Ph.D. Classics
Bachelor's degree
In Princeton (USA)
Description
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Type
Bachelor's degree
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Location
Princeton (USA)
The Princeton Classics Ph.D. program recognizes the increasing diversity of approaches and subjects housed within the discipline and aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop a varied and comprehensive course of study appropriate to their developing research interests. The department currently offers four curricular options: literature and philology, history (Program in the Ancient World), classical philosophy, classical and Hellenic studies.
Students concentrating on history are normally members of the Program in the Ancient World (PAW); those concentrating on philosophy, of the Program in Classical Philosophy (PCP); and those concentrating also on Byzantine and modern Greek studies, of the joint Program in Classical and Hellenic Studies (CHS).
Students select their curricular option at the beginning of the program, though later changes are possible in consultation with the director of graduate studies and the graduate committee. Membership in PAW is open also to students concentrating on literature and philology (LP), who must normally declare their decision to join PAW no later than January of their first year.
All students, irrespective of their curricular option, are required to acquire a broad knowledge of classical literature and history by the time they complete their general examinations.
Students make steady progress toward the completion of examinations and dissertation at a pace that takes account of their preparation at entrance and their progress while in residence. Students regularly complete the general examinations by October of their third year and complete the dissertation by the end of the fifth.
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The Department of Classics also offers a one-year, fully funded pre-doctoral Fellowship that includes an offer of regular admission to the Classics doctoral program for the following year (assuming steady academic progress)
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
Reviews
Subjects
- Plato
- Prose
- Poetry
- Historiography
- Sanskrit
- Grammar
- Art
- Philosophy
- Classics
- Archaeology
- Credit
- Interpretation
- Latin
- Greek
Course programme
ART 512 Death in Greece: Archaeological Perspectives (also
CLA 516
HLS 524
) Chronological and thematic survey of the major funeral monuments, assemblages, and cemeteries of ancient Greece, from the Late Protogeometric to the Hellenistic periods. Course examines how material culture at the grave memorialized the deceased, comforted the living, and negotiated status. Students evaluate grave goods, tomb rituals, grave markers, cemetery layout, and the treatment of the body in their historical, social, and political contexts. Topics include: memory, gender, family, mortuary variability, the afterlife, the senses, ethnicity, and the dialectic presence/absence. Close work with objects from the PUAM collection.
ART 513 Seminar in Roman Art (also
CLA 518
ART 519 The Orientalizing Phenomenon in Greek Art and Archaeology (also
CLA 523
HLS 519
) A study of the origins, nature, and impact of Greek contact with the Near East in the Iron Age. Course examines chronology; regional variation and distribution; technology and innovation; differences across media; modes of communication and exchange; patterns of consumption and display; and the social function of the "exotic." Analyzed with a view to changes and developments in settlement and society, particularly migration, colonization, social stratification, and the rise of the polis.
ART 529 Ancient Egyptian Kingship in Image, Architecture & Performance (also
CLA 528
AAS 529
) The institution of kingship was central to the ancient Egyptian worldview. Kings and their administrations sought to express the complex nature of a strong leader with access to the gods and secret knowledge, exceptional skill as a warrior and diplomat, and unrivaled power over and sacrifice to his people by using both mystery and overwhelming display. In this seminar we consider the nature of Egyptian kingship and how a vast body of material and visual culture shaped and expressed this essential concept from its origins in the beginning of the 4th millennium to the era of Roman rulers.
ART 599 The Greek House (also
CLA 597
PAW 599
/
HLS 599
) A study of the archaeology of the Greek house (Early Archaic huts through Hellenistic palaces). Emphasis on the close reading of archaeological sites and assemblages and the integration of literary with material evidence. Topics include the discovery of houses, the identification of farms, the integration of the house with urban plans and natural landscapes, the organization and use of space, gender, domestic economies, and religious practice. Attention devoted to social, political, and regional dynamics; to the concept of the "private" in ancient Greece; and to questioning the heuristic value of the term "house".
