Global Arc

The historical development of Roman law and its influence on modern legal systems. Particular attention is given to the fundamental principles of Roman private law, including the law of persons, property, inheritance, and contract; and there is a close analysis of courtroom procedure. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A period, problem, or theme in ancient history or religion with critical attention to the ancient sources and modern discussions. The topic and instructor vary from year to year. Format will change each time, depending on enrollment.

A period, problem, or theme in ancient history or religion with critical attention to the ancient sources and modern discussions. The topic and instructor vary from year to year. Format will change each time, depending on enrollment.

The theoretical and ideological bases of the Western attitudes toward sex and gender categories in their formative period in the Greco-Roman world through the study of myth and ritual, archaeology, art, literature, philosophy, science, medicine, law, economics, and historiography. Selected readings in classical and modern texts.

The development of Greek legal traditions, from Homer to the Hellenistic age. The course focuses on the relationship between ideas about justice, codes of law, and legal practice (courtroom trials, arbitration), and the development of legal theory. Two 90-minute seminars.

A study of medieval and modern women and men as gendered agents of the transmission, imitation, and adaptation of Greco-Roman literature and ideology. Our primary emphasis will be on the Latin Middle Ages and on 19th- and 20th- century America. Some representative issues: Is there a tradition of women's writing? Classical themes, ancient authors, and changing perceptions of Antiquity as sources of inspiration for women writers; gender, race and class in the curriculum and the profession of Classics; classical education and social action.

This course aims to introduce students to the intellectual world of late antiquity, a period of the history of Western cultural development that was, contrary to common belief, far more formative and influential than the cherished classical or Hellenistic periods. Participants will study texts that exemplify the way in which elite discourses of rationality first developed in the context of the Greek polis collided with the religious experiences and sentiments of eastern ethnic groups to create an entirely new paradigm of human existence.

A special topic concerning the adaptation of one or more classical themes in contemporary culture through media such as literature, film, and music. Two 90-minute seminars.

A classical genre or literary theme will be studied as it was handed down and transformed in later ages, for example, the European epic; ancient prose fiction and the picaresque tradition; the didactic poem. Two 90-minute seminars.

This course provides an introduction to the study of the Indo-European language family from both a historical and a comparative perspective. The emphasis will be on the phonology, morphology, and vocabulary of the earliest representatives (Ancient Greek, Latin, Vedic Sanskrit, Hittite, Old Irish, Old English, etc.) and what they have to tell us about Proto-Indo-European and the culture of the speakers of this reconstructed "mother tongue."