Classics>Handbook for Classics Majors and Minors

Contents

• TO STUDY THE CLASSICS
• THE DEPARTMENT
• THE MAJOR
• PLANNING YOUR MAJOR OR MINOR
• SENIOR PORTFOLIO
• SPECIAL STUDY

Classics

Classics is the oldest academic discipline and the source of the humanities. It is a uniquely satisfying study that will provide a sound and stimulating basis for the rest of your intellectual and cultural life. But from the beginning, Classics demands more than merely casual attention. Not only does it require skill in complex languages and familiarity with sophisticated literatures, but it also embraces many other fields. In short, whereas most other majors carve out pieces of our knowledge of nature and civilization, Classics claims every aspect of two great civilizations mainly through their surviving literatures.

Most of our truly hard detective work in Classics has already been done by generations of scholars before us; nevertheless, even as a student, you will have to learn some of the rudimentary language and methods of communication and research in classical antiquity. That means first being aware of the rationale and course of your studies. It also means being able to read and pronounce not only Greek and Latin but the hundreds of names and derivatives that are so formidable to the nonclassicist. Furthermore, as a student of Classics you will need to become familiar with the more important writers and their works, artistic pieces, historical figures and events, geogra­phy, and archaeological sites.

These names and titles you won't learn at once.

That's why you take courses. But between those courses, and even within them, there may be gaps. That's where this handbook can help. It won't have all the answers, but it will help you to find out where most of them might be. So keep it handy.

Meanwhile, as your professors, we are concerned that you enjoy and make the most of your course of study and of your university career. Be always patient (you can't learn everything at once), and never hesitate to seek our help and advice.

THE CLASSICS FACULTY
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS AND HUMANITIES

The Department

A Classics program is one of the traditional distinctions of a complete and wel1-founded liberal arts university.

History

The humble beginnings of San Diego State University as a State Normal School for training elementary school teachers in 1897 did not provide for the sophisticated rigors of a Classics curriculum. Not until 1930 did the institution take its first steps toward molding a Classics program with a few courses in Latin and with General Languages, Latin and Greek Word Derivation (currently Classics 120, English from Latin and Greek).

In 1964 Dr. Gail A. Burnett Dr. Leonard H. Frey, and Dr. Edward V. Warren formed a Classics Committee, and in 1966 they added courses in Latin and Greek language and literature. Professor Burnett retired in 1968, but in 1969 Professor Warren became the first Chair of the new Department of Classical and Oriental Languages, in which a Classics major and later a Classics minor would be offered.

The Classics major is one of two in The California State University. The first CSU Classics bache­lor's and the only master's are claimed by San Francisco State. The University of Santa Clara, the University of the Pacific, Loyola Marymount University, St. Mary's College, and UC San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Riverside also have Classics majors. UC Berkeley, Los Angeles, Irvine, and Santa Barbara join Stanford and USC as the California public universities with bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in Classics. There is also a doctoral consortium among UC San Diego, Riverside, and Irvine, and postbaccalaureate certificate programs at UCLA and UC Davis.

In 1990, 20 years after Drs. Eisner and Genovese were appointed the first professors of Classics, the Department of Classical and Oriental Languages and Literatures became the Department of Classics and Humanities by absorbing the major and minor programs in Humanities and European Studies. Accordingly, the orientalists and their programs moved to the Department of Linguistics and Oriental Languagcs, and faculty from other Departments were appointed in Humanities. In 1999 the Program in European Studies became part of a new Department of European Studies.

In 1995, 2001, and 2007, the Department served as local host for the annual joint meeting of the American Philological Association and the Archaeological Institute of America.

Faculty

The Classics and Humanities faculty and their special interests are listed below:

Brad L. Cook, Assistant Professor of Classics, Classics Adviser (PhD University of Washington): Greek prose, classical archaeology, women in antiquity (2005)

Kerri J. Hame, Lecturer in Classics and Humanities (PhD, Bryn Mawr College): Greek humanities, women in antiquity (2006).

