GLAM

This course offers an introduction to the field of archaeology, providing an overview of its goals, theory, methods, and ethics. Students discuss specific archaeological sites from the ancient Mediterranean in their historical, social, anthropological, economic, religious, and architectural contexts. Attention is given to issues relevant to Mediterranean archaeology today, including the looting of ancient sites, issues of cultural property, and ethics in archaeology.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

This course provides the senior Classics major an opportunity to do independent research and to write a thesis on a topic in the ancient Mediterranean world. The student chooses the topic in consultation with a supervising instructor. Although the thesis is anchored in one discipline (e.g., history, art history, literature), the student is encouraged to take advantage of the multidisciplinary nature of the field.

This seminar involves an in-depth examination of selected topics in the ancient Mediterranean world. A different topic may be selected each time the class is offered in accord with the interests of the students and the expertise of the faculty. Relevant theoretical approaches and current research are explored. Students are responsible for research papers and presentations under close supervision of the faculty.

This course examines the ancient history of the future and the might-have-been--the role of Greco-Roman antiquity in modern science fiction and fantasy. This course begins with discussion about definitions, histories, and theories of "science fiction" and "fantasy," with emphasis on their roots in and relations to ancient texts. Students then focus on representative modern texts in various media (e.g., short stories, novels, films, comics); such texts may include Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, J. R. R.

This course examines classical, world, and contemporary myths, with a particular emphasis on the history of theories used to study myth. The course starts with Greco-Roman theories for analyzing classical myths, then analyzes in detail theories that have arisen since the end of the eighteenth century: comparative approaches, linguistics, psychology, structuralism, religion and ritual, class-, race-, and gender-based approaches. It is recommended that students have previously taken a course in myth or literary/gender theory (e.g., GLAM 210, ENGL 344, GNDR 201, etc.).

Students in this course explore ancient Greek and Roman ideas about race and ethnicity and reflect upon how that thinking remains influential today. Students investigate how categories of race and ethnicity are presented in the literature of the Ancient Mediterranean through reading such authors as Homer, Herodotus, Aristotle, Vergil, Caesar, and Tacitus and through examining visual evidence. They study concepts such as racial formation and origin; ancient theories of ethnic superiority; and linguistic, religious, and cultural differentiation as a basis for ethnic differentiation.

Students examine the religions of ancient Greece and Rome and the ways in which these religious systems functioned within the context of their societies. 'Religion' meant something very different to the Greeks and Romans than it does to modern Americans: it penetrated daily life, politics and law in ways that can seem foreign to us. The course utilizes literary, archaeological and artistic evidence to understand religious practices from the time of the Greek city-states to the establishment of Christianity as the Roman state religion.

This course examines the history and architecture of the central institution of the Greco-Roman world, the city. The course focuses on the archaeological remains of cities throughout the ancient Mediterranean and addresses issues of the use of space in ancient town-planning and the political and ideological statements made by urban art and architecture. In addition to tracing historical changes in urban development, major topics of study include the city as an institution, the effect of urbanization on the lives of the inhabitants, and the interpretation of material remains.