Classics
Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/classics
The Department of Classics embraces the interdisciplinary study of any and all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Our courses also invite students to explore the people, ideas, and works that Greek and Roman antiquity inspire, influence, and shape throughout time and around the world. The Department offers courses in ancient history, literature, and culture in English translation; as well as courses in Greek and Latin language and literature at all levels.
What Is Classics?
Classics, in the broadest sense, is the study of the ancient Greek and Roman world, its cultures, and their impact on later cultural traditions. The elasticity of these terms (e.g., “ancient,” “culture,” “Roman”) gives the discipline dynamism, but its shared center is a common body of texts.
The careful reading of texts remains central to our discipline, as a window onto all aspects of life and culture in the ancient Greek and Latin worlds. These include history, law, religion, material culture, art, family life, politics, and philosophy. It also looks to the long life of these texts and ideas in their iterative reception by peoples in different times and places, as well as how the classical cultures of the ancient Mediterranean can be productively brought into dialogue with other classical cultures from around the world.
Why Study Classics?
By engaging with the ideas of antiquity, we situate ourselves within a variety of intersecting and rich dialogues between the ancient and post-classical worlds. One of the greatest benefits of Classics—as major, minor, or single class experiment—is the bracing experience of encountering through text and across a vast gulf of time people who are at once familiar and strange; influential on how we think, act, and feel; and yet radically different from us. With honest and critical engagement, this encounter can leave us changed as freer and more powerful thinkers.
By confronting the ideas of antiquity, we join a variety of rich and intersecting conversations about the ancient and post-classical worlds. Exploration within these other worlds allows students to consider and challenge concepts of cultural inheritance, canonicity, and tradition. Studying Latin and Greek in particular equip students with a greater facility in understanding the potential and limitations of language itself as it is practiced in speech and literature. As Theodor Seuss Geisel (i.e., Dr. Seuss) put it, Classics “allows you to adore words, take them apart and find out where they came from.”
Such training can also enrich study in other disciplines—most notably fields like philosophy, comparative literature, and history—where knowledge of the pervasive presence and diverse reception of Greco-Roman antiquity can produce valuable insights. Likewise, because of the breadth of our inquiries, students’ other interests and experiences can enrich a their study of the ancient world and illuminate their other studies in turn.
Studying Classics prepares our students for a variety of careers after graduation. Some have pursued advanced degrees in classics or related fields (e.g. archaeology, religion, comparative literature, medieval studies); others have studied medicine or law; still others have chosen careers in journalism, in business, in technology, in publishing, in social work, in museum curatorship, and in secondary education.
Learning Goals
- Students will learn ancient Greek or Latin (or both), cultivating an urgent connoisseurship of the word. Through this “love for words upon words, words in continuation and modification” (Eudora Welty), they acquire the power to analyze and interpret foundational texts of western philosophy, history, oratory, fiction, and poetry in their original forms.
- Students will connect with thought-provoking and influential texts from antiquity and consider the benefits of the canon — and its dangers. They can recognize their role in a continuing story of communication and reassemblage: “Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole” (Derek Walcott).
- Students will read carefully, deeply, looking to vital context, with reservations and with appreciation of crucial detail, in dialogue with others and with confidence in their own insights, with doors left open, with delicate fingers and eyes (Nietzsche, Daybreak 1881).
- Students will confront the most persistent questions about the nature of things, heeding the Socratic warning that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ, Plato, Apology 38a).
- Students will carry their education with them, becoming speakers of words and doers of deeds (μύθων τε ῥητῆρ’ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων, Homer, Iliad 9.443), striving to become individuals to whom nothing human is foreign (homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto, Terence, HT 77).
- Students will strive not to amass a cache of the trivial or ephemeral but to create a community of learning in partnership with faculty and students in the full spirit of Haverford’s motto (non doctior sed meliore doctrina imbutus).
- Students will, at the culmination of their studies, important questions about classical culture or its reception with theoretical rigor, in dialogue with the work of other scholars, in collaboration with their peers, and under the auspices of a faculty Mentor.
- Students will question the lives that speak in multiple pasts, presents, and futures. As we turn our gaze and tune our ears to the pulse of life from the past, and see how bygone people “step into the thick of emotions which blind and bewilder an age like our own” (Virginia Woolf), we forge our future selves and others through engagement, critique, and interpretation.
Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.
Curriculum
The major programs in Classics reflect the diversity of the field: students may major in Classical Culture and Society; Classical Languages (Greek and Latin); or Greek or Latin (in conjunction with a related modern field). We encourage majors to study abroad during a semester of their junior year in Greece, Italy, or any other country with a strong tradition in Classical studies. Students may choose from three minors, each of which requires six courses: Greek, Latin, or Classical Culture and Society.
Major Requirements
Classical Culture Track (11 Courses)
Haverford’s track in Classical Culture offers students the opportunity to explore life in Classical antiquity in all of its dimensions—from language, to literature, to history, philosophy, archaeology, and more—as well as its impact on later cultural traditions. It is designed to allow the student to use a foundation in Greek or Latin as the springboard to chart their own paths through the College's rich offerings in archaeology and art history, history, politics, philosophy and religion, and classical literature and its reception.
- Two semesters in either Latin or Greek at any level.
- Seven elective courses, including at least two at the 200 level or above, and one at the 300 level or above. Such courses could include:
- Any Classical Studies, Greek, or Latin course (including cross-listed and tagged courses offered by faculty in other departments)
- With advisor approval, courses outside the department that engage with the ancient Mediterranean world or its afterlife; for example:
- other historical languages
- Archaeology, Art History, History, Religion, or Anthropology courses on Mediterranean, North African, and Near Eastern cultures
- courses on the reception of ancient Mediterranean culture, such as Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature, Museum Studies, or courses focused on the classical tradition
- Senior Seminar and Thesis (CSTS H398/CSTS H399).
Classical Languages Track (11 Courses)
Haverford’s Classical Languages track offers students the opportunity to gain proficiency in one of both of Greek and Latin or another classical language and to explore Classical texts and the literary, historical, and philosophical contexts in which they emerged.
- Six courses beyond the introductory level in Greek or Latin, of which at least four must be at the 200 level or above.
- Three elective courses. Such courses could include:
- Any Classical Studies, Greek, or Latin course (including cross-listed and tagged courses offered by faculty in other departments)
- With advisor approval, courses outside the department that engage with the ancient Mediterranean world or its afterlife; for example:
- other historical languages
- Archaeology, Art History, History, Religion, or Anthropology courses on Mediterranean, North African, and Near Eastern cultures
- courses on the reception of ancient Mediterranean culture, such as Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature, Museum Studies, or courses
focused on the classical tradition
- At least one of the above Greek, Latin, or Classical Studies courses must be at the 300 level or above
- Senior Seminar and Thesis (CSTS H398/CSTS H399).
Majors’ Reading List
The Majors’ Reading List consists of a group of essential Greek and Latin texts selected by the faculty, to be read in English (if not in the original) by the beginning of the senior year. Many of these texts will have been assigned in different classes, while others will complement class readings. By reading, considering, and discussing the texts on the list, Classics students—whatever the focus of their particular major—will emerge with a stronger common basis for discussion and with a better sense of the range and depth of the Classical heritage. For most works a particular translation or translations is suggested on the department website, but if students would like to read a different version, they may consult with any faculty member to learn whether the translation is a reasonable alternative. (The list is posted on the departmental website at https://www.haverford.edu/classics/reading-list.)
Senior Project
The senior experience in the Department of Classics builds towards the writing of a senior thesis (typically 35 to 45 pages) on a topic of the student’s choice, under the guidance of two faculty members. In their theses, Classics students present original work based on serious and extensive research, extending knowledge about antiquity and its reception in innovative and illuminating ways.
Senior Seminar, a weekly course conducted during the fall semester, provides a forum in which students are introduced to a variety of theoretical approaches, further develop the ability to read and critique scholarship, and learn about resources for research in the field; it also gives them an opportunity to craft an interesting and appropriate question that they will explore in the thesis they write during the spring semester.
Senior Project Learning Goals
In the process of writing the senior thesis, students should acquire and demonstrate:
- the ability to craft an interesting and appropriate question in order to make a new contribution to the field of Classics.
- the ability to read relevant ancient texts, in the original languages as appropriate, and to discuss and analyze aspects of Classical culture.
- a familiarity with relevant modern scholarship and engagement with the methods and standards of the discipline of Classics.
- the ability to develop an article-length paper, consisting of original work, under the mentorship of two faculty.
Senior Project Assessment
The thesis is evaluated on the following criteria:
- Conceptualization of an original research question
Students strive to acknowledge and explore the full implications of an innovative thesis question. Students demonstrate with depth and precision the importance of the question and what is at stake in answering it. - Familiarity with and understanding of primary texts
Students engage primary sources to answer their research question. Their primary evidence is well organized, exhaustive, and integrated with the continuing scholarly conversation to which they are contributing. Students strive to display a creative approach to existing sources or bring new and illuminating sources to bear on their research question. - Engagement with secondary literature
Students demonstrate comprehensive mastery of scholarly literature as it pertains to the thesis topic by synthesis of and contribution to the scholarly conversation. - Methodological and theoretical approach
Students ground their theses in current knowledge about antiquity, demonstrating a thorough understanding of relevant methodological and theoretical issues. - Quality of argument
Students construct a well-reasoned, well structured, and clearly expressed argument; the line of thought emerges clearly, and the conclusions are persuasive. - Clarity of writing
Writing is consistently engaging, clear, well organized, and enjoyable to read. - Oral presentation
At the end of the semester, students demonstrate comprehensive understanding of their topic in an articulate and engaging presentation and are able to provide innovative and thoughtful answers to questions.
Requirements for Honors
Students demonstrating superior performance in course work in the major and on the senior thesis will be eligible for departmental honors. To qualify for honors, students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.7 in their major courses (3.85 for high honors) and earn a grade of at least 3.7 on the senior thesis (3.85 for high honors).
