Alexander statue at museum

Courses with Variable Topics

Consult the list of special topics courses offered by the Department of Classics and Religious Studies.
(Bilingual content)

Fall 2023

Sparta statue

CLA/HIS 3110: A History of Sparta

This course will deal with the history and archaeology of Pompeii. Topics include; the architecture and the history of the site and its urban plan; imperial patronage of Pompeii; the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum; the rediscovery of these sites in the Renaissance and their subsequent excavation in the modern era; the political relevance of Pompeii in the 18th and 19th centuries; domestic arts (interior decoration e.g., the four styles of painting); gardens, garden paintings and sculptural programs. 

Auguste statues

CLA 3530: L’Histoire Auguste (M.-P. Bussières)

L’Histoire Auguste est un recueil de biographies d’empereurs, de césars et d’usurpateurs des 2e et 3e siècles, d’Hadrien (117) à Carin (285). Cette œuvre présente un intérêt tant historique que littéraire, puisque d’une part il s’agit de la source de renseignements la plus abondante pour cette période et que, d’autre part, elle offre plusieurs niveaux de lecture qui, selon l’heureuse formule de François Paschoud, recréent « un passé semblable au présent ». En effet, l’auteur semble avoir inventé des faits, notamment afin de critiquer ou louer, en transparence, des empereurs du 4e siècle, plus près de son époque, en tissant en filigrane des événements calqués sur ceux qu’il rapporte. Les biographies se lisent dès lors comme des exhortations à l’adresse du pouvoir, une forme narrative appelée à une bonne fortune au Moyen âge et à la Renaissance.
 
Ancient statue

CLA/HIS 4150: Slavery in the Ancient World (J. Dijkstra)

In this advanced undergraduate course, we will focus on slavery in the ancient world. While modern slave societies, such as the southern United States before the Civil War have received much attention, what do we know about the slave societies of ancient Greece and Rome? In this course, we will gain insights into what life as an enslaved person was like in Antiquity and how enslaved persons functioned within society, as well as the limitations of our sources in studying them. Parallels with modern examples will occasionally be discussed, but the difficulties of drawing such parallels will also be demonstrated. In the second part of the course, the emphasis will shift to your own research on an aspect of ancient slavery of your choice.

Augustus and the Shaping of Rome
CLA 3130 (Professor: TBA) 

Augustus, the first Roman emperor, famously boasted that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. No less profound than his change to the physical city was his reshaping of Roman society, politics. and culture, especially literature, to conform to his vision of Roman grandeur, grounded in a nostalgic vision of the past and intended to last an eternity. Rome produced some of its most famous authors in this period—Vergil, Livy, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus—but the relationship between literature and power had its dangers. In this course we will start by looking at the figure of Augustus himself and his goals as portrayed in a variety of sources, and we will then examine selected readings from these authors to see how their writings reflected or even promoted Augustus’ totalizing program but also resisted and undermined it. 

CLA 3530 (Professor: TBA) 
À préciser 

The Greek East from Alexander to Augustus
CLA|HIS 4150 (Professor: TBA) 

From Alexander’s fabled march to the royal court of Cleopatra, the Greek East is often described by ancient sources as exotic and dangerous, a place of mysterious beliefs, Lucullan luxury, and alluring riches. In essence, the world between Egypt and India was ‘othered’ by the Greek sources: whereas Greeks were seen to be masculine, moderate, logical, and free, so Easterners were portrayed as effeminate, opulent, untrustworthy, and docile. This course examines the East as an idea which appears and reappears in the ancient Mediterranean world between the fourth and the first centuries B.C. The impact of this era and region on antique history is immeasurable, as the period saw Alexander’s campaigns remake ideas about gender, masculinity, and the warrior king; Homer’s Trojan War take on new significance as a fight between Greeks and barbarians over civilisation itself; and Alexandria with its Museion and library become the one of the world’s great cultural capitals. The East is equally the place from where Augustus took his ideas about monarchy when he became the first emperor of Rome. Thus, the East in the period between Alexander and Augustus unifies the entire ancient world, bridging not just the Mediterranean and antique Mesopotamia, but equally classical Greece with Imperial Rome. 

De Homère aux marches de St-Pierre : le parcours de l’épopée dans l'Antiquité
CLA 4551 (Professor: M.-P. Bussières) 

Ce séminaire vise à explorer le développement du genre littéraire épique en grec et en latin. Depuis les épopées fondatrices mises sous le nom d’Homère, en passant par les épopées littéraires d’époque hellénistique et latine, les épopées mythologiques, historiques, ou parodiques (comme la Batrachomyomachie : le combat des grenouilles et des souris) sont toutes distinctes, mais toutes en dialogue. Ce phénomène d’émulation n’épargne pas l’épopée biblique, qui avait pour but de raconter des épisodes de l’Ancien et du Nouveau Testament dans une forme plus littéraire que l’original. Le dernier exemple, les Actes des apôtres d’Arator, a été lu dans l’église St-Pierre-aux-liens au milieu du 6e siècle, faisant durer la pratique du genre jusqu’à la toute fin de l’Antiquité. 

Selections from Cicero
LCL 3102 (Professor: TBA) 

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.) was a lawyer, a statesman and a prolific writer who was a contemporary of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. His works include not only political and legal speeches and works on oratory, but also works on philosophy and religion, and a collection of personal letters that provide a fascinating window into Roman society and politics at the end of the Republic. In this course we will study a selection of his writings from different genres supplemented with some advanced Latin grammar. 

Lucian’s True Stories and Plato’s Apology
LCL 3152 (Professor: R. Burgess) 

Introduction to Greek authors including a grammar review component. This course has variable topics and may be taken several times if the themes are different. Texts this term include Lucian’s True Stories and Plato’s Apology. 

Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 
LCL 4150 (Professor:J. Dijkstra) 

In this course, Daphnis and Chloe by the second-century author Longus will be central, one of the most famous ancient Greek novels. The novel describes how the two foundlings, brought up by shepherds, come of age and gradually discover love.