Class Schedules

Why are Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Latin all taught in the same department at Macalester? Today Islam and the Arab world are often presented in contrast with the West in a sort of timeless and unending 'clash of civilizations.' Classics 101 aims to counter this narrative by exploring the multiple deep, long-term connections among the languages, religions and peoples around the Mediterranean Sea. What were the relationships among speakers of these languages in the past? How did Judaism, Christianity and Islam develop among them? Why are Greek and Roman traditions sometimes seen as in tension with Christian or Arab traditions -- and has that always been the case? Readings include selections from Genesis, Exodus, Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, Vergil, the Gospels, Josephus, Imru Al-Qays, the Qur'an and 1,001 Nights. Legendary and historical figures include Moses, Helen of Troy, Cyrus, Darius, Pericles, Alexander, Cleopatra, Jesus, Augustus, Perpetua, Constantine, Muhammad, Fatima, Aisha and Omar. Suggested subtitles for the course include Before East and West, We Hear Dead People, Great Books Reimagined, and Hey, You Should Know This Stuff. Required for all majors in the Classical Mediterranean and Middle East.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course studies the interaction of Jewish, Christian, and pagan cultures, and the protracted struggle for self-definition and multi-cultural exchange this encounter provoked. The course draws attention to how the other and cultural and religious difference are construed, resisted, and apprehended. Readings include Acts, Philo, Revelation, I Clement, pagan charges against Christianity, Adversus Ioudaios writers, the Goyim in the Mishna, and apologetic literature.

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Humanities

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This course explores the ancient history and sacred texts of Judaism’s Second Temple period (6th century BCE to 70 CE). After Jews return home from exile in Babylon, they rebuild the Jerusalem Temple (the "Second Temple") and spend centuries living under the empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. In this class, students will encounter Jewish military records in the books of the Maccabees and Josephus; approach ancient views of women and gender in the books of Esther and Judith; ponder Jewish philosophy in the books of Sirach and Wisdom; and decode the apocalyptic imagery of Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Our study of these texts will provide political and socio-cultural insight into how Second Temple Jews expressed identity, engaged in worship, and negotiated conflict amidst uncertain times in the ancient Mediterranean world.

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Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This two-term sequence introduces the grammar and vocabulary of Latin, the language of the ancient Romans. Students learn through reading adapted passages, by breaking down grammatical structures into recognizable patterns, and through tutorials and drills. We aim to cover all basic grammar by the end of the year. In the second semester, students begin to read easy Latin such as the Bible, Pliny, Cornelius Nepos and/or Caesar. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 111.

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In this two semester program, students learn to read, write and converse in Modern Standard Arabic, the form of Classical Arabic used in contemporary news media, documents, literature, education and religious practice in the many countries of the Arab world. The purpose of this course is to develop beginning students' proficiency and communication in the four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 113.

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This course introduces students to more authentic texts and samples a variety of authors and genres from around the Arab world. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 241 or equivalent.

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This fourth course in the ancient Greek language sequence involves extensive reading in works of ancient poetry. Students will work toward mastery of grammar and vocabulary while exploring the formal, artistic and cultural dimensions of poetic composition. Most often readings will be from the Homeric epics (Iliad or Odyssey), but other works may be taught, including tragedy, comedy or lyric. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 261or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course investigates contemporary approaches to studying women, gender and sexuality in history, and the particular challenges of studying these issues in antiquity. By reading ancient writings in translation and analyzing art and other material culture, we will address the following questions: How did ancient Greek and Roman societies understand and use the categories of male and female? Into what sexual categories did different cultures group people? How did these gender and sexual categories intersect with notions of slave and free status, citizenship and ethnicity? How should we interpret the actions and representations of women in surviving literature, myth, art, law, philosophy, politics and medicine in this light? Finally, how and why have gendered classical images been re-deployed in the modern U.S.- from scholarship to art and poetry?

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course studies some of the world's great storytellers-the ancient Greeks. First, we read from translations of Greek poetry to become familiar with the key figures and events in mythology, including the Olympian gods and their origins, the major heroes, and the Trojan War. Then we explore more broadly the adaptable nature of these myths and the variety of forms in which the Greeks told stories, from epic and personal poetry to philosophy, drama, sculpture and vase painting. At the same time, we investigate the ways in which moderns have interpreted these stories. We analyze myths using Freud's psychoanalytical techniques, as folklore and ritual, and through theoretical perspectives including structuralism, new historicism and feminism. Finally, we investigate the later life of Greek myths, focusing on how and why these stories have been retold by the Romans, later European authors and artists, American film makers and playwrights, and science fiction writers.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores the culture and history of the medieval Middle East through the lens of exiles, migrants, and travelers who roamed the world from Spain to China. It studies the rise of Islam in the 7th century and its globalizing impact on the medieval world and follows Islamic history through the Mongol expansion in the 14th century. Readings, lectures, and class discussions will focus on primary sources—the accounts of Muslims, Jews, and Christians who traveled the length and breadth of the Islamic empire. We will emphasize how medieval travelers described other religions and cultures, and how these encounters informed their notions of their own identities. Major themes are how travel and migration shape the course of history, and more broadly, how thinking about place, home, and belonging is a core human impulse across cultures and centuries. The readings will include texts by globetrotters such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, early Islamic historical writings that record the formation of the first Islamic community as a movement of ‘Migrants,’ or poetry of the soldiers in Muslim conquest armies as they encountered a new unfamiliar world.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An introduction to the language and literature of classical Hebrew. The study of grammar and vocabulary is supplemented with practice in oral recitation and aural comprehension. Basic biblical texts are analyzed and translated, including selections from the books of Genesis and Ruth. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 117.

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This course introduces students to archaeology, the study of the material remains of human culture. Students will explore the history of the discipline and profession, its basic methods and theories, and the political and ethical dimensions of modern archaeological practice. Students learn to examine and interpret evidence using specific examples, from artifacts to sites to regions.

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Humanities

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This course explores the art and architecture of the Ancient Near East from the earliest agricultural societies in the 10th millennium BCE to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century CE. Within this historical framework the lectures and class discussions will focus on culturally specific concepts of design, representation and aesthetics in ancient Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatolia and Syro-Palestine, and explore their uses in politics, imperialism, burial practices, private rituals and state cults. The lectures will explore topics such as the development of narrative representation, monumental public art, portraiture, small-scale glyptic arts and the design, and production of personal ornaments such as jewelry.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A survey course of Renaissance and classic writers from around the Arab world. We explore social issues, with the focus still on language acquisition. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 342.

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Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials