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Classical Civilization

Classical Civilization Courses

The list below offers a representative sample of the courses you can expect in the study of classical civilization at DePauw. From theoretical foundations to practical experiences, these courses provide a full range of educational opportunities at various levels of mastery. For more information about current course offerings or registration details, please consult the Office of the Registrar.

Course Description

The principal myths and legends of the ancient world, with consideration of the nature of myth, the social origin and evolution of myths, their relation to religion and philosophy and their use in literature and art.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

The Mediterranean world from the beginning of civilization to the end of the Roman Empire: Ancient Near East, Classical Greece, Hellenistic Age, Roman Republic, Roman Empire and the Emergence of Christianity. May count towards European Studies minor.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course provides a broad survey of Greek history, society, and literature from the mythological origins until the Age of Alexander the Great. Students read widely from Greek primary sources such as Homer, Plato, Herodotus, and Thucydides. Not open to students with credit in CLST 253.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course provides a broad survey of Roman history, society, and literature from its foundation until the fall of the Roman Empire. Students read widely from Roman primary sources such as Cicero, Vergil, and Tacitus. Not open to students with credit in CLST 254.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This courses introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of Mediterranean archaeology. The course covers three areas: the rediscovery of Classical antiquity and its effect on European cultural and intellectual development; the basics of field methodology, including the use of technology; and the ethical role of the archaeologists in the interpretation and preservation of cultural remains. Offered in alternate fall semesters. Priority given to first-year students and sophomores.

Distribution Area

Social Science

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Faculty-led domestic and international study and service courses on a theme related to classical studies that provide students opportunities to explore and experience other cultures, learn in new environments, develop skills not readily acquired elsewhere, and deepen their understanding of the global community. Curricular offerings earn .5 course credit and count toward satisfying the Extended Studies requirement; co-curricular offerings do not carry academic credit but do count toward the Extended Studies requirement.

Credits

variable

Course Description

A seminar focused on a theme related to the study of classical studies. Open only to first-year students.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Study of a specific topic in Mediterranean civilizations or literature. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course will explore the following interconnected questions: How did Rome govern the enormous empire? How did Rome change the cultural and political map of the Ancient Mediterranean World? To what extent and how did the presence of the Roman rule transform the local and regional cultures? How did the expansion of the Empire have a reverse impact on the 'Roman Culture'? How were the 'barbarians' viewed at Rome?

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course explores the legal systems and procedures of Athens and Rome, exploring how legal sources expand our understanding of the lives of ordinary residents of the Ancient World. We will explore the forensic speeches of the Athenian lawcourts, which were famous both for the volume of their activity and the rhetoric employed there, and the writings of the Roman legal scholars -- the jurists, which form the core of the Roman legal system which is still influential in the modern world. Topics may include: ancient rhetoric and standards of proof, citizenship and rights of non-citizens, intersections of religion and law, property and inheritance, and legal thinking and categorization.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course examines the monuments of the ancient Mediterranean from the early Iron Age to the death of Alexander the Great (ca. 900-323 BC). This period saw the rise of city-states across the Mediterranean, an expanded network of trade between Greeks, Persians, and Etruscans, and the consequent formation of cultural identities expressed through art and other material remains. Topics include: urban planning, colonization of new territories, the growth of pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, and cross-cultural influences in the Mediterranean. The course also critiques the use of Greek archaeology in the 18-20th centuries to construct European identity.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course examines the artistic and architectural monuments of the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman world from the death of Alexander the Great through the end of the western Roman Empire (323 BC-AD 476). Issues may include: the archaeology of the economy and trade, the question of romanization (the archaeology of imperialism), iconography of political power, the material experience of everyday life, and the art of engineering. Offered in alternate spring semesters.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course explores the rise and fall of cultures and kingdoms during the Mediterranean Bronze Age (ca. 3200-1000 BC) through artistic and architectural remains. Special attention is given to the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, and Trojans, their relationship to one another, as well as to other regions of the Mediterranean (e.g., Egypt). Topics include: trade in raw materials and elite goods, the development of ceramics and sculpture, expressions of kingship, the Trojan War in myth and reality, and geo-environmental studies, such as the volcanic eruption of Thera. Attention is given to factors that contributed to widespread social and political collapse at the end of the Bronze Age.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course surveys the art, architecture, and material culture of ancient Egypt from the prehistoric cultures of the Nile Valley to the end of the New Kingdom (ca. 4000-1000 BC). Topics include: the development of monumental architecture (e.g., pyramids), expressions of kingship, the construction of gender identity in art, and Egypt's role as a conduit for trade between the Mediterranean, western Asia, and Africa. This course also considers the legacy of European imperialism in the construction of ancient Egypt, particularly in regard to race and ethnicity.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course surveys the art and material culture of ancient Mesopotamia and its surrounding regions, including modern Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The periods range from the Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age (ca. 5000-1000 BC). Topics include: environmental and material evidence for the development of agriculture and the first settled communities, the rise of kingship and palace administration in relation to the control and redistribution of resources, complex religious beliefs as expressed through art and architecture, and the origins of writing. The role of European imperialism in the history of Mesopotamian archaeology is also examined.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question," wrote Albert Camus, the Nobel Prize winning Algerian author. In this course Ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Lucretius launch the exploration of that fundamental question. That exploration, the quest for meaning, hinges upon the inescapable questions that these artists and philosophers pose again and again: What is a good life? What is happiness? What is the relationship between life's worth and the meaning of life?

