The Classics Department of Augustana College

The Classics Curriculum

The Curriculum Seen As

College Catalog:  Capsule descriptions
Role in graduation requirements
Links to detailed course syllaboi
 

The Curriculum Seen As

Course-by-course conceptual overview:
Their main themes and major  authors

The Curriculum Seen As

Chronological :  Classical thinkers in dialogue

 

The Curriculum Seen As

Classical Humanities:  Perennial ideas
 

Curriculum Overview:
Course Themes, Authors, Genres

The Courses, Listed by Number

    Classics Department

 Greek 100s: Elementary Greek (language and linguistics aside)

   The Persian and Peloponnesian Wars and their intellectual currents
   Aristophanes, Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, Demosthenes

 Latin 100s: Elementary Latin (language and linguistics aside)

   Legends and history through Augustus
   Horace and Vergil
   Daily life at home and in public
   Art and architecture

 Triad 14: Classical Lyric Poetry

    The poetic form of personal response to forces not always within human control -- e.g., love, gender, age, war

    Archilochus, Semonides, Tyrtaeus, Mimnermus, Sappho, Solon, Pindar, Catullus, Horace, Ovid

 Triad 16: Literature of the Cosmopolis (The Hellenistic Period)

    Interplay of literary form and Hellenistic philosophies and events as three strands converge:  heroic traditions of
    the classical Greek polis, the cosmopolis of Hellenistic empires, and Old Roman mores

   Menander, Daphnis and Chloe, Theocritus, Greek Anthology, Satyricon

 Triad 18: Classical Art of Persuasion

   The connection between a philosophy of life and its ways of persuasion

   Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero

 Dyad 20: Medieval Latin Literature

   The synergy of Greco-Roman and Christian forms of language and literature

    Jerome, Augustine, Boethius, Bernard, Cassiodorus, Einhard, Alcuin, Hrothsvitha, the Archpoet,
    the Carmina Burana, scholastics, crusaders, anti-crusaders, heretics, humanists

 Triad 22: Classical Art of History

    "Story" of events and "History" of interpretation of their causality:  plan, justice, chance, choice?

    Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, Tacitus

 Triad 24: Classical Tragedy

    Literary form, political turbulence, and their intersection in questions of justice, law, fate, chance, and responsibility

     Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca

 Triad 26: Classical Laughter

    Comedy and satire as literary form and catharsis in three contexts:  social, philosophical, and psycho-biological

    Aristophanes, Plautus, Horace (Satires), Juvenal

 Triad 28: Classical Epic

    War for one's community's purpose, for personal purpose, and for home as embodiment of the questions of
    what's worth living and dying for

    Iliad, Odyssey (Homer), Aeneid (Vergil)

 World Literature 210:  Greek Literature

   Literary form creating models of reality about the concept of the self and its relation to nature and society

   Homer, Greek lyrics, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes

 World Literature 212:  Greek Mythology

   Myth as a literary response to perennial questions about personal biology and psychology, social roles,
    and the historical meaning of the self

   Gilgamesh, Euripides, Catullus, Ovid, Apuleius

    Department of Art and Art History

 Art History 165: Western Art:  Ancient ó Early Christian

     Department of History

History 214:  Ancient Greece

    The "story" of the events and the "stuff" of material, intellectual, spiritual, and private existence: periods, personalities,
    the domestic and private experience, the national and public experience, the sources by which we know what
    we think we know -- in ancient Greece

 History 215:  Ancient Rome

    The "story" of the events and the "stuff" of material, intellectual, spiritual, and private existence: periods, personalities,
    the domestic and private experience, the national and public experience, the sources by which we know what
    we think we know -- in ancient Rome

     Department  of Philosophy

 Philosophy 140: Ancient Philosophy

    Department  of Religion

 Hebrew 100-101-102:  Elementary Biblical Hebrew

 Religion 311: History, Culture, and Archaeology

 Religion 315: Interpreting Paul

 Religion 316: Jesus and the Early Church



The Classical Curriculum Chronologically:
A Sequence of Authors in de facto Dialogue

 

 Gilgamesh:   The upper and lower limits of humanity.

