Courses
ANTH 215 Death and Burial in Ancient Rome
This course will examine the historical and archaeological aspects of death and burial in the Roman world from c. 150 BCE – 300 CE, in order to understand how the Romans cared for, disposed of, and commemorated the dead. We will explore culturally-specific attitudes to death, grief, mourning and funerals, alongside the physical monuments that commemorate the deceased. Geographically, we will focus on Italy, although case studies will span the Mediterranean world. Together, we will investigate Roman funerary rituals and follow the body on its journey from the world of the living to that of the dead, while exploring new narratives about death in different classes of ancient (and modern) society.
AVC 251 The Age of the Cathedrals
An investigation of medieval architecture from the Early Christian era to the end of the Gothic period in Europe, including Russia and the Byzantine East. Emphasis is placed on the development of Christian architecture and the emergence of the Gothic cathedral in the context of European political and social history before 1500. This course explores historical methodology in the field since 1800.
CMS 101 Introduction to the Ancient World
A study of the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, this course is the introduction to European history in the Department of History and is a fundamental course in the Program in Classical and Medieval Studies. It addresses themes and events extending from the eighth century B.C.E. until the second century C.E. Students consider the disciplines that comprise study of classical antiquity, engage with primary texts (literary, graphic, and epigraphical), and learn how ancient history has come to be written as it has been.
CMS 102 Medieval Worlds
Far from being an “enormous hiccup” in human progress, the medieval centuries (ca. 350-1350) marked the full emergence of Islamic, Byzantine, and West European civilizations. These powerful medieval cultures shape our present. The central theme of this introductory survey course is the genesis and development of a distinct Western European medieval civilization including its social, economic, political, and cultural aspects. Important topics include the devolution of the Roman Empire; the Christianization of the West; the origins of the Byzantine world; the rise of Islam; and the history of medieval women.
CMS 104 Introduction to Medieval English Literature
This course offers an introductory survey of the literature produced in England between 800 and 1485, from Anglo-Saxon poetry through the advent of print. Major texts include pre-Conquest poetry and prose (such as Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle), early Middle English romance, post-Conquest lyric and narrative verse (including Chaucer), the fourteenth-century alliterative revival, Arthurian romance, drama, chronicles, and personal letters. Designed for nonmajors and prospective majors, the entry-level course provides a foundation in critical thinking about literary history.
CMS 107 Race, Reception, and the Modern Creation of the Ancient and Medieval Past
This course is designed to introduce students to the ways in which the study of the classical and medieval worlds has been constructed alongside, and as an integral part of, modern systems of colonialism, racism and white supremacy. It aims, likewise, to introduce students to the ways in which the distant past, so constructed, continues to inform the contemporary world, both as a locus of oppression and of resistance. The course will, therefore, present students with the tools necessary to understand and critique these fields of study, as well as help them to more critically view the way they understand the past and the present.
CMS 108 Roman Civilization: The Republic
In this course students explore the civilization and history of ancient Rome from the foundation of the Republic around 510 B.C.E. until its collapse in civil war and its transformation into a monarchy under Julius Caesar and his nephew, Octavian. Each week the class convenes for lectures devoted to the political, social, and cultural history of the Republic. In addition, students meet once a week to discuss in detail primary sources for the period.
CMS 109 Roman Civilization: The Empire
In this course students examine the civilization and history of ancient Rome from the Principate, the monarchy established by Octavian in 27 B.C.E., until the end of Justinian’s dynasty at the beginning of the seventh century of the Common Era. Each week the class convenes for lectures devoted to the political, social, and cultural history of the Empire. In addition, students meet once a week to discuss in detail primary sources for the period. Recommended background: CM/HI 108.
CMS 112 Ancient Greek History
This course examines Greece from the Bronze Age to Alexander. It focuses on the geographical breadth and temporal extent of “Ancient Greece,” and how that considerable space and time were negotiated and understood by the Greeks themselves. In such a far-flung world, extending from Sicily to Ionia, from the Black Sea to North Africa, Greeks experienced “Hellenicity” through sea lanes and land routes, and by means of a network of religious festivals and athletic meets, coordinated among multiple civic calendars. Topics include political structures, philosophies, literature, and modes of warfare.
