Classics is the study of Greek and Roman antiquity through the ancient languages, literatures, histories, arts, cultures, and thought of those periods. This is an area of study which seeks to employ a variety of analytic tools in understanding the cultures which lie at the heart of the western tradition. The major programs in classics and in classical studies draw on the offerings of the departments of classics, history, philosophy, politics, and rhetoric. The major in classics places the greatest emphasis upon mastery of the ancient languages. The major in classical studies emphasizes a broad familiarity with Greek and Roman cultures.
A student who enters Whitman without any prior college-level preparation in classics will have to complete 54 credits to fulfill the requirements for the classics major. That same student will have to complete 44 credits to fulfill the requirements for the classical studies major. Courses taken in the department of classics will principally fulfill the distribution area of humanities. Note that some classics courses may also fulfill distribution in social sciences and fine art.
The Classics major: A minimum of 36 credits as follows:
The senior assessment in classics consists of a three-hour written comprehensive examination, a senior thesis and a one-hour oral examination consisting of a defense of the thesis and, when appropriate, further response to questions from the written examination.
The Classical Studies major: A minimum of 36 credits as follows:
The senior assessment in classical studies consists of a three-hour written comprehensive examination and a one-hour oral examination, both of which address materials encountered in coursework and materials from a departmental reading list for the comprehensive examination.
Note: Students who major in classical studies may not receive credit for the completion of a classics minor.
The Classics minor: Either Latin 205 (or equivalent) or Greek 205 (or equivalent), four credits of Classics 392 plus a minimum of 12 additional credits. Eight of those additional credits may be drawn from a full year of a second ancient language. Thus the student who completes Greek 205 may count Latin 105, 106 toward the minor, and the student who completes Latin 205 may count Greek 106, 106. All or part of the 12 additional credits may be drawn from the following courses: Classics 130, 140, 200, 201, 221, 224, 226, 227, 239, 371, 377, 391, 392, Greek 391, 392, Latin 391, 392, History 225, 226, 227.
Note: A course cannot be used to satisfy both major and minor requirements, e.g., History 226 cannot be used to apply toward the 36-credit requirement for the history major and the classics minor requirement.
Note: Courses taken P-D-F prior to the declaration of a language major or minor will satisfy course and credit requirements for the major or minor. Courses taken P-D-F may not be used to satisfy course and credit requirements for the major or minor after the major or minor has been declared.
105, 106 Elementary Ancient Greek
4; not offered 2009-10
An introduction to the language of classical Athens, Attic Greek. The class is devoted to giving the students the ability to read ancient texts as soon as possible. Along with a systematic presentation of Ancient Greek grammar, this course offers opportunities to read selections from Greek literature in their original language. Offered in alternate years.
205 Intermediate Ancient Greek
4, x Vandiver
Substantial readings from ancient authors in conjunction with a thorough review of all aspects of ancient Greek grammar. Readings will focus on two authors each semester, with a balance between prose and verse. Prerequisite: Greek 106 or consent of instructor. Offered in alternate years.
391, 392 Independent Study
1-4, 1-4 Staff
An introduction to the tools of classical scholarship through a reading of an ancient Greek text chosen by the student and instructor in consultation. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
105, 106 Elementary Latin
4, 4 Burgess
An introduction to the language of ancient Rome. The class is devoted to giving the students the ability to read ancient texts as soon as possible. Along with a systematic presentation of Latin grammar, this course offers opportunities to read selections from Roman literature in their original language. Offered in alternate years.
205 Intermediate Latin
4; not offered 2009-10
Substantial readings from ancient authors in conjunction with a thorough review of all aspects of Latin grammar. Readings will focus on two authors each semester, with a balance between prose and verse. Prerequisite: Latin 106 or consent of instructor. Offered in alternate years.
391, 392 Independent Study
1-4, 1-4 Staff
An introduction to the tools of classical scholarship through a reading of a Latin text chosen by the student and instructor in consultation. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
225 Ancient Mediterranean — Near East
4, x Garnand
This course focuses on the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, from the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of animals in the Neolithic period to the catastrophic collapse of urban centers in the Late Bronze Age. We survey states within a common zone of contact and conflict, extending from the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia across to Anatolia and the Aegean, including Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. We pay particular attention to international relations between the Egyptian and Hittite Empires, as well as relations with other states that these empires considered either their equals (e.g. Cyprus, Assyria, Babylonia) or their subjects (e.g. Canaan, Ugarit). We pay as much attention to the shared “International Cuneiform Culture” of these states as we do to their distinct histories, and we use a variety of primary texts (monumental inscriptions, diplomatic correspondence, ritual texts) and archaeological evidence to construct our narrative.
226 Ancient Mediterranean — Greece
x, 4 Garnand
This course traces the spread of urbanism, commerce and alphabetic literacy, from the small city-states of the Levant and Aegean to their colonies, which extended from Spain to the Black Sea, and traces the significant and enduring impact that this expansion had on those settled around the Mediterranean Basin. While most of the small states in the East were conquered by the Assyrian, by the Persian, and then by the Macedonian Empires, in the West small states were absorbed by the Syracusan and Carthaginian Empires, with the entire Mediterranean eventually dominated by Rome ca.180 BCE. This course traces how certain states resisted incorporation into empires – in particular, how Phoenician cities and Israel struggled against the Assyrians and Babylonians and lost, how Athens and Sparta struggled against the Persians and won. We also trace the origins of rational inquiry into the past, both in the Near East (e.g. Deuteronomistic History) and in Greece (e.g. Herodotus).
227 Ancient Mediterranean — Rome
4; not offered 2009-10
This course traces cultural developments over a period of a thousand years, from the early Roman Republic to the fragmentation of the Roman Empire. We trace how one city expanded from a cluster of huts on the banks of the Tiber River to emerge as the capital of a vast empire; how Roman culture spread with the conquest of the Mediterranean basin; and how the Romans absorbed certain customs and traditions from those that they had defeated. We survey various defeated groups in order to show, on the one hand, how they were incorporated into the empire or else how they resisted and, on the other hand, how these groups demonstrate both the diversity and the uniformity of the Roman world, particularly the uniformity of the urban elite. We use a variety of Greek and Latin historians, biographers, satirists, novelists, playwrights, and philosophers, alongside archaeological evidence, to reconstruct our history of Rome.
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