Minor Requirements
Classical Culture Track (6 Courses)
- Six courses drawn from the range of courses counted towards the Classical Culture Major, including:
- At least two Classical Culture and Society courses at the 200 level or above
- At least two Greek or Latin courses at any level
Classical Languages Track (6 Courses)
- Six courses in Greek or Latin, including at least two at the 200 level or above.
Faculty
Matthew Farmer
Associate Professor and Chair of Classics
Bret Mulligan
Professor of Classics
Deborah Roberts
Professor Emerita of Classics and Comparative Literature
Ava Shirazi
Assistant Professor of Classics
Ryan Warwick
Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics
Courses in Classical Studies Not Requiring Greek or Latin at Haverford
CSTS H119 CULTURE AND CRISIS IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF ATHENS (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
In this course, through the poetry, sculpture, history, architecture, painting, philosophy, and oratory produced by the inhabitants of fifth-century Athens, we will examine the daily workings of Athenian democracy, economy, love, art, science, education, and religion. As we conduct our inquiry into Athens' "Golden Age," we willl seek to discover ourselves in these ancient voices, and to illuminate the contrasts inherent between Athens and modernity. Restless, wary, elegant, vulgar, pious, and brutal, the Athenians left a legacy that continues to define and influence human achievement (and travails) to this day. In the last third of the class, students will embark on a multi-week simulation to rebuild Athens in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian Wars. Crosslisted: Classical Studies, PJHR
(Offered: Spring 2025)
CSTS H121 ROMAN REVOLUTIONS (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
An introduction to what it meant to be a Roman by exploration what made the Romans revolutionary (in politics, military, philosophy, literature, art, and more) in their time and of lasting influence thereafter. The course culminates in a three-week role playing game, in which you will embody a particular Roman persona during a particular socio-political flashpoint in 63 BCE. All readings will be in English
CSTS H209 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An introduction to the primary characters and stories of Greek and Roman mythology including cosmic creation, Olympian and other deities, and heroes both as they appear in Greek and Roman literature and art and as they are later represented in modern art, music, and film. Crosslisted: Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Religion
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS H211 WHAT DOES ANCIENT ROME TASTE LIKE? (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
We will seek to understand why Roman eating was, and still is, important for our understanding an ancient culture and humanity's relationship with its food. Emphasis will be placed on the interpretation of Roman literature in English translation as well as the use of primary and secondary sources to craft an academic argument. Grading will be based on class participation, reaction journals, two short papers, and a final paper or creative project. Lottery Preference: Classics Majors & Minors
CSTS H231 QUEER ROAD-TRIP FILMS, ANCIENT AND MODERN (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
The queer road-trip film has been gaining popularity as an outlet for exploring non-normative sexuality further marginalized on the road. We will examine the phenomenon of the queer road-trip narrative, approaching it from an unlikely starting point: the Ancient Mediterranean novels Satyrica and Leucippe and Clitophon. Both of these ancient novels dramatize road trips and travel narratives involving different combinations of queer characters; we'll pair them with a curated selection of contemporary queer road-trip films. Crosslisted: GSST,VIST.
CSTS H257 ANTIGONE’S ECHOES: ACTIVISM AND THE LAW FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO TODAY (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Where should the law come from, the individual or the state? How can you protest an unjust system, and how can an ancient story help you do it? Who owns a “Classic”? These are just a few questions that Sophocles’ Antigone has raised for philosophers and playwrights from the Enlightenment to today. We'll read several versions of the Antigone myth and explore this character’s enduring relevance to theories of gender, performance, world literature, and politics. Crosslisted: COML,PEAC.
CSTS H270 THE ART OF SPORTS: ANCIENT AND MODERN (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores the visual and poetic life of sports, ancient and modern. It brings together cultural criticism, visual analysis, and historical study to theorize the beauty of athletics. Concepts of the body, gender, race and performance, and tropes such as "for the love of the game," "feel for the game" and "poetry in motion" will organize our work on the sensory and aesthetic dimensions of sports. No prior expertise in classics, art or sports necessary. Crosslisted: COML,VIST.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS H380 GUIDED RESEARCH IN CLASSICAL STUDIES (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is taken concurrently with a 200-level CSTS course to give majors an opportunity to engage in mentored research and practice with scholarly writing. In addition to the work for the 200-level course, students will research and write a substantial final project.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS H398 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
A bi-college seminar focused on refining the ability to read, discuss, and analyze classical culture and the scholarship of various sub-fields of Classical Studies (e.g. literature, religion, philosophy, law, social history), leading towards the completion of a prospectus for the senior thesis.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS H399 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Independent work on the senior thesis and meetings with the thesis advisor.
