21 courses with the subject CSTS B, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
CSTS B149FEELING GREECE & ROME1.0
Feeling Greece & Rome is about emotions—what they are to us, to ancient people, and how we can study apparently internal, intuitive, personal feelings in Greek and Latin texts. After we get oriented with some ancient and modern theories of emotion, every week focuses on a particular feeling—anger, desire, grief, disgust, horror, joy, and so on. By the close of this semester, you’ll have: come to appreciate the scope of the (history of the) study of feelings, and how ancient Greek and Roman thinking has informed both scholarly and popular understandings; grappled with a range of theories and methodologies developed by scholars of emotion, ancient and modern, and by classicists in particular; and applied them to ancient contexts yourself. ?
This course will illustrate the ways in which feminism has had an impact on classics, as well as the ways in which feminists think with classical texts. It will have four thematic divisions: feminism and the classical canon; feminism, women, and rethinking classical history; feminist readings of classical texts; and feminists and the classics - e.g. Cixous' Medusa and Butler's Antigone.
This course traces the rise of the city-state (polis) in the Greek-speaking world beginning in the seventh-century BC down to its full blossoming in classical Athens and Sparta. Students should gain an understanding of the formation and development of Greek identity, from the Panhellenic trends in archaic epic and religion through its crystallization during the heroic defense against two Persian invasions and its subsequent disintegration during the Peloponnesian war. The class will also explore the ways in which the evolution of political, philosophical, religious, and artistic institutions reflect the changing socio-political circumstances of Greece. The latter part of the course will focus on Athens in particular: its rise to imperial power under Pericles, its tragic decline from the Peloponnesian War and its important role as a center for the teaching of rhetoric and philosophy. Since the study of history involves the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of the sources available for the culture studied, students will concentrate upon the primary sources available for Greek history, exploring the strengths and weakness of these sources and the ways in which their evidence can be used to create an understanding of ancient Greece. Students should learn how to analyze and evaluate the evidence from primary texts and to synthesize the information from multiple sources in a critical way.
CSTS B206COSMOS: MYTH, MEDICINE, & LAW IN ANCIENT GREECE1.0
The ancient Greek word ‘cosmos’ means ‘order’ or ‘system’; it also means ‘beauty’ or ‘adornment’. The Greeks thought of the world around them as an orderly system, adorned with beauty, but their imaginings of that order took many different forms, from the most fantastic of myths to elaborate mathematical and physiological models. This course explores the systems of order that the Greeks imagined for the universe – the macrocosm, for the human body – the microcosm, and for society – the the system of laws that brings order to humans in the world. Throughout the course, we examine the ways ideas of generation, justice, and gender inflect the cosmic systems, beginning with early Greek epic and moving through the philosophical texts (especially Plato’s Timaeus), Hippocratic medical treatises, and lawcourt speeches. We will explore the discourses of myth, science, and law in the ancient Greek context and their relation to contemporary discourses. Students will gain familiarity with the conceptual schemas of ancient Greek thought that have been fundamental for cosmology, medicine, and law in the Western tradition and will learn to analyze the ways in which these models have shaped ideas of generation, justice, and gender throughout the ages. Students will also improve their skills of critical reading and analytic writing through their work with the readings and writing assignments in the course, and they will hone their skills of reasoned discussion in the class.
CSTS B211DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES, GODS FROM MACHINES: INTRO TO GREEK TRAGEDY1.0
This course will introduce the student to the world of Greek Tragedy as it flourished in Athens in 5th century BC. We will read the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, & Euripides and discuss the playwrights' treatment of myth, the role of the chorus, the relation between text and performance, and the relevance of Greek tragedy for subsequent centuries, down to the present day. Special attention will be given to modern performances of these ancient plays in theater and in film as well as to the themes of choral voice, disability, euthanasia, slavery; the impact of war on women & children; and the relation between mortals and immortals. Please Note: NO KNOWLEDGE OF ANCIENT GREEK IS REQUIRED. ALL TEXTS WILL BE READ IN ENGLISH!