Brett Robbins, Lecturer in Classics and Humanities (PhD, Indiana University): Greek and Latin, classical epic and drama, Greek art and archaeology

Maria Rybakova, Assistant Professor of Classics and Humanities (PhD, Yale University): European humanities, classical folklore (2007)

Erich W. Skwara, Professor of Humanities and German, Humanities Adviser (PhD, State University of New York at Albany): European humanities, creative writing, comparative and German literature (1986)

Joseph A. Smith, Associate Professor of Classics, Interim Department Chair (PhD, University of Southern California): Greek and Latin, classical drama (1997)

The Department of Classics and Humanities is one of 21 departments in the College of Arts and Letters. It shares offices with the Department of Religious Studies in Arts and Letters 662. The Administrative Support Coordinator is Melissa Bolthouse.

Gail A. Burnett Classics Seminar Room

A gift of The Friends of Classics, the Gail A Burnett Classics Seminar Room (Arts and Letters 109) was dedicated in Professor Emerita Bumett's honor in 1983. Among the room's many donated items are art books, dictionaries, classical references, and the entire Loeb Classical Library. Although courses are scheduled in the room, there is ample time during the day when the comfortable furnishings, art, library, computer station, and audiovisual materials are available to Classics and Humanities majors and minors.

The room is often the site of lectures, receptions, and meetings, and students are welcome to request it for special use. Students are responsible for the room's good order and security.

The Friends of Classics

In 1982 a group of alumnae and others founded The Friends of Classics to encourage and support classical and humanistic studies at San Diego State University. The Friends generously sponsor events and scholarships, and they contribute to the Department's needs and maintain the Burnett Classics Seminar Room.

This year The Friends celebrate their silver anniversary as they continue their fundraising campaign to establish an endowed professorship in Classics.

Scholarships and Readerships

Seven annual scholarships are available to students of Classics: the Martha Diehl Memorial ($450), the Viola Granstaff Memorial (two at $1,000), The Friends of Classics Charter (three at $1,500), and the Robert and Paula Cottam Memorial ($2,200). Recipients are selected by the Classics faculty. The Friends of Classics have also funded graduating seniors for summer travel study in Italy or Greece (see p. 16).

The Department also provides reader funds for superior students to assist professors in courses and research.

Organizations and Activities

In 1989 the University was granted a charter for Zeta Gamma Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi Honorary Undergraduate Classical Society (founded 1914). Each spring, Eta Sigma Phi invites for initiation undergraduates with 11 units of B or higher in Greek or Latin and with at least a 3.25 GPA in Classics courses and an overall 3.0 Initiation fees and travel to national meetings are paid by The Friends of Classics. Professor Genovese is the Archon Basileus (Faculty Adviser). In 2002 the chapter hosted the society's national meeting

The Department's student organization Umanisti was formed in 1990. It replaced the Classics Club started in 1971. Umanisti was the name given scholars of classical humane letters in the ltalian medieval universities. They became the humanists of the Renaissance, who in turn laid the foundation of the humanities in modem times. The motto of Umanisti is HVMANI NIL ALIENUM (Nothing human is alien: Terence, Self-Tormentor 77).

The club provides opportunity for group study and tutoring but also for museum and theater outings, picnics and ethnic dinners, Renaissance fairs, even an occasiona1 authentic toga party. As a regis­tered on-campus student organization it holds a seat on the College of Arts and Letters Student Council and has free access to Associated Students facilities in Aztec Center. The initiation fee is five dollars, officers are elected annually, and Dr. Smith is the adviser. (See UMANISTI, below)

Endowed in 1968 by the late Professor Emerita Gail A Burnett, the Burnett Lecture in Classics allows the Department each spring to invite a wel1­known scholar to campus to deliver a public lecture and conduct a seminar. The Burnett Lectures are the oldest such series at SDSU. A similar endowment in 1993 by the late Professor Emeritus John R. Adams provides for each fall's Adams Lecture in Humanities. Both lectures are subsequently published in pamphlet form.

The Major

Some graduates in Classics enter careers that take them into the world of the arts or publishing or travel or education. Others use their liberal arts experience to work into management or administration. But whatever their eventual careers, they adopt them not because of specific training but because their "arts" have enabled them to choose from a wide array of opportunities. That's the mean­ing of the artes liberales acquired and practiced by the citizens of Rome whose free birth allowed them to choose their professions

Meanwhile, until graduation, you will be engaged in an academic career. Like your professional career, your work here at the University will require certain choices and commitments, which are best made with an idea of goals within your major. As you pursue your Classics major, you should plan your concentration with your faculty adviser, especially if you intend to advance to graduate studies or to work toward the Latin teaching credential (see PLANNING YOUR MAJOR, below). Your adviser will also help you plan your General Education curriculum or choose a minor or a second major.