CMS 114 Introduction to Classical Archaeology
Physical remains from the ancient world – from Troy to Athens to Rome – are important for reconstructing daily life in past societies. The goal of the course is to familiarize you with the archaeology of the ancient Greco-Roman world and the social contexts that gave rise to important sites, monuments, and objects. We will use archaeology and material culture as a lens to explore Greek and Roman society, values, political and religious institutions. We will examine critically how Greek and Roman sites and monuments have been appropriated over the centuries by different groups and why these sites continue to fascinate archaeologists, collectors, and the general public millennia later.
CMS 121D The Many Lives of King Arthur
King Arthur is called the “once and future king,” but this malleable, mythic figure in some sense always livesin the present time. Approaching Arthur as an idea as much as a man, students analyze the ways in which the Arthur story has been adapted for different literary, social, and political purposes according to the needs and desires of its changing audience. They explore the features of the Arthurian legend which make it universally compelling, including feudal loyalty and kinship, women and marriage, questing and adventure, magic and monsters, violence and warfare, and consider the fierce debate over Arthur’s historical and mythical origins.
CMS 204 Classics and the History of Sexuality
This course investigates how the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome has shaped many of our contemporary ideas on sexuality in the United States. Students explore the role of Greco-Roman material in discourses of sexual identity, freedom, and oppression from the first scientific studies of sexual behavior in the late nineteenth century to notions of sex, gender, and sexuality in the modern day. Throughout the course, students analyze texts from both ancient and modern contexts to see how classical culture has acted as an explanatory force in the fields of medicine, psychology, law, and politics. Students also explore how marginalized groups, especially LGBTQI peoples, have used Greco-Roman antiquity as a means both for forming community and for arguing their equal rights.
CMS 206 Trans/Atlantic Chaucer: Colonizing Identities in the Middle Ages
Reading and interpretation of Chaucer’s major works, including The Canterbury Tales. Students interrogate the many ways Chaucer’s texts challenge assumptions of fixity, including definitions of gender, race, class, territory, and time. All works are read in Middle English.
CMS 215 Death and Burial in Ancient Rome
This course will examine the historical and archaeological aspects of death and burial in the Roman world from c. 150 BCE – 300 CE, in order to understand how the Romans cared for, disposed of, and commemorated the dead. We will explore culturally-specific attitudes to death, grief, mourning and funerals, alongside the physical monuments that commemorate the deceased. Geographically, we will focus on Italy, although case studies will span the Mediterranean world. Together, we will investigate Roman funerary rituals and follow the body on its journey from the world of the living to that of the dead, while exploring new narratives about death in different classes of ancient (and modern) society.
CMS 216 Conflict and Community in Medieval Spain
Medieval Spain was a crossroads where the civilizations of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism met, mingled, and fought. Diverse and dynamic societies emerged, and from this climate of both tension and cooperation came a cultural and intellectual flowering that remains a hallmark of human achievement. Using a wide range of primary sources, this course focuses particularly on two key concepts in Spanish history: the Reconquista and the Convivencia. To examine these, students investigate the nature of conflict in medieval Spain and the ways in which those who lived there constructed and understood their communities.
CMS 217 Sex and Gender in Ancient Rome
This course investigates Roman categories of gender and sex through ancient and modern theories of gender and sexuality, especially Michel Foucault’s controversial thesis on ancient sexuality. Students examine ancient philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, graffiti, novels, and visual culture to discuss the lived experiences of Roman people, whether gladiators, senators, sex workers, or matrons. Special attention is paid to the diversity of experiences recorded outside of canonical texts, and the influence of foreign cultures on Roman thought and practices. Recommended background: CM/HI 101, 108, or 109.
CMS 218 Greek and Roman Myths
Did the Greeks and Romans believe their myths about winged horses, goddesses, and golden apples? How are myths related to the religious, political, and social world of Greece and Rome? This course examines Greek and Roman myths from a variety of theoretical perspectives in order to understand their meaning in the ancient world and their enduring influence in Western literature and art.
CMS 220 The Medieval Year
This course explores daily life and community in the Middle Ages through festivals, holidays, and marking the passage of the seasons. First, students are introduced to the format of both the natural and ritual year, and how individuals and groups responded to environmental factors. Second, they consider the role of such seasonal rituals as a means of creating social cohesion and coercion. Medieval festivals and holidays were not just fun: they frequently sought to impose specific visions of social and religious order on participants (and those who were excluded). Third, students reflect on how holidays and communal rituals still have power to shape community, identity, and belonging in contemporary society. The course helps students learn about medieval religious and cultural practices in a critical manner; while focusing on Christian traditions, they also consider Jewish and Muslim customs in a broader European context. Recommended background: prior coursework on the pre-modern world.
