All courses, arranged by program, are listed in the catalog. If you cannot locate a specific course, try the Advanced Search. Current class schedules, with posted days and times, can be found on the NOW/Student Dashboard or by logging in to SiS.
A survey of the major technical and stylistic developments in ecclesiastical and secular architecture from Prehistory to the present day studied with an emphasis on the major monuments (Parthenon, Pantheon, Gothic Cathedrals, St. Peter's, Versailles Palace, Eiffel Tower, Guggenheim Museum). Spring, alternate years.
A survey of the origins of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the prehistoric period through approximately 1300 CE. Works of art are discussed in their historical, cultural, and artistic contexts.
A survey of the origins and development of painting, sculpture, and architecture from Renaissance times to the Modern period. Emphasis is placed on representative works of art from the Renaisance, Baroque, Rococo, Nineteenth Century Movements-Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Impressionism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism and Abstract Art. The aim of the course is to introduce the student to basic critical and art historical methods as well as the analysis of style and content within sequential cultural contexts.
A study of painting, sculpture, and architecture in the major artistic centers of Italy (Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan and the Northern Courts) during the 15th and 16th centuries. In addition to examining artworks by some of the most important artists of the period - Leonard da Vinci, Michelangelo, titan - this course considers larger themes raised by these works and gibes attention to the conditions within which the works were originally produced and viewed.
Pre-req: ENGL.1010 College Writing I.
A study of 15th and 16th century painting and sculpture north of the Alps including artists such as Jan van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch, Jean Fouquet and Albrecht Dürer. This course considers how social forces (politics, race, religion, gender etc.) influenced the manner in which Northern renaissance art was produced, viewed, and understood, as well as how these forces led to the creation of some of the most startling, strange and enigmatic images of any period in the history of art.
This course surveys the drama and dynamism that infused painting and sculpture from 1550-1750. With its origins in Italy, Baroque art quickly spread throughout much of Europe (including Flanders, France, England, the Dutch republic, Spain, Portugal) and the New World. This course will explore the ways the arts were used to express political ambition, forge social and political alliances, as well as to create cultural identity and memory.
This course is a survey of art in Spain from the discovery of the Americas in 1492 through the mid-seventeenth. This roughly 150-year period, known as the Spanish Golden Age or Siglo de Oro, witnessed the expansion of the Spanish empire across the Atlantic and Asia and gave rise to many of Spain's greatest artistic achievements. This course will survey the unprecedented contributions of Spanish painters, sculptors and architects; the patrons and political forces contributing to this Golden Age of artistic production; and the place of the Spanish golden Age within broader European and global contexts.
Pre-Req: ENGL 1020 College Writing II.
This course examines the rich cross-cultural artistic heritage of the medieval world from the Late Antique period (third century CE) through the Gothic period (fourteenth century CE). The course includes the study of paintings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics and architecture. It will explore materials and technique, the relationship of images to sacred texts and rituals, and the controversies regarding image production. Drawing examples for the eastern Mediterranean to the rocky coast of Ireland, the course will draw out the way works of art reflected relationships between the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions.
This course takes a literary approach to the mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome. We will explore stories of creation of the world, the fall of Troy, the travels of Odysseus and Theseus, the sins of Oedipus, and the rage of Medea. These texts examine some of the most disturbing and violent of human experiences, as well as some of the most moving: men and women's encounters with community, family, war, death, and love. We will address how these narratives form ethical and social codes that underpin western culture, and devote some attention to how these texts are reinterpreted by later authors. Authors may include Homer, Hesiod, Ovid, Virgil, and the Greek tragedians.
Pre-Req: ENGL.1020 College Writing II.
Explores myth and legend in the literatures of England, Europe, and the World in the Middle Ages (500-1500). Topics may include dragons, djinns, and King Arthur, as well as knights, chivalry, the storyteller Scheherazade, Dante's walk through the Inferno, werewolves, and magic. We will discover how these fantastic tales negotiate cultural issues like genders, race, and ethnicity, political power, and the creation of art. All readings in modern English translation.
