Courses

Fall 2024

CLASSIC 10 – Discovering Greeks

Instructor(s): Ella Haselswerdt. Teaching Assistants: TBD. Study of Greek life and culture from age of Homer to Roman conquest. Readings focus on selections from works of ancient authors in translation. Lectures illustrated with images of art, architecture, and architecture, and material culture.

CLASSIC 19 – Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars: Art and Power

Instructor(s): Sarah Beckmann. In this seminar, students will consider the role of art in shaping public opinion and political discourse. Meetings examine civic arts and campaign propaganda in ancient Rome and the historical present; case studies are designed to help students 1) develop skills in visual interpretation and critical analysis; 2) understand how public art shapes, influences, and critiques dominant beliefs / worldviews; and 3) realize their ability to participate in civic dialogues. Early seminar meetings introduce students to political arts in ancient Rome, providing them with the foundation to explore the classical reception -rhetoric, imagery, and ideals -in modern political movements (e.g. American democracy; Mussolini and Italian fascism). This work culminates in a final project that asks students to engage with contemporary political dialogues; students will create a poster vel sim. advocating for a particular cause or issue. The class meets for 2 hours in weeks 1-5 in October.

CLASSIC 51A – Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece

Instructor(s): John Papadopoulos. Teaching Assistants: TBD. Survey of major period, theme, or medium of Greek art and archaeology at discretion of instructor.

CLASSIC 144 – Topical Studies in Ancient Culture: Classics and Social Justice

Instructor(s): Kelly Nguyen. Classical antiquity has long been perceived as the privileged inheritance of white Euro-American culture. While there has been a long history of the Greco-Roman classics being (mis)used to justify domination, there has also been an equally profound history of it being reappropriated for liberation. In this class, we will explore how the classics has been used by BIPOC artists and activists in U.S. for different social justice movements. We will engage with classical works and their modern retellings in order to explore topics such as racial justice, indigeneity, immigration, and gender and sexuality.

CLASSIC M146A – Plato–Earlier Dialogues

Instructor(s): Staff. (Same as Philosophy M101A.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: one philosophy course. Study of selected topics in early and middle dialogues of Plato. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC M153K – Classical Archaeology: Greco-Roman Painting

Instructor(s): John Papadopoulos. (Same as Art History M114C.) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: one course from 10, 20, 51A, 51B, Art History 20, or History 1A. Knowledge of Greek and Latin not required. General introduction to study of Aegean, Greek, and Roman architecture, sculpture, and painting. May be repeated for credit with department consent. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 1 – Elementary Greek

Instructor(s): Bryant Kirkland. Elementary Greek sequence.

GREEK 20 – Intermediate Greek I

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Requisite: course 3 or 16. Formal review of Greek grammar and syntax and development of skills in reading original texts of Greek prose. Readings selected to introduce literature and culture of ancient Greece. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 123 – Aristotle: Poetics and Rhetoric

Instructor(s): David Blank. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 140 – Topics in Greek Language and Culture

Instructor(s): Michael Cooperson. Seminar, three hours. Requisite: course 9C. Covers topics in modern Greek language, culture, and history. Assigned materials are predominantly in modern Greek. Topics and geographical focus are diverse, ranging from literature and cinema to culture and history of Greek America. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.

LATIN 1 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Sam Beckelhymer. Teaching Assistants: TBD. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 3 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): TBD. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 20 – Intermediate Latin I

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Requisite: course 3 or 16. Formal review of Latin grammar and syntax and development of skills in reading original texts of Latin prose. Readings selected to introduce literature and culture of ancient Rome. P/NP or letter grading.

LATIN 106 – Catullus

Instructor(s): Sam Beckelhymer. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100. P/NP or letter grading.

