This course focuses on the history of medieval Europe primarily through the lens of material culture. In addition to manuscripts, we will explore the significance of several categories of historical artifacts including: art, textiles, reliquaries, architecture, pottery, crowns, and jewelry. We will discuss what we can discover about the production, circulation, reception, historic and geographic context, and the meaning attributed to the materials from which these objects were created. This class explores what these objects reveal about the religious, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of medieval Europe, beyond what we can learn from medieval texts and how these objects may have been experienced in a pre-modern world.

Required texts and sources:

Course Packet available at University Co-op

(Includes primary sources:  Abbot Suger,  “On the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its Art Treasures”, Paulinus of Nola, "Poem 27", Theophilus, "An Essay on Diverse Arts" and selected readings by Gregory the Great, Augustine and Isidore of Seville. )

Grading:

Map quiz: 5%

Quizzes (cumulative): 20%

Mid-semester exam (cumulative): 20%

Presentation: 15%

Last exam (cumulative): 20%

Attendance: 10%

Class Participation and Presentation Feedback: 10%

"Ancient Mediterranean World" surveys the major civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Italy from the dawn of the city around 3000 BC through the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 400s AD. Beyond providing a basic historical framework, the course explores the surprising ways in which the various civilizations of the area influenced one another culturally. We will examine interactions between Egyptians, Sumerians, Hittites, Hebrews, Persians, Greeks and Romans, among others. Students will also learn about the different types of evidence, both literary and archaeological, on which knowledge of the ancient world is based. There are two lectures and one discussion section per week.

Carries the Global Cultures flag and fulfills the Cultural Expression, Human Experience, & Thought course area requirement.

Alexander and the Hellenistic World

This course covers Greek history from the subordination of Greece to Philip II, king of Macedonia, and his heir and successor Alexander the Great, in 338 BCE through the Hellenistic world's loss of independence to Rome some 300 years later. This era is defined by the charismatic figure of Alexander the Great and by his military campaigns, which led to the conquest of all the eastern Mediterranean and made possible the spread of Greek culture all over Anatolia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt. After Alexander's death, his empire was divided into the three Hellenistic kingdoms of Egypt, Syria, and Macedonia until Rome's progressive absorption of them in the 2nd and 1st c. BCE.

The course will devote roughly equal time to covering major events and personalities, exploring key developments in culture and society, and examining the various types of evidence available for the era (literary, epigraphic, papyrological, and archeological sources). There will be two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion each week. The two lectures will combine historical outline with the exploration of specific themes and problems, such as systems of government, social structures, economy, culture, religion, and war, while the discussion sections will be focused on how to analyze, interpret, and use ancient sources.

This course carries the Global Cultures and Writing flags.

This class aims to acquaint the student with the main works of ancient historiography, as well as provide grounding in the central issues with which these works engage. The ancient historians are our first port of call in our quest to understand democracy, tyranny, empire, religion, civil war, and international relations, so it is to these foundational texts that we will turn to enliven our connection with the ancient world. Beyond acquiring basic knowledge of each of the historians and their text, we will explore issues such as: the development and coherence of a historiographical tradition, the value of textual material as historical evidence, the status of prose historiography as an independent work of literary art, and the function of historiography as a space to explore broader questions such as truth, identity, nationalism, ethnicity, and political ideologies. We will conclude by thinking about the unique qualities of historiography, and what distinguishes it from related genres such as biography, historical epic, or historical novels.

This course carries the Ethics flag.

This class will cover the story of the Roman empire from the death of Caesar to the fall of Rome in A.D. 476.  After working our way through the narrative of this period (about half the semester), we will examine a number of topics that cut across time.  The course will touch on politics, law, war, the economy, social classes, gender, material culture, and archaeology.

This course carries the Global Cultures flag.

This course fulfills the Cultural Expression, Human Experience, & Thought Course area requirement.

This course is a history of Roman Africa with emphasis on what is now Tunisia and northern Algeria. Our focus is on the 2nd-5th centuries CE when competing brands of Christianity were taking root and Africa gave birth to what is now called “Catholic” theology. However, we begin with the Phoenician colonization of the African coast in the 9th century BCE and move from there through the fall of Carthage and the rise of the Kingdom of Numidia to the complete provincialization of Africa by Rome. We study the amalgamation of various ethnic groups over time, including Libyans (Berbers?), Punics, and Romans. Ancient Africa was arguably the greatest melting pot the Mediterranean had ever seen. Our study connects North Africa to Sub-Saharan Africa via Berbers and Ethiopians, Asia via Phoenicians, Medes, and Persians, and Europe via Italians, Iberians, and Vandals.

Most ancient histories written about Africa were colonialist and Roman. These histories have informed modern Eurocentric narratives that, like their ancient predecessors, cast Africa as barbaric yet claim African intellectual products as their own. This course looks through these narratives to uncover the reality of life in Roman Africa. We examine African identities in contrast to colonial mythologies and explore the ways this rich history has been received in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. To this end, we study ethnography, colonialism, post-colonialism, racialization, immigration, and emigration, among other topics, both in antiquity and today.

