Classical California

Carta Details | Photos from past years

CLASSICS 17SC

If you counted the many modern guises in which ancient Greece and Rome show up in our lives, how many could you find? You might consider, for example, words we speak, films we watch, buildings we use, political concepts we debate, styles we admire, myths we read. This course is our chance to explore such rich diversity, emphasizing the more material kinds of ‘classical’ remembrance. 

Our focus will be on California, its architecture, its collections of ancient objects. Readings, to be discussed in class, will inform our treasure hunt, which will start with Stanford University collections and proceed farther afield. Pandemic permitting, we’ll visit the Getty Villa in Malibu, one of the world’s foremost collections of ancient art housed in the imposing reconstruction of an ancient Roman villa. We’ll archive our favorite discoveries, some obvious and some intriguingly obscure, in a digital museum which our class will co-create from scratch. 

But this will be a treasure hunt with a difference: while pursuing it we’ll develop critical awareness about the very nature of ancient Greece and Rome and its legacies. Some of the questions to discuss are: What does the term ‘classical’ convey? How might we weigh this supposed classicism against other traditions? Which ancient voices are heard and which remain silent? To whom do the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome belong? What are the ethics involved in collecting classical antiquities? How does antiquity ‘read’ our very selves, individually and collectively? 

All are welcome, whether you’re new to ancient studies or an old hand. Newcomers will get a uniquely experiential introduction to ancient Greece and Rome. Others will have the opportunity to deepen selected aspects of their classical knowledge. All students will emerge from the class with a broad overview of Greco-Roman pasts; will appreciate the range of human engagements with Greco-Roman antiquity, particularly in its local and regional manifestations; will understand the nature of the ‘classical’ in relation to other artistic traditions; will understand the role of ancient Greece and Rome in relation to fundamental human values and questions. 

Examples of Field Trips and Guest Speakers

Same-day flight to the Getty Villa in LA with dinner in Venice Beach. Museum visits include the Legion of Honor and Filoli historic house and garden. Past classes attended Antony & Cleopatra at the SF Opera. Some on-campus activities have included an archery lesson, a weaving workshop, and re-creating classical mosaics.

Sample Student Projects

Museum of Classical California (digital website created as a joint project)

What Comes After SoCo? 

Students have gone on to a wide variety of humanities courses in the Department of Classics and beyond. The class helped one alum see the connections among fields as far apart as poetry and physics. Another class alum leads tours of Greek and Roman art at the Cantor Arts Museum. Some added classics as a major and found a major advisor through the class.

Meet the Instructor

Grant Parker

Associate Professor of Classics and of African and African American Studies

Grant Parker has taught at Stanford since 2006. He teaches in both the oldest and newest departments of the university. His publications include The Making of Roman India; The Agony of Asar: a treatise on slavery by the former slave, J.E.J. Capitein and, as editor, South Africa, Greece, Rome: classical confrontations. His current research focuses on monumentality, both ancient and modern.