This course explores the origins and debates of Athenian democracy in the fifth century BCE through historical study and immersive role-play. Students examine primary sources from Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle and then reenact the conflicts of 403 BCE in the Reacting to the Past game "The Threshold of Democracy," debating questions of citizenship, empire, justice, and political participation in the world's first democracy.

In this course, we'll read a variety of selections from Lucretius poem about the nature of the universe, including topics as wide-ranging as the body, sex, death, atomic theory, the origins of language and civilization, and why we need philosophy.

What does it mean to say that Cleopatra was black, or not? Ancient history comes up often in modern debates about race. We will investigate how people understood racial and ethnic difference in the ancient Greco-Roman Mediterranean, and how interpretations of antiquity historically have shaped modern concepts of race. We will study relevant art and literature from the 8th century BCE through the 3rd century CE, and modern responses to both.

This introduction to the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul and Britain unites two approaches, one literary, one linguistic. First, we will compare descriptions of the Celts found in Greek and Latin authors with readings of Celtic literature in translation, notably Ireland's great prose epic, the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Second, we will explore how the Celtic languages work, focusing on the basics of Old Irish as well as touching on Middle Welsh and Gaulish.

New course in the subject of Latin. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/classics/.

Writing of Distinguished Majors thesis or comparable project.Prerequisite: GREE 4998

Writing of Distinguished Majors thesis or comparable project.Prerequisites: LATI 4998

This class will combine Latin prose composition exercises with close analysis of the style of Cicero, with the goal of actively recognizing, understanding, and using key characteristics of literary prose style from the Late Republic. We will work through exercises designed to make us comfortable in writing Latin, lectures on topics in Latin syntax, word order, and style, and culminate in the composition of extended passages of Latin prose. There will also be a brief foray into verse composition.

New course in Greek. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/classics/.

New course in the subject of Latin. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/classics/.