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Course Descriptions

CLAS 171 Love and War, Gods and Heroes: Greek and Roman Epic Poetry (4)

The great stories of Greek and Roman epic poetry continue to inspire modern literature, art, and film. In this course, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony, and Virgil's Aeneid will be read and discussed in English translation. Emphasis will be on plot and narrative technique, genre characteristics, changes in world view, and the reception of these poems in later periods.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Knorr

CLAS 199 Topics in Classical Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Classical Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

CLAS 231W Myth and Cult in the Ancient East Mediterranean (4)

Delves into the Near Eastern background of ancient Greek myth and cult, looking at parallels among deities, myths, and cult performances; also how, when, and why shared cultural features moved across linguistic and geographic barriers in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age. Works with both oral-derived written texts and material culture, including iconography, pottery, and architectural remains, reading them in conjunction to achieve a holistic understanding of how texts and artifacts created or were embedded in performance contexts and spaces where ritual and cult were enacted. Covers the Near Easter background of specific Greek gods and heroes: goddess of sexuality, storm-god, sun deities, sea deities, "young man" deities, healing deities, agricultural deities, mountain deities, underworld deities, disappearing or dying of deities, Achilles, Hector, Heracles; cosmogonies; Chaoskampf and snake-slaying myths; ancestor veneration and its connection to epic and hero worship; curses and black magic; invocations; purification rituals; prayers and other performances in temple and sanctuary settings; festivals and processions; animal sacrifice; ritual drama; "sacred marriage" and other gendered and sexual metaphors for the relations between humans and the divine; genealogies; legitimization of kingship; wisdom literature.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-Centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Prerequisite: No seniors
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

CLAS 244W The Greek and Roman Stage (4)

Tragedy and comedy are among the most important genres of ancient literature. The study of major plays by writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca, Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence will illustrate the development of ancient theater and the immense influence these dramatic creations still exert on modern Western literature and film. Emphasis will be laid on the historical context of these works, their structure and generic conventions (and the conscious play with them), and on practical issues of staging and performance.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Knorr

CLAS 247 Women in Roman Literature and Life (4)

Through the study of ancient Roman texts in translation, this course explores the life experience of women in ancient Rome and the way their lives are reflected in 500 years of Roman literature. Since most Roman authors were men, students will try to reconstruct women's voices and their human experience by exploring both literary and non-literary sources, such as laws, grave inscriptions, and graffiti. In addition, students will examine artistic representations of women in the form of portrait sculptures and funerary monuments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Knorr

CLAS 250W Greeks, Romans and Barbarians (4)

Herodotus, Caesar, and Tacitus will be consulted, along with comedy, tragedy, fragments of ethnographers and passages from other primary sources to see how perceptions of barbarians changed over time, affected by the ways that Greek and Roman interaction with them changed. In order to better understand how recent history shapes our interpretation of ancient culture, we will study post-colonialist, Afro-centric, and "anti-anti-Semitic" approaches to the Greco-Roman image of Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Scythians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phrygians, Lydians, Gauls, Britons, and Germans. Credit may only be earned in one of the following: GREEK 350W, LATIN 350W or CLAS 250W.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Prerequisite: No seniors
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

CLAS 252 Poetics of Magic, Magic of Poetry (4)

The origin of poetic speech in magical incantations and prayers is explored, using a variety of theoretical frameworks, including linguistic, anthropological, and literary, both ancient and modern. We begin with the following premises: Perfectly true speech creates the cosmos; perfectly expressive words compel action. Written signs imbue objects with meaning and render ephemeral performances permanent. Examples are drawn from texts that ancient Wise Women, Masters of the Word, and inspired poets used in magic rituals and cult, with translations. Students will also craft their own charms and prayers following the principles introduced for each genre, and according to the practices of the various ancient European, Near Eastern, and South Asian cultures studied.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

CLAS 260 Gender and Sexuality in Greek Society (4)

This course explores Greek attitudes towards gender roles and sexuality, drawing on primary medical texts, tragedy, comedy, didactic poetry, forensic speeches, the romance novel, philosophy, early lyric poetry, and secondary scholarship about these texts. Topics include gender construction, misogyny, hysteria, virginity, marriage, rape, seduction, inheritance, female and male desire, homosexuality, and rites of passage.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

CLAS 299 Topics in Classical Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Classical Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

CLAS 358 Advanced Topics in Classical Studies (4)

