Elementary Latin I, II V27.0003,0004 Both terms must be completed to receive credit toward any departmental major or minor. Offered every year. 4 points per term. Introduction to the essentials of Latin, the language of Vergil, Caesar, and Seneca. Five hours of instruction weekly, with both oral and written drills and an emphasis on the ability to read Latin rather than merely translate it. The second semester (V27.0004) introduces the student to selected readings from standard Latin authors, including Catullus, Cicero, Ovid, and Pliny.
Intensive Elementary Latin V27.0002 Open to students with no previous training in Latin and to others through assignment by placement test. Offered periodically. Spring term only. 6 points. Completes the equivalent of a year's elementary level in one semester.
Intermediate Latin I: Reading Prose V27.0005 Prerequisites: V27.0003,0004 or V27.0002 or equivalent. Offered every year. 4 points. Teaches second-year students to read Latin prose through comprehensive grammar review; emphasis on the proper techniques for reading (correct phrase division, the identification of clauses, and reading in order); and practice reading at sight. Authors may include Caesar, Cicero, Cornelius Nepos, Livy, Petronius, or Pliny, at the instructor's discretion.
Intermediate Latin II: Vergil V27.0006 Prerequisite: V27.0005 or equivalent. Offered every year. 4 points. Writings of the greatest Roman poet, focusing on his most celebrated poem, the Aeneid. Students learn to read Latin metrically to reflect the necessary sound for full appreciation of the writing. Readings in political and literary history illustrate the setting in the Augustan Age in which the Aeneid was written and enjoyed, the relationship of the poem to the other classical epics, and its influence on the poetry of later times.
ANCIENT GREEK
Elementary Ancient Greek I, II V27.0007,0008 Both terms must be completed to receive credit toward any departmental major or minor. Offered every year. 4 points per term. Introduction to the complex but highly beautiful language of ancient Greece--the language of Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Plato. Students learn the essentials of ancient Greek vocabulary, morphology, and syntax. Five hours of instruction weekly, with both oral and written drills and an emphasis on the ability to read Greek rather than merely translate it.
Intermediate Ancient Greek I: Plato V27.0009 Prerequisites: V27.0007,0008 or equivalent. Offered every year. 4 points. Reading of Plato's Apology and Crito and selections from the Republic. The purpose of the course is to develop facility in reading Attic prose. Supplements readings in Greek with lectures on Socrates and the Platonic dialogues.
Intermediate Ancient Greek II: Homer V27.0010 Prerequisite: V27.0009 or equivalent. Offered every year. 4 points. Extensive readings in the Iliad or Odyssey. Proficiency in scansion is expected, as well as a good command of Homeric vocabulary. Relevant topics ranging from the Homeric question to problems of oral tradition through the archaeological evidence of Bronze Age Greece and Troy are discussed in class or developed by the student through oral or written reports.
ADVANCED LATIN AND ADVANCED ANCIENT GREEK
Advanced Latin: Epic V27.0871 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Extensive readings in Vergil's Aeneid and the other epics of Rome, including Ovid's Metamorphoses, Lucan's Bellum Civile, and Lucretius's De Rerum Natura. Consideration is given to the growth and development of Roman epic, its Greek antecedents, and its relationship to the Romans' construction of their past. Study of the development of the Latin hexameter is also included.
Advanced Latin: Cicero V27.0872 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Offering extensive readings from the prose works of Cicero, this course provides readings in Latin of a selection from Cicero's speeches, letters, oratorical works, and philosophical works. Cicero's place in the development of Latin literature is also considered, as is the social and political world of the late Republic that he inhabited.
Advanced Latin: Lyric and Elegy V27.0873 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Provides extensive readings from the works of Rome's greatest lyric and elegiac poets, including Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. The various lyric meters adapted by the Romans are considered, as is the development of the Latin Love Elegy.
Advanced Latin: Comedy V27.0874 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. A selection of plays from those of Plautus and Terence. The development of Roman comedy, its relationship to Greek New Comedy, and its social and cultural place in Roman life are also discussed. Some facility in Plautine and Terentian meter is expected.
Advanced Latin: Satire V27.0875 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. With extensive readings from Horace's, Juvenal's, and Persius's satires, this course traces the development of the satiric mode from its earliest beginnings in Rome to its flowering under the Empire. The relationship of satire to the social world of Rome, including its treatment of money, women, political figures, and social climbers, is also examined.