Spring 2024

CLASSIC 30 – Classical Mythology

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis. Teaching Assistants: Pasqualena Breitenfeld, Nicolette D’Angelo, Emma Pauly, JuliAnne Rach, Laura McLean, Arjun Srirangarajan. Introduction to myths and legends of ancient Greece and/or Rome, role of those stories in their societies, and modern approaches to studying them. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 51B – Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome

Instructor(s): Sara Cole. Teaching Assistants: Mariam Usmani, Taylor Carr-Howard, Maryan Ragheb, Rachel Wood, and Alex Casteel. Survey of major period, theme, or medium of Roman art and archaeology at discretion of instructor. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 88S – Adapting Orpheus and Eurydice in Modern Day

Instructor(s): Varsha Ravi (Faculty Mentor: Chris Johanson). Seminar, one hour. Examination of popular Greek myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, through five multimedia adaptations from late 20th and 21st centuries: Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus, Goat Song by Poul Anderson, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, and Hadestown by Anais Mitchell. Students question why each work used the Orpheus myth and to what end, with special focus on gender, class and capitalism, race and culture, myth creation and recreation, and the reception of myth in science fiction. Discussion of each work and its position in the legacy of classical reception. Culminates in a short adaption of the Orpheus myth for contemporary relevance. P/NP grading. Facilitated by Pon Varshini Ravi, with Chris J. Johanson as faculty mentor.

CLASSIC 142 – Ancient Epic

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: one course from 10, 20, 30, 40W, or 41W. Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” Vergil’s “Aeneid,” and Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” studied in translation. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 144 – Revolutions in Greek Literature and History

Instructor(s): Simos Zenios. Revolutions were among key political phenomena that marked emergence of what is called modern period. Revolutionary waves that shook globe from 18th to 20th centuries were distinctly new phenomenon. Yet much of thought, ideas, and images that informed this phenomenon drew on classical past, and ancient Greece in particular. Study adopts this wide temporal perspective to examine how revolutions were represented in literary, philosophical, and political works at key historical moments of Greek world from antiquity to present. Examining material from classical tragedies and ancient political philosophy to romantic literature poetry and modernist poetry, study covers topics such as human rights and literature; political violence; empire, colonialism, and race; and transnational solidarity.

CLASSIC 144 – Asian and Asian American Classical Reception

Instructor(s): Kelly Nguyen. Examination of Greco-Roman classical antiquity role in modern Asian and Asian American contexts. Exploration of relationship between Greco-Roman classical tradition and Euro-American imperialism; and reappropriation of that tradition by Asian nationalist and anti-imperial movements in 20th century. Focus on 21st-century U.S. and assessment of how Asian Americans have interpreted and reinterpreted Greco-Roman classical tradition for social justice purposes (for example civil, LGBTQIA, immigrant, and refugee rights). Study places Asian and Asian American classical reception in context with other liberatory movements in global south, and those by black, indigenous, and other people-of-color communities in U.S.

GREEK 3 – Elementary Greek

Instructor(s): Ella Haselswerdt. Elementary Greek sequence.

GREEK 9C – Intermediate Modern Greek

Instructor(s): Simos Zenios. Intermediate-level program in modern Greek language study from communicative and task-based approach. Continued development of student understanding and use of Greek syntax and morphology through oral and written activities, reading, and listening. Students master basic communication skills, communicate in everyday real-life situations, comprehend simple passages, announcements, and advertisements, master basic rules of modern Greek grammar and syntax, read fluently, and write accurately.

GREEK 102 – Lyric Poets

Instructor(s): Ella Haselswerdt. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100. Selections from Archilochus to Bacchylides. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 130 – Readings in New Testament

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 3. P/NP or letter grading.

LATIN 2 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Rachel Morrison. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 3 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Sam Beckelhymer. Teaching Assistants: Tom Francis, Tianran Liu, Marco Saldaña. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 119A – Roman Ethnography

Instructor(s): Hannah Čulík-Baird . As Romans expanded their empire, they drew on precursor theories of science and philosophy from Greek tradition and developed their own ethnographic categories for peoples they encountered. As Romans imagined inhabited world (Greek: oikoumene, Latin: orbis terrarum), they attributed different biological, somatic, and moral qualities to its peoples. Students read variety of Roman ethnographic sources in original Latin, with selections from Cato the Elder, Cicero, Manilius, Pliny, Sallust, Varro, Vitruvius, Pseudo-Vergilian Moretum, and more.

