Courses

Courses by semester

Courses for

Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .

Course ID Title Offered
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 essays focusing on readings and discussions in class.

Full details for CLASS 1531 - FWS: Greek Myth

Fall, Spring.
CLASS1632 Ancient Theater Performance
This course is preparation for a performance of ancient theater in Latin at the end of the semester. It will involve background reading about the play, learning and acting the lines, 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.

Full details for CLASS 1632 - Ancient Theater Performance

Fall or Spring.
CLASS2646 Magic and Witchcraft in the Greco-Roman World
This introductory course explores the roles of amulets, love potions, curse tablets, and many other magical practices in ancient Greek and Roman societies. In this course, you will learn how to invoke the powers of Abrasax, become successful and famous, get people to fall desperately in love with you, and cast horrible curses on your enemies! We will also examine a range of ancient and modern approaches to "magic" as a concept: what exactly do we mean by "magic," and how does it relate to other spheres of activity, like religion, science, and philosophy? When people (in ancient times or today) label the activities of others as "magic," what are the social and political consequences of that act? As we investigate the practices that Greeks and Romans considered "magical," we will also explore what those practices can teach us about many other aspects of life in the past, such as social class, gender, religion, and ethnic and cultural identity.

Full details for CLASS 2646 - Magic and Witchcraft in the Greco-Roman World

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.
CLASS2685 Egyptomania? Egypt and the Greco-Roman World
This course explores the multifaceted interactions between ancient Egypt and the Classical world, from the Bronze Age to the Roman Empire. We will look at both archaeological and textual evidence (in English translation) to ask what this entangled history can tell us about life in the ancient Mediterranean. Among many other topics, we will consider Greek merchants and mercenaries in Egypt; Egyptian influences on Greek and Roman art; the famous queen Cleopatra, and her seductive but threatening reputation in Roman literature; the appearance of Egyptian underworld gods on Greek and Roman "magical gems" and curse tablets; and the ways that Greco-Roman representations of Egypt have shaped modern conceptions of Egyptian civilization, from 19th-century Romanticism to 21st-century pop culture.

Full details for CLASS 2685 - Egyptomania? Egypt and the Greco-Roman World

Spring.
CLASS2689 Roman History
This course offers an introduction to the history of the Roman empire, from the prehistoric settlements on the site of Rome to the fall of the Western empire in the fifth century and its revival in the East with Byzantium. Lectures will provide a narrative and interpretations of major issues, including: empire building, cultural unity and diversity, religious transformations, changing relations between state and society. Discussion section will be the opportunity to engage with important texts, ancient and modern, about Rome.

Full details for CLASS 2689 - Roman History

Spring.
CLASS2712 The Ancient Economy
Ancient economies were very different to our modern economy: there were no banks, transport and communication were difficult, and the discipline of economics did not yet exist. Yet there are also striking similarities between the ancient and modern economic worlds: many people liked luxuries, production was increasingly standardized, and buyers and sellers came together on market days. This course introduces the key characteristics of ancient economies, with a focus on ancient Rome but also looking at classical Athens and further afield. It is structured around themes such as trade and exchange, craft, consumption, and money. Its aim is to probe the nature of the ancient economy, both for students interested in the ancient world and for students keen to put the modern economy in historical perspective.

Full details for CLASS 2712 - The Ancient Economy

Spring.
CLASS2750 Introduction to Humanities
These seminars offer an introduction to the humanities by exploring historical, cultural, social, and political themes. Students will explore themes in critical dialogue with a range of texts and media drawn from the arts, humanities, and/or humanistic social sciences. Guest speakers, including Cornell faculty and Society for the Humanities Fellows, will present from different disciplines and points of view. Students will make field trips to relevant local sites and visit Cornell special collections and archives. Students enrolled in these seminars will have the opportunity to participate in additional programming related to the annual focus theme of Cornell's Society for the Humanities and the Humanities Scholars Program for undergraduate humanities research.

