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Latin is not only the language of the Ancient Romans, but the language of centuries of scholarship, both scientific and religious. Cicero, Ovid, and Julius Caesar spoke Latin; Copernicus and St. Augustine wrote it; Jefferson, Hamilton, and Tolkien read it. As the parent language of 5 modern languages (including Spanish, French, and Italian) and the …

Latin is not only the language of the Ancient Romans, but the language of centuries of scholarship, both scientific and religious. Cicero, Ovid, and Julius Caesar spoke Latin; Copernicus and St. Augustine wrote it; Jefferson, Hamilton, and Tolkien read it. As the parent language of 5 modern languages (including Spanish, French, and Italian) and the …

Have you ever wondered how ancient societies understood the natural world around them? The people of Ancient Greece and Rome conceptualized nature as a mixture of gods and science, peace and terror, prosperity and challenge. Rural farmers, sailing merchants, conquering armies, and urban dwellers all saw nature differently. They expressed their relationship to nature through …

Have you ever wondered what the lives of women were like in the ancient world? Mythology is full of extraordinary women, and, statistically, 50% of every human who lived in ancient times was a woman. Yet finding ancient women can be difficult, given that they were excluded from many of the activities, big and small, …

Have you ever wondered how ancient societies understood the world around them, especially the worst parts? Today we can predict, prevent, and process disasters through scientific technology. Past peoples did not have such luxury, but they still had to make sense of disasters, natural and manmade. CLAS-B 312 serves as an introduction to disasters in …

Have you ever wondered if concepts like “female” or “male,” “woman” or “man” have been consistent across cultures? Or whether past peoples thought about sexual identity, morality, and orientation in the same way that you do? Maybe you’ve heard rumors that Ancient Greece and Rome were basically wild orgies, societies that contributed to their own …

The stories of Classical Mythology, and the ancient art that brought them to life, have become woven throughout the tapestry of later artistic movements. In the Renaissance, Botticelli turned the ancient myth of desire’s creation into a Christian allegory, and somehow made nudity chic again in his The Birth of Venus. Meanwhile Michelangelo fell in love …

The Roman Empire was vast, encompassing cultures from the British Isles to Egypt, Spain to Syria, often all in one city. Social roles and relationships ranged from the emperor to the enslaved. Yet the voices and perspectives that have been preserved in the traditional university classroom are surprisingly narrow: those of elite men. But new …

As long as there have been societies, there have been plagues. Learn how the pre-modern world was shaped by plagues, and what we can learn for tomorrow. No pre-requisites necessary, just curiosity! Fun Facts: no pre-requisites combined with MHHS-M 492 online asynchronous MHHS-M 492 can be applied to the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Minor …

In 79 CE, Mt. Vesuvius erupted on a massive scale, burying a large swath of the prosperous Bay of Naples area under meters of rock, ash, and mud. Cities such as Pompeii and Herculaneum were snuffed out, preserved for millennia until they were rediscovered in the modern era. Almost overnight, Pompeii became one of the …