Contact FYS
	300 Steele Building CB# 3504 UNC-Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3504 email: fys@unc.edu phone: (919)843-7773

Classics

CLAR 050 [006J]: Art in the Ancient City
Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Non-Western/Comparative]
Donald Haggis
The course offers a comparative perspective on the archaeology of ancient Egypt and Bronze Age Greece (3000-1100 B.C.) exploring the public art produced by these two early Mediterranean societies: the Aegean Bronze Age palace centers of Crete and Mainland Greece and the territorial state of ancient Egypt. The goal of the course is to compare and contrast the method, media, and subject matter of public art toward an understanding of differences and similarities, and ultimately the cultures that formed them. These two interrelated cultures produced two very different forms of public art reflecting unique
cultural developments, and equally unique forms of artistic expression and urbanization. The students examine the form, style, context, and media of production, consumption and display of art, examining the definition of art as material culture and an expression of social and political values.

CLAS 052: Happiness: For and Against
Communication Intensive (CI); World before 1750 (WB); Philosophical and Moral Reasoning (PH)
Brendan Boyle
Who could be against happiness?  Well, Kant was—at least on one reading of his ethical works.  He was against happiness because it, as an end, had to be subordinate to the self-legislating exercises of human reason.  Aristotle, on the other hand, is the great champion of happiness—or, rather, he is the great champion of a concept, eudaimonia, often translated as happiness.  What does it mean, then, to make self-legislation or happiness the guiding commitment of a human life?  That is, what does it mean to be 'for' or 'against' happiness? Are there ways in which these commitments can be brought together?  If so, how?  If not, how does a life of Aristotelian eudaimonoia differ from a life of Kantian self-legislation? What shapes do they take?  What dangers threaten them?  This seminar will explore these questions through a close engagement with a range of philosophical and literary texts and, just maybe, will come up with some tentative answers to the question "How should we live?"

CLAS 053 [006M]: Famous Courtroom Trials of Antiquity
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Aesthetics/Literature]
Cecil Wooten
In this course we will look at speeches delivered in some of the most famous trials of antiquity. We will examine the facts of the case, the laws relevant to it, legal procedure used in the ancient world, and, most importantly, how the speaker presents his case, including types of argument, structure of speeches, and stylistic considerations. After we have examined a particular speech students will be asked to construct and deliver a speech that might have been presented on the other side, using the precepts of ancient rhetoric to construct their speech. Perfect for people who want to go to law school.

CLAS 054 [006M]: Crime and Violence in the Ancient World
Literary Arts (LA) [GC History Pre-1700]
Werner Riess
Crime and violence are all too familiar aspects of modern Western societies. Movies like "Gladiator" or "The Passion of the Christ" suggest that Greek and Roman civilization were nothing but gory. In this course we will challenge this view and approach this topic from various perspectives. By reading sources in translation we will investigate what forms of violence were common. When did criminals resort to violence? What were the reasons for criminal behavior, and how did society react? By getting to a sound understanding of ancient crime and doing a cross-comparison, we will shed light on violence in our society. The approach is basically historical, but since an interdisciplinary approach promises to yield more satisfying answers to many questions, we will also borrow from methods used in the field of anthropology. According to anthropological methodology we concentrate on the human condition: why and under what circumstances do people become delinquent and what are the results to any given society? It is this anthropological approach that opens up antiquity and makes it fruitful for our own time.

CLAS 055 [006M]: Three Greek (and Roman) Epics
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
James O'Hara, William Race, Peter Smith, Brooke Holmes
The course will involve a close reading of Homer's ILIAD and ODYSSEY and Vergil's AENEID, and as a transition from Homer to Vergil, we will also read the tragedies of Sophocles from fifth-century Athens. It was epic and tragedy that formulated the bases of Graeco-Roman civilization and provided the models of heroism and human values for the Western Tradition—along with raising fundamental questions about the individual's relationship to society. We will analyze, discuss, and write about these works both as individual pieces of literature in a historical context, and in terms of how they position themselves in the poetic tradition; after reading the ILIAD and ODYSSEY, we'll see how heroic myth gets reworked for democratic Athens, and then how Vergil combines Homer, tragedy and other traditions to make a new poem for his time. We will look at aspects of structure and technique, questions of overall interpretation and values, and the interplay of genre and historical setting.