CMS 221 Venice to Tokyo: Religion and Trade along the Spice and Silk Routes
This course examines the intersection of religion and trade along the silk and spice routes that linked Venice and Istanbul with Isfahan, Malacca, Nanjing, and Tokyo in the medieval and early modern periods (800-1800 C.E.). Adherents of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and other spiritual traditions traversed these trade routes as merchants, diplomats, and pilgrims. As cultural brokers connecting Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, these merchants transmitted objects as diverse as silk textiles, relics, and texts on philosophy and ethics. This course follows the transfer of culture and commerce along these trade routes, focusing on a key thematic question: How are urban economies impacted by religion and culture?
CMS 225 Rituals, Sentiments, and Gods: Religion in Ancient Greece
An anthropological approach to ancient Greek religion in which archeological, literary, and art-historical sources are examined to gain an understanding of religion in ancient Greek society. Topics explored include cosmology, polytheism, mystery cults, civic religion, ecstasy, sacrifice, pollution, dreams, and funerary customs.
CMS 235 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
What is the Hebrew Bible (Christianity’s Old Testament and Judaism’s Tanakh)? This course centers perspectives of BIPOC biblical scholars who employ a range of scholarly tools and methods for exploring the content and genres of major books of the Hebrew Bible – including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings-with brief forays into selected Prophets and Wisdom literature. Topics include theories about the composition and sociopolitical contexts of the writings, the events and ideas they narrate, and the use of scripture in sustaining and contesting modern social practices, especially those related to colonization, cultural violence, and race/gender disparities.
CMS 236 Introduction to the New Testament
Readings in the New Testament and related early Jewish and Christian literature. Topics include first-century Jews and Judaism; Jesus’ life, death, and teaching in the context of the Roman Mediterranean; the shaping of Jesus traditions in the early Church; the diversity of ideas about salvation; and women in the Jesus movement and the early Church. Attention is given, throughout the course, to ways in which the New Testament has been used to sustain and contest modern social practices, especially those related to colonization, cultural violence, and race/gender disparities.
CMS 238 Jews and Judaism in Antiquity
The millennium between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E. saw the gradual invention of a culture that has come to be known as Judaism. This course introduces the significant historical events and texts that were part of this cultural process, as well as the daily practices, institutions, ideologies, and movements associated with it. The approach is both historical and thematic with close reading of archaeological and written sources including texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament (substantially authored by Jews), later Hebrew Bible and Apocrypha, Philo, Josephus, and the early rabbinic corpus. Topics include biblical interpretation; creation, adaptation, and transmission of traditions; identity and self-definition; accommodation and resistance; sectarianism and the invention of Jewish and Christian orthodoxies; theories about messiahs, afterlife, and a world-to-come.
CMS 241 The Art of Islam
Art of the Islamic world from its roots in the ancient Near East to the flowering of Safavid Persia and Mughal India in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Developments are traced through architecture, painting, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork. Consideration is given to the continuity of the Near Eastern artistic tradition and Islamic art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
CMS 250 Vikings, Vandals, and Visigoths: Art in Early Medieval Europe
This course surveys works of art and architecture produced from ca. 500 to 1100 C.E. and explores significant visual and cultural developments of the early medieval period. Beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, students focus on emigration of Germanic tribes into Roman territories and the subsequent periods of Christianization, conflict, and exchange. Attention is paid to the ways medieval art has been used and misused in the modern era: the rise of race studies and “culture history” in the nineteenth century, the Nazis’ use of archaeology as “evidence” for Germany’s Aryan past, and the deployment of medieval symbols by contemporary White Supremacists.
CMS 251 The Age of the Cathedrals
An investigation of medieval architecture from the Early Christian era to the end of the Gothic period in Europe, including Russia and the Byzantine East. Emphasis is placed on the development of Christian architecture and the emergence of the Gothic cathedral in the context of European political and social history before 1500. This course explores historical methodology in the field since 1800.
CMS 252 Art of the Middle Ages
In Europe from the Early Christian era to the end of the Gothic age, from 300 to 1450 C.E., precious objects, manuscripts, wall paintings, and stained glass were produced in great quantities. The course traces the development of these and other media, including tapestry and sculpture. The roles of liturgy, theology, and technological and social changes are stressed. Modes of historical analysis are investigated.
