Classical Studies (Fall 2026)
CLSS 1005 Introduction to Ancient Egypt (Lingxin Zhang)
This course invites students to explore the social development and transformation of ancient Egypt between the 5th millennium BCE and the 3rd century CE. The course pairs historical outline with thematic discussions, i.e. the early dynastic period and the formation of the early state, the New Kingdom and Akhenaten’s “monotheistic” reform. Students will also learn about different schools of historiography that help us to engage analytically with the question of how to write a history of ancient Egypt, particularly empiricism, post-colonialism, and poststructuralism. At the end of the semester, students will apply all that they have learned by curating a virtual exhibition on one aspect of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The course includes a field trip to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.
CLSS 1030 History of Ancient Greece (Catherine Keesling)
In this course we will study ancient Greek history from the 8th century BCE through the conquest of the Greek mainland by Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Major themes explored will include: the definition of Greek identity, the relationships between Greeks and Persians, the conflict between Athens and Sparta, and the internal dynamics of the Greek polis. We will read and consider in class accounts of the important events in Greek history written by the Greeks themselves (Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon). A major goal of the course is to explore how present-day ancient historians use sparse and sometimes conflicting literary sources, in combination with inscriptions and archaeological evidence, to arrive at an understanding of the distant past. Most class meetings will consist of a combination of informal lecture by the professor and close examination of the assigned readings. Assignments will include two exams and two short papers.
CLSS 1041 Roman History: Empire (Josiah Osgood)
For centuries the Roman empire allowed millions of people, from Scotland to the Middle East, to live in peace and prosper. The empire also enslaved millions. In this class we explore how, looking at the figure of the emperor and the imperial court; war and diplomacy; the everyday lives of rich and poor; mass entertainments in the city of Rome and the provinces; law, individual rights, and slavery; emperor-worship, the growth of Christianity and stories of the martyrs. Evidence examined includes classics of ancient historical writing such as Suetonius’ lives of the emperors as well as original documents and the material remains of cities, country estates, and army forts. Some attention is also paid to the legacy of Rome, from the empires of Charlemagne through to those of Spain and Great Britain.
CLSS 2070 Know Your Roots: Greek, Latin, English (Andrew Merritt)
Since most of English is not originally English but borrowed from Greek and Latin, it follows that familiarity with the Classical legacy in English vocabulary will significantly contribute to one’s ability to understand our conceptual and social world in light of the words that have shaped it historically. Focusing solely on vocabulary, its historical context, and general features of language history, this course is designed to provide students with greater awareness of the nature and structure of English words derived from Greek and Latin. Topics to be addressed include: principles of historical linguistics; history of English in relation to Greek and Latin; the sounds of Greek and Latin; the Greek, Latin, and English alphabets; Greek and Latin roots and word-formation; domains of word meanings, such as politics, law, medicine, science, philosophy, and religion, and the forces in culture and cognition that condition their development.
CLSS 2088 Magic and Science in the Mediterranean World (Lingxin Zhang)
Is astrology science? Is alchemy magic? What is the logic of divination? This course explores these questions by traveling back in time to the ancient Mediterranean world, a place where ideas and technology from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece converged. The class will explore the boundary between science and magic by approaching human “knowledge” as a product of its time and space. The topics covered include knowledge concerning the heavens, the earth, humans, and social organization. The course encourages students to embrace a more inclusive definition of “early sciences” by reflecting on the division of STEM fields from the Humanities in modern times. Course assessments include attendance, participation in the weekly reading discussions, and a final research paper.
CLSS 3079 Roman Painting (Marden Nichols)
Ancient Roman buildings were vibrantly colorful, thanks to wall paintings decorated with elaborate imagery, including mythological pictures, landscapes, and scenes that reflected viewers’ lived experiences. An abundance of Roman wall paintings has survived from the sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae, which were buried in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. In this seminar, we will examine the archaeology and chronology of these paintings, their sources of inspiration, and the powerful meanings they had for the people who lived among them. Students will learn to consider and reflect upon a variety of visual media as well as to understand literary sources that illuminate the central role that paintings played in ancient Roman life and thought.
Classics: Latin (Fall 2026)
CLSL 1011 Latin I (Andrew Merritt)
This is an intensive introduction to the Latin language. By the end of the year, students will have been introduced to all basic Latin morphology and syntax and will be able to read texts in the original with the aid of a dictionary. Unabridged selections from works by Julius Caesar and the poet Catullus are studied in the spring semester.
