Department of Classics Courses
Course descriptions listed on this page are from the 2019-2020 College Catalog. For more information on the courses offered during the fall and spring semesters, please log in to the course schedule through STAR.
Latin Courses
LATN 101 — Introduction To Latin 1
Course count: 1
A grammar course introducing the student to the Latin language and its literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
LATN 102 — Introduction To Latin 2
A grammar course introducing the student to the Latin language and its literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
LATN 213 — Intermediate Latin 1
For students who have completed LATN 101 and 102 or two years of pre-college Latin. This course includes selected readings from Latin authors and an extensive grammar review.
Prerequisite: LATN 102 or equivalent. Students who have taken a higher level LATN course may not register for LATN 213.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
LATN 214 — Intermediate Latin 2
For students who have completed LATN 101 and 102 or two years of pre-college Latin. This course includes selected readings from Latin authors and an extensive grammar review.
Prerequisite: LATN 213 or equivalent. Students who have taken a higher level LATN course may not enroll in LATN 214.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
LATN 275 — Advanced Latin Workshop
This intensive intermediate level course will consolidate the student's knowledge of Latin grammar through reading a variety of Latin texts.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Fall
LATN 320 — Sallust & Livy
Extensive readings from the works of the Roman historians Sallust and Livy. Study of the sources and methods of Roman historiography.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 321 — Tacitus
Concentrates on the Annales of Tacitus. Consideration is given to the Historiae, Agricola, and Germania.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 322 — Cicero's Speeches
Selected orations of Cicero are read in the original. Emphasis is placed on rhetorical analysis and on the interpretation of historical and political developments of the first century B.C.E.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 323 — Roman Letter Writers
Selected letters of Cicero and Pliny are read in the original Latin, while those of Seneca are read in English. Consideration is also given to historical background and to the development of letter writing as a literary form.
Prerequisite: LATN 214 or LATN 315 or equivalent. Students without the prerequisite should consult the Department.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 324 — Juvenal
A detailed study of selected satires of Juvenal. Although emphasis is placed on the literary analysis of satire, some attention is also given to Juvenals works as a source for understanding first century CE Rome.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 343 — Horace: Odes
Selected poems from the four books of Odes are read in the original. Emphasis is placed on literary analysis and interpretation. In addition, students read a sampling of Horace's other poetic works in the original.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 344 — Catullus
A literary study and analysis of the poems of Catullus.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 350 — Early Christian Literature
Reading in the original of selected works from the Patristic period. This course can count toward fulfillment of the Religious Studies major.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 359 — Vergil, Eclogues & Georgics
The development of pastoral and agricultural poetry, as exemplified in Vergil's two poetic masterpieces, Eclogues and Georgics.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 363 — Roman Comedy
Selected plays of Plautus and Terence read in Latin, combined with a study of Greek sources of Roman comedy.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 365 — Latin Elegy
Selected poems from the four books Propertius' elegies are read in the original. Appropriate attention is paid to the background of the elegiac genre. Emphasis is placed on literary analysis and interpretation. One unit.
Prerequisite: LATN 214 or LATN 315 or equivalent. Students without the prerequisite should consult the Department.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
LATN 366 — Ovid's Metamorphoses
A close examination of the literary artistry of a number of individual stories in the Metamorphoses.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 370 — Josephus
Study of the ancient Latin translation of Josephus with comparison to the original Greek text.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
LATN 401 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
LATN 402 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Greek Courses
GREK 101 — Introduction To Greek 1
A first course in Greek language involving a systematic introduction to Attic or Homeric Greek through an intensive study of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
GREK 102 — Introduction To Greek 2
A first course in Greek language involving a systematic introduction to Attic or Homeric Greek through an intensive study of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
GREK 213 — Intermediate Greek 1
Translation and analysis of Greek prose and poetry, with close attention to grammar and syntax. Students without the prerequisite should consult the department.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
GREK 214 — Intermediate Greek 2
Translation and analysis of Greek prose and poetry, with close attention to grammar and syntax. Students without the prerequisite should consult the department.
Prerequisite: GREK 213 or equivalent. Students who have taken any higher level GREK course may not enroll in GREK 214.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
GREK 330 — Greek Lyric Poetry
A survey in the original Greek of the major writers of drinking and fighting songs, of political and personal songs, and of sports and love songs from about 650 B.C. to 450 BCE. Knowledge (at least through English translation) of Homer, Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns is presumed.
Prerequisite: GREK 214 or equivalent. Students without the prerequisite should consult the Department.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 332 — Homer
A reading of selected books of the Iliad and/or Odyssey with special attention to their literary value as well as to problems of oral composition, metrics, linguistics, authorship and text history.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 338 — Plutarch
Exegesis and translation of a biography by Plutarch, with attention to his essays and his place in Greek literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 340 — Herodotus
An examination of selected passages from the historian Herodotus account of the Persian Wars.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 341 — Thucydides
An in-depth survey of Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War. Extensive selections of historical and literary significance are read in the original Greek.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 351 — Attic Orators: Demosthenes
A close study of the speeches of one or more Attic orators. One unit.
