Fall 2017

Greek Survey, CLASS-GA1009
TBA, David Sider

Re-visiting the Classics, CLASS-GA 2502, same as COLIT-GA2502
Monday, 3:30-6:10, Emma Bianchi
In the face of the rising popularity of “new materialisms,” this class examines the emergence of the notion of “matter” in classical antiquity. In short, matter, from the Latin ‘materia’ (related to mater, mother) is transmitted from Aristotle’s Greek innovation hulê (literally, wood). We will undertake close readings of key ancient primary texts, including various Presocratics, Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s Physics, Metaphysics, and Generation of Animals, and Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, tracing the discourses of materiality that arise in concert with tropes of sex and gender. The guiding question here is: what can matter’s genealogical ties to the feminine tell us about the materialization of bodies and genders? At the same time, we will attend to the topographies and texture of ancient thinking about nature and materiality more broadly. Alongside a narrative of “emergence” we will also consider hermeneutic questions – what are the ethico-political stakes of a “retrieval” of antiquity and what is the nature of our relationship to these distant texts? How does such “retrieval” function to both conceal and reveal? Why “return” to antiquity and how might resuscitation of the canon contribute to contemporary theorizing? While ancient texts are undoubtedly “good to think with,” are they capable of displacing modernity’s epistemological binds in favor of ontological or material questions? How might a consideration of these texts enrich contemporary discourses of matter and gender? To help orient our study we will draw on contemporary feminist thinkers including Irigaray, Kristeva, Loraux and Cavarero, as well as critically engaging Bachofen’s 19^th century conception of Mutterrecht. Some background knowledge of psychoanalytic theory is advised as is knowledge of Greek, however all readings will be in translation.

Aeneid, CLASS-GA2882
Wednesday, 4:15-6:15, Alessandro Barchiesi
The class is designed to discuss contemporary approaches to the Aeneid in research, and also to increase familiarity with the text in Latin. Students are expected to give a presentation and to turn it into a final paper. We will discuss literary models, references to history and geography, and select examples of reception in various ages and contexts.

Aristophanes, CLASS-GA2970
Tuesday, 6:30-8:30, Peter Meineck (at CUNY)
In this course we will focus on Aristophanes' Frogs, first staged in Athens around 405 BCE. We will undergo a deep reading of the Greek text and consider the staging, political and social situations, aesthetic questions, production, transmission, and translation of the text and modern incarnations of the work. A good working knowledge of ancient Greek is required for this class.

Greek Drama in the Mediterranean & Black Sea, CLASS-GA3004
Wednesday, 6:30-8:30, Barbara Kowalzig
In recent years, our knowledge of the performance of ancient drama outside Athens and beyond the fifth century has significantly increased. We are now much better informed about theatrical cultures across the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the impact of re-performance, the organisation and financing of theatre productions, the social and economic status of actors, and the archaeology of theatre. This seminar will provide an introduction to this thriving research field. It will then look at the motivations and mechanisms governing the spread of drama during the classical period and at the performance of drama in local social and religious contexts such as Sicily, Macedonia, and the Black Sea. In particular, on the basis of a number of individual plays, we will examine the role of myth and ritual in Athenian drama in forging cultural and economic relations between Athens and peoples and places across the Mediterranean, and in conceptualizing maritime spaces, journeys, and connectivities by sea. For example, what exactly is the relationship between the mythical themes appearing on the Athenian stage and the economic significance of the area portrayed? Time and interest permitting, we will also examine Hellenistic performance culture, as well as the evidence for theatre in Roman Greece.

For a taste of the field and for some introductory reading, see O. Taplin, ‘Spreading the Word through Performance’ (1999); B. Kowalzig, ‘Nothing to do with Demeter? Something to do with Sicily! Theatre and Society in the Early Fifth-century West’ (2008); K. Bosher (ed.), Theatre Outside Athens. Drama in Greek Sicily and Italy (2013); B. Kowalzig, ‘Transcultural Chorality: Iphigenia in Tauris and Athenian Imperial Economics in a Polytheistic World’ (2013); E. Csapo, P. Wilson, ‘Drama Outside Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC’ (2015).