Language and Literature

A classicist is familiar with many disciplines not only in the humanities but also in the fine arts and in the social and natural sciences. For the most part, however, a classicist studies the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and studies it best by knowing Greek and Latin.

Because of the complexity of literary texts, the Greek or Latin acquired in two to four years is best aimed toward comprehension with grammatical and lexical aids. Rare are those scholars who can read at sight a classical text without often resorting to a dictionary or commentary or translation to be assured of an accurate interpretation.

Your aim, then, after your elementary course in Greek or Latin, is to understand the basic morphology(declensions, conjugations) and syntax (relations of nouns, verbs, clauses). Your Greek or Latin vocabulary will be minimal but useful, including especially the most frequent verbs. After your second full year, your reading of extended original Greek or Latin should give you a feel for efficient use of a dictionary and a sense of prose and poetic style. A third year in either language will allow you to read shorter whole works or extensive parts of greater works such as an oration, dialogue, play, or two to three books of a major work.

The study of language as the vehicle of literature and culture is called philology, love of words. A classicist must first be a philologist before attempting literary criticism or any other study of Greco­Roman civilization. You will learn very soon that a classicist reads a text with great care. There is no speed reading the classics, and even at the undergraduate level, you will come to understand the imperfections of translations and the errors of interpretations unfounded in the original text. In your upper division courses you'll try your hand at crafting original translations and analyzing literary works through papers and essays.

Despite your attention to literature, you will read only a small fraction of the classical corpus. For example, in Classical Drama, your reading might include nine tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, two comedies by Aristophanes and Plautus, and perhaps a Senecan tragedy. That would be about a seventh of the classical dramas that have survived, which are in turn a much smaller fraction of the original corpus. For example, of Sophocles' 123 dramas only seven tragedies and almost a whole satyr play remain.

Fortunately, most of what we do have from antiquity is good literature, some of it truly "classic." "Classical" itself derives from Latin classis prima, "first class," originally referring to the wealthiest segment of Roman society. Classical works of art and literature were cherished, protected, and imitated for their worthy content and high polish.

Planning Your Major and Minor

Major

Usually we have a dozen or more students majoring in Classics, and yearly about a quarter of them graduate with a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Such a bachelor's degree requires foreign language (satisfied by your courses in Latin or Greek) and is less specialized than the Applied Arts and  Sciences BA.

Depending on how much language you desire, preparation for the Classics major includes 14-26 lower division units of elementary Greek and/or Latin and two survey courses from among Classics, . Humanities, Comparative Literature, and History.

There are two emphases in the major: Classical Humanities and Classical Language. Both emphases include language and nonlanguage courses. The major requires 30 upper division units. Majors emphasizing Classical Language can complete their lower and upper division program within three years, that is, the time it takes to complete a six-course language sequence in Greek or Latin. The Classical Humanities emphasis requires four semesters in either language and can be completed in two years.

A minor is not required with this major. Classics majors are required to take the Senior Seminar and to submit a senior portfolio (see SENIOR PORTFOLIO, below).

Minor

Minor work in Classics requires about a third as many courses as the major and a third as many upper division courses. Students may choose Language or Nonlanguage options. The language track requires 19-20 units and is usually completed in two years. The 18-unit nonlanguagetrack can be completed in as little as one year.

University Regulations

You must follow the Catalog's major requirements for the year when you matriculated. But if you declare your major later, you must follow the Catalog requirements of that year.

Restrictions: For graduation you must achieve a C (2.0) average in both your major and your minor. Upper division Credit (Cr) may not count toward the major. Some courses have prerequisite courses that are not included in the Classics major preparation or in the Classics minor. Lower division courses in your major preparation or in your minor may count toward General Education, but only one upper division non-Classics course may double-count for your Classics major and for GE Explorations. You may not count an upper division course for more than one minor or major. You may combine Classics and Humanities majors and minors (i.e., you may take a second major or a minor in Humanities).

