Graduate Exam Information

CLAS 896: Directed Reading in Classics

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to read the departmental list of primary texts in Classics and to develop their own secondary reading lists in general and special fields of emphasis. Students who take this course are preparing for a Comprehensive Oral Examination in fulfillment of their Culminating Experience Requirement.

Since this is a supervised course, students are free to fulfill requirements a-d below in any order they choose, in consultation with the supervising instructor. Students must:

  1. Read any primary authors or works on the M.A. Reading List which they have not read previously;

  2. Develop, in consultation with the instructor, and read, a list of general secondary material on ancient cultures, literature and history;

  3. Identify three areas of special emphasis, one from each of the following categories: author, genre, topic (e.g., Virgil, elegiac poetry, Roman religion, Greek sanctuaries, domestic architecture, gender issues in ancient literature);

  4. Develop a reading list for each area of emphasis and write a literature review or commentary (10-12 typed pages) for each of the three areas;

  5. Pass the Comprehensive Oral Examination (after completion of requirements a-d).

Students must consult with the supervising instructor regarding the procedures for both establishing an orals committee and consulting with members of that committee prior to the examination.

CLAS 896 is offered on a CR/NC basis only. To receive credit for the course the student must pass the Comprehensive Oral Examination. A student who fails the oral examination will receive an “Incomplete” and will have the following semester to take the oral examination a second time.

What do the Examiners Expect?

  • That you will have read the M.A. Reading List, both in English and in the Latin and/or Greek
  • That you will complete a significant portion of each of the four passages on the M.A. language exam (20-25 lines each, 2 hours total for the exam)
  • That you will not commit egregious errors* related to:

  1. Agreement

  2. Voice

  3. (3)  mood

  4. (4)  basic case usage

  5. (5)  proper English translation of Latin and Greek proper

    names

  6. (6)  proper scansion of Latin hexameters (which will allow

    you to distinguish between the short “a” of the feminine nominative, neuter nominative and accusative plural and the long “a” of the feminine ablative singular)

*Errors of this type can prove “fatal” and result in the necessity to retake the examination.

To prepare for the examinations, students should set aside time for the M.A. Reading List, reading a significant number of pages in the original language each day. Students should practice writing out translations from 20-25 line passages (1/2 hour per passage); this will give you a sense of the time constraints as well as the length of the passages to be tested.

Questions? Talk to one of the examiners:
Dr. Anderson, Dr. Leitao, Dr. McIntosh, Dr. Pappas or Dr. Smith.

To schedule a practice exam, please see Dr. Gillian McIntosh.

The purpose of the Reading List is to foster in students the practice of reading Latin frequently and extensively, regardless of ultimate academic or career goals. Completing this list, in addition to your course work, will prepare you very well for further graduate study. Some of the authors and works on this list will be covered by courses, others will not; it is the primary responsibility of the M.A. student to cover all items listed, independent of course work. In addition, students should realize that this reading list, like all degree requirements, contains the minimum expected of them.

Classics M.A. Reading List - Greek
Greek Authors Approx. # OCT pages

Aeschylus Eumenides

 39
 Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 1.536-58, 730-68, 1153-71; 3.744-824; 4.1629-88 6

Aristophanes Clouds

54

Aristotle Poetics 1-11

 17

Callimachus Aetia Prologue, Acontius and Cydippe, Hymn to Apollo

 9

Demosthenes 1, 4

 21

Euripides Medea

56

Herodotus 1

117

Hesiod Theogony 1-929; Works and Days 1-247

48

Homer Iliad 1, 6, 9, 24; Odyssey 1, 8, 9, 11, 23

 180

Homeric Hymns 2 (Demeter), 3 (Apollo)

42

Lyric Poetry: (Selection from Campbell) Archilochus 1, 6, 22, 60, Cologne Epode (appendix); Tyrtaeus 9; Solon 3, 24; Sappho 1, 16, 31; Anacreon 358, 417; Theognis 19-26, 39-52, 237-5