Full details for CLASS 2750 - Introduction to Humanities

CLASS2770 The Aegean and East Mediterranean Bronze Age c. 3000-1000 BCE
An exploration of the archaeology and art of the Aegean region and of its neighbors during the Bronze Age, ca. 3000-1000 BCE: the origins and precursors of the Classical World. The course will investigate the emergence of the first complex societies in the Aegean region in the third millennium BCE, and then the development and story of the Minoan and Mycenaean worlds and their neighbors in the second millennium BCE. Topics will include: the Early Bronze Age and the first complex societies in the Aegean (Cyclades, Crete, Greece, Anatolia); the collapse and reorientation around 2200BCE and links with climate change; the first palace civilization of (Minoan) Crete; the Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption and its historical impact in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean; the rise of the Mycenaean Greek palaces and the shift into proto-history; the development of an international east Mediterranean trade system; Ahhiyawa and the Hittites; the 'Trojan War'; and the collapse of the Late Bronze Age societies and links with climate change.

Full details for CLASS 2770 - The Aegean and East Mediterranean Bronze Age c. 3000-1000 BCE

Spring.
CLASS2812 Hieroglyphs to HTML: History of Writing
An introduction to the history and theory of writing systems from cuneiform to the alphabet, historical and new writing media, and the complex relationship of writing technologies to human language and culture. Through hands-on activities and collaborative work, students will explore the shifting definitions of "writing" and the diverse ways in which cultures through time have developed and used writing systems. We will also investigate the traditional divisions of "oral" vs. "written" and consider how digital technologies have affected how we use and think about writing in encoding systems from Morse code to emoji.

Full details for CLASS 2812 - Hieroglyphs to HTML: History of Writing

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.

Full details for CLASS 3396 - Advanced Sanskrit II

Spring.
CLASS3636 Ancient Beginnings of The Enlightenment: Lucian of Samosata
Lucian of Samosata (in modern-day Turkey) is one of the most influential and interesting but least read authors of the classical world. Lucian lived in an age of superstition and bunkum and he saw through it all. Instead of getting angry, he trolled his targets in satirical essays that are shot through with unmistakable irony, but that make a serious point. Accordingly, this course is devoted to reading the great majority of Lucian's own writings. Special attention will be given to the most influential pieces, namely A True History (the world's first science/speculative fiction novel), Death of Peregrinus, Zeus Rants, Momus, Alexander the False Prophet, and Slander: A Warning. These pieces are fascinating and their influence is profound. Moreover, this course situates students in the crossroads of intellectual, spiritual, and multicultural life in the high Roman Empire in which Lucian lived and moved. Students will be exposed to selected portions of relevant classic texts from Plato, the Bible, and Epicurus and Lucretius, as well as a range of Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers—Erasmus, Voltaire, Swift, Schopenhauer, and others—whose works are written in the Lucianic mode.  All texts will be read in English.

Full details for CLASS 3636 - Ancient Beginnings of The Enlightenment: Lucian of Samosata

Spring.
CLASS3645 The Tragic Theatre
Tragedy and its audiences from ancient Greece to modern theater and film. Topics: origins of theatrical conventions; Shakespeare and Seneca; tragedy in modern theater and film. Works studied will include: Aeschylus' Agamemnon; Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, Philoctetes; Euripides' Alcestis, Helen, Iphigeneia in Aulis, Orestes; Seneca's Thyestes, Trojan Women; Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Othello; Strindberg's The Father; Durrenmatt's The Visit; Bergman's Seventh Seal; Cacoyannis' Iphigeneia.

Full details for CLASS 3645 - The Tragic Theatre

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.

Full details for CLASS 3664 - Aristotle

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.
CLASS3735 Archaic and Classical Greece
This lecture class centers on the formative periods of ancient Greek culture, the centuries from about 800-300 BCE. Its aim is to place Greece within the cosmopolitan networks of the Mediterranean and beyond, while simultaneously looking at specific local traditions. Only within this complex "glocal" frame will it become clear what is unique about Greek art.  In surveying major genres such as architecture, ceramics, sculpture and painting we will also investigate the question of whether and how changing resources and modes of production, various political systems (such as democracy or monarchy) and situations (war, colonization, trade), gender, or theories of representation had an impact on the art of their time. Some of the particular themes to be discussed are: the role of the Near East for the development of Greek visual culture; city planning; images in public and private life; visualizing the human body and the individuum; Greek art in contact zones from the Black Sea to Southern Italy and Sicily; "foreign" art in Greece; the concept of art; reception of Greek art in modern times.