 Homer:   Discovering the idea of self.

 Archilochus:   Selfhood.

 Sappho:   Nature, society, and self founded on Eros.

 Aeschylus:   Justice and progress through heroism.

Bacchylides: Synthesis of the heroic, the just, and the divinely-sanctioned for the Polis

 Sophocles:   Moral heroism versus collapse into the bestial.

 Euripides:   The irrational non-self within.

 Aristophanes:  Selfhood and catharsis:  comic heroism.

 Menander:   Society and catharsis:  ethical normality.

 Theocritus:   The mosaic of enigmas in history and timelessness.

 Plautus:   Old Roman mores and comic catharsis.

 Greek Anthology:  Archetype and individual.

 Catullus:   Irony of  "heroism" and Old Roman mores.  The self and its loves and hates as empire.

 Cicero:   Rhetoric, Old Roman mores, and Hellenistic philosophy.

 Horace:   In satire, Epicurean catharsis; in lyric, Epicurean synthesis of Hellenic and Old Roman.

 Vergil:     Nature, philosophy, history, country, self:  the tragedy of no synthesis.

 Propertius:     Elegiac love and the quest for a New Roman.

 Tibullus:     Elegiac love as tragedy.

 Sulpicia:     Elegiac love and the Matrona: rebellion.

 Ovid:    Escape from Old Roman mores, tragedy, and meaning.

 Persius:   Stoic catharsis in satire.

 Petronius:   The death of Old Roman eloquence.  Its heirs and their implications for values.

 Juvenal:   Cynic catharsis in satire.

 Apuleius:  Syncretism:  unity, diversity, innovation.

 Longus:   The romance of nostalgia .  Escape from history.

 Hrotsvitha :    Classical New Comedy + Christian History = Divine comedy.

 The Archpoet:      Selfhood anew.


Classics Curriculum Overview
The Content As Classical Humanities


 

1) Classical Humanities
    a) Classical concepts and constructs
    b) Classical history and story
    c) Modern methods of analysis
    d) Skills
    e) Vicarious life:  the observation of themes
2) Classical concepts and constructs
    a) Nature
    b) Society
    c) Self
    d) Interactions of nature, society, and self
        i) Gender
        ii) Heroism
        iii) Value terms
3) Classical history and story
4) Traditional and modern methods of analysis
    a) Literary form
        i ) Close reading
        ii) Prosody
        iii) Genre
            (1) Epic
            (2) Lyric
            (3) Tragedy
            (4) Comedy
            (5) Rhetoric
            (6) History
    b) Social history
    c) Mythology
5) Skills
    a) Research
    b) Critical analysis
    c) Languages
    d) Linguistic analysis
6) Vicarious life: Themes as perspectives on perennial questions
    i) Causality
        (1) Divine?
        (2) Free?
        (3) Morally conditioned?
    ii) The best society
        (1) The criteria?
        (2) Autonomy?
        (3) Who decides?
    iii) True happiness
        (1) What Summum Bonum?
        (2) Limits?
        (3) Autonomy?



The Classics section of the Augustana Catalog

With Links to Instructors and Course Syllabi


 

Classics

Thomas R. Banks, Professor, Chair
Dorothy Parkander Professor of Literature
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Minnesota

Emil A. Kramer, Assistant Professor
B. A., Texas; M.A., Georgia; Ph.D., Cincinnati

Robert D. Haak, Associate Professor (Religion)

MAJOR IN CLASSICS (emphasis in Greek or in Latin). Eight Classics courses and two required supporting courses, distributed as follows:

Classics courses (24 credits): Three Greek courses or three Latin courses numbered above 200; two courses numbered above 300 in the same language; 401; and two other courses in Greek or Latin. These last two may not include CL 111 or 101, 102 or 103 in the same language as the other five Greek or Latin courses.

Required supporting courses (6 credits): History 214 or 215; one of Art History 165, Philosophy 140, Religion 311, 315, 316.

MAJOR FOR TEACHING LATIN. 34 credits for a first field, 21 for a second field. Please see the Director of Secondary Education and the Chair of Classics.

