Ancient Greek and Roman Studies (AGRS) is an interdisciplinary "area studies" major. It provides students with the opportunity to explore the rich diversity of Mediterranean antiquity in depth, in company with a relatively small cohort of undergraduates. While language study is an option, the major may be completed entirely in English. This major serves as excellent preparation for many different careers including law, medicine, teaching, writing, and business, as well as for graduate study in fields such as Anthropology, Archaeology, History, and Art History.
Declaring the Major
To declare the major, meet with the AGRS undergraduate advisor, who can help you create a course plan and complete the declaration. You may also want to review the Letters & Science advising site for a guide to declaring a major. For a detailed list of requirements, please see the Major Requirements tab.
Honors Program
Students who are declared majors in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies and who have a GPA (both general and departmental) of at least 3.6 are eligible for honors in AGRS. The honors program consists of a two-semester course sequence — AGRS H195A and AGRS H195B- designed to support the writing of a thesis. This thesis, which an honors committee of three members will evaluate, may either build on work in a previous upper-division course that fulfills the AGRS major or a newly conceived project. It is due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which AGRS H195B is taken.
Further details can be found online at AGRS Undergraduate Honors. Please consult with a DAGRS undergraduate adviser to begin planning to participate in honors.
Minor Program
The Ancient Greek and Roman Studies minor consists of five upper-division courses in the AGRS Department. Courses or seminars taught by DAGRS professors in other departments may also be accepted in consultation with the Undergraduate Advisor. One of the five courses may be taken outside of the department on campus or abroad with the approval of an Undergraduate Adviser.
Other Major and Minor Programs Offered by the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies
In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.
General Guidelines
All courses that fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit.
No more than one upper division course may simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, except for minors offered outside the College of Letters & Science.
In both upper- and lower-division courses used to fulfill the major requirements, a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained.
Please see the College Requirements tab for information regarding residence and unit requirements.
5 upper division elective courses are required. (130-series courses taken in addition to the one required can be used to meet upper-division electives.)
Courses used to meet lower division requirements excluded.
Pre-Modern Culture Requirement
One course, either lower or upper division, taken outside the department and whose subject is a pre-modern culture other than Greco-Roman (though the course can include an overlapping culture, e.g., Ancient Egypt). Many departments offer courses that can fulfill this requirement (e.g., English, History, History of Art, South & South-East Asian Studies).
The faculty advisor will consult with the student to select a course to meet the Pre-Modern Culture Requirement. The list below includes examples of accepted courses. There are many options available on campus, and transfer courses may accepted based on approval of a course syllabus and reading list.
Course List
Code
Title
Units
These courses are listed for the purpose of example:
Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements.
General Guidelines
All minors must be declared before the first day of classes in your Expected Graduation Term (EGT). For summer graduates, minors must be declared prior to the first day of Summer Session A.
All upper-division courses must be taken for a letter grade.
A minimum of three of the upper-division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required in the upper-division courses to fulfill the minor requirements.
Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.
No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. If students cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, they should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)
Requirements
Course List
Code
Title
Units
Upper Division
Five upper division courses in the Ancient Greek and Roman Studies Department. Courses or seminars taught by AGRS professors in other departments may also be accepted, in consultation with the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor. One of the five courses may be taken outside of the department on campus or abroad with the approval of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor.
College Requirements
Undergraduate students must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.
For a detailed lists of L&S requirements, please see Overview tab to the right in this guide or visit the L&S Degree Requirements webpage. For College advising appointments, please visit the L&S Advising Pages.
All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley and must be taken for a letter grade.
The American History and American Institutions requirements are based on the principle that all U.S. residents who have graduated from an American university should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.
All undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass this campus requirement course in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses are plentiful and offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.
College of Letters & Science Essential Skills Requirements
The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer/data science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course taken for a letter grade.
The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work taken for a letter grade.
In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing, and critical thinking the College of Letters and Science requires two semesters of lower division work in composition in sequence. Students must complete parts A & B reading and composition courses in sequential order by the end of their fourth semester for a letter grade.
College of Letters & Science 7 Course Breadth Requirements
The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.
Unit Requirements
120 total units
Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units
Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department
Residence Requirements
For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes at Cal for four years, or two years for transfer students. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you graduate early, go abroad for a semester or year, or want to take courses at another institution or through UC Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to meet an L&S College adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.
Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.
Senior Residence Requirement
After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your B.A. degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.
You may use a Berkeley Summer Session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.
Modified Senior Residence Requirement
Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP), Berkeley Summer Abroad, or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.
Upper Division Residence Requirement
You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding UCEAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.
Student Learning Goals
Mission
The learning goals should be understood in the context of the mission statement of the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies. The first two components of that statement are especially relevant to undergraduate teaching and are repeated here:
To give students across the University access to the literature, history, archaeology, mythology and philosophy of the ancient Greek and Roman world through an array of undergraduate courses on ancient Mediterranean culture in translation. These courses introduce students to texts, artifacts, and ideas that are worth studying both in their own right and as abidingly influential elements in the imagination and history of later cultures. Such study deepens students' understanding of present-day issues by inculcating a sense of historical perspective that takes account of both the differences and the continuities between contemporary and ancient cultures.
To enable undergraduates to immerse themselves in the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome through its majors in Ancient Greek and Roman Civilizations, Greek, and Latin. These majors equip students with knowledge and analytical skills that can be applied in many areas (e.g., law, politics, business, biosciences, computer science and media) as well as providing essential preparation for graduate study in classics, comparative literature, philosophy, and other fields.
Learning Goals for the Major
Acquire a basic understanding of ancient Greek and Latin texts (in translation) and/or material culture, including major monuments, sites, and works of art.
Demonstrate advanced knowledge of one or more subjects related to Ancient Greece and/or Rome (art and archaeology, history and culture, philosophy or Greek language, or Latin language).
Learn to identify and understand key events, institutions, personalities, places, and concepts of ancient Greek and Roman culture.
Gain a critical awareness of continuities and differences between and within cultures and of ideologies of gender, group identity, social status, and political organization.
Demonstrate the ability to interpret texts and material culture and to understand the implications of interpretive methods.
Demonstrate the ability to synthesize a well-organized argument from textual or other evidence and to express it in formal English prose.
Major Map
Major maps are experience maps that help undergraduates plan their Berkeley journey based on intended major or field of interest. Featuring student opportunities and resources from your college and department as well as across campus, each map includes curated suggestions for planning your studies, engaging outside the classroom, and pursuing your career goals in a timeline format.
Use the major map below to explore potential paths and design your own unique undergraduate experience:
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2023
Study of the major developments, achievements, and contradictions in Greek culture from the Bronze Age to the 4th century BCE. Key works of literature, history, and philosophy (read in English translation) will be examined in their political and social context, and in relation both to other ancient Mediterranean cultures and to subsequent developments in Western civilization. Introduction to Ancient Greece: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC 10A after completing CLASSIC S10AX, or CLASSIC S10A.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2024
Investigation of the main achievements and tensions in Roman culture from Romulus to the High Empire. Key sources for literature, history, and material culture are studied in order to reveal Roman civilization in its political and social context. All materials are read in English. Introduction Ancient Rome: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
The physical remains of the Greek world from the Bronze Age to 323 BCE will be studied, with emphasis on its artistic triumphs, as a means of understanding the culture of ancient Greece. Introduction to the Archaeology of the Greek World: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
This course provides a broad-based introduction to the archaeology of the ancient Romans from Rome’s origins in the Iron Age down to the disintegration of the Roman empire in the sixth century A.D. It aims to
familiarize students with the more significant archaeological sites, monuments, artifact classes and works of art relating to the Roman world, and to introduce them to the important research questions in Roman archaeology and the methods that archaeologists employ to investigate these. Introduction to the Archaeology of the Roman World: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 17A is not prerequisite to 17B
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of lecture and 0-1 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2022, Fall 2021
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Freshman Seminars: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2022
The society, culture, values and outlook on life of the ancient Greeks as expressed in their mythology; their views on life, birth, marriage, death, sex and sexuality; on culture and civilization, the origin and meaning of the world. Their use of myth to think about, and give order to human experience. The course includes some of the most important works of Western literature in English translation (the 'Odyssey', the 'Theogony', twelve plays by leading Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), along with their historical and religious context, as well as drawing on material evidence (vase paintings, sculpture, archaeological sites). Greek and Roman Myths: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC 28 after completing CLASSIC N28, CLASSIC S28X, or CLASSIC S28. A deficient grade in CLASSIC 28 may be removed by taking CLASSIC N28, or CLASSIC N28.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session
The society, culture, values and outlook on life of the ancient Greeks as expressed in their mythology; their views on life, birth, marriage, death, sex and sexuality; on culture and civilization, the origin and meaning of the world. Their use of myth to think about, and give order to human experience. The course includes some of the most important works of Western literature in English translation (the 'Odyssey', the 'Theogony'), twelve plays by leading Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), along with their historical and religious context, as well as drawing on material evidence (vase paintings, sculpture, archaeological sites). Greek and Roman Myths: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC N28 after completing AGRS 28, or CLASSIC 28. A deficient grade in CLASSIC N28 may be removed by taking AGRS 28, AGRS 28, or CLASSIC 28.
