Classics - CLS

CLS 103 Greek History 3 Credits

Social, political, and intellectual history of the Greeks from the end of the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period.

Fulfills College Core: Field 4 (History), Global Awareness

Offered: every fall.

CLS 104 Roman History 3 Credits

Social, political, and intellectual history of Rome from the foundation of the city to late antiquity.

Fulfills College Core: Field 4 (History), Global Awareness

Offered: every spring.

CLS 205 Ancient Greece: Culture and Society 3 Credits

Fundamental social, political, moral, religious, and intellectual aspects of the human condition as reflected in a variety of Greek writers, art, and artifacts.

Fulfills College Core: Field 3 (Literature and the Arts), Global Awareness

Offered: once a year.

CLS 206 Ancient Rome: Culture and Society 3 Credits

Fundamental social, political, moral, religious, and intellectual aspects of the human condition as reflected in a variety of Roman writers, art, and artifacts.

Fulfills College Core: Field 3 (Literature and the Arts), Global Awareness

Offered: once a year.

CLS 207 Mythology and Literature 3 Credits

Origin, content, and interpretation of the major classical myths. Modern approaches to mythology. Influence upon literature and ethical principles and theories.

Fulfills College Core: Ethics, Field 3 (Literature and the Arts)

Offered: fall & spring.

CLS 209 Greek and Roman Archaeology 3 Credits

History, methods, major sites, and current topics in Greek and Roman Archaeology from the Bronze Age through Late Antiquity.

Fulfills College Core: Field 5 (Social Sciences), Global Awareness

Offered: spring of odd-numbered years.

CLS 211 Archaeology of Pompeii 3 Credits

On August 24th, 79 C.E., Mt. Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as countless farms and villas in the countryside. The ash and pyroclastic flows killed all who had not yet fled, and preserved the cities in the moment of their destruction. Their archaeological rediscovery in the 1700s led to 250 years of excavations which have continued to provide us with astonishing evidence about the people who lived and died in the shadow of Vesuvius. Every aspect of ancient life is represented in these two towns—poor and rich, free and enslaved, work and leisure, religion, politics, art, food, and even sex. If you want to know what it was like to live in the Roman Empire, don’t go to Rome—come to Pompeii!

Prerequisite: None. Corequisite: None.

Fulfills College Core: Field 5 (Social Sciences), Global Awareness

Offered: spring of even-numbered years.

CLS 212 Borders, Walls, and Immigrants in the Ancient World 3 Credits

Examination of momentous migrations and displacements around the Mediterranean (Greek colonization, Roman veteran settlement, Gothic invasions), from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages; the economic, religious, social, and political motivations; the impact; Greco-Roman concepts of borders and “Frontier”; case studies (Hadrian's Wall); themes in immigration studies, including theories of assimilation/resistance, diaspora, ethnicity, and identity.

Fulfills College Core: Field 5 (Social Sciences), Global Awareness

Offered: occasionally.

CLS 214 Greek and Roman Tragedy 3 Credits

Study of Greek and Roman tragedy, its origins, cultural setting, staging, performance, and influence. Readings from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca.

Fulfills College Core: Ethics, Field 3 (Literature and the Arts), Oral Communication

Offered: fall & spring.

CLS 216 Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World 3 Credits

This course will explore ancient theories on race and ethnicity from Homer to Late Antiquity and how these theories have been read and internalized in modern times, with a special emphasis on their influence on the construction of identity and race in the modern United States. Through the study of a broad range of ancient texts in translation, we will investigate how ancient Greeks and Romans talked about, represented, and attempted to understand and categorize human diversity — what we call race and ethnicity.

Prerequisite: none. Corequisite: none.

Fulfills College Core: Field 4 (History)

Offered: fall of even-numbered years.

CLS 220 Greek and Latin Roots of Medical Terminology 3 Credits

An introductory course on the fundamental Greek and Latin roots of medical terminology in preparation for a career in the health sciences professions. Acquire knowledge to understand, speak, and write the language of contemporary medicine by learning how to analyze roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and their predictable patterns of combinations. Material covered includes anatomy, all systems of the human body, psychology and substance terminology, along with basic language history, linguistic principles, and etymology.

Offered: occasionally.

CLS 306 Blood, Pus, and Vomit: Studying Ancient Medicine 3 Credits

This course is a survey of the art of medicine in the ancient Mediterranean: what causes medical problems and what those problems were, how diagnoses were determined, the treatments available and who administered them, and how each society learned from the others. The course begins with ancient Mesopotamia, then turns attention to Egypt, Greece, the Hellenistic world, and finally the Roman empire. Concentration is on the ancient world, but the course includes discussion of the techniques and theories developed then which were still being taught in medical schools in the 19th century and beyond.

Prerequisite: none. Corequisite: none.

Fulfills College Core: Oral Communication

Offered: spring of even-numbered years.

CLS 309 Greek and Roman Religion 3 Credits

Religious thought and action in ancient Greece and Rome from Homer through the 2nd century A.D. Polytheism, anthropomorphism, ritual, cult and sacrifice.

Fulfills College Core: Field 1 (Religious Studies and Theology), Global Awareness, Oral Communication

Offered: every fall.

CLS 311 Alexander the Great 3 Credits

Philip II and the rise of Macedon. Alexander's personality, his conquests, and the social, political, and intellectual consequences of his reign. Hellenistic culture.

Fulfills College Core: Global Awareness

Offered: anticipated spring 2022.

CLS 314 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 3 Credits

Imperial crisis and recovery of the third century, Constantine and Christianity, barbarian invasions, social, political, and intellectual developments in the Byzantine East and Latin West. Historiography of the "Decline and Fall."

Offered: anticipated spring 2021.

CLS 499 Independent Study 3-6 Credits

Directed research on a selected topic. Independent studies require an application and approval by the associate dean.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor, department chair, & associate dean.

Offered: occasionally.