MINOR IN CLASSICS. Six courses (18 credits), distributed as follows:

Core language and literature: Three Greek courses or three Latin courses numbered above 200, with at least one of the three numbered above 300.

Linguistic and disciplinary diversity: Three courses in one of the following areas: 1) three courses in the other classical language. 2) Art History 165; History 214, 215; Philosophy 140; Religion 311, 315, 316. 3) Hebrew 100-101-102 and one of the preceding courses in Greek, Latin, art history, history, philosophy or religion.


COURSES

Classics courses in World Literature (WL), Greek (GK) and Latin (LT) are organized into groups as follows:

Classical Lyric Poetry: WL 214, GK 214/314, LT 214/314. T. Banks.

Literature of the Cosmopolis: WL 216, GK 216/316, LT 216/316. T. Banks.

The Art of Persuasion: WL 218, GK 218/318, LT 218/318. T. Banks.

Medieval Latin Literature: WL 220, LT 220/320. T. Banks.

The Art of History: WL 222, GK 222/322, LT 222/322. E. Kramer.

Classical Tragedy: WL 224, GK 224/324, LT 224/324.T. Banks.

Classical Laughter: WL 226, GK 226/326, LT 226/326.  T. Banks.

Classical Epic: WL 228, GK 228/328, LT 228/328.E. Kramer.

Classics courses for which no knowledge of Greek or Latin is required: (CL):

111 GREEK AND LATIN TERMS FOR SCIENCE (1)  T. Banks.

A systematic approach to the large vocabulary of the life sciences via the relatively small number of Greek and Latin base-words underlying it. The course takes up these base-words, the patterns in which they change and the forms they take in anatomical and scientific names. The course may not be counted towards a Classics major.


Courses in World Literature

The following World Literature courses from Classics are described in the World Literature section of this catalog.

210 [L] Greek Literature (3) T. Banks.

212 [L] Greek Mythology (3) T. Banks.

214 [L] Classical Lyric Poetry (3)  T. Banks.

216 [L] Literature of the Cosmopolis (3)  T. Banks.

218 [L] The Art of Persuasion (3) T. Banks.

220 [L] Medieval Latin Literature (3) T. Banks.

222 [L] The Art of History (3)   E. Kramer.

224 [L] Classical Tragedy (3)   T. Banks

226 [L] Classical Laughter (3) T. Banks.

228 [L] Classical Epic (3)   E. Kramer.


Courses in Greek (GK)

Courses numbered above 200 are normally offered in alternate years.

101-102-103 ELEMENTARY GREEK (3+3+3) T. Banks

An introduction to both the New Testament koiné and Classical varieties of ancient Greek. By the end of the third term, students have the basic skills needed to read most Attic and Hellenistic prose.

214/314 [L] CLASSICAL LYRIC POETRY (3) T. Banks

Translation of Greek lyric poetry and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman lyric. 314 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 214, Greek 103; for 314, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Lyric group.

216/316 [L] LITERATURE OF THE COSMOPOLIS (3) T. Banks.

Translation of koiné Greek texts and a survey (in English readings) of Greek and Roman literature of the koiné era. 316 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 216, Greek 103; for 316, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Literature of the Cosmopolis group.

218/318 [L] THE ART OF PERSUASION (3) T. Banks.

Translation of Greek literature of persuasion and a survey (in English readings) of Greek and Roman rhetoric. 318 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 218, Greek 103; for 318, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Art of Persuasion group.

222/322 [L] THE ART OF HISTORY (3)  E. Kramer.

Translation of Greek historians and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman historical writing. 322 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 222, Greek 103; for 322, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Art of History group.

224/324 [L] CLASSICAL TRAGEDY (3)  T. Banks.

Translation of Greek tragedy and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman tragedy. 324 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 224, Greek 103; for 324, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Tragedy group.

226/326 [L] CLASSICAL LAUGHTER (3)  T. Banks.

Translation of Aristophanes and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman comedy and satire. 326 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisites: for 226, Greek 103; for 326, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Laughter group.

228/328 [L] CLASSICAL EPIC (3)  E. Kramer.

Translation of Homeric epic and readings (in English) from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and from Vergil's Aeneid. 328 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 228, Greek 103; for 328, Greek above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Epic group.