A study of topics in Classical Studies. Topics may be organized around literary themes as well as material culture, focusing on a major author, an idea, a genre, a major work, a literary movement, a critical approach, a historical period, a social phenomenon. Topics, texts, and emphases will vary according to the instructor. Intended primarily for Classics majors and minors and other students with some background in Classical Studies. This class may be repeated for credit with different topics.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

CLAS 399 Topics in Classical Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Classical Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

CLAS 429 Topics in Classical Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Classical Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

CLAS 496W Senior Seminar in Classical Studies (4)

Required course for Classical Studies majors. Students will choose a topic in consultation with Classics faculty, read a text appropriate to that topic in the ancient language(s) and write a substantial research paper. Prerequisite: Senior standing in Classical Studies or consent of instructor.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

CLAS 497W Senior Seminar in Classical Civilization (4)

Required course for Classical Civilization majors, but open to all Seniors majoring in the Arts & Humanities. Study of an advanced topic in Classical Civilizations. Students read ancient texts in English translation appropriate to that topic and write a substantial research paper.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: Senior standing and a declared major in Classical Civilizations, or instructor consent
  • Offering: Spring semester
  • Instructor: Knorr, Bachvarova, Chenault

GREEK 131 Elementary Ancient Greek I (4)

Introduction to the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek.

  • Offering: Alternate Fall semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 132 Elementary Ancient Greek II (4)

Introduction to the morphology and syntax of ancient Greek.

  • Offering: Alternate Spring semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 199 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 231 Ancient Greek Prose (4)

Reading and translation of selected ancient Greek prose texts, including works by Herodotus, Plato, Lysias and others.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 131 and 132 or equivalent
  • Offering: Alternate Fall semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 232 Ancient Greek Poetry (4)

Selections from Greek epic poetry or a complete Greek tragedy will be read and discussed.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231 or equivalent
  • Offering: Alternate Spring semesters
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 232a Hellenistic Greek Texts (4)

Reading and translation of selected Greek texts from the Greco-Roman period, including the New Testament, the Septuagint, Josephus, Philo, and the Apostolic Fathers; some attention to Hellenistic grammar, papyrology, and textual criticism.

  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231
  • Offering: On demand
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 299 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 331W Myth and Cult in the Ancient East Mediterranean: Readings in Ancient Greek (4)

Delves into the Near Eastern background of ancient Greek myth and cult, looking at parallels among deities, myths, and cult performances; also how, when, and why shared cultural features moved across linguistic and geographic barriers in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Works with both oral-derived written texts and material culture, including iconography, pottery, and architectural remains, reading them in conjunction to achieve a holistic understanding of how texts and artifacts created or were embedded in performance contexts and spaces where ritual and cult were enacted. Covers the Near Eastern background of specific Greek gods and heroes: goddess of sexuality, storm-god, sun deities, sea deities, “young man” deities, healing deities, agricultural deities, mountain deities, underworld deities, disappearing or dying deities, Achilles, Hector, Heracles; cosmogonies; Chaoskampf and snake-slaying myths; ancestor veneration and its connection to epic and hero worship; curses and black magic; invocations; purification rituals; prayers and other performances in temple and sanctuary settings; festivals and processions; animal sacrifice; ritual drama; “sacred marriage” and other gendered and sexual metaphors for the relations between humans and the divine; genealogies; legitimization of kingship; wisdom literature. Taught concurrently with CLAS 231W, with one extra hour of translation of a Homeric text.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: CV 
  • Prerequisite: Completion of GREEK 232
  • Offering: Alternate years
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 350W Greeks, Romans and Barbarians: Readings in Greek (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 250W (Greeks, Romans and Barbarians), one hour per week translating Herodotus and/or Heliodorus. Primary sources will be consulted to see how perceptions of barbarians changed over time, affected by the ways that Greek and Roman interactions with them changed. In order to better understand how recent history shapes our interpretation of ancient culture, we will study post-colonialist, Afro-centric, and "anti-anti-Semitic" approaches to the Greco-Roman image of Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Scythians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phrygians, Lydians, Gauls, Britons, and Germans. Credit may only be earned in one of the following: GREEK 350W, LATIN 350W or CLAS 250W.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 232
  • Offering: Triennially in Spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 360 Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek Society: Readings in Euripides (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 260 (Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek Society), plus one hour per week translating a tragedy by Euripides. This course explores Greek attitudes towards gender roles and sexuality, drawing on primary medical texts, tragedy, comedy, didactic poetry, forensic speeches, the romance novel, philosophy, early lyric poetry, and secondary scholarship about these texts. Topics include gender construction, misogyny, hysteria, virginity, marriage, rape, seduction, inheritance, female and male desire, homosexuality, and rites of passage. Credit may only be earned in oe of the following: GREEK 360 or CLAS 260.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 232
  • Offering: Triennially in Spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