Advanced Latin: Latin Historians V27.0876 Prerequisite: V27.0006 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Readings from the three masters of Roman historiography, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. The course also considers the rise and development of history in Rome, its relationship to myth, and its narrative structure and manner.
Advanced Individual Study in Latin V27.0891,0892,0893,0894 Prerequisite: permission of the department. Offered every year. 2 or 4 points per term.
Advanced Greek: Archaic Poetry V27.0971 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Extensive readings from the lyric, elegiac, and iambic poets of Greece. The course studies the use of the various lyric forms, the different meters employed by the archaic poets, and the social functions of archaic poetry.
Advanced Greek: Greek Historians V27.0972 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Readings from the two fifth-century masters of Greek historiography, Herodotus and Thucydides. The course examines the themes, narrative structure, and methodology of both writers, as well as giving some consideration to the rise of history-writing in Greece and its relationship to myth and epic.
Advanced Greek: Drama V27.0973 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Readings of several plays from among those of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Spoken and choral meter are studied, and the role of performance, dramaturgy, and the place of theatre in Athenian society are also examined.
Advanced Greek: Orators V27.0974 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Readings of several speeches from the major Attic orators (Lysias, Aeschines, and Demosthenes). The course also examines the role of law in Athenian society, procedure in the Athenian courts, and rhetorical education and training.
Advanced Greek: Philosophy V27.0975 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Readings from the dialogues of Plato and the major philosophical works of Aristotle.
Advanced Greek: Hellenistic Poetry V27.0976 Prerequisite: V27.0010 or equivalent. Offered every three years. 4 points. Offers a selection of authors (including Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius) and genres (pastoral, hymn, epigram, drinking song) from the Hellenistic era.
Advanced Individual Study in Ancient Greek V27.0991,0992,0993,0994 Prerequisite: permission of the department. Offered every year. 2 or 4 points per term.
CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION
INTRODUCTORY COURSES
Civilization of Greece and Rome V27.0303 Offered infrequently. 4 points. Selections from some of the great works of Greco-Roman literature, considered in their historical context, provide a broad and multifaceted understanding of those cultures. The texts include Homer, Iliad and Odyssey; Herodotus, The Histories; Thucydides, Peloponnesian War; Aeschylus, Oresteia; selected plays of Sophocles and Aristophanes; Plato, Republic; Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe; and Vergil, Aeneid.
Classical Mythology V27.0404 Identical to V90.0404. Offered every year. 4 points. Discusses the myths and legends of Greek and Roman mythology and the gods, demigods, heroes, nymphs, monsters, and everyday mortals who played out their parts in this mythology. Begins with creation, as vividly described by Hesiod in the Theogony, and ends with the great Trojan War and the return of the Greek heroes, especially Odysseus. Roman myth is also treated, with emphasis on Aeneas and the foundation legends of Rome.
Etymology V27.0023 Identical to V61.0076, V65.0076. 4 points. See description under Linguistics (61).
LITERATURE
Greek Drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides V27.0143 Identical to V30.0210. Offered periodically. 4 points. Of the ancient Greeks' many gifts to Western culture, one of the most celebrated and influential is the art of drama. This course covers, through the best available translations, the masterpieces of the three great Athenian dramatists. Analysis of the place of the plays in the history of tragedy and the continuing influence they have had on serious playwrights, including those of the 20th century.
The Comedies of Greece and Rome V27.0144 Identical to V30.0211. Offered periodically. 4 points. Study of early comedy, its form, content, and social and historical background. Covers the Old Comedy of fifth-century B.C. Athens through later Attic New Comedy and Roman comedy. Authors include Aristophanes (all 11 plays, one may be staged); Euripides, whose tragedies revolutionized the form of both comedy and tragedy; Menander, whose plays have only recently been discovered; and Plautus and Terence, whose works profoundly influenced the development of comedy in Western Europe.
Greek and Roman Epic V27.0146 Offered periodically. 4 points. Detailed study of the epic from its earliest form, as used by Homer, to its use by the Roman authors. Concentrates on the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer and on Vergil's Aeneid, but may also cover the Argonautica of the Alexandrian poet Apollonius of Rhodes and Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as the epics representative of Silver Latin by Lucan, Silius Italicus, and Valerius Flaccus.
The Novel in Antiquity V27.0203 Identical to V29.0203. Offered periodically. 4 points. Survey of Greek and Roman narrative fiction in antiquity, its origins and development as a literary genre, and its influence on the tradition of the novel in Western literature. Readings include Chariton's Chaereas and Callirrhoe, Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, Heliodorus's Ethiopian Tale, Lucian's True History, Petronius's Satyricon, and Apuleius's Golden Ass. Concludes with the Gesta Romanorum and the influence of this tradition on later prose, such as Elizabethan prose romance.
