Courses in Classics—Fall
Check the course schedules/descriptions available via the Registrar's Office for the official schedules for the widest range of terms for which such information is available.
Fall 2025
| Number | Title | Instructor | Time |
|---|
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CLST 101-1
Elizabeth Colantoni; Justin Dwyer
TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM
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This course provides an introduction to the ancient Greek and Roman worlds and to the varied disciplinary approaches that inform our study of classical antiquity. Students will explore touchstones in the literature, mythology, history, art, and archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome; these include the Trojan War, Athenian culture in the age of democracy, the rise and fall of Rome’s empire, the violence of the Colosseum, and the emergence of Christianity. In the process, students will become familiar with key aspects of Greek and Roman culture while learning about how we in the modern world construct our knowledge of the past.
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CLST 102-1
Alexander Cushing
TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
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Have you ever wondered where the tibia or the coccyx get their names from or what terms like paraventricular and dorsomedial mean? This course will familiarize students with the Latin and Ancient Greek roots of medical and scientific terms by teaching them the structure, etymologies, and constructions of technical and everyday words. No prior knowledge of Latin or Ancient Greek is required.
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CLST 121-01
Alexander Cushing
MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
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In this course, we will survey some of the major problems in Roman History, with particular emphasis on the period between the third century BCE and the second century CE (that is, the period in which the city of Rome became the capital of an expanding and multicultural empire). We will explore how the development and articulation of Roman imperial power during this period affected not only the ancient world's political life, but also its demography, its economy, and its culture. Considerable attention will be devoted to questions of method: how do we answer questions about the Roman past?
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CLST 140-01
William Miller
MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM
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Much English literature — older classics as well as much newer work — presupposes a knowledge of Genesis, the Gospels, Revelation, Homer, Virgil, Plato and Aristotle, the Greek Tragedians, and the many other books and authors who make up the classical and scriptural canons. While one cannot hope to cover the whole output of Athens and Jerusalem (and Rome and Alexandria and Constantinople and beyond) in a single semester, this class offers both an introductory overview of these massively important bodies of writing and a deep focus on some key works. In addition to readings in the biblical and classical traditions, we will further consider some of the literatures which shaped them, as well as later influential scriptures beyond the Abrahamic religions: for instance, the epics and hymns of ancient Mesopotamia, the funerary literature of Egypt, and key texts from Vedic, Taoist, and Buddhist traditions. All are welcome; no prerequisites.
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CLST 143-01
Nicholas Gresens
TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM
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Happiness, contentment, blessedness, eudaimonia—whatever it’s called, philosophers have been seeking it for millennia. This class will examine two ancient Greek philosophical systems that sought to achieve eudaimonia for their adherents: Stoicism and the Epicureanism. We will begin by examining earlier philosophies that informed these two before looking at each individually. Through close readings of ancient sources like Lucretius, Diogenes Laertius, Horace, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius (in translation), lectures, discussions, and philosophical exercises we will examine the physics, epistemology, logic, and ethics of these schools and learn how these elements all worked together to form a coherent system of understanding the world and our place in it. Each offered a different path to happiness, and each can perhaps offer something to help us deal with our own day-to-day existence. In addition to the regular course readings, students will be evaluated on 6 short response papers, two midterm exams and one final.
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CLST 276-1
Alexander Cushing
MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
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The last generation of the Roman Republic and the subsequent Augustan Age (60 BCE – 14 CE) experienced a massive flourishing of Roman literary output. This period, referred to by some scholars as the Golden Age of Roman Literature, included the height of Roman Elegiac Poetry, with poets like Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, and the development of new, distinctly Roman poetic forms produced by Horace and Vergil. At the same time, prose writers like Cicero, Sallust, Livy, and others also contributed to the vibrant literary culture of Rome. This course will examine the development and significance of the literary and intellectual world of Rome in this period with readings of poetry and prose in translation. Students will also consider how the evolving and tumultuous political environment of contemporary Rome, the fall of the Republic and the rise of autocratic rule under the first emperor Augustus, influenced and engendered cultural change in this essential era of Roman literature.
