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 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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course introduces students to the Roman world, which at its height stretched from Britain to Iran, from Germany to Africa, and lasted well over a thousand years. Students will develop critical thinking skills while working with Roman literature in translation, art, architecture and other archaeological remains. The structure of the course is chronological, but we will examine major themes across time and space, which may include the development of Roman literature out of and in response to Greek culture; the effects of the civil wars and the resulting political change from a republic to a monarchy; the cultural, religious and/or military aspects of the Roman empire and its immediate aftermath; Roman conceptions of gender, sexuality, slave and free status, citizenship and/or ethnicity, and how these social categories were used to legitimize or exercise power.

General Education Requirements:

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:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In this course, we will study the Jewish Bible (also called the Tanakh or Old Testament) in its original cultural and literary contexts. Alongside an analysis of the biblical texts, students will also encounter related literature from the Ancient Near East to compare with the Bible. Through this comparative approach, we will gain insight into ancient history, as well as the political and theological views of the Israelites and their neighbors. We will also see how the Jewish Bible contributes to various topics of discourse that remain relevant today, including issues around ethnicity, feminism, LGBTQ concerns, God and science, ethics, and collective memory. As such, students will have the opportunity to put the Bible into dialogue with their own understandings of identity, society, and religiosity.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A thorough review of Latin grammar followed by a study of a Roman prose author or authors. Students build reading skills while gaining an appreciation for the literary and cultural aspects of Latin prose. Particular texts to be studied may include Petronius' Satyricon , the letters and/or speeches of Cicero, letters of Pliny, or Livy's History of Rome. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 212 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Hebrew prose selections from the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic parables. Translation of texts will be supplemented with grammar review. Students will gain facility with such tools as the lexicon, commentary and critical apparatus and will become familiar with critical trends in contemporary research. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 218 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course focuses on expanding vocabulary and grammar through simple texts, dialogs and stories. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 214 or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course focuses on expanding vocabulary and grammar through simple texts, dialogs and stories. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 214 or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course focuses on expanding vocabulary and grammar through simple texts, dialogs and stories. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 214 or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

​This course surveys the visual and material culture of Europe, the Middle East and the broader Mediterranean world from prehistory through the late Medieval period, including early Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures. We consider the artistic and archaeological remains from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, Greece, Etruria, Rome, and western Europe from a contextual perspective in order to understand each culture's ideologies, and the diverse social and artistic purposes for which art and architecture was created and used.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will study some of the great cosmopolitan cities of the late antique world: Alexandria, Rome, Palmyra, Baghdad, Venice. These cities were the intellectual and cultural centers of the world in their time. They had enormous reach and impact. These global, cosmopolitan centers drew the world to them. How did these centers fashion such diverse, vibrant, and culturally innovative environments? In examining this question we will be looking at elements like physical space, urban planning, and architecture, the city’s engagement with the natural surroundings. And we will read what the leading minds of the day had to say about the city, what makes it strong, enduring, how does it obtain and keep its place in the global cultural economy? Did these Poleis have a deliberate religious and political identity and philosophy which contributed to their impact and enduring influence? What can the modern city learn from these extraordinary cities of an earlier era? We will study these great ancient Cosmopoleis and also explore on foot the cities which surround Macalester. What can an earlier wisdom from these global and staggeringly diverse civic centers teach us about modern cities?

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

From the ancient world to the early modern era, Babylon, Rome and Constantinople served as the centers of great empires, and thus controlled vast demographic, material, intellectual and artistic resources. This course will explore the formation and transformation of these metropolises through centuries. What kind of social, political and economic conditions stimulated their rise? In what ways did their urban layout change through time? What forms of art and architecture defined them as imperial centers? Keeping these main questions in mind, this course will explore the impact of politics, religion and other historically and culturally specific conditions on the formation of the three cities that has inspired Western imagination for millennia.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