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Ancient popular literature offers a portrait of the Mediterranean world that depicts figures underrepresented in other ancient literature, such as women, slaves, bandits, witches, merchants, and practitioners of mystery religions. Works include Greek authors of popular literature such as Lucian and Longus, The Life of Aesop and Aesop's fables, the Roman novels Petronius' Satyricon and Apuleius' Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass). No prior knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture is required for this course.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course repurposes the title of "Airs, Waters, Places," a Hippocratic treatise on the influence of place upon human health. In line with the Hippocratic investigation into the relationship between environment and human health, this course explores how ancient Greek and Roman thinkers and artists conceive of the environment and its role in shaping human culture and how the environment, in turn, informs the ideas and art of ancient Greek and Roman writers. Topics may include ancient conceptions and representations of the cosmos (ecology), wilderness, farming, and pastoral poetry.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Explores the ways in which modern literature of peoples of African descent engages with ancient Hellenic and Roman literature. This course may concentrate on African American literature, women writers, or literature of the African Diaspora. Example topics include how the art of Derek Walcott's Omeros, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Rita Dove's Mother Love riffs on such works of classical literature as Homer's Odyssey, Euripides' Medea and The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Privilege, Power And Diversity

Credits

1 course

Course Description

The advanced study of a specific topic in Mediterranean civilizations or literature. Recent courses have treated such topics as Plato on Love and Pleasure, Gender in the Greek and Roman World, Damnation and Salvation, Socrates--The Mind and the Myth, Great Archaeological Discoveries, Greek and Roman Law, and Ancient History and Film. May be repeated for credit with topic changes. Information on upcoming topics courses can be found on the departmental Web page.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

A study of a specific topic in Mediterranean archaeology. Recent courses have treated such topics as Pompeii, the Archaeology of North Africa, and the Archaeology of Israel. May be repeated for credit with topic changes. Information on upcoming topics courses can be found on the department web page.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

A seminar on a specific topic in the field of classical studies. Students will complete a major paper or project in conjunction with the course. Open only to majors.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Outstanding students in Classical Civilization, Latin, or Greek may choose to complete an intensive independent research project in their senior year. The project culminates in a written thesis (approx. 30-40 pages) and a public presentation of their research. The thesis is directed by a faculty member in the Department of Classical Studies. Thesis proposals must be approved by the Department of Classical Studies before a student can register for CLST 455.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course prepares students to read such ancient Greek texts as Homer's Iliad, Sappho's poetry, Plato's Symposium, Herodotus' Histories, Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, and the New Testament in the original language. Introduction to the essentials of ancient Greek vocabulary and grammar with emphasis on development of proficiency in reading ancient Greek literature. First semester of a two-semester sequence of introductory ancient Greek language courses. Applies toward the Distribution Area requirement in Language. Applies toward Major or Minor in Greek or Classical Civilization. Prerequisite for GRK 102. Offered every Fall Semester.