Hours & Format
Summer: 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024
This course will focus on ideas about magic in the Greek and Roman worlds from about 750 BCE through 400 CE. Topics will include witches, holy men, love spells, necromancy, spirits, and mystery religions. We will examine how magic was represented in high literature (by authors like Homer, Ovid, Apuleius, and Lucian). as well as the more practical evidence of curse tablets and the Greek Magical Papyri. Consideration will be given to analyzing the relationship between magic, religion, and philosophy. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect different Greek and Roman magical practices, as well as to understand them in their cultural contexts. Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 5.5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022
Introduction to the philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Greek Philosophy: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC 36 after completing PHILOS 25A.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer: 3 weeks - 16 hours of lecture and 4 hours of discussion per week 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. In this seminar we shall scrutinize and discuss representations of the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra from Antiquity to the present day; our sources will include monuments, literature, art, movies, and advertising. The only prerequisites for the course are interests in this (in)famous monarch and in our engagements with (and refashionings of) her over two millennia. Freshman/Sophomore Seminar - Cleopatras: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2021
This seminar-style class allows lower division students to explore comic texts from the Greco-Roman world, with special emphasis on the social meanings of comedy. Readings include stage comedy, satire, novels, fables, and other genres, from authors such as Aristophanes, Plautus, Terence, Horace, Petronius, and Apuleius. Students will be introduced to historical and theoretical contexts that will deepen their understanding of the literary readings and support discussions about comedy in other cultures, including our own contemporary experience. Assignments are designed to help students practice their skills in interpretation, argumentation, and written expression. Freshman/Sophomore Seminar - Greek and Roman Comedy: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Some of the most recognizable images from ancient Greek and Roman literature are the warriors who stride across battlefields in a blaze of glory. But these heroic images tell only a small part of the story. Warfare influenced almost every aspect of life in these cultures, and not just for those who fought on the battlefield or for political leaders. In this class we will read a variety of literary works that illuminate the experience of warfare and its aftermath in ancient Greece and Rome – texts depicting the battlefield, but also the stories of veterans, women at home and in war, enslaved captives and others. While we will focus primarily on literary representations of these experiences, these readings will be placed in broader historical Fresh/Soph Seminar: Warfare and Community in Greco-Roman Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students an opportunity to explore intellectual topics with a faculty member and peers in a seminar setting. In this course we will examine utopian literature from its classical beginnings, in Plato's Republic, and in his Timaeus and Critias (which tell the story of the lost world of Atlantis), as well as in some plays of Aristophanes. We will also consider later developments, in Thomas More's Utopia, and in such works as William Morris' News from Nowhere, and Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed. Towards the end of the semester the seminar participants will be divided into groups, each of which will be asked to devise its own utopia on a particular theme, for oral presentation in class. Utopia, Dystopia: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: This course is open only to freshman and sophomores
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Examination of how people moved both themselves and objects from one place to another in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Drawing on archaeological, literary, and pictorial evidence we consider an array of topics, including transport technology & infrastructure, the organization & costs of travel & transport, routes & travel times, banking, dining & overnighting on the road, packaging, labelling, & handling of cargoes, the roles of both short- and long-distance trade in the economy, reasons why people travelled, extreme travel, and the general travel experience. We also explore new digital technologies that allow us to better recreate and understand the nature and experience of travel and transport in pre-industrial times. Fresh/Soph Seminar - Travel and Transport in the Ancient World: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course covers Homeric and Classical Greece, Rome in its transition from republic to empire, and the world of the Old Testament. Lectures, discussions, and reading assignments will involve interdisciplinary approaches with an emphasis on the development of skill in writing. Satisfies either half of the Reading and Composition requirement plus one of the following Letters and Science breath requirements: Arts and Literature, Historical Studies, or Social and Behavioral Sciences. Classics of the Ancient Mediterranean World: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Completion of UC Entry Level Writing Requirement
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC R44 after completing UGIS R44A, or CLASSIC 44. A deficient grade in CLASSIC R44 may be removed by taking CLASSIC 44.
Requirements this course satisfies: Satisfies the first or second half of the Reading and Composition requirement
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Have you wondered what ancient Greek and Latin were like and how they relate to other languages, including English? Have you heard people say learning Latin made them understand English better and improved their writing skills? Do you want some background in ancient languages that might help you understand terminology in law, science or other fields? This class is an opportunity to learn more about the history, structure, and influence of both Latin and Greek. Topics covered include the place of these languages in the Indo-European family, an overview of their structure and vocabulary, their history from classical antiquity to the present, their relation to later languages and and their influence on the Western intellectual tradition. Latin and Greek in Antiquity and After: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
The ancient Mediterranean world was a world full of gods: from the poems of Homer to the small towns of the Roman empire, we can find people constantly interacting with and thinking about the gods. Myth, ritual, oracles, mystery cults, magic, philosophy: these were all ways that Greeks and Romans engaged with the divine. War, peace, health, sickness, hope, fear: these were some of the reasons for these engagements. This course explores the polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome (c.800 BCE to c.200 CE), with close attention to both the ancient literary evidence and the archaeological material from the period. We will seek to understand both the long-term continuities and the important changes in religious life during Mediterranean antiquity. Ancient Religion: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of lecture and 1-0 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025
Study of a selection (in English translation) of the most important works of classical antiquity that theorize about literature and of the works of some post-classical authors who wrote on similar themes under the influence of their classical predecessors. Authors studied may include Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Augustine, Sidney, Pope, and Lessing. Classical Poetics: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024
Topic to vary from year to year. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required; but provision will be made for students who wish to study some of the readings in the original language. Enrollment limited. Topics in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course presents a comparative overview of epics and sagas from Greco-Roman antiquity and medieval north-west Europe (England, Iceland, and Ireland). No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. Epic and Saga: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: To appreciate the history of reading epics and the importance of their reception-history to Romanticism, Nationalism, and Modernism. To study the differences between epics of oral and literary traditions.
