| Classical Studies | |
The Roman Empire |
“They create a desert and call it peace,” wrote Tacitus in describing the response of the conquered to Rome's power, but the Roman Peace also brought with it other, less dramatic changes. In this class we will break the Roman Empire down into a series of vignettes, using literature and archaeology to supply us with the material for a fresh look at Roman society. Our aim is to uncover the complexity of Roman society, and to acknowledge the multiple voices that together made up the ancient Mediterranean world. We will focus upon key structural aspects of Roman society and culture, but explore them in new ways, using texts that highlight dissent, conflict and tension as much as they indicate cohesion and Rome’s hegemony over the Mediterranean in antiquity. |
Independent Study and Research |
(Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Greek and Roman Mythology Recitation Sections 402 R 10:30-11:30 403 R 12:00-1:00 404 R 3:00-4:00 405 F 11:00-12:00 406 F 11:00-12:00 407 F 11:00-12:00 408 F 12:00-1:00 409 F 12:00-1:00 410 F 10:00-11:00 411 F 1:00-2:00 412 R 1:30-2:30 413 R 10:30-11:30 |
Myths are traditional stories that have endured many years. Some of them have to do with events of great importance, such as the founding of a nation. Others tell the stories of great heroes and heroines and their exploits and courage in the face of adversity. Still others are simple tales about otherwise unremarkable people who get into trouble or do some great deed. What are we to make of all these tales, and why do people seem to like to hear them? This course will focus on the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as a few contemporary American ones, as a way of exploring the nature of myth and the function it plays for individuals, societies, and nations. We will also pay some attention to the way the Greeks and Romans themselves understood their own myths. Are myths subtle codes that contain some universal truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses of a particular culture? Are they entertaining stories that people like to tell over and over? Are they a set of blinders that all of us wear, though we do not realize it? Investigate these questions through a variety of topics creation of the universe between gods and mortals, religion and family, sex, love, madness, and death. |
Roman Art and Architecture Recitation Sections 402 W 5:00-6:00 Staff 403 R 1:30-2:30 Staff 404 R 3:00-4:00 Staff 405 R 6:00-7:00 Staff |
An intensive introduction to the art and architecture of Rome and her empire |
Ancient Athletics |
This course serves as an introduction to the history, art, architecture, archaeology and literature of ancient Greek athletics. From its precedents in ancient Egypt, Sumeria and Babylonia, athletics developed as an integral part of Greek religion and became a common part of Greek festivals, the most well known example of which was the ancient Olympic Games. Topics to be covered in the course include: Athletics in Mespopotamia and Egypt; Athletics in Bronze Age Greece; Athletics in Homer; the Rise of athletic festivals; Pan-Hellenic Festivals; the Panathenaic Festival; Athletics and Art; Greek Athletic Events; Famous athletes; Female athletes; Trainers, Coaches, Managers; Greek Athletic Facilities; Prizes and Competition; Politics and Greek athletics; Greek Athletics in the Roman period. Ancient Athletics website: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~dromano/classes/athletics.html The Real World of the Olympic Games |
Ancient and Modern Constitution Making FELS SWEEN |
What actually was it that the Greeks were thinking of when they used the expression politeia—an expression which we often translate by ‘constitution’ but which might be translated also by ‘citizenship’? What do their thoughts suggest, if anything, about prospects for constitutionmaking today? This course builds on contemporary scholarship to reconstruct what we may call the constitutiomaking tradition as it develops in the main ancient texts, which are read in English translations. The ancient texts are taken from Herodotus, the Pseudo-Xenophon, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, the author of the Aristotelian Athenian Constitution, Aristotle himself, Polybius, Cicero, Plutarch, Augustine, and Justinian’s codifiers of Roman law. The course traces this ancient tradition through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the great thinkers of the Seventeenth Century, following linguistic and other clues that carry one up to Madison and may put the work of the U.S. Constitutional Convention in a somewhat new light; and it continues through Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century constitutionmaking into today’s constitutionmaking efforts in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. In its 2010 version, the course draws on the professor’s new work which suggests that Aristotle’s Politics was written for an intended audience of people making new constitutions and people making laws, either for domestic use or for colonies. The course is conducted as a group tutorial. In individual tutorials, where the instruction is one on one, the tutor typically assigns a paper to a student each week, and the student reads it the next week and takes questions from the tutor. In a group tutorial, the professor offers a prelecture to the students in each session on the text that they will read next to help them understand its historical, literary, and political context. In the next class, the students read short papers on the text, and these papers are discussed by other students and by the professor. The professor then provides a summary lecture on the text just completed, if necessary, and a prelecture on the reading set for the next class. At the end of the course, the students have reconstructed the constitutionmaking tradition for themselves from the primary sources. This course became a BFS course in Spring 2003. |
Greek World after Alexander Great
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This class is designed as a detailed investigation of the world created by Alexander the Great. We will cover the three hundred year period known as the Hellenistic Age from the career of Alexander the Great (354-323 BC) until the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium (31BC). This was a period during which the world of the Greeks underwent extraordinary and far-reaching changes, as Greek culture was established as far afield as northwestern India, central Asia and Egypt. In the same period kingdoms controlled by Alexander’s Successors used Greek culture to define their rule, establishing a Greek culture of the elite in regions which previously had been dominated by the Persians. As Greek and non-Greek worlds collided, a new interpretation of Greek culture emerged, giving rise, among other things, to universities and professional schools, state subsidized health care, triumphalist architecture, the heroization of the noble savage, coinage with royal portraits, the deification of men and a multitude of other social, artistic and political forms familiar to us. It was an age of radical change, dislocation, as Greek populations colonized regions previously unknown to them. |
Age of Caesar |
A course on Roman culture and society in a period of tumultuous political change, the lifetime of Julius Caesar (100 -44 BCE). Focuses on the interplay between shifting political and military realities and developments in social organization and literary production at Rome and in the wider Mediterranean world. The reception of Caesar in later ages will also be considered. Readings (all in translation) will include Catullus, Cicero, Lucretius, Plutarch, Sallust, Suetonius, and, of course, Caesar himself. |
Ancient Philosophers |
What was a “philosopher” in ancient Greece and Rome? How were philosophers viewed by non-philosophers in antiquity? What was the difference between philosophers and sophists? And how do ancient representations of philosophers compare to modern ideas about the position of intellectuals in society? The central figure to be studied will be Socrates, whom we will approach through Plato and Xenophon as well as Aristophanes’ Clouds. We will compare and contrast the representations of Socrates with those of other ancient philosophers, through readings that will include parts of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. All Greek and Latin texts will be read in translation. |
Literature and Political Culture Benjamin Franklin Seminars |
This course is the counterpart to “Poetry and Politics in Ancient Greece,” which I have taught at Penn for several semesters. In this course we will concentrate on “the city” and will discuss works for which there was not time in the other course. As Plato’s Republic was the heart of the other course, the heart of this one is Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics and the Politics, although it is good to remember that the composer Berlioz thought the most important influence on him was Virgil’s Aeneid. Modern artists hold that literature inhabits a realm unto itself for the sake of imaginative exploration of private visions. Classical writers held that literature is an imitation of humanity, how humanity is and how humanity might be. Therefore, classical art is closely connected to political culture. Literature has a music that shapes the soul, and how souls are shaped is crucial to the goals of the city. |
Honors Thesis
|
(Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Independent Study and Research |
(Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Independent Study and Research |
(Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Post Bac Individual: Greek |
Intensive Greek reading course for students in the Post-Baccalaureate Program in Classical Studies. This semester, we will focus on Plato's Phaedrus, with some attention to other related prose texts. Permission of the instructor required. Permission of the instructor required. |
Post Bac Individual: Latin |
Intensive Latin reading course for students in the Post-Baccalaureate Program in Classical Studies. We will read and discuss several versions of the Argo myth. We will start with Ovid’s retellings in the Metamorphoses and the Heroides, then move on to Ennius' and Accius’ fragmentary accounts, Seneca’s Medea, and finally selections from Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. Permission of the instructor required. |
Material and Methods in Mediterranean Archaeology
Undergraduates need permission
|
A survey of the principal issues and techniques in Mediterranean |
Independent Study and Research |
For doctoral candidates. |
| Greek | |
Elementary Modern Greek II
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Second semester of Elementary Greek. Instructor’s permission to enter at this level. Completing the course does not satisfy the foreign language requirement unless it is followed by 2 more semesters of Intermediate Modern Greek. Basic grammar instructions combined with simple dialogues of everyday exchanges and basic vocabulary of topics like introductions, family, weather, everyday living, vacations, health etc. Use of a main book, short story book, a cartoon book, pod casts, songs and other audiovisual material to bring the modern Greek life into the classroom. |
Elementary Classical Greek II
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Students complete their study of the morphology and syntax of Classical Greek. We begin the semester with continuing exercises in grammar and translation, then gradually shift emphasis to reading unadapted Greek texts. |
Greek Heritage Speakers II |
Second semester of Intermediate to Advanced Modern Greek for students with prior knowledge of the language. Instruction’s permission to enter at this level. Completing this course satisfies the foreign language requirement. Review of Grammar, in combination with an assortment of original text from books, short story book, a cartoon book, songs, poetry, documentaries and other audiovisual material pertaining to contemporary Greek culture and everyday life. |
Intermediate Greek: Poetry Murnaghan
|
An introduction to Greek poetry, with attention to the ways that the grammar, diction, and sentence structure of poetry differ from those of prose. We will approach the subject by reading portions of Homer's Iliad. |
Plutarch |
We will read Plutarch’s Life of Antony. The life of Marcus Antonius—Caesar’s legate, Cicero’s nemesis, Cleopatra’s lover (one of them), Octavian’s rival, rugged soldier, bon-vivant, and ancestor to Caligula and Nero–provides Plutarch a rich mine of stirring events and personal qualities from which to build this fine biography, rewarding for its own sake and of enduring literary and artistic influence. |
Supervised Study |
Preparation of Honors Thesis in Greek Literature. (Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
| Greek for Advanced GREK 401.000 |
For graduate students in other departments needing individualized study in Greek literature. (Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Greek Prose Composition
Undergraduates need permission |
This is an upper-level language course for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The main goal is to improve your knowledge of ancient Greek. We will review syntax and morphology, read selections from various prose authors, and work on English to Greek composition. In the early weeks of the course, we will do individual English-Greek sentences, focused on particular grammatical issues; in later weeks, we will work on paragraphs of continuous prose. Some attention will be paid to stylistic issues. Weekly compositions will be required; there will also be regular quizzes. |
Advanced Greek Survey Undergraduates need permission |
A survey of ancient Greek poetry from the narrative and lyric genres of the archaic period to the emergence of drama in classical Athens. |
Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Historiography
Undergraduates need permission |
This is research seminar in which students will be expected to prepare translations of and commentaries on a wide range of lesser known and fragmentary historians of the Hellenistic and Imperial periods, ranging from Duris of Samos to Dexippos of Athens. Students will use the model of Jacoby's /Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker /for the presentation of their work and will report on the major genres of later Greek historiography: ethnography, regional history, universal history, genealogy ands horography. |
Ancient Greek Aesthetic Theory Undergraduates need permission |
This seminar will explore ancient Greek (and some Roman) approaches to the literary and visual arts. We will consider not only the philosophical tradition, but also popular notions of aesthetic value, including connoisseurship and fandom. Among the authors we will study are various pre-Socratic and sophistic thinkers, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic literary theorists, including Philodemus, Horace, Longinus, and selected theorists of late antiquity. |
Independent Study and Research |
For doctoral candidates. |
| Latin | |
Elementary Latin II
LATN 102-302 Staff MWF 11:00-12:00 R 10:30-11:30
LATN 102.601 Staff
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This course continues the introduction to the Latin language begun in 101. Course text: Keller and Russell, Learn to Read Latin (Yale University Press). For further information on Penn's Latin curriculum, including placement and language requirement: |
Intermediate Latin Poetry
LATN 204.302 Staff MWF 11:00-12:00 Staff LATN 204-601 Staff MW 4:30-6:00
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This course continues the introduction to fluent reading begun in 204. It focuses on texts in prose and poetry that deal with this literary and cultural topic: The Spectacle. For further information on Penn's Latin curriculum, including placement and language requirement: |
Seneca: Poetry and Prose
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Seneca is famous both for his violent and passionate tragedies and for his philosophical prose offering therapy and tranquillity. What happens when we read these different writings together? How do they relate to the tumultuous world of the Julio-Claudian Rome? What was their influence? In this course we will select from Seneca's writings in multiple genres, tracing a literary history from the Augustan golden age to the Neronian renaissance, and beyond.
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| Supervised Study LATN 399.000 |
Preparation of Honors Thesis in Latin Literature. (Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
| Latin for Advanced LATN 401.000 |
For graduate students in other departments needing individualized study in Latin literature. (Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
The Argonaut Myth Undergraduates need permission |
Readings will include selections from Ennius, Catullus, Ovid, Seneca, Valerius Flaccus, and Hosidius Geta. |
| Independent Study and Research LATN 999.000 |
For doctoral candidates. |
| Ancient History | |
Ancient Rome crosslisted w/HIST 027
Recitation Sections 402 R 9:00-10:00 Staff 403 R 10:30-11:30 Staff 404 R 11:00-12:00 Staff 405 R 12:00-1:00 Bauer 406 R 9:00-10:00 Staff 407 F 9:00-10:00 Staff 408 F 10:00-11:00 Staff 409 F 11:00-12:00 Staff 410 F 12:00-1:00 Staff 411 R 12:00-1:00 Staff 412 R 3:00-4:00 Bauer 413 R 3:00-4:00 Staff |
The Roman Empire was one of the few great world states-one that unified a large area around the Mediterranean Sea-an area never subsequently united as part of a single state. Whereas the great achievements of the Greeks were in the realm of ideas and concepts (democracy, philosophy, art, literature, drama) those of the Romans tended to be in the pragmatic spheres of ruling and controlling subject peoples and integrating them under the aegis of an imperial state. Conquest, warfare, administration, and law making were the great successes of the Roman state. We will look at this process from its inception and trace the formation of Rome's Mediterranean empire over the last three centuries BC; we shall then consider the social, economic and political consequences of this great achievement, especially the great political transition from the Republic (rule by the Senate) to the Principate (rule by emperors). We shall also consider limitations to Roman power and various types of challenges, military, cultural, and religious, to the hegemony of the Roman state. Finally, we shall try to understand the process of the development of a distinctive Roman culture from the emergence new forms of literature, like satire, to the gladiatorial arena as typical elements that contributed to a Roman social order. |
The Roman Empire crosslisted w/CLST 145 Grey
|
“They create a desert and call it peace,” wrote Tacitus in describing the response of the conquered to Rome's power, but the Roman Peace also brought with it other, less dramatic changes. In this class we will break the Roman Empire down into a series of vignettes, using literature and archaeology to supply us with the material for a fresh look at Roman society. Our aim is to uncover the complexity of Roman society, and to acknowledge the multiple voices that together made up the ancient Mediterranean world. We will focus upon key structural aspects of Roman society and culture, but explore them in new ways, using texts that highlight dissent, conflict and tension as much as they indicate cohesion and Rome’s hegemony over the Mediterranean in antiquity. |
The Greek World after Alexander Great crosslisted w/CLST 323 McInerney |
This class is designed as a detailed investigation of the world created by Alexander the Great. We will cover the three hundred year period known as the Hellenistic Age from the career of Alexander the Great (354-323 BC) until the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium (31BC). This was a period during which the world of the Greeks underwent extraordinary and far-reaching changes, as Greek culture was established as far afield as northwestern India, central Asia and Egypt. In the same period kingdoms controlled by Alexander’s Successors used Greek culture to define their rule, establishing a Greek culture of the elite in regions which previously had been dominated by the Persians. As Greek and non-Greek worlds collided, a new interpretation of Greek culture emerged, giving rise, among other things, to universities and professional schools, state subsidized health care, triumphalist architecture, the heroization of the noble savage, coinage with royal portraits, the deification of men and a multitude of other social, artistic and political forms familiar to us. It was an age of radical change, dislocation, as Greek populations colonized regions previously unknown to them. |
Independent Study
|
(Permission required - Please complete attached permission form and see Department staff to register) registration form |
Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Historiography Undergraduates need permission
|
This is research seminar in which students will be expected to prepare translations of and commentaries on a wide range of lesser known and fragmentary historians of the Hellenistic and Imperial periods, ranging from Duris of Samos to Dexippos of Athens. Students will use the model of Jacoby's /Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker /for the presentation of their work and will report on the major genres of later Greek historiography: ethnography, regional history, universal history, genealogy ands horography. |
Independent Study and Research |
For doctoral candidates. |