Prerequisite: GREK 213
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
GREK 360 — Aeschylus
A detailed study of the Agamemnon and other dramas of Aeschylus in the original.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 362 — Euripides
An analysis of two plays in Greek, with special attention to Euripides' dramatic technique.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Language Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
GREK 401 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
GREK 402 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Classics Courses
CLAS 101 — Women & Men in Greek Lit & Soc
A selection of ancient Greek literature read in translation, from Homeric epic to classical history and drama, with a focus on the relation between literature and social conditions.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 102 — Women & Men in Roman Lit & Soc
A selection of ancient Roman literature read in translation, including authors such as Vergil, Tacitus, Cicero, and Plautus, with a focus on the relationship between literature and social conditions.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 103 — Greek & Roman Epic
A study of classical epic, with special emphasis on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Vergil's Aeneid, but including also other examples of the genre, such as Lucan or Statius. Topics to be considered include oral and literary epic, their social and political contexts, and the influence of classical epic on later literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 106 — Classical Drama
Study in depth of a selection of ancient Greek and/or Roman tragedies and comedies, with an emphasis on performance practices and contexts.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
CLAS 109 — Classical and Biblical Sources of European and English Literature
This course primarily examines how certain themes, typological figures and universal truths which are developed in Biblical and Classical literature have been adapted to new circumstances and handed down over the past two millennia. The other main focus of the course will be daily in-class writing assignments based on class discussions which will allow students to develop their creative and critical writing skills.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 112 — Greek Myths In Literature
Comparison of Classical and modern versions of several ancient Greek myths. The relationships between myth and literature are considered, as well as reasons why these myths have endured through the centuries. Emphasis is on dramatic versions of the myths; narrative poetry and other genres such as music and cinema may also be explored.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 114 — Discerning God & Discovering Self
This course traces the development of the concept and experiences of the process of discernment from Antiquity to the Renaissance by looking at a wide range of texts originally written in Greek or Latin in a case-study format. The primary focus will be the "discernment of spirits" as developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises, with an emphasis on three key areas of discernment: Individual, Corporate, and Individual within Corporate.
Students who have taken MONT 109D (Model Christian Discerners) may not enroll in this course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 120 — Mythology
An exploration of the significance of myths, their meanings and functions in the cultures of Greece and Rome. Special attention is given to more recent developments in the study of myths and their relation to rituals and folk tales. Babylonian, Egyptian, Hindu and American Indian mythology may be used for comparative purposes.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
CLAS 121 — Ancient Science
A study of the goals, methods and subject matter of Greco-Roman science. Pays special attention to how science relates to the broader social, religious and intellectual context of the ancient world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 141 — Anc Greece: Freedom & Slavery
A study of Greek history from its beginnings to the death of Socrates. Emphasis is placed on a close analysis of the primary sources.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Fall
CLAS 143 — Athenian Democracy
An analysis of the institutions, literature, and political thought inspired by the democracy of fifth- and fourth-century Athens.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature, Social Science
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
CLAS 151 — History Of Ancient Rome
A survey of Roman civilization from the Regal period to the late Republic, with a special focus on the political and social forces that led to the establishment of the Principate. Concentrates on the primary sources for this period, including the historians, inscriptions, and monuments.
Students who have taken HIST 110 - Rome: Republic Empire may not enroll in this course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Spring
CLAS 152 — History of Rome 2: Empire
A survey of Roman imperial civilization from the first to the sixth century. Concentrates on the primary sources for this period, including the historians, inscriptions, monuments, and coins.
Students who have taken HIST 110 - Rome: Republic Empire may not enroll in this course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Fall
CLAS 160 — Intro To Classical Archaeology
An introduction to the methodologies employed by archaeologists. Most examples will be drawn from the artifacts, sites and monuments of the ancient Mediterranean world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
CLAS 188 — Alexander the Great and Asia
Considers the political, religious, and cultural encounters between the ancient Greek world and Asia generated by the expedition of Alexander the Great and the long-term development stemming from those encounters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 221 — Women in Classical Mythology
Examines the representations of mortal and immortal women in a variety of mythological narratives and in art. Consideration is given to the relationships between these representations and contemporary ideas about and images of women. Students should read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in translation before enrolling in this class.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 225 — Power, Persuasion, & Law
A study of Greek and Roman oratory based on the reading and rhetorical analysis of speeches delivered in the law courts and assemblies of 5th and 4th century Athens, and the late period of the Roman Republic (80-45 BC) where the focus will be on the law court speeches of Cicero. The course involves both an introduction to the legal procedures of the Athenian and Roman courts and assemblies, and careful analysis of the literary style and forms of legal argument in selected speeches.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 233 — Nature in the Classical World
In this course, we will explore how the ancient Greeks and Romans engaged with the natural world surrounding them. Our course will consider several themes, including the relationship between city and country; philosophical treatments of the natural world; the role of the environment in literature; and the conceptualization of the universe and its origins. We will base our discussion of these themes on our analysis of evidence from antiquity, which will span both material remains like Greek temples and Roman villas as well as literary and philosophical works central to western civilization. Looking back at ancient philosophy, pastoral poems, and early epics, we will read selections from authors such as the pre-Socratic philosophers, Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, and Seneca. Alongside our study of the ancient world, we will glance ahead to consider the reception of the Greeks and Romans' treatment of nature, with our contemporary readings including selections from Pope Francis encyclical Laudato Si.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Literature, Philosophical Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
CLAS 267 — Archaeology and Time
How do we know that Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 A.D., that the Temple of Zeus at Olympia was completed by 456 B.C. or that the bulk of the construction of the Pantheon in Rome took place in the 120's A.D.? This course surveys the physical techniques and historical method that lie behind dates like these.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
CLAS 401 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
CLAS 402 — Tutorial
Designed for selected students with approval of a professor and the Department Chair. This work may be done for one or two semesters.
GPA units: 1