Graduate Study

If you plan to pursue a master's or doctorate in Classics or in related ancient studies, you should choose the Classical Language emphasis, since graduate programs will expect greater competency in Greek and Latin than is acquired through four semesters. Continued Special Study in Greek and Latin for at least two more semesters is strongly recommended. Consult with your Major Adviser and arrange to waive the limit of nine units of 599 courses toward your graduation requirements. (See SPECIAL STUDY, below)

Courses

The following courses are acceptable for the Classics major, minor, and preparation for the major. Courses taught usually in fall or spring are marked F or S; courses taught in Summer Extension only are marked X; otherwise, courses are taught irregularly. Asterisked courses have prerequisites.

Classics

120. English Words from Latin and Greek

140. Heritage of Greece and Rome

296C. Experimental Topics in Classics

310. Greek and Roman Myth and Legend FS

320. Epic and the Novel F

330. Tragedy and Comedy S

340. Ancient Greece and Rome S

350 Classics and Cinema

496C. Topics in Classical Studies

599C. Special Study in Classics

Greek

101G. Ancient Greek I F

202G. Ancient Greek II S

303G. Reading Greek Prose F

304G. Reading Greek Poetry S

496G. Topics in Greek

599G. Special Study in Greek FS

Latin

101L. Latin I F

202L. Latin II S

250L- Accelerated Latin X

303L. Reading Latin Prose F

304L. Reading Latin Poetry S

496L. Topics in Latin

599L Special Study in Latin FS

Art

568. Art of Crete, Mycenae, Greece, Rome

Comparative Literature

270k World Literature (to 1500) FS

History

105. Western Civilization (to 1700) FS

501 Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations

502.Ancient Greece F

503.Ancient Rome S

Humanities

140. Mythology FS

402 Renaissance FS

490. Senior Seminar in Classics and Humanities S

Philosophy

411. Ancient Western Philosophy F

Advanced Placement

Credit for Classics courses in Latin may be earned through Advanced Placement exams in Latin Prose, Latin Lyric, and Vergil. High school students earning a 3 or 4 on any of these shall receive five lower division units for Classics 202L. A score of 5 on Latin Prose earns three upper division units for Classics 303L, allowing students to register for Classics 303L. A score of 5 on Latin Lyric or Vergil earns three upper division units for Classics 304L, allowing students to register for Classics 599L. Not more than six lower division or six upper division units shall be granted

Classics Minor: Language Option
Minor code: 15041-111550
Five total courses
19-20 total units = 8-10 lower division units + 9-12 upper division units
16-17 units in Greek or in Latin (6-9 upper division) + 3 units in nonlanguage

Classics Minor: Nonlanguage Option
Minor Code: 15041-111560
Six total courses
18 total units = 0-6 lower division units + 12-18 upper division units

Class Major: Classical Humanities Emphasis
Major code: 15041-111525
13-14 total courses
44-46 total units= 14-16 lower division units + 30 upper division units
14-16 units in Greek or in Latin + 30 units in nonlanguage courses
Foreign language requiremcnt met by three semesters of Greek or of Latin Minor not required Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement
Senior portfolio

Senior Portfolio

A Three Part Presentation

Spring Semester 2008

Here are the guidelines for the submission of your Senior Portfolio, the culminating exercise of your major in Humanities or Classics. The portfolio project is transitioning from its earlier purpose—to highlight all the work you did across all your major classes (including some new work, such as a literary passage in the language of your emphasis, along with an epideictic display of your translation skill)—to its new, modified purpose—to highlight a single, culminating work of your original research (“The Senior Seminar Paper”) and to provide you an opportunity to display your research via a “translation” from the most traditional format of a formally written presentation in the seminar paper into a visual presentation (an epideictic display, if you will) suitable for non-specialists and interested spectators of your work who will see it at the Department “Recognition Ceremony.” The old-style portfolio has tended to be a personally tailored, private (given that much of it was graded) collection of materials. The new-style portfolio is intended to be a public presentation, meant for the entertainment and delight of your parents, friends, fellow graduates: the portfolio is intended as a means for the Department to show you off to your well-wishers on Commencement Day and, at the same time, show ourselves off in light of your hard work.