Full details for CLASS 3735 - Archaic and Classical Greece

Spring.
CLASS3738 Identity in the Ancient World
Have you ever been asked 'who are you' or 'which group do you belong to'? You would have noted how the answer shifts according to who is asking, in which context, etc. While everyone is unique, the possible replies in any one situation are largely defined at the level of society. What is less often realized, however, is that identity shows in particular in ways of doing: what and how one eats; what one wears and when; how one moves in a space. Archaeology is in a unique position to investigate these questions, and the Greek and Roman worlds offer a fruitful test ground, both because of their varied evidence, and because of their peculiar echoing in the modern world and its manifold identities. This course will address current theories about identity and its formation, discuss the various facets of identity (e.g. gender, citizenship, ethnicity) in the Greek and Roman worlds, and introduce tools for studying identity in the past.

Full details for CLASS 3738 - Identity in the Ancient World

Spring.
CLASS4681 Unconventional and Hybrid Warfare in Ancient Greece and Rome
Unconventional warfare, especially special operations, is often thought of as strictly a modern phenomenon, while hybrid warfare is a term of very recent origin. Yet both loom large in the record of ancient Greece & Rome. We look at case studies from the Trojan War to the Roman Empire, including, but not limited to, the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian War, the Punic Wars, and the wars of Antony and Cleopatra against Octavian. Readings in ancient sources and modern theorists.

Full details for CLASS 4681 - Unconventional and Hybrid Warfare in Ancient Greece and Rome

Spring.
CLASS4721 Honors: Senior Essay I
See "Honors" under Classics front matter.

Full details for CLASS 4721 - Honors: Senior Essay I

Multi-semester course: (Fall, Spring).
CLASS4722 Honors: Senior Essay II
See "Honors" under Classics front matter.

Full details for CLASS 4722 - Honors: Senior Essay II

Fall, Spring.
CLASS4752 Problems in Byzantine Art
Topic Spring 22: Spiral Relief Columns. In this seminar, we will consider the Roman medium of the spiral relief column (beginning with the Columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius) and its reception in Constantinople (the Columns of Theodosius and Arcadius, and perhaps the Joshua Roll) and beyond (the Bernward Column in Hildesheim and the Vendôme Column in Paris, for example). Seminar topics rotate each semester. Previous topics include: Ravenna, Hagia Sophia, Byzantine Iconoclasm.

Full details for CLASS 4752 - Problems in Byzantine Art

Spring.
CLASS4756 Producing Cloth Cultures
It is a fundamental part of human activity to dress or cover one's body and environment. While the symbolic significance of such clothing has long been recognized, the activity of producing fabric itself deserves more attention. By this we do not only mean the various techniques and technological devices involved in spinning, weaving, stitching, or sewing, but also the analogical activities and metaphors they entailed. What stories did they tell? How did their connection to writing, remembering, lovemaking, or ruling one's kingdom, to name but a few examples, play out metaphorically in cloth? And how did fabrics depend on or transform the transmission of techniques, fashions and motives, but also gender, concepts of the body or the built environment?

Full details for CLASS 4756 - Producing Cloth Cultures

Spring.
CLASS6681 Unconventional and Hybrid Warfare in Ancient Greece and Rome
Unconventional warfare, especially special operations, is often thought of as strictly a modern phenomenon, while hybrid warfare is a term of very recent origin. Yet both loom large in the record of ancient Greece & Rome. We look at case studies from the Trojan War to the Roman Empire, including, but not limited to, the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian War, the Punic Wars, and the wars of Antony and Cleopatra against Octavian. Readings in ancient sources and modern theorists.

Full details for CLASS 6681 - Unconventional and Hybrid Warfare in Ancient Greece and Rome

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.

Full details for CLASS 7345 - Graduate TA Training

Fall, Spring.
CLASS7347 Scholarly Writing in Classics
CLASS7682 Topics in Ancient History Spring.
CLASS7752 Problems in Byzantine Art
Seminar topics rotate each semester.