Winter 2024

CLASSIC 19 – UCLA Architecture and History of Westwood

Instructor(s): Robert Gurval. Introduction to history of UCLA through weekly walking tours, looking closely, and learning about architecture of Westwood campus. Each meeting held at different location. Beginning at Founders Rock (northeast corner of Murphy Hall), students learn about original campus on Vermont Avenue and move to Westwood 10 years later. Each building or site tells its own story. Students learn of first University architects–brothers Allison and Allison, and George Kelham–and their bold ambitions for new campus. Names of campus buildings remember early professors and department chairs, forward-thinking administrators, or prominent alumni such as Ralph J. Bunche (first African-American Nobel Peace prize recipient). Students survey and consider functional design, architectural style, and art decoration of these first buildings. When understood in its historical context, architecture can inform us about ideologies and values of contemporary times.

CLASSIC 19 – Homer’s Odyssey: Designing a Virtual Escape Room

Instructor(s): Sarah Beckmann. In this seminar students will read Homer’s Odyssey in translation, and work collaboratively to build content for a digital escape room based on Odysseus’ journey, designed for a middle-school audience. Classroom discussions will explore topics as varied as: events and topoi in Homer’s poem; pedagogical best practices and active learning; LAUSD middle-school learning objectives and themes in the unit on “Ancient Greece”. With the help of Deidre Brin, Director of UCLA’s Digital Archaeology Lab, students will develop skills in building escape room content (e.g. challenges and clues), while thinking through questions of programming and accessibility, technological feasibility, and sustainable technological decision-making. The final group products of the course include 1) the Odyssey-inspired escape room; and 2) a reusable, user-friendly application for non-programmers to create their own escape rooms. The class will meet on Thursdays from 2-4pm in weeks 1-5 (first half of the quarter only). No prior coding knowledge required to participate in the class.

CLASSIC 20 – Discovering Romans

Instructor(s): Hannah Čulík-Baird. Teaching Assistants: Pasqualena Breitenfeld, Taylor Carr-Howard, Tianran Liu, Emma Pauly, JuliAnne Rach, Arjun Srirangarajan. Study of Roman life and culture from time of city’s legendary foundations to end of classical antiquity. Readings focus on selections from works of ancient authors in translation. Lectures illustrated with images of art, architecture, and material culture.

CLASSIC 47 – Medical Terminology: Origins, Nature, and Practice

Instructor(s): Andrew Lifland. Introduction to specialized vocabulary of health sciences, which is rooted in Greek and Roman languages and in those two cultures from which much of history of modern medicine is derived. Students gain working knowledge of fundamental terminology used in medicine and health sciences as well as how this terminology has been composed. Development of ability to interpret and pronounce words. Students apply linguistic rules and how they operate in English and field-specific vocabulary to understand new terminology in various health science fields. Study of etymological origins of fundamental terminology as mnemonic aid for learning and recalling this terminology, and also to serve as mechanism for connecting health/medical professions to humanistic origins.

CLASSIC M125 – Invention of Democracy

Instructor(s): Giulia Sissa. Teaching Assistants: Nicolette D’Angelo, Mariam Usmani. Democracy was invented in ancient Greece as political form grounded on equality before law, citizenship, and freedom. It came into existence as struggle by “demos,” people, aware of its excellence and proud of its power, “kratos.” It became only regime capable of including all members of community while disregarding wealth, status, and diverging interests. Examination of history and theory of ancient democracy.

CLASSIC 152B – Ancient City of Pompeii

Instructor(s): Sarah Beckmann. Consideration of architectural, social, political, and commercial character of Pompeii through archaeology, literary evidence, and modern scholarship. Study looks at eruption of Mount Vesuvius volcano in 79 AD, and its aftermath; and rediscovery of Pompeii in 18th century. Study traces city’s urban development under Greek, Etruscan, Sabine, and Roman inhabitants. Significant time spent looking at both residential (houses and rental apartments) and urban (public institutions such as temples and fora, taverns, inns, and brothels) spaces to bring attention to day-to-day lived realities of provincial Romans.

CLASSIC M153B – Mycenaean Art and Archaeology

Instructor(s): Sarah Morris. Study of development of art and architecture in Mycenaean Greece from circa 2000 to 1000 BC.

CLASSIC 163 – Ovid and Consequences

Instructor(s): Francesca Martelli. Study of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” and persistence and extent of Roman poet’s influence on subsequent literature, art, and film. Close analysis of Ovid’s seminal text before turning to poem’s classical, medieval, Renaissance, and modern imitators, from Apuleius to Shakespeare to Picasso and beyond.

