First-Year Courses in Classical CivilizationConsult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 1:00 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004. Fall Academic Term, 2004 (September 7 - December 23)The Department of Classical Studies believes that the literature, monuments, and social institutions of the ancient world, together with the reflections of the Greek and Roman thinkers about their own cultures, are of unique value in themselves, well worth our contemplation and understanding; and that as we attempt to learn about and appreciate classical civilization, we necessarily learn as well a variety of contemporary methodologies and disciplines. The department offers three groups of courses for distribution, those in Classical Civilization (introductory courses that require no knowledge of Greek or Latin), courses in Classical Archaeology, and upper-level language courses in Greek and Latin authors or genres. While only a few courses are repeated in yearly or biennial rotation, most courses are offered less regularly. This system guarantees that the instructor approaches the subject each time with fresh impetus. We believe in a healthy change and variation in our course offerings. Classical Civilization offerings include the general surveys of Greek and Roman civilizations (CLCIV 101 and 102), which provide (through readings, lectures, and discussions) a broad understanding of the literatures, thought, and social development of ancient Greece and Rome, and thus provide the student with knowledge of and appreciation for our cultural origins, as well as an acquaintance with modern methods for understanding an ancient culture. These courses are taught each year. CLCIV 101 is offered in the Fall and CLCIV 102 is offered in the Winter. Other courses provide understanding of particular aspects of the ancient world, approached from a variety of disciplines and studies — literary, philosophical, historical, sociological, and so on. Some students (particularly those who have already developed special interests in such disciplines) may wish to explore one of these topics without having had a broader introduction. Classical Archaeology offerings include the broad surveys of the archaeology and monuments of Greece (CLARCH 221 — offered in the Fall) and Rome (CLARCH 222 — offered in the Winter) and a general introduction to archaeological field methods (CLARCH 323). Other courses use the material remains of specific cultures both to introduce students to the diversity of the ancient world and to demonstrate how, through a variety of multi-disciplinary approaches, the archaeological record can be used to reconstruct the life-ways of past societies. Courses in this division do not require a knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are intended for students who wish to acquire knowledge of ancient literature, life, and thought, and of the debt modern civilization owes the Greeks and Romans. CLCIV 101. Classical Civilization I: The Ancient Greek World (in English).
Section 001.Instructor(s): Benjamin B Acosta-Hughes (bacosta@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in GTBOOKS 191 or 201.
Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Do these famous lines from Greek literature make you curious? "My name is Nobody" — Odysseus' verbal trick which helps him escape from the monstrous Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey. "I would rather stand three times in the front lines of battle than give birth once" — Medea in Euripides' tragedy Medea. "It was a democracy in name, but in reality it was the rule of one man" — the historian Thucydides, writing about Pericles' leadership of the Athenian democracy. "The unexamined life is not worth living" — Socrates in Plato's Apology. Do you know the answers to these puzzling questions? Why did the Athenian democracy put its most famous intellectual (Socrates) to death? What would happen if the women of ancient Greece went on a sex strike? What was the penalty for adultery in Ancient Athens? Why did the Ancient Greeks develop the first democracies in history? If these sayings and questions make you curious, then consider signing up for CLCIV 101: The Ancient Greek World. No previous knowledge is required. This course serves as an introduction to the literature, art, and archaeology of this fascinating but paradoxical civilization. We will laugh with the ancient comedians and think with the ancient philosophers. We will also confront the contradictions of this complex society. For instance, we will examine why women were kept out of politics, but were featured so prominently in one of the most political forms of entertainment (drama). We will also ask how the Greeks reconciled their strong belief in freedom with their willingness to own slaves. There will be approximately 50 pages of reading per week, two short papers, a midterm and a final examination. Students who enroll in this course may choose to take the companion course, CLCIV 102: The Ancient Roman World (offered in the Winter Term). Students who complete this sequence are encouraged to consider a concentration in Classical Studies. Visit the Classics Undergraduate website at: http://www.umich.edu/~classics/undergrad Course Webpages: http://www.umich.edu/~classics/cc/101/index.html
CLCIV 120. First-year Seminar in Classical Civilization (Humanities).Section 001 — The Smell of Litigation.Instructor(s): Arthur MFW Verhoogt (verhoogt@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. First-Year Seminar
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Classical Athens was a litigious city. Every citizen could litigate another citizen and argue his case before a court of fellow citizens. A number of speeches arguing for or against a case have survived. Most of them were written by ancient speech writers who could be hired to argue a case for you. As a rule, these speeches give only one side of the proceedings; the actual litigation (against which the surviving speech argues) or defense (replying to the surviving speech) have been lost in the course of the centuries. During this course, students will be introduced to the litigation procedures in the Athens of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. With the help of texts in translation students will be asked to read and analyze actual speeches. What are the particulars of the case that is being argued? What sort of arguments are used? What rhetorical techniques are applied? Should we "believe" the arguments given by the speaker? The class will also discuss the other side of these speeches that have not survived. Is it possible to reconstruct the arguments given by the litigant or defendant? What are possible modern arguments that can be adduced to argue these 2400 year old cases? Each week students will discuss a case, read the ancient text, think about the other side, and finally give an argued "verdict".
CLCIV 120. First-year Seminar in Classical Civilization (Humanities).Section 002 — Communication Arts: Speaking and Writing in Ancient Greece. Meets with HISTART 194.002.Instructor(s): Alexandra PappasPrerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. First-Year Seminar
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. You may have learned that Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, were transmitted orally or reflect an "oral culture." But around the same time as Homer, in the 8th century BC, the Greek alphabet was born, and with it, some degree of literacy. Over the next 200 years, people began to inscribe all kinds of objects with their new alphabet: shepherds scratched graffiti on rural cliffs; craftsmen etched and painted words on temples, statues and cups used at drinking parties; Greek politicians inscribed laws on stone and set them up in public places. In the 5th and 4th centuries, writing allowed authors like Herodotus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Plato to create the histories, tragedies, comedies, and philosophical treatises that now form the canon of Western literature. And, finally, in the age of Alexander the Great, scholars began collecting papyrus rolls of literary works and storing them in libraries. But who knew how to write in ancient Greece? How many people could read what was written? Was writing somehow meaningful to those who could not read it? How should we define "literacy"? And how did levels of literacy change over time? We'll discuss and debate these points both in and out of the classroom, drawing on ancient literary texts and inscriptions, slides in class, objects at the Kelsey Museum and papyrus fragments at the University Library.
CLCIV 120. First-year Seminar in Classical Civilization (Humanities).Section 003 — War and Remembrance.Instructor(s): Netta Ruth Berlin (berlin@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. First-Year Seminar
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course centers on Homer's Iliad and its paradigmatic value for military conflict in antiquity and the modern era. The course begins with a close reading of the poem, in particular the dynamic relationship between the narrowly circumscribed subject ("the anger of Achilles") and the complex narrative that transforms this subject into an evocative and enduring account of war. The remainder of the course considers works in a variety of disciplines (e.g., tragedy, philosophy, psychology) for which the Iliad has provided an access point to understanding war and its call to remembrance.
Consult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 1:00 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004.
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