Rice Course Schedule, Spring 2003
Classics (CLAS)

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NOTE: Course web pages are available for some CLAS courses.

CLAS 101   FRESHMAN SEMINAR: SOCRATES: THE MAN AND  Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Socrates is often considered the first moral philosopher. Yet he was tried for
impiety, convicted, and executed by his fellow citizens. His influence on
Western thought and literature has been immense, even though he left no
writings of his own. In this discussion-style seminar we wil consider how
Socrates practiced philosophy, how Plato represented Socrates and Socratic
philosophy in writing, and what effect Socrates had on Athens and his fellow
Athenians. Readings will consist mainly of Plato's Socratic dialogues, with
emphasis on the Apology and Gorgias. In addition to papers, each participant
will make one presentation and lead one discussion. Enrollment is limited to
15. Cross-listed as FSEM 101.
001 RH 302 - T 02:30PM - 05:30PM        Yunis, Harvey             Enr: 6 Max: 8

CLAS 318   THE INVENTION OF PAGANISM IN THE ROMAN E Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
This interdisciplinary course examines the development of the concept of
"paganism" during the Roman empire, during the first through seventh centuries
AD. We will examine the mutually tolerant character of the many religions of
the Roman world and see how the category of paganism was invented and applied
by Christians to all the polytheists of the empire and beyond. Also offered as
HIST 316 and RELI 316.
001 SH 305 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      Maas, Michael R.          Enr: 11 Max: 0
                                        McGill, Scott

CLAS 336   THE ORIGIN OF THE  LANGUAGES OF EUROPE   Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Languages as superficially different as English, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit in
fact all developed from a single "proto-language". This course will explore the
following questions: What was this proto-language like? How do we know what it
was like? What can we learn about its speakers on the basis of the words that
have survived in the various daughter languages?
001 RH 205 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      George, Coulter           Enr: 7 Max: 0

CLAS 337   EPIC AND NOVEL                           Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Why did novelists of the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth centuries allude to
and imitate classical epic, and how did they transform the genre? In this
course, we will read the Homeric poems and other ancient epics alongside such
novels as Fielding's "Tom Jones", Eliot's "Middlemarch", and Joyce's "Ulysses".
The course will address questions of the following kind: how do epic heroes
differ from novelistic heroes? In what ways does the novel parody epic? How do
the language and narrative style of the two genres differ? What role doest he
past play in either genre? In different years, this course will focus on
different texts; the texts for Spring 2003 will be Iliad, the Odyssey, and
George Eliot's "Middlemarch". Enrollment is limited to 15.
001 RH 304 - TTH 01:00PM - 02:20PM      Mackie, Hilary Susan      Enr: 8 Max: 15

CLAS 492   SPECIAL TOPICS                           Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Independent work for qualified juniors and seniors.
001 TBA - TBA                           Staff                     Enr: 0 Max: 0

CLAS 493   SENIOR THESIS                            Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Open to classics majors in the final semester of study. Thesis, to be written
on a topic of the student's choice in consultation with a member of the
faculty.
Prereq- Permission of faculty.
001 TBA - TBA                           Staff                     Enr: 0 Max: 0