Introduction to Greek Mythology
Intro to Greek Myth
The stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes are at the root of countless works of art, philosophy, literature, and film, from antiquity to the present. Many familiar phrases from the English language also derive from myth: an Achilles heel (and Achilles tendon!), a Trojan horse, Pandora’s box, and so forth. This course will introduce you to the broad range of tales that make up the complex and interconnected network of Greek and Roman mythology.
- TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
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Instructor:
Darcy Krasne
h-index: 5 Info - 3 points
ELEMENTARY GREEK I
For students who have never studied Greek. An intensive study of grammar with reading and writing of simple Attic prose.
- MWF 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
- TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jose Antonio Cancino Alfaro
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Instructor:
Susan Rahyab
Info - 4 points
ELEMENTARY MODERN GREEK I
This is the first semester of a year-long course designed for students wishing to learn Greek as it is written and spoken in Greece today. As well as learning the skills necessary to read texts of moderate difficulty and converse on a wide range of topics, students explore Modern Greeces cultural landscape from parea to poetry to politics. Special attention will be paid to Greek New York. How do our, American, Greek-American definitions of language and culture differ from their, Greek ones?
- MW 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Nikolas Kakkoufa
Info - 4 points
ELEMENTARY LATIN I
For students who have never studied Latin. An intensive study of grammar with reading of simple prose and poetry.
- TRF 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
- MW 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Carmela V Franklin
CULPA: 2
Info
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Instructor:
Lien Van Geel
CULPA: 1 Info -
Instructor:
Erin J Petrella
Info - 4 points
ELEMENTARY LATIN II
Prerequisites: LATN UN1101. A continuation of LATN UN1101, including a review of grammar and syntax for students whose study of Latin has been interrupted.
- TR 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Hanna Golab
Info - 4 points
INTENSIVE ELEMENTARY GREEK
Covers all of Greek grammar and syntax in one term. Prepares the student to enter second-year Greek (GREK UN2101 or GREK UN2102).
- MWF 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Hanna Golab
Info - 4 points
INTENSIVE ELEMENTARY COURSE
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- MW 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Geoffrey Harmsworth
Info - 4 points
INTERMEDIATE GREEK: PROSE
Prerequisites: GREK UN1101- GREK UN1102 or the equivalent. Selections from Attic prose.
- TRF 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elizabeth W Scharffenberger
CULPA: 20
Info
- 4 points
INTERMEDIATE MODERN GREEK I
Prerequisites: GRKM UN1101 and GRKM UN1102 or the equivalent. Corequisites: GRKM UN2111 This course is designed for students who are already familiar with the basic grammar and syntax of modern Greek language and can communicate at an elementary level. Using films, newspapers, and popular songs, students engage the finer points of Greek grammar and syntax and enrich their vocabulary. Emphasis is given to writing, whether in the form of film and book reviews or essays on particular topics taken from a selection of second year textbooks.
- MW 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Chrysanthe Filippardos
Info - 4 points
INTERMEDIATE LATIN I
Prerequisites: LATN UN1101 & UN1102 or LATN UN1121 or equivalent. Selections from Catullus and Cicero.
- TRF 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
- MW 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Lien Van Geel
CULPA: 1 Info -
Instructor:
Melody A Wauke
Info - 4 points
INTERMEDIATE LATIN II
Prerequisites: LATN UN2101 or the equivalent. Selections from Ovids Metamorphoses and from Sallust, Livy, Seneca, or Pliny.
- TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Erin J Petrella
Info - 4 points
GREECE TODAY: LANG, LIT
GREECE TODAY: LANG LIT
Prerequisites: GRKM un2102 This course builds on the elements of the language acquired in GRKM1101 through 2102, but new students may place into it, after special arrangement with the instructor. It introduces the students to a number of authentic multimodal materials drawn from a range of sources which include films, literary texts, media, music etc. in order to better understand Greece’s current cultural, socio-economic, and political landscape. In doing so, it aims to foster transcultural understanding and intercultural competence, while further developing the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Topics of discussion include language, gender equality, youth unemployment, education, queer identities, refugees, and the multilayered aspects of the crisis.Pre-requisite for this class: GRKM 2102 or placement test. Instructor’s permission required if the students have not taken GRKM2102 or equivalent.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Nikolas Kakkoufa
Info - 3 points
AUGUSTAN POETRY
Prerequisites: LATN UN2102 or the equivalent. Selections from Vergil and Horace. Combines literary analysis with work in grammar and metrics.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Lien Van Geel
CULPA: 1 Info - 3 points
Law in the Ancient World
The course is concerned with legal texts from the ancient world, beginning with a Sumerian murder case (19thcent. B.C.) and ending with the Burgundian Law Code (6th A.D.). The main work of the course is writing, one paper each week (ca. 500 words) that studies a text or a situation--e.g. analyzing its implied legal principles, criticizing its arguments or assumptions, or outlining a rebuttal speech. The goal is to understand the evolution of early legal thought, procedures, institutions, and methods, from the ancient Near East through the Greek city-states and the Hellenistic kingdoms to Rome and late antiquity; and to work up skills that are useful for legal analysis and forensic argument
No prior knowledge of ancient history is expected. The course should be of interest to potential law students, historians, but also students who want to find out more about ancient societies and how they worked
- TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Kent Rigsby
Info - 3 points
Public Classics: Antiquity, Ideal Public
The study of Classical antiquity has recently come to occupy a very public place in the context of what many have termed “culture war.” Graeco-Roman antiquity, with its cumbersome legacies, at times hailed as the bedrock of humanistic and democratic ideals, is now under scrutiny for its role in perpetrating exclusive and oppressive ideologies. At the same time, many have turned to Classics to defy these ideologies, repurposing ancient texts to reaffirm identities that were at odds with dominant norms. This course traces the public role of Classics across three modules. First, we discuss how primary evidence has been deployed to craft exclusive identities and ideal publics. Second, we look at how “unideal” publics (women, POCs, LGBTQ+, working class individuals, incarcerated people, etc.) have reacted, by co-opting Graeco-Roman antiquity and reading it subversively. Third, we explore the relationship between the public(s) and Classics as an academic field, especially in light of the current crises in the humanities. No prerequisites.
- MW 5:40 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Emma Ianni
CULPA: 2 Info - 3 points
MEDIEVAL LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
Prerequisites: four semesters of college Latin or the instructors permission. This course offers an introduction to medieval Latin literature in conversation with its two most important traditions, classical literature and early Christian culture. Illustrative passages from the principal authors and genres of the Latin Middle Ages will be read, including Augustine and biblical exegesis; Ambrose and poetry; Bede and history and hagiography; Abelard and Heloise and the 12th century Renaissance. The course is suitable both for students of Latin and of the Middle Ages.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Carmela V Franklin
CULPA: 2
Info
- 3 points
SELECTIONS FROM GREEK LIT
Since the content of this course changes from year to year, it may be repeated for credit.
- MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elizabeth K Irwin
CULPA: 7
Info
- 3 points
LATIN LITERATURE SELECTIONS
LATIN LITERATURE SELECTIONS I
Prerequisites: LATN UN2102 or the equivalent. Since the content of this course changes from year to year, it may be repeated for credit.
- MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Darcy Krasne
h-index: 5 Info - 3 points
THESSALONIKI DOWN THE AGES
This course will explore the fascinatingly layered and multicultural history of Thessaloniki, the great city of Northern Greece and the Balkans. We will examine texts, archaeological evidence, literature, songs, and movies and in general the materialities of the city. We will examine this material from the 6th century BCE down to the the 21st cent. CE. We will notably think about the problems of history, identity, and cultural interaction in reaction to recent work such as Mark Mazower’s well know Salonica, City of Ghosts 2004.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Paraskevi Martzavou
CULPA: 2 Info - 3 points
HELLENISM&THE TOPOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION
HELLENISM&THE TOPOGRAPHIC IMAG
This course examines the way particular spaces—cultural, urban, literary—serve as sites for the production and reproduction of cultural and political imaginaries. It places particular emphasis on the themes of the polis, the city, and the nation-state as well as on spatial representations of and responses to notions of the Hellenic across time. Students will consider a wide range of texts as spaces—complex sites constituted and complicated by a multiplicity of languages—and ask: To what extent is meaning and cultural identity, sitespecific? How central is the classical past in Western imagination? How have great metropolises such as Paris, Istanbul, and New York fashioned themselves in response to the allure of the classical and the advent of modern Greece? How has Greece as a specific site shaped the study of the Cold War, dictatorships, and crisis?