CSTS H460 TEACHING ASSISTANT (0.5 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
(Offered: Spring 2025)
CSTS H480 INDEPENDENT STUDY (0.5 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Courses in Classical Studies Not Requiring Greek or Latin at Bryn Mawr
CSTS B108 ROMAN AFRICA (1.0 Credit)
Catherine Conybeare
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
In 146 BCE, Rome conquered and destroyed the North African city of Carthage, which had been its arch-enemy for generations, and occupied many of the Carthaginian settlements in North Africa. But by the second and third centuries CE, North Africa was one of the most prosperous and cultured areas of the Roman Empire, and Carthage (near modern Tunis) was one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean. This course will trace the relations between Rome and Carthage, looking at the history of their mutual enmity, the extraordinary rise to prosperity of Roman North Africa, and the continued importance of the region even after the Vandal invasions of the fifth century.
CSTS B156 ROMAN LAW IN ACTION (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
This course provides an introduction to the study of Roman law and legal history by focusing on the law of the family. The family is a basic building block for society, and the aim of this course is to learn more about Roman society by examining how it developed legal rules for family organization. We will also explore the historical context behind the development of Roman legal institutions, in order to gain an appreciation for Roman law's influence on the modern civil law and common law systems.
CSTS B175 FEMINISM IN CLASSICS (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
This course will illustrate the ways in which feminism has had an impact on classics, as well as the ways in which feminists think with classical texts. It will have four thematic divisions: feminism and the classical canon; feminism, women, and rethinking classical history; feminist readings of classical texts; and feminists and the classics - e.g. Cixous' Medusa and Butler's Antigone.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
CSTS B205 GREEK HISTORY (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course traces the rise of the city-state (polis) in the Greek-speaking world beginning in the seventh-century BC down to its full blossoming in classical Athens and Sparta. Students should gain an understanding of the formation and development of Greek identity, from the Panhellenic trends in archaic epic and religion through its crystallization during the heroic defense against two Persian invasions and its subsequent disintegration during the Peloponnesian war. The class will also explore the ways in which the evolution of political, philosophical, religious, and artistic institutions reflect the changing socio-political circumstances of Greece. The latter part of the course will focus on Athens in particular: its rise to imperial power under Pericles, its tragic decline from the Peloponnesian War and its important role as a center for the teaching of rhetoric and philosophy. Since the study of history involves the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of the sources available for the culture studied, students will concentrate upon the primary sources available for Greek history, exploring the strengths and weakness of these sources and the ways in which their evidence can be used to create an understanding of ancient Greece. Students should learn how to analyze and evaluate the evidence from primary texts and to synthesize the information from multiple sources in a critical way.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS B206 COSMOS: MYTH, MEDICINE, & LAW IN ANCIENT GREECE (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Division: Humanities
The ancient Greek word ‘cosmos’ means ‘order’ or ‘system’; it also means ‘beauty’ or ‘adornment’. The Greeks thought of the world around them as an orderly system, adorned with beauty, but their imaginings of that order took many different forms, from the most fantastic of myths to elaborate mathematical and physiological models. This course explores the systems of order that the Greeks imagined for the universe – the macrocosm, for the human body – the microcosm, and for society – the the system of laws that brings order to humans in the world. Throughout the course, we examine the ways ideas of generation, justice, and gender inflect the cosmic systems, beginning with early Greek epic and moving through the philosophical texts (especially Plato’s Timaeus), Hippocratic medical treatises, and lawcourt speeches. We will explore the discourses of myth, science, and law in the ancient Greek context and their relation to contemporary discourses. Students will gain familiarity with the conceptual schemas of ancient Greek thought that have been fundamental for cosmology, medicine, and law in the Western tradition and will learn to analyze the ways in which these models have shaped ideas of generation, justice, and gender throughout the ages. Students will also improve their skills of critical reading and analytic writing through their work with the readings and writing assignments in the course, and they will hone their skills of reasoned discussion in the class.
CSTS B207 EARLY ROME AND THE ROMAN REPUBLIC (1.0 Credit)
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course surveys the history of Rome from its origins to the end of the Republic, with special emphasis on the rise of Rome in Italy and the evolution of the Roman state. The course also examines the Hellenistic world in which the rise of Rome takes place. The methods of historical investigation using the ancient sources, both literary and archaeological, are emphasized.
CSTS B216 MADNESS IN THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
How did ancient Greeks and Romans conceive of madness? Was it a deviant behavior, a contagious disease, or a divine punishment? What is the relationship between madness and music, madness and love, or madness and social control? How have understandings of madness changed from antiquity to the modern day? Our inquiries into these questions concentrate on three cultural realms: war, religion, and passion. In each section, we will read from a range of genres to unravel the complex notion of madness in Greco-Roman antiquity. At the same time, we will compare and scrutinize relevant modern phenomena, such as trauma, addiction, and deviance. All readings are in translation.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS B218 READING CHANGES: REFLECTING ON OVID'S METAMORPHOSES (1.0 Credit)
This course will look at scenes of (mis)communication in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and consider modern (re)interpretations of the Metamorphoses—and explore why these things matter, in classics and beyond! We will look at myths such as Narcissus and Echo, Procne and Philomela, and Proserpina (aka Persephone) to think about the ways we interact with other people, whether we’re reading about them or communicating with them in person. We’ll define “reception;” use modern feminist, queer, and political lenses to read this ancient text (and think about how these lenses– which include Judith Butler, Bonnie Honig, and bell hooks– might apply to any text, ancient or modern); listen to some “Hadestown;” and think about ethics in ways that are just as relevant in our lives today as they are in this work written 2000 years ago. No prior classics experience required, and all readings will be in English translation.