To understand the narrative conventions of ancient epic by contrast with those of modern fiction and film; to explore the scholarly vocabulary for describing such conventions. To understand heroic narratives from Greek and Roman antiquity as well as ancient northwestern Europe in their respective cultural contexts, and to study their common themes.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2023
This course examines the origins of Rome, the quintessential city in the Western experience. It considers both the literary and archaeological evidence for the earliest periods of the city’s occupation, and the challenges involved in using and combining these two quite different forms of evidence. Particular attention will be given to recent archaeological discoveries and the ways in which these are transforming our understanding of early Rome. The course also examines the ways in which people in later periods – both in antiquity and in more recent times - have drawn on their knowledge of early Rome for a variety of different purposes, ranging from politics, to scholarship, to the arts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The Origins of Rome: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: Students achieve a familiarity with the archaeological and textual evidence regarding Rome ca. 1000 – 300 BC Students achieve a familiarity with the overall topography of the city of Rome Students develop their skills in the critical reading of ancient historical texts and modern historical/archaeological literature and in the composition of essays that express the critical evaluation of these Students obtain a familiarity with the ways in which people have made use of stories about early Rome for a variety of different purposes. Students obtain an understanding of the methods that scholars employ to recover and interpret archaeological and textual evidence regarding the past, the possibilities and limitations associated with each of these two different types of evidence, and the challenges involved in integrating these. Students obtain an understanding of the social, political, and economic development of the early community of Rome
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
In this course we will investigate the political thought of ancient Greece by discussing some of its most important and influential texts. All texts are to be read in translation. Ancient Greek Political Thought: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021
This course is designed to provide advanced undergraduates with a broad overview of the economy of the Roman Empire. It is organized around a series of weekly topics that will be explored through readings selected to provide students with exposure to the theory, evidence, and methods currently being employed by historians and archaeologists to investigate that particular aspect of the Roman economy. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The Roman Economy: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: Students develop their skills in summarizing scholarly literature and in the critical discussion of this. Students develop their skills in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological and historical evidence and in the presentation of their analyses in written form. Students obtain a basic familiarity with the various kinds of evidence available regarding the Roman economy, the methods that scholars use to employ these, and the possibilities and limitations of these kinds of evidence. Students obtain a familiarity with the general features of the economy of the Roman world.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course will explore the evidence for the Trojan War, one of the greatest stories ever told: literary, historical, visual and archaeological. The history of the search for the reality behind Homer's epic and its scholarship will be examined as well as detailed analyses of the theories currently in play. Through reading, visual analysis, discussion and writing - students will discover for themselves the ancient world of the heroes and their legends. Was there ever an actual war between two powerful Bronze Age Aegean cultures? Did Hektor and Achilles ever really clash on the battlefield? Was Helen really "a face that launched 1000 ships?" No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The Trojan War: History or Myth?: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
In this course we will examine the history of ideas about the soul’s postmortem fate in the ancient Mediterranean world. We will focus on epic poets and philosophers from ancient Greece and Rome, but also
read comparative material from the ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and medieval Christendom. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect depictions of hell / the underworld in their respective cultural contexts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The History of Hell: Eschatology in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Classical literature is full of mythological plots involving gods and monsters, heroes and kings. Less prominent are the kind of plots we are used to from modern literature, especially novels: plots that revolve around fictional characters invented to look like people in the street. Although these latter forms of literature are distanced from the prestigious genres of epic and tragedy, they still constitute an important
