Christopher Star

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic
This course is an introduction to the literature, politics, culture and history of the Roman Republic (c.509-31BCE) - a period which saw Rome grow from a small city on the Tiber to the supreme power in the Mediterranean, and also saw the development of Latin literature. Our readings cover a broad variety of literary genres and authors: comedy (Plautus and Terence), lyric (Catullus), epic (Ennius), political speeches and letters (Cicero), history (Caesar, Sallust, Polybius), and didactic philosophy (Lucretius). As we read we will be careful to investigate how these texts present different and often conflicting ideas of what it means to be Roman, as well as how different ideologies of Rome compete throughout each work. 3 hrs. lect.

Apocalypse When? Reason and Revelation in the Ancient World
Apocalypse: why does this word, originally meaning “revelation,” hold such power today? In this class we will investigate the origins of apocalyptic and eschatological thought in order to understand Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian ideas about the end of the world in their historical context and to see how they shape contemporary visions of the end. We will read and discuss a wide range of texts, including Hesiod, Plato, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Daniel and Revelation from the Bible. The ways in which globalization and political leaders have shaped apocalyptic thought from ancient times to today will be an area of particular focus. 3 hrs. lect.

Seminar in Classical Literature: Humanism of Herodotus
Herodotus (485-424 BC), “the Father of History”, is also regarded as the first sociologist and ethnographer. The plan and argument of his work, however, including its many fantastic stories, disclose a philosophic intention that resists easy categorization. Herodotus’ subject is the “Greek miracle”: how the tiny and fractious cities of Greece took concerted action against the overwhelming might of the Persian kings who invaded Greece in 490 and 479 BC. The story of this unlikely triumph of political freedom and limited government over despotic empire is told against the background of the Afro-Asiatic origins of Greek civilization, which Herodotus uncovers in wide-ranging investigations of the customs and religions of Greece, Lydia, Media, Persia, Egypt, Libya, and Scythia. In this seminar we will pursue a close reading of Herodotus in translation; the seminar is open to all students with some previous background in Greek and/or Roman literature. 3 hrs. sem.