CMS 254 Sacred Travel, Shrines, and Souvenirs
From antiquity to the present day, people have traveled to local or far-off sites to approach holy figures, to appeal for divine intervention, and to fulfill obligations. This seminar explores the material dimensions of these journeys, from the spaces entered and sites encountered to the things travelers brought or took away. The class focuses on shrines built and used c. 300-1500 CE.
CMS 264 Islamic Civilization: Politics, History, Arts
This course explores the medieval and modern history of Islam from Spain and Morocco to Russia and China. Topics include the music of Morocco, art of the Quran, Sunni and Shi’i cultural practices in Iran, women’s mosques in China, and postcolonial debates in Egyptian politics. What does Islam mean to different Muslim communities around the world? What has made Islam one of the most influential religious traditions in the history of Europe, Africa, and Asia?
CMS 265 Florence to Bruges: The Early Renaissance in Europe
This course investigates the art and architecture of Northern and Southern Europe between 1250 and 1450. Students analyze the impact of theology, liturgy, social change, urbanism, gender, and social class on visual culture. Artists considered include Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Jan van Eyck, and Rogier van der Weyden.
CMS 266 Magic and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages
For many, “medieval” is simply another word for “superstition” and the Middle Ages were consumed by delusion punctuated with witch trials. This course instead focuses on religious and folk practices beyond orthodox Christianity in the Middle Ages, to understand the realities of “magical” practice and supernatural beliefs during the period and move away from misconceptions based on Enlightenment polemic and modern fantasy. Students discover the variety of beliefs associated with the concepts of magic and supernatural and come to understand that these concepts were not always seen as evil, or even wrong, by contemporaries. Students consider the differences between how learned and unlearned magic were perceived and the gender dynamics at the heart of this dichotomy. They explore the syncretic relationship between medieval Christianity and paganism and other traditional beliefs, as well as the overlap between “magic” and primitive science. Recommended background: prior coursework on the pre-modern world.
CMS 271 Ancient Philosophy
What’s the best way to live? For pleasure or for virtue? For oneself or for others? By the conventions of one’s time or by some timeless truths? The fascination the ancient Greeks had with these questions was inextricably linked with others: What is the nature of the universe in which we live? What is the status of our knowledge of this universe? How can we understand the processes of change we see everywhere, including in ourselves? And what is the nature of philosophy itself? The course begins with the person who most famously asked these questions, Socrates, and on the writings in which he is most vividly portrayed, the dialogues of his student Plato. Students continue to pursue these questions through the writings of Aristotle as well as the famous schools of ancient philosophy, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Skeptics. No prior familiarity with philosophy is assumed; this is a perfect place to begin one’s study of philosophy.
CMS 276 Saints, Ships, and Sultans: The Horn of Africa in the Middle Ages
The Horn of Africa represents one of the great crossroads of the world, connecting the Red Sea and Mediterranean worlds with those of the Indian Ocean. In the medieval period, the region flourished, with its history and society shaped by religion, trade, and politics. Christian states of Ethiopia sought both to pursue an independent expression of their faith and link themselves with the wider Christian world. Muslim states in Somalia sought political definition and economic power in a booming interconnected global community. Community-engaged learning sits at the core of this course.
CMS 277 Medieval Literatures of Resistance: Power and Dissent, 1100-1500
This course offers sustained examination of several major sites of cultural power in the Middle Ages–including institutions and traditions such as the Church and the monarchy, Parliament, and civic government, marriage and the household–and considers the oppositional energies of texts that negotiate those sites. Students read historical documents (poems, letters, and chronicles) and analyze the textual tactics that resist or evade the rules set to govern most aspects of medieval public and private life.
CMS 291 Colonization and Resistance in Late Antique North Africa
While treated by some scholars as peripheral, North Africa was and is a central arena in global history. This course examines the Maghreb in the dynamic period of transformation that saw the Roman Empire devolve into separate political and social entities, ca.200-700 C.E. In these critical centuries, North Africa and North Africans served both as anchors preserving Roman culture and society, and key agents in its transformation and devolution. Approaching the topic through primary and secondary sources, this course focuses on key themes: colonization and resistance, ethnicity and identity, and cultural and social cohesion. Recommended background: CM/HI 102.