For nearly a thousand years, the religious lives of the ancient Israelites revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. When the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 CE, Jewish scribes needed to find new ways to carry on the worship and traditions of Judaism. This course introduces students to the rabbis and the literature they produced in the first several centuries of the common era. In our study of rabbinic texts such as the Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud, we will see how the rabbis conceived Jewish thought and practice in Late Antiquity. In order to locate the rabbis in their historical context, we will also compare the classical rabbinic corpus with other Jewish texts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judeo-Hellenistic philosophy, and the New Testament. Since rabbinic Judaism stands as the foundation for Jewish praxis today, this course maintains a focus on how rabbis’ words and deeds continue to influence modern notions of Scripture, ethics, and theology.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The Senior Seminar caps the experience of being a Classics major. Students in all three tracks (Archaeology, Civilization, and Languages) join together to explore the history of the discipline and its relationship to their own histories and future plans. Students learn about, draft and critique documents useful for their next steps, including resumes, personal statements and cover letters, along with discussing selected readings in a seminar setting. Each student also works with an advisor from the department to develop and execute a major piece of work in their chosen field, Majors who have completed the Senior Seminar have thus executed a substantive independent project and can articulate the place of their Classics major within their personal and professional development. Prerequisite(s): Must be a declared Classics major

General Education Requirements:

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 115 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 115 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This two-semester program introduces students to ancient Greek, the language of Greece, Asia Minor, and the Hellenistic world, including several Jewish and early Christian writers. Students will learn the grammar and vocabulary necessary for reading Greek literature and documents of many periods. During the second term, students begin to read extended prose, such as passages from Plato, Xenophon, the New Testament or documentary sources. Students will also participate in tutorials and/or practice labs. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 115 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course will survey the art and architecture of ancient Greek and Roman worlds from the Bronze Age (ca. 3000 - 1200 BCE) to Late Antiquity (ca. 5th century CE). The class discussions will focus on concepts of design, representation and aesthetics in Greco-Roman art and architecture, and explore the uses of art objects and monuments in daily life, politics, imperialism, religion, burial practices, private rituals and state cults. The course will examine the developments in artistic forms and practices in their social, economic and historical context, taking into consideration the interaction between Greece and Rome, and the influences from contemporary societies such as the Near East and Egypt.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is a highly dialogical seminar where students examine and discuss key issues and ideas concerning Palestinian life, politic and culture amid the occupation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course examines the interaction, commerce, and conflict between the Islamic Caliphate and Christian Byzantium from the origins of Islam in the seventh century to 1453 and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. These two empires were bound together by shared space, common interests, and episodic distrust. They were Frenemies. The sources for this study are Byzantine and Islamic histories from the period, together with critical analysis of those sources. In addition and importantly the literature and art these two empires produced provide vital and illuminating sight into these bodies, including their view of one another. Counts for the Middle Eastern and Islamic Civilization concentration and as a context course for the Classics major or minor.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course, team taught by Matthew Burgess (English/Creative Writing) and Nanette Goldman(Classical Mediterranean and Middle East), will address Homer's Odyssey from several perspectives. Students will be introduced to the poem’s historical context, social purpose, and original composition. They will also learn to analyze the text from a novelist’s point-of-view, focusing on narrative elements like plot structure and characterization. Projects will be of two types, literary analysis and creative writing. By the end of the semester, students will have gained a far richer understanding not only of The Odyssey, but of the writing process itself.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will explore the art and architecture of the Islamic world from the time of the Prophet Mohammed to the 18th century. The lectures and class discussions will focus on culturally specific concepts of design and aesthetics in the vast geography from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Subcontinent, and analyze a variety of genres including architecture, glass, wood and metal working, painting, calligraphy and ceramics in their political and socio-economic contexts. Within these chronological, geographical and typological frameworks, this course will focus on special themes such as patronage, art and politics, figural representation, religious vs. secular art, and the impact of pre-Islamic Near Eastern heritage and Christianity on the development of Islamic forms and styles.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

A course in the poetic literature of the Republican and/or Augustan Ages with concentrated study on one or two authors. Students work toward grammatical and lexical mastery while learning about the forms, styles and cultural aspects of Latin poetry. Authors to be studied may include Plautus, Catullus, Horace, Vergil, or Ovid. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 231or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The final semester in the two-year survey of the Hebrew language from ancient to modern. Students will read selections from the Biblical books of poetry such as Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Psalms. The second half of the semester is devoted to modern conversational Hebrew. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 237 or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Students who pursue ancient Greek at the advanced level will study closely one or more works and explore relevant problems in literary or textual criticism, linguistic, social or cultural history, and/or reception. Offered upon consultation with department. Prerequisite(s): CLAS 362 or equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials