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Elizabeth Vandiver
Whitman College
Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
 

Elizabeth Vandiver is Associate Professor of Classics and Clement Biddle Penrose Professor of Latin at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She was formerly Director of the Honors Humanities program at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she also taught in the Department of Classics. She completed her undergraduate work at Shimer College and went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to taking her position at Maryland, she held visiting professorships at Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Utah State University.

Professor Vandiver is the author of Heroes in Herodotus: The Interaction of Myth and History. She has also written numerous articles and has delivered many papers at national and international conferences.

In 1998, The American Philological Association recognized her achievements as a lecturer with its Excellence in Teaching Award, the most prestigious teaching prize given to American classicists. Her other awards include the Northwestern University Department of Classics Excellence in Teaching Award and two University of Georgia Outstanding Honors Professor Awards.

 
Courses by this professor:

Aeneid of Virgil  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
With The Aeneid of Virgil, Professor Elizabeth Vandiver has crafted a masterful presentation on the great national epic of ancient Rome and one of the most important works of literature ever written. Join Aeneas on his long journey west from ruined Troy to the founding of a new nation in Italy, and see how the author Virgil weaves together a rich network of compelling human themes on duty, desire, leadership, and more. Professor Vandiver's detailed examinations of the Aeneid's background, themes, and significant episodes are a fresh take on this cornerstone of the Western literary canon.
Iliad of Homer  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
From the wrath of Achilles to the machinations of Agamemnon that led to the fall of Troy, the Iliad is one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written. Take an in-depth look at Homer's epic Greek poem in The Iliad of Homer and realize why this literary masterpiece is held in such high regard. Alongside award-winning Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, examine the most important episodes in the Iliad and the universal human issues that Homer's poem addresses, including the limits of our freedom, the forces that shape our actions, and the fine line between justice and revenge.
Iliad of Homer & Odyssey of Homer (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Grasp the beauty and importance of Homer's epic poems—without having to read through hundreds of pages! First, take an in-depth look at the Iliad and the universal issues of war and humanity the poem addresses in The Iliad of Homer. Then, read between the lines of Homer's Odyssey in The Odyssey of Homer, which focuses on the timeless themes contained in the Western world's greatest literary journey.
Odyssey of Homer  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Take a detailed look at Homer's ancient Greek masterpiece of adventure. Professor Elizabeth Vandiver's The Odyssey of Homer focuses on timeless themes contained in the warrior Odysseus's voyage home through strange lands and encounters with gods, witches, warriors, and monsters. Explore the cultural assumptions that lie behind Homer's lines, weigh the poem's critical and interpretative issues, and come to view the Homeric world as a place of conflict, trial, and return that helps us answer the question of what it means to really live.
Classic Novels & Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Explore literature's most iconic writers and their unforgettable masterpieces. Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition surveys the lives and works of over 70 of Western literature's masterful writers, including Homer, Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf. Then, investigate the dazzling, surprising, and deeply moving worlds revealed through great works such as Moby-Dick, The Brothers Karamazov, and As I Lay Dying in Classic Novels: Meeting the Challenge of Great Literature.
Classical Mythology  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
From Athena to Zeus, Professor Elizabeth Vandiver leads an illuminating exploration of classical mythology and its treasure trove of unforgettable characters and stories. Classical Mythology is an introduction to the primary characters and most important stories of classical Greek and Roman mythology. Among those you will study are the accounts of the creation of the world in Hesiod's Theogony and Ovid's Metamorphoses; the gods Zeus, Apollo, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, Dionysos, and Aphrodite; the Greek Heroes, Theseus and Hercules; and the famous classical myth of the Trojan War.
Classical Mythology & Greek Tragedy (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Join classicist and award-winning Professor Elizabeth Vandiver on a spirited look at the great myths and tragedies of the ancient world with this two-course set. Classical Mythology is a 24-lecture introduction to the primary characters and most important stories of Classical Greek and Roman mythology. Greek Tragedy is designed to give you a full overview of great tragic plays, both in their original settings and as lasting contributions to the artistic exploration of the human condition.
Classics of American Literature & Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Now is your chance to discover more insights about the literature that has defined our lives. Study the classic stories and poems that illustrate our great nation's character in Classics of American Literature. Then, meet more than 60 of Western civilization's greatest authors and unpack their unforgettable works in Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition.
Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
From Mesopotamia to Mississippi, from the anonymous writer of the Epic of Gilgamesh to William Faulkner, writing 3,600 years later, many of the greatest figures of Western culture have been its writers. This course is your guide to a rich sampling of their masterpieces, chosen, explained, and analyzed by five outstanding professors. In addition to novelists, poets, and dramatists, you will study historians, biographers, essayists, philosophers, and the anonymous chroniclers behind the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels.
Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition & Art of Reading (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Learn new ways to read and appreciate masterpieces from the Western literary canon. First, survey 30 centuries of our civilization's most enduring novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and other writers with Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition. Next, maximize your effectiveness as an artful reader with The Art of Reading, which shows you how to approach even the most daunting novel or short story with increased confidence.
Greek Tragedy  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
The Greek tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides produced a group of plays whose grandeur and uncanny power are undiminished despite the passage of 2,500 years. Professor Elizabeth Vandiver's 24 engrossing lectures shed revealing light on both the context and the content of these stunning dramas from Athens's Golden Age.
Herodotus: The Father of History  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
View the ancient world through the eyes of its first historian. This course addresses the most remarkable achievement of Herodotus—his narrative account of the great Persian Wars and their causes. It considers the ways his work retains a mythical world-view and discusses his influence on later Greek historians.
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$990 		History of World Literature & Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Sample brilliant literary masterpieces from around the world in The History of World Literature, which covers such vibrant works as The Epic of Gilgamesh and Things Fall Apart. Then, survey the lives and works of Western literature's masterful writers—including Homer, Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf—in Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition.
Western Literary Canon in Context & Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition (Set)  
By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver, Whitman College
Gain insights into the great works and authors of the Western literary tradition. The Western Literary Canon in Context is a thorough investigation of more than 30 key works in the Western literary canon and their critical roles in the development of literature. Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition is an 84-lecture survey of the writers who shaped Western storytelling into what it is today.