period, and his feverish literary activity across a number of genre--letters, orations, philosophical tratises, poetry--all have as a subtext the pitfalls and prospects facing such a renewal. In Fall ’24 CE we will read selections from Cicero’s prodigious output during these months, as much as possible in the order in which they were composed, in order to assess what he saw as the solution to Rome’s problems. Unsurprisingly for Latin’s greatest stylist, a proper use of language and reason represents the key to navigating the tumultuous political landscape.

ARAH 5559 | ANCIENT GREEK SANCTUARIES

Ms. Smith (tjs6e)

DAY & TIME
W 1700-1930

DESCRIPTIONAcross the ancient Greek world, sanctuaries were vital locations of ritual activity and human interaction with the divine. With a primary focus on material culture and concepts of sacred space, this seminar will explore the archaeological and textual evidence for panhellenic, urban, and rural sanctuaries, both in Greece itself and in the Greek colonies. It will consider the definition and key elements of the sanctuary, as well as their origins and development over time. Both recent scholarship on sanctuaries and recent archaeological discoveries will be highlighted, as will perceptions of sacred and profane in Greek religious practice. Votive offerings, painted pottery, and altars will all be covered, as will large-scale architectural structures, cult statues, and mystery cults. Both advanced undergraduates and graduate students are welcome to join this class.

ARTH 2053 | GREEK ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Ms. Smith (tjs6e)

DAY & TIME
TR 1100-1215

DESCRIPTION
The vase painting, sculpture, and other arts of the Greeks, from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic periods. Works are studied in their social, political, and religious contexts with a special focus on archaeology and material culture.

ARTH 3062 | POMPEII

Ms. Kreindler (waf5tg)

DAY & TIME
TR 1230-1345

DESCRIPTION
Explores the life, art architecture, urban development, religion, economy, and daily life of the famous Roman city destroyed in the cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in a.d. 79.

ARTH 4591 | ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT COLONIZATION

Ms. Kreindler (waf5tg)

DAY & TIME
M 1000-1230

DESCRIPTION
The classical world spanned vast amounts of territory, in part because Greeks and Romans left their homes and established new, permanent settlements abroad. This process often is called colonization, a term not readily applicable to the ancient world. This course aims to re-examine Greek and Roman settlements abroad and redirect focus to the indigenous peoples with whom Greeks and Romans came into contact, framing such encounters as dynamic and reciprocal.

HIEU 2031 | AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE

Mr. Lendon (lendon)

DAY & TIME
MW 1300-1350 + Discussion

DESCRIPTION
History of Ancient Greece from the Homeric period to the death of Alexander the Great. Development of the city-state, Athenian democracy, and the nature of Greek politics; the conflict between Greece and Persia, and between Sparta and the Athenian naval empire; consequences of the latter conflict--the Peloponnesian War--for subsequent Greek history; finally, the Macedonian conquest of Greece and Persia. Lecture and weekly discussions; midterm, final, seven-page paper, and occasional quizzes in section. Readings will average between 100 and 125 pages a week, to be taken from the following (students are not responsible--for exam purposes--for the entirety of any of these, although they will have to read all of either Herodotus or Thucydides for the paper):

• The Landmark Herodotus (R. Strassler, ed.; Free Press)
• The Landmark Thucydides (R. Strassler, ed.; Free Press)
• Plutarch, Greek Lives (Oxford)
• Plato, The Apology of Socrates (Hackett)
• J. M. Moore, Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (California)
• S. Pomeroy et al., Ancient Greece (textbook: edition to be determined)
• a xerox packet (available at NK Print and Design on Elliewood Avenue)

HIEU 3041 | THE FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

Ms. Meyer (eam2n)