CLA 500 Greek Prose Composition A weekly exercise in translating selected passages of English into Greek, with intensive study of grammar and style. Research paper not required for credit. Offered alternately with 501.
CLA 501 Latin Prose Composition A weekly exercise in translating selected passages of English into Latin, with intensive study of grammar and style. Research paper not required for credit. Offered alternately with 500.
CLA 502 Survey of Selected Greek Literature (also
HLS 502
CLA 503 Survey of Selected Latin Literature The course concentrates on reading selected texts within a particular genre or genres or period. Research paper not required for credit. Offered alternately with 502.
CLA 504 Homer Iliad or Odyssey, depending on the instructor's and the students' interest. Content and emphasis vary, but normally include study of traditional and contemporary categories of interpretation and a close analysis of poetic style. Lectures by the instructor; short reports.
CLA 505 Greek Lyric Poetry The origin and development of Greek elegiac, iambic, and melic poetry; reading and analysis of the works of the various authors, with attention to linguistic, metrical, textual, and historical problems. Lectures and reports.
CLA 506 Greek Tragedy (also
HLS 506
CLA 508 Greek Comedy The course centers on two, possibly three, comedies of Aristophanes, and, if time and interest permit, on Menander's Dyskolos. Reports on selected problems of Old Comedy are assigned, such as origins, metrics, parody, politics, and textual problems. Occasional lectures by the instructor.
CLA 509 Plato A general introduction to the form and content of Plato's philosophy. Either the Republic and related Dialogues (Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias) or the Symposium and Phaedrus are studied intensively.
CLA 511 Greek Historiography An intensive study of one or more major historical writersHerodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, and others.
CLA 512 Greek Historiography An intensive study of one or more major historical writers---Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, and others.
CLA 513 Ancient Literary Criticism (also
COM 516
HLS 513
) Study of a selection of critical texts, such as the following: Plato, Republic and Phaedrus; Aristotle, Poetics and Rhetoric; "Longinus," On the Sublime; Cicero, De oratore, etc.; Horace, De arte poetica; and Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria.
CLA 514 Problems in Greek Literature Special problems are selected for intensive investigation, such as the origin and development of a genre, analysis of form, and history of ideas.
CLA 515 Problems in Greek Literature (also
HLS 515
CLA 517 Problems in Post-Classical and Byzantine Literature (also
MED 517
HLS 517
) As the late antique present began to dramatically assert its variance with the venerable Greco-Roman past, historical writing took on a significance hardly surpassed before, or after. Course surveys the diverse corpus of historiography in Greek from the 4th to the 7th centuries (and perhaps a bit beyond) when an unprecedented number of registers entered and enlarged the historiographic genre. Class reads texts in Greek (for accuracy and formal concerns) as well as in translation (for scope). Scholarship will buttress our weekly discussion.
CLA 520 Greek History (also
PAW 520
HLS 521
) A comprehensive introduction to central topics and methods of Greek history, offering a chronological overview of periods and significant developments; a survey of research tools and specialized sub-disciplines (e.g., epigraphy and numismatics); as well as important theoretical approaches to the study of the past (e.g., positivism, or the Annales School).
CLA 521 Problems in Greek History Special problems, such as Athenian imperialism, Sparta, political structures, and the political role of cults and festivals, are studied in rotation.
CLA 522 Problems in Greek History Special problems, such as Athenian imperialism, Sparta, political structures, and the political role of cults and festivals, are studied in rotation.
CLA 524 Roman History A seminar that introduces graduate students to current methods and debates in Roman history and historiography. Provides a chronological overview of the history of Rome and her expanding empire from early times (8th century BC) to the end of the Severan era (AD 235), accompanied by the study of a wide variety of ancient sources, including texts, inscriptions, coins, material culture, art, and archaeology, and the methods commonly used by modern historians to analyze them. Students acquire the basic tools needed to do research in Roman history.