Greek Prose Composition, CLASS-GA1011
Thursday, 4:15-6:15 (Fordham)
This course offers an introduction to composition in Greek and a survey of prose styles from Lysias to Plutarch. Each week we will tackle a different genus scribendi in our reading and then review individual points of syntax and stylistics via practice exercises and free composition. Students will be asked to make presentations on the style of an author of their choice. It is hoped that by the end of the course we will have gained a deeper knowledge of Greek sentence structure and idiom and a greater appreciation for a broad range of prose styles in Greek.

Plato, CLASS-GA2932
Monday, 4:15-6:15, Simpson (CUNY)
The course will take the form of a study of the works of Plato through selected readings from them, including in particular parts of the Republic and Apology. A large question in Platonic scholarship, however, is the order of the dialogues and whether a chronological ordering (usually favored today) is better than some other or thematic ordering. Ancient authors, Neo-Platonists in particular, favored thematic orderings. They also regarded most Platonic works that have come down to us as really by Plato (including all the letters), while modern scholars tend to reject some at least of what the Neo-Platonists accepted (e.g. most of the letters). The course will begin with some discussion of the authenticity and ordering questions and then proceed to specific selections.

Cicero's Speeches, CLASS-GA 2845
Thursday, 6:30-8:30, Leo Landrey (Fordham)
In Cicero's Speeches students will encounter and track Roman oratory over the course of the career of its most eminent stylist and theoretician. Class time will focus on analyzing the aims and means of each speech and how they connect to central ideas in Late Republican culture. These ideas may include the distribution of power within the republic, the boundaries of Roman masculinity, the construction of individual identity, and the performative nature of public speaking. Brief passages of relevant comparative material, such as excerpts from Cicero's letters, philosophy, and poetry, will complement the core assignments. A reasonably priced course pack will be available for students to purchase.

Homer: Iliad, CLASS-GA2981
Tuesday, 4:15-6:15, Roberts (CUNY)
A close reading of the Iliad (selections). We will pay close attention to Homer’s language and style, his portrayal of specific gods and mortals and of their interaction with one another, the notion of heroism, Homeric warfare, and the historical context of the poem, but we will also explore whatever aspects of the poem are of particular interest to students in the course. Students will write a term paper of about 20 pages on a topic of their own choosing.

Rome & the Hellenistic East, CLASS-GA3000
Monday, 6:30-8:30, Allen (CUNY)
This course explores the vitality of the Hellenistic period, roughly defined as 330-30 BCE, by exploring interactions among the populations of the Mediterranean, including Roman, Hellenic, Egyptian, Punic, Judaean, Celtic, and various hybrids thereamong. We’ll consider a series of case studies in literature, art, epigraphy, and archaeology to understand new developments in culture, politics, and geopolitics.

Courses at ISAW (permission of the instructor required):

Course descriptions can be found here.

Introduction to Ancient Astronomical Traditions, ISAW-GA 3002-001
Monday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Alexander Jones

The Transmission of Ancient Science into Arabic, ISAW-GA 3007-001
Tuesday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Robert Hoyland

Archaeology of Anatolia from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic Period, ISAW-GA 3012-001
Friday, 2-5 p.m., Lorenzo d’Alfonso

Art, Archaeology, & Museology, ISAW-GA 3012-002
Wednesday, 2-5 p.m., Lillian Tseng and Jennifer Chi

Historiographies of Ancient Egypt, ISAW-GA 3020-001
Thursday, 2-5 p.m., Emily Cole

Spring 2017

CLASS-GA 1001 Introduction to Classical Studies (CUNY), R, 6:30 - 8:30, Jennifer Roberts