Full details for CLASS 7752 - Problems in Byzantine Art

Spring.
CLASS7770 The Aegean and East Mediterranean Bronze Age c. 3000-1000 BCE
An exploration of the archaeology and art of the Aegean region and of its neighbors during the Bronze Age, ca. 3000-1000 BCE: the origins and precursors of the Classical World. The course will investigate the emergence of the first complex societies in the Aegean region in the third millennium BCE, and then the development and story of the Minoan and Mycenaean worlds and their neighbors in the second millennium BCE. Topics will include: the Early Bronze Age and the first complex societies in the Aegean (Cyclades, Crete, Greece, Anatolia); the collapse and reorientation around 2200BCE and links with climate change; the first palace civilization of (Minoan) Crete; the Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption and its historical impact in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean; the rise of the Mycenaean Greek palaces and the shift into proto-history; the development of an international east Mediterranean trade system; Ahhiyawa and the Hittites; the 'Trojan War'; and the collapse of the Late Bronze Age societies and links with climate change.

Full details for CLASS 7770 - The Aegean and East Mediterranean Bronze Age c. 3000-1000 BCE

Spring.
GREEK1102 Elementary Ancient Greek II
Continuation of GREEK 1101, prepares students for GREEK 2101.

Full details for GREEK 1102 - Elementary Ancient Greek II

Spring.
GREEK1104 Beginning Homeric Greek
This course offers a ground up introduction to the vocabulary and grammar of Homeric Greek with the goal of reading Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as soon as possible. Once students learn the language of the Iliad and Odyssey, they can move on to other works written in roughly the same formulaic diction, ranging from Hesiod's Theogony to the early philosophical verses of Empedocles and Parmenides. Teaching Beginning Homeric Greek at Cornell, affectionately known as 'baby' Greek, harkens back almost 100 years to the influential and popular courses of Professor Harry Caplan. In fact, this course uses an updated version of the same textbook used in Caplan's beginning Greek courses.

Full details for GREEK 1104 - Beginning Homeric Greek

Spring.
GREEK2103 Homer
The study of selections from the Iliad and/or Odyssey in Greek, with a focus on Homeric grammar, dialect, meter, poetics and composition.

Full details for GREEK 2103 - Homer

Spring.
GREEK3120 Seminar in Greek
Undergraduate seminar in Greek. Topics: Fall 2021- Herodotus; Spring 2022 - Euripides, Alcestis. Fall 2022 - Antiphon, Euripides, and Plato's Protagoras.

Full details for GREEK 3120 - Seminar in Greek

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.
GREEK4411 Greek Comparative Grammar
The prehistory and evolution of the sounds and forms of ancient Greek as reconstructed by comparison with the other Indo-European languages.

Full details for GREEK 4411 - Greek Comparative Grammar

Spring.
GREEK5112 Elementary Ancient Greek II
Continuation of GREEK 5111, prepares students for GREEK 5121.

Full details for GREEK 5112 - Elementary Ancient Greek II

Spring.
GREEK5114 Beginning Homeric Greek
This course offers a ground up introduction to the vocabulary and grammar of Homeric Greek with the goal of reading Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as soon as possible. Once students learn the language of the Iliad and Odyssey, they can move on to other works written in roughly the same formulaic diction, ranging from Hesiod's Theogony to the early philosophical verses of Empedocles and Parmenides. Teaching Beginning Homeric Greek at Cornell, affectionately known as 'baby' Greek, harkens back almost 100 years to the influential and popular courses of Professor Harry Caplan. In fact, this course uses an updated version of the same textbook used in Caplan's beginning Greek courses.

Full details for GREEK 5114 - Beginning Homeric Greek

Spring.
GREEK5123 Homer
The study of selections from the Iliad and/or Odyssey in Greek, with a focus on Homeric grammar, dialect, meter, poetics and composition.

Full details for GREEK 5123 - Homer

Spring.
GREEK5130 Seminar in Greek
Topic: Fall, Herodotus; Spring, Euripides, Alcestis.

Full details for GREEK 5130 - Seminar in Greek

Fall, Spring.
GREEK6102 Advanced Readings in Greek Literature
Spring 2022 topic: Sophocles, OT; Aristophanes, Frogs; Xenophon, Apology; Plutarch, How to Listen to Poets.

Full details for GREEK 6102 - Advanced Readings in Greek Literature

Spring.
GREEK7161 Greek Philosophical Texts
Reading and translation of Greek Philosophical texts.