Courses in Latin (LT)

Courses numbered above 200 are normally offered in alternate years.

100 ELEMENTARY LATIN REFRESHER (1) E. Kramer.

For students placed in 102 by the Latin placement test. They may, with the consent of the department, register for 100 (they cannot take 101), and then continue with 102-103. Prerequisites: placement in 102 and consent of department.

101-102-103 ELEMENTARY LATIN (3+3+3) E. Kramer.

The basics of Latin, with appropriate readings in prose and poetry.

214/314 [L] CLASSICAL LYRIC POETRY (3) T. Banks.

Translation of Latin Lyric poetry and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman lyric. 314 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 214, Latin 103; for 314, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Lyric group.

216/316 [L] LITERATURE OF THE COSMOPOLIS (3) T. Banks.

Translation of the Latin Vulgate or the Satyricon and a survey (in English readings) of Greek and Roman literature of the koiné era. 316 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 216, Latin 103; for 316, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Literature of the Cosmopolis group.

218/318 [L] THE ART OF PERSUASION (3) T. Banks.

Translation of Latin speeches of persuasion and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman rhetoric. 318 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 218, Latin 103; for 318, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Art of Persuasion group.

220/320 [L] MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE (3) T. Banks.

Translation of Medieval Latin texts and a survey (in English readings) of Medieval Latin literature. 320 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 220, Latin 103; for 320, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Medieval Latin Literature group.

222/322 [L] THE ART OF HISTORY (3)  E. Kramer.

Translation of Latin historians and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman historical writing. 322 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 222, Latin 103; for 322, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Art of History group.

224/324 [L] CLASSICAL TRAGEDY (3)  T. Banks.

Translation of tragedy by Seneca and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman tragedy. 324 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 224, Latin 103; for 324, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Tragedy group.

226/326 [L] CLASSICAL LAUGHTER (3)  T. Banks.

Translation of satires by Horace and a survey (in English readings) of classical Greek and Roman comedy and satire. 326 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 226, Latin 103; for 326, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Laughter Group.

228/328 [L] CLASSICAL EPIC (3)  E. Kramer.

Translation from Vergil's Aeneid and readings (in English) from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and from the Aeneid. 328 students do upper-division reading and research. Prerequisite: for 228, Latin 103; for 328, Latin above 200. Precludes taking other courses in the Classical Epic Group.

Courses in Hebrew (HB)

100-101-102 ELEMENTARY hebrew (2+2+2)  R. Haak.

An introduction to the Hebrew of the Hebrew Bible. By the end of the third term, students will be able to read the text of the Hebrew Bible with the aid of lexica. The sequence is offered when feasible, which is normally every third year.

Individual Studies and Internships

199, 299, 399 DIRECTED STUDY (1+)

Opportunity for students to study a particular subject under a faculty member's guidance. Prerequisite: permission of department chair and instructor.

389 INTERNSHIP: ANALYSIS 
(3+, limit of 3 to count toward graduation)

Analysis of the background, structure and policy issues in the placement organization. During the academic year this course must be taken concurrently with Internship 388 and 389. See Internship for additional information and requirements for internship placements. Prerequisites: acceptance into the program by the internship committee and a declared major or minor in classics.

400 INDEPENDENT STUDY (1+)

Reading and analysis of selected literature.

401 SEMINAR (3)  T. Banks. E. Kramer.

A course with three objectives for the senior Classics major: 1) comprehension of the Classical world knowing how its disparate times and places touch; 2) consolidation of scholarship knowing the main research tools of Classics and how to use them in concert; 3) creation knowing how to contribute to scholarship. Student and professor together design a project to meet the objectives. Prerequisite: consent of department.
 
 
Date last modified: December 23, 2002

© Augustana College 1996

 



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Please send communications about this page to:

Thomas Banks, Chair, Department of Classics

By post:

Thomas Banks
Chair, Department of Classics
Augustana College
639 - 38th Street
Rock Island, IL 61201-2296

By fax: 309-794-7702

By voice: 309-794-7240


Last update of this Classics Page /CLHPtopan.html: 23 December 2002