- R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Dimitris Antoniou
h-index: 5 Info - 3 points
POST-BACCALAUREATE SEMINAR
This seminar aims to provide students in the post-baccalaureate certificate program with opportunities 1) to (re-)familiarize themselves with a selection of major texts from classical antiquity, which will be read in English, 2) to become acquainted with scholarship on these texts and with scholarly writing in general, 3) to write analytically about these texts and the interpretations posed about them in contemporary scholarship, and 4) to read in the original language selected passages of one of the texts in small tutorial groups, which will meet every week for an additional hour with members of the faculty.
- F 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Darcy Krasne
h-index: 5 Info - 3 points
POST-BACCALAUREATE SEMINAR
This seminar aims to provide students in the post-baccalaureate certificate program with opportunities 1) to (re-)familiarize themselves with a selection of major texts from classical antiquity, which will be read in English, 2) to become acquainted with scholarship on these texts and with scholarly writing in general, 3) to write analytically about these texts and the interpretations posed about them in contemporary scholarship, and 4) to read in the original language selected passages of one of the texts in small tutorial groups, which will meet every week for an additional hour with members of the faculty.
- F 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Darcy Krasne
h-index: 5 Info - 3 points
THE MAJOR SEMINAR
Prerequisites: junior standing. Required for all majors in classics and classical studies. The topic changes from year to year, but is always broad enough to accommodate students in the languages as well as those in the interdisciplinary major. Past topics include: love, dining, slavery, space, power.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Marcus Folch
CULPA: 6
Info
- 3 points
THE MAJOR SEMINAR
Prerequisites: junior standing. Required for all majors in Classics and Classical Studies. The topic changes from year to year but is always broad enough to accommodate students in the languages as well as those in the interdisciplinary major. Past topics include: love, dining, slavery, space, power.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Marcus Folch
CULPA: 6
Info
- 3 points
DIRCTD READING-ANCIENT STUDIES
Prerequisites: the director of undergraduate studies permission. Program of readings in some aspect of ancient studies, supervised by an appropriate faculty member chosen from the departments offering courses in the program in Ancient Studies. Evaluation by a series of essays, one long paper, or oral or written examination(s).
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Instructor:
Deborah Steiner
CULPA: 12
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Instructor:
Elizabeth W Scharffenberger
CULPA: 20
Info
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Instructor:
Paraskevi Martzavou
CULPA: 2 Info -
Instructor:
Marcus Folch
CULPA: 6
Info
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Instructor:
John T Ma
CULPA: 4 Info -
Instructor:
Seth R Schwartz
CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Katharina Volk
CULPA: 7
Info
- 3 points
DIRECTED READINGS
Designed for undergraduates who want to do directed reading in a period or on a topic not covered in the curriculum.
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Instructor:
Nikolas Kakkoufa
Info -
Instructor:
Dimitris Antoniou
h-index: 5 Info -
Instructor:
Paraskevi Martzavou
CULPA: 2 Info - 1-4 points
DIRECTED READINGS
INDEPENDENT STUDY/MODERN GREEK
Designed for undergraduates who want to do directed reading in a period or on a topic not covered in the curriculum.
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Instructor:
Karen Van Dyck
Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Stathis Gourgouris
CULPA: 4
Wikipedia
Info
- 1-4 points
DIRECTED READINGS IN LATIN LIT
Prerequisites: the director of undergraduate studies permission. A program of reading in Latin literature, to be tested by a series of short papers, one long paper, or an oral or written examination.
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Instructor:
Carmela V Franklin
CULPA: 2
Info
- 3 points
SENIOR RESEARCH SEMINAR
Designed for students writing a senior thesis or doing advanced research on Greek or Greek Diaspora topics.
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Instructor:
Nikolas Kakkoufa
Info - 1-4 points
SELECTNS FROM GREEK LIT
GREEK LITERATURE
Prerequisites: GREK V1201 and V1202, or their equivalent. Since the content of the course changes from year to year, it may be taken in consecutive years.
- TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Deborah Steiner
CULPA: 12
Info
- 3 points
LATIN LIT PROSE SELECTIONS
SELECTIONS FR LATIN LIT
Prerequisites: LATN V3012 or the equivalent. Since the content of this course changes from year to year, it may be repeated for credit.
- MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Gareth Williams
CULPA: 7
Info
- 3 points
HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE I
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Greek at the 3000-level or higher. Readings in Greek literature from Homer to the 4th century B.C.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elizabeth K Irwin
CULPA: 7
Info
- 4 points
LAT LITERATURE OF THE REPUBLIC
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Latin at the 3000-level or higher. Latin literature from the beginning to early Augustan times.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Katharina Volk
CULPA: 7
Info
- 4 points
THE CLASSICAL TRADITION
In this seminar, we study a selection of written texts handed down from ancient Greece and Rome. Through a handful of case studies, we develop complementary approaches for appreciating the texts and the dynamic practices of reception and interpretation adopted by scholars, translators, poets, dramatists, novelists, and others who seek to derive meaning from "the classics" and define the legacies of Greece and Rome.
- T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Elizabeth W Scharffenberger
CULPA: 20
Info
- 3 points
SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
All supervisors will be Columbia faculty who hold a PhD. Students are responsible for identifying their own supervisor and it is at the discretion of faculty whether they accept to supervise independent research. Projects must be focused on Hellenic Studies and can be approached from any disciplinary background. Students are expected to develop their own reading list in consultation with their supervisor. In addition to completing assigned readings, the student must also write a Hellenic studies paper of 20 pages. Projects other than a research paper will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Hellenic Studies is an interdisciplinary field that revolves around two main axes: space and time. Its teaching and research are focused on the study of post-classical Greece in various fields: Language, Literature, History, Politics, Anthropology, Art, Archaeology, and in various periods: Late Antique, Medieval, Byzantine, Modern Greek etc. Therefore, the range of topics that are acceptable as a Hellenic Studies seminar paper is broad. It is upon each supervisor to discuss the specific topic with the student. The work submitted for this independent study course must be different from the work a student submits in other courses, including the Hellenic Studies Senior Research Seminar.
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Instructor:
Nikolas Kakkoufa
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Instructor:
Dimitris Antoniou
h-index: 5 Info -
Instructor:
Paraskevi Martzavou
CULPA: 2 Info -
Instructor:
Karen Van Dyck
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
SUPERVISED IND RESEARCH
All supervisors will be Columbia faculty who hold a PhD. Students are responsible for identifying their own supervisor and it is at the discretion of faculty whether they accept to supervise independent research. Projects must be focused on Hellenic Studies and can be approached from any disciplinary background. Students are expected to develop their own reading list in consultation with their supervisor. In addition to completing assigned readings, the student must also write a Hellenic studies paper of 20 pages. Projects other than a research paper will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Hellenic Studies is an interdisciplinary field that revolves around two main axes: space and time. Its teaching and research are focused on the study of post-classical Greece in various fields: Language, Literature, History, Politics, Anthropology, Art, Archaeology, and in various periods: Late Antique, Medieval, Byzantine, Modern Greek etc. Therefore, the range of topics that are acceptable as a Hellenic Studies seminar paper is broad. It is upon each supervisor to discuss the specific topic with the student. The work submitted for this independent study course must be different from the work a student submits in other courses, including the Hellenic Studies Senior Research Seminar.
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Instructor:
Stathis Gourgouris
CULPA: 4
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points
Multilingual Worlds: Translation, Gender
Translation, Gender, Gree
Moving between different languages and alphabets is a constitutive aspect of the diasporic experience. To remember or forget the mother tongue, to mix up two or more languages, to transcribe one writing system onto another are all modes of negotiating geographical displacement. This course introduces students to literature about and by Greeks of the diaspora in Europe, the Balkans and America over the past two centuries exploring questions of migration, translation and gender with particular attention to the look and sound of different alphabets and foreign accents – “It’s all Greek to me!” Authors include Benjamin, Broumas, Chaplin, Chow, Conan Doyle, Kafka, Kazan, Morrison, Papadiamantis, Queen, Valtinos and Venuti.
- T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Karen Van Dyck
Wikipedia Info - 4 points
DIRECTED READINGS
Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Topics chosen in consultation between members of the staff and students.
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Instructor:
Lisa M Mignone
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Instructor:
Elizabeth K Irwin
CULPA: 7
Info
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Instructor:
Ellen Morris
CULPA: 10
Info
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Instructor:
John T Ma
CULPA: 4 Info -
Instructor:
Joseph A Howley
CULPA: 7
Info
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Instructor:
Carmela V Franklin
CULPA: 2
Info
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Instructor:
Lien Van Geel
CULPA: 1 Info - 3 points
DIRECTED READINGS
Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Topics chosen in consultation between members of the staff and students.
