The following courses in classical studies are designed to provide students with a broad introduction to classical civilization through history, literature, mythology, and etymology. All courses are electives, open to the various classes as noted. The courses offered here require no knowledge of Greek or Latin. Courses in the Greek and Latin languages, offered by the Department of Classics, are described underWorld Languages.

CLAS-310 Etymology
(F-W-S)
Four class periods. Open to all classes. English has an immense vocabulary, far larger than that of any other language, over half of which is based on Latin and Greek roots. The words of this Greco-Roman inheritance are best understood not simply as stones in the vast wall of English, but rather as living organisms with a head, body, and feet (prefix, main root, and suffix), creatures with grandparents, siblings, cousins, foreign relatives, life histories, and personalities of their own; some work for doctors and lawyers, others for columnists, crusaders, and captains of commerce. Systematic study of a few hundred roots opens the door to understanding the meanings and connotations of tens of thousands of words in English, the language now rapidly emerging as the most adaptable for international and intercultural communication.

CLAS-320 Greek Literature
(F-W-S)
Four class periods. Open to all classes. A systematic study of the masterpieces of early Europeancivilization as seen in their proper literary, intellectual, and historical contexts. In what is essentially a history of ideas, the major genres of epic, tragedy, comedy, satire, history, erotic poetry, and philosophy are stressed as aspects of the wider evolution of European thought.Themajor problems that still confront human life are explored through the writings of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato, and others.

CLAS-330 Classical Mythology
(not offered in 2007–2008)
Four class periods. Open to all classes. The interest of the 20th century in classical mythology has stemmed from three main sources: the psychoanalytical use of myth, progress in the field of classical archaeology, and anthropological study of myth. Preliminary exploration of the works of Freud in psychology, Schliemann and Evans in archaeology, and Frazer, Graves, and Levi-Strauss in anthropology leads to the detailed study of the myths of Oedipus, Theseus, and Agamemnon, among others. The myths are considered living entities changing in the hands of each artist who deals with them, whether it be Homer or Joyce, Aeschylus or O’Neill, an anonymous Greek vase painter or Dali, Euripides, or Strauss. Works of literature, art, and music provide the core for the study of the use of myth in human life.