Luis Alejandro Salas

There is a sometimes popular narrative that contemporary science represents the culmination of a tradition that began in the Greco-Roman world. In a trivial sense, this story is true; in a far more interesting sense it is not. This course examines the scientific traditions of the ancient Greco-Roman world, with a focus on ancient biology and medicine. We will consider how the Greeks distinguished their sciences from traditional cultural accounts and discuss what factors contributed to the emergence of this distinction. It begins with the emergence of Greek scientific accounts in the Classical period (5th-4th centuries BCE), the growing importance of empirical observation in the Hellenistic period (4th-1st centuries BCE), and culminates with Galen of Pergamum's (2nd century CE) synthesis of the medical traditions that preceded him. A final week will describe the heirs of Greco-Roman science, from medieval Europeans and the Islamic world up to the Scientific Revolution. The goal of this course will be to expose the student to approaches and pitfalls to the study of ancient science while also engaging with the Greco-Roman scientific tradition, especially the ancient biological tradition, from the perspective of its practitioners.

An intensive introduction to Classical Greek, the language of Homer, Sophocles, Plato, and the New Testament. The goal will be to develop a reading knowledge as rapidly and efficiently as possible and the work of the course will include extensive readings in literary texts.