Presents a literary and historical analysis of selected Old and New Testament books.
This class introduces students to some of the Bard's most popular and accessible plays. We will learn to understand Shakespeare's language and see how the plays were produced in Renaissance England, as well as examine his living legacy, in theater, film, and popular culture, throughout the modern world today . No previous experience with Shakespeare needed. Old Title: Introduction to Shakespeare.
From its medieval origins, the Robin Hood stories developed over centuries from violent rebel to aristocratic hero. This class will explore the English folk tale as it transitioned from stories of men in the forest, to commentary on the clergy and aristocracy, to tales of economic justice as Robin Hood stole form the rich and gave to the poor. The larger part of the class will study the literary and cultural traditions from medieval to nineteenth-century depictions. The latter part will investigate how Robin Hood moved from England to America, and from books to films, culminating in recent Hollywood blockbusters.
An introduction to Norse mythology, sagas, and culture. The class will read translations of medieval texts recalling traditions of the old Norse gods and their cults during the Viking Age (ca. 800-1050 AD), as these were preserved in 13th-century Icelandic texts, but also in Latin, Arabic, Old High German, Old Swedish and Old English manuscripts and runic inscriptions. Students will explore the worldview and value system of this unique culture, and examine relations, often violent but sometimes comic or friendly, between groups of highly intelligent, vulnerable beings, both living and dead, male and female, animal and human, god and giant - a crowded universe full of trolls, elves witches, dwarfs, valkyries, berserks, shapeshifters, and various social classes of human beings.
Pre-req: ENGL.1010/S College Writing I, or ENGL.1020 College Writing II, or HONR.110 First Year Seminar in Honors:Text in the City.
A survey of British Literary history from the medieval through the modernist periods.
Pre-req: ENGL 1020 College Writing II, or English Majors.
A survey of world literature (works outside British and American literary traditions) through 1660; all course readings are translated into English. Students will become familiar with conventions of different literary genres, including epic and lyric poetry, drama, fables and folktales, and religious and philosophical texts. The course also provides the major cultural, religious, and political contexts of the literary texts. Meets Core Curriculum Essential Learning Outcome for Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA).
Explores the origins and structure of the English language, tracing the ways that English has evolved from Old English through Middle English to the varieties of Modern English in England and its former colonies, including the United States. We will also examine the literary, social, and political implications of these developments, for instance the evolution of Standard English or the use of dialects. The course does not assume any knowledge of Old or Middle English.
Students will acquire reading knowledge of the Old English Language, spending half the semester mastering grammar and vocabulary, and the second half translating texts such as The Wanderer, Dream of the Rood, and Beowulf. Attention will also be given to early medieval cultures in England.
England in the 11th century had a multi-lingual and diverse culture, with French, German, Scandinavian, and Latin speakers interacting daily. By 1500, England was English-speaking, with various dialects of Middle English emerging from this linguistic mix. In this class, students will learn to read and analyze the dialects of Middle English, translating text such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Harley Lyrics, the York Plays, and the Canterbury Tales from their original language. We will learn and apply the rules of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Students will analyze critically questions of creolization, dialect and social class, and the emergence of print culture.
Pre-Req: ENGL 1020 College Writing II, or permission of instructor.
We will read Beowulf in translation, and discuss contemporary approaches to the poem. We will also study other Old English works such as Judith, as well as Frankish and Old Norse-Icelandic literature in translation to gain a cultural context for Beowulf. May include discussion of how later works, such as those of J.R.R. Tolkien or modern fantasy writers have been influenced by these medieval epics.
Woman have always written and read and participated in culture. This class will explore writings on literary and non-literary genres by woman in the European Middle Ages (600-1500). Students will learn how different pre-modern cultural conditions affected the possibilities for women's authorship, readership, and patronage. We will also examine how women writers interacted with literary traditions and constructions of gender.
