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Classical Traditions

ENGL 029.401
instructor(s):

In this course, we will study what continuities there are between contemporary
society and those of ancient Greece and Rome; the ways in which our culture is
fundamentally different from theirs; and the reasons why medieval, early
modern, and modern people have chosen either to look back to antiquity, or to
turn away from it.  Is our identity shaped by the Greeks and Romans, or not?
And how did we get from their culture to our own?  We will survey different
strands of the "classical tradition", ranging through literature, history,
philosophy, art, science, language and psychology.  We will also think about
what the terms "classical" and "tradition" might mean.

fulfills requirements