part of ancient literature. In this class we will not only read a variety of texts that aim to depict "everyday life" (including novels, satire, letters, comedy and more), but we will also consider the underlying principles of such literature. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. The Literature of Everyday Life: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Religion and literature are two conceptual systems through which people and societies organize disparate experiences into meaningful wholes. In the ancient pagan societies of Greece and Rome, where a shared experience of both religion and literature was a defining element of the community, these two systems were particularly interdependent. In this course we will read a variety of texts (e.g. epic, philosophy, tragedy) and examine the complex ways that literary concepts such as plot, character, closure and genre interact with religious concepts such as causation, moral justice, divine power, cosmology. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. Religion and Literature in the Greco-Roman World: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course aims to explore the development of classical Greek rhetoric from the fifth century through the end of the fourth century BCE. In light of Plato’s and Aristotle’s analyses of the subject, we tend to view rhetoric as an art (technê) consisting of a set of methodically organized principles or norms for the production of persuasive speech. The use of rhetorical techniques, however, was widespread in the Greek speaking world well before Plato and Aristotle began to reflect on its norms. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. Classical Greek Rhetoric: Evolution or Revolution?: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2025
Egypt: No other region of the Graeco-Roman world provides us with as much information about the daily lives of its inhabitants, and no body of ancient evidence is more inclusive in its coverage. In this course, we will read selections from this corpus of evidence closely, focusing on documentary papyri, but also looking at literature, inscriptions, and other cultural objects (as well as some later comparative material). We will discuss what this material contributes to our understanding of Graeco-Roman Egypt’s society and economy (law and status, gender, labor systems, education, religious practice, etc.), the limitations of the evidence, and its applicability to other regions of the ancient Mediterranean. All readings will be in English. Graeco-Roman Egypt: Society and Economy: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
In this course, we will look at ancient Greek ideas and practices concerning the nature, sources, psychological effects, and social functions of music (including singing, instrumental music, and dance), during the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 800-350 BCE). Taking an ethnomusicological approach, we will examine Greek musical culture as a whole, focusing especially on differences of gender, ethnicity, regionalism, class/status (e.g., free vs. slave), and even species – since the Greeks recognized that some animals are very musical, as of course are several of the gods and goddesses – to see what different kinds of music were played by the various performers, and at what kinds of occasions. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. Music and Difference in Ancient Greece: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2022
This course will focus on ideas about magic in the Greek and Roman worlds from about 750 BCE through 400 CE. Topics will include witches, holy men, love spells, necromancy, spirits, and mystery religions.We will examine how magic was represented in high literature (by authors like Homer, Ovid, Apuleius and Lucian) as well as the more practical evidence of curse tablets and the Greek Magical Papyri. Consideration will be given to analyzing the relationship between magic, religion, and philosophy. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect different Greek and Roman magical practices, as well as to understand them in their cultural contexts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required. Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Slavery was one of the central institutions of life in classical Greece and Rome and had a profound affect on the ways these societies represented themselves and their world. In this course we will first spend some time learning about the historical condition of slavery in these two societies, then read a variety of works that show some of the ways that slaves and slavery operated in the intellectual and imaginative life of ancient authors. The three genres we will focus on are philosophy, drama (both tragedy and comedy) and the novel. There will be a variety of writing assignments of differing lengths and a final exam. Slavery and Literature in the Greco-Roman World: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2021
Important individuals in Greek and Roman society were commemorated both in honorific portraits and in biographies written to record for posterity their lives and achievements. In this class we will be reading a selection of Greek and Latin biographical texts (in translation) and comparing them with statuary monuments that represent the same individuals. We will be seeking to elicit the points of contact between the two commemorative traditions, visual and literary, and to understand the sometimes similar functions they serve. But we will also be attempting to bring out the differences in the way that biographical texts and portrait images operate, and the consequences that this has for the way we, as historians, must approach them. Ancient Portraiture & Biography: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division status
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
What time is it? How old is the earth? Where are we located in history? For us these questions may have simple answers: we can look at a watch or a calendar or a timeline. But ancient people thought very differently about these questions. The aim of this class is to see how. We will look at a variety of ancient evidence, including literature (in translation) and archaeology, to discover how Greeks and Romans thought about the deep past (mythic time), how they understood the direction and order of history, and how they organized and calculated time in their communities. We will also consider how ancient Jews and Christians came to reject classical conceptions of time and how this rejection still informs modern ideas about time and history. Ancient Times: Myth, History, Measurement: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: Ability to analyze complicated historical and literary texts for their implicit ideologies and worldviews and to analyze material evidence for its value for reconstruction of ancient forms of life.
Ability to read and critique modern scholarly writing on the history of ancient time.
Gain knowledge of the literary and material evidence for ancient conceptions of time and history.