CLAS 056 [006M]: Women and Men in Euripides
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
Kenneth Reckford
What can we learn from Greek tragedy about our own nature and that of our fellow humans? This seminar will serve, first of all, as an introduction to Euripidean drama in its cultural and historical setting in fifth-century Athens. We shall be exploring Euripides' "theater of ideas," asking especially what he and his modern translators or adapters might show us about love, marriage, family, and the relations between men and women. Do the old plays still speak to us today?

CLAS 057 [006M]: Dead and Deadly Women on the Western Stage: Greek Tragic Heroines from Aeschylus to Eliot
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
Sharon James
Ancient Greek tragedy prominently features women as murderers or victims of violence, as either vengeful or self-sacrificing. Though plenty of men commit murder or are murdered themselves in Greek tragedy, the women stand out somehow. Why have Clytemnestra, Medea, Alcestis, Phaedra, and the Trojan women haunted dramatists and their audiences for 2500 years? Later artists have adapted their stories to the interests and issues of different times and places. In this class, we will study not only the heroines of ancient Greek drama, but also their reincarnations in poems, paintings, ballets, stage
productions, operas, and films, always asking why women who kill or are killed on stage have such a powerful grip on the artistic imagination. We will perform readings and even compose creative projects on these topics. This course will be challenging, thought-provoking, and a lot of fun, despite all the murder and mayhem.

CLAS 058 [006M]: What's So Funny? Women and Comedy from Athens to Hollywood
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
Sharon James
Comedy often illustrates the gender values of a given time and place--what a culture finds funny about women, or finds it funny to see women doing, or makes fun of a woman for doing, can tell us a great deal about the attitudes toward and treatment of women, and about the status of women, in that culture.
Beginning with Aristophanes, western comedy shows interest in women. Hollywood comedy has its roots in Greek and Latin New Comedy, which focuses primarily on obstacles between young lovers. This genre influenced European comedy and developed into the romantic comedy and television sitcom. Typical plots feature sex, domestic conspiracies, comic misunderstandings, mistaken identities, mockery of old women, and so on. We will consider what Greeks and Romans found funny, as well as how that humor translated (or not) into modern America. Students will write and present publicly a short comic play that represents the themes we identify and study in class. Note: sitcoms scheduled on the syllabus are suggestions only-students will participate in making a schedule of materials from modern television and movies.

CLAS 059 [006K]: The City of Rome
North Atlantic World (NA); Visual or Performing Arts (VP) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
George W. Houston
An introduction to the history and art of the city of
Rome from antiquity through the present. We will survey the entire period, but we will look in particular at four specific periods in the city’s life: the early second century AD (the height of the Roman Empire); the early ninth century AD (the Middle Ages; Charlemagne); the early fifteenth century (the Renaissance; Raphael, Michelangelo, and the new St. Peter’s); and the last fifteen years, from about 1990 to now.
Our goals in this course are two: first, to become acquainted with this great city, which has been so important in the art, culture, and history of the West; and second, to consider the tensions created by the need to preserve artistic masterpieces of the past while at the same time ensuring that the modern city can function efficiently. In order to help us understand this conflict, we will consider also (but in much less detail) the history of the UNC campus, and students will investigate buildings and spaces on campus, see how they have been used over time in the past, and make proposals for their preservation (or demolition) and use in the future.

CLAS 060 [006M]: Love, War, Death, and Family Life in Classical Myth
Literary Arts (LA) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
Sharon James
This course studies parent-child relations, gender dynamics, and conflict in mythic families. How does war affect families? Why are some families loving and others murderous? Are these families still relevant today? The myths and legends of ancient Greece often focuse on family relationships, particularly as they are affected by trouble (power, rule, love, war, death, magic, the interference of the gods, and so forth). We will study these mythic families, looking especially at parent-child relations, gender dynamics, and conflict; we will ask what aspects of ancient culture are revealed by these legends and stories. Why do some families remain loving and supportive, while others fall into murderous internal conflict? How do war or sexual conflicts affect family relationships? What is the connection between families and politics, even government? What are the relationships of men and women? Finally, we will consider the relation of Greek mythic families to the modern world: why do we continue to draw upon these legends as a means of understanding ourselves?