CLASS-GA 1002 Archaeologies of the Greek Landscape, T, 6:30 - 8:30, Joan Breton Connelly
How did geography and the environment shape the ways that communities and individuals interacted with one another across the Greek world? How did the Greeks perceive, experience and exploit local landscapes and resources? This seminar focuses on: myth, landscape and sacred space; location of settlements, cities, and sanctuaries; ‘socialization’ of landscape; material culture within space and place; economic and political relationships; trade and exchange networks; technological innovations in agriculture, seafaring, and metallurgy; human alteration of land/cultural modifications to landscape. From the testimonia of ancient geographers, historians, and travellers, to Antiquarian accounts from the 16th century on, to the Topographic Tradition of the 19th century, and “Cultural-History” Archaeology of the 20thcentury, we will track the roots and emergence of “Landscape Archaeology” as a sub-discipline in the 1960s/1970s. Developments in the decades that followed include: emphasis on surface and regional intensive/extensive surveys, quantitative studies, spatial data, archaeological prospection, modelling artifact distributions and analytical GIS. Select readings from: Herodotus, Strabo, Pausanias, Leake, Gell, Muller, Pendlebury, Hope Simpson, Bintliff, Renfrew, MacDonald, Rapp, Braudel, Snodgrass, Hodder, Cherry, Kardoulias, Horden, Purcell, Knapp, Alcock, Malkin, Elsner, and Broodbank.

CLASS-GA 1005 Latin Survey, M&W, 2:00 - 3:15, David Levene
We will be studying a number of Latin texts from the Augustan period to late antiquity. Apart from simply reading and understanding the texts, we will be seeking to examine their place in the development of Latin literature; we will also be surveying a variety of critical approaches adopted by modern scholars, through close readings of key articles and books on the the different authors.

CLASS-GA 1013 Survey of Greek Literature (Fordham), T, 4:15 - 6:15, Mathew McGowan & Sarah Peirce
The course offers a survey of Greek literature from Homer to Plutarch. Each week we will read extensive selections from different authors that appear on the M.A./Ph.D. reading list. For our weekly meetings students will be asked to read the corresponding chapter in Albrecht Dihle’s History of Greek Literature (Routledge 1994). All are welcome to attend.

CLASS-GA 3000 Future of the Past (Fordham), T, 6:30 - 8:30, Jason Pedicone
What is Classics? Where does it come from? Where is it going? These are questions of existential importance for those who have taken a professional interest in the field of Classical Studies, but they are rarely studied formally in graduate school. This seminar will offer graduate students the opportunity to engage with and explore these questions about our field, and to examine themes of particular relevance to the future of the discipline. It will start with an overview of the history of Classical Scholarship from Alexandria to the present day, and then explore various themes related to the future development of the field such as: the role of a classical education in American education; the development of the field of philology; comparison of current models for classical educational around the world; studies in the demographics of interest in classics worldwide; models for outreach in classics; exploration of possible alternative career outcomes for Classics Ph.D's; and the role classical studies will play in the future of higher education. The seminar will welcome guest speakers including several Paideia Legionnaires."
Readings will be drawn from the following:
History of Classical Scholarship, Volumes I and II by Rudolf Pfeiffer
Selections from History of Classical Scholarship by John Sandys
Philology by David Turner
Organizing Enlightenment by Chad Wellman
"From Polyhistor to Philolog" by Anthony Grafton
The Tyranny of Greece over Germany by E.M. Butler
Wolf's Prolegomena ad Homerum, A. Grafton, G. Most, & J. Zetzel edition
Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy and Wilamotitz' Future Philology
The Founders and the Classics and The Golden Age of Classics in America, by Carl J. Richards
Who Killed Homer? by Victor Davis Hanson
Excellent Sheep by Bill Deriesewicz
The Graduate School Mess by Leonard Casutto
College: What is Is, Was, and Should Be by Andrew Del Banco
The Future of the Classical by Salvatore Settis (2006)