CMS 292 The Dawn of the Middle Ages
The period of Mediterranean history stretching from ca. 300 to ca. 700 C.E. saw both change and continuity, radical transformation and sociocultural resiliency. Often maligned as the “Dark Ages,” this period has attracted a great deal of scholarship, and looms large in the construction of modern national identities. The central question is not only how the ancient world became the medieval, and what that meant, but how and why this understanding has changed over the years, and why it matters. This course examines the period through the analysis of primary sources, key secondary sources, and historiography. Recommended background: CM/HI 102.
CMS 293 Trans-Saharan Africa in the Middle Ages
This course examines the history of the trans-Saharan world in the medieval period, roughly 500-1500 C.E.This vital period saw the formation of powerful indigenous empires in the West African Sahel and the Maghreb, alongside the continuation and transformation of ancient states on the Nile. The course examines key topics such as the spread and adaptation of Islam in Africa; the dynamics of state and society building; the social, cultural, and economic impacts of trade; colonization and resistance; and the role of Africa, and Africans, in the creation of the medieval world. Recommended background: CM/HI 102.
CMS 301H Slavery in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was an enslaving society, yet what little we know about slaves comes largely from the members of the social elite who wrote about slaves in literary and legal sources. How do we recover the lives and experiences of enslaved individuals? This course aims to understand the condition of slavery in the ancient Roman world from a variety of perspectives using methods and theories from social history and archaeology. Key topics include how individuals became enslaved; the treatment of slaves; the coercion and control of slaves; slave resistance; the family life of slaves; manumission and other paths to freedom; the material culture associated with Roman slaves. This seminar will include a mix of short lectures and discussions, as well as both oral and written assignments. Prerequisites: Any premodern CMS or HIST course
CMS 301J Medieval Education
This course will explore the nature of education, schooling, and university in the Middle Ages. Who attended schools and universities? How did a person become a teacher or professor? How were educational institutions organized and administered? What subjects and texts were studied? What was a school day or an academic year like? What were the motivations behind education (why go to school, why provide opportunities)? What was the material culture of education? How did education impact wider communities and society and visa-versa? We will consider these questions and more by employing a longue durée approach and examining how educational practices evolved over a thousand-year period. We will also take a transregional and transcultural view by comparing and contrasting education in Jewish, Christian (both Western and Eastern), and Muslim communities. Prior coursework in pre-modern history/medieval studies is strongly recommended.
CMS 344 Chaucer and His Context
This seminar encourages students already familiar with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to further explore his other major poetic works in the context of his late fourteenth-century London milieu. Texts include a selection of dream visions, historical romances, and philosophical treatises (“Troilus and Criseyde,” “Book of the Duchess,” “Parliament of Fowls,” and others). Chaucer’s literary contemporaries, including John Gower, William Langland, and the “Gawain”-Poet, are studied along with their poetic forms and historical contexts. All texts read in Middle English. Only open to juniors and seniors. Recommended background: familiarity with Middle English literature and/or language. Recommended background: familiarity with Middle English literature and/or language.
CMS 360 Independent Study
CMS 373 Art of the Global Middle Ages
This course examines artworks produced by diverse communities in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia from the period ca. 500-1500 C.E. Through case studies of luxury objects, iconic architecture, monuments, and paintings, students explore the ways that artists, patrons, and viewers within Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions articulated spiritual and intellectual values and religious and socioeconomic identities. The course focuses on visual and cultural interactions such as commerce, gift exchange, reinterpretation of visual forms, and reuse of significant objects and spaces. Attention is given to scholarly debates on the concept of a “global” Middle Ages and popular (mis)conceptions about the medieval era. Recommended background: at least one course in art history, premodern history, or religious studies.
CMS 395E Medieval Romance
Romance was the most popular literary genre of the later Middle Ages. Originating in France in the twelfth century, this highly adaptable form quickly became an international phenomenon, with numerous examples found across Europe and the British Isles. Many romances tell tales of amorous exploits, exotic travels, and quests for knowledge; the celebration of chivalric ideals is a central theme. But many of these tales seem to question and sometimes undermine the very ideals they otherwise espouse: courtly love mingles with sexual adventurism, for instance, and loyalty to one’s lord often results in alienation or death. Students read a selection of romances from France and Britain (all texts are in modern English translation or manageable Middle English) with an eye toward how they variously articulate and deconstruct the notion of chivalry. Prerequisite(s): one English course.
