Courses by semester
Courses for
Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .
| Course ID | Title | Offered |
|---|---|---|
| CLASS1332 |
Elementary Sanskrit II
An introduction to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar. Designed to enable the student to read classical and epic Sanskrit as soon as possible.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS1531 |
FWS: Greek Myth
This course will focus on the stories about the gods and heroes of the Greeks as they appear in ancient literature and art. We will examine the relationship between myths and the cultural, religious, and political conditions of the society in which they took shape. Beginning with theories of myth and proceeding to the analysis of individual stories and cycles, the material will serve as a vehicle for improving your written communication skills. Assignments include preparatory writing and six essays focusing on readings and discussions in class.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS1632 |
Ancient Theater Performance
This course is preparation for a performance of ancient theater at the end of the semester. It will involve background reading about the play, learning and acting the lines (Latin in Spring), and preparing the costuming, programming and sets. The play will be selected after auditions among the members of the class are held. All those who receive credits will be acting in the play.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS1704 |
Statues and Public Life
Why do so many societies create statues, and why do they set them up in prominent spaces within their communities? How and why do statues loom so large in the public imagination? Looking both to the cultures of Ancient Greece and Rome and to the modern West, this course examines the social, political, religious, and erotic power attributed to statues across diverse periods and contexts. Drawing on dynamic "Active Learning" methods, we will explore topics including the foundational role of statues for political states (from the Athenian Tyrannicides to the Statue of Liberty), the destruction of statues (from Christian iconoclasm to Confederate monuments), creative "statue-hacks" (from Rome's Pasquino to Wall Street's "Fearless Girl") and objects of cult (from Olympian Zeus to weeping Madonnas). The course will encourage active engagement with statues relevant to students themselves, including the Cornell cast collection, statues on campus, and those in your own home town.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS2352 |
Intermediate Sanskrit II
Review of grammar and reading of selections from Sanskrit epic poetry and narrative prose.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS2636 |
Introduction to Christian History
This course offers an introduction to the history of Christianity from the first century through the seventeenth and perhaps a bit beyond. Our emphasis will be on the diversity of Christian traditions, beliefs, and practices throughout history. We will explore the origins of Christianity within the eastern Mediterranean world, the spread of Christianity, the development of ecclesiastical institutions, the rise and establishment of monasticism, and the various controversies that occupied the church throughout its history. Throughout the course, we will supplement our reading of primary texts with art, archaeology, music, and manuscripts.
Full details for CLASS 2636 - Introduction to Christian History |
Spring. |
| CLASS2642 |
The Art of Math: Mathematical Traditions of Symmetry and Harmony
Symmetry and harmony are central aesthetic concepts built on a long history of mathematical exploration, not just in the European mathematical tradition but also in mathematical texts from China, India, and the Islamic world. This course will cover theoretical proofs and practical applications from geometrical, harmonic, and astronomical traditions ranging from ancient Greek geometry to early modern science. Topics include geometrical proofs, calculating systems, astronomical models, ratios and proportions, and scales and temperaments.
Full details for CLASS 2642 - The Art of Math: Mathematical Traditions of Symmetry and Harmony |
Spring. |
| CLASS2680 |
War and Peace in Greece and Rome
In ancient Greece and Rome, government did little besides wage war and raise taxes, culture focused on war, warriors gloried in battle, and civilians tried to get out of the way. This course surveys the impact of war and the rarity of peace in the ancient world. Topics include: "why war?"; the face of battle; leadership; strategy, operations, and tactics; women and war; intelligence and information-gathering; diplomacy and peacemaking; militarism; war and slavery; the archaeology of warfare. Readings in translation include selections from Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Caesar, Livy, Tacitus, Josephus, and Ammianus Marcellinus. (pre-1800/non-US)
Full details for CLASS 2680 - War and Peace in Greece and Rome |
Spring. |
| CLASS2743 |
Archaeology/Roman Private Life
What was it like to live in the Roman world? What did that world look, taste and smell like? How did Romans raise their families, entertain themselves, understand death, and interact with their government? What were Roman values and how did they differ from our own? This course takes as its subject the everyday lives of individuals and explores those lives using the combined tools of archaeology, architecture and art, as well as some primary source readings. In doing so, it seeks to integrate those monuments into a world of real people, and to use archaeology to narrate a story about ancient lives and life habits. Some of the topics explored will include the Roman house; the Roman family, children and slaves; bathing and hygiene; food; gardens, agriculture and animals.
Full details for CLASS 2743 - Archaeology/Roman Private Life |
Spring. |
| CLASS2806 |
Roman Law: Slavery, Crime, and Gender
This course investigates the rich body of Roman laws on slaves, crime, and women and children. Students will explore the evolution of power over marginalized groups and penalties for crimes at the beginnings of the Western legal system in order to consider ideas of identity, agency, responsibility, and punishment from a cultural and historical perspective. Through an examination of the legal sources (in translation) and the study of the rise and changes of governmental institutions of justice, this course will examine the evolution of jurisprudence: the development of conceptions of power and shifts in the understanding of just punishment. The course is designed as an introduction to these topics suitable for all students.
Full details for CLASS 2806 - Roman Law: Slavery, Crime, and Gender |
Spring. |
| CLASS3391 |
Independent Study in Sanskrit, Undergraduate Level
To be taken only in exceptional circumstances. Must be arranged by the student with his or her advisor and the faculty member who has agreed to direct the study. To be approved by the DUS.
Full details for CLASS 3391 - Independent Study in Sanskrit, Undergraduate Level |
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS3396 |
Advanced Sanskrit II
Selected readings in Sanskrit literary and philosophical texts.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS3664 |
Aristotle
We will study several of Aristotle's major works, including the Categories, Physics, Posterior Analytics, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics. Topics include nature and change, form and matter, the nature of happiness, the nature of the soul, and knowledge and first principles.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS3674 |
Introduction to Indian Philosophy
This course will survey the rich and sophisticated tradition of Indian philosophical thought from its beginnings in the speculations of Upanishads, surveying debates between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and materialistic philosophers about the existence and nature of God and of the human soul, the nature of knowledge, and the theory of language.
Full details for CLASS 3674 - Introduction to Indian Philosophy |
Spring. |
| CLASS3686 |
Independent Study in Classical Civilization, Undergraduate Level
May be taken upon completion of one semester of work at the 3000-level. To be taken only in exceptional circumstances. Must be arranged by the student with his or her advisor and the faculty member who has agreed to direct the study. To be approved by the DUS.
Full details for CLASS 3686 - Independent Study in Classical Civilization, Undergraduate Level |
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS3802 |
Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World
We will consider two basic questions: did the ancient Greeks and Romans have a concept of race or racial identity? If not, what were the dominant collective identities they used to classify themselves and others? We will explore the causes and conditions that gave rise to collective identities that can be described as ethnic and (in some cases) possibly as 'racial' and how these identities worked in their given cultural and political contexts. We will start with Greek identity in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, then moving to Macedonian identity and the conquests of Alexander the Great, and finally, to the Roman world, where we will explore the question of race and ethnicity within the context of inclusive citizenship. In each of these cultural contexts, we will briefly focus on slavery, examining whether slave identity was at all racialized.
Full details for CLASS 3802 - Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World |
Spring. |
| CLASS4602 |
Emperors, Kings, and Warlords: Political Legitimacy at the End of the Ancient World
This seminar will analyze the transition between the late Roman empire and the barbarian kingdoms in western Europe from the perspective of how rulers, intellectuals, and common people understood legitimate and illegitimate political authority. The so-called "Dark Ages" (4th-7th centuries) were a vibrant period of creativity and reinvention. Class discussion will focus on primary source analysis, and how ethnic (Roman/Germanic), religious (Christian/non-Christian), gender, and other categories informed late antique notions of political authority. We will also discuss how notions of rulership were deployed to challenge emperors and kings. Knowledge of late antique and early medieval political ideas is crucial to understanding modern uses of the so-called "Western" past in current political debates.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS4662 |
Topics in Ancient Philosophy
Advanced discussion of topics in ancient philosophy.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS4722 |
Honors: Senior Essay II
See "Honors" under Classics front matter.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS7173 |
Topics in Ancient Philosophy
Advanced discussion of topics in ancient philosophy.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS7345 |
Graduate TA Training
Pedagogical instruction and course coordination. Requirement for all graduate student teachers of LATIN 1201-LATIN 1202 and first-year writing seminars.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS7346 |
Classic Graduate Preparation Seminar
A course for all pre-A exam graduate students that will both prepare them to be professional ABD classicists and help review progress in language and reading list exams preparation.
Full details for CLASS 7346 - Classic Graduate Preparation Seminar |
Fall, Spring. |
| CLASS7682 |
Topics in Ancient History
Topic: Religion and Authority in Late Antique North Africa. The seminar focuses on the structures of religious authority in the Christian church(es) of North Africa from the end of the second century to the end of the fifth century, and on their interactions with the socio-political structures of authority.
|
Spring. |
| CLASS7714 |
Traveling Seminar in Roman Painting
Some of our very best evidence for Roman art survives in the form of frescoes in Rome, Ostia and the Bay of Naples. Exploring imperial palaces, rural villas, town houses, shops, baths, tombs, taverns and gardens, we will examine the visual dynamics and socio-cultural significance of wall-paintings within their original archaeological contexts. The study of frescoes offers an exciting means of tackling important questions relating to Roman social history alongside the complexities of representation within the Greco-Roman visual tradition, including the relationship between art and nature, the use of myth, the spatial dynamics of interior decorative schemes, visual-verbal relations, and concepts of ornament, medium, and abstraction. This course will be taught as a Traveling Seminar, which will include a trip to Rome and Bay of Naples over spring break. Spaces are limited.
