CLAS 501A – Early Christian Literature: Greek Texts

Cross Listed

Writing Emphasis Course

This course involves in depth study of early Christian texts together with related contemporary Jewish and Greco-Roman literature. Students will engage in careful analysis of individual texts in the New Testament and from the first four centuries of the Common Era, focusing on questions of genre, authorship, and meaning. Alongside these, students will examine writings by contemporary Jewish, Greek, and Roman authors (e.g., Philo, Josephus, Seneca, and Plutarch) as illustrative of the wider literary and religious culture. For students who have completed GRK 201, an option for readings in ancient Greek will be available as part of the course. Graduate level requirements included a extended research papers drawing on appropriate levels of training in language, literature, and knowledge of the ancient world.

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 520 – Archaic Greek Sanctuaries

Cross Listed

This course concentrates on the evidence for Greek sanctuary sites between 1000 and 600 B.C. We examine the excavated material from numerous sanctuary sites, including architectural remains (temples and/or altars), votive offerings of bronze and clay, and any other evidence revealing religious practices during these formative years. The role the sanctuaries played in society is also considered with a view to their political, social, economic and spiritual implications for Archaic Greek life. Graduate-level requirements include a more extensive paper than undergraduates.

CLAS 532 – Literary Translation as Classical Reception

This course examines the translation of classical (poetic) texts as a way of receiving these texts and rendering them accessible - and fresh - for new audiences. The course consists of five components: (1) an introduction to the field of Translation Studies; (2) diachronic study of some of the most influential writers on translation, i.e. from Cicero to 21st century theorists; (3) the translation and adaptation of Greek texts by Latin authors at the beginnings of Latin literature; (4) close study of selected Greek and Latin poetic texts against a selection of published translations of them in English; (5) translation practica. Graduate level requirements include readings in both Greek & Latin, an oral report, and more extensive practica.

CLAS 565 – Greek Pottery: Craft and Society in Ancient Greece

Cross Listed

This course surveys the development of ancient Greek pottery from c. 3000 to 400 BCE, with a focus on the period 1200-400 BCE (Mycenaean-Late Classical). Topics to be addressed include stylistic and typological developments, uses of ceramics within historical settings, iconography and meaning, materials and manufacturing techniques, organization of ceramic workshops, and potters and their social status. Key goals of the course include gaining an appreciation for the great importance of pottery in establishing and verifying the foundations of chronology in Greek archaeology as well as illuminating fundamental aspects of Greek society and culture. Opportunities for hands-on experiences in UA ceramics labs and museum collections will be available. Graduate-level requirements include extensive readings and an in-depth paper.

CLAS 587 – Assessment in Second/Foreign Language Learning

Cross Listed

The primary objective of this course is the development of language teachers' assessment literacy, which includes knowledge of key assessment principles and skill in creating or adopting assessment tools and procedures for the language classroom. Participants in this course will develop their knowledge and skills related to assessing all skill areas in the language classroom, including productive skills (writing, speaking), receptive skills (reading, listening), and assessing grammar and vocabulary. Grading and student evaluation will also be important topics of consideration and exploration in this course. Designed specifically for in-service (and pre-service) language teachers, the course combines theory with practice by covering essential principles of effective classroom assessment and the development of effective assessment tools for classroom use. Participants completing this course will become more assessment literate and better able to evaluate student performance in their classrooms fairly and effectively.

GRK 533 – Readings in Ancient Greek Poetry of the Archaic and/or Hellenistic Period

Critical readings in ancient Greek with literary and social-historical contextual analyses of ancient Greek Poetry of either the Archaic or Hellenistic period or both. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and a research paper.

LAT 501 – Latin Reading Course

Readings in one of the following: epic, lyric, drama, history, oratory, satire, epistles, novel, philosophical, technical or medieval literature. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and a research paper.

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 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 577 – Greek Architecture

Cross Listed

This course examines the architectural developments in the Greek world from the Neolithic and Bronze Age through to the Classical and Hellenistic periods (6000-31 BC). We look at the various types of building structures including palaces, tombs, temples, theaters, town planning, and domestic architecture, and discuss sites such as Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, Delphi, Athens, Corinth, and Olynthos. Students will consider issues such as the manner of construction of these buildings, the contexts in which they they were commissioned, built and used, and some of the architectural problems facing the architects.. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and an in-depth paper.

CLAS 596A – Topics in Greek or Roman Literature, History or Archaeology

The development and exchange of scholarly information, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports, and/or papers.

CLAS 596J – Second Language Acquisition Research

Cross Listed

The development and exchange of scholarly information, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports, and/or papers.

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.

GRK 522 – Readings in Greek Drama

Close reading in Greek of either (1) tragedy-one play each by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides or (2) comedy-two plays of Aristophanes, one of Menander. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and an in-depth paper.

LAT 501 – Latin Reading Course

Readings in one of the following: epic, lyric, drama, history, oratory, satire, epistles, novel, philosophical, technical or medieval literature. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and a research paper.

LAT 521 – Latin Literature of the Imperial Age

Readings in Latin of major authors and works produced from the second decade of the first century CE to the last decades of the second century CE. Course content may vary and may include both prose and poetry. Graduate-level requirements include extensive reading and a research paper.

LAT 579 – Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Cross Listed

This class is intended to prepare students to teach a second/foreign language. It will provide students with the essential foundations in language teaching methodology and theory, pedagogical grammar, curriculum and materials development, classroom management, and formal and informal assessment techniques. In addition, students will gain practical knowledge through video practicum components, which allow them to watch and reflect on actual classroom teaching. Students will complete this program with the pedagogical knowledge and practical understanding necessary to be confident and effective language teachers.