Classics (CLASS-UA)

Open to students with no previous training in Latin and to others through assignment by placement test. Given every other year. Spring term only. 6 points. Completes the equivalent of a year?s elementary level in one semester.

Introduction to the essentials oIntroduction to the essentials of Latin, the language of Vergil, Caesar, and Seneca. Five hours of instruction weekly, with both oral and written drills and an emphasis on the ability to read Latin rather than merely translate it.

Teaches second-year students to read Latin prose through comprehensive grammar review; emphasis on the proper techniques for reading (correct phrase division, the identification of clauses, and reading in order); and practice reading at sight. Authors may include Caesar, Cicero, Cornelius Nepos, Livy, Petronius, or Pliny, at the instructor's discretion.

Writings of the greatest Roman poet, focusing on the most generally read portions of his most celebrated poem, the Aeneid. The meter of the poem is studied, and the student learns to read Latin metrically to reflect the necessary sound for full appreciation of the writing. Readings in political and literary history illustrate the setting in the Augustan Age in which the Aeneid was written and enjoyed, the relationship of the poem to the other classical epics, and its influence on the poetry of later times.

Introduction to the complex but highly beautiful language of ancient Greece--the language of Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Plato. Students learn the essentials of ancient Greek vocabulary, morphology, and syntax. Five hours of instruction weekly, with both oral and written drills and an emphasis on the ability to read Greek rather than merely translate it.

Reading of Plato's Apology and Crito and selections from the Republic. The purpose of the course is to develop facility in reading Attic prose. Supplements readings in Greek with lectures on Socrates and the Platonic dialogues.

Extensive readings in the Iliad or Odyssey. Proficiency in scansion is expected as well as a good command of Homeric vocabulary. Relevant topics ranging from the Homeric question to problems of oral tradition through the archaeological evidence of Bronze Age Greece and Troy are discussed in class or developed by the student through oral or written reports.

Identical to V30.0210. Of the ancient Greeks' many gifts to Western culture, one of the most celebrated and influential is the art of drama. This course covers, through the best available translations, the masterpieces of the three great Athenian dramatists. Analysis of the place of the plays in the history of tragedy and the continuing influence they have had on serious playwrights, including those of the 20th century.

Detailed study of the epic from its earliest form, as used by Homer, to its use by the Roman authors. Concentrates on the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer and on Virgil?s Aeneid, but may also cover the Argonautica of the Alexandrian poet Apollonius of Rhodes and Ovid?s Metamorphoses, as well as the epics representative of Silver Latin by Lucan, Silius Italicus, and Valerius Flaccus.

Survey of Greek and Roman narrative fiction in antiquity, its origins and development as a literary genre, and its influence on the tradition of the novel in Western literature. Readings include Chariton?s Chaereas and Callirrhoe, Longus?s Daphnis and Chloe, Heliodorus?s Ethiopian Tale, Lucian?s True History, Petronius?s Satyricon, and Apuleius?s Golden Ass. Concludes with the Gesta Romanorum and the influence of this tradition on later prose, such as Elizabethan prose romance.

Examines the foundation of the ancient polis (city-state), its ancient interpretations, and the emergence of political philosophy with Socrates. Use of ancient sources. Aeschylus?s Seven Against Thebes illustrates what the ancients regarded as problems inherent in political life that, however ?solved,? always persisted. Also includes the Oresteia as the first example of a solution, Sophocles? Oedipus Tryannus, Aristophanes? Knights, Plato?s Republic, Aristotle?s Politics, and Cicero?s Republic and Laws.

This class deals with the constructions of gender and experiences of sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome. Working with texts and representations from varied discourses such as medicine, law, literature, visual art, and philosophy, students explore the ways in which the ancient Greeks and Romans perceived their own bodies in such a way as to differentiate gender and understand desire. The class also discusses how eroticism and gender support and subvert political and social ideologies.

Identical to HIST-UA 200, HEL-UA 242. Until a few decades ago, Greek history began with Homer and dealt narrowly with the Greek world. Thanks to archaeology, the social sciences, and other historical tools, the chronological and geographical horizons have been pushed back. The history of the Greeks now starts in the third millennium B.C. and is connected to the civilization that lay to the east, rooted in Egypt and Mesopotamia. This course traces Greek history from the Greeks' earliest appearance to the advent of Alexander.

Continuation of the history of ancient Greece from the age of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. until Emperor Augustus consolidated the Roman hold over the eastern Mediterranean in the first century B.C. These three centuries saw the relationship between Rome and the Near East become most meaningful. Examines Alexander?s conquests, the states established by his successors (Ptolemies of Egypt and Seleucids of Syria), and the increasing intervention of Rome.

In the sixth century B.C., Rome was an obscure village. By the end of the third century B.C., Rome was master of Italy, and within another 150 years, it dominated almost all of the Mediterranean world. Then followed a century of civil war involving some of the most famous events and men?Caesar, Pompey, and Cato?in Western history. The course surveys this vital period with a modern research interpretation.

Identical to V57.0206. In the spring of 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of senators disgruntled with his monarchic ways. However, Caesar's adoptive son and heir, Octavian, was quickly on the scene and in little more than a decade managed to establish himself as Rome's first emperor. About three centuries later, Constantine the Great would rise to imperial power and with him came a new state religion--Christianity. This course examines the social and political history of the Roman Empire from the time of Augustus to that of Constantine and also closely observes the parallel growth of Christianity.

Topics vary by semester. For additional information see the departmental website: http://classics.as.nyu.edu/page/home.html

Topics vary by semester. For additional information see the departmental website: http://classics.as.nyu.edu/page/home.html

Topics vary by semester. For additional information see the departmental website: http://classics.as.nyu.edu/page/home.html

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Discusses the myths and legends of Greek and Roman mythology and the gods, demigods, heroes, nymphs, monsters, and everyday mortals who played out their parts in this mythology. Begins with creation, as vividly described by Hesiod in the Theogony, and ends with the great Trojan War and the return of the Greek heroes, especially Odysseus. Roman myth is also treated, with emphasis on Aeneas and the foundation legends of Rome.

