CLAS 328: Archaeology of Religion in the Greco-Roman World
Prof. A. M. Yasin
T/Th 2-3:20, THH 121
Temples, precincts, tombs and votive offerings present archaeological remnants of an ancient world which sought to construct channels to the divine. This course examines ancient Mediterranean sanctuaries and material culture as evidence for lived religious practice in the Greco-Roman world from the sixth century BCE to the third century CE. Studying a wide range of material, from buildings and artifacts to images and inscriptions, this course explores a series of major themes in the archaeology of Greco-Roman sacred space including housing and representing gods, sacrifice and divine communication, community identity and ritual performance, urban and rural topographies, and memory and religious change.
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CLAS 339: ANCIENT SCIENCE
Instructor: Professor James Collins
MW 3:30-4:50PM VKC108
Natural science in ancient Greece and Rome is difficult for us to distinguish from a variety of other intellectual pursuits and practices. It may at times resemble and have a share in the activities of philosophy, theology, technology, and magic. It may be the product of a solitary and indifferent scholar, an itinerant, competitive, and poetic sage, or a community spread out through time and space of thinkers and experimenters working in concert with shared techniques and objectives. Certain practices may variously rely on or reject the use of hypotheses, measurement, tradition, and metaphor. All of these efforts aim, however, at understanding or modeling natural, regular phenomena through investigation and the use of reason. This course examines the aims and underlying assumptions, origins, and transmission of these various activities while simultaneously asking questions about what constitutes good scientific thought and practice in our own world.
There are no official prerequisites for the course, but a familiarity with the broad outline of Greek and Roman history, as well as with modern scientific disciplines will prove helpful. The course is designed to be useful for Classics and Philosophy majors and minors, as well as students interested in science, history, and ethics more generally.
