This course, which counts toward the Humanities component of the Core Curriculum requirements, surveys major texts of world literature from the ancient world through the European Renaissance. Our study of great cultural traditions of the world begins in 2000 BC and extends through the seventeenth century. From the Western tradition we will read such influential writers as Homer, Aeschylus, Virgil, Dante, Montaigne, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Marlowe. The world context for each of the cultural eras we consider will introduce you to writings from Egypt, the Near and Far East, and ancient Mexico. We will read powerful stories, poems, and plays about love and war, heroic quests and spiritual pilgrimages, overweening ambition and saintly humility. These works will illuminate the formation of the rich, intricate diversity of modern global culture.

Student performances will include three unit tests, three short response papers, and a longer course paper.