CLST3608 - Love and Friendship in Greek and Latin Literature

The writers of ancient Greece and Rome speak of love in ways that are immediately familiar to us, but also in ways that are hard for us to understand. Some of their attitudes differ from one another, and we can even see the Romans learning about Greek attitudes and consciously adopting them, or pretending to. The same process of learning about and adopting, both consciously and unconsciously, inform our own ideas about love and related phenomena, such a friendship, loyalty, jealousy, and possessiveness. The course will acquaint students with some lesser-known literature and reacquaint them with more familiar works from a new point of view. We will emphasize discussion in class and in supplementary small groups as analytical tools.