CSTS B219 POETIC DESIRES, QUEER LONGINGS (1.0 Credit)
This course places poetry that considers love and desire from Greco-Roman antiquity in conversation with modern poetry and critical theory (queer, feminist, and literary). How are the roles of lover and beloved constructed through gender? How does queer desire and sexuality manifest in different cultural contexts? How have poets sought to express desire through language, and in what ways does language fail to capture that desire? Students in this course will face the difficulties of articulating desire head-on through both traditional literary analysis papers and a creative writing project. Texts will include love poetry by Sappho and Ovid, Trista Mateer’s Aphrodite Made Me Do It, Anne Carson’s Eros the Bittersweet, and Audre Lorde’s “The Uses of the Erotic.”
CSTS B228 UTOPIA: GOOD PLACE OR NO PLACE? (1.0 Credit)
Asya Sigelman
Division: Humanities
What is the ideal human society? What is the role and status of man and woman therein? Is such a society purely hypothetical or should we strive to make it viable in our modern world? This course will address these questions by exploring the historic development of the concept of utopia.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS B229 QUEER AND DEVIANT CLASSICS (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
This course investigates the capacity of the ancient past to provide marginalized individuals and groups with a sense of identity and community. Using historical and literary records, we will examine modern countercultural receptions of ancient Greece and Rome, which often invited vehement opposition from academics and the broader public. This dynamic is exemplified by a clique of 1900's Parisian women calling themselves "lesbians" after the ancient poet Sappho; Vietnam veterans finding validation in Homer's portrayal of a war-weary Achilles; the use of Plato's philosophy in a landmark American gay rights case in the 1990's; the embrace of Cleopatra as an empowered African queen by Black American authors. In this endeavor we will amend the popular image of the study of classical antiquity, which is and has always been a diverse and inclusive enterprise.
CSTS B233 MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
This course explores the Mysteries of the ancient Greco-Roman world, examining the evidence for the rituals and religious ideas associated with these often secretive and hidden practices. From the Mysteries for Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis, carried out by thousands of Athenians in a multi-day festival, to the Bacchic revels for Dionysos celebrated by mountain-roaming maenads or sedate civic associations, to the secret rites for the Persian god Mithras, performed by Roman soldiers in cave shrines throughout the empire, these mysterious rituals have exercised their fascination over the centuries, playing an outsized role in the depictions of polytheistic religion in the ancient Mediterranean world.
CSTS B242 MAGIC IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans - from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, the people of the Greco-Roman World made use of magic to try to influence the world around them. In this course students will gain an understanding of the magicians of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to serve their clientele, as well as the cultural contexts in which these ideas of magic arose. We shall consider ancient tablets and spell books as well as literary descriptions of magic in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
CSTS B245 HORROR "CLASSICS" (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Ancient Greeks and Romans--authors, poets, and their audiences--recognized that narratives could induce fear in their consumers. This course creates an analogy between ancient and contemporary fear-inducing literature, and asks what work the horror elements do in each. To get at this question, we will visit "classic" figures of horror, including: monsters, witches, ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, and human beings. Prepare to engage with Greek and Latin sources in translation as well as modern theories of horror.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
CSTS B247 THE BEAST WITHIN: ANIMALITY AND HUMANITY IN ANTIQUITY (1.0 Credit)
Staff
How are humans conceptualized as different from animals, and vice versa? How have characterizations of humans as bestial been mobilized to uphold gender, class, ability, and racial hierarchies? Why were there so many depictions in antiquity of humans transforming into animals? This course will consider the above questions by interpreting ancient literary depictions of the human and the animal through the lenses of queer, gender, and critical race theory. Readings will include Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Euripides’ Hippolytus, and Vergil’s Eclogues and Georgics, as well as theoretical selections such as Mel Chen’s Animacies, Bénédicte Boisseron’s Afro-Dog, and Claire Jean Kim’s Dangerous Crossings.
CSTS B307 GUIDED RESEARCH IN CLASSICAL STUDIES (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
This course provides the student with the opportunity to engage in seminar-level work on the topic of another CSTS course being offered in the term. With the guidance of the professor, the student will participate in the course activities of that course but will also develop a research project that enables the student to pursue aspects of the topic at a deeper level. This course should provide the student with experience in developing research and writing skills appropriate to the discipline. Prerequisite: Declared major in CLAN or CCAS and permission of instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
CSTS B365 BYZANTIUM AND THE CLASSICS: THE BYZANTINE LITERARY TRADITION (1.0 Credit)
This seminar approaches Byzantine literature both as a continuation of the Classical tradition and as a rich corpus that should be studied for its own sake. Each week we will survey one genre of Byzantine literature and focus on two or three texts that will be tailored to the participants' research interests as much as possible. Greek literature will provide the core of our readings, but we will occasionally turn our attention to texts composed in other languages, especially Latin and Syriac. The Byzantine Empire was a multilingual society. For 600-level students, three workshops will be offered on the following three topics: the grammar of Byzantine Greek, paleography, and textual criticism.