CSTS B216MADNESS IN THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD1.0
How did ancient Greeks and Romans conceive of madness? Was it a deviant behavior, a contagious disease, or a divine punishment? What is the relationship between madness and music, madness and love, or madness and social control? How have understandings of madness changed from antiquity to the modern day? Our inquiries into these questions concentrate on three cultural realms: war, religion, and passion. In each section, we will read from a range of genres to unravel the complex notion of madness in Greco-Roman antiquity. At the same time, we will compare and scrutinize relevant modern phenomena, such as trauma, addiction, and deviance. All readings are in translation.
CSTS B222TASTEMAKERS: FOOD AND DRINK IN GREECE AND ROME1.0
Where does culture come from? At its root is the word colere, “to tend the land for food.” In antiquity, as today, cultivating and consuming food informed every aspect of life, with weddings, funerals, festivals, religious rites, romance, and politics all revolving around the table. In this course, we study the distinct yet overlapping dining cultures of antiquity through archaeological and literary remnants. We will observe how all walks of life collided in dining spaces, including adults and children, emperors and enslaved people, locals and migrants, and animals to eat and adore. We will consider not just the food they ate, but the images they saw on floors and vessels, the utensils they used, the art they performed, the games they played, the music and poetry they enjoyed, and the philosophy they discussed. In doing so, we will thoroughly consider how matters of taste are entangled with notions of identity, ethnicity, ethics, and individuality. All readings are in translation.
We explore how ancient stories are transmitted and transmuted in film, television, and related media. Stories from ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures have been important sources for cinema since the invention of film as a medium in the late 19th century, and likewise movies, series, and other video formats have long been among the most influential vehicles for modern imaginations of ancient worlds. To explore this rich area, we consider a dozen or so feature-length films, several episodes of television series, and shorter works all spanning 120 years of modern cinema (including early and silent films), in connection with a wide range of ancient texts (mostly Greek and Roman, some Near Eastern), and in context of modern scholarship (classical reception studies, film studies).
What is the ideal human society? What is the role and status of man and woman therein? Is such a society purely hypothetical or should we strive to make it viable in our modern world? This course will address these questions by exploring the historic development of the concept of utopia.
CSTS B233MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD1.0
This course explores the Mysteries of the ancient Greco-Roman world, examining the evidence for the rituals and religious ideas associated with these often secretive and hidden practices. From the Mysteries for Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis, carried out by thousands of Athenians in a multi-day festival, to the Bacchic revels for Dionysos celebrated by mountain-roaming maenads or sedate civic associations, to the secret rites for the Persian god Mithras, performed by Roman soldiers in cave shrines throughout the empire, these mysterious rituals have exercised their fascination over the centuries, playing an outsized role in the depictions of polytheistic religion in the ancient Mediterranean world.
What might ancient classics say about the modern world? In this course we explore intersections between ancient, Greco-Roman texts and the genre that is most characteristic of the modern, technoscientific world, science fiction. Raising questions about genres and traditions; the role of the 'humanities' in relation to 'technology'; and ways of discovering and evaluating 'knowledge', we consider the possibility that, although antiquity and the present day differ, at base ancient literature has given science fiction its profound sense of wonder about the world. Texts from authors such as Sappho, Sophocles, and Plato; Lucretius, Ovid, and Apuleius; Shelley, Borges, Dick, and Eco; Le Guin, Morrison, Atwood, and Edson; Cameron, Cronenberg, and Demme; and Benjamin, Baudrillard, Haraway, and Hayles.
Bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans - from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, the people of the Greco-Roman World made use of magic to try to influence the world around them. In this course students will gain an understanding of the magicians of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to serve their clientele, as well as the cultural contexts in which these ideas of magic arose. We shall consider ancient tablets and spell books as well as literary descriptions of magic in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.
Ancient Greeks and Romans--authors, poets, and their audiences--recognized that narratives could induce fear in their consumers. This course creates an analogy between ancient and contemporary fear-inducing literature, and asks what work the horror elements do in each. To get at this question, we will visit "classic" figures of horror, including: monsters, witches, ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, and human beings. Prepare to engage with Greek and Latin sources in translation as well as modern theories of horror.