CMS 457 Senior Thesis
Required of all majors, the thesis involves research and writing of an extended essay in classical and medieval studies, following the established practices of the field, under the guidance of a supervisor in the classical and medieval studies program. Students register for CMS 457 in the fall semester and for CMS 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both CMS 457 and 458.
CMS 458 Senior Thesis
Required of all majors, the thesis involves research and writing of an extended essay in classical and medieval studies, following the established practices of the field, under the guidance of a supervisor in the classical and medieval studies program. Students register for CMS 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both CMS 457 and 458.
CMS S14 Saints, Ships, and Sultans: The Horn of Africa in the Middle Ages
The Horn of Africa represents one of the great crossroads of the world, connecting the Red Sea and Mediterranean worlds with those of the Indian Ocean. In the medieval period, the region flourished, with its history and society shaped by religion, trade, and politics. Christian states of Ethiopia sought both to pursue an independent expression of their faith and link themselves with the wider Christian world. Muslim states in Somalia sought political definition and economic power in a booming interconnected global community. Community-engaged learning sits at the core of this course. Recommended background: CM/HI 102 or 293.
CMS S21 Economic Ecologies: Anthropology, Digital Humanities, and Climate Change in the North Atlantic
This course provides a multidisciplinary introduction to the north of Iceland as a unique site to explore culture and nature from the medieval era to the present. Students examine local knowledges and folklore to better understand the rapidly changing climate. They investigate how locals work with global scholars to document and better understand humans’ relationship to the natural world, using interdisciplinary tools from climate and social sciences, medieval and premodern studies, and digital media studies. Students apply what they learn by documenting the cultural and economic ecologies around them at Bates and in Maine through ethnographic and digital humanities methods. Recommended background: prior coursework in anthropology and/or environmental studies.
CMS S22 Hell and Damnation: Imaging the Afterlife
This course examines works of art produced in Europe from ca. 500 to 1500 C.E. and considers the ways in which the visual arts responded to and helped to shape premodern conceptions of death and the afterlife. How did medieval thinkers and artists envision Heaven, Hell, the Apocalypse, and the Last Judgment? How did visual representations of damnation and salvation change during the medieval period? Students analyze a variety of media (sculpture, paintings, mosaics, tapestries, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, etc.) in order to gain a deeper understanding of the important and complex roles that concepts of judgment, damnation, and salvation played in the daily lives and visual environments of medieval Christians.
CMS S26 Textile Towns: Medieval Tuscany and Modern Lewiston
Settlements throughout history have been described as “textile centers” to indicate that their economies and environments were shaped by the production of cloth. Museum collections tend to frame textiles as luxury products that circulated within elite global networks. In this course, we will use the contrasting case of the Maine MILL to explore how medieval Italian cities like Florence, Lucca, and Prato were defined by the people who produced and profited from silk and wool, the networks of materials that went into the woven bolts, and the spaces and conditions of labor.
CMS s37 The Middle Ages through Film and Television
Most people’s first encounters with the “Middle Ages” are through fictional films & television programs. The purpose of this course is to help us explore the common themes & tropes utilized in popular media that construct a particular image of the period. In particular, this course will challenge the veracity of these constructs & consider how the presentation of the past feeds into racist, colonialist, & white-supremacist/nationalist ideas of the Middle Ages. The course will focus on popular film & television that was/is widely consumed. We will also move away from “Hollywood” depictions of the period to examine the Middle Ages in Middle Eastern & Asian cinema. Prior coursework on medieval topics (history, literature, religion etc.) is recommended.
CMS S50 Independent Study
CMS S51B Studying the Field: Race, Reception, and the Modern Creation of the Ancient and Medieval Past
Through direct participation and research, students in this curricular innovation course play a foundational role in designing a new semester-length course in classical and medieval studies centered on building an antiracist, anticolonial understanding of the field. The course under development aims to introduce students to the ways in which the study of the classical and medieval worlds was constructed alongside, and as an integral part of, modern systems of colonialism, racism, and white supremacy. It aims, likewise, to provide students with the tools necessary to understand, critique, and improve these fields of study. Please note: This course has an extra cost of $185.
FYS 191 Love and Friendship in the Classical World
The ancient meanings of friendship and the ways in which friendship was distinguished from love are the subject of this course. Students read and analyze ancient theorists on friendship and love, such as Plato and Cicero, and also texts illustrating the ways in which Greek and Roman people formed and tested relationships within and across gender lines. The topics under discussion include: friendship as a political institution; notions of personal loyalty, obligation, and treachery; the perceived antithesis between friendship and erotic love; the policing of sexuality; friendship, love, and enmity in the definition of the self. All discussions use the contemporary Western world as a reference point for comparison and contrast.
FYS 345 Classical Myths and Contemporary Art
Movies, comic books, sculpture, painting, poems, and graffiti are some of the ways that modern societies share stories to discuss important cultural values. Not surprisingly, modern artists often invoke ancient myths, which once served a similar function. In this course, students explore the ways in which myths give members of a society, whether ancient or modern, meaningful tools to describe and explore issues, values, and conflicts. Students study ancient myths about figures such as Medea, Pygmalion, Hermaphroditus, Actaeon, and Persephone. They then collect and consider their modern versions in different media.
FYS 518 Ancient Magic and its Practitioners
What is the nature of magic? Why is it said to exist? What is its relationship with religion, science, community, and power? In this course students examine some answers to these questions from the Greek and Roman world, using a variety of sources, from epic and philosophy to buried curse tablets and astrological guides. They also consider its practitioners: sorceresses, soothsayers, folk heroes, and false prophets. They compare perspectives from different Greek and Roman communities, including Greco-Roman Egypt and the Near East,; from pagan, Jewish, and Christian voices; and explore modern theories on magic’s relationship to class, ethnicity, and gender.
FYS 574 Creating Community in the Medieval World
In the Middle Ages, like today, community played an important role in shaping lived experience and in understanding who we, as human beings, were and are. Then as now, community shapes us while we shape it. Using various sources in translation—from poetry and letters to saints’ lives and legal texts—we will examine the diverse ways in which medieval people lived in and sought to create community. As we consider a wide range of communities from across Africa, Europe, and West Asia, we will pay particular attention to the processes of inclusion and exclusion and their impact.
GRK 101 Elementary Ancient Greek I
The objective of the course, the first half of a yearlong sequence, is to begin a study of ancient Greek as a foundation for upper-level reading courses. It covers the basics of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary building. Students learn to read Greek sentences and passages and to translate from English into Greek. During the early stage much learning by rote of forms and rules is necessary, but students find that Greek is a structured and beautiful language, and the pleasure of reading “in the original” is inestimable.
GRK 102 Elementary Ancient Greek II
A continuation of GRK 101, and designed to be taken in the same academic year, this course develops the understanding of Greek syntax. By the end of the year students are competent to read extended passages of classical Greek. Prerequisite(s): GRK 101.
GRK 201 Greeks and “Barbarians”: Racing the Other
The Greeks were united by their belief that they were unique and distinct from their Mediterranean neighbors. We study how the Greeks defined themselves in relationship to those they encountered, respected, and fought against such as the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, Scythians, and Persians. Readings may include Herodotus’ Histories, Aeschylus’ Persians and Suppliants, the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, etc. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of ancient Greek and should select either the intermediate 201 or advanced 301, depending on their skills.
GRK 202 Homer’s Poetry, Then and Now
We read selections from Homer’s Odyssey or Iliad, and ancient receptions such as Plato’s Ion, the Battle of the Mice and Frogs, Plutarch’s Gryllus. We conclude by considering one contemporary reception such as David Malouf’s Ransom, Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls or Madeline Miller’s Circe. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of ancient Greek and should select either the intermediate 202 or advanced 302, depending on their skills.
GRK 203 Violence, Gender, and the Social Contract in Ancient Greece
We explore the causes and consequences of violence among men and male gods, between men and women, and between parents and children. Readings may include Hesiod’s Theogony, Homeric Hymns, Attic orations, Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Euripides’ Heracles Raging, or his Medea, etc. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of ancient Greek and should select either the intermediate 203 or advanced 303, depending on their skills.
GRK 204 Love and Sexuality in Ancient Greece
The Greeks celebrated and were wary of the power of love and sexuality. We study how they represented relationships between men and women, solely among men, and solely among women. Readings may include authors such as Sappho and the other lyric poets, Euripides’ Hippolytus, Plato’s Symposium, Lysias’ On the Murder of Eratosthenes, Longus’ Daphne and Chloe etc. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of ancient Greek and should select either the intermediate 204 or advanced 304, depending on their skills.