DAY & TIME
MW 1530-1620

DESCRIPTION
This upper-level lecture class assumes a basic knowledge of Roman history but has no prerequisites. It will cover the most tumultuous period in Roman history, that which stretches from 133 BC to the establishment of Octavian (Augustus) as the first emperor in 27 BC. This was the age of the great generals (Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar); of great oratory (Cicero), of amazing changes in the city of Rome itself, in Italy, and in the ever-growing provinces; an age of shifting political alliances, howling crowds, and the eventual transformation of a Republic into a monarchy. How did this come about? Could the Republic maintain an empire, or was the dominance of one man unavoidable? We will read mostly primary sources in translation, averaging about 140 pages a week; there will be ten in-class discussions, a midterm, a final, one 5-6 page paper, and one 7-10 page paper. Reading will be drawn from:

• H. H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero (fifth edition, 1982/new foreword 2011)
• Plutarch, Makers of Rome and The Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguin)
• Sallust, Jugurthine War and Conspiracy of Catiline (Penguin, transl. Woodman, 2007)
• Julius Caesar, Civil Wars and Gallic War (Oxford)
• M. Tullius Cicero, On Government and Selected Political Speeches (Penguin)
• and a course packet

Note: graduate students are welcome to take this class as HIEU 9025, a "graduate tutorial" in the History Department. We will have extra meetings and extra readings, and the final paper will be longer and more professional. Meeting times will be geared to everyone's convenience.

HIEU 4511/5061 | ROMAN IMPERIALISM

Ms. Meyer (eam2n)

DAY & TIME
R 1700-1930

DESCRIPTION
How and why did the Romans come to dominate the known world by 140 BC? This course explores the relations between the martial tenor of Roman society, the army, war aims, and diplomacy and internal politics. Was the Roman empire assembled intentionally or unintentionally? Did the Romans of the Middle Republic have a foreign policy, or a strategic sense, at all? A discussion seminar open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Readings average 250 per week.

All will write one eight-page paper on Polybius and Livy;

4511 students will write two more eight-page papers;

5061 students will write a twenty-page research paper.

Readings will be drawn from Livy, Polybius, Plutarch, and other ancient authors; a selection of modern scholars, including W. Harris and A. Eckstein; and readings on Canvas.

HIEU 7013 | ANTHROPOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREECE

Mr. Lendon (lendon)

DAY & TIME
W 1730-2000

DESCRIPTION

A reading and discussion course tracing the abundant and profitable use made since the early 20th century of anthropological method in the study of Ancient Greece. Weekly readings (all in English, translated where necessary) usually mate a classic work of anthropology with a work on Greek religion, history, literature, or culture which makes use of the method presented in that work.

Topics include:

• Evolutionism (Frazer with Jane Harrison)
• Durkheim on religion (with Jane Harrison)
• Structuralism (Levi-Strauss with Venant and Detienne)
• Functionalism (Malinowski with Girard)
• Rites of passage, liminality, and the social drama (van Gennep and Victor Turner)
• Reciprocity and revenge (Mauss and Malinowski, Herman and Kurke)
• Symbolic Anthropology (Clifford Geertz)
• Honor and Feud (Pitt-Rivers with Adkins and Cohen)
• Habitus and Field, symbolic capital (Pierre Bourdieu)

Requirements are reading and discussion, reports on works the rest of the class have not read, and a longer paper applying anthropological method to a topic of the student’s own choosing, which need not be classical (an excellent paper was once received applying Victor Turner’s Social Drama to the origins of the US Civil War).

PHIL 3110 | PLATO

Mr. McCready-Flora (icm5h)

DAY & TIME
MW 1400-1450

DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to the dialogues of Plato, with an emphasis on those of particular argumentative and philosophical interest. Expect treatments of the divine and our relation to it; love; the nature and possibility of human knowledge; what makes anything one; why the world exists at all, and in particular why it takes the form it does; humanity’s place in the cosmic order; and the nature of the soul. Our aim will be to engage Plato as a fellow philosopher through close reading and subtle reasoning. This means understanding his assumptions, scrutinizing his argumentation, and proposing alternatives to his conclusions. No knowledge of Greek required, but some prior course work in Philosophy very much encouraged.

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.

Tuesday Luncheons

At Tuesday 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 John Miller (jfm4j@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://vscl.webs.com/

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 John Dobbins. The AIA sponsors a series of lectures, which are free and open to the public.