This class will explore the story of the ancient city of Troy from its origins in Homeric epic and classical drama to some of its many European iterations beginning with Vergil's Aeneid. Students will examine how these Trojan texts encode narratives of gender,ethnicity, and welfare, and how they help create an occidental European identity.
Will examine works in modern English translation from a variety of genres (romance, history, tragedy, epic) that tell stories of the mythical King Arthur and the knights and ladies of his courtly world. The course will focus primarily on texts of the medieval and renaissance periods, but will include attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century versions in poetry, prose, art, music and film.
This course will examine a variety of medieval genres: epic, chanson de geste, romance, fable, lyric, and drama. We will analyze the circumstances under which the works were produced (orally and in manuscript) and imagine how they may have been read by men and women in their day. Texts are selected from the courtly pursuits of the aristocrats and from the popular, religious rituals and writings of the rising merchant class. We will also give some attention to medievalism, that is , how the middle ages have been perceived and transformed by contemporary cultures.
This course covers non-dramatic prose and poetry of the sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries, situating these works in their political, social, and cultural contexts. Authors may include More, Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Elizabeth I, Lanyer, Wroth, Donne, and others. Depending instructor's focus, the course may also include Renaissance writing beyond England (Petrarch, Andreini, Montaigne, or others).
This course explores the literature of this vibrant, turbulent period within its historical and cultural contexts. Focusing roughly on the beginning of the seventeenth century through the Restoration, the course includes both well-known and lesser-known non-dramatic works in a variety of genres. Authors may include Donne, Clifford, Bacon, Cavendish, Herbert, Jonson, Milton, Behn, and others.
A study of Medieval mystery cycles, morality plays, interludes, and other forms of popular and court theater.
A study of major dramatists of the Age of Shakespeare including Marlowe, Dekker, Webster, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Ford and others
A survey of ancient to early modern theatre in its historical and social contexts, tracing changes and developments in acting styles, theatre architecture, scenic practices, dramatic literature, and the audience. The course examines how theatre both reflects and shapes the changing beliefs and priorities of a culture.
A study of selected histories, comedies, and tragedies. Meets Core Curriculum Essential Learning Outcome for Information Literacy (IL) and Written & Oral Communication (WOC).
A study of selected histories, comedies, and tragedies not covered in 42.243. Shakespeare I is not a prerequisite.
This course surveys some important issues and tendencies in the history of Western Civilization from its origins through the early modern period, including ancient Mesopotamia, classical Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. These include "civilization" and the rise of cities, different imaginings of god(s) and humanity, evolving forms of political organization, continuity and change in social organization and everyday life, and the ongoing dialogue of faith and reason. Meets Core Curriculum Essential Learning Outcome for Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA).
This class examines societies and cultures from ancient until early modern times with the underlying assumption that world history is an important conceptual tool for understanding our interdependent world. Course topics analyze the nature of the earliest human communities, the development of the first civilizations and the subsequent emergence of cultures in selected areas of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. This course also offers a consideration of issues related to the connections and relationships that shaped civilizations as a result of migration, war, commerce, and the various cultural expressions of self, society, and the cosmos before 1500. Meets Core Curriculum Essential Learning Outcome for Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA).
This course serves as an introduction to the first 800 years of Christian history. It will begin with an introduction to the Apostolic Church of the first century (and its Jewish/Greco-Roman background) and conclude with an introduction to the Eastern Orthodox Church of Late Antiquity. The course will also cover popular topics like "Gnosticism," "Women in Early Christianity," and "Early Christian Worship and Art."
This course serves as an introduction to religion in medieval Europe (ca. 500-1500), that is, the Roman and Eastern traditions of Christianity, Christian movements deemed "heretical" by "orthodoxy," Judaism, and Islam. Understanding the medieval history of these religions results in our gaining not only a comprehension of their individual developments but also how the three great monotheistic faiths have become some of the most powerful religious forces ever seen in civilization. These different religions will be treated not only individually but also in dialogue with one another.
