Courses

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AMNE Course Registration Guide for Workday
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AMNE 'Ways of Knowing' Breadth Courses
Fulfill the 'Ways of Knowing' breadth requirements with this list of AMNE courses (for students starting September 2024).
2026W Variable Topics Course Descriptions

AMNE_V 340A: Ancient Mediterranean & Near Eastern Lit & Ideas Topics | Topic: The Ancient World in Fiction *variable topics course | Instructor: Katharine Huemoeller

This course explores how contemporary writers reimagine the ancient world in works like Miller’s Song of Achilles and Atwood’s Penelopiad.

*This course is open to all students.

AMNE_V 420A: Ancient Mediterranean & Near Eastern Hist & Culture Seminar | Topic: Medea's Kitchen: Cooking, Curing, and Killing with Plants *variable topics course | Instructor: Antone Minard

An exploration of the Greek and Roman relationship with plants, in three key areas: as food, as medicine, and as poison. This will include forays into religion (through the plants' symbolic uses) and intercultural relationships, as new useful plants come to the northern Mediterranean in the Classical period. The course will be anchored in the writings of Varro and Pliny, but as an interdisciplinary course will range widely through the ancient world.

A maximum of 12 credits will be granted for AMNE_V 420 and CLST_V 401. Students should consult the AMNE Undergraduate Advisor before registering. Equivalency: CLST_V 401 This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.

AMNE_V 440B: Ancient Mediterranean & Near Eastern Lit & Ideas Seminar | Topic: The Origins of God *variable topics course | Instructor: Philip Yoo

How is the God of today different than the God of the distant past? This course explores the beginnings of God with a focus on the recovered sources from the ancient Near East, including ancient Israel, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Ugarit (modern-day Ras Shamra, Syria). Primary sources will be read in translation. This course will make no claims on the reality of God nor will it approach the subject from a particular religious claim. Our focus will be on the use of primary sources from the ancient Near East and critical scholarship to trace — and complicate — how today’s God emerged out of many ancient Near Eastern communities and their respective deities.

A maximum of 12 credits will be granted for AMNE_V 440 and CLST_V 402. Students should consult the AMNE Undergraduate Advisor before registering. Equivalency: CLST_V 402.

AMNE_V 461A: Seminar in Biblical Studies | Topic: Jesus: Between History and Literature *variable topics course | Instructor: Isaac Soon

The figure of Jesus, his teachings, and his reception through literary and contextual analysis of the canonical and apocryphal gospels. Recommended: AMNE_V 264 or previous experience reading the New Testament. Credit will be granted for only one of RELG_V 414, AMNE_V 369, or AMNE_V 463. Equivalency: RELG_V 414 or AMNE_V 463.

A maximum of 6 credits will be granted for AMNE_V 461 or RELG_V 475. Students should consult the AMNE Undergraduate Advisor before registering. Equivalency: RELG_V 475.

AMNE_V 470A: Seminar in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Archaeology | Topic: Defining the Classical: Art and Experience in Greece, 480-323 BCE *variable topics course | Instructor: Megan Daniels

This course takes a critical approach to the art and architecture of Greece in the Classical Period (ca. 490/480-323 BCE), often referred to as the "Golden Age" of Greece. We will question the term and concept of "Classical" as (1) an actual style of art and architecture reflecting the historical circumstances of this period; (2) an idealized view of the Greco-Roman past created by Renaissance and post-Renaissance societies; and (3) a more generalized concept of something canonical, exemplary, traditional, and long-established. The term will be balanced between a close examination of Classical Greek architecture and art (including monumental sculpture, pottery, small finds) in their historical and archaeological contexts and the critical evaluation of our modern ideas about the "Classical", particularly the problems these views generate when it comes to accurately and responsibly studying the past. Ultimately, we will ask whether "Classical" is an apt term for the culture, society, and history of Greece between 490/480 and 323 BCE through class discussions, reflection essays, and a final project.

A maximum of 12 credits will be granted for AMNE_V 470 and CLST_V 403. Students should consult the AMNE Undergraduate Advisor before registering. Equivalency: CLST_V 403 This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.

GREK_V 401B: Greek Prose | Topic: The Greek Novel | Instructor: Tom Recht

The novel is an often overlooked genre of Greek and Latin literature, but the few surviving texts we have attest to its variety of style and ambition: some are fairly unadorned narratives, others highly sophisticated literary productions. In this course we will read selections in the original Greek from the five canonical ancient Greek novels — Chariton's Callirhoe, Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon, Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, Xenophon of Ephesus' Ephesiaca, and Heliodorus' Aethiopica — as well as Lucian's True Story and possibly other relevant texts. We will read some secondary literature on the ancient novel, but most of our time will be spent with the Greek texts: expect star-crossed lovers, shipwrecks, resurrections, mysterious orphans, a trip to the moon, and plenty of pirates. Students will develop their skills in reading Greek prose, understanding grammar and idiom, and identifying stylistic choices, as well as learning about the development of the novel in antiquity and its influence on early modern European literature.

A maximum of 12 credits can be granted for either one of or any combination of GREK 401, GREK 501. Prerequisite: One of GREK 351, GREK 352. This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.

GREK_V 402C: Greek Verse | Topic: Sophocles | Instructor: Toph Marshall

This course will offer a detailed reading of a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Sophocles’ Women of Trachis (Trachiniai) allows a rich exploration of the extremes of human emotion, and offers some of the most detailed and complex characterization in ancient theatre. The play also constitutes Sophocles’ most nuanced critique of traditional heroism through the presentation of Heracles. The play will be read in ancient Greek, with attention to literary, textual, and performative issues that it raises. Students registered in Greek 502 will be responsible for additional, related texts from Bacchylides and Euripides. If you have any questions, please reach out to the instructor at toph.marshall@ubc.ca.

 A maximum of 12 credits can be granted for either one of or any combination of GREK_V 402, GREK_V 502. Prerequisite: One of GREK_V 351, GREK_V 352.

LATN_V 403D: Studies in Latin Prose and Verse| Topic: Horace | Instructor: Rachel Philbrick

This advanced Latin reading course will focus on the works of Horace (65–8 BCE), one of Augustan Rome’s most prolific and virtuosic poets. If you’ve ever uttered the phrase “seize the day,” you’ve quoted Horace. The text(s) we will read in this course will be determined based on student input, from either the Odes (lyric poems) or Book 1 of the Epistles (epistolary poems in dactylic hexameter).

A maximum of 12 credits can be granted for either one of or any combination of LATN 403, LATN 503. Prerequisite: One of LATN 350, LATN 351. This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.