CLASSIC 191 – Capstone Seminar: Classics: Subaltern Experiences and Actions in the Greco-Roman World

Instructor(s): Sarah Beckmann. Introduction to histories of various subaltern groups in Greco-Roman world, including but not limited to women, children, poor, enslaved, and others. Examination of archaeological material and primary texts in translation, along with contemporary theory and comparative studies on subaltern populations. Discussion and synthesis of this material, with goal of recovering and reconstructing narratives of marginalized groups in Greek and Roman worlds. Each student works on research paper related to subaltern experiences and actions in consultation with instructor, and shares various aspects of their research with class.

GREEK 2 – Elementary Greek

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis. Elementary Greek sequence.

GREEK 9B – Intermediate Modern Greek

GREEK 100 – Readings in Greek Prose and Poetry

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis. Introduction to developing skills of reading longer, continuous passes of original Greek prose and/or poetry texts, with attention to literary and cultural background. Course is normally requisite to other courses in Greek 100 series. May be repeated for credit with change of assigned readings and with consent of instructor.

GREEK 104 – Sophocles

Instructor(s): Sarah Morris. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 110 – Study of Greek Prose

Instructor(s): Bryant Kirkland. Requisite: course 100. Work in sight reading and grammatical analysis of Attic prose texts; writing Attic prose.

LATIN 1 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Rachel Morrison. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 2 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Sam Beckelhymer. Teaching Assistants: Tom Francis, Jennifer MacPherson, Marco Saldaña. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 100 – Intermediate Latin: Introduction to Reading Latin

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Lecture, three hours. Enforced requisite: course 20 (may be taken concurrently). Introduction to developing skills of reading longer, continuous passages of original Latin prose and/or poetry texts, with attention to literary and cultural background. Course is requisite to advanced reading courses. May be repeated for credit twice with change of assigned readings and with consent of instructor.

LATIN 105B – Advanced Vergil

Instructor(s): Adriana Vazquez. Reading and discussion of Vergil’s “Eclogues,” “Georgics,” and/or second half of “Aeneid.” May be repeated for credit with change in readings.

Fall 2023

CLASSIC 10 – Discovering Greeks

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Teaching Assistants: Nicolette D’Angelo, Joel Erickson, Tianran Liu, Laura McLean, Emma Pauly, JuliAnne Rach. Study of Greek life and culture from age of Homer to Roman conquest. Readings focus on selections from works of ancient authors in translation. Lectures illustrated with images of art, architecture, and architecture, and material culture.

CLASSIC 42 – Cinema and Ancient World

Instructor(s): Tassos Boulmetis. Teaching Assistants: Jacob Aschieris, Andrew Fleshman, Nicole-Antonia Spagnola. Use of popular culture and cinema to introduce students to ancient Greek and/or Roman culture; focus at discretion of instructor.

CLASSIC 51A – Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece

Instructor(s): John Papadopoulos. Teaching Assistants: Pasqualena Breitenfeld, Eden Franz, Andrew Lifland, Mariam Usmani, Rachel Wood. Survey of major period, theme, or medium of Greek art and archaeology at discretion of instructor.

CLASSIC 165 – Ancient Athletics

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis. Study of ancient Greek and Roman athletics and their connections with religion, politics, literature, and art.

CLASSIC 166A – Greek Religion

Instructor(s): Sarah Morris. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 10 or 30. Study of religion of ancient Greeks.

GREEK 1 – Elementary Greek

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis. Elementary Greek sequence.

GREEK 9A – Intermediate Modern Greek

GREEK 20 – Intermediate Greek

Instructor(s): Ella Haselswerdt. Formal review of Greek grammar and syntax and development of skills in reading original texts of Greek prose. Readings selected to introduce literature and culture of ancient Greece.

GREEK 131 – Readings in Later Greek

Instructor(s): Bryant Kirkland. Topics vary from year to year and include Longinus, On Sublime; Marcus Aurelius; Arrian; Second Sophistic; Plutarch; later epic; epigram; epistolographi Graeci.

