Literature, Philosophy, and Religion

CLST 2   Tragedy and Comedy of Greece and Rome  Selected works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca, Aristophanes and Plautus, and their central themes: law, community, revenge, passion, and justice. We also consider the relation of these plays to ritual, oratory, music, dance, and theatrical space. There will be practical workshop opportunities for those interested.

CLST 3   Reason and the Good Life: Socrates to Epictetus  An introduction to philosophical thought in antiquity, especially that of Socrates, Epicurus, and the Stoics. We will concentrate especially on ethical questions; e.g. what kind of life is best for humans to pursue, how thoughtful persons should weigh the potentially competing claims of reason, pleasure, and emotion; and on how intellectual activity was perceived at Athens and at Rome.  TMV, W

CLST 4    Classical Mythology An introduction to Greek myths and their use and transformation in ancient Greek and Latin literature. Lectures will regularly incorporate material culture, history, and contemporary scholarship to contextualize the readings. We will also examine how these myths shape and express identities in both ancient and modern settings. TMV, CI

CLST 5  The Heroic Vision: Epics of Greece and Rome   Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid, and Ovid's Metamorphoses will be studied in their entirety, together with the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes and extensive selections from Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. Emphasis will be placed on the historical and cultural contexts in which the poems were produced and on how each poet uses the works of his predecessors to define his own place in the epic tradition.

CLST 10.03  Mind, Heart, Brain  What physical substances and/or bodily organs give rise to sense-perception, self-movement, and self-awareness? How it is that human beings are capable of concept-formation, reasoning, memory, and emotion, and to what extent are these capacities present in other animals? Does the mind have its own forms of illness, and are there ways to treat such illnesses? Students work collaboratively to analyze these and related issues in a range of philosophical, scientific, and medical texts. 

CLST 10.13  New Testament Studies the collection of Christian texts now called the "New Testament" for the insights they provide into the complex cultural interactions in the first-century Mediterranean world. Three primary texts, the Gospel of Mark, Paul's letter to the Colossians, and Paul's letter to James, will be examined in light of their original Jewish context and their embeddedness in Greek thought and Roman socio-political structures. This small-enrollment class is taught conjointly with GRK 29, but with assignments and assessment appropriate for students reading entirely in English.

CLST 10.16 Ancient Medicine  This course will explore the Greek and Roman origins of medicine in the West. We will analyze how disease came to be understood as a natural phenomenon, and we will examine the different procedures, philosophies, and social roles of doctors in the ancient world. Glauthier