CSTS B375 INTERPRETING MYTHOLOGY (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Division: Humanities
The myths of the Greeks have provoked outrage and fascination, interpretation and retelling, censorship and elaboration, beginning with the Greeks themselves. We will see how some of these stories have been read and understood, recounted and revised, in various cultures and eras, from ancient tellings to modern movies. We will also explore some of the interpretive theories by which these tales have been understood, from ancient allegory to modern structural and semiotic theories. The student should gain a more profound understanding of the meaning of these myths to the Greeks themselves, of the cultural context in which they were formulated. At the same time, this course should provide the student with some familiarity with the range of interpretations and strategies of understanding that people of various cultures and times have applied to the Greek myths during the more than two millennia in which they have been preserved. Preference to upperclassmen, previous coursework in myth required.
CSTS B398 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Catherine Conybeare
Division: Humanities
This is a bi-college seminar devoted to readings in and discussion of selected topics in the various sub-fields of Classics (e.g. literature, religion, philosophy, law, social history) and of how to apply contemporary critical approaches to the primary sources. Students will also begin developing a topic for their senior thesis, composing a prospectus and giving a preliminary presentation of their findings.
CSTS B399 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Catherine Conybeare
Division: Humanities
This is the continuation of CSTS B398. Working with individual advisors from the bi-college classics departments, students will continue to develop the topic sketched out in the fall semester. By the end of the course, they will have completed at least one draft and a full, polished version of the senior thesis, of which they will give a final oral presentation.
Greek Courses at Haverford
GREK H001 ELEMENTARY GREEK (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This two-semester course provides an introduction to the ancient Greek language and to the reading of ancient Greek literature; from the beginning we will be reading not only sentences designed to give students practice but actual excerpts from ancient prose and poetry. We should be able to finish the basics by about the middle of the spring semester, and will spend the rest of the year reading and discussing Plato’s Crito, in which Socrates defends his decision not to escape from prison and a death sentence, and Lysias’ first oration, a speech for the defense in a trial that sheds interesting light on Athenian domestic life.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
GREK H002 ELEMENTARY GREEK (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Completion of the basics of ancient Greek, followed by readings in Lysias and Plato. This is the second semester of a year-long course.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
GREK H101 INTRODUCTION TO GREEK LITERATURE: WORLDS OF WONDER (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This intermediate ancient Greek course offers students a chance to develop their skills in reading literary, historical, and philosophical prose. Students will continue to build grammar, vocabulary, and facility with different Greek dialects through the reading of extensive passages from authors including Herodotus, Plato, Plutarch, Lucian, Palaephatus, and others. Readings will be thematically organized around the concepts of wonder, marvel, world-building, travel, ethnography, and cultural identity. Prerequisite(s): GREK 002 or equivalent, or instructor consent
GREK H102 INTRODUCTION TO GREEK POETRY: HOMER (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course serves both as an intermediate language class (aimed at developing reading fluency in Homeric Greek) and as an introduction to Greek poetry through the work of Homer; we will read selections from the Iliad in Greek (and the poem as a whole in English). Class time will include both translation and discussion, with attention to such topics as narrative structure, the voice of the singer/narrator, the figure of the hero, Homeric society and its values, the treatment of battle and war, and the relationship between gods and humans. We will also consider the “Homeric question,” oral composition and its implications, Homeric language, and special features of Homeric style: type scene, ring composition, formula, and simile. We will look at different translations of the Iliad, and at the ways in which the poem has been read (and rewritten) at different times; we will also practice reading aloud in the dactylic hexameter meter of the Iliad. Prerequisite(s): GREK 101 or equivalent, or instructor consent
(Offered: Spring 2025)
GREK H202 ADVANCED GREEK: TRAGEDY (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
In this course we read two of the surviving works of fifth century Greek tragedy, with selected critical essays and background reading in other plays. Class time will be divided between translation and discussion, with attention not only to themes specific to each tragedy but also to such common topics as: the playwright’s treatment of the inherited myth; the way in which the drama tells its story; the role and nature of the chorus; characterization and the connections between characters; the relationship of divine and human; the role of prophecy; choice, justice and retribution; political resonances and the role of gender; performance issues; and the language of dialogue and of choral ode. Class will also include practice reading aloud in the meter of dialogue and in some of the simpler choral meters and discussion of different translations of selected passages. Prerequisite(s): Two Greek courses at the 100 level or above, or instructor consent.
GREK H350 SEMINAR IN GREEK LITERATURE: POETICS AND POIESIS: PHILOSOPHY, PERFORMANCE, AND THE CRAFTS (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An advanced seminar in Greek language and literature, with special emphasis on the interpretation and discussion of texts in Greek and the reading of relevant scholarship. Topic to be determined by faculty. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: GREK 201 or 202 or consent.