Ancient Political Theory V27.0206 Offered periodically. 4 points. Examines the foundation and interpretation of Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism. Readings include Plato's Republic, Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, Aristotle's Politics, and Cicero's Republic and Laws.
Faces of Sexuality and Gender in Greece and Rome V27.0210 Offered periodically. 4 points. Deals with the constructions of gender and experiences of sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome. Working with texts and representations from varied discourses such as medicine, law, literature, visual art, and philosophy, students explore the ways in which the ancient Greeks and Romans perceived their own bodies in such a way as to differentiate gender and understand desire. The class also discusses how eroticism and gender support and subvert political and social ideologies.
GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY
Everyday Life in Ancient Rome V27.0212 Offered periodically. 4 points. Study of daily life as it was lived by Romans in the period of the late Republic and early Empire: how they worked, worshipped, dressed, fed, and entertained themselves. Looks at questions of family life and social status, at rich and poor, at slaves and free, and at the lives of men, women, and children. Also considers marriage and divorce, crime and punishment, and law and property. All of these issues are examined primarily through original texts such as ancient documents, legal sources, and literary texts in which Roman authors such Horace, Martial, and Juvenal describe their own lives and those of their contemporaries.
Greek History from the Bronze Age to Alexander V27.0242 Identical to V57.0200, V56.0242. Offered every other year. 4 points. Until a few decades ago, Greek history began with Homer and dealt narrowly with the Greek world. Thanks to archaeology, the social sciences, and other historical tools, the chronological and geographical horizons have been pushed back. The history of the Greeks now starts in the third millennium B.C. and is connected to the civilization that lay to the east, rooted in Egypt and Mesopotamia. This course traces Greek history from the Greeks' earliest appearance to the advent of Alexander.
The Greek World from Alexander to Augustus V27.0243 Identical to V57.0243. Offered every other year. 4 points. Continuation of the history of ancient Greece from the age of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. until Emperor Augustus consolidated the Roman hold over the eastern Mediterranean in the first century B.C. These three centuries saw the relationship between Rome and the Near East become most meaningful. This course examines Alexander's conquests, the states established by his successors (Ptolemies of Egypt and Seleucids of Syria), and the increasing intervention of Rome.
The Age of Pericles V27.0244 Offered periodically. 4 points. Discusses the most important political and cultural developments in the approximately 30 years in which Pericles determined political and cultural life in Athens (ca. 460-430 B.C.) as well as their roots and impact. The subjects addressed include the introduction of radical democracy, Athenian imperialism, the rise of historiography, theatrical production, festivals, art, science, the beginnings of moral philosophy and political thought, women's life, slavery, and Greek law.
History of the Roman Republic V27.0267 Identical to V57.0205. Offered every other year. 4 points. In the sixth century B.C., Rome was an obscure village. By the end of the third century B.C., Rome was master of Italy, and within another 150 years, it dominated almost all of the Mediterranean world. Then followed a century of civil war involving some of the most famous events and men--Caesar, Pompey, and Cato--in Western history. The course surveys this vital period with a modern research interpretation.
History of the Roman Empire V27.0278 Identical to V57.0206. Offered every other year. 4 points. In the spring of 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of senators disgruntled with his monarchic ways. However, Caesar's adoptive son and heir, Octavian, was quickly on the scene and in little more than a decade managed to establish himself as Rome's first emperor. About three centuries later, Constantine the Great would rise to imperial power and with him came a new state religion--Christianity. This course examines the social and political history of the Roman Empire from the time of Augustus to that of Constantine and also closely observes the parallel growth of Christianity.
History of Ancient Law V27.0292 Offered periodically. 4 points. Examines the development of law and legal systems and the relationships of these to the societies that created them, starting with some ancient Near Eastern systems and working down to the Roman period. The main focus is on the fully developed system of Roman law.
ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Archaic and Classical Art: Greek and Etruscan V27.0312 Identical to V43.0102. 4 points. See description under Art History (43).
Hellenistic and Roman Art V27.0313 Identical to V43.0103. 4 points. See description under Art History (43).
Greek Architecture V27.0353 Identical to V43.0104. 4 points. See description under Art History (43).
Roman Architecture V27.0354 Identical to V43.0105. 4 points. See description under Art History (43).
