Courses

AS 201E: Nat. Disasters & Anc. World
This course examines natural disasters—historical and literary/mythological—from ancient contexts focusing on the Mediterranean region circa 1600 BCE–500 CE. The course will comprise five primary units: storms and floods, plagues and disease, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and famines and food insecurity (with lesser attention to other kinds of natural disasters). Inquiries will focus on ancient beliefs/explanations, environmental consequences, and societal responses, while drawi

AS 206E: Animals in Ancient Science
Like naturalists today, ancient thinkers marveled at and attempted to explain the incredible diversity of the animal kingdom. This course illuminates how the ancients have shaped scientific understandings and modern terminology of animals.

AS 242H: Epic Poetry in the Ancient World
Read fantastic epic tales about gods, heroes, and monsters from the ancient world, and discover unique perspectives on how various cultures consider important questions of mortality and fate, virtue and vice, identity, community, and family.

AS 301G: Identity, Race, & Ethnicity in the Ancient World
Introduces the field of "Ancient Ethnography," exploring representations of distant lands and peoples of the ancient world, as perceived by the Greeks and Romans. Modern theory on race and ethnicity will be used to illuminate various ancient ethnographic texts.

AS 303H: Magic in the Ancient World
A study of magical practices, curse tablets, arcane spellbooks, and literature from the ancient Mediterranean world. How do we define magic? Who practiced magic, and why? How does a study of ancient magic help us understand the modern world?

AS 310H: Animals in Classical and Mediterranean Cultures
Consider representation and treatment of animals in Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Christian myths, stories, rituals, art, games, etc. What can we learn about ancient societies through their interactions with animals? What can we learn about ourselves?

AS 391: Internship

AS 498: Comprehensive Exam

AS 499: Senior Thesis

Ancient temple in Athens

Also see our courses in the classical humanities, which offer students broad exposure to the languages, literature, philosophy, art, and history of Greece and Rome. Photo: the Parthenon at the Acropolis of Athens by Amanda Landers ’23