GREK H480 INDEPENDENT STUDY (0.5 Credit)
Matthew Farmer
(Offered: Fall 2024)
Greek Courses at Bryn Mawr
GREK B010 TRADITIONAL AND NEW TESTAMENT GREEK (1.0 Credit)
Asya Sigelman
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is the first half of a year-long introductory course to ancient Greek. It is designed to familiarize students with the basic elements of classical Greek grammar and syntax as well as to provide them with experience in reading short sentences and passages in both Greek prose and poetry.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
GREK B011 TRADITIONAL AND NEW TESTAMENT GREEK (1.0 Credit)
Asya Sigelman
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is the second half of a year-long introductory course to ancient Greek. It is designed to familiarize students with the basic elements of classical Greek grammar and syntax. Once the grammar has been fully introduced, students will develop facility by reading parts of the New Testament and a dialogue of Plato. Prerequisite: GREK B010.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
GREK B101 HERODOTUS (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Greek 101 introduces the student to one of the greatest prose authors of ancient Greece, the historian, Herodotus. The "Father of History," as Herodotus is sometimes called, wrote one of the earliest lengthy prose texts extant in Greek literature, in the Ionian dialect of Greek. The "Father of Lies," as he is also sometimes known, wove into his history a number of fabulous and entertaining anecdotes and tales. His 'historie' or inquiry into the events surrounding the invasions by the Persian empire against the Greek city-states set the precedent for all subsequent historical writings. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: GREK B010 and B011 or equivalent.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
GREK B104 HOMER (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Division: Humanities
Greek 104 is designed to introduce the student to the epic poetry attributed to Homer, the greatest poet of ancient Greece, through selections from the Odyssey. Since Homer's poetic form is so important to the shape and texture of the Odyssey, we will examine the mechanics of Homeric poetry, both the intricacies of dactylic hexameter and the patterns of oral formulaic composition. We will also spend time discussing the characters and ideas that animate this text, since the value of Homer lies not merely in his incomparable mastery of his poetic form, but in the values and patterns of behavior in his story, patterns which remained remarkably influential in the Greek world for centuries. Prerequisite: One year of college level Greek or equivalent.
GREK B201 PLATO AND THUCYDIDES (1.0 Credit)
Radcliffe Edmonds
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is designed to introduce the student to two of the greatest prose authors of ancient Greece, the philosopher, Plato, and the historian, Thucydides. These two writers set the terms in the disciplines of philosophy and history for millennia, and philosophers and historians today continue to grapple with their ideas and influence. The brilliant and controversial statesman Alcibiades provides a link between the two texts in this course (Plato’s Symposium and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War), and we examine the ways in which both authors handle the figure of Alcibiades as a point of entry into the comparison of the varying styles and modes of thought of these two great writers. Suggested Prerequisites: At least 2 years of college Greek or the equivalent.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
GREK B202 THE FORM OF TRAGEDY (1.0 Credit)
Asya Sigelman
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course will introduce the student to two of the three great Athenian tragedians—Sophocles and Euripides. Their dramas, composed two-and-a-half millenia ago, continue to be performed regularly on modern stages around the world and exert a profound influence on current day theatre. We will read Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos and Euripides' Bacchae in full, focusing on language, poetics, meter, and performance studies.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
GREK B331 SONGS FOR THE GODS: ANCIENT GREEK HYMNS (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Hymns were offerings, constructive of charis, “favor,” between their singers and the divine entities to whom they were sung. This course surveys Greek hymns from the archaic period to late antiquity, and especially those transmitted from the lost manuscript archetype psi. It also explores the religious cultures that these songs helped constitute, and the ideas about the relationship between the divine and the human that they convey. Prerequisite: Advanced Ancient Greek
(Offered: Spring 2025)
Latin Courses at Haverford
LATN H001 ELEMENTARY LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Introduction to the Latin language. Our main focus will be on learning to read classical Latin texts, studying the vocabulary and grammar necessary to read the great works of ancient Latin poetry and prose, as well as familiarizing ourselves with the mythology, history, and culture of the Romans. We’ll also spend some time learning to converse and write in Latin, joining a history of conversation that stretches from the early Latin speakers of southern Europe and northern Africa, to the learned humanists of the Renaissance, and down to the present day. This is the first semester of a year-long course.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN H002 ELEMENTARY LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Completion of the introduction to the Latin language, with readings in prose and poetry.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
LATN H102 INTERMEDIATE LATIN: ROMAN IDENTITIES (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Our focus in this intermediate language course will be on reading and analyzing selections from two Latin texts, Catullus’ Carmina (Poems) and The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. Through this exercise, we will review various aspects of Latin grammar and develop sound reading strategies as we continue our study of Latin together. Doing so will help us appreciate the cultural, literary, and historical issues that these two texts speak to, particularly those concerning identity (cultural, gender, or religious) and Roman social mores. Prerequisite(s): LATN 002 or placement into LATN 102.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN H104 INTRODUCTION TO LATIN LITERATURE: FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF ROME (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is both an intermediate Latin course and an introduction to the study of Latin literature and culture. Readings will span a range of works in prose and poetry, including inscriptions and other material evidence for Roman culture. The focus of inquiry will be on understanding Roman identity—their hopes, fears, achievements, and follies—by studying how they described friendship and their friends, and those enemies who resisted the Roman order, from the founding of the city, through its near destruction by Hannibal, and its cannibalization during the Civil Wars. The course will conclude with a brief historical simulation in which you will debate the fate of Rome as a Roman senator. Prerequisite(s): LATN 102 or equivalent, or instructor consent