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Ancient Religion: From Paganism to Christianity V27.0409 Identical to V90.0409. Offered periodically. 4 points. The period from the beginnings of Greek religion until the spread of Christianity spans over 2,000 years and many approaches to religious and moral issues. This course traces developments such as Olympian gods of Homer and Hesiod; hero worship; public and private religion; views of death, the soul, and afterlife; Dionysus; Epicureanism; and Stoicism. It deals with changes in Greek religion during the Roman republic and early empire and the success of Christians in converting pagans in spite of official persecution.
Greek Thinkers V27.0700 Identical to V83.0122. Offered periodically. 4 points. The origins of nonmythical speculation among the Greeks and the main patterns of philosophical thought, from Thales and other early speculators about the physical nature of the world through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Neoplatonists.
SPECIAL COURSES
Special Topics in Classical Studies I, II V27.0293,0294 Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Usually assigns readings in English translation. Offered periodically. 2 or 4 points. Seminar topics vary from semester to semester, although the focus is always on a limited aspect of life, history, literature, art, or archaeology of Greco-Roman antiquity. Topics from past semesters include the Trojan War, archaeology and pottery, Alexander the Great, the Etruscans, and crime and violence in the ancient world. Future topics may include Plato and Aristotle, ancient medicine, the Age of Pericles, the Age of Augustus, and Latin love poetry.
Internship V27.0980,0981 Prerequisite: permission of the department. Open only to juniors and seniors. Offered every year. 2 or 4 points per term. Internships with institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum and the American Numismatic Society afford students the opportunity to work outside the University in areas related to the field of classics. Requirements for completion of such internships include periodic progress reports and a paper describing the entire project.
Independent Study V27.0997,0998 Prerequisite: permission of the department. 2 or 4 points per term.
The Oases of Egypt V27.9355No
prerequisites. Offered in the spring. 4
points. This seminar explores the history and culture of Egypt’s
western oases, especially of Dakhleh Oasis. In the course of this month, as we
travel physically around Dakhleh and Kharga and chronologically from deep
prehistory to the advent of Christianity, we address issues of insularity and
connectivity with respect to the NileValley, as well as the relationship
between humans, technology, and the natural environment. Inhabitants of the
oases always enjoyed a rather precarious existence, because of the difficulty
of travel, the ever-present risk of salinization, hostile desert raiders, and
general remoteness; thus, we will be alert to the ways in which the realities
of living on an oasis provoked identifiable and to some degree recurrent
cultural dynamics.
The Archaeology of Egypt's Nile Valley V27.9356 Prerequisites: V27.9355 and V27.9357. Offered in the spring. 4 points. In this traveling seminar students leave Dakhleh Oasis for the Nile Valley in order to place what they have studied into a wider cultural context. During the course of the month, students visit temples, tombs, settlements, and other sites throughout Egypt, from Aswan to Alexandria. Seminar sessions and class presentations focus upon themes related especially to Egypt's ever-evolving religious and funerary beliefs as well as the complex, often multiculural nature of Egyptian civic life at various periods.
Field Work in Egypt V27.9357Prerequisite:
V27.9355. Offered in the spring. 4
points. This intensive course is largely
field-based, with additional time spent processing, recording, and analyzing
materials at the excavation house. Students are involved in almost every aspect
of the archaeological field process. Specialists offer instruction in survey
techniques, in the drafting of archaeological plans, and in the interpretation
of ceramics and other highly indicative artifacts. As the bulk of excavation in
Egypt is undertaken by local workmen, students receive training
as a site supervisor (with all of the necessary background in archaeological
methodology that this entails).
Independent Project:
Excavation at Amheida V27.9358Prerequisite:
participation in the NYU Archaeology and History in Egypt program. Offered in the spring. 4
points. For this independent project, students produce
original research on some aspect of the material culture so far unearthed at
Amheida. Students may choose to specialize in a type of artifact (pottery,
flints, coins, etc.), choose to analyze specific contexts in depth, or develop
a specific project based on their own interests and backgrounds. In all cases,
they are encouraged to formulate and test hypotheses. Once completed,
independent projects are archived in the library for the use of all other
archaeologists who work at Amheida. Research undertaken while at Dakhleh is facilitated
by our online database, by collections stored on site, and by the dig house
library.
GRADUATE COURSES OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES
Courses in classics offered in the Graduate School of Arts and Science are open to all undergraduates who have reached the required advanced level of Greek or Latin language instruction.