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Instructor:
Nancy Worman
CULPA: 23
Wikipedia
Info
- 1 points
MA THESIS
This course will enable students to complete a research study of considerable length that will (i) enable them to explore a given area of research in substantive detail; (ii) put them on the path to true competence as independent researchers; and (iii) provide those who go on to apply to PhD programs with a substantial writing sample that shows off their technical abilities to the best advantage.
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Instructor:
Katharina Volk
CULPA: 7
Info
- 4 points
GRADUATE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM
The Graduate Research Colloquium is a forum that offers two types of research seminars over the course of the semester. In the first, formerly the Graduate Colloquium, up to six outside speakers are invited by the graduate organizers to present research papers to an audience of graduates, faculty and others interested within the larger NYC Classics community, and afterwards to engage in discussion. The second is a Work-in-Progress seminar in which Columbia Classics graduate students present their research to their graduate peers in whatever format they deem most conducive to conveying their research to their audience and receiving feedback. The audience for these eight seminars is restricted to graduate students, the instructor who presides over the course, and any faculty the graduate student presenters choose should choose to invite. At least one semester of the Graduate Research Colloquium is required for MAO students and PhD students must attend the course in both the Fall and Spring semesters of their first year.
- F 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Katharina Volk
CULPA: 7
Info
- 2 points
ELEMENTS LATIN PROSE STYLE
Prerequisites: at least four semesters of Latin, or the equivalent. Intensive review of Latin syntax with translation of English sentences and paragraphs into Latin.
- TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Gareth Williams
CULPA: 7
Info
- 3 points
Literary Theory and Ancient Literature
Literary Theory & Ancient
This course is designed as an exposure to central approaches in
modern literary theory that center on the body and that have been influential in
scholarship on ancient Greek and Latin literature. It explores the centrality of bodily
imagery as grounding for theoretical concepts from various prospects, including
questions of whose body gets theorized (i.e., inflections of race, gender, class, etc.) and
how ancient and modern thinkers theorize the body in performance. It addresses a
perceived need in the department as well as the field to foster continued engagement with
questions of methodology that do not merely treat philological or historical techniques as
neutral and transparent. The course will analyze some dominant theoretical trends,
explore their backgrounds, and consider why literary theorists so often engage with
ancient authors to think with the body.
Each component will extend over three or four classes and address a set of ancient
and modern authors through readings of primary texts and conceptual / contextual
backgrounds.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Nancy Worman
CULPA: 23
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points
Roman Religions
This graduate seminar traces the development of Roman religion from archaic concepts of
numina
through the establishment of the Imperial Cult and the introduction of Christianity. Structured around themes—such as “belief”, “textualism”, and “cult”—this course prioritizes recent scholarship, particularly new monographs, to engage cutting-edge research in the study of Roman Religion.
- M 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Lisa M Mignone
Info - 3 points
Social histories of power in the Helleni
Social Hist Power Helleni
What is power, in general and in the Hellenistic period (350-100 BCE)? Much will depend on how we define power— as institutional, economic, cultural? The answer to the question entails different theoretical tools; the study of statecraft and governmentality, for instance, or the exploration of gender relations in the Hellenistic period, might require different stances and starting points. Just as much depends on how we define, and view, the Hellenistic world. Created by a historical accident (the destruction of the Achaimenid empire by an extraordinary expedition of conquest led by Alexander III, followed by the reemergence of large regional states), it might equally be described as the result of deep structural features (the convergence of
polis
forms, the rise of a connected economy, the spread of Greek cultural forms). The interpretation of this extraordinary period has been influenced by a number of factors, some intrinsic to the field (the availability of rich documentary evidence), some extrinsic (the rise and fall of European colonisalism); it also has been characterised by paradigm shifts (from decline to vitality to diversities).
The question of power (and cognate questions: agency, weakness and fragility) might help federate various subfields within the study of Hellenistic history (some of which have produced exciting new work), or renew their study. Part of the aim of the seminar is historiographical and reflexive; another aim is to read widely in recent secondary literature; yet a third is to read evidence, especially documentary, closely. There is too much material, too much discussion; the seminar will try to palliate the lack of time by attacking the topic from a diversity of angles.