A study of Greek history, institutions and culture from Minoan times through the Hellenistic period.
This course investigates the Hellenistic Period, defined as the era from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the death of Cleopatra and the conquest of Rome in 31 BCE. In these centuries, the Mediterranean world was exposed to brand new cultures and ideas, leading to an unmatched period of innovation and creativity, as well as to new conflicts and struggles. This course will emphasize themes of cultural, social, and religious hybridity, which were brought about through close contact with the Near East, North Africa, and Central Asia, and closely engaged with all the complexities of the three hundred years that passed between the height of the classical Greek world and the beginning of the Roman Empire.
This course examines one thousand years of Roman history (ca. 500 BC-500AD) with equal emphasis upon social, political, military, and cultural aspects of the Republic and Empire.
A survey of the Latin West during the formative period from the Roman Empire to the creation and development of the first European civilization.
This course examines the history of women in late medieval, early modern, and modern Western Europe (ca. 1300-1900). From medieval saints and Renaissance queens to Enlightenment Salonieres and ordinary wives and mothers, women have played an astonishing variety of roles. We will utilize primary and secondary sources, historical films, and works of art to understand the contributions and challenges of women in the past.
The history of Europe in the time of transition between the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Two principle topics are the intensification of cultural change which began in Italy around 1300 and spread slowly northward and the disruption of the unity of the Western Christian Church.
Through this course, students will examine the history of Byzantine culture, which grew from the Greek-speaking remains of the Roman Empire. Students will consider how leading men and women shaped Byzantine Civilization and the political and military institutions that preserved it through the fifteenth century. The course will also focus on the development and spread of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and significant aspects of Byzantine culture, such as cuisine, gender roles, cities, and art. We will explore in some detail Byzantium's complex and difficult dialog with its neighbors: the Islamic world, the Slavs, and the Latin West. This course especially emphasizes reading and discussion of primary source documents. Students will compose a research paper as their main work for this class.
From the first century Roman Conquest of the Britons to the 15th century Tudor victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, this course aims to illuminate the social, political, religious, and cultural elements that made medieval England. This course will explore art, gender, class structures, and England's interactions with non-Christians, among many other topics. In addition to the extensive written sources available, special attention will be paid to archaeological discoveries that help us understand daily life in medieval England.
This course examines the concept of childhood in medieval and Renaissance Europe (ca. 1100-1600), with particular attention to England and Italy. There are no specific prerequisites, although some knowledge of European history (i.e., Medieval Institutions, Western Civilization, Renaissance-Reformation) will be useful. Among the topics we will consider are the following: the different stages of childhood; children's education and apprenticeship; dress, diet, and demeanor of children; orphans; royal children; Protestant and Catholic views of children; adolescent sexuality; depiction of children in art; child labor; literature for children.
Traces the transformation of England from a small island kingdom to the hub of an overseas empire. During this period the English people underwent religious upheaval and civil war, saw the rise and partial decline of the monarchy, built and rebuilt London, and enjoyed the plays of Shakespeare. Although England provides the focus for this course, the rest of the Tudor and Stuart world is included.
Warfare in the Ancient World is a practical introduction to the study of warfare in the ancient world and traces the advances made in empire building, ideology and military technology. The chronological structure of the class starts with the Egyptians and continues through the Dark Age, Classical and Hellenistic Greeks, to the rise and fall of Rome. This course will trace certain themes through the centuries: how different civilizations waged war; who served in various armies and why soldiers decided to fight. While major battles and important individuals are discussed, military tactics and strategies are only tools to help understand the underlying causes for armed conflict.
Following a brief introduction and an overview of the medieval Inquisition, the first few weeks of the course will be devoted to a study of the Inquisition in Spain and Italy from 1450-1650. We will also discuss the way in which the history of the Inquisition has been analyzed during the past five hundred years (what historians call "historiography"). The second half of the course will focus on student research and selected topics in Inquisition studies.