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CLST 391-1
–
7:00PM - 7:00PM
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This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed through the Independent Study Registration form (https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/forms/independent-study-form.php)
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CLST 392-01
Anne Merideth
7:00PM - 7:00PM
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This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed through the Independent Study Registration form (https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/forms/independent-study-form.php)
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Fall 2025
| Number | Title | Instructor | Time |
|---|---|
| Monday and Wednesday | |
|
CLST 121-01
Alexander Cushing
|
|
|
In this course, we will survey some of the major problems in Roman History, with particular emphasis on the period between the third century BCE and the second century CE (that is, the period in which the city of Rome became the capital of an expanding and multicultural empire). We will explore how the development and articulation of Roman imperial power during this period affected not only the ancient world's political life, but also its demography, its economy, and its culture. Considerable attention will be devoted to questions of method: how do we answer questions about the Roman past? |
|
|
CLST 276-1
Alexander Cushing
|
|
|
The last generation of the Roman Republic and the subsequent Augustan Age (60 BCE – 14 CE) experienced a massive flourishing of Roman literary output. This period, referred to by some scholars as the Golden Age of Roman Literature, included the height of Roman Elegiac Poetry, with poets like Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, and the development of new, distinctly Roman poetic forms produced by Horace and Vergil. At the same time, prose writers like Cicero, Sallust, Livy, and others also contributed to the vibrant literary culture of Rome. This course will examine the development and significance of the literary and intellectual world of Rome in this period with readings of poetry and prose in translation. Students will also consider how the evolving and tumultuous political environment of contemporary Rome, the fall of the Republic and the rise of autocratic rule under the first emperor Augustus, influenced and engendered cultural change in this essential era of Roman literature. |
|
|
CLST 140-01
William Miller
|
|
|
Much English literature — older classics as well as much newer work — presupposes a knowledge of Genesis, the Gospels, Revelation, Homer, Virgil, Plato and Aristotle, the Greek Tragedians, and the many other books and authors who make up the classical and scriptural canons. While one cannot hope to cover the whole output of Athens and Jerusalem (and Rome and Alexandria and Constantinople and beyond) in a single semester, this class offers both an introductory overview of these massively important bodies of writing and a deep focus on some key works. In addition to readings in the biblical and classical traditions, we will further consider some of the literatures which shaped them, as well as later influential scriptures beyond the Abrahamic religions: for instance, the epics and hymns of ancient Mesopotamia, the funerary literature of Egypt, and key texts from Vedic, Taoist, and Buddhist traditions. All are welcome; no prerequisites. |
|
| Tuesday and Thursday | |
|
CLST 102-1
Alexander Cushing
|
|
|
Have you ever wondered where the tibia or the coccyx get their names from or what terms like paraventricular and dorsomedial mean? This course will familiarize students with the Latin and Ancient Greek roots of medical and scientific terms by teaching them the structure, etymologies, and constructions of technical and everyday words. No prior knowledge of Latin or Ancient Greek is required. |
|
|
CLST 143-01
Nicholas Gresens
|
|
|
Happiness, contentment, blessedness, eudaimonia—whatever it’s called, philosophers have been seeking it for millennia. This class will examine two ancient Greek philosophical systems that sought to achieve eudaimonia for their adherents: Stoicism and the Epicureanism. We will begin by examining earlier philosophies that informed these two before looking at each individually. Through close readings of ancient sources like Lucretius, Diogenes Laertius, Horace, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius (in translation), lectures, discussions, and philosophical exercises we will examine the physics, epistemology, logic, and ethics of these schools and learn how these elements all worked together to form a coherent system of understanding the world and our place in it. Each offered a different path to happiness, and each can perhaps offer something to help us deal with our own day-to-day existence. In addition to the regular course readings, students will be evaluated on 6 short response papers, two midterm exams and one final. |
|
|
CLST 101-1
Elizabeth Colantoni; Justin Dwyer
|
|
|
This course provides an introduction to the ancient Greek and Roman worlds and to the varied disciplinary approaches that inform our study of classical antiquity. Students will explore touchstones in the literature, mythology, history, art, and archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome; these include the Trojan War, Athenian culture in the age of democracy, the rise and fall of Rome’s empire, the violence of the Colosseum, and the emergence of Christianity. In the process, students will become familiar with key aspects of Greek and Roman culture while learning about how we in the modern world construct our knowledge of the past. |
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