 11

Lysias 1, 12

 33

Pindar Olympians 1, 2; Pythians 1, 2, 4

 35

Plato Symposium, Apology

 76

Sophocles Antigone, Oedipus Rex

115

Theocritus 1, 2, 11, 15

19

Thucydides 1, 2.34-65

 109
TOTAL 968

 

Classics M.A. Reading List - Latin
Latin Authors Approx. # OCT pages

Caesar Bellum Gallicum 1, Bellum Civile 3

 100

Catullus 1-14, 49-52, 61, 63, 64

46

Cicero In Catilinam 1, Pro Archia, Pro Caelio, Philippic 1, De Senectute

 117

Horace Odes 1, Sermones 1

 63

Juvenal 1, 3, 6, 10

 57

Livy 21

 62

Lucretius 1

36

Ovid Ars Amatoria 1, Amores 1, Metamorphoses 1

59

Plautus Pseudolus

 67

Propertius 1

 25

Sallust Catiline

 48

Seneca Epistulae Morales 3, Thyestes

 59

Tacitus Agricola, Annales 4, 11

 99

Terence Adelphoe

 54

Vergil Aeneid 1, 4, 6, 12

 112
TOTAL 1004

May 2011

Effective June 1, 2012

Bronze Age and Near East

  1. J. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World (1976)
  2. P.P. Betancourt. The History of Minoan Pottery (1985)
  3. A. Furumark. Mycenaean Pottery: Analysis and Classification (1941)
  4. O. Dickinson, The Aegean Bronze Age (1994)
  5. D. Preziozi, and L.A. Hitchcock, Aegean Art and Architecture (2000)
  6. G. Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt. (2000)
  7. I. Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2004)
  8. W.H. Stiebing, Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture. (2002)
  9. D. Trump, Malta: Prehistory and Temples. (2002)
  10. M. Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, Updated Edition (1998)

Greek Art/Archaeology

  1. S.E. Alcock, Graecia Capta (1993)
  2. S.E. Alcock and R. Osborne (eds.), Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece (1994)
  3. J. Boardman, The Greeks Overseas: The Early Colonies and Trade, 4'" ed. (1999)
  4. J. Boardman, The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters, and Pictures (2001)
  5. W. Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (1992)
  6. J. Camp, The Archaeology of Athens (2001)
  7. J.N. Coldstream, Geometric Greece, 2nd ed. (2003)
  8. F. De Polignac, Cults, Temples, and the Origins of the Greek City-State (1995)
  9. M.I. Finley, The Ancient Economy. 2nd ed. with intro by I. Morris (2002)
  10. J.M. Hall, Hellenicity: Between Ethnicity and Culture (2002)
  11. J.M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis (1999)
  12. A.W. Lawrence and R.A. Tomlinson, Greek Architecture (1996)
  13. F. Lissarague, Greek Vases (2001)
  14. L. Langdon, Art and Identity in Dark Age Greece, 1100-700 BC (2010)
  15. N. Marinatos and R. Hägg, eds., Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches (1993)
  16. C. Mattusch, Classical Bronzes (1996)
  17. C. Morgan, Athletes and Oracles: The Transformation of Olympia and Delphi in the Eighth Century BC (1990)
  18. I. Morris, Death Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity (1992)
  19. S. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art (1992)
  20. J. Neils, ed., The Parthenon (2005)
  21. R. Neer, Style and Politics in Athenian Vase Painting (2002)
  22. L. Nevett, House and Society in the Ancient Greek World (1999)
  23. R. Osborne, Archaic and Classical Greek Art (1998)
  24. R. Osborne and B. Cunliffe, eds., Mediterranean Urbanization 800-600 BC (2005)
  25. J.G. Pedley, Greek Art and Archaeology (2007)
  26. J.J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age (1986)
  27. B. Powell, Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (1991)
  28. T. Rasmussen and N.J. Spivey, Looking at Greek Vases (1991)
  29. D. Ridgeway, The First Western Greeks (1992)
  30. M. Shanks, Art and the Greek City State: An Interpretive Archaeology (1999)
  31. R.R.R. Smith, Hellenistic Sculpture (1991)
  32. A. Snodgrass, Archaic Greece (1980)
  33. A. Snodgrass, The Dark Age in Greece: An Archaeological Survey of the Eleventh to Eighth Centuries B.C., 2"' ed. (2000)
  34. B.A. Sparkes, Greek Pottery: An Introduction (1991)
  35. B.A. Sparkes, The Red and the Black: Studies in Greek Pottery (1996)
  36. N. Spivey, Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings (1996)
  37. A. Stewart, Art, Desire and the Body in Ancient Greece (1998)
  38. A. Steward, Greek Sculpture (1990).
  39. 39. L.V. Watrous, "The Sculptural Program of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi," AJA 86 (1982): 159-172
  40. 40. R.E. Wycherly. How the Greeks Built Cities (1962)