This is a reasonably intensive reading seminar focusing on a number of important medieval institutions that have helped to influence our modern world. You will read a number of works in order to discuss them in detail in class. In addition, you will be required to write a review of one of three required books.
This course explores medieval Europe through the female lens. We will illuminate the influence of women on war, politics, business, religion and culture. We will study queens, writers, artists, nuns businesswomen, and peasants in order to understand how women shaped the medieval world, how they were shaped by it, and how they contributed to the brilliance of the Renaissance.
This course addresses the role of female labor in the Roman world, from the Roman Republic to the Late Empire (~509 BCE-400 CE). The course uses the cases of women of different statuses to explore the economic contributions of women. Students will be invited to question the secondary role women have traditionally held in scholarship on the economy of the ancient world and reassess the whole economic picture through the lens of "untypical" workers. We will study both free and enslaved women, and closely examine how economic necessity empowered some women and constrained others. Students will investigate what kinds of labor were deemed legally and socially appropriate for women and be exposed to instances when women pushed up against, or beyond, those boundaries.
This course uses piracy, defined as armed robbery at sea, to highlight issues of violence, governmental intervention, and economic practices as they relate to marginalized people of the Greco-Roman world. Students will be introduced to the methods of underwater archeology while examining shipwreck evidence, and epigraphic conventions while reading primary source material relating to piratical events. The course follows the long history of the Mediterranean as a contested, yet central space, and tracks how the sea was used, not just as a resource, but as an opportunity for predation and personal advancement. The main questions will be: what is a pirate, and who has the power to apply that label to others.
The ancient Mediterranean was home to a diverse array of cultures in close contact with each other through trade, warfare, and colonization. This course will study a variety of Greco-Roman responses to other cultures through a series of case studies of contact between Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of the ancient world. In particular, we will examine questions of the applicability of modern concepts such as race and ethnicity, and explore the ways in which these shifting representations of other cultures are reflective of the ways in which Greeks and Romans perceived themselves. We will also reflect on the ways in which these ancient Greco-Roman conceptions of culture relate to our own modern understandings of cultural difference.
This course will examine the body of evidence for law in the ancient Greek world as a means of understanding the legal, political, and social history of the Greek poleis. In particular we will focus our attention on the large corpus of forensic speeches form Classical Athens with an eye to understanding the ways in which the Athenian city governed itself and resolved conflict within the poleis. Due to the nature of these speeches and the evidence for Greek legal practices, we will also be examining various aspects of Greek social and economic history within a legal context, including gender, slavery, property law, and citizenship.
Students will listen to and learn to understand Western European Art music from the earliest times through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th-century Classical era. We will examine significant composers, forms, and styles, and explore such things as the kinds of music people sang and played, the instruments they played, how music has been used in worship and in the theater, how the historical context influenced composers' procedures and decisions, how music from several hundred years ago has influenced music of today, and why music has been on of the most enduring forms of community and culture in Europe and America. Open to non-music majors only.
Studies sacred and secular musical forms from pre-Christianity to 1750.
Pre-req: Music Majors, and Minors, and Medieval & Renaissance Studies Minors.
Examines Early Modern European Philosophy and its religious and scientific context, including movements such as the Mechanical Philosophy, Rationalism, Empiricism, and Transcendental Philosophy. Topics include knowledge and scientific understanding, the human mind and personal identity, and the debate between faith and reason.
A survey of the beginnings of philosophy, mainly western, from the Presocratics to Augustine. Studies the emergence of philosophy out of mythical forms of thinking and the development of rational thought in the work of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Neoplatonists.
Cervantes' Don Quijote will examine new ideas and concepts concerning one of the world's greatest novels. Taught in English, there is no language requirement for this course; however, this course is designed to engage student interest in historically and culturally significant events in Golden Age Spain and to - more importantly - expand student interest in literary criticism of the Spanish Golden Age and of Cervantes' masterwork in particular. Because it is taught in English, this course does not count toward the Spanish major or minor.