Preparation to ask and answer fundamental historical questions about the forms and experiences of temporality in different social and historical contexts.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Fall 2022
Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, inaugurated an enormous building program during
his long reign that completely transformed the empire’s capital city. In this seminar we
will consider some of the most famous of his constructions—his Mausoleum (the tumulus
of the Julii), the temple of Palatine Apollo, the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of the
Augustan Peace), the Augustan Forum—and we will examine the ways in which these
new monuments helped shape popular perceptions of the new system of government that
Augustus established (—a veiled monarchy). The Art and Monuments of Augustan Rome: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2023
In this course we will investigate the conceptions of divinity put forward by the principal philosophers
and philosophic schools of thought in ancient Greece. We will investigate their ideas both in relation
to the religious background of the time and as an exercise in abstract philosophic thinking. All texts
are to be read in translation. The God of the Philosophers in Ancient Greece: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 9 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
The course is designed to deal with a single topic or selection of topics in Greek philosophy studied in translation. Possible topics are: the close study of one or more of Plato's or Aristotle's texts, Hellenistic philosophy, neo-Platonism. Topics in Greek Philosophy: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 36 or Philosophy 25A or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023
Introductory overview of the art and archaeology of ancient civilizations of the Bronze Age (3000-1100 BCE) Aegean: Crete, Cyclades, Mainland Greece, and Western Anatolia. Intended to expose to the sites, monuments, art, and artifacts of these cultures and understand the way a variety of evidence is used to reconstruct history. Emphasis also is placed on comparison of enigmatic and evocative cultures and material evidence to see how each evolved and to define similarities and differences. Art and Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session
Through this field school students will participate in archaeological excavation and museum study in Greece at the site of Nemea and the Classical Sanctuary of Zeus. Through extensive travel and hands-on work, students will learn all major elements of methodology and analysis currently used in classical archaeology. The goal is to teach practical skills in a real research environment and an understanding of the material culture of Greece throughout various periods of its prehistory and history. Students will participate in a variety of field techniques and research methodologies. Archaeological Field School in Nemea, Greece: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor or director
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC N172A after completing CLASSIC 172A. A deficient grade in CLASSIC N172A may be removed by taking CLASSIC 172A.
Hours & Format
Summer: 6 weeks - 0 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Through this field school students will participate in archaeological excavation and museum study in Greece at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae (Petsas House). Through extensive travel and hands-on work, students will learn all major elements of methodology and analysis currently used in classical archaeology. The goal is to teach practical skills in a real research environment and an understanding of the material culture of Greece throughout various periods of its prehistory and history. Students will participate in a variety of field techniques and research methodologies. Archaeological Field School in Mycenae, Greece: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor or director. N172A is not a prerequisite to N172B and may be taken concurrently
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC N172B after completing CLASSIC 172B. A deficient grade in CLASSIC N172B may be removed by taking CLASSIC 172B.
Hours & Format
Summer: 6 weeks - 0 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2017
This course presents surviving evidence of pictorial representation in the Roman world. Including the earliest remains from the city of Rome; the suites of painted rooms in the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum on the Bay of Naples; and Roman mosaics from Italy, North Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean.
Topics: ‘four styles’ of Pompeian interior decoration; the architect Vitruvius’ denunciation of contemporary painting in the early Augustan period; the reproduction of Greek ‘old master’ paintings from pattern books; the surviving paintings of the Domus Aurea, the emperor Nero’s ‘Golden House’ in Rome; the painting of marble statues and reliefs; and the colored mummy portraits preserved by the sands of the Egyptian desert.
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC C175F after completing HISTART 145A, or CLASSIC 175F. A deficient grade in CLASSIC C175F may be removed by taking CLASSIC 175F.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Christopher Hallett
Formerly known as: Classics C175F/History of Art C145A
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Study of ancient athletics and athletes including athletic training, facilities, competitions, and the role of athletics in Greek and Roman society. Ancient Athletics: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022
This is a two-semester Honors course [H195A-B]. The work for the Honors course may either build on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Languages or Classical Civilizations major or may be a newly conceived project. The work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an Honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken./> Honors Course in Classics: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: A student must be a declared major in the Classics Department and in the subject in which Honors is done. A student must have a 3.6 overall GPA and a 3.6 GPA in the major courses
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC H195A after completing CLASSIC 195A. A deficient grade in CLASSIC H195A may be removed by taking CLASSIC 195A.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2022
This is a two-semester Honors course [H195A-B]. The work for the Honors course may either build on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Civilizations or Classical Languages major or may be a newly conceived project. The work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an Honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken. Honors Course in Classics: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: A student must be a declared major in the Classics Department and in the subject in which Honors is done. A student must have a 3.6 overall GPA and a 3.6 GPA in the major courses
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CLASSIC H195B after completing CLASSIC 195B. A deficient grade in CLASSIC H195B may be removed by taking CLASSIC 195B.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Ancient Greek and Roman Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. This is part two of a year long series course. Upon completion, the final grade will be applied to both parts of the series. Final exam not required.
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