Full details for GREEK 7161 - Greek Philosophical Texts

Fall, Spring.
GREEK7172 Graduate Seminar in Greek Spring.
GREEK7411 Greek Comparative Grammar
The prehistory and evolution of the sounds and forms of ancient Greek as reconstructed by comparison with the other Indo-European languages.

Full details for GREEK 7411 - Greek Comparative Grammar

Spring.
GREEK7910 Independent Study in Greek
LATIN1202 Elementary Latin II
This course is a continuation of LATIN 1201, using readings from various authors and prepares students for LATIN 1205.

Full details for LATIN 1202 - Elementary Latin II

Spring.
LATIN1205 Intermediate Latin I
Introduces students to reading original Latin text (fall, Livy's Rome; spring, Livy's ab urbe condita). Covers complex syntax and reviews the grammar presented in LATIN 1202, LATIN 1204.

Full details for LATIN 1205 - Intermediate Latin I

Fall, Spring.
LATIN2201 Latin Prose
Fall 2021: How can you achieve greatness? How do athletics and philosophy work together in life? Cicero reveals all in Tusculan Disputations 2. Fall 2022: A reading of Pliny's Letters. Spring 2022: Cicero's Philippics – his fierce denunciations of Mark Antony delivered after the assassination of Julius Caesar – offer an insight into one of the most turbulent times in Roman – and world – history. Reading these orations with close attention to their rhetorical style and historical context reveals their political potency, leading to the death of the man who delivered them.

Full details for LATIN 2201 - Latin Prose

Fall, Spring.
LATIN2205 Virgil
Students in this course will read selections of Virgil's Eclogues and the Aeneid in Latin.

Full details for LATIN 2205 - Virgil

Spring.
LATIN3220 Rapid Reading in Latin
Fall topic: Cicero's Pro Caelio and Pro Milone; Spring topic: African Writers.

Full details for LATIN 3220 - Rapid Reading in Latin

Fall, 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.
LATIN5212 Elementary Latin II
Continuation of LATIN 5211, using readings from various authors; prepares students for LATIN 5215.

Full details for LATIN 5212 - Elementary Latin II

Spring.
LATIN5215 Intermediate Latin I
Introduces students to reading original Latin text (fall, Livy's Rome; spring, Cicero's Letters). Covers complex syntax and reviews the grammar presented in LATIN 5212, LATIN 5214.

Full details for LATIN 5215 - Intermediate Latin I

Fall, Spring.
LATIN5221 Latin Prose
Fall: How can you achieve greatness? How do athletics and philosophy work together in life? Cicero reveals all in Tusculan Disputations 2.

Full details for LATIN 5221 - Latin Prose

Fall, Spring.
LATIN5225 Virgil
Students in this course will read selections of Virgil's Eclogues and the Aeneid in Latin.

Full details for LATIN 5225 - Virgil

Spring.
LATIN5230 Rapid Reading in Latin
Fall topic: Cicero's Pro-Caelio and Pro-Milone; Spring topic: African Writers.

Full details for LATIN 5230 - Rapid Reading in Latin

Fall, Spring.
LATIN6202 Advanced Readings in Latin Literature
Spring 2022 topic: Cicero's Letters and fragments of archaic Latin.

Full details for LATIN 6202 - Advanced Readings in Latin Literature

Spring.
LATIN6214 The Commedia and the Classics: Antiquity Through the Eyes of Dante
Reading the entire Divine Comedy, we will pay particular attention to how Dante adopts and adapts ancient/classical authors, characters, and stories into his extraordinary tale of the afterlife. We will explore the unique ways in which he intertwines history and myth, tradition and novelty, Christianity and paganism, faith and science, and other seemingly incompatible fields of human knowledge and ingenuity. Our discussions will focus on primary texts, so students should ideally have a foundation in both Italian and Latin.

Full details for LATIN 6214 - The Commedia and the Classics: Antiquity Through the Eyes of Dante

Spring.
LATIN7262 Latin Philosophical Texts
Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts.

Full details for LATIN 7262 - Latin Philosophical Texts

Fall, Spring.
LATIN7272 Graduate Seminar in Latin Spring.
LATIN7920 Independent Study in Latin
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