This course explores the ancient Greek’s ideas of love, from the interpersonal loves between people of the same or different genders to the cosmogonic Eros that creates and holds together the entire world. The course examines how the idea of eros is expressed in poetry, philosophy, history, and the romances.
CSTS B303MONSTERS, WARS, AND WANDERINGS: INTRODUCTION TO EPIC1.0
This course surveys the epic tradition from its earliest surviving expressions in the ancient Near East to its modern reinventions. Beginning with the Epic of Gilgamesh, we examine how epic poetry emerged as a form through which cultures articulate foundational stories about heroism, mortality, community, and the divine. We then trace the development of the genre through key works of Greek and Roman antiquity—including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid—before turning to later transformations of epic in European and global traditions. Along the way, we ask how epic constructs ideals of heroism and leadership, how it represents the relationship between human beings and the gods, and how it responds to experiences of war, migration, empire, and cultural memory. Particular attention will be given to questions of genre; of oral vs. written composition; and of the ways later poets reinterpret and challenge earlier epic models. The course concludes with selections from Derek Walcott’s Omeros, a modern epic that reimagines Homeric themes within the historical and cultural landscape of the late 20th century Caribbean. By reading these works comparatively, students will explore how epic poetry both preserves and reshapes cultural values across millennia, and how the genre continues to evolve as writers revisit its forms and themes to address new historical realities.
This course provides the student with the opportunity to engage in seminar-level work on the topic of another CSTS course being offered in the term. With the guidance of the professor, the student will participate in the course activities of that course but will also develop a research project that enables the student to pursue aspects of the topic at a deeper level. This course should provide the student with experience in developing research and writing skills appropriate to the discipline. Prerequisite: Declared major in CLAN or CCAS and permission of instructor.
Feeling Greece & Rome is about emotions—what they are to us, to ancient people, and how we can study them in Greek and Latin texts. In Weeks 1–7 of this course, we explore theoretical paradigms—of emotion, its history/ies, and its presence in ancient texts and in classical scholarship. In the second half of the course, class sessions become more like workshops to facilitate flexibility and an active posture toward our material. Each Week from 8 on revolves around a particular feeling—anger, desire, grief, and so on. Everyone reads a theoretical or philosophical take on that particular feeling, as it’s experienced or evoked. Then, students are assigned to a pair of readings, either A, B, or C. A/B/C texts are classics-related, and each group includes one piece of scholarship and one Greek or Latin case study to think it with. The case study may be philosophical; involve characters that express feeling/s in-text; and/or they may seek to stimulate or suppress feeling/s in their audience. The case study/scholarship pairs won’t be directly related to encourage their readers to imagine how our sources can constellate. Prerequisite: At least one 200-level CSTS course or permission of instructor.
The myths of the Greeks have provoked outrage and fascination, interpretation and retelling, censorship and elaboration, beginning with the Greeks themselves. We will see how some of these stories have been read and understood, recounted and revised, in various cultures and eras, from ancient tellings to modern movies. We will also explore some of the interpretive theories by which these tales have been understood, from ancient allegory to modern structural and semiotic theories. The student should gain a more profound understanding of the meaning of these myths to the Greeks themselves, of the cultural context in which they were formulated. At the same time, this course should provide the student with some familiarity with the range of interpretations and strategies of understanding that people of various cultures and times have applied to the Greek myths during the more than two millennia in which they have been preserved. Preference to upperclassmen, previous coursework in myth required.
This is a bi-college seminar devoted to readings in and discussion of selected topics in the various sub-fields of Classics (e.g. literature, religion, philosophy, law, social history) and of how to apply contemporary critical approaches to the primary sources. Students will also begin developing a topic for their senior thesis, composing a prospectus and giving a preliminary presentation of their findings.
This is the continuation of CSTS B398. Working with individual advisors from the bi-college classics departments, students will continue to develop the topic sketched out in the fall semester. By the end of the course, they will have completed at least one draft and a full, polished version of the senior thesis, of which they will give a final oral presentation.