Distribution Area

Language

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Building upon GRK 101, this course prepares students to read such ancient Greek texts as Homer's Iliad, Sappho's poetry, Plato's Symposium, Herodotus' Histories, Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, and the New Testament in the original language. Introduction to the essentials of ancient Greek vocabulary and grammar with emphasis on development of proficiency in reading ancient Greek literature. Second semester of a two-semester sequence of introductory ancient Greek language courses. Applies toward the Distribution Area requirement in Language. Applies toward Major or Minor in Greek or Classical Civilization. Prerequisite for GRK 205. Offered every Spring Semester.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

GRK 101 or permission of the department

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Review of grammar and reading from representative Greek authors, usually including Homer or Plato. Prerequisite: GRK 101-102. May be repeated for credit.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

GRK 101-102

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Readings from the New Testament and from contemporary Christian, Jewish and pagan religious literature; the style and vocabulary of Hellenistic Greek. Prerequisite: GRK 101-102 or permission of instructor.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

GRK 101-102 or permission of instructor

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Reading selected according to the interests and abilities of the students. One topic offered each semester, usually chosen from Homer (Iliad or Odyssey), lyric poetry, Greek tragedy, Herodotus, Thucydides or Plato. Exercises in prose composition may be included. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor

Credits

1/2-1 course

Course Description

A continuation of GRK 451.

Distribution Area

Language

Credits

1/2-1 course

Course Description

An introduction to classical Latin that emphasizes reading. The course provides a solid foundational knowledge of the Latin sentence structure and a thorough training in English grammar. Includes discussions of Roman life and culture.

Distribution Area

Language

Credits

1 course

Course Description

A continuation of Latin 123, this course broadens and deepens students' understanding of Latin and English grammar to incorporate more complex sentence patterns. Students will read more extended passages of original Latin and continue explorations into Roman life and culture through literature. Prerequisite: Latin 123 or placement

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

LAT 123 or permission of the department

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Combines a thorough review of elementary Latin and an introduction to continuous Latin texts from foundational authors such as Cicero, Caesar, Sallust, and Vergil. Teaches strategies for analyzing complex sentences and continuous passages. Includes some prose composition. Prerequisite: LAT 124 or two years of high school Latin (entering students should take the Latin placement exam during orientation) or permission of instructor.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

LAT 124 or two years of high school Latin (entering students should take the Latin placement exam during orientation) or permission of instructor.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

An introduction to Latin poetics, combined with continued review of Latin syntax and morphology. Translation and analysis of selected texts from authors such as Catullus, Ovid, Martial, or Vergil. Prerequisite: LAT 124 or two years of high school Latin (entering students should take the Latin placement exam during orientation) or permission of instructor.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

LAT 124 or two years of high school Latin (entering students should take the Latin placement exam during orientation) or permission of instructor.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Advanced reading in Latin prose authors. Sample topics might include philosophical texts, the works of Cicero, or the Roman Novel. The course may include exercises in prose composition. May be repeated for credit if the topic changes. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

An advanced seminar on one of the following topics: (A) Latin Lyric poetry, with readings from Horace and Catullus; (B) Roman Satire, a history of the only uniquely Roman literary genre, with readings from Lucilius, Horace, and Juvenal; (C) Roman Elegy, with readings from Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid. May be repeated for credit if the topic changes. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Distribution Area

Language

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Selected plays by Terence, Plautus, and Seneca in both the original Latin and in translation. Study of the history and development of Roman drama and its relationship with Greek drama. May be repeated for credit if the topic changes. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Normally follows LAT 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Selections from Livy, Sallust, Tacitus, or Suetonius in Latin and in translation, either concentrating upon an individual author or presenting a survey of roman Historiography. Examination of the process of evidence-gathering and writing history in ancient Rome. May include prose composition. May be repeated for credit if the topic changes.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

An examination not only of Vergil's great masterpiece, The Aeneid, but also his lesser works, the Ecologues and Georgics. Discussion of the pastoral and didactic traditions, as well as the history of Roman Epic poetry. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Normally follows LAT 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor. Normally follows Latin 224 or four years of high school Latin.

Credits

1 course

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Classical Studies

Leveraging the resources of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the classical civilization major and minor at DePauw are housed in the Department of Classical Studies. This department approaches the ancient Mediterranean world through the disciplines of language and literature, history and philosophy, and art and archaeology.

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