Full details for CLASS 7714 - Traveling Seminar in Roman Painting |
Spring. |
| CLASS7741 |
Methods and Approaches in Current Archaeology
This seminar course aims to provide students with a review of, and encounter with, a key selection of the main methods and techniques used in current archaeological work, and to develop an understanding of the current practice of archaeology. Topics included are: (i) methods and practice in field archaeology (prospection, archaeological excavation and stratigraphy, survey archaeology and landscape), (ii) investigation of the climate and environmental context of the past, (iii) relative and absolute dating methods in archaeology, (iv) artifact analysis in archaeology (ceramics, stone, metals, etc.) and the role of the object in the discipline, and (v) approaches and issues in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological evidence (what questions to ask, and how to ask them).
Full details for CLASS 7741 - Methods and Approaches in Current Archaeology |
Spring. |
| GREEK1102 |
Elementary Ancient Greek II
Continuation of GREEK 1101, prepares students for GREEK 2101.
|
Spring. |
| GREEK2103 |
Homer
In this course we will read selections from the Odyssey in Greek, with a focus on Homeric poetics, dialect, and meter.
|
Spring. |
| GREEK3120 |
Seminar in Greek
Undergraduate seminar in Greek. Topic: Fall, Plato; Spring, Sophocles.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| GREEK3185 |
Independent Study in Greek, Undergraduate Level
May be taken upon completion of one semester of work at the 3000-level. To be taken only in exceptional circumstances. Must be arranged by the student with his or her advisor and the faculty member who has agreed to direct the study. To be approved by the DUS.
Full details for GREEK 3185 - Independent Study in Greek, Undergraduate Level |
Fall, Spring. |
| GREEK4457 |
Homeric Philology
Language of the Homeric epics: dialect background, archaisms, modernizations. Notion of a Kunstsprache: its constitution, use, and internal consistency. Phonological and morphological aspects of epic compositional technique.
|
Spring. |
| GREEK6102 |
Advanced Readings in Greek Literature
The readings will comprise: Hesiod, Theogony, Greek Lyric (selections from F. Budelmann, Greek Lyric: a selection and D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric Poetry), Pindar (as on grad reading list), Aeschylus, Agamemnon.
Full details for GREEK 6102 - Advanced Readings in Greek Literature |
Spring. |
| GREEK7161 |
Greek Philosophical Texts
Reading and translation of Greek Philosophical texts.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| GREEK7457 |
Homeric Philology
Language of the Homeric epics: dialect background, archaisms, modernizations. Notion of a Kunstsprache: its constitution, use, and internal consistency. Phonological and morphological aspects of epic compositional technique.
|
Spring. |
| LATIN1202 |
Elementary Latin II
Continuation of LATIN 1201, using readings from various authors; prepares students for LATIN 1205.
|
Spring. |
| LATIN1205 |
Intermediate Latin I
Introduces students to reading a literary Latin text (fall, Livy's Rome; spring, Ovid: Amores and Metamorphoses). Covers complex syntax and reviews the grammar presented in LATIN 1202, LATIN 1204.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| LATIN2205 |
Virgil
Students in this course will read selections of Virgil's Aeneid in Latin, and the entire epic in English translation.
|
Spring. |
| LATIN2210 |
Conversational Latin II
This course allows students to practice and perfect the active skills learned in Conversational Latin I (although sufficiently advanced students may enroll without having taken that course) in order to increase reading, speaking, and writing fluency. The main text we will read, talk about, and even perform in Latin is Seneca's The Trojan Women.
|
Spring. |
| LATIN3203 |
Roman Poetry
Undergraduate seminar. Topic: The Art of Drinking (De Arte Bibendi).
|
Spring. |
| LATIN3286 |
Independent Study in Latin, Undergraduate Level
May be taken upon completion of one semester of work at the 3000-level. To be taken only in exceptional circumstances. Must be arranged by the student with his or her advisor and the faculty member who has agreed to direct the study. To be approved by the DUS.
Full details for LATIN 3286 - Independent Study in Latin, Undergraduate Level |
Fall, Spring. |
| LATIN6202 |
Advanced Readings in Latin Literature
Topic: Cicero's and Seneca's Letters & Lucretius De Rerum Natura III.
Full details for LATIN 6202 - Advanced Readings in Latin Literature |
Spring. |
| LATIN7202 |
Teaching Living Latin
This course examines and models the teaching and learning of Latin as a "living" language; i.e., the various ways of incorporating oral and written exercises to achieve Latin fluency especially in reading comprehension. Particular attention is given to the Foster method and how it compares with other Latin pedagogies.
|
Spring. |
| LATIN7262 |
Latin Philosophical Texts
Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| LATIN7272 |
Graduate Seminar in Latin
Topic: Latin Scientific Texts of the Early Empire. When we think of science in the Roman world (if we think of it at all), it is most often in the context of the Second Sophistic, when Galen and Ptolemy dominated the scene with scientific work written in Greek. But in fact, a closer look at the population of known "scientific" authors reveals a peak during the first century CE, especially for literature in Latin. Though many of these authors have not survived in text, they are partially preserved through a wealth of references and analyses from their more familiar literary contemporaries.
|
Spring. |