LATIN 1 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Sam Beckelhymer. Teaching Assistants: Tom Francis, Jennifer MacPherson, Marco Saldaña. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 3 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Rachel Morrison. Elementary Latin sequence.

LATIN 20 – Elementary Latin: Comprehensive Review

Instructor(s): Francesca Martelli. Formal review of Latin grammar and syntax and development of skills in reading original texts of Latin prose. Readings selected to introduce literature and culture of ancient Rome.

LATIN 115 – Caesar

Instructor(s): Chris Johanson. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100.

Spring 2023

CLASSIC 20 – Discovering Romans

Instructor(s): Adriana Vazquez. Teaching Assistants: Tom Francis, Mariam Usmani, Lena Barsky, Marco Saldana, Grant Hussong, Jennifer Macpherson, Ben Davis. Study of Roman life and culture from time of city’s legendary foundations to end of classical antiquity. Readings focus on selections from works of ancient authors in translation. Lectures illustrated with images of art, architecture, and material culture.

CLASSIC 47 – Medical Terminology: Origins, Nature, and Practice

Instructor(s): Samuel Beckelhymer. Teaching Assistants: Taylor Carr-Howard, Zak Gram, Patrick Callahan, Heather Wood. Survey of major period, theme, or medium of Greek art and archaeology at discretion of instructor.

CLASSIC 51 – Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome

Instructor(s): Chris Johanson. The course examines literary, filmic, and historical narratives of forced displacements in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the present. Starting from the Greek tradition, we will adopt a comparative perspective that brings together multiple Mediterranean voices. As we study canonical and marginalized narratives, we will explore larger questions about refugeehood, migration, border making and unmaking, citizenship, human rights, public and private memory, and nationalism.

CLASSIC 130 – Race, Ethnicity, Identity in Greco-Roman World

Instructor(s): Hannah Čulik-Baird. Lecture, two and one half hours. Examination of construction of racial and ethnic identities in Greco-Roman world and ways that ancient texts and study of antiquity have influenced Western constructions of race. Case studies include both ethnographic constructions of other by dominant groups (e.g. invention of stereotypes like barbarian and noble savage) and experiences of members of marginalized groups within dominant cultures (e.g. Egyptian identity in Hellenistic Egypt, Greek, Syrian, and Jewish identity in Roman Empire).

CLASSIC 150A – Female in Greek Literature and Culture

Instructor(s): Zachary Borst. Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 10. Interdisciplinary study of concept of female in Greek literature and culture.

CLASSIC 171 – Black Classicism

Instructor(s): Bryant Kirkland. Lecture, three hours. Study of reception of Greco-Roman antiquity, especially literature, by Black intellectuals, poets, novelists, and artists. Readings pair ancient texts with works by major African American writers (Dove, Ellison, Morrison) alongside scholarly discourse on Classica Africana. Also covers aspects of history of discipline of classics in U.S. with focus on Black experience.

CLASSIC M146A – Plato: Early Dialogs

Instructor(s): Gavin Lawrence. Teaching Assistants: Nefeli Ralli. (Same as Philosophy M101A.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: one philosophy course. Study of selected topics in early and middle dialogues of Plato.

CLASSIC M147 – Aristotle

Instructor(s): Henry Mendell. (Same as Philosophy M102.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: one philosophy course. Study of selected works of Aristotle.

GREEK 3 – Elementary Greek

Instructor(s): Zach Borst. Elementary Greek sequence.

GREEK 8C – Elementary Modern Greek

Instructor(s): Simos Zenios. Modern Greek sequence, with emphasis on spoken modern Greek.

GREEK 111 – Herodotus

Instructor(s): Richard Ellis.

LATIN 2 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): E Migliaretti, Pasqualena Brucia Bretenfeld.

LATIN 3 – Elementary Latin

Instructor(s): Andrew Lifland, Paolo Sabattini, Tianran Liu.

LATIN 105B – Advanced Vergil

Instructor(s): Adriana Vazquez. IReading of one or more books from first half of “Aeneid,” designed especially for students with only limited experience in reading Latin poetry.

LATIN 119A – Roman Prose

Instructor(s): Francesca Martelli. Topics may vary from year to year and may be organized in terms of chronology (Republican or imperial), literary genre (Roman biography, antiquarian learning, or science), and/or theme.