CLASS-GA 3000-002, Through the Eyes of Coins: Trade & Wealth in the Ancient World, T, 3:30-6:00, Gilles Bransbourg & Peter Van Alfen from the American Numismatic Society
Coins are much more than just money. They are windows in the way people organize their politics, their societies, and, of course, their economies. Coins were first struck in the ancient Mediterranean world in the late 7th century BC and rapidly spread throughout Greece coinciding with the revolutionary changes that gave birth to the Greek city-state. Greek and Roman expansions led to increased monetization all across the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, shaping political structures, fiscal regimes, domestic and international trade. This course begins by looking at archaic Greece before coinage, seeking to understand what money was before coinage, and how trade and wealth were organized. Thereafter, it focuses on the ways in which coinage altered these organizations and structures through Greco-Roman antiquity, leading to entirely new concepts like fiduciarity, exchange rate risk, and inflation. The course will cover the history, methods and theories of numismatics, and will include hands-on experience with ancient coins, while dealing with the impact that coinage had on ancient societies.

CLASS-GA 2887 Ovid’s Metamorphoses, W, 4:15 - 6:15, Alessandro Barchiesi
The seminar addresses one of the crucial texts of the Western tradition, now in roughly its 2000th year of reception history. The main goal is to encourage participants to develop research approaches and offer fresh papers on the text but also on its reception and influence.

Knowledge of Latin, not necessarily very advanced, is necessary. The texts for the seminar discussion will be translated and explained in class.

Some of the main areas of interest: mythology, the construction of landscape, gender, metamorphosis, poetic models, tragedy and epic, cosmology, Imperial ideology, narrative style and narratology, Roman Hellenism, material culture in epic, emotions and their representation.

Text: Tarrant's Oxford Classical Text of Metamorphoses; other bibliography will be indicated in class.

CLASS-GA 3003 Latin Prose Composition (CUNY), M, 6:30 - 8:30, Philip Thibodeau

CLASS-GA 2878 Plautus, W, 6:30 - 8:30, Emilia Barbiero
This course focuses on the epistolary motif in Plautine comedy, exploring the complex dynamics engendered when text appears on stage. How does Plautus use the letter and its thorny conventions to create comic mischief and advance (or undo) the plot? What role do missives play in the playwright's poetics - particularly in the construction of metatheatre? After looking at the origins of the embedded epistle in Greek literature, we will investigate the reading and writing of letters on the Roman comic stage through close study of the Plautine 'letter plays' (Bacchides, Curculio, Persa, Pseudolus and Trinummus).

CLASS 3002 History from/in the Arts (CUNY), M, 4:15 - 6:15, Liv Yarrow
An investigation into how and why we today use literary and visual media when reconstructing the past and how this intersects with context and function of ancient artistic and literary production.

CLASS-GA 3202 Workshop on Greek Sight Reading (CUNY), R, 4:15 - 6:15, Dee Clayman (1 Credit)
A knowledge of basic Greek grammar and vocabulary is assumed. The class will meet for 1.5 hours each week. Regular attendance is required. The instructor will bring to class each week texts selected from the works of authors on the reading list, with an emphasis on prose. Students will be challenged to translate them on the spot in writing, and discussion will follow of strategies for producing accurate and literal translations. The course is ideal for students preparing to take a Greek translation exam (MA of PhD), but any student enrolled in the MA or PhD in Classics, Ancient History, or Comparative Literature may register until the course limit is reached.

ISAW Courses
 ISAW-GA 3012-001  Sciences and Intellectual Life in the Second Century Roman Empire, M, 9:00 - 12:00,  Alexander Jones & Claire Bubb 
alexander.jones@nyu.edu; cc148@nyu.edu
  This seminar will cover the wide range of intellectual activity in the Roman Empire in the second century AD. Though its literature has at times been dismissed as second-rate or derivative, the second century was home to some of the most prolific and influential writers in their fields in antiquity, especially in the sciences, making it a fertile period for the study of interdisciplinary cross-pollination. The social history of the period is also of rich interest, especially that around the Second Sophistic, a rhetorical movement that offers insights into the role of Greeks and Greekness in the Roman world, as well as the social and intellectual mores of the time. We will cover a variety of topics, including, potentially, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, miscellany, rhetoric and showmanship, and autobiography.  

Knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin and permission of the instructors are required.

Graduate Courses