Roman Art/Archaeology

  1. J.-P. Adam, Roman Building: Materials and Techniques (2008 reprint)
  2. M. Beard and J. Henderson, Classical Art: From Greece to Rome (2001)
  3. O. Brendel, Prolegomena to the Study of Roman Art (1979)
  4. G. Paul and M. Ierardi, eds., Roman Coins and Public Life Under the Empire (1999)
  5. J. Clarke, The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C -A.D. 250: Ritual, Space and Decoration (1991)
  6. F. Coarelli et. al., Rome And Environs: An Archaeological Guide (2008)
  7. T.J. Cornell and K. Lomas, eds., Urban Society in Roman Italy. (1995)
  8. J. Coulston and H. Dodge, eds., Ancient Rome: The Archaeology Of The Eternal City (2000)
  9. E. D'Ambra, ed., Roman Art in Context: An Anthology (1993)
  10. E. D'Ambra, Roman Art (1998)
  11. K. Dunbabin, Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World (2006)
  12. J. Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph: The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450 (1998)
  13. P. Foss and J. Dobbins, eds., The World Of Pompeii (2008)
  14. K. Gazda, ed., Roman Art in the Private Sphere (1991)
  15. K. Greene, The Archaeology of the Roman Economy (1986)
  16. R. Holloway, The Archaeology of Early Rome and Latium (1994)
  17. T. Hölscher, The Language of Images in Roman Art (2004)
  18. P. Horden and N. Purcell. The Corrupting Sea (2000)
  19. S.J. Keay and N. Terrenato, eds., Italy and the West: Comparative Issues in Romanization (2001)
  20. D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture (1992)
  21. F. Kleiner, The History of Roman Art (2006)
  22. M. Koortbojian, Myth, Meaning, and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi (1995)
  23. H.P. L'Orange, Art Forms and Civic Life in the Late Roman Empire (1965)
  24. R. Laurence, Roman Pompeii (1996)
  25. R. Laurence and A. Wallace-Hadrill, Domestic Space in the Ancient World (1997)
  26. R. Ling, Pompeii: History, Life and Afterlife (2005)
  27. R. Ling, Roman Painting (1991)
  28. P. Mackendrick, The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy (1984)
  29. R. Meiggs, Roman Ostia, 2nd ed. (1973)
  30. 30. M. Millett, The Romanization of Britain: An Essay in Archaeological Interpretation (1990)
  31. T. Peña, Roman Pottery in the Archaeological Record (2007)
  32. J. Rich and A. Wallace-Hadrill, eds., City and Country in the Ancient World (1991)
  33. B.S. Ridgway, Roman Copies of Greek Sculpture: The Problem of the Originals (1984)
  34. S. Scott and J. Webster, eds., Roman Imperialism and Provincial Art (2003)
  35. F. Sear, Roman Architecture (1982)
  36. N.J. Spivey, Etruscan Art (1997)
  37. P. Stewart, Statues in Roman Society (2004)
  38. A. Wallace-Hadrill, Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum (1996)
  39. J.B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture (1981)
  40. P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (1988)