We are aided this semester as we transition to the new portfolio style by the strange calendar of graduation. There is a week’s gap between the end of finals and Commencement Day. This effectively allows for either Portfolio style to be submitted in finals and allow for time for evaluation of the finished product.

So, if you would like to produce the earlier, totalizing portfolio project, the directions remain the same as always (printed in your major handbook) and the portfolio should be submitted in its binder to the office by the end of finals week for the inspection and approval of the faculty in your area of concentration.

If, on the other hand, you would like to produce the new style of portfolio, your directions are as follows:

Submit to the department a collection of three items having to do with your senior research paper:

I. A Précis of the Project

On a single page, write up a summary in a few paragraphs—100 to 200 words in length—of your project. This page will serve as the title page and introduction to the portfolio. The précis should include the following:

***Your full name (as you present yourself in formal writing) and the semester date (just as you would put on a submitted paper)

***The title of your Project (which may simply be the title of your paper, if you like)

***A few paragraphs describing your project. This précis should tell us the topic, scope and argument of your paper (II, below). And then provide us a short description of your presentation (III, below) letting us know the medium (or media) and the intended effect of the presentation.

This précis should be submitted as soon as you are able (by the end of April is when you’ll get pestering emails from me) so that we can give initial approval to the project and we have time to plan what is needed for the proper display of your project (III below).

II. A Culminating Research Paper

Submit your research paper in its finished, complete form as you have submitted it to your Senior Seminar professor. You may want to “publish” this version of your paper a vinyl or binder cover of some sort in anticipation of many fingers thumbing through it in curiosity and interest. The due date for the departmental submission of your paper will be the end of finals week (at the latest).

III. A Creative Presentation of Research

This project can represent either the entire argument and scope of your research paper, or just one facet or section of your work. The idea here is to convert (“to translate”) your research paper into either an attractive, eye-catching poster, a slick PowerPoint presentation, a digital slide show, a brief video presentation, an assemblage of items integrally connected to your subject (or some variation of these, or something else that my limited imagination hasn’t suggested here). The point and purpose is to make your formal research presentable to non-specialists who will want to know what is interesting and important about your work.

For those of you taking Hum 490 now, the in-class presentations you are already doing should be perfectly suited to this presentation. You have the opportunity to make that presentation as handsome and polished as you can with the time you have leading to the end of the semester.

We’ll be able to display your presentations (by projecting computer files and video projects) in the Burnett Seminar Room, which is where we all end up for the Department recognition ceremony on May 23.

The submission deadline of your project, along with your research paper, will be the end of finals week. (Those working on this project from the disadvantageous confines of that most repressed city in Europe will be given certain flexibility in their submission: Prof. Skwara will confirm for us completion of the project. Prof. Smith has copies of your research paper from last spring.)

All faculty in the department are at your disposal for generating ideas—should you for any reason be at a loss for them—that you can reasonably and enthusiastically execute by the end of the semester. We want these to be clearly the product of your love and irrepressible interest in your topics.

Special Study

Special Study in Classics, Greek, or Latin (Classics 599) is available by special arrangement only to qualified students. To register for Classics 599C, 599G, or 599L, you must first consult with the Department Chair or Major Adviser and with the prospective supervising professor. When you have determined the content and requirements of the Special Study and have completed the form, you must submit it for the Department Chair's approval. You will then be given the suppressed course schedule number.

Greek or Latin

Special Study in Greek or Latin is strictly reserved for students who have completed Classics 304G or 304L. Each semester the Department will announce the title and supervising professor for Greek and Latin Special Study. These courses will usually be conducted as three-unit tutorials meeting once a week at a mutually convenient time. Most frequent topics Horace, Ovid, Vergil, Latin Prose Composition, Euripides, Sophocles, Herodotus, Plato; however, other appropriate topics may be chosen according to student request.

Travel-Study

Students awarded a Friends of Classics Summer Scholarship and those engaged in approved travel· study abroad can earn up to three units credit in Classics 599C. There are no prerequisites, but you must follow the regular procedure in securing permission to enroll. (See Scholarships and Readerships, above).