| Course Title: Classical Epic: Homer, Vergil, and Ovid |
| Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2026 |
| Description: Classical epic embraced a tragic view of the world. People of that era were compelled to confront their own mortality and frailties by the harsh conditions of war, famine, disease, political instability, and the dangers of childbearing, much more directly than moderns do. As a result, epic poets, such as Homer, Vergil, and Ovid, offered conflicting visions of hope blended with pessimism for how to meet the challenges posed by such precarious conditions. This course provides an opportunity to evaluate the tragic nature of the modern world by comparison with the cultures that created much of our own basic framework for thinking about politics and the human condition in that pessimistic light. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , LANG - Language |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Bruce Arnold | 413-538-2872 | barnold@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026 | Seminar | Monday | 07:15PM - 10:05PM | SKNR - Skinner Hall | 212 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Taught in English. |
| Course Tags | ||
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies major | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies minor | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0003 | CLAS-LM: Classical Studies - Literary/Mythological | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major in the Literary/Mythological subject area. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 17 | Available: 1 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: The Iliad by Homer Author: Wilson, Emily Copyright: 2024 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 039392534X Publisher: W.W. Norton |
Required | 18.63 |
| Title: The Odyssey by Homer Author: Wilson, Emily Copyright: 2018 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780393925340 Publisher: W.W. Norton |
Required | 17.08 |
| Title: The Aeneid by Virgil Author: McGill, Scott Copyright: 2025 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9781324096436 Publisher: Liveright |
Required | 25.74 |
| Title: Metamorphoses: A Norton Critical Edition Paperback Author: Martin, Charles Copyright: 2009 Edition: Volume: ISBN: Publisher: W.W. Norton |
Required | 23.00 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: These are the translations I will be using and hence will be the focus of our class discussions, but students are welcome to use other translations that they may already possess. |