Classics Undergraduate Courses Summer 2026
Please do not hesitate to contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (nk2776@columbia.edu), if you have any questions.
SUMMER SESSION A
LATN S1121 (Intensive Elementary Latin)
Equivalent to Latin 1101 and 1102. Covers all of Latin grammar and syntax in one term to prepare the student to enter Latin 1201 or 1202. This is an intensive course with substantial preparation time outside of class.
CLCV S3058 (Worlds of Alexander the Great)
This course looks at the narrative and the historical context for an extraordinary event: the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander III of Macedonia, conventionally known as “Alexander the Great”. We will explore the different worlds Alexander grew out of, confronted, and affected: the old Greek world, the Persian empire, the ancient near-east (Egypt, Levant, Babylonia, Iran), and the worlds beyond, namely pre-Islamic (and pre-Silk Road) Central Asia, the Afghan borderlands, and the Indus valley. The first part of the course will establish context, before laying out a narrative framework; the second part of the course will explore a series of themes, especially the tension between military conquest, political negotiation, and social interactions. Overall, the course will serve as an exercise in historical methodology (with particular attention to ancient sources and to interpretation), an introduction to the geography and the history of the ancient world (classical and near-eastern), and the exploration of a complex test case located at the contact point between several worlds, and at a watershed of world history.
CLLT S3310 (Classical Mythology)
Introduction to and analysis of major myths in classical literature. Topics include the changing attitudes and applications of myth from Greek epic to tragedy, as well as modern approaches to myth. Readings include Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. All readings in English.
SUMMER SESSION B
LATN S1221 (Intensive Intermediate Latin)
Equivalent to Latin 2101 and 2102. Topics include Poetry and Prose. This is an intensive course with substantial preparation time outside of class. Prerequisites: LATN1101 and LATN1102
CLCV S3244 (Global Histories of the Book)
This class will consider the idea and history of “the book” through history and around the world. Its primary objective is to introduce students to major topics and questions in “book history” while working to 1) resist the discipline’s traditional interest in modern European print culture and 2) situate that interest in global and transhistorical contexts.