GRK 301 Ancient Greeks and Barbarians: Racing the Other
This course covers the same material as GRK 201 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Greek. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
GRK 302 Homer’s Poetry, Then and Now
This course covers the same material as GRK 202 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Greek. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
GRK 303 Violence, Gender, and the Social Contract in Ancient Greece
This course covers the same material as GRK 203 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Greek. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
GRK 304 Love and Sexuality in Ancient Greece
This course covers the same material as GRK 204 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Greek. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
GRK 360 Independent Study
HIST 215 Death and Burial in Ancient Rome
This course will examine the historical and archaeological aspects of death and burial in the Roman world from c. 150 BCE – 300 CE, in order to understand how the Romans cared for, disposed of, and commemorated the dead. We will explore culturally-specific attitudes to death, grief, mourning and funerals, alongside the physical monuments that commemorate the deceased. Geographically, we will focus on Italy, although case studies will span the Mediterranean world. Together, we will investigate Roman funerary rituals and follow the body on its journey from the world of the living to that of the dead, while exploring new narratives about death in different classes of ancient (and modern) society.
LATN 101 Elementary Latin I
A humanistic introduction to classical Latin vocabulary, forms, and syntax, with special emphasis on reading the actual words of ancient authors. Relations to English grammar and etymology are stressed. The course concentrates on Latin-English translation, with some English-Latin composition. Latin 101 is not open to students with two or more years of Latin in secondary school.
LATN 201 Constructing Gender and Imperialism in Rome
Imperial power in the Roman Empire, and after, was rooted in patriarchy and worked by defining and perpetuating acceptable identities for men and women. With an emphasis on the treatment of women and the operation of power, we study how gender was imagined and constructed in readings such as Vergil’s Aeneid, Livy’s Histories, the so-called Laudatio Turiae, Roman love poetry, the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, and the Anthologia Latina. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of Latin and should select either the intermediate 201 or advanced 301, depending on their skills.
LATN 202 Everyday Life in the Roman and Medieval Worlds
While the traditional Latin literary canon centers on elite perspectives and literary genres, many texts were dedicated to everyday concerns. By reading Roman and post-Roman sources critically we construct an image of the everyday lives of people across a range of social classes in the ancient and medieval worlds. Readings may include texts by authors such as Cicero, Columella, Pliny the Younger and Elder, alongside funerary inscriptions, tenancy agreements, and legal texts. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of Latin and should select either the intermediate 202 or advanced 203, depending on their skills.
LATN 203 Humor, Satire, and Power
In the past as in the present, humor is a powerful tool. We study how Latin authors used humor to celebrate, uphold, criticize, and/or undermine the social order. Readings may include authors such as Plautus, Terence, Seneca, Suetonius, Petronius, Juvenal, Luxorius, Hrotswitha, and Walter Map. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of Latin and should select either intermediate 203 or advanced 303, depending on their skills.
LATN 204 Narrating the Past in Latin Literature
Stories about origins—of the universe, of communities, of heroic deeds or personal journeys—narrate the past to justify and explain the present and control the future. We study how Roman and post-Roman authors narrated the past to both make sense of and shape their world. Readings may include texts such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars, Apuleius’ Golden Ass, Jordanes’ History of the Goths, or Braulio of Zaragoza’s Life of Aemilian. Prerequisite: Students should have a working knowledge of Latin and should select either intermediate 204 or advanced 304, depending on their skills.
LATN 301 Constructing Gender and Imperialism in Rome
This course covers the same material as LATN 201 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Latin. May be repeated with permission of the instructor.
LATN 302 Everyday Life in the Roman and Medieval Worlds
This course covers the same material as LATN 202 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Latin. May be repeated with permission of the instructor.
LATN 303 Humor, Satire, and Power
This course covers the same material as LATN 203 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Latin. May be repeated with permission of the instructor.
LATN 304 Narrating the Past in Latin Literature
This course covers the same material as LATN 204 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Latin. May be repeated with permission of the instructor.
LATN 360 Independent Study
LATN 365 Special Topics
LATN S50 Independent Study
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term.
REL 254 Sacred Travel, Shrines, and Souvenirs
From antiquity to the present day, people have traveled to local or far-off sites to approach holy figures, to appeal for divine intervention, and to fulfill obligations. This seminar explores the material dimensions of these journeys, from the spaces entered and sites encountered to the things travelers brought or took away. The class focuses on shrines built and used c. 300-1500 CE.