Course Schedule

CLAS 504C – Cleopatra: Power, Passion, Propaganda

Cross Listed

This course focuses on Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and one of the best-known women in history and a key powerbroker during a period of important political change, one with enduring repercussions for the western world. She has been, however, deliberately memorialized as a "romantic" agent, a deployer of "feminine wiles", whose gender and political toolbox rightly doomed her efforts to failure. Students will interrogate the process of transforming a historical individual into an object lesson, a trope of femininity, and a cinematic legend, unpacking the messages crafted for a range of audiences and purposes by multiple creators, including Cleopatra herself. We begin with the historical background of the Hellenistic period, cosmopolitan and multicultural, focusing especially on the dynamism of women in the ideology of royal power and as image-makers in their own right, developing special forms for female authority and female patronage. A number of earlier Cleopatras establish context and particular precedents, creating official personae to engage effective interactions with fundamental groups; these include the resilient Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra II (r. 175-116 BCE) and Cleopatra Thea, token in a dynastic alliance who became Great Queen of Syria, dominating the Seleucid throne for a generation. Students will then sift through the evidence for Cleopatra VII, both the contentious (and largely hostile) material for her Mediterranean activities as well as the Egyptian record that may represent the specific efforts of the queen herself, utilizing then-ancient symbol and ritual to assert her legitimate imperial authority and structure her collaboration with major stakeholders in the Nile realm. The last section of the course looks to the lingering memory of Cleopatra long after her death, closely examining images in drama, art, and film to explore how the story of Cleopatra has been crafted and recrafted to represent different "truths" about sex, power, and identity.

Graduate-level requirements include two short in-class presentations on particular aspects of course material; weekly responses to the assigned reading, focusing on modern scholarship; and a 5000-word final paper, comparative in nature.

CLAS 510A – Methods in Classical Studies

Introduction to the various disciplines of classical scholarship: philology, textual criticism, paleography, papyrology, archaeology.

CLAS 510B – Thesis Preparation

This course is an introduction to thesis writing for students enrolled in the Master of Arts degree program in Classics. Topics and/or assignments include forming a thesis committee, the review of scholarship, and developing a thesis writing plan, in addition to discussion of second-year issues such as applying for PhD programs and/or jobs in Classics.

CLAS 514 – Narrating Memory: The Greek and Roman Historians

This course will examine the histories written by ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as the broader questions of historiography. What did history mean to the ancients, and what techniques did they use to "bear witness" to the past? How do the writings of ancient historians inform our understanding of classical antiquity? Ancient Greek and Roman historians to be covered include Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, and Tacitus.

Graduate-level requirements include the responsibility for reading large sections of the ancient authors in their original languages. There will be two language exams over these sections, during which graduate students will not only translate but provide limited commentary on the passage provided.

CLAS 546A – Mapping Ancient Cities

Cross Listed

The course will introduce the student to the history, theory and archaeological evidence for city and landscape planning from the Minoan, Etruscan, Greek and Roman periods. In addition the course will consider some of the most modern techniques (digital cartography, remote sensing and GIS) in the study of ancient cities and will offer the student the opportunity to learn and practice a number of these modern techniques, including the use of AutoCAD. Graduate-level requirements include making a 30 minute oral presentation to the class on the research project undertaken as a part of the requirements for the course. In addition, graduate students will be responsible for a 25 page paper.

CLAS 552 – Etruscan Art and Archaeology

Cross Listed

Surveys the art and archaeology of the Etruscans between the 7th and 1st centuries B.C. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and an in-depth paper.

CLAS 574 – Archaeological Science

Cross Listed

To fully explore and understand the ways that past civilizations and societies interacted with the environment, innovated, thrived or survived, we need a toolkit as diverse as the different aspects of human life. In this course, you will learn the basic principles behind the wide range of scientific techniques used to provide clues about the human past. Through a series of case studies from various times and places around the world you will gain an overview of how methods combine to reveal new insights and explore the potential, limitations and future directions for such work.

GRK 502 – Greek Reading Course

Readings in major Greek authors including Homer, Plato, and the historians and dramatists. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and an in-depth paper.