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IDS 101: Rethinking the Classics: What to do with the Greeks and Romans?

Classical Images from the United States and Nazi Germany

Architect of the Capitol. Photograph, 1950                                 Badge, Reichspartei Tag, 1934                                               Congress Bicentennial Silver Dollar, 1989
 

Hours during the Academic Year

Library Hours


Mon-Thur    8 a.m. -- Midnight
Friday         8 a.m. -- 6 p.m.
Saturday    10 a.m. -- 6 p.m.
Sunday      10 a.m. -- Midnight

Reference Hours


Mon-Wed   10 a.m. -- 5 p.m.
                    6 p.m. -- 9 p.m.
Thursday    10 a.m. -- 5 p.m.     

Friday          1 p.m. -- 4 p.m
Saturday         (Closed)
Sunday           (Closed)

Archives Hours


Contact:  archives@willamette.edu for an appointment.

Note: The library is open to the general public Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

More calendar info...

Library Home Page ( library.willamette.edu )

Mark O. Hatfield Library Building

Library of Things

The library lends a variety of items besides books. The “Library of Things” is a collection of materials in support of extracurricular and leisure activities; it includes tools, outdoor items, electronics, craft supplies and much more.

Course Description

Ancient Greek and Roman history, literature, and culture have long provided powerful ideas and images that have been used in later periods for both good and ill. What used to be taken for granted as the largely positive legacy and influence of the Greeks and Romans as the originators of foundational Western ideas has recently come in for severe criticism. This course provides an introduction to some of the key themes and texts from Greek and Roman antiquity as well as to some of the ways in which "the classics" have been used and misused in later eras, and why they continue to be both so relevant and so fraught. We will explore the enduring power of these classical legacies and why they have frequently been appropriated to legitimize far-right ideologies. Can the Greeks and Romans be redeemed? Should they be? Can we come to terms with them by using them to study some of the problems we are dealing with today?

Willamette University

Willamette University Libraries

Mark O. Hatfield Library
900 State Street.
Salem Oregon 97301
Pacific Northwest College of Art Library
511 NW Broadway.
Portland Oregon 97209