(Offered: Spring 2025)
LATN H201 ADVANCED LATIN LITERATURE: OVID (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Prerequisite(s): Two semesters of 100-level Latin, or instructor consent
LATN H206 ADVANCED LATIN LITERATURE: POSTCLASSICAL LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An investigation of one or more historical, cultural, or literary questions drawn from the 95% of Latin literature that was produced after Classical antiquity. We will read a variety of texts, in different genres and from various times. Recent topics have included: centonic literature, the epistolary exchange between Abelard and Heloise, the Latin of New Spain, and Philadelphia Latin. Prerequisite(s): Two semesters of 100-level Latin, or instructor consent
LATN H211 ADVANCED LATIN LITERATURE:DEAR CICERO (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
What if your, emails, tweets, or blog posts were examined by scholars thousands of years in the future? What would they find? In this course, we will examine just such a case: the 914 personal letters written by Marcus Tullius Cicero that were preserved after his death by an unknown editor. We will read a selection of these letters, as well as letters from later periods that took their inspiration from Cicero’s. In doing so, we will also see how other scholars have understood these documents: as literature, a historical archive, or even as confessions. Prerequisite(s): Two semesters of 100-level Latin, or instructor consent
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN H350 SEMINAR IN LATIN LITERATURE: CONSPIRACIES (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Through an investigation of several famed conspiracies in Roman history we will consider how conspiracy narratives expose what is often left unsaid in a society, how they serve to reenforce social order and the expectations for "good" citizens, and how marginalized figures like women, slaves, and foreigners often play important roles in opening up the private words and deeds of the conspirators to public knowledge. Among our moments of focus will be the Bacchanalian conspiracy of 186 BCE, the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BCE, and the Pisonian conspiracy of 65 CE (which led to the deaths of the authors Seneca, Petronius, and Lucan, among others). Contemporary classical scholarship as well as scholarly explorations of criminal conspiracies and conspiracy theories will help contextualize our readings of the original sources. May be repeated for credit.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN H460 TEACHING ASSISTANT (0.5 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Latin Courses at Bryn Mawr
LATN B001 ELEMENTARY LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Latin 001 is the first part of a year-long course that introduces the student to the language and literature of ancient Rome. The first semester focuses upon the grammar of Latin, developing the student’s knowledge of the forms of the language and the basic constructions used. Exercises in translation and composition aid in the student’s learning of the language, while readings in prose and poetry from the ancient authors provide the student with a deeper appreciation of the culture which used this language.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN B002 ELEMENTARY LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Carman Romano
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Latin 002 is the second part of a year-long course that introduces the student to the language and literature of ancient Rome. The second semester completes the course of study of the grammar of Latin, improving the student’s knowledge of the forms of the language and forms of expression. Exercises in translation and composition aid in the student’s learning of the language, while readings in prose and poetry from the ancient authors provide the student with a deeper appreciation of the culture which used this language. Prerequisite: LATN B001.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
LATN B110 INTERMEDIATE LATIN (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Intensive review of grammar, reading in classical prose and poetry. For students who have had the equivalent of several years of high school Latin or are not adequately prepared to take LATN 101. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: One year of college level Latin or equivalent.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
LATN B112 LATIN LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
In the second semester of the intermediate Latin sequence, readings in prose and poetry are frequently drawn from a period, such as the age of Augustus, that illustrate in different ways the leading political and cultural concerns of the time. The Latin readings and discussion are supplemented by readings in the secondary literature. This course meets three times a week with a required fourth hour to be arranged. Prerequisite: LATN 101 or 110 or placement by the department.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
LATN B201 TOPICS: ADVANCED LATIN LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Miriam Kamil
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is a topics course, course content varies. In this course typically a variety of Latin prose and poetry of the high and later Roman empire (first to fourth centuries CE) is read. Single or multiple authors may be featured in a given semester. Suggested Preparation: two years of college Latin or equivalent.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
LATN B320 MARTYRS, MOTHERS, MEMOIRS: MEDIEVAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES (1.0 Credit)
Catherine Conybeare
Division: Humanities
The writing of autobiography flourished in the middle ages, but there have been very few studies of the genre for the period. This course presents a range of autobiographies from the Latin West and encourages students to think about them theoretically and historically: what does it mean to write the self? what is at stake in the presentation of these stories? what notions are privileged? and how do we situate autobiographies in the wider literary landscape?
LATN B350 TOPICS IN LATIN LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Bret Mulligan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
(Offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2025)