Your grade is determined by two written exams (20% each x 2 = 40%), regular quizzes (30%), a presentation on an historical topic (10%), a report on a topic of modern reception (10%), participation (10%), and attendance.

Among the ancient authors we read are Vergil, Livy, Polybius, Sallust, Pseudo-Caesar, Tertullian, Cyprian, various African martyr narratives, Augustine, and Procopius. The course concludes with Fawzi Mellah’s Elissa, a creative and distinctly Maghribi take on the ancient myth of Dido. Along the way, the course also exposes you to the literature of Assia Djerbar, Frantz Fanon, Abdelaziz Ferrah, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Albert Memmi, and other modern North African authors.

During much of the 5th century BCE Athens was the cultural and intellectual center of the Greek world. The citizens of 5th-century Athens enjoyed an unprecedented level of power in governing a state whose wealth was derived largely from slave labor and imperial tribute. This course will explore Athenian society, democracy, and empire from the development of Athenian hegemony in the 470’s BCE through the break-up of the Athenian Empire in 404 BCE.

This upper division course carries a writing flag and will be conducted as a seminar with student participation central to its success. The structure of the class will be topics-oriented (a selection of key topics and problems rather than a historical survey). We will explore the full range of evidence availble to the ancient historian: literary, documentary (inscriptions and papyri), and the material record as documented through archaeological excavation (from temples to coins and everything in between). Our focus will be these ancient sources and the methods modern historians use in their interpretation.

This course carries the Writing flag.

Prerequisites:  Upper-division standing and admission to the Classics Honors Program.

Supervised conference course for honors candidates in classics. Three conference hours a week for two semesters.

Majors who plan to seek special honors in Ancient History and Classical Civilization, special honors in Greek, special honors in Latin, or special honors in Classics should apply to the honors adviser for admission to the honors program at least one full academic year before they expect to graduate. A University grade point average of at least 3.00 and a grade point average in the coursework required for the major of at least 3.50 are required for admission. The requirements for graduation with special honors, which are in addition to the requirements of the major, are (1) AHC 679HA and 679HB, Greek 679HA and 679HB, Latin 679HA and 679HB, or Classical Civilization 679HA and 679HB, Honors Tutorial Course, with a grade of A in each half; (2) a University grade point average of at least 3.00 and a grade point average of at least 3.50 in the coursework required for the major and an “A” in each half of the honors tutorial course; and (3) completion at the University of at least sixty semester hours of coursework counted toward the degree.

Requirements for the Honors Thesis

(1.) The student must discuss the Honors program option with the Faculty Academic Advisor.
(2.) The student must fill out and have signed a Conference Course form for the 679HA and 679HB-W courses.
(3.) The student must spend one semester enrolled in 679HA for directed reading and research under a faculty mentor.
(4.) The student must spend one semester enrolled in 679HB-W writing the Honors Thesis. Students should consult a semester academic calendar and consult with their faculty mentors to determine a schedule for completion of the Thesis. A second faculty reader must also review the Thesis.
(5.) The College of Liberal Arts expects a Thesis to require at least 20 pages of reviewed and revised text. Although there is no other required minimum, the Thesis should consist of more substantial output.
(6.) The final version of the Thesis must be turned in to the Department of Classics Undergraduate Advisor in an electronic (PDF) format or bound copy.

This course carries the Independent inquiry flag.

Prerequisite: AHC 679HA.

Supervised conference course for honors candidates in classics. Three conference hours a week for two semesters.

Majors who plan to seek special honors in Ancient History and Classical Civilization, special honors in Greek, special honors in Latin, or special honors in Classics should apply to the honors adviser for admission to the honors program at least one full academic year before they expect to graduate. A University grade point average of at least 3.00 and a grade point average in the coursework required for the major of at least 3.50 are required for admission. The requirements for graduation with special honors, which are in addition to the requirements of the major, are (1) AHC 679HA and 679HB, Greek 679HA and 679HB, Latin 679HA and 679HB, or Classical Civilization 679HA and 679HB, Honors Tutorial Course, with a grade of A in each half; (2) a University grade point average of at least 3.00 and a grade point average of at least 3.50 in the coursework required for the major and an “A” in each half of the honors tutorial course; and (3) completion at the University of at least sixty semester hours of coursework counted toward the degree.

Requirements for the Honors Thesis

(1.) The student must discuss the Honors program option with the Faculty Academic Advisor.
(2.) The student must fill out and have signed a Conference Course form for the 679HA and 679HB-W courses.
(3.) The student must spend one semester enrolled in 679HA for directed reading and research under a faculty mentor.
(4.) The student must spend one semester enrolled in 679HB-W writing the Honors Thesis. Students should consult a semester academic calendar and consult with their faculty mentors to determine a schedule for completion of the Thesis. A second faculty reader must also review the Thesis.
(5.) The College of Liberal Arts expects a Thesis to require at least 20 pages of reviewed and revised text. Although there is no other required minimum, the Thesis should consist of more substantial output.
(6.) The final version of the Thesis must be turned in to the Department of Classics Undergraduate Advisor in an electronic (PDF) format or bound copy.

This course carries the Independent inquiry flag.