The period from the beginnings of Greek religion until the spread of Christianity spans over 2,000 years and many approaches to religious and moral issues. Traces developments such as Olympian gods of Homer and Hesiod; hero worship; public and private religion; views of death, the soul, and afterlife; Dionysus; Epicureanism; and Stoicism. Deals with changes in Greek religion during the Roman republic and early empire and the success of Christians in converting pagans in spite of official persecution.

The origins of nonmythical speculation among the Greeks and the main patterns of philosophical thought, from Thales and other early speculators about the physical nature of the world through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Neoplatonists.

Despite having written nothing himself, Socrates is—if not the most influential—certainly one of the most influential intellectual figures in the Western tradition, for it is with Socrates, we are told, that “philosophy” seems first to move from natural history to an explicit concern for human affairs. Indeed, so great is the magnitude of this change that we continue to term earlier thinkers “pre-Socratic philosophers.” His stature is marked again in the name given to a distinctive form of philosophical literature, the Socratic discourse, and an approach to philosophical inquiry and instruction, the so-called Socratic method. In antiquity, importantly, he inspired Plato, Xenophon, the Stoics, the Skeptics, and the Cynics, beyond those thinkers stretching to influence in Rome and Judea...and four centuries before the presumed time of Jesus, Socrates had already suffered martyrdom for his idiosyncratic political and religious views. In modernity, his life both fascinates and repels the attention, notably, of Nietzsche; though criticisms of his mode of existence he had already endured in his own time at the hands of the comedian Aristophanes, among others. Given the state of the evidence, one can look only to the history of the reception of his thought to try to recover any sense of the “historical Socrates”; but we must likewise ask whether he does not perhaps exert a greater influence as a result of the reception of the doxography itself than for his actual intellectual contributions. In short, had Socrates never existed, would not the tradition essentially have had to create him, in its move from its origins to ethics and political philosophy? Even given that he did actually live, is what we have of him really just such a necessary fiction?

What was it about Christianity that it made it so popular in the ancient world? Was it the martyrs volunteering for public execution? Monks’ sexual renunciation? The isolation of hermits living on the tops of columns in the wilderness? Or perhaps orthodoxy and its politically divisive anxieties about heretics and Jews? In fact, all these things (and more) explain how a small Jewish messianic sect from Palestine became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. This course will provide an introduction to the big questions in the history of early Christianity. The focus will be on early Christian literature, such as martyr texts, saints’ lives, and works of monastic spirituality and mysticism. Issues addressed will include the Christian reception of Greco-Roman antiquity, the origins of anti-Semitism, gender and sexuality in the early Church, and the emergence of Christian theology.

Extensive readings in Virgil?s Aeneid and the other epics of Rome, including Lucan?s Bellum Civile and Lucretius?s De Rerum Natura. Consideration will be given to the growth and development of Roman epic, its Greek antecedents, and its relationship to the Romans? construction of their past. Study of the development of the Latin hexameter is also included.

This course provides extensive readings from the works of Rome?s greatest lyric and elegiac poets, including Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. The various lyric meters adapted by the Romans are considered, as is the development of the Latin Love Elegy.

A selection of plays from those of Plautus and Terence. The development of Roman comedy, its relationship to Greek New Comedy, and its social and cultural place in Roman life is also discussed. Some facility in Plautine and Terentian meter will also be expected.

With extensive readings from Horace?s, Juvenal?s, and Persius?s satires, this class traces the development of the satiric mode from its earliest beginnings in Rome to its flowering under the Empire. The relationship of satire to the social world of Rome, including its treatment of money, women, political figures, and social climbers, is also examined.

Readings from the three masters of Roman historiography, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. The course also considers the rise and development of history in Rome, its relationship to myth, and its narrative structure and manner.

Prerequisite: permission of the department. 1 or 4 points.

Prerequisite: permission of the department. 2 or 4 points.

Readings from the two fifth-century masters of Greek historiography, Herodotus and Thucydides. The course examines the themes, narrative structure, and methodology of both writers, as well as giving some consideration to the rise of history-writing in Greece, and its relationship to myth and epic.

Readings of several plays from among those of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Spoken and choral meter are studied, and the role of performance, dramaturgy, and the place of theatre in Athenian society are also examined.

Readings of several speeches from the major Attic orators (Lysias, Aeschines, and Demosthenes). The course also examines the role of law in Athenian society, procedure in the Athenian courts, and rhetorical education and training.

Readings from the dialogues of Plato and the major philosophical works of Aristotle.

Prerequisite: permission of the department. Open only to juniors and seniors. 2 or 4 points. Internships with institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum and the American Numismatic Society afford students the opportunity to work outside the University in areas related to the field of classics. Requirements for completion of such internships include periodic progress reports and a paper describing the entire project.

Prerequisite: permission of the department. 2 or 4 points.

Prerequisite: permission of the department. 2 or 4 points.

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To provide the student with an awareness of and appreciation for the cultures and civilizations of ancient Italy from ca. 1000 to 80 B.C.E. with special emphasis on the Etruscans and their relationship to the early Romans. We shall examine significant examples of sculpture, painting, architecture, city-planning, and the minor arts through power point presentations, the assigned texts, and field trips.

With extensive readings from Horace's, Juvenal's, and Persius's satires, this class traces the development of the satiric mode from its earliest beginnings in Rome to its flowering under the Empire. The relationship of satire to the social world of Rome, including its treatment of money, women, political figures, and social climbers, is also examined.