GREEK 362W Advanced Research and Writing on Greek Literature (4)

This course is intended to provide students with appropriate preparation in Greek, an additional opportunity to read Greek in the original and to polish their research and writing skills.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: GREEK 231
  • Offering: On Demand
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 390 Independent Study (2-4)

Advanced study of selected Greek texts.

  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

GREEK 399 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

GREEK 429 Topics in Greek (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Greek. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff


LATIN 131 Elementary Latin I (4)

Introduction to the morphology, syntax and style of classical Latin.

  • Offering: Fall
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 132 Elementary Latin II (4)

Introduction to the morphology, syntax and style of classical Latin.

  • Prerequisite: LATIN 131 or consent of instructor.
  • Offering: Fall
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 199 Topics in Latin (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Latin. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

LATIN 231 Latin Prose (4)

Close reading of classical Latin prose authors. Texts by Cicero, Sallust, Livy, Suetonius, Seneca and/or Apuleius will be translated and discussed.

  • Prerequisite: LATIN 132 or consent of instructor.
  • Offering: Fall
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 232 Latin Poetry (4)

Close reading of classical Latin poetry. Works by Catullus, Propertius, Vergil, Horace, Ovid and others will be translated and discussed.

  • Prerequisite: LATIN 231 or consent of instructor.
  • Offering: Spring
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 299 Topics in Latin (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Latin. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

LATIN 350W Readings in Caesar and Tacitus: Greeks, Romans and Barbarians (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 250W (Greeks, Romans and Barbarians), one hour per week translating Caesar, and Tacitus. Herodotus, Caesar and Tacitus will be consulted, along with comedy, tragedy, fragments of ethnographers and passages from other primary sources to see how perceptions of barbarians changed over time, affected by the ways that Greek and Roman interactions with them changed. In order to better understand how recent history shapes our interpretation of ancient culture, we will study post-colonialist, Afro-centric, and "anti-anti-Semitic" approaches to the Greco-Roman image of Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Scythians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phrygians, Lydians, Gauls, Britons, and Germans. Credit may not be earned for both LATIN 350W and CLAS 250W.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: LATIN 232
  • Offering: Triennially in spring
  • Instructor: Bachvarova

LATIN 353 Latin Sources on Roman Women (4)

Taught 3 hours a week in conjunction with CLAS 247, one hour per week translating original Latin texts by and about Roman women. This course explores the life experience of women in ancient Rome and the way their lives are reflected in 500 years of Roman literature. Since most Roman authors were men, students will try to reconstruct women's voices and their human experience by exploring both literary and non-literary sources, such as laws, grave inscriptions, and graffiti, focusing on issues such as female literacy, "female" genres, and gender-specific language. In addition, students will examine artistic representations of women in the form of portrait sculptures and funerary monuments. Credit may only be earned in one of the following: LATIN 353 or CLAS 247.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: LATIN 231
  • Offering: Triennially
  • Instructor: Knorr

LATIN 390 Independent Study (2-4)

Advanced study of selected Latin texts.

  • Offering: Every semester
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 391 Advanced Reading in Latin Literature (4)

This course allows for intensive study at the third-year level of a text or texts in a single genre or time-period of Latin literature. The primary focus remains translation, but secondary readings will be incorporated and discussed.

  • Prerequisite: Completion of LATIN 232, or equivalent, or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit.
  • Offering: Fall
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 394W Advanced Research and Writing on Latin Literature (4)

This course is intended to provide students with appropriate preparation in Latin, an additional opportunity to read Latin in the original and to polish their research and writing skills. Meets concurrently with the Latin-based Classics Senior Thesis.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities
  • Prerequisite: LATIN 232 or consent of instructor
  • Offering: As needed
  • Instructor: Staff

LATIN 399 Topics in Latin (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Latin. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

LATIN 429 Topics in Latin (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Latin. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

  • General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
  • Prerequisite: Topic dependent
  • Offering: Occasionally
  • Professor: Staff

Willamette University

Classical Studies