Capstone Projects
The Department of Classics encourages students to explore their particular interests in Classics through conversation, class discussion, essays and papers. Every student majoring in Classics also writes a senior thesis, the culmination of a two-quarter project (CLAS 197A and B) in the senior year. These capstone projects can be on any classical topic of the student’s choice, and students are guided by regular meetings with a faculty advisor throughout the twenty weeks.
We’ve asked some of our seniors to provide a brief summary of their intended research for the 2010-2011 academic year. At this point in the fall quarter, they’ve only just begun to explore their topics. As their research progresses, they will narrow down their topics. In Winter quarter they will provide an update on their work.
- Ancient History? Why China’s Economy Could Learn from Ptolemaic Egypt
- A Port Abort: The Form of Catullus 67 and Propertius 1.16
- ‘Remember that you are just a man’: An Examination of the Triumphs of Julius Caesar and their Political Ramifications
- The Envy of the Gods: Live Concept or Literary Trope?
- Storytellers in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
- Natural Law in the Classical World
- Bede’s Adaptation of Latin Literary Forms
Here are some titles of theses from recent years:
- De Bello Civili [an examination of the historical circumstances of Caesar’s civil war]
- The Good King: A Comparison of Greek and Israelite Paradigms Using Herodotus’s Treatment of Croesus and the Deuteronomist’s Treatment of David
- Cycles of Nature and Their Perversions as Symbolized by Chariots
- Illuminations: Dido in Aeneas’ Journey
- Desiderium Habeo [communication and Roman oration from a political perspective]
- Aeneas: Compassionate and Dutiful Hero – A Stoic Analysis as Foil For Understanding the Character of Aeneas and Vergil’s Tragic Vision of Mankind
- A Commentary on Catullus 68
- Searching for the Past in the Present: Herodotus’ Use of Oral Traditions and the Development of Greek Historiography
- Women, Heroes, and Sexual Relationships in the Odyssey and the Aeneid: A Study of Dido, Circe and Calypso
- The Romanization of Britain, the Provincial Council and Patriotic Religiosity
- Cuchulain and Aeneas: A Comparison of Celtic and Roman Heroes
- Victim or Victor? – Heloise’s Personal Letters in Light of Ovid’s Heroides
- Animal Imagery in the Oresteia
- Community Versus Solitude: A Comparison of Roman and Celtic Notions of Heroism
- St. Augustine on Death
- A Study in the Relationship between Trojan Women and the Melian Dialogue
- Vegetarian Radicals in Classical Antiquity
- Power and Voice: The Failure of Communication in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Women of Trachis
- The Many Faces of Athena: Instances of Disguise in the Odyssey
- An Examination of Women’s Identity in Classical Athens to Enlighten an Assessment of the “Female” in Euripides’ The Bacchae
- For Those Already Noble in this World: The Effects of Pelagius’ Social Context on His Theology
- The Iliad: Selected Highlights of a New Musical Drama
- Wine and Horace: Nunc Est Vivendum
- Tracing the Myth of Phaedra and Hyppolytus
- Treatments of Head Injuries in Ancient Greece and Rome
- Directe ex Compton: A Comparative Analysis of Catullan Poetry and American Rap
- The Hands that Held the Temple Keys
- Olympias as Dynast and Politician
- “Tuus Iam Regnat Apollo” Apollo in Augustan Propaganda
- The Mysteries of the Derveni Papyri
- Achilles: An Exploration of the Hero from a Historical Perspective
- The Adaptability of Athena in Ancient Greek Literature
- Sappho’s Symposium: A Study of Sappho in Her Social Context
- Lucian’s Zeus: Religion in a Cynic
- Stacking the Odds Against Them: A Case Study on the Temple of Apollo Epikouroi at Bassae
- Sed peccasse iuvat: Sulpicia, Gender Roles, and Consciousness-Raising
- Apostate or Reformer? Flavius Claudius Julianus
- Augustine and Pelagius on Grace
- Conversational Interaction: Conversations Between Husbands and Wives in Ancient Greek Literature
- Mors Voluntaria: Suicide in Ancient Rome
- Family Worship in Ancient Athenian Cults
- Pyramus and Thisbe: Its Present and Continuing Influence in Western Culture
- Divine Revenge and Human Values in the Plays of Euripides
