20 courses with the subject ARAS, 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.
CR: 3 The more important classical myths read in English translations of Greek and Latin authors; their expression in ancient literature; what myth is, what it is for, how myths work and what they reveal about the history, culture, and values of the society which used them.
CR: 3 Using the principles of design thinking, this course explores the ways in which the ancient world can provide solutions to contemporary problems. Through an initial “upvote” students will isolate five major problems facing the world today. The course will then turn to the textual, visual, and material records of Egypt, Ancient Iran, Greece, Rome, and their affiliated territories as data sets from which students can identify problems; together we will explore the actions, events, and environments that produced these problems, and the solutions posed by past thinkers, using these investigations as a springboard from which to ask the question: How would I solve the problem differently? Offered alternate years.
CR: 3 This course examines how archaeological discoveries have changed our society’s understanding of the ancient world within a scientific framework and the popular imagination. A critical evaluation of world-famous sites (such as the cave paintings at Lascaux, the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Troy, the Neo- Assyrian palaces at Nimrud and Nineveh, Machu Picchu, Classic Maya sites, Stonehenge, and more) highlights key factors that influenced the interpretation of the past at the time of discovery and excavation and following decades or centuries of scholarship. Students will be asked to consider how key factors (such as racism, sexism, classism, imperial attitudes, etc.) influenced the interpretation of these sites and how new “great” discoveries continue to shape our understanding of the past.
CR: 3 This course explores the evidence - material, textual, and visual - for magic and witchcraft in the Ancient World, focusing in particular on the practices of Greece and Rome, with comparative course studies drawn from Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Biblical texts. By considering these practices as a form of non-normative belief expression, particularly as compared to state sanctioned religious practices in Greece and Rome, the course examines the relationship between such practices and the cultures that produced them, suggesting that practices framed as non-normative by textual sources reflect ongoing shifts in perspectives on gender, power, and otherness with ramifications echoing through political, social, and economic institutions, as well as through more normative religious systems. Offered alternate years. III.O
CR: 3 This class explores the role of material objects in the lives, ideology, politics, religion, and society of ancient cultures. Who were these ancient societies? How was history and identity created? The course will examine either one culture each semester (including Greece, Rome, and Egypt) or will investigate multiple societies over the course of one semester. We will explore the ways in which ancient societies defined their cultural identities, investigating the types of information that are made accessible by the integration of material and visual evidence, which highlight aspects of human experiences that are not attainable through the exploration of texts alone. Offered alternate years. Can be repeated if topics change. III.O
CR: 3 What was daily life like in the past? What can archaeology tell us about the occupations, influences, and challenges that men, women, and children experienced in past societies such as Babylon, Akhetaten, London, Pompeii, or Virginia plantations? Topics of study include the patterning of household activities (family life, craft production, child rearing, and diet), social interactions (between genders and among elites, peasants, and slaves), and ethnic and religious affiliations.
CR: 3 Upper-level research or creative project determined in advance by the student in consultation with two faculty members who will serve as primary and secondary project sponsors. The course is required for the Honors Degree, and serves as the capstone experience for Honors students who do not pursue a senior Honors thesis project. This course is typically taken in the student’s junior or senior year.
CR: 3 During this course, a senior is expected to refine and submit their thesis proposal under the supervision of a thesis advisor. The senior will submit their thesis proposal to the Student Advance Committee by the deadline determined by the Honors Program. Pending approval by the Student Advancement Committee, the student will spend the remainder of the semester beginning the research described in their proposal. If a student does not submit an acceptable thesis proposal as determined by the Student Advancement Committee, they will not be allowed to continue in the pursuit of the Honors Degree/Program Honors. This course will carry the rubric of the student’s major in which the thesis is based.
CR: 3 In this course, the student is expected to continue the research proposed and approved by the Student Advancement Committee in the 471 Proposal/Research course. This work is completed under the supervision of faculty advisors, culminating in the student defending their thesis before a committee.
Source: Sweet Briar College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