CLAS 064 [006K]: Cinema and the Ancient World
Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Aesthetics/Fine Arts]
Phiroze Vasunia
In this class, we shall investigate what films set in classical Roman antiquity say about contemporary culture, and also attempt to understand their impact on the shaping of our sense of history. Thus, the course will interrogate the place of the classical Roman world in the culture of our day, and the class will also be an opportunity to examine the relationship between the past and the present. We will use these cinematic works to understand how the past continues to inform and shape the present, and in turn how our present circumstances inform our understanding of the past. Our attention will be given largely to films set in the ancient Roman empire, though we shall also consider a few filmic representations of other ancient cultures such as ancient Greece. Issues to be discussed include imperialism, nationalism, religion, slavery, race, and the nature of representation. Films from France, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S.A.

CLAS 065 [006M]: Plutarch & the Roots of Modern Biography
Literary Arts (LA) [GC Asethetics/Literature]
Philip Stadter
This course is an investigation into the telling of lives: the methods, purposes, and characteristics of biographies both ancient and modern. What do the authors of biography choose to include and omit? What do they hope to convey to their readers? Why do they choose to write a biography at all, and not, for example, history? We will begin with ancient Greek biography, especially Plutarch's famous Parallel Lives, and continue with selected later lives, including some written in the Renaissance and others more recent. Once students understand the ways biographies work, they will write a study of some aspect of a modern biography of their choice.

CLAS 066 [006K]: Sailing to Byzantium.
Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Aesthetics/Fine Arts]
Carolyn Connor
The Byzantine Empire, successor of the ancient Roman empire in lands of the eastern Mediterranean, still presents its achievements to students after 1500 years. The dazzling art and artifacts on display in museums represent just a glimpse of this medieval civilization that is less well known than that of western Europe. Our seminar will explore selected aspects of Byzantium as hinted at in W.B. Yeat's famous poem, "Sailing to Byzantium" (1927) such as: icons, goldsmithing, monasticism, poetry, mosaics, and people of the imperial court. Our study reveals the fascinating culture behind the poet's imagination. Through this class, you will enter the legendary world of Byzantine art and spectacle and connect with the actual "lords and ladies" of Byzantium.

CLAS 071 [006G]: The Architecture of Empire
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Historical Analysis (HS); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
Kenneth Sams
Architecture represents the most visible outward aspect of a society; it is also a highly impressionable art, capable of conveying senses of grandeur, stability, purpose, and power. Empires were institutions that, as part of their survival, relied on conveying these senses. The goal of the course will be to examine the architecture of ancient empires, beginning with that of Egypt and ending with the Roman Empire. We will be particularly concerned with the use of architecture as an instrument of empire. How, for example, do buildings and complexes of buildings reflect such imperial ideologies as the concept of kingship?

CLAS 072 [006G]: Greek and Roman Education
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Historical Analysis (HS); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
William West
This course introduces students to forms of education in Greek and Roman antiquity, including education practices from early childhood to higher education. We will use archaeology inscriptions, and papyri to illumine the writings of ancient authors. We also will read and discuss ancient texts in translation, including works of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. Students offer an oral report and write a paper on an educational institution described in an ancient author, analyzing evidence from inscriptions and similar texts. In class, we will view slides and the Department's Image Data Base. Students will use instructional technology for their class presentations.

CLAS 073 [006G]: Life in Ancient Pompeii
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Historical Analysis (HS)
Gerhard Koeppel, Monika Truemper
A study of this well-preserved ancient site provides an understanding of life in an Italian town during the early Roman empire. We will study town planning, architecture, the arts, social organization, politics, entertainment, artisanry, commerce, and family life. The aim is to present as complete a picture of Roman civilization in Pompeii as the remains allow. Students assume the identity of a person who lived there (trader, slave, gladiator, doctor, or artisan) and enrich their persona throughout the semester by means of guided research.

CLAR 075 [006J]: The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Mediterranean
Beyond the North Atlantic (BN); Historical Analysis (HS); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Non-Western/ Comparative]
Donald Haggis
This course explores the archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece by focusing on cemeteries - methods of burial, the treatment of the dead, burial rituals, post-burial cults, curses and curse tablets, and human sacrifice. The processes of burial can help us understand cultural identity, social interaction, past lives, and political hierarchies. We will learn how cities of the dead reflect the world of the living.