CLA 526 Problems in Greek and Roman Philosophy (also
HLS 527
PHI 522
) Special problems are selected for intensive investigation. The subject matter of the course changes to adapt to the particular interests of the students and the instructor.
CLA 529 Topics in the Hellenic Tradition (also
HLS 529
COM 527
) An interdisciplinary seminar devoted to the study of aspects of the post-classical Greek literary and cultural tradition, including modern Greek literature, and its relation to classical literature and civilization.
CLA 533 Vergil The seminar generally considers either the Aeneid or the Georgics and Eclogues. Discussions and reports center on the interpretation of the poems in themselves and in the light of Augustan literature and politics.
CLA 534 Roman Lyric and Elegiac Poetry One or more of the following poets are considered in any given year: Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid.
CLA 536 Ovid Study of either Metamorphoses or selected elegiac poetry, focusing on problems of sources, narrative technique, and genre.
CLA 537 The Roman Novel Study of Petronius's Satyricon or Apuleius's Metamorphoses or both, with some attention to Greek and Roman formative influences and the later romance and novelistic traditions.
CLA 538 Latin Poetry of the Empire Intensive study of Lucan, Seneca, Statius, and/or other writers.
CLA 539 Latin Historiography An intensive study of one or more major historical writers such as Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.
CLA 540 Latin Historiography An intensive study of one or more major historical writers such as Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.
CLA 542 Problems in Latin Literature Special problems are selected for intensive investigation, such as the origin and development of a genre, analysis of form, and history of ideas.
CLA 543 Problems in Latin Literature Special problems are selected for intensive investigation, such as the origin and development of a genre, analysis of form, and history of ideas.
CLA 545 Problems in Roman History Larger themes, such as Roman imperialism, the decline of the republic, and the rise of the multicultural empire, are considered in rotation with the study of specific problems and ancillary disciplines.
CLA 546 Problems in Roman History Larger themes, such as Roman imperialism, the decline of the republic, and the rise of the multicultural empire, are considered in rotation with the study of specific problems and ancillary disciplines.
CLA 547 Problems in Ancient History (also
PAW 503
HLS 547
/
HIS 557
) Study of a topic involving both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as imperialism or slavery, from a comparative perspective.
CLA 548 Problems in Ancient History (also
HLS 548
PAW 548
/
ART 532
) Study of a topic involving both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as imperialism or slavery, from a comparative perspective.
CLA 561 Historical/Comparative Grammar of Latin Introduction to Latin historical/comparative grammar via reading of preclassical texts, including both literary texts (Cato, Ennius, Saturnian poetry) and nonliterary forms (early inscriptions, the Twelve Tables, the Latin grammatical tradition); the position of Latin among the languages of ancient Italy; and the development of the literary language.
CLA 562 Historical/Comparative Grammar of Greek Introduction to Greek historical/comparative grammar, based primarily on early Greek epic material (including Hesiod), with special attention to topics in Homeric linguistics and poetics. (For Greek dialects and Mycenaean, see CLA 564.)
CLA 564 Problems in Indo-European Linguistics Special topics are selected for investigation, such as comparative syntax or Indo-European particles. Or, a particular Indo-European dialect may be studied, such as Osco-Umbrian or Hittite.
CLA 575 Introduction to Sanskrit (also
LIN 525
CLA 575 Introduction to Sanskrit (also
LIN 575
CLA 598 Methods in Byzantine Literature and Philology (also
MED 598
HLS 598
) This course emphasizes proficiency in post-Classical and Medieval Greek language through close readings and translations of literature. In addition to surveying the principal genres of literature and the questions surrounding them, it also introduces Ph.D. students to the instrumenta studiorum of Late Antique and Byzantine philology, such as palaeography, codicology, text editing, databases and bibliography.
CLA 599 Dissertation Writers' Seminar. A practical and theoretical introduction to scholarly writing at the dissertation level and beyond
Ph.D. Classics