CLSL 1511 Intermediate Latin (Justin Haynes)
Intermediate Latin is intended for students who have successfully completed Latin II at Georgetown or have otherwise acquired the ability to read Latin texts in the original, with a good basic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. While these same elements (vocabulary, morphology, syntax) will be constantly reviewed and constitute an essential part of home and class work, a new stress will be increasingly posed on matters related to literary genres, poetic diction, rhetoric, meter, etc. In fact, students will be introduced to handling Latin literature directly, and especially through the study of those very authors that represent the basis for virtually all grammatical notions and abstractions so far learned, i.e. Cicero and Virgil. Satisfies COL language requirement.
CLSL 2042 Livy (Charles McNelis)
Livy’s massive Ab urbe condita covered the history of Rome from its foundation to the time of Augustus. Of the 142 books that he wrote, 35 survive in more or less complete fashion. This class will read Book 1. The first book contains many famous stories (Romulus and Remus, the rape of the Sabine Women, the rape of Lucretia, the Horatii and Curiatii) of Rome’s early history and the transition from the so-called regal period to a republican form of government. While the course will explore the historical and cultural contexts for the events told by Livy, we will constantly focus and concentrate on Livy’s particular style of Latin, as well as the techniques that underlie his historical account. Students will develop a strong understanding of Livy’s handling of elements of historical prose (e.g. the arrangement of time, the idea of truth) as well as of his depiction of topics such as religion, sexuality, the family, and the role of the individual within the broader community.
CLSL 2012 Roman Comedy (Marden Nichols)
The earliest Latin literary texts surviving intact are the comedies of Plautus, which date to the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BC. In this course, we will read Plautus’ Mostellaria, in which a wayward son takes advantage of his father’s absence to throw a monumental house party, and Amphitruo, a send-up of the gods and romantic jealousies that Plautus referred to as a “tragicomedy.” By translating these plays, we will become familiar with the unique style and diction of early Latin. Plautus’ bawdy andclever comedies not only offer insight into ancient Roman literature and culture, but also remain amusing in the present day.
CLSL 2066 Juvenal (Josiah Osgood)
Roman authors often worked in genres developed by the Greeks but verse satire was their own creation. Its last great practitioner, Juvenal, wrote at Rome’s imperial height, in the early second century CE. His early poems call out the criminals and fools populating the streets of the city and the mansions of the rich. In later works, indignation gives way to cooler cynicism: all human beings are prone to delusion. In this class, we will read all of Juvenal’s first book of satires and selected poems from the rest of his corpus. Topics for discussion include Juvenal’s relationship to earlier satirists and philosophers, his grand epic style, and the reliability of his narrators. We will also look at later imitations of his poems such as Samuel Johnson’s London and The Vanity of Human Wishes and see how Juvenal has shaped ideas of satire up to the present day.
Classics: Ancient Greek (Fall 2026)
CLSG 1011 Ancient Greek I (Andrew Merritt)
Greek 1011 is the first half of Georgetown’s year-long introduction to the Ancient Greek language, which is meant to instruct students to read Greek texts through an intensive study of morphology and syntax. During the course, students will be guided through the normative grammar of Attic Greek. By the end of the second semester, we will have completed all 20 units of Hansen and Quinn’s Greek: An Intensive Course as well as selections from the Attic orator Lysias. By the end of the year, after taking CLSG 1011 and 1012, students will have been introduced to all basic Greek syntax and grammar and will be able to read texts by Homer, Euripides, Plato and others in the original, with the aid of a dictionary.
CLSG 1511 Intermediate Ancient Greek (Bryan Norton)
This course will consolidate students’ knowledge of Ancient Greek grammar and syntax, as well as introducing them to Attic literature through two of its most brilliant and influential authors, Plato and Euripides. This course is suitable for students who have taken two semesters of Ancient Greek at the college level, or have permission of the instructor. Satisfies COL language requirement.
CLSG 2086 Herodotus (Catherine Keesling)
Herodotus’ history of the Persian Wars of the fifth century B.C. is epic in scale, and its style is unforgettable. In this course, we will read in Greek substantial selections from the Histories, focusing first on Croesus of Lydia and Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, in Book 1. After reading short selections from Books 2 (history and ethnography of Egypt) and 3, we will proceed to the battle of Marathon and Xerxes’